Monster - A. Lee Martinez [28]
“Are you using the bathroom?” asked somebody behind her. “’Cuz I really need to go.”
It was Paulie’s second lady friend from the night before. She was short, a little chubby, and appeared to be human. Though Judy wasn’t willing to take these things for granted anymore.
Judy stood in the doorway, scrutinizing the woman’s every reaction, trying to decide if the mark was visible to her. But she seemed more interested in getting past Judy than in looking at her face.
“I really need to go.” She pushed Judy aside.
“Nice glyph,” the woman remarked before shoving Judy out and slamming the bathroom door.
Judy bought a baseball cap an hour later.
She wasted the rest of the day watching television in Paulie’s place. She called in to work to tell them she wasn’t coming. She didn’t even bother faking sick. Nobody cared.
The memory glyph worked. She didn’t forget about magic, about the trolls and the existence of angels. And she didn’t forget to pick up Monster at ten.
He wasn’t ready.
Judy sat on the porch and smoked a cigarette while waiting. Monster appeared fifteen minutes later. His skin was gray tonight, and his hair was stark white. He hadn’t shaved. Short white fuzz formed an inverse shadow on his chin.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
“Sorry, I just assumed you’d forget. How did you remember?”
“Somebody showed me a trick.”
“Memory glyph?” said Monster.
“Whatever works.” She adjusted her cap, pulling it lower. “Where’s the paper man?”
Monster patted his shirt pocket. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.
“I’m sure.”
They got into her car, and he pulled a devil doll from a pocket and propped it on the dashboard. He yanked on its left arm and twirled its feet until he tuned in to the right frequency.
She started the engine. “Where to?”
He told her to head toward the center of the city. That way the odds of being nearby to any call were increased.
“So what happens when you’re gray?” she asked.
“I can shoot lightning bolts from my fingertips,” he said. “Stings like hell, though.”
“Why do you change colors anyway?” she asked.
“About three years ago, I was bitten by a basilisk. That usually kills you. But if you’re very, very lucky, and the anti- venom treatment doesn’t make you into a puddle, then it leaves you with an unstable enchantment. So now I change color whenever I go to sleep and wake up and have different enchantments depending on what color I am. Also, I’m immune to all poisons and toxic substances.”
“Must come in handy in your line of work.”
“Yeah, almost makes the two months of daily, cripplingly painful alchemical injections worth it.”
“And your girlfriend is red too.”
“Yes, she is.”
“Why is that?”
“Because she’s a demon,” he said. “I agreed to let you drive me around for one night, but I didn’t say anything about answering a lot of questions. So who showed you the glyph?” he asked.
“An angel.”
“Let me guess. Her name was Charity. Or Chastity. Or Modesty. Still can’t figure out why angels all have stripper names.” Monster paused to listen to some of the noise filtering through the doll. A chimera was reported downtown, but they were too far away to have a shot at that. “Did she tell you about the side effects?”
“Of course she did,” Judy lied.
“And you’re okay with that?”
“Nothing’s perfect,” she said.
“I guess you’re pretty serious about this then. Most people freak out when you mention aneurisms and premature memory loss.”
Judy took some time to process the information, being very sure to keep a neutral expression.
“It works for now. I’ll figure something else out when I have to. Is this all you do all night? Drive around?”
“What’d you expect?”
“I don’t know. Just something more than this.”
“Nope. This is it,” he said. “It’s a lot like war. Long stretches of boredom interrupted by brief moments of terror.”
Half an hour later, the radio doll announced a bag only ten minutes away, but Monster didn’t call in for it. “If I had my van, it’d be no big deal. But I don’t have the supplies to bag a gwyllgi.”
“Here’s what