'What are you suggesting?' Sarah asked, though she knew perfectly well.
'I make myself visible. Poof, I go up in smoke. It probably won't even hurt that much. Without me to act as a conduit he'll be trapped in here. Unable to get back into a body. Unable to do anything. And that's it.'
'That's it?' Sarah asked. 'That's... that's pretty harsh.' She had wanted to say it was unacceptable. But the stakes were so high. 'I can't ask you to do that,' she lied, knowing she would beg for it if Nilla tried to refuse.
'You don't have to ask. You solved the riddle.' She smiled with a radiance like the sun on a good day. 'You won, kid. Listen, when you die, years and years from now I hope, come look me up, alright? We'll compare memories.'
Sarah tried to smile. She forcibly tried to make the muscles of her face move upward. It wouldn't work. Her facial muscles were single-handedly holding up the fate of the world. Nilla turned away'and then she was gone. As if she'd been cut out of existence altogether.
Time started up again. Ayaan turned to look at her. 'What are you up to, girl?' the older woman asked. Sarah was still trying to smile.
Monster Planet
Chapter Twenty
Banners of flame licked out of Mael Mag Och's mouth and eyesockets. The scaffolding beneath him hummed and whined as it began to shake itself to pieces. Sarah knew she was only seeing the outer edge of what was really happening. The main event was not for human eyes to observe.
'What did you do?' Ayaan demanded.
Sarah couldn't seem to get the words out. She could only point. Her finger stabbed out toward the mass of ghouls had been waiting patiently in perfect formation for the world to stop. Now they were moving, surging forward as a mass. They were headed for the armless body on the spikes. Were they going to try to pull it free? Sarah had no idea.
'What did you do?' Ayaan asked again. She grabbed Sarah by the arms and shook her.
Sarah looked up into her mentor's face. 'I answered a riddle,' she said.
Ayaan released her.
The ghouls attacked the scaffolding with their sharpened bones, with their feet, even with their teeth. It was fruitless. Mael Mag Och's abdominal cavity popped open under pressure from within and showered the dead men in flaming entrails.
'You stopped him, I take it,' Ayaan said, very quietly. 'That... that's good,' she said.
Mael Mag Och's spine arched wildly, twisting his body around on the spikes. His flesh tore as his bones tried to wrap themselves in knots. His head burst with a hiss of steam, a flap of skin popping back and waving tremulously as his brains ejected in a spray of grey liquid.
The dead men still beat and kicked at the scaffolding, though half of them were on fire themselves. Their smoke stained the air around them and the stink was oppressive. One by one they broke off from the scene at the scaffolding and rushed toward the Source itself. Perhaps Mael Mag Och was trying to get into their bodies. It didn't work'they flared up and burned to ashes almost instantly.
Eventually there were none of them left.
'It's over,' Ayaan announced. 'Come on, let's get out of here.' She jumped down from the flatbed and headed for the pass that lead down toward the road.
'I just have a couple of things to do,' Sarah said. 'You stagger along. I'll catch up.'
Ayaan frowned at that but she could hardly deny that Sarah could walk a lot faster. She shrugged and headed down the path.
Sarah pulled Gary's tooth out of her back pocket. 'Are you watching this?' she asked. 'He's out of bodies. He's trapped inside the Source. I don't know if I killed him or not but he's powerless now.'
I don't think you can kill him any more. Believe me, I've tried.Gary sounded very faint and very far away. Sarah imagined it had to be a trick. He would be somewhere close, holing up and licking his wounds. He didn't want her to find him.
Well. He had good reason.
'Gary,' she told him, 'there's no one left to heal you. You're not bulletproof any more.'
I have a right to exist,he told her.