Stony Blend (A Paramour Bay Cozy Paranormal Mystery Book 16)

by Kennedy Layne

  It was quite a grand sight to witness.

  We’re all about to be incinerated into nothing but ash, and all you’re going on and on about is the view? Where have I gone wrong in your training?

  “We’re going to be fine,” I reassured Leo, hoping beyond hope that I was telling him the truth. “Let’s invite him in, so that he doesn’t break the glass.”

  Liam wrapped his hand around my upper arm when I’d attempted to go around him, his concern more than evident.

  “Trust me,” I whispered, becoming more and more confident in my abilities than ever before. Leo had just asked me where he’d gone wrong, but that was thing—he’d done everything right. “We’ll be fine.”

  I would love to appreciate the beauty of this moment, but I’ve just discovered that I have a massive phobia for being burned alive.

  I’d walked to the door and pushed it open, allowing the gusts of winds off the bay to keep it that way. If there was any damage done to the hinges, Rye could fix it on the house. I hadn’t really given much thought beyond this point, though. Truthfully, everything from this moment on would be based on Gary’s reaction to our upcoming conversation.

  We’re all going to die.

  “Liam, stay over there with Leo.” I began to walk backwards, unwilling to take my gaze off the front entrance. If I’d been smart about this situation, I would have kept my winter coat and accessories on. The opened door seemed to have sucked all of the warmth out of the teashop, and it was as if we’d never even come in from the cold. “Let me do the talking.”

  We’re definitely going to die.

  “You aren’t going to get an argument from me,” Liam replied, positioning himself so that he could defend Leo should the situation come to that. He’d even gone so far as to move one of the high-top tables so that it would be easy to throw if the circumstances called for it. He finally seemed to accept that his firearm would do no good against the supernatural. “Leo, you can’t make someone invisible when you do your blip thing, can you?”

  Tell the good ol’ sheriff that if I could remember how to disappear, I would have already done it!

  I couldn’t help myself. I cracked a smile.

  There is something majorly wrong with you.

  The sound of whooshing wings stopped me from replying, and I braced myself for Gary’s entrance.

  Sure enough, the snow that had been falling steadily outside began to rapidly swirl as the stone golem gracefully flapped his wings and landed with a pretty hard thud right outside the opened door. He then huffed, and I was pretty sure that I saw a bit of smoke come out of his nostrils. Then again, it might have been condensation from the heat of his breath.

  “Gary, we need to talk.”

  The stone golem’s eyes narrowed, though the orange irises were still glowing in irritation…or they might just simply glow all the time.

  That was neither here nor there.

  I got right to the point.

  “I have no plans to burn down the bakery, and I would never hurt Bree.”

  A squeak came from over near Liam, though I was almost certain that it was Leo’s reaction to Gary when he took a step forward that put him directly on the threshold of the teashop. I hadn’t even realized that I’d raised my hands in appeasement, but Gary appeared to take it that way.

  “Monty and Madam Rose would never hurt Bree, either. They were jesting. It’s a form of speech to express that they envy her talent, and yet you still caused damaged to their stores. I understand that it is your duty to protect her or Rye, but we need to discuss who created you. What you’re doing threatens the world that we live in, and you’re actually doing the opposite of protecting them.”

  “I keep them safe.”

  Gary sounded just as I’d imagined a stone golem would in my mind, with a gravelly tone that would have scared young children right out of their shoes. The fiery orange eyes didn’t help much, either.

  Raven, did you hear what he said? He keeps them safe. Tell the boulder that we agree, and that he can be on his way to stand guard. I do believe it’s time that we head home and pack our bags. Who’s with me?

  “I know that, Gary.”

  “You give me name?”

  Oy vey. It’s another massive intellect, only this one is in stone.

  “Yes, we gave you a name,” I said with a smile. I began to relax a little bit, especially since he hadn’t turned into a blowtorch. “All protectors should have names, and you’ve done a great job in making sure that Bree and Rye are safe. Unfortunately, I don’t think whoever created you explained playful banter.”

  The stone golem huffed once more and narrowed his eyes.

  Yeah, I don’t think he’s buying it, Raven. Tell him to give us a few hours, and we’ll gladly leave town.

  “You fix me, then.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  Upon the surprising request, I glanced over at Liam. Although his intense gaze was zeroed in on Gary, he gave me a small shrug that indicated he wasn’t sure where the conversion was heading.

  Well, there was only one way to clear it up, and I was all for it, especially if it meant that the stone golem kept talking instead of breathing fire.

  “Gary, I don’t use construct magic. I wouldn’t even know how to go about fixing your understanding of our language.”

  “You are a Marigold. You fix me.”

  Woah. That took a turn that I didn’t see coming.

  Leo wasn’t kidding, and a spur of anger began to surge through me. Not even the cold wind that was continuously pushing the falling snow in through the door could cool me down. Was my mother the responsible party? Is that why she’d gone house hunting without a care in the world, all the while we were trying to protect the town from a stone statue?

  “Gary, how did you know that I was a Marigold?”

  “I know.”

  “Did a Marigold create you?”

  “Yes. I protect.”

  “I know that,” I explained in a soothing manner, even taking a step forward. Liam tensed, but I waved away his concern. “I just don’t understand why.”

  My fur is starting to get icicles on the ends of the tufts, Raven. Could we hurry this along? I’ve already made a list of things to pack, and it might take more than a few hours.

  “Danger.”

  “Who wanted to protect Rye and Bree from danger?”

  I feel like a drumroll would be appropriate here.

  “Rowena Lattice Marigold.”

  Yep. I should have done a drumroll.

  “Are you saying that Aunt Rowena created you, and then sent you here to protect Rye and Bree?”

  “Yes. Fix me.”

  Demanding, isn’t he? While you’ve been conversing and figuring this mystery out, I’ve been thinking about how to use this gift to our advantage. What do you think would happen if Gargoyle Gary believed that Skippy and his ninja minions wanted to take over the bakery? He’d torch them, right?

  “What exactly did Aunt Rowena say to you when she…well, animated you.” I still wasn’t quite sure how creating a golem worked, but his essence had to come from somewhere, right? “Did she say anything other than to protect them?”

  “It is my sole responsibility to protect them…at all costs.”

  Of course, it was. Aunt Rowena didn’t do anything halfway, and I had a sliver of an idea as to why Gary was the way he was.

  I’m glad one of us is following, because I’m a bit lost. My mental antioxidants are being frozen solid by the hundreds. You better make this quick, Raven. I’m not sure how long I can last.

  “Can you move from your position any time that you want?” I asked, stepping even closer to him. He really was majestic, and his eyes somehow got brighter with every step. “Or do you need to hear, see, or sense a threat to one of them?”

  “I cannot move at will. I move to eliminate the threat.”

  “What happens if Rye or Bree are threatened someplace else?” I inquired, attempting to tie all the loose threads together.<
br />
  “There are others who fill those duties.”

  Sweet angel of mercy, I was right! I was right all along! There are a gaggle of gargoyles!

  Apparently, there was more than one gargoyle. It was something that would need to be addressed right away, because we simply couldn’t have a gaggle of gargoyles running around at the slightest witticism toward Rye or Bree. Aunt Rowena might have had the best intentions, but those intentions had backfired in a major way.

  “Aunt Rowena knows about Bree, right?”

  “Yes.”

  Everything fell into place, though only Aunt Rowena would be able to confirm the details. In the meantime, I needed to convince Gary that he should go back to his stand.

  “Gary, you’re doing a great job. I’m glad that you recognized my relationship with Aunt Rowena, so you know that you can trust me when I say that you can go back to your post.”

  Huh? That’s it? You’re sending him back to the bakery? Have you lost your mind? Ohhhhh. I see what you’re doing. We need to research and figure out a way to use Gargoyle Gary in our fight against the neighborhood squirrels. Good thinking!

  “Fix me.”

  “I will tell Aunt Rowena. She will tweak your…understanding of how our language should be interpreted.” I wasn’t sure what else to say, but it seemed to satisfy him. “Right now, you can go back to your post. We’re all going to go back home and touch base with Aunt Rowena. I’ll explain everything that has happened, and then she can come to town to help you to be better at your job.”

  “I go with you. I talk with Rowena Lattice Marigold.”

  I’m putting my paw down on this one, Raven. I am not having a new roommate who can roast me like a marshmallow whenever he feels like it. Nope. Not gonna happen.

  I agreed with Leo, but not for his reasoning.

  “How about this,” I offered tentatively as I came within two feet of him. His flesh still seemed as hard as stone, yet there was a shimmery texture to it when he moved. His wings were in a resting position. As for his eyes, they were simply mesmerizing. “You allow me to close the door behind you, and then we can talk with Aunt Rowena all together. You can talk to her, and I can also relay what has happened so that the good people of Paramour Bay don’t begin to suspect something is wrong.”

  “Agreed.”

  Liam muttered something underneath his breath, but I couldn’t make out the words. He probably thought that I was crazy, but this was technically a good thing. I went about making introductions as I tentatively stepped around Gary to close the door.

  “Gary, this is Liam and Leo. I’m sure that you already know this, but Liam is the sheriff of our town. It’s his job to protect the residents, too.”

  “A golem?”

  Leo began cackling, sounding as if he had a hairball stuck in his throat, but I recognized his belly laughter.

  “No, no,” Liam replied awkwardly, shifting his weight as he attempted to carry on a conversation with what was essentially a stone statue in the shape of a gargoyle. “A regular person.”

  “Leo is my familiar.” I hadn’t realized that I’d gotten so cold until the door was shut. Even though it would take a while for the heat to circulate around the teashop, cutting off the gusts of bitter cold winds was enough to cause my cheeks to burn in reaction. “Now, how about we make that call? Let me grab my phone and see if I can reach her, okay?”

  “Very well.”

  I tilted my head a few times at Liam, indicating that he should follow me to the check-out counter.

  You aren’t going to leave me alone with this rock head, are you? I have to read his manual before I can be fully comfortable in his presence, Raven. Things like this have to come with an operation’s manual, right? Maybe a quick start guide?

  “I thought you originally said that Rowena couldn’t have had anything to do with that thing,” Liam muttered, not comfortable with turning his back on Gary. He somehow managed to join me without ever once taking his gaze off the stone golem. “Do you believe him?”

  “Yes, I do believe him.” My cell phone was actually in my pocket, but Gary didn’t have to know that. I walked around the counter so that it appeared as if I was getting something out of the drawer. “I think Aunt Rowena found out about Bree during Mom’s wedding last month. She must have been afraid that others would, too. I’m guessing that she created Gary and a few other items that would be able to protect them. I’m not sure that they are all golems, but there is one way to find out.”

  “Don’t you think that we should call Rye first?”

  “No,” I immediately replied with a lot of emphasis on the word, refusing to get involved any more than we already were. “Aunt Rowena should be the one to tell him herself that she’s gone and done something this drastic. I’m pretty sure it would be a kill the messenger type deal, and I want no part of that.”

  I reached into the pocket of my snow pants and pulled out my cell phone. Taking a deep breath, I unlocked the display and went through my contacts. It wasn’t like I kept Aunt Rowena on speed dial.

  “Okay,” I said in my long exhale. “Let’s do this.”

  …so that could work. Once I lure Skippy and his minions through the door, which might take some maneuvering, they’ll wreak havoc on the bakery. Later that night, you do your thing…and we can claim victory in the squirrelpocalypse! You’ll get most of the credit, of course. I’ll make sure of it, but everyone will know that I was the one to lead us into battle with a master plan.

  “Leo, stop that,” I warned, not surprised in the least that Leo would attempt to recruit Gary. I came around the counter. “We’re about to call Aunt Rowena. Is everyone ready?”

  No. I’ve been rethinking our situation, and maybe we should let the Wicked Witch of Windsor believe that she’s gotten away with planting a stone golem basically in the middle of Paramour Bay. I’m sure we can come up with a way to tweak his sense of humor ourselves.

  I glared at Leo as I took a seat on the bench in the display window. I had to move his bed over a bit before motioning Gary closer to us.

  Just because I’m recruiting Gary for the upcoming squirrelpocalypse doesn’t mean that I want to sit beside him. You’re in the middle. All it takes is one sneeze, and I could be turned into a pile of ash.

  “Liam?”

  “I think I’ll sit this one out.”

  The good ol’ sheriff is smarter than he looks.

  I pressed on Aunt Rowena’s name as Gary very carefully climbed on top of the bench to sit next to me. The heat that radiated from his body was startling, but I guess he would have an internal heating mechanism if he could breathe and produce fire. We technically didn’t know the answer to that theory.

  The three of us sat huddled together as the video call that I’d initiated began to ring.

  “Hello, Raven,” Aunt Rowena called out after she’d answered the call. “To what do I owe…”

  Her sing-song voice trailed off in dismay as she finally looked at the display on her phone and realized that it wasn’t just me in the frame. Her red lips made the perfect O as she was almost certainly trying to come up with a good reason as to why the stone golem that she’d created in the shape of a gargoyle would be sitting next to me and Leo.

  I could only imagine how we looked on her screen.

  “Oh, dear.”

  “Oh, dear,” I reiterated wryly, shaking my head in disappointment. “How could you do this and not let someone know, Aunt Rowena? You went behind Rye’s back, you put the town in jeopardy, and now we’re all involved. Plus, Gary can’t figure out when someone is joking. Do you see how all of this could be a major problem?”

  “Gary?”

  “Gary,” I stated, shooting a sideways glance his way. “You created him, which means that he should have a name. And don’t veer away from the subject. You messed up, Aunt Rowena.”

  You tell her, Raven!

  “Fix me.”

  Aunt Rowena visibly swallowed, which was very unlike her to show any vulnerabili
ty. In hindsight, she was most likely mulling over Rye’s reaction to all of this. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in her shoes.

  “Gary wants to be fixed, we want the town to be safe, and you need to come clean with Rye,” I ordered without hesitation, proud of the stance that I’d taken. Aunt Rowena could be very intimidating, but this was our turf. Not hers. “I expect you here tomorrow, after the roads have been cleared. We’ll do our best to keep Gary from destroying any other shops until then, but please come ready to fix him. You can use my workroom in the back of my shop.”

  Wait. You want the Wicked Witch of Windsor to come here? Why on earth would we want that? Tell her that she can come clean with the cheating wizard over the phone, and then he can dabble in construct magic to fix Gary’s sense of humor. I’ve suffered enough consequences from misguided use of incantations, so this will be a win-win if everyone does their own thing in their own spaces. Everyone gets what they want, and I get a fire-breathing recruit in my war on the neighborhood squirrels!

  Chapter Twenty

  This isn’t exactly what I would call a win-win, Raven.

  I disagreed with Leo, but I was too busy enjoying my morning cup of coffee. The winter storm had come to an abrupt stop around six o’clock yesterday evening. It had taken the road crew all night, but they’d finally gotten the streets cleared from almost a foot of snow. It had been an epic stormfront, and we weren’t even close to being done for the winter.

  As I stood in the warmth of the teashop, Leo and I both watched as Aunt Rowena and Rye crossed the cobblestone intersection on their way to the bakery. She’d come here first, having already sent a message to Rye that she’d needed to speak with him.

  Let’s just say that we got to witness one heck of a confrontation.

  Who knew that the cheating wizard had it in him to stand up to the Wicked Witch of Windsor? I’d also like to point out that we might have garnered a bit of history on the cheater. I suggest that we sweep that bit of info under the rug. No need to dredge up that type of history. We have enough of our own problems to deal with.