Page 130 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Underworld

I turn sharply to Julia but she’s not arguing about when Jonas and I talk. She sinks through the floor and the house shakes… with panic.

There’s only one thing below us that could induce that terror.

I run out the door and by the time I round the corner, Dylan has already started to hack at the cellar door.

I don’t know where he found the axe and I don’t care.

I tackle him to the ground and it goes flying.

“I’m going to kill her. And then, I’m going to kill you.”

He grabs handfuls of dirt, shoving them at me as he throws me off him. But I grab the axe before he can and I hold it tight.

I’m not going to swing it at him, but I’m not going to let him take it away from me either.

I can’t knock him out without touching him and I don’t trust any of the other spells I’ve dabbled with to deal with this problem.

My educationislacking… I just never thought a friend would want me dead.

“Dylan, stop it.” Jonas sags against the corner of the house, holding himself up. He looks like he’s run a marathon.

“Don’t fucking start with me.” He points at Jonas and then his eyes narrow. “You know what… I’ll kill you too.”

“Listen,” I say, still holding the axe between us. “You went through a lot tonight. I know that you’re probably confused?—”

“I’m not confused. My eyes arewideopen.” He smiles at me and my skin crawls. “I know what I have to do.”

Before I can even begin to guess what he means by that, he throws himself sideways, crashing through the splintered cellar door.

“Crap.” I throw the axe away and run after him.

But Dylan hasn’t gotten far.

I would bet he has only managed to stand up, not take a step.

Julia floats in the air between him and her heart. Her hair and skirt billow around her, fading to nothing at the edges.

Her eyes are massive black voids, her mouth more akin to something you would see in the deepest ocean.

She is a creature of the hell we just escaped and Dylan stares up at her, finally terrified.

He swallows and I see him look down at her heart. Blood drips from his arm, sizzling when it hits the ground.

I don’t think he realizes how much danger he’s in.

Wood from the floor joists creak and groan and a hundred splinters burst from it, flying into his skin, peppering him like bullets.

But that isn’t what is going to kill him.

“You aren’t going to want to watch this,” I tell Jonas, but he stays, sitting on the top step of the cellar, like it’s a play.

Dylan’s arm moves and he stares at it, brows pinched.

“How…” Jonas asks.

“Julia can interact with her house… her house is in him and so now, he is her puppet.”

He screams when she wrenches that arm back, and I wince as I hear the bone snap.

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