Benny Washington, unable to relate to his distant father, and wracked with guilt over the recent death of his mother, seeks solace in best friend Peter Hall, comic books, and ballet-a passion he and Peter share. When Benny learns on the Internet tha...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER SIX
The Truth
They'd listened with rapt attention to Mr. Yang's explanation about how his aged friend—temporary keeper of the God Machine—mislabeled the package that was accidentally delivered to Benny's house, and then Benny—with the help of Peter, Emma, and Fremond—went on to describe the creature that attacked them. It also turns out that Mr. Yang used to work at Cynga.
At the moment, they're cruising around in Nicolas's SUV, with the four kids in back, huddled around Benny and his phone as he searches the Monster Hunter Go mobile version for any sign of the creature.
Mr. Yang sits in front with Nicolas, who's been sullenly silent since Benny's recitation of events, which means he's really mad and Benny will get an earful when they're alone.
"Have you found the creature, Benny?" Mr. Yang looks over his shoulder into the back seat.
Benny shakes his head, but doesn't lift his eyes from the screen. "No." This is all his fault. A monster is loose in San Francisco and he's responsible!
"How come I never met you at Cynga?" Nicolas asks, causing Mr. Yang to turn back around.
"I retired a few years ago. And I was in virtual reality and software. You're hardware. Monster Hunter Go was the last game I spearheaded."
"How did your friend mix up the address like he did?"
Yang shrugs. "He's eighty-five. That's why the machine was being passed on to me for safe-keeping. It never stays with one of us for long, but we're all highly trained in dealing with incursions such as this one."
Fremond leans toward the back of Yang's seat. "How many are there in your group?"
"We're a worldwide organization. Matthew Spear was the founder. His cover as a spiritualist fit the mentality of society back in the 1800s. He circulated that story about talking to God because he knew the populace at the time would believe it. The real truth is something most people can't handle."
Nicolas glances over. "That interdimensional beings are crossing over into our world?" His tone reeks of ridicule.
"As I explained at the house, Nicolas, all mythical monsters are interdimensional beings that found their way to our dimension. The God Machine, as Spear dubbed it, was designed as a permanent portal for sending the most dangerous of these invaders back where they came from."
Emma lifts her gaze from Benny's phone. "What are some of the monsters that're really interdimensional beings?"
"Vampires, werewolves, the Loch Ness Monster, griffins, dragons, Bigfoot. To name a few."
"Vampires and werewolves don't seem that bad."
Yang turns and squints at her. "The real creatures are not pretty, muscular boys like in those movies, young lady. They are truly vicious entities that flay humans alive."
