I'd seen plenty of monsters in the past couple of months.

I'd seen monsters who could shed the damage they took like an old coat. I'd dealt with monsters who could mend the damage they took. Heck, I'd dealt with monsters only my superpowered friends were capable of defeating.

The one that crashed into Studio Six Two, however, looked like it could take the Nobel Prize for Biggest Pain in the Butt to Kill.

How do I describe it? Imagine if the Nightwalker from Princess Mononoke and Godzilla had a baby, but with steel skin. I didn't think normal weapons could penetrate that. Its mouth was lined with teeth the size of your lower arm. Its eyes glared all around with a cold, pinkish light. Its back was lined with spikes that would've put an Ankylosaurus to shame. It stood up on its hind legs and sniffed the air, as if trying to catch a scent.

I could hear several expletives from the guests (which I will not repeat). To be fair, I'd have let a few fly myself if I caught a monster in the middle of demolishing my place. That was when VLADJI showed up next to me.

"¿Qué el diablo es eso?" Vinny Lee asked. I didn't think Vinny Lee got spooked enough to lapse into Spanish, but that's how scary that monster must've been.

"Sacrebleu!" Rouge shouted. "Un Gargantua!"

"What-now?" I asked.

Amy muttered a curse. "Gargantua. They're a nasty race of monsters from the north. They're impossible to kill with normal weapons."

"Good to know," DJ muttered.

The monster roared and sent a blow straight into the floor. The floor cracked and several tables got overturned.

"Amos!" It was Papa. He was running to me, probably faster than he had to when he was on the basketball team. "What is going on here? What is that thing?"

"Gargantua," I responded.

"Great." Papa huffed. "And who brought it in here?"

"Pretty sure it brought itself," Imira responded. "As most of our difficulties do."

Which was right when I caught a broken chord from the keyboard. The monster must have stepped on it. It lifted its foot up, clearly quite pleased with itself.

Rage went through me. I challenge you to feel differently when your favorite instrument gets so casually destroyed.

"Hey!" I shouted. I was probably going into a temper flare, but I didn't care. I was so mad at the monster for destroying something José had worked so hard to set up.

I lunged at the monster and struck. My fist bounced off the steel, and I heard a cracking noise. Great. My fist was broken. Clearly, I couldn't fight it myself.

A cloud of smoke came straight around me as I tried to attack again. I tried to struggle, but then – poof. I was the smoke.

Sounds cool, but imagine your body dissolving, your senses becoming scattered. Imagine a tingling where your stomach would be, and a strange sense of confusion. That's what it was like.

When I came to, I was on the floor with Shadow standing over me. I was intact as I'd been before – broken hand, but at least I was back to myself. The only side effect was that my stomach still felt like it was mostly smoke.

It occurred to me that Shadow must've been the one who'd smoked me out of the fight. Two days ago, he'd been skittish about smoking instruments over, now he was smoking out a human being, intact. How had he advanced so fast in his powers? I didn't want to know.

"I just said you can't kill it with normal weapons," Amy said, glancing at my broken fist. She started crying and I felt the click of my bones resetting and mending. That's just one of Amy's powers as an avatar.

"Well, how can you defeat it?" DJ asked, looking quite shaken. Yep, I'd lost it. Gone full temper flare and all. Only that could've scared DJ witless.

"Amos," Papa said to me, distracting me. "What is going on here? Why is it here?"

I huffed. "You know what I said about monsters attacking me? Yeah, this is one of them."

My father stared at me.

The Gargantua hissed at me. It seemed to be glancing in the direction of my pendant. Why? I also noticed it flashing, harder, like, Um, dude, let it rip.

"Why's it doing that?" Papa asked.

"No idea" was my only response. Now that my head was clear (getting caught in a smoke cloud can rather put a reset on your brain), I noticed a pattern. The monster seemed interested in wrecking the party for sure. It had stepped on the keyboard to keep anyone from using it… and possibly defeating it.

"It didn't do that before," Papa responded. "Is it… a weapon?"

"I don't think so." Something clicked in my brain. It was looking for someone it could get rid of. Someone who played music. Someone like me.

Could it be…?

"DJ?" I said. "Could you get them to stand down?"

She huffed. "Please tell me you have an idea."

"I do. But you're probably not going to like it."

"I don't like anything right now. Spill."

I glanced at the pendant, then at the crowd. Now that they were aware of the monster's presence, they were scattering all around. A panicked crowd in a small building… that wouldn't end well.

"We need crowd control," I said. "They're going to stampede."

"And what'll you be doing?" DJ pressed.

I remembered the way it had logged the instruments – the instruments, as if that was what was missing. I remembered the Doctor telling me it would activate when I found my talent.

Well, I was long overdue for discovering my talent. I needed to do this anyway. And what better way to go out than with a song?

I tapped my pendant. "I'm going to try something."

DJ's eyes widened. "Are you crazy?"

"Maybe. But Amy said it can't be killed by normal weapons. This isn't normal, and it's not a weapon, apparently. Maybe that's the key to defeating it."

I was rambling at this point, but I hoped DJ would take me seriously on this. I hoped Papa, whom I was sure was listening, would understand I was capable now. That I was finding my own way in life, as he did his.

Papa glanced at me, unsure what I'd become. "So, you're not mad at me?"

"Well, now I know from José," I responded. "Also, I can't really stay mad when there's a monster tearing things up."

Papa nodded as if he understood. Then moved to clear out the crowd. "Everyone, calm down! Get back!"

The crowds, formerly hectic from the move, got organized. I caught José's eye. He gave me a clear look that said, make it count. I had to wonder if he'd been eavesdropping.

No time for that. I glanced at my pendant. Are you sure?

Yes, it seemed to tell me. Now.

I understood.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered, and yanked at the pendant.

What's he going to do here? Verse for the update: 2 Maccabees 6:16. Stay tuned!