Dragon Awakened(59)

He wiped his arm across his sweating brow. “I will, as soon as I’m done. I get it now, why you’re all excited about seeing something go from junky to shiny and pretty. This is gonna look so cool.”

The tulpa pushed a stack of carburetors Nevin had been talking about welding together as an art form. He spun around as the stack crashed to the ground, his mouth gaping.

Could he see the tulpa?

“Holy heck in a handbasket, what—” He spun back to Ruby. “Did you see that? The whole stack just tipped over. What if someone had been standing beside it? You were right, Ruby. I should have done something about that before now.”

And that answered that. Nevin walked toward the stack. Ruby tugged at his arm the same way her Dragon tugged at her to Catalyze. “Nevin, it might fall more. Don’t go near it.”

She looked up, way up at the tulpa. The “it” she was really talking about smiled down at her. There was something oddly familiar about that smile. It wore no clothes, its body a vague mass of flesh-toned substance. And yes, it smelled like a sponge that had been sitting in dirty water for weeks.

The tulpa sniffed at Nevin, then flicked his head. Nevin stumbled at the impact, his hand to his head as he looked for what had hit him. “What was that?”

Ruby hauled him backward. “Remember when I said there might be trouble? Well, there’s trouble.”

He rubbed his head, confusion on his face. “Is that what hit me? What knocked the carburetors down?”

“Yes.” She led him to his car, looking back to see Cyn standing between her and the tulpa, trying to keep it back. In human form, he didn’t have the power he would as Dragon. “Nevin, you really have to leave now.”

“Should I call the police?”

“No, definitely not. I don’t want to involve you. And I don’t want you hurt.”

He looked pained, glancing over her shoulder at Cyn. “Ever since that guy came on the scene, you’ve been acting weird.”

She wanted to laugh. Ever since Cyn arrived, she was weird. “Trust me, it’ll be okay. Go. Bye.”

He got into his car and pulled toward the gate. Cyn was throwing things that were awaiting restoration at the overgrown girl. A kid’s bike bounced off the tulpa’s hip. A Sunoco sign hit the tulpa’s arm and made it frown. He was goading it, leading it farther back into the Yard. Away from the fence where someone could see them Catalyze, she suspected.

“What kind of world did I end up in?” she muttered, locking the gate behind Nevin’s car and turning to join Cyn.

He was now in Nevin’s territory, which meant general chaos. Stacks of parts, walls of crushed cars ready for scrapping. She circled around the edge of the Yard and came up behind the thing. She gave him a nod. He was safe to Catalyze. To be clear, she did.

So did he, his scales shimmering in the late afternoon light. Cyn lunged forward lightning fast, taking a bite of the tulpa’s flesh, then another.

“Ouchie!” The tulpa swiped at him, missing by a fraction. “Bad Dragon!” it shouted, shaking its pointed finger. Just like a kid. It turned as Ruby crept up from behind and kicked a stack of cars, sending them crashing down. Ruby scurried back.

“Tulpas are Thoughtforms,” Cyn spoke as though he were merely conversing with himself. “Not terribly smart but capable. Created by a powerful mind, given an agenda that they’re pretty single-minded about. But they like the killing part.”

“It looks weirdly familiar.”

“It’s you, Ruby, at the age you were when Mr. Smith had your parents killed. Sick bastard must have gotten it from the newspaper article. He’s trying to screw with us.”

“Ohmigod, I see it now. My hair. My eyes. How am I supposed to kill myself?” she squeaked. Yeah, it definitely screwed with her.

“Don’t let it mess with you.” Cyn approached, drawing its attention. But he looked as disturbed by the image as she was.

The tulpa picked up one of the carburetors from the pile and threw it at him. Cyn rolled out of the way, and it reached down for another one. Ruby took advantage of its distraction and started to jump on its back, but it turned toward her. The damned thing threw that carburetor at her. Ruby ducked behind a rusty Ford truck with an inch to spare. She actually felt the air as it whooshed past and crashed into something behind her.

“Ruuuuby,” the tulpa called in a singsong voice, “come out and play with me.”

It started to pick up the truck—the whole damned truck—when it spun around as Cyn obviously attacked. The truck dropped back down again, narrowly missing Ruby’s foot. She scooted out and jumped onto the tulpa’s back, plunging her talons into what felt like rubbery flesh. As long as she didn’t look at it, she could kill it.