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“Tito, down!” I shouted as loudly as I could, and he ducked. Uma’s ax whizzed over his head. He rolled away, but she was after him. Queen Renata planted her staff and used it to steady herself as she swung her body toward Uma. She co
“GET OUT!” Martini bellowed.
Tito didn’t argue, he ran. But the other three didn’t. Uma turned and started bearing down on them again. She looked uninjured, and she was still glowing.
Uma hit Felicia. Felicia screamed, a cat’s shriek of pain. Arup managed to grab her. He lifted her into his arms and ran back to the others. Uma’s ax just missed him.
“Jeff, we have to get Renata away from her.”
“On it.” Martini ran at hyperspeed. I couldn’t see him, but I saw Queen Renata go flying just before Uma’s ax cleaved her in two.
I stood up. “Bitch Leader!”
Uma looked at me. “You. How dare you still stand!”
“It’s a human thing. We Americans pride ourselves on it.” I picked up a staff. “We’re all over the scrappy attitudes. The get-knocked-down-and-get-back-up mind-set.”
She smiled. “You will not get up again.”
I shrugged and used it as an opportunity to relax my back and shoulders a bit. “Your side’s down. Just the White Queen to protect her king. I still have active pieces on the board.”
“They can’t help you.”
We were close to each other. Not close enough for the weapons to hit, but close enough that we didn’t have to scream.
“They aren’t supposed to help me, are they? Not now.”
“No. You will face me as your final test.”
“Babe, you know, you can stop with the My Royal Lord crap, I know the plan. I know what’s inside you and what King Creepola has pla
She laughed. “But that presumes I will let him have this power. We have discussed it—the power is better in a woman. Stronger, more ruthless.”
“The power doesn’t have to work like that. It can protect and serve and love.”
“Your planet is weaker than mine, your power is weaker than mine, and you are weaker than me. I will enjoy killing you.”
“Uma? Got one thing to say to you.” I shifted into a fighting stance. “Bring it.”
CHAPTER 53
AS I WAITED FOR UMA TO MAKE A MOVE, ACE spoke in my head. Kitty, ACE wants Kitty to know that Kitty and ACE will be fighting together now. Kitty will see things as ACE can see them, do things as ACE can do them.
Come again? ACE? Haven’t you been helping me all this fight?
No, Kitty. ACE did not need to.
Wow. I really was black-belt material.
ACE spoke again, and he sounded embarrassed. Kitty is very . . . lucky. That is good.
Maybe I’d wait to go for the brown-belt test.
ACE thinks that might be wise.
Geez . . . I didn’t even have to actively think the thought with ACE inside. I wondered if Martini could read me like this now.
Not quite. Jeff is very upset. All the others are very upset.
Why?
The other consciousness and ACE have blocked everyone out. Kitty and Uma will fight alone now. No one can help Kitty.
Other than you.
Yes.
That’s all I’ll need, ACE.
ACE subsided, but I could feel him there. It was as though my whole mind expanded to see every living thing in the world and beyond. It was startling and amazing and a little frightening. Distracting, in a way, but a scary Valkyrie with a loaded ax can really pull you back into the moment.
Uma ran toward me, and I knew we were moving fast, but it seemed slow at the same time. I looked into her eyes, and I could see the other consciousness there. It was filled with hatred and anger, and it despised me, despised us, despised ACE most of all. By taking a name ACE had become more human, and so the other one loathed ACE.
Uma’s ax swung, I dodged, and it whizzed by me. I flipped the staff toward her stomach. She twirled, and the staff missed. She kept spi
This went on for what seemed like moments and hours at the same time. I was tired, but stopping wasn’t an option.
The song in my ears changed, and I realized I still had my iPod on. I’d been so involved with staying alive that I hadn’t noticed. Aerosmith’s “Nine Lives” came yowling on. I started to laugh.
“What is fu
“God likes me.”
“Your God does not exist. Only power exists.”
“You know, every time I fight some fugly monster or crazy bitch like yourself, Uma, someone tells me there is no God. But I know they’re wrong.”
Uma lunged at me, but I managed to jump out of the way. As I did, I realized we weren’t on the ground any more. We were floating in the air.
Looking around at the view was stupid. Uma slammed into me, with her body, not her ax. I was lucky that way. Not so lucky that I didn’t lose hold of my staff. It fell, and apparently it didn’t get to float if I wasn’t holding it. I saw it hit the ground and stick in the sand.
I rolled and kept rolling, Uma’s ax just missing where I had been a moment before. I started to feel like a hamster in a ball.
AC/DC’s “Back in Black” came on. Fitting—I was the Black Queen, after all. I managed to roll and shove away against nothing to get far enough way from Uma to get to my feet. I started ru
I was a sprinter, and I was staying in front of her. But the superconsciousnesses had created some sort of weird bubble around us. Which meant I was ru
ACE, any shot of us doing something more proactive? Just asking.
If ACE does, she will attack the others.
An odd thought occurred. ACE . . . name her. Name the other consciousness.
ACE ca
Why not? I name stuff all the time.
Uma was almost on me. Decided to see just how out of whack with the laws of physics we were. Instead of ru
It worked. I was across our Super Hamster Ball, and I hadn’t gone splat.
Decided all the talking in my mind was getting old. “ACE, name her!”
“Who are you talking to?” Uma shouted at me while she barreled toward me.
I jumped again, in a different direction. “I’m talking to ACE. He’s in me. Like Lilith Fair is in you.”
“That is not her name!”
“Well, she didn’t pick one, neither did you. ACE and I like Lilith. Sort of fitting.”
“Stop using that name!”
Wow, this really bugged them. Good. “Lilith and Uma, sittin’ in a tree, trying to kill poor little Kit-ty.” Hey, wasn’t the greatest rhyme, but I was trying to stay alive here.
This continued for a bit, me taunting, them trying to kill me. I didn’t have a weapon other than my speed and my mouth, both of which were ru
Landed flat on my back. Facing the ground. The trippiness was what I expected hard drugs to do to a person. Found myself glad I’d never indulged and swore to never start. My stomach didn’t enjoy the view.
The wind was knocked out of me, so I got to see how upset and frightened everyone on the ground looked. Chuckie, Tito, Reader, and Michael were restraining Martini. All the other males from Earth were down, though they appeared to be alive. Animal Planet was fifty-fifty on the sexes. Bottom line—our side was battered.