tell mе what makes you quiver, shake and shivеr (part XLVI)

(Continued from part XLV.)

A yell over the comm as she was in transit.

"Gearhaven is under attack!" Justine said. "The second floor of Steam Towers is infested with tentacle monsters and face-hugger eggs!"

The Duchess nodded out of habit. "Yes! Do be careful, there are also wandering tentacle beasts that will harangue, if not actually injure."

"My rezday is the day before Guild term graduation day, coincidentally," Justine said in a dry voice. "Assuming I SURVIVE TENTACLE MONSTERS..."

She landed in Stormhold, moving quickly to the upper reaches of the library.

"Yes, and we should do something about that. The rezday, not the tentacle monsters." She thought, opening the door to the meeting room, seeing Justine. She tapped off the comm unit. "Well, we should do something about the tentacle monsters, too."

One of the readers in the group looked up, startled. "What kind of tentacle monsters?!"

Justine grimaced. "The handsy kind with no appreciation for personal boundaries."

"The hell," she heard Lina's tinny voice over the comm in Justine's ear. "Armor up!"

Oh, no...Not while we're away... she thought. Great. What else was going to happen? She touched her comm unit back on as she found a seat for the group.

"Where is everyone? I'm in armor and here!"

"We're in Stormhold at the What Are You Reading group," Justine murmured. "The monsters have to wait."

It wasn't like they were going anywhere, Emilly thought.

"Aww..." Lina sounded genuinely disappointed. "I was like...burn, monster, burn!"

Emilly nodded. "I get that! But, also pledged to be here."

Justine nodded. "Yes. I also want to burn the monsters down."

"Well, where the bloody hell is it?" Lina asked.

"Did you go up to my partlor, Lina? Where you and I were cuddling yesterday? They're in there!"

"Right," Lina said decisively.

But the next thing they heard was not comforting.

"Umm....well, damn..."

"What, Lina?"

"Umm...it's following me...Umm help..."

They facepalmed at nearly the same moment.

"What are you going to--"

"Netting it up," Lina interrupted. "Net gun attack--"

"Good idea!" Emilly said.

"That's it, demon mood fire...Fire, fire, raging higher..."

The Duchess began to worry about Steamopolis.

"Good on ya!" yelled Justine, and was shushed by one of the librarians.

Meanwhile, Lina was singsong chanting into the comm. "Fire, fire, raging higher, making music like a choir..."

Emilly was obscurely reminded of a scene from an old fantasy film, before the penny dropped.

"You're not--"

"I am the fire," Lina pointed out helpfully.

Oh, no.

"I can imagine fire saying that, yes..."

"Fire dancing all over me and burning the monster...'cause it will not stop touching me..."

"Lokizen might be there!" Justine said. "Please don't fry him!"

"Well, tell him to stop touching meeee--" Lina said.

Emilly tilted her head. "Isn't he in the Lighthouse? The Lighthouse looked okay..."

"No this THING is in the house and it's trying to get in my armor! Like I will let that happen, this is NOT a hentai, buddy!"

"Oh, good gods," Emilly muttered.

"This better not be Hiro as an Elder god!" Lina shouted. More sounds of firing as she spoke, or--just--fire??

Emilly shook her head. "Nooo, I doubt that."

"Good, 'cause I heard his voice in my head."

Emilly blinked. "What?"

"Hey, I know, I'll just push the monster into a dead zone in the multiverse--"

What??

"Hmm, which one," their security officer mused. "Ooh, yeah, Limbo 38..."

A thin, thin thread of sound from where Lina stood, carting monster bits to the shore.

{{Hello...Lina?}}

"Okay, now, I know you heard that--" Lina said.

Emilly looked at Justine. They both shrugged and said, nearly at the same time--"Heard what?"

There was a long, long pause.

(Continued in part XLVII.)