Enter the Janitor (The Cleaners) (Volume 1) by Josh Vogt

Author:Josh Vogt [Vogt, Josh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781614753186
Amazon: 1614753180
Publisher: WordFire Press
Published: 2015-05-04T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Ben staggered beneath the sudden burden of a weeping goddess. He tried to hold her upright, but she weighed far heavier than she looked. He resorted to squatting and then a quick drop onto his butt where he could brace her without throwing his back out.

He patted his pockets. “You want, I might got some tissues.”

She curled up like an overgrown child, arms around his neck, legs across his thighs. The kittens sat on their haunches and joined in with howls and screeches that turned Ben’s bones to jelly, heightened by relieved trembling. The notion of Filth being a mother sure seemed crazy when he first thought it, but it made some twisted sense. The newcomer was a child, and every child had to come from somewhere, didn’t it? While some folks were known to spontaneously combust, there had never been a report of spontaneous conception.

Well, ’cept for that one time …

Filth’s oily tears stained his suit, and he prayed they wouldn’t eat through the material. He tried patting her back and rocking a bit, a halting lullaby or two, but realized how ridiculous it was. So he sat still and let Filth weep until her sobs turned to breathless hiccups. Her hair pulsed in time with her breaths as words broke through the cries.

“That … wasn’t … funny…”

Ben cleared his throat as strands of her hair kept knotting around his knuckles. “Ahum. I ain’t never been great at this whole consolin’ thing.”

“Do you know what it’s like,” she said between sniffles, “to have to stand back and do nothing as your child is hunted down like a wild animal? How scared he must be …”

“He?”

She raised her face to his, eyes rimmed red, looking ancient and afraid. “I didn’t even have time to give him a name. I had to hide him the moment his powers manifested, and even then it wasn’t enough, was it? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

“So we’re really talkin’ ‘bout a kid here. A babe in the Pantheon.”

“You couldn’t have guessed,” she said. “You must have known all along. Which means many others know, and he’s still in danger. They all want him.”

“There’s been a lil’ news runnin’ around, yeah. I was gonna try a summoning on my end, but Sydney beat me to it.”

Sighing, Filth pushed away and stood with her back to him. A wave of an arm dissolved the kittens into puddles that soaked into the ground, leaving the surface covered in mossy scum.

“It wouldn’t have worked, either way,” she said.

Ben rose. “What I don’t get is why it … he mighta targeted Dani or m’self. Seems like lightnin’ strikin’ the same place twice.”

“Oh, that’s simple. Your apprentice recently discovered her powers, yes?”

Ben nodded.

“So she’s a newborn, similar to my offspring. My guess is the manifestations have happened to those who’ve most recently come into their abilities. And you,” a glance at his decaying arm, “you wield Purity, yet are infected with the Ravishing. Your body contains some traces of each Pantheon and possesses enough dual-affinity to draw his attention.

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