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than the exclusive product of the Great Darkness or the
Deadworld. This effectively rendered her the offspring of
both. Granted, all of us contain shares of death and darkness,
but with much less impressive potency.
I was sure of it—Molly Patience was a hybrid of the
Great Darkness and the Deadworld. This fact nullified the
cannibal’s previous contention that the Darkness meant
nothing to her, thus causing her blindness. Having untied the
philosophical knots Miss Patience proffered, it was finally
time for me to kill her.
The giant cannibal lumbered after me with far less energy
than she had previously demonstrated. She may have healed
quickly, but not completely. It wasn’t terribly difficult for me
to evade her clumsy lunge and leap atop her back. My sisters
weren’t long at their task of removing her eyes, and it took
them only a few additional seconds to slide into the bleeding
pits that remained. However, the size of the monster’s head
made it difficult for them to complete their job, as her brain
was tucked away quite deeply within her enormous skull.
Her awful claws were upon me again, raking across my back
and shoulders, tearing me from my perch.
The queen spat the blood pouring down her face as she
spoke, her voice betraying the pain she suffered. “My eyes
are baubles, I’m better off without them. I’d rather be rid of
the foolish things, anyway. They give the wrong impression.
I can still see you, little killer. Your fires are still burning
plenty bright. If you’d do me the enormous kindness of
holding still, I’d like to eat you now. It’s a long climb back
to the surface, and I’m going to need all the protein I can
get!”
The claws of her left hand barely missed my face, instead
sinking into the boulder beside my head—so much for my
theory on bones losing fights with stone. She retrieved her
claws with remarkable ease and wrapped them around my
neck. Lifting me from the ground, she held me at arm’s
length, hoping to disembowel me with her other hand. My
148 | Mark Anzalone