The shoulder strap dangled from one end, so I slung the guitar over my back.
Confusion was finally setting in. Had I really just seen a giant monster? And wanted to fight it?
I looked at her. "Um... who are you?"
"I'm Lace, short for Lacey. You?"
"Moz."
"You can say your own name? Not bad."
"I can do what?"
Instead of answering, she pulled a tiny flashlight from a pocket and shone it in my eyes. The light was blinding.
"Ouch! What are you doing?"
She leaned closer, sniffing at my breath. "Garlic? Clever boy."
A guy's voice came from behind me. "Positive? Or just some wack-job?"
"Definitely a peep, Cal. But a self-medicator, by the looks of it."
"Another one?" Cal said. His accent sounded southern. "That's the third this week."
Tracers from the flashlight still streaked my vision, but I could see Lace's silhouette shrug. "Well, garlic is in all the folklore. Who told you to eat that stuff, Moz?"
I blinked. "Um, this woman called Luz."
"A doctor? A faith healer?"
"She's, uh..." What was Min's word? "An esoterica?"
"What the hell's that?" Cal said. My vision returning, I noticed he was wearing a Britney Spears T-shirt under his leather jacket, which seemed weirdly out of place.
"Probably something esoteric," Lace said.
I shook my head. I'd never met Luz face-to-face. "She's a healer. Some kind of Catholic, I guess. She uses tea and stuff."
"Amateur hour," Lace said in a singsong voice. "So, Moz, how long have you had an appetite for rare meat?"
I thought of Min's kiss. "Three weeks and four days."
Cal raised an eyebrow. "That's pretty precise."
"Well, that's when I first..." My voice faded. It didn't seem like a good idea, telling them about Min. "Who are you guys anyway?"
Lace snorted. "Dude. We're the guys who saved your butt. You almost got flattened by that worm, remember?"
I swallowed, watching as two angels lifted a third onto the platform. He was bleeding from a huge gash on one leg, black water dripping from the wound. He didn't cry out, but his face was knitted in pain, his teeth clenched.
And I'd been about to fight that thing alone?
"Uh, thanks."
"Uh, you're welcome." Her eyes narrowed. "Have you got any girlfriends? Any roommates? Cats?"
"Cats?" I thought of Zombie's strange gaze. "Listen, I don't know what you're talking about. Or what that thing was! What's going on here?"
"He doesn't know anything, Lace," Cal said. "Just bag him and let's get moving. That beastie's only wounded; it might swing back around."
The woman stared at me for another moment, then nodded. "Okay. So here's the thing, Moz. Old-fashioned folk remedies aren't going to keep your head together for much longer. Very soon, you're going to do unpleasant things to your friends and neighbors. So we're taking you for a little trip to New Jersey."
"New Jersey?"
"Yeah, Montana's full." Lace smiled, pulling a small, thin object from her cargo pants. A needle glistened in the darkness at its tip. "This won't hurt a bit, and you shouldn't be there more than a week or two, thanks to your esoterica friend. Got to admit, she kept you in pretty good shape."
"Hey, wait a second." I backed away, holding up my hands. "I'm not going anywhere. I've got a gig next week."
"A gig?" Lace glanced at the guitar on my back and shrugged. "Cool. But I'm afraid you're going to miss it. We need to train you."
"Train me for what?"
"Saving the world," Cal said.
I swallowed. "You mean Luz is right? There really is a struggle?"
"She told you about the...?" Lace's voice faded, and she closed her eyes, sniffing the air. "Hey, Cal - did you feel that?"
I had. My magic powers were spinning. I took a step away.
"Not so fast, Moz!" Lace grabbed my arm, thrusting the needle closer.
As I pulled free from her grip, the ground broke open beneath us...
Columns of flesh tore themselves up from the concrete of the platform, rings of teeth flashing in the darkness. One whipped past me, leaving my jacket sleeve in ribbons. I was already running, dodging through the flailing tendrils, stumbling over broken concrete.
Chapter 15
The angels fought back, swords whistling through the air around me, as deadly as the gnashing teeth.
I jumped from the platform, then glanced back. Lace was spinning in place, her long sword slicing low through the air, cutting through columns of flesh as they thrust up from the ground. Black water spewed from the ragged stumps.
My hands reached for the neck of my Strat again, itching to pull it off my back. I was dying to run back and rejoin the fight,