Chapter 30: The Breaker

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Jo-Mel finally manages to break through to Monique as they wander closer and closer to the heart of the inner city. The distant sound of approaching sirens helping to rouse her. They quickly get off of the streets, ducking down into the underground labyrinth utilized by the unwanted, the unseen souls that inhabit most places such as this.

With the abundance of abandoned and neglected properties scattered throughout Decatur's poverty stricken neighborhoods, it was easy enough to find shelter.

Finally able to speak freely, Jo-Mel demands, “What is happening, here, Monique Felani? I have no intention of engaging with these people. It would not end well for any of us.”

“I don't know,” Monique replies. “Something here, this place, something drew me here. Can't you feel it?”

“No. Nothing like what you speak of, but there is an evil here. This is your Earth, though, America, no doubt. The shitani thrive,” she says.

“But when last we met, Monique, your thoughts were scrambled. You didn't know me. Your memories had been erased before the Queen Mother sent you away. What did the demon do to you? How do you now know yourself?” Jo-Mel asks.

Looking at her hands, Monique thinks about taking Pickle-Me-Jack's head, she had been lost in a sort of fugue, acting on pure instinct.

Just as she had been back in Bealz's bedroom.

Monique had not taken the time to think about Ms. Penny. Maybe purposefully. She had been in a frenzy to get Bealz out of danger, had lost herself to all else.

And now, Ms. Penny, the closest thing to a mother that she'd had growing up, was dead. And Monique had killed her.

She can still see her face, the tortured look of surprise as the heat of Monique's fires bloomed, erupted forth and struck her in the chest.

Tears sting Monique's eyes.

“I don't know why we're here,” she says. “I don't know what I'm doing.”

Jo-Mel, looks on, her concerns only increasing. Searching for a ley-line to tap into, she is surprised to find that there are none shifted beneath this city. Unusual for such a large collection of humanity. Utilizing a more tedious, more taxing working, something most similar to an esoteric form of mathematical calculation, Jo-Mel summons The Breaker, her shield, concealing and protecting them.

She needed to know what she was dealing with before things got out of hand. This woman was dangerous. Damaged. She was a simmering fount of unfocused, nearly limitless power. Jo-Mel wondered if Askauri realized himself just what she was capable of. How dangerous she truly was.

Turning to her, she gestures for Monique to join her, cross-legged, on the floor.

“Come,” she says. “Let's talk.”