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 stripped out of her clothes and 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 was 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 killmyself?”she squeaked.Yeah, it definitely screwed with her.
“Gotta get over it.”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 spun 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.
“Naughty Dragons!”it shouted, slapping a hand behind it and flattening Ruby.
Cyn swung his tail in an arc and stabbed the tulpa’s stomach.It wailed in outrage and thrust its hands toward him, knocking a stack of flattened cars so hard that the stack started to fall.Ruby screamed as cars rained down on Cyn.
Before she could think to help him, a hand slammed down on her.The breath left her lungs as she fell to the ground, landing on her back.The tulpa lifted a foot and stomped down right over Ruby.She could do nothing but hold her talons as stiffly as possible, making herself into a big sandspur.The foot came down and jerked back up again, followed by a childlike scream.
Ruby had still suffered the brunt of the pounding, her body aching as she tried to get up.The tulpa clutched its foot and hopped over to a flattened car.Ruby saw the cars shake as Cyn tried to free himself.The tulpa smashed the pancake down on top of the moving piece.
“Bad tulpa!”Ruby shouted, pulling herself to her feet.
The tulpa scrunched its face up.“No,you’rebad!”
Ruby needed to keep the tulpa’s attention while Cyn tried to extract himself from the pile.In giving the tulpa her childhood look, Smith had also given it a child’s behavior.
Ruby countered with, “No, you’re bad.”
WasCyn trying to extract himself?Or was he badly hurt?She flicked her gaze behind the tulpa, seeing a Dragon’s hand reach up and grab onto the edge of a car.When the tulpa followed her gaze, Ruby rushed forward and sank her teeth into one of its legs.Bad idea, though, as it kicked in an attempt to throw her off.She clutched the thick stalk with her talons until a big hand grabbed hold of her and plucked her away from its leg.
The tulpa lifted her to within inches of its face—Ruby’s face—and scowled.Then it spun as Cyn obviously did something to it.Suddenly Ruby found herself the battering ram as she rushed down and smashed into him.They both tumbled to the ground in a heap of arms and legs and tails.
“You all right?”they asked each other.
After giving each other a quick nod, they got to their feet and faced the tulpa.It was picking through a huge pile of various parts, grabbing up a handful of fenders and throwing them at Ruby and Cyn.Like a child in a temper-tantrum frenzy, it kept scooping up headlights, rims, and pieces of jagged metal and hurling them.
Cyn pulled her behind a Corolla as a crumpled motorcycle came flying at them.The car shook with the impact.He popped up and tried to send a deadly trail of black smoke at the tulpa but had to duck again as a tire sailed toward them.“We need to split up and attack from two fronts.If you can distract it like you were doing earlier?—”
“When I was being crushed and grabbed and stomped on, you mean?”
“Yes, that was perfect.”
“Really?That’s what you want me to do?”With a growl of indignation, she waited for the next deluge and then darted out as the tulpa grabbed more ammunition.She launched up, as high as she could go, swearing she felt her wings unfurl for a second.As the tulpa turned back for another throw, Ruby hit its neck and held on.The tulpa tossed the handfuls of junk at Cyn before it reached for her.
He sent a stream of smoke at its stomach, and she felt the blast vibrate right through the tulpa.“Ow, tummy ache!”it cried out.When it smashed into a stack of crushed cars, Ruby took the brunt, feeling the sharp metal scratch across her scales.
“You’re in the wrong place!”Cyn called.“I can’t hit the target with you wrapped around its neck.”
She tightened her grip as it took several loping steps toward the two-story metal warehouse.“I need to train.Just tell me how to kill this thing!”
