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devices rushing in and out of my would-be killers. While
Mr. Grimes was a monster, his wasn’t a pedigree worthy of
such machinations. I had to assume the bus some relic of the
Darkness, something he’d found in forgotten woods, waiting
for a master who matched its evil, if not its engineering.
Whatever its origins, the men who remained outside seemed
frozen by the antics of the bus-turned-devourer. Within
seconds, the silence took me from beneath the bus and
placed me behind Mr. Grimes’ few remaining allies. One of
my sisters awoke into my hand, giggling.
I made sure Mr. Grimes was a safe distance from me
when my sister softly sorted through the thoughts of one of
my harassers, reaching deeply into the convolutions of his
brain. The man at my left swung a heavy chain at me, but his
attack was so slow, I wondered if he intended for me to grab
the inbound weapon. If so, I obliged, seizing it and pulling
its wielder from the ground. My sister entered the hidden
places of his body, dancing like a happy child from one red
room to the next. After she had exhausted her enthusiasm,
I hurled her ruined playmate at the last of Mister Grimes’
associates. The flying body struck the man full in the chest,
blasting him backwards into the side of the bus.
My sister was about to play with the stunned man when
the thunderous voice of my father commanded her to stop.
He wished for Mr. Grimes to see him and the wonderful
work for which he was infamous. In an instant, he was
revealed, awake and aglow with a fury to match the storm
overhead. The man shuddered beneath my patron’s terrible
gaze, pleading for mercy, but my father had none to give. I
was pleasantly surprised when the shadow decided to attack
rather than die quietly. Like a cornered beast, he howled
his last breath, launching from the ground, knives out like
bared fangs. While his feral madness may have served him
well against other foes, it failed him in the face of my father.
The thunder roared as the axe collided with the man. My
great benefactor seemed to channel the fury of the tempest,
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