Page 6 of Swamp Kings 1

“Crap, I thought I dropped it.”

“I got a copy if you did,” Mah-Mah said.

“How many robot people are there again?” Phelony wondered, getting a round of giggles.

“Five,” Beth said.

“And theyallhave wives?” Cherie asked.

“The one called Quantum is the King,” Beth said. “He has a wife.”

“A nun,” Mah-Mah helped. “Isla. And those other three ones have wives.”

“The triplets,” Maggie said, excited.

“Theterrortriplets,” Beth added.

“Terror?” Phelony worried. “Why terror?”

“Probably cause they’re terrifying!” Tegan imagined.

“Bishop said it’s because they’re from the mind of one of the other people coming.” Beth flipped her pages around. “There’s a man named Kult who had split personalities and Quantum removed them from his mind and put them into their own bodies.”

The gasps were unanimous.

“They candothat?” Tully marveled.

“Apparently,” Gracie said. “Ruckus said they’re demons of nightmares.”

“What doesthatmean?” Maggie worried.

“That they come to the minds of people who suffer certain kinds of trauma.”

Gracie’s elaboration brought on a stunned silence.

“What kind of trauma?” Tegan quietly pressed.

“He said the kind a human can’t survive without divine assistance.”

“But, you said demons,” Claire’s quiet voice barely carried.

“He said good or bad, both are divine.”

“Why would bad devils wanna help him?” Maggie wondered.

“Oh, they don’t,” Gracie said. “He said they want to take over the vessel and fulfill its wicked lusts which the vessel is already full of. Due to the trauma,” she said, sounding half sure now.

“You’re telling me they’re demons with their own bodies?” Cat cried quietly.

“Andwives!?” Mia added, down the line.

“Nun wives!” Tegan tacked on.

“Maybe they keep their devils in line,” Mah-Mah thought.

“Maybe,” Beth said. “Their programming does that too. They’re all made to obey their directive. Protect their wives and the innocent.”

Tegan busted out in snickers. “If that is forreal, it just beatsall! Demons being forced to do good. Must chap their asses.”

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