Mascot moved faster than I'd ever seen him, inserting himself between Eden and me as the dark energy spiraled towards us.

I rushed forward to help, but my body screamed exhaustion; every muscle was rebelling against me. My severed bond felt like a ghost limb, agony-filled, empty, and disorienting. Eden's power struck Mascot square in the chest, sending him flying backward into a pillar.

He collapsed in a heap, groaning but still alive. My heart clenched at the sight of him crumpled and vulnerable.

"Stay down!" I yelled, my voice breaking. But Mascot never listened, rose to his feet, uncaring about the odds.

Eden turned his focus to me, a sinister smirk playing on his lips. "You’re starting to bore me, Tasha."

Before I could utter a word, Ethan and Seth launched themselves into the action, their faces twisted in a grimace of exertion. Ethan lashed out with his blade in that wild, furious way I had seldom seen, and Seth called his elemental fire, his fists leaping with spirits of flame.

"Eden!" Ethan yelled, diving headfirst into battle. For one short, swift second, my chest swelled with the hope that together they might. Together they might turn the tide.

Eden was quicker, his magic more calculated. In an instant, dark tendrils sprang from the ground, twisting around Seth's ankles, yanking him off balance. Seth went down hard, and the flames went dead. Ethan pressed the attack, trying to break through Eden's defenses, but the energy swirling around him just appeared impenetrable.

Eden counterattacked with a backhand of energy that flung Ethan across the room. He hit the floor with a sickening thud and lay there, unmoving. "Ethan!" I yelled, my voice hoarse from desperation.

Clara stood near the edge of the room, staring fixedly in wide-eyed surprise at the chaos. Her hands crumpled at her sides, her lips working silently in denial, were paralyzed with fear.

"Clara, do something!" I screamed, feeling the panic crawling over me. Still, she did nothing.

Eden snorted, a low, ominous sound. "Ah, the brave little band of heroes falls apart so easily. Pathetic." He came one step towards me, and I fell backward, my knuckles white on the hilt of my dagger. My heart was pounding hard in my chest as Eden took one step closer. “You should’ve stayed hidden, Tasha,” he hissed, his voice like nails on a chalkboard. “Now, you’ll watch your friends die one by one.”

Suddenly, Mascot heaved himself to his feet, his breathing labored, but his spirit unbroken. "Not. yet," he growled, dragging himself on.

Eden turned to him with mild amusement. "You're persistent. I'll give you that. But it's wasted on me." As the swell of power came, Eden launched the wave of darkness right onto Mascot. I screamed his name, but it was too late. The energy came right into him, and he slumped forward, unmoving once more.

My eyes blurred. He reached out, his huge hand clamping around my throat and lifting me off the ground. I scrabbled against his fingers, gasping for air as black spots danced in my vision. "This is how it ends, Tasha," he whispered low and almost warmly. "You've fought so well, but you were never strong enough to win." As his grip tightened, a bloodcurdling scream erupted from across the room. Ethan.

Once more the man struggled to his feet, alive and standing, his face set hard in determination; then his voice thundered out through the chamber. "Clara! Do something! Now!" Clara flinched as though struck, her gaze snapping to Ethan. The raw emotion in his voice seemed to shatter her paralysis.

"I...I can't!" she cried out, her voice shaking. "Yes, you can!" Ethan yelled, his voice so intense. "You're much stronger than this, Clara. Don't let him win!"

Eden laughed, the hold on my neck weakening somewhat, as he turned to look at Clara. "Pathetic, unable even to move--let alone..." Eden's taunt was cut off as the ground shook beneath us. The shaking grew stronger, everything in the chamber shaking hard. Hugs in spiderweb pattern across the walls began to fall, and boulders.

Clara's eyes suddenly began to blaze with fierce light-intense, intense; fear was replaced by raw, power. She raised both hands, and though her fingers were shaking, they were firm, channeling her energy. "You want to see strength?" she snarled. "Fine. Take it!"

The earthquake buckled and heaved; the ground burst apart underfoot. Staggering, Eden's grip went from around me as he lost his balance. I hit hard, coughing, fighting to drag in air.

"Clara, go!" Ethan yelled at me, hurrying up to my side. He pulled me to my feet and then steadied an arm around me as the room continued to quake. Eden snarled as his form flickered from loss of balance, the shadows around him moving in an attempt to hold him, but Clara's power would not have that. "Now's our chance!" Ethan yelled,

"We gotta go!" I hesitated, my gaze flicking to Mascot’s unconscious form. “I’m not leaving without him!” Ethan didn't resist. We were moving suddenly together, dragging ourselves to Mascot's side, hefting him up between us. Seth struggled over with Jacob, battered but conscious. Clara’s energy began to wane, the tremors subsiding as she sagged to her knees.

“Go!” she screamed, her voice hoarse. “I’ll hold him off!”

"No!" Ethan shouted, "We aren't leaving you!"

But Clara shook her head, and the tears streamed down her face. "I cannot hold this forever. Get out of here while you can!" We did not want to, but we continued making our way towards the exit, tugging Mascot after us. Eden's enraged roar now sounded behind us; he was on his feet again.

"This is not over!" he screamed, shaking the very walls. We burst out of the chamber, the heavy darkness lifting as we left Eden's lair behind.

My heart was pounding within my chest as we emerged to open air, gasping for breath.

A deafening crash sounded from behind me, and I turned to see Eden rise from the pile of rubble; his body was aflame with dark energy.

The eyes that met my mine sent a shiver trailing down my spine.

"You can run, Tasha," he yelled over the sound of the chaos. "But you can't hide. This isn't anywhere close to over." My blood ran cold, hitting home with his words. This time, we'd gotten away, but for Eden, it was nowhere near over.

And deep down, I knew he never would be.