Monster - A. Lee Martinez [93]
“Yes.”
“I mean, I’m a sixth-dimensional non-corporeal entity who has witnessed some pretty bizarre and inexplicable events in the last few days, and even I don’t believe it.”
Monster said, “I know. It’s insane. But it’s the truth. It’s a cycle that’s been going on for ages. Every million years or so, the universe creates a being intended to become one with the stone. That being will have absolute power for a few moments, but that’s just a side effect. The ultimate goal is to sever Lotus from her power. And that’s Judy’s role.”
“But what about all the crypto attacks Judy has been going through her whole life?”
“Misfires. The stone doesn’t think in human scale. It doesn’t always get it. And until Judy matures, the communication isn’t perfect. So if she thinks too long and too hard about how much she hates her apartment or her job or her life in general, the universe sometimes responds. But it’s not a perfect process. The stone isn’t smart in a practical way. It’s like an idiot savant. It can subtly guide generations of breeding and even steer events. But it doesn’t really grasp the fragility of life. Most of the time, the avatar is accidentally killed by the stone itself. Or eliminated by Lotus. She’s been working against the universe from the beginning.
“She’s destroyed a hundred worlds before this one. She killed the dinosaurs. She sank Atlantis. Her manipulations led to the Dark Ages and the fall of Chinese dynasties. She invented the cell phone and created reality TV. All with only one purpose: to hold back the development of the life in the universe. She’s the reason magic is disappearing, because she’s strangled nearly all of it out of the stone.
“She doesn’t even want to do anything with it. By now she should have the power to shape the universe. But she never really learned how to use it properly. Because all she cares about is having it, not using it. She just wants to have it because she doesn’t want anyone else to have it. And every bit she uses is less for her.”
“So if Judy’s such a threat, why hasn’t Lotus killed her?”
“Because Lotus doesn’t just kill the avatar. She uses them first.”
“For what?”
Monster tried to remember, but the information escaped him. Since he had never been intended to be one with the universe, he’d had two choices. He could either go mad or forget. If this was the way the haze worked for light cogs, no wonder they were always so grouchy and frustrated.
“Use her for what?” asked Chester again.
“I don’t know. But I do know we have to stop it.”
“Any idea how you stop an invincible parasitic entity older than the universe?”
“I can’t. She’s unstoppable. Her only weakness is the stone, and she’s had that under her thumb since the dawn of the universe.”
Monster came to a stop, hovering over Lotus’s house. There were more than three dimensions, though the others weren’t much use for anything. But they let him peek around its walls. Just another trick he’d learned from his brief hours of enlightenment, along with the instinct that let him know where Lotus, the stone, and Judy were at all times.
“They’re in there. Waiting.”
“Do we have a plan?”
“It’s all about the stone. When the time is right, when things line up the way they’re supposed to, it’ll all come down to who is holding it. Best-case scenario: Judy is holding the stone at the time of alignment. Worst case: Lotus is holding both the stone and Judy.”
“What happens then?”
“I don’t know, but I’m willing to bet it isn’t going to be good for anyone.”
“So, get the stone, give it to Judy. Or at least keep it and Judy away from Lotus.”
“Yeah. Now hang on.”
Monster shifted from flying goldenrod to invulnerable blue and plummeted from the sky.
As the time of alignment approached, the haze fell away. Judy realized that magic was real. Again. And she also realized she was getting tired of realizing that over and over again.
She sat on Lotus’s floral print couch with Ed and Ferdinand crowded on either side of her while two dozen cats milled restlessly. Lotus entered with a pot of her enchanted tea.
“Care for