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“I think it’s likely I’ll go back there someday,” I said. “I mean, I left something very important behind.”
31
It had been a while since I’d last been in this place. The ground was as white and marbley as I’d remembered. The same electric blue ceiling of sky.
I took a single long, deep inhalation. My updated preserve ritual, which Coach Jameson had taught me. Over the course of my volleyball career, the relaxation technique had gotten me to somewhere in the middle of the pack in aces, instead of dead last like I normally was.
I needed that same luck right now. If I screwed this next part up, it would mean the end of the world.
I ran. My steps caused mini-gales as they pushed the air. The rock vibrated with my impact.
I hit top speed and left my feet. I went soaring over the ground and delivered a flying knee to the ribs of Xing Tian.
The titan went skidding across the stone floor, its flesh squeaking with friction against the smooth surface. Its pectoral eyes blinked awake in astonishment. Xing Tian got to a standing position. And looked up at me. I would have been slightly taller than it, even if it had a head on its shoulders.
It screamed its lungless oath of rage, silently overacting with its torso-face. It reared back to give me a right hook that could kill a god.
I caught its arm from behind.
Xing Tian turned to look. It instinctively recoiled in the way an animal without a nervous system might respond to a predator. The monster may not have been capable of true fear, but on some level it knew it had to play defense now.
“That’s right, buddy,” the second giant me said, my words forming a hurricane. “Behold my final form.”
? ? ?
I smacked Guanyin on the face repeatedly.
“Genie, she’s not a passed-out drunk!” Quentin said. “Be careful with her!”
“Did you give her enough karma?” Yunie said. “Maybe you have to do it a couple of times for it to take.” She mimed rubbing her hands together. “You know, like a defibrillator. Clear.”
This was the other big risk of the plan. I didn’t need to restore her back to full power; I only needed to wake her up. If I couldn’t do that, then this whole venture was pointless.
Wait. A defibrillator. I reached into my pocket and rummaged for my chop seals.
Guanyin choked and arched her back against the marble floor. She started to breathe again.
Okay. Phew. I was glad she stirred before I ripped her shirt off and slammed my stamps of authority into her heart to jolt her with magic energy. That was a dumb idea.
The Goddess of Mercy’s eyes fluttered open. “Wha—” she said.
She bolted upright and nearly smacked me in the nose with her forehead. “No!” She understood that if she was awake, so was Xing Tian.
“It’s okay,” I said, cradling the back of her skull in case she flopped back down. “We got you covered. Everything is going to be all right.”
“But Xing Tian!” She pushed me away and staggered to her knees, forcing her way through the gap in our huddle. She gazed up at the events happening in the distance.
“JESUS CHRIST, GENIE!” she shouted, needing to borrow profanity from me in order to express her shock. “IS THAT TWO OF YOU?”
Against the backdrop of
the sky, a giant version of me traded blows with Xing Tian, aided by a second giant version of me. It was like a mountain range had come to life and started fighting with itself. Lincoln and Washington ganging up on Jefferson while Roosevelt shrunk down to normal size and rescued the Goddess of Mercy.
Okay, maybe not the best analogy, but in my defense, it was hard to concentrate when I could see three viewpoints in my mind at once.
“Two of me plus one more right here,” I said. “The ultimate form of the Ruyi Jingu Bang.”
Nezha, rest his soul, had keyed me onto the concept. Me and my fellow triplets were more than mere hair-clones. We were split bodies, each one alone stronger than I was by myself.
