The Power (The Magnificent 12 4)

He was no longer choking the evil goddess. His hands fell away from her neck and hung by his sides.

From the distance came the sound of an ambulance siren.

But here on the quad, on the grass in front of the multipurpose room, every eye—human and not human—was watching the golem.

Watching as the creature most had thought was Mack, and some knew was only a version of Mack, changed.

His skin grew gray and hard. It was as if a suit of armor was growing over him.

At the same time he was getting taller and broader, with bunches of muscles like pythons, with fingers that ended in bird-of-prey talons.

His face was the last to change. He’d looked like Mack, of course, albeit a somewhat sloppy, slightly muddy, occasionally twig-poking version of Mack.

But now his cheeks became hard slabs of steel. His mouth was a slit lined with red-rimmed steel teeth. Two horns grew from his temples—twisted, bony horns that arced forward and came to sharp points just to the side of his eyes.

“Much better,” Risky purred. “Now, my little Destroyer, follow me.”

She turned, laughed in delight, and walked away as the lumbering monster who had sort of been Mack followed behind her like a sullen and dangerous dog.

Seven

The Golden Temple is really, actually, gold. It’s covered in gold, not gold paint. Gold gold. It’s rectangular, and sits surrounded by water in an artificial lake. All around the lake are ornate, impressive white buildings that are part of the whole temple complex, but the thing that draws your attention is definitely the temple itself.

Because it’s gold.

It looks like the jewelry box a queen or empress might own. Like maybe you could sort of pry the top off and it would be full of bracelets and earrings and rings.

There’s a narrow, covered causeway leading out across the water to the temple. Music is playing over loudspeakers. It’s not great music, really, but hey, it’s music. And people from all over the world sort of shuffle down the causeway to get a look inside the temple.

There is a strict no-cuts rule, but Mack dealt with the line by showing up on a dragon. It’s amazing the effect a turquoise dragon will have on people waiting in line. Fortunately the water in the lake is shallow, so the panicked worshippers and assorted tourists were in no danger of drowning as they leaped shrieking off the causeway.

Xiao landed, and Mack and Stefan dismounted at the end of the causeway, which was now almost completely clear.

“Shall I change back?” Xiao asked.

“Probably yes. I’m not sure how they feel about dragons in their temple.”

The three of them—Mack, Stefan, and Xiao—walked quickly to the entrance of the temple. An old man in a bright-yellow turban stepped out to block their path. He didn’t look happy about it, and in fact he was trembling a bit, but since he had a fantastic, very-nearly-impossible white beard, Mack was also trembling.

“You . . . you . . . you . . . ,” the man said.

“Uh-uh-uh-uhuhuhuhuh!” Mack said.

“Move aside, old dude,” Stefan said threateningly.

Fortunately Xiao was there and had the presence of mind to ask the old man what he wanted. It turned out all he wanted was for them to take off their shoes and cover their heads. With a palsied hand he offered them scarves for that last part.

It’s one thing to go busting into temples with a bully and a dragon, but at the very least you have to observe the customs. So it was barefoot and scarf-headed that the three of them stepped into the Golden Temple of Amritsar.

Which was also mostly golden inside. But not just gold like someone had spray-painted a garage or whatever. No, this was gold that had been hammered on, gold on top of more gold, gold designs against gold backgrounds. Part of the ceiling had a shallow, scallop- shaped dome that was encrusted with gold and from which hung a massive chandelier made of, you guessed it . . . crystal.27

There was also a sort of awning set up inside where Mack assumed holy people sat and said holy things. But there was no one there at the moment. Apparently it was not a 24/7 service.

There was also an open second level, also gold, with a gold railing, a gold . . . Well, okay, you get the point: gold.

But one thing was clear: Valin was nowhere to be seen.

“I thought there were going to be lentils,” Stefan said, disappointed.