She couldn’t think of a better place for the factory than right by the sheep. The company could locate it further inland, but why? They would be close enough to Galway to get things shipped and close enough to Shannon Airport to get things flown. Nothing else would make sense.
She was good at her job and she saw no reason why they would reject her site. This would be a first.
“Because we are moving in a different direction.”
“Away from wool?”
“I’m not at liberty to say. You’ll be briefed when you get back. We’ve chosen another site and you need to come home. There will be a ticket for you in your inbox. I expect you in the office the day after your return.”
Meg didn’t think there was any room for argument, but this shift on the company’s part was sudden. “May I ask what site has been chosen?”
“You’ll get briefed on that when you get here.”
None of this felt right. “I don’t understand the secrecy. I’ve been scouting sites for this company for two years now. I’ve always been in the thick of things. Why am I suddenly out of the loop? Is this something I should be concerned about?”
Was her job in jeopardy? She deserved to know that at least. What was she walking into and how did Harriet Witherspoon get her job?
“I’m not at liberty to talk. Just be on the plane tomorrow and we’ll talk when you get into the office two days from now. I need to go,” Harriet said, then hung up.
Meg stared at her phone for a moment attempting to digest everything her new boss had told her. It was a lot to take in and she needed a sounding board.
Her gargoyles would still be there and there was at least another hour of daylight. She could make it there. Even if she sat in the dark, she needed to make sense of this. Talking it out with her friends the gargoyles would help.
She grabbed a candy bar from her suitcase then checked her email. Sure enough there was her ticket home for a flight tomorrow morning. She’d have to be up at the crack of dawn to get there on time. Did Harriet not realize the distance between where she was and Shannon?
Frowning at the screen, she knew she couldn’t change things. She sighed then grabbed her keys. A drive and a talk would clear her mind then she could go to sleep.
The sun was going down over the Atlantic Ocean when she arrived at the church. She sat in the car for a few minutes to gather her thoughts.
The gargoyles would listen. They always did. Why did she feel such a kinship with them? They were inanimate objects. Maybe because they had probably seen so much of the world change in front of them as they sat perched on the shelf above the door.
Pushing open her door, she walked past a few sheep who bleated at her.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said.
They went back to eating as she walked past them. The wind had picked up and a cool breeze blew off of the ocean which had turned grayer than her last visit. She sat on the wall for a few minutes then the words spilled out of her.
“I have to go home tomorrow.”
***
“Shite” was Donal’s first thought. He’d run out of time.
The brothers hadn’t come up with a plan and Donal had assumed he’d have more time.
“Did you hear that?” he said to his siblings.
“Yep.”
“Guess you’re out of luck.”
“Thanks.”
They were no help.
Meg stood below them, looking out over the ocean. Even if she wasn’t facing him, Donal knew she was the most beautiful fairy he’d ever seen. Freckles dotted her nose and her red hair whipped in the wind.
“I can’t believe my boss retired without telling me. I thought I was the ideal candidate for her job. She’d been such a mentor to me. I’m sorry to see her go.”
Meg sighed. Donal could feel her distress. That’s how he’d known she was his fairy. He’d sworn an oath several thousand years ago to protect her. When he knew he was destined to protect her, he’d promised to keep her safe for all time. Which he couldn’t do if he were in stone.
He remembered that he could be with her for a whole day and he could come to life, but if she was across the ocean that she now stared at, that would never happen. He sighed within his mind. His heart beat with hers already as if the Fairy Queen herself had picked Meg for him.
He’d miss his brothers, but Meg was more important. They would have their chances. His was now and he’d miss out if he didn’t figure out how to go home with her. Wherever home was.
Meg fell silent which made him sad, but enabled him to think.
He wasn’t attached to the building. He was merely perched on a ledge. He could move. If he rocked he’d fall, but Meg had put down a bag of some sorts. It fell open when she did.
As if the Fairy Queen was smiling from her hiding place, Donal could see himself falling right into that bag. He just had to do it without Meg seeing.
She wandered slowly to the wall she’d sat on earlier. “This place is so beautiful. Maybe it is better that the plant won’t be here. It will remain untouched.”
Donal didn’t know what would happen to the church since Meg had been their first visitor besides the sheep in countless years. He had a feeling that it was invisible to anyone but fairies and Meg was the first one to stop since they’d been turned to stone. At least she had come along.
He blessed whatever fates had brought her across the ocean to him. Otherwise he’d live out his days as stone.
“I envy you gargoyles being able to look at this all day.”
She’d spun around just as Donal started rocking. He steadied himself, but she seemed too lost in thought to notice he’d been wobbling. She stalked over to the doorway where they stood watch. “It’s not fair. At all. I wanted that job. I earned that job.”
Meg picked up her bag then set it back down. She strode back to the wall, her hands resting on it. “It was my job. Promised to me. I’m perfect for it. No one has worked harder.”
Donal started rocking again. She wasn’t going to notice if he was not on the shelf.
“Go for it, Donal. It’s your last chance,” Sean whispered.
He knew this. He knew it with every fiber of his being. His father had talked about leaping into life and Donal suddenly knew what he meant. He was going to physically leap, but it was also a metaphorical one. Falling off of this ledge would change everything. He would either crash and break into pieces, effectively dying, or he would land in Meg’s bag to be taken home with her. The queen had shrunk them before she turned them to stone.
She groaned, but didn’t turn back to them. It was now or never. He wobbled. He rocked. Donal pushed himself off the ledge and then he was in freefall. It hadn’t looked that long a way down, but it was. He approached the bag and then he was in it.
He let out a breath in his mind. Meg still chattered on, not happy with whatever was calling her home. Donal wasn’t completely happy either, but he would be. If he made it home with her and took his human-like form, he would be happy.
“The more I think about it, the madder I get.”
Meg took to pacing between the wall and the doorway. He hoped his brothers wouldn’t do anything stupid.
“I guess there is nothing I can do. It’s my fate.” She looked out to the ocean. “I hope I can come back here on vacation. It is such a beautiful place.” She pulled out her phone, pointing it at the sea. “I will remember this just as it is now. Gray skies, wind moving everything around.”
Donal had to admit she was right. The day was gorgeous even without the sun. It was how he would remember his home. He’d bring her back here. When they were together.
“Goodbye my brothers,” Donal said in his mind.
Meg finally stopped talking and pacing. “I have to be up early, but thank you, boys, for listening to me.”
Donal held his breath, but she didn’t look up at the ledge. Nor did she seem to notice that her bag was heavier when she put in on her shoulder. Would she question the gargoyle statue in her lu
ggage when she returned home? And would he be in her presence long enough to take his correct form?
He didn’t know and he didn’t care. He had a chance at a new life and he would do everything in his power to make it happen. He didn’t know how close he had to be to her for the spell to be reversed. The Fairy Queen had never been specific and she was somewhere laughing, he was sure.
Chapter Three
Meg carried her bags into her apartment, exhausted from the day of travel.
“There has got to be an easier way to do this.”
She dropped the bags on her floor. All she wanted to do was shower and sleep, but it was the middle of the afternoon. Her body thought it was later in the day.
“That’s what being in another time zone does to you,” she said to her empty apartment.
Rationally it looked the same as when she left, but now it felt lonely. She blew out a breath, looking around. Never in her adult life had she wanted anyone to come home too. Her career had always been her lover.
Not that there hadn’t been men along the way, but they had been as committed to their careers as she was.
She rolled the biggest of the suitcases into her bedroom. “Might as well unpack.”
She pulled all of her dirty clothing out of the bag and put them into a basket. A trip to the laundry room had to be on her agenda. “I might have nothing to wear if I don’t. At least no underwear.”
Meg’s phone rang. “Hey, Col.”
“Did you just get in? I wasn’t sure when you’d be home.”
Meg sat on the bed, her laundry forgotten. Her body sighed at the idea that she would be sleeping in her own bed tonight. She wanted to flop back onto the comforter, but she’d be out in seconds.
“I’m home. Only a few minutes.”
“Oh. I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” Meg said.
Colleen Connelly and their third friend Fiona Brady had bonded during Meg’s freshman year in college. Colleen had been a sophomore and Fiona a junior. They’d stayed friends through graduation, various boyfriends and jobs. They understood each other’s workaholic ways.
“Fi and I are getting together tonight. You want to join?”
Meg blew out another exhausted breath. “Not sure I’m up for it tonight.”
“That’s what I told Fi, but she insisted,” Colleen said.
“I’d love to see you guys tomorrow for lunch. I have news.”
“Good news?” Colleen said.
“Sadly not.”
“Then you must come out tonight.”
“Sorry Col, I can’t. I have to do laundry and get ready for a day at work tomorrow. I haven’t been in the office for two weeks,” Meg said.
Her body wanted to sleep so she stood then strode out to get the rest of her bags. Her purse seemed awfully heavy. Why hadn’t she noticed that before?
She set it on the bed and opened it. She let out a giggle when the weight was revealed to be a gargoyle.
“What’s so funny?” Colleen said.
“I have a gargoyle in my purse.”
“One of those ugly things on Notre Dame?”
“Well, this one looks like one on a church I visited on the West Coast of Ireland.” She turned it over a few times.
“Did you buy it? Send me a pic.”
“I don’t remember buying it nor even seeing them on sale anywhere.” Puzzled, she set the gargoyle on her nightstand. “I’m just jetlagged. That’s all. I’ll recall it in the morning.”
She snapped a picture, sending it to Colleen.
“It’s hideous!”
Meg giggled again. “So lunch tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Usual spot.”
Meg disconnected. It was always good to hear from her friends. They’d helped each other through many things and the girls would give her a perspective on the boss change that she couldn’t currently understand.
She spun around then crossed her legs, while staring at the gargoyle. “You do look exactly like the one on the church.”
The gargoyle didn’t answer. She cocked her head. “I can imagine me buying you because you three were such nice listeners. I just do not remember doing it. That is really odd, but this travel stuff is tough on the body.”
The cold stone statue lay on her bed.
“So what do you think of my boss change? I wanted that job. I deserve that job. I didn’t even mind not travelling so much,” Meg said.
She took a good look at the carved stone. The gargoyle didn’t look at her. It stared at a space in front of it, it’s grotesquely muscular legs bent as if squatting down. Its wings were folded behind it in rest. Sharp teeth reached out of a mouth that scowled. “What would you look like before takeoff?”
She smacked her own forehead. “I’ve got to get some laundry done. I can’t sit here talking to an inanimate object.”
Gathering her basket, she rushed out of the room.
***
As Meg lay sleeping, Donal limbs came alive. His stone skin turned to scales. His legs lengthened slightly as he stepped onto the floor. His fangs nudged their way out. He couldn’t wait until he could spread his wings, but he couldn’t in her bedroom. He’d break something and wake her up. His gargoyle height was not as tall as his human form, but he could still touch the ceiling if he tried.
He let out the first breath he’d taken in too long a time. His muscles were stiff, but he could walk that off. Or so he thought and hoped.
He was in true gargoyle form. The way that artists had portrayed them for centuries. His wings longed to stretch out. He wanted to fly as high as he could in celebration of not only being animated, but in finding the fairy he was supposed to protect.
Most of his existence he’d been waiting for this. He wouldn’t let her down.
But he had a few logistical problems to work out. He needed to tuck away his wings, but he doubted they would cooperate until he’d exercised them.
Meg murmured in her sleep. Donal’s heart sped up. He needed to get out of there before she saw his wings. Or his gargoyle face.
And he needed some clothing. Tiptoeing to her closet, he searched for something he could wear. The only thing that he found that would fit were pink sweatpants. They would have to do.
As he reached the door, Meg murmured again. With a glance back, he opened her bedroom door. It creaked, but she didn’t seem to wake from the noise.
“Hm?” she said.
Or did she? He closed the door on her words. Racing out of the apartment he found the stairs to the roof. He let his wings unfurl completely.
When he looked at his pants he realized they said, “Juicy” on the back.
“That won’t do.”
He studied the street, but no one was looking up and most of the apartments were dark. No one would see him.
He let his wings unfurl and flap, taking off from the roof. The first soar in centuries warmed his heart. He couldn’t be gone for long. She’d wake up at some point and he’d need to be back in stone form. Assuming he could get back to it. If not, he’d find another way to be close to her.
That was a problem for the morning.
Now, he needed some clothing.
***
When Donal returned to Meg’s apartment building he had some clothing. He tucked away his wings then attempted to go back to stone form.
“Shite,” he said.
He couldn’t return to stone form. He’d assumed he could. He crouched down on the roof to ponder this, but he didn’t have much time. The sun was about to peek over the horizon. Meg would be awake. She’d notice the absence of the stone statue, unless she was suddenly struck blind.
He hadn’t planned on this at all. He’d planned on sneaking back into her bedroom but he couldn’t do that as a grown man. He didn’t remember the queen telling them anything about what would happen once they were reanimated.
Colleen would be expecting a stone statue. He was far from that.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder. He’d been so eng
rossed in his problem, he didn’t notice the shabbily dressed man also on the roof.
“Hey. Did I just see you fly up here?”
Oh. Feck. He’d been discovered. He looked down at the man the first rays from the sun illuminating his face. He was dirty with unkempt hair.
“Uh,” Donal said.
The man squinted at him then shook his head. “I must have had some bad hooch last night. Sorry.” He thrust out his dirty hand. “Name’s Tex.”
Donal looked down at the hand coming his way. He had to make a quick decision. Tex could be his friend or his enemy. Donal grasped the hand. “Donal.”
Tex let go. He spread his arms out wide. “My home is your home.”
Donal looked around. “What?”
Of course he would prefer to be on the roof. He was a gargoyle. Frankly he didn’t have much choice either. With no identity and no money he couldn’t exactly rent a flat.
“You live up here?” Donal said.
“Yes. It’s the only place that I can find shelter, food and no cops bothering me.”
“Food?”
“Yeah, the building has a garden. I try not to pick vegetables from the same plot every day. That ways no one notices.”
Tex was right. Donal hadn’t seen it in the dark, but now he did. There were raised beds on top of the roof. His stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten in several millennia.
“You had breakfast?” Tex said.
“No.”
Tex led the way to one of the plots. “I haven’t touched this one in a while, but the woman said I could have some.”
“The woman?”
“Yeah, she was in Ireland on business and didn’t want the food to go to waste.”
Donal nodded. That was probably his Meg. “Does she come up here often?”
“In the evening unless she is out with her girlfriends. She’s a nice young lady.”
What a big heart his Meg had. Donal had an idea. He could pretend to live up here and then he’d be able to keep an eye on her. If he learned her habits, he could follow her to work by flying. No one would look up in this city.
Tex handed him some tomatoes. He gobbled them down. “Thank you.”
“You aren’t from around here?” Tex said.
When Garogyles Love Trilogy Page 2
