Jamie walked up the steps to the Cobalt City Buddhist Church and waved distractedly to her father as he drove away. "Karl? You around?"

No response came from Karl. This was becoming increasingly weird.

Halfway up, one of the church's two guardian spirits materialized next to her. He looked like a Japanese man except red, seven feet tall and built like a body builder. He wore only a pair of loose silk pants and carried a vajra club slung over one shoulder. He always scowled.

"Hey kid," the spirit said.

"Hey Agyo," Jamie said back. "How's the guardian spirit business?"

"Slow. Not a whole lot of greed, hatred or delusion being aimed at us lately." The spirit shook his head. "People are too wishy-washy and PC the...

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