Page 62 of How To Take Down A Cult At The End Of The World

I reach down and grab an arm, a twist and a yank has it coming off in my hands. I can feel the hard edges of building blocks and gods knows what else, but it’s squishy. I don’t take the time to look to find out what the arm is made out of before I chuck it at the tentacle mass still screaming bloody murder behind me. I rinse and repeat the other side and leap off when the giant finally falls face down on the ground. The store shakes when it hits the floor. A few of the pendant lamps come down as well and crash around me from the force of the giant’s fall.

I look over to see Jaak has a tentacle pinned down. He’s holding something in his hands, a sword from the looks of it.

“When did we get swords?” I ask. “I want a sword.”

“I conjured it.” He gestures down to the eyeball staring up at us. “Needed something a little more than my hands to deal with this oaf. He regenerates when wounded.”

“I’m going to see you both beg for mercy!”

I cross my arms and join Jaak in glaring down at the eye. “That’s big talk from an eyeball with no toys.”

The tentacle thrashes below Jaak’s foot. “You will pay for this. I swear it. You destroyed my beautiful toys!” A tentacle starts to push out of the one Jaak has and I understand what he means by regenerate.

I don’t even have to ask for the sword, Jaak hands it to me and I slice the new tentacle clean off.

“You know, we just wanted to speak with the business owner,” I point the sword at it. “All of this could have been avoided.”

“The business owner?” The eyeball goes from me to Jaak and back again. “That’s it?”

I nod. “That’s it. Are you the business owner?”

“Well, no.”

“I see.”

“But it’s not that I couldn’t be.”

I nod. “You’re the manager right? And practically run this place?” I ask parroting Leo’s words back to the tentacle.

“How did you know?”

“Call it a hunch.” I stab the sword down into the floor and the tentacle tries to get away but I don’t let it. I crouch down beside it and look it up and down. “Why did you attack us? For all you knew we were coming in here to buy a puppet.”

The tentacle scoffs. “No one buys puppets.”

“He’s got us there, witchling.”

“Okay, fine,basketball,whatever. Why did you attack us?”

“You’re too powerful,” it says, eye darting between Jaak and I. “The magic you both have, the power, there’s no way you’re not up to something. I thought it was best to take matters into my own hands and vanquish you before you caused any trouble. This is a peculiar town but we have made it our home. We like it when it’s quiet.”

I look up at Jaak. “What do you think?”

“He seems truthful. At least, mostly. I see no harm in trusting it.”

I nod. “I agree. Let’s let him do his regeneration thing so he’s all in one piece.” I stand and Jaak takes his foot off the tentacle. It wiggles away from us.

“Look away,” it demands.

“Sorry, sorry.” Jaak and I turn our backs while the tentacle works on growing back what Jaak chopped off. There’s a few grunts and the sound of liquid hitting the floor that makes my eyes go wide as Jaak grabs my hand for support.

“What the hells is it doing back there?” I whisper.

“Regenerating. It’s a messy process.”

“So you’ve been through a lot of these then?”

There’s a thud and a groan that tells me maybe it’s over.