Louis: It just said she’s left the party! Wow, that was quick. Goddang. She just jumped right in.
Events were moving so rapidly. It hit me then.
Li Na, Zhang, Tran, Bautista, Chris, and Britney. All gone. They weren’t, hopefully, dead. But they were gone. The odds I’d ever see or talk to any of them ever again were astoundingly low.
I turned to regard Louis standing there with Samantha on his shoulder, sobbing.
He was next.
“We can just push Florin and that scary lady in,” she was crying, rubbing her face on Louis’s arm. “We never even got to have our torrid affair! We were going to fall madly in love,and when it came time for me to go back to my king, you were going to be so upset, you were going to pluck your own eyes out because you just couldn’t stand the thought of ever looking at another girl again if you couldn’t have me. It was going to be, like, superromantic. But now you’re going to be all alone and without protection, and I don’t have anybody left to have an affair with except Carl, but he’s too broody for me. And, you know, he’s a dog now.” She blew out a whole stream of snot onto his shoulder. “Jurgen is no good because his Heidi sounds even meaner than Imani. Elle is too much woman for me to handle. Donut is too star-crossed with that orange kitty. Florin is a crocodile, and I’m racist against crocodiles ever since the cookie jar incident, and that Lucia is really a child. You never even got to visit Sam Town. It’s not fair.”
“Uh,” Louis said.
“What about me?” Prepotente asked.
“Ew,” said Samantha.
I just watched this go on, a heavy weight holding me down. Louiswasnext. Louis. The heart of our entire group. I thought of that moment at the Christmas party where he’d stood up to me for the first time, and it felt as if my chest was ripping open. That assassin had been correct to target him.
Louis and Imani were, indeed, the glue that kept the team together. No matter what happened next, we were losing something today.
Still, the more I thought about it, the more resolute I felt that this was the best choice. As bleak as all this was, Louis and everyone else’s odds of survival seemed so much higher than my own.
I turned to regard Donut standing beside me. I contemplated, just for a moment, doing exactly what Samantha was threatening to do. Tossing her in the portal the moment it popped up.
But no, I wasn’t going to do that. She would never forgive me. Plus, with Li Na gone, she was now the strongest crawler in the dungeon. By far.
Either way, we had to get through this next part.
“Well?” Mitch asked.
Donut: LUCIA IS RIGHT. IT’S VERY WEIRD. I TURNED ON MY MAGIC-FLOW-GLASSES THING AND THE ROULETTE TABLE HAS ALL SORTS OF MAGIC FLOWING TO IT, BUT THERE’S ONLY ONE LITTLE STRAND GOING TO THE WHEEL. THE WHOLE TABLE IS WEIRDLY EMPTY OF MAGIC OR ENCHANTMENT.
CARL: What other settings do you have on those glasses? Cycle through them all.
CARL: If those other spots don’t seem to work, then we’re going to get attacked. Everyone get ready. It’s going to go quick. Donut, you take out Mitch. You have Mongo, right? Unleash him. The rest of us will take out the guards. Watch the other dealers and the people at the other table, too.
I turned to Mitch. “It looks like it worked. We’ll send the rest now.”
“Pleasure doing business with you. But because you cheated, I’m going to need double the price for everybody else going from now on.” He paused. “Double from the five thousand. Paid in advance. How many are going?”
Donut scoffed.
Behind me, Imani was quietly crying while Elle rubbed her back. For this next one, it would be about twenty more crawlers, including Louis.
“Two hundred thousand gold?” I asked, growling. “We’re not paying that much. We’ll give you twenty K.”
Mitch crossed his arms. “A hundred thousand.”
Next to me, Donut suddenly gasped. She was turned all the way around, looking at the line of chairs against the wall. Her sunglasses flickered as she changed viewing modes.
Mitch sighed, staring down at Donut. “Fucking cats. I hate cats.” He raised a hand. “Boys.” He snapped a finger.
And that’s when the table tried to eat Donut.
[ 86 ]
Donut jumpedand did a backflip while every single thing in the entire room suddenly came alive. The tables. The slot machines. The chairs. The NPCs. Everything suddenly shifted, grew, and sprouted massive jagged mouths.