. . .

Jane sits in an alley by a fire that she ignited with her Taoist immortal powers. (The Tao precedes both alley fires and non-alley non-fires, so this requires no real effort on an immortal’s part.) She meditates on what she has learned. Her third eye opens and pierces the boundaries between being and non-being.

The goat has chewed its way upwards through all the layers of the underworld. It has mauled through the army of the dead. It has pierced the Great Gate, though it soaped it, and gotten past the centipede.

It has come up to Earth, she realizes. It has taken human form. It is standing right behind her —

“You bastard!” she says.

She elbows Martin in the stomach. He oofs and bends over. He collapses to his knees.

That isn’t a sene-goat at all!

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