Monster - A. Lee Martinez [91]
Judy said, “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I know it has nothing to do with me, so—”
The cats parted and Lotus glided forward. “It has everything to do with you. Though I’ll admit I still haven’t figured out his place in all this.” She waved toward Monster. “But it isn’t his destiny to take my power, and neither is it yours.”
She performed a sweeping gesture and pressed two fingers against Judy’s forehead. Judy’s body went absolutely straight and rigid. She fell.
“What do you want with her?” asked Chester, still trying to squirm his way from under Ed’s heel. “She’s only a light incog.”
“She’s so much more than that,” replied Lotus. “She’s a pretender to the throne, a usurper of the natural order.”
Ferdinand picked up Judy’s frozen body and propped it over her shoulder like a piece of lumber.
“Rest assured, I bear you no malice.” Lotus stroked Judy’s cheek. “Take her to the house.”
“What about the stone?” asked Ferdinand. “Don’t you need it?”
“I’ll take care of that. Now do as I say. This could get… unpleasant.”
“And the paper man?” asked Ed, grinding her heel into Chester.
“Leave him. He’s nothing to be concerned about.”
Ferdinand and Ed left with Judy, leaving Lotus and her army of cats. Chester smoothed his crumpled body, but he didn’t make a move against Lotus. She’d already proven she could destroy him in an instant once before. Not that she would have to bother this time. The cats would tear him to shreds at her command.
Lotus paced several full circles around Monster, speaking as she did.
“I know you think you can stop this, but you really should abandon that foolish notion. We’ve been together for far too long. You should know that we are bound in a way that will never be broken. Your power is my power, and that is the way it will always be.”
“I don’t think he can hear you.”
Lotus chuckled. “What makes you think I’m talking to him?”
She touched the stone, and it trembled. The world rumbled just enough to knock every loose book off a shelf, tip over every row of dominoes under construction, and collapse every house of cards on the planet.
She pulled, but the stone refused to come loose from Monster.
“You’re beginning to make me angry,” she said. “You don’t want that, now, do you?”
The stone hopped from Monster into Lotus’s hand.
“There we are. I knew you’d come to your senses.”
Monster snapped to life. “Wait. You can’t—”
She backhanded him, sending him sprawling.
“I still don’t know why you are here, but I’ve decided I don’t really care either. You’ve proven more troublesome than I imagined, but rest assured, you’ve done nothing to disrupt my plans. The order will be restored, and everything will be as it should be. I hope that brings you some small comfort in your last moments.”
She disappeared.
The cats advanced. Monster and Chester stood at the edge of the hole in the floor with no means of escape. Pendragon licked his lips and snorted a pair of flames from his nostrils.
“I hope you have a plan,” said Chester.
“Actually,” said Monster, “I do.”
Pendragon pounced. Monster slapped the cat aside, but the force of his charge pushed Monster’s foot over the ledge and he fell into the pit with a yelp, disappearing into the darkness below. Chester didn’t hear Monster hit bottom.
“Hang on! I’m coming!”
Chester folded himself into a bird, but the writhing and yowling red cat distracted him. The other felines backed away as Pendragon’s fur fell off in clumps, exposing golden-red scales underneath. His tail grew to tremendous size and whipped wildly. Cats were knocked every which way.
Monster, now a burning goldenrod color, floated out of the black pit and hovered beside Chester.
“How… ?” asked Chester.
“I can fly when I’m goldenrod.”
Pendragon screeched, spitting a torrent of fire in the air, setting the room ablaze. The cats scattered. Several were squashed beneath the giant reptile’s feet and flailing tail. Wings burst from the dragon’s shoulders.
“Since when can you do that?” asked Chester.
“Since about five minutes ago,” replied Monster.
The dragon’s wings and spikes