Monster Planet(88)

She didn't have the energy to try to figure it out.

'It's about Mael Mag Och. The guy I thought was called Jack.'

Ah. The old bastard. Yes, I knew him well. Did you want just general information or did you have a specific question?

'Why did he lie to me?' she demanded. She had tried to find out for herself, earlier, by going to the horse's mouth. Time and again she had grasped the hilt of the green sword. Mael Mag Och never answered. When she'd asked her father about that he'd said the old Celt must be screening his calls. Then Dekalb had been forced to explain to her what that meant. 'He won't talk to me now. For years though he came to me. He taught me things, gave me advice. Why? Why was it so important that I think he was Jack?'

He probably chose Jack's name as someone you would have heard of, somebody you could be expected to trust,Gary told her. His voice was surprisingly soft and kindly.He was never the kind of person who could tell you simple facts. He came on like a nice guy and frankly, I still believe he has a good heart. But he has some pretty crazy ideas about who we are and why the world had to end. If he doesn't want to talk to you then count yourself lucky.

'I guess he fooled you, too, huh?' Sarah asked.

For a while. Then I ate his brain. Of course, that says more about me than him.

Sarah shook with horror.

He's insane. I can tell you that much for free, short cake. He told me once his god sent him back from death so that he could oversee the extinction of the human race. He didn't strike me as the kind who would give up on a commandment from a god.

Chills ran down Sarah's back. Extinction...? Was that what he wanted? Why had he helped her, then? What kind of game was he playing behind her back? It had to be something else.

Whatever he asks you, whatever he asks from you. Don't give it to him.

'Thanks for the advice.' Sarah put the tooth back in her pocket and rolled over again. She could hear her father moving around on the hardwood floor. He didn't sound like a human being. His footsteps weren't loud or strong enough.

Too many thoughts.

In the morning white sunlight marched up the sheets and eventually hit her in the face. Sarah wrinkled her nose but eventually she had to give in. She sat up in bed and saw her father sitting in the chair across the room. He had a book in his hands.

'There was a time when I was too weak even to read,' he told her, his mouth curved into something wistful, something approaching a smile but never quite reaching it. He was so much less horrible, less, well, disgusting when he talked. He had her father's voice and that made all the difference. Grateful, she sat up and listened attentively. 'That was before I figured out I could take energy from the ghouls like a sort of vampire. I've had a hard time of it, kiddo.'

'I'm... sorry, Dad,' she said, and put her feet down on the floor. Her shoes were lined up next to the bed, in case she had to get up for an emergency in the middle of the night. Ayaan had taught her that, not her father. She slipped into them effortlessly.

'I can't tell you how proud I am of what you've accomplished. It's not easy moving around the world these days, I should know. I came to New York back when all the ghouls were still here. I'm a little peeved with Ayaan. She said she would take care of you.'

Sarah looked down at the floor. Her head was too fuzzy to process much. 'Actually, that's kind of something I've been meaning to talk to you about.' She stood up and shivered. Her sweatshirt was in the laundry, leaving her with just a tank top. It was cold in the bed room'no central heating anymore. Wrapping her arms around her she tried to look him in the eye, like an adult. 'She's... dead. She got captured by the Tsarevich and... I've been following her, trying to save her but I waited too long, I could have, I could have stopped it, somehow, if I had taken the fight to them, if I hadn't been so cautious but now she's undead and. And. And. I have to sanitize her now. I have to save her from being one of those... things.' She stopped herself. She had been about to say that she needed to save Ayaan from being a lich. He might take that the wrong way.

He stared at her unblinking. She couldn't remember if he still had eyelids or not.

'Okay, that came out all wrong. Can I start again?' she asked.

'No need,' he told her. His head tilted backward and his eyes clouded over and she wondered if he was having the ghoulish equivalent of a stroke. Then he went to the dresser and touched the green sword. 'So you were trying to rescue Ayaan. I see. It didn't work out. You can't blame yourself for that. It wasn't your fault.'