by Amity Green
I bit the inside of my cheek and glanced at Peter. “You can’t see it? At all?”
“It repels me.” He looked pointedly at Ezra. “I have a stake here, as well.”
That opened the door for me to get my two cents in. I needed help, and convincing Ezra was the only way to get it. “There’s no way in heck I’m going to give that psycho any ammunition.” I sounded tough. Determined. Matter-of-fact. Old Tessa cringed inside me, unsure. Concentrating on holding my cup steady, I took a deep breath and sipped my tea. I grabbed a scone from the box of day old breakfast and took a healthy bite.
Ezra cleared his throat.
I looked up at him. I never knew what to expect from Ezra Finrock.
He shook his head slowly, smiling. “I’ve never met a young person with such resolve,” he said. “I’d suggest changing into your running shoes, young lady. You’re in deep. You may need them.”
“Good idea.” I set my mug on the bar and headed back to the stairs, taking them two at a time. I ran into my room, hopping on one foot while I untied the laces of one high-top Chuck Taylor, looking frantically around the room for my Asics. I saw the toe of one peeking out from under the edge of my bed. Hitting my knees on the carpet, I reached under to retrieve my shoes.
A huge book lay on the carpet under there, pushed up close to the wall underneath the head of the bed. Silver hinges and locks gleamed in the low light.
Ezra was a smart old codger, but I didn’t get why he’d place the book under my bed when he knew Kai wanted it so badly. I didn’t even trust myself that much. How did he know everything?
When I pulled the book to me the aroma of old leather blended muskily with ancient intrigue. Something inside me started purring like a kitten. I bent, putting my nose flat to the mottled leather cover. The scent was intoxicating, alluring, like stepping into a room that smelled like heaven. I’d smelled it somewhere before but I couldn’t think of where. Maybe it matched the smell I remembered when I first found Librorum Taberna. The tome’s cover warmed to my touch. Silver-gold latches and corner enforcements flashed. Patina blotched the leather, adding a well-used appeal to the overall appearance. An ornate keyhole gaped in the center of the largest latch. Touching something so powerful, an object that could enable one person to accomplish the incredible realities I learned existed in the UK, was so very humbling.
“A clansman of mine brought me that book just before his death,” Ezra said from behind me. “He’d been changed to a gargoyle, but I knew him as my nephew.” He leaned in the doorway. “To head off a question before you draw air to inquire, I’ve grown tired, dear girl. These past centuries were my greatest trial.” He stepped past the book and I to perch on the edge of my bed. White eyes watched me closely from above. “It’s time for a change.”
I returned my attention to the soft leather beneath my fingers, realizing I’d been petting the cover a little as he spoke. “It’s beautiful,” I admitted. “So the gargoyle died when he gave it to you?”
“He died as a result of giving it to me. He was convinced Kai was preparing to do something horrific. Being one of Kia’s most trusted creations, he gained access to the book and ran to safety. He paid with his life and saved many.” He dropped his gaze to his boots.
For a second I wanted to hug him because his heart remembered the hurt from so long ago.
“I performed many warding spells around the tome and have done my best to maintain them, to hold Kai at an arm’s distance. Tis fortunate the book lets me open it. It doesn’t take to everyone,” Ezra watched me caress the warm leather. He sighed softly. “It was only a matter of short time before you found it. Or it found you, rather. Kai knows this. He sees the same potential in you as I. I made it available to you in hopes of explaining it to you before you learned about it otherwise.”
“It locks,” I baited.
“The keyhole is only a representation. The tome can either remain sealed or be cracked open. When the book is held, it senses the things it craves.”
“It’s so warm.” I reached for the corner of the cover.
Ezra stilled my motion with one of his boney, gnarled hands. “Ask yourself, Tessa Marie Conley, are you so comfortable with what life’s become lately that you wish to endure more of the unknown?”
He seemed one hundred percent sure the book would open up for me. I hadn’t been. I relaxed my hand. “So the book craves something inside me?”
“Think of it more as … it craves the potential with which you could use it. It craves a soul’s ability to wield its powers.”
I’d changed a lot lately. Done a couple things that didn’t make me feel right about myself. If the book didn’t distinguish between good and bad, just craved the user’s ability, I might not be the best candidate to hold it. “Does that make me one of the good guys, Ezra?”
He threw his head back and laughed, heartily. Tears formed in his eyes. “Dear girl, you are, doubtlessly, the best of guys,” he managed through his fit of hysterics.
Ezra was odd, but I was beginning to admire his quirks.
“Power corrupts the weak-hearted, Tessa. I have something for you.” He out a leather scabbard. A jeweled knife handle protruded from the sheath. I took it with care, feeling the heavy weight of the weapon.
“Is it a dagger?” I grasped the handle and pulled the blade free. Fine metal chimed as the blade slid from the hardened, leather casing. Two strips of pliant rawhide hung from the top and bottom of the scabbard, to tie in place and conceal the weapon.
“Of sorts. It’s a dirk. And a very sharp one.”
I grinned. Ezra had handed over a book that could ruin the world with his total trust, but then warned me against cutting myself like I was a kid.
I held the gem encrusted handle up to the light. Green and blue stones encircled a smooth ruby at the end of the handle. An inscription glinted on the blade but it was written in a language I’d never seen before. “What does this say?” I got up on my knees, holding the blade so Ezra could see the lettering.
“It’s an old adage of the Gaels. It says ‘When the sky falls, we’ll make larks’.”
That didn’t sound nearly as cool as it could have. “I was expecting something like, about, well … something tough, you know?”
“It is one of the best to live by. It means, ‘Always look for an opportunity to change things around, even when life crashes down around you.’” He smiled knowingly at me.
“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.”
“Precisely.” He winked. “I couldn’t think of a better suited owner for a weapon with such character.”
“Thank you, Ezra.” I continued to examine the blade, awed that he would give me something so precious.
“Don’t be afraid to use it, Tessa. It’s meant as protection. Wield it like it will save your life.”
“I will.” I pulled up the leg of my jeans and began tying the straps around my calf. The end of the scabbard rested perfectly against the inside of my shoe.
“That,” he pointed a boney finger at the tome beside me on the carpet, “cares not about good or bad. It craves the ability of usage, not the directive. It senses an entity’s ability to work its magic and it seeks a bond.”
I looked back down at the huge volume. “It sees ability in me?”
“If it was my decision, if it was me in your shoes, I’d put that thing in a box, bury it, and never turn one page.” Hindsight glittered in his eyes. The laughter was gone from his demeanor. There was no twist to his words that time. He was serious as death. “It will take a token payment for the ability to use it.”
“A token?”
“Kai paid with his humanity. He was kind-hearted, a compassionate soul before he crossed paths with the book and its maker.”
“What about you? You seem okay. I mean not all … evil.” I acknowledged the new way I viewed Ezra with subtlety.
Ezra blinked at me with his pearl eyes, gesturing with one hand toward his face.
“Holy—,” I whispere
d. “It took your eyes?”
“The book marked me, when it could have done much more.”
Good enough for me. I pulled my hands away and stood.
“There’s a special element to you, dear girl. Be warned. It can sense something in you just as surely as I.”
We both stared as is if it was a sleeping crocodile.
“I’ll load it in the car,” he said, carrying the momentum to stash the book away again.
“We could get Peter do carry it down.” Ezra’s frail appearance worried me at times and besides that, I needed Peter to be able to see the thing.
“Peter won’t see it. He wouldn’t be able to hold onto it.”
“The wards.”
“Yes, and I’ve no intention of removing them.”
“Please, Ezra? It would make me feel better if he could help out with it.”
“No damned way.”
I sighed. He was dead-set.
“Are you human, Ezra? I mean ….” He couldn’t explain me, but the decision to ask about him suddenly seemed like a really bad idea. My words trailed off, reminding me of a fish out of water, flopping and fading in the sand.
“I am good, dear girl. I assure you, my humanity is intact, be it torn, weighed by centuries of existence and memories. Alas, I am just a man.”
Ezra delivered the best thing he could’ve said. My chin quivered as I looked away. “I’m scared, Ezra. I feel like such a child.”
“You’re so much more, Tessa. Never doubt that. At times faith is all that is within reach. It may seem fleeting, but other elements merely stand in the way.” He gave a smile. “Things fall apart.” He laughed, ironically. “Faith remains.”
How could he sound so sure, when I felt unsubstantial against the monstrous challenge that awaited my arriving with that book in Scotland? I did my best to convey some confidence despite the sick feeling in my gut. “I’ll just have to see how persuasive I can be holding our book.”
“Our?” One of his bushy eyebrows quirked.
“Well, it’s certainly not Kai’s.”
Chapter 27
Turned out, Ezra never had the intention of letting us take the book back to Scotland without him. He went downstairs, locked his skinny grip onto the handle of an oversized suitcase-on-wheels and loaded it in the trunk, right next to the book. He’d probably packed at the same time I was upstairs getting more clothes, after his conversation with Peter.
For the first time in several nights, Peter and I changed into gargoyles at Librorum Taberna. The trip back to The Grotto would have to wait until morning, but it was a small relief to know we wouldn’t go crazy searching the store. We walked upstairs to the familiarity of our old bedrooms. My room was foreign in its familiarity, like it was so safe, such a sanctuary that it couldn’t possibly belong in the dangerous mess my life had become. Not wanting to be alone and craving Peter’s company, I asked him to stay with me until I wound down. We leaned back on the pile of pillows against the headboard of my bed. I curled close to him, laying my head on his plated chest, causing our human forms to become visible.
“Thank you, Peter.”
“For?” He caressed my back and shoulders.
“So many things. The comfort. Sticking with me, I guess.” I turned my head so I could look at him. “You make me feel like it’s all going to be okay.”
He watched me with lowered lids, making his eyes look black, devoid of the brilliant grey I loved. “It will be. Have faith in yourself.”
I shook my head, watching my fingers trace the stitching on the comforter. “How can you say that? I feel like a complete jellyfish.”
He laughed at that. “You have no idea how strong you are.” He tipped my chin up. “You’re amazing.” His gaze travelled my face as he lowered his lips to brush with mine. “I would protect you with my life.”
He deepened the kiss, pulling me closer. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pushing my fingers into his thick hair. I needed to be as close to him as I could get. One large, beautiful hand cradled the back of my head, letting my hair slip through his fingers, the other caressing the tender skin of my jawbone with a thumb. Sliding his hand forward on my chin, he parted my lips, tasting my tongue with his. My heartbeat began to race as I tilted my head, accepting him. Our bodies entwined tightly against one another. Warmth built in my chest along with a warning that it was time to stop. Peter’s hand smoothed down the back of my arm. My skin flushed as heat broke free, surging through my veins. I stilled. If I heated up because of what he did to me inside, I didn’t know what the outcome might be.
Peter broke the kiss gently, sliding back up on the bed. I rested my head against his chest, listening and feeling his heart pounding. “You all right?” he asked, peering down at me. He ran a hand through my hair, clearing it from my forehead, testing the skin there.
“I’m okay.” I wrapped my hand in his shirt. “Just got a little heated up, is all.”
“Does this happen?”
“I’ve never done this before.” I turned my face away, a little embarrassed.
“Tessa,” he said, tipping my chin up. He was smiling. I couldn’t help but smile back. “It bothers you more than it does me.”
I pulled his hand close, placing a kiss in his palm.
“We should get some rest,” he said.
“Okay, I replied, secretly grateful. My thoughts whipped around like they blustered inside a wind tunnel. I still had to get Brea to safety. Ensuring Kai didn’t get his hands on the book would not be easy. I wanted to work on a plan, but found myself too exhausted to think clearly. My eyes threatened to stay closed each time I blinked.
* * *
I woke up as dawn broke, feeling like I’d run a marathon rather than slept. Peter was gone. I was up and dressed fast, nervous energy speeding me through a quick rendition of my morning routine. I twisted my hair into a messy bun, brushed my teeth and went straight out to the car to wait for Peter and Ezra, but they were already getting settled for the ride. We locked up and left quickly.
Ezra sat shotgun, pushing buttons and singing along to songs he knew, dialing a new station the second something started playing that he didn’t like. The interior of the car became entirely too hot as a result of the passing hours with Ezra over-adjusting the heater, and Peter looked like he may snap the next time he was told to keep both hands on the wheel.
The whole way to Kelty I would have preferred to sprout wings out of my hiney and fly, rather than spend one more second in the back seat. I tried sleeping but the antics in the front wouldn’t let that happen. I turned my attention out the window to help bide time.
Rays of sunshine rebelled against thin clouds to streak the day with shafts of enthusiastic gold light. Even through the tint of the car windows Peter’s dark hair shone with metallic grey and silver-streaked black. His hands bunched with network muscle of charcoal and dark sinew as he used one hand to drive and the other to pull a hood over his head.
We hadn’t worried about sunlight at the bookstore. Other than the front, the place had few windows, so we were kept out of natural light and looked human during the day. Out in the open, even in a car we showed our changes. I was confined in my own skin, finding one more way I was imprisoned in my world. I hunched in my seat, twisting a thick strand of hair in and out of a sunray, watching it turn from honey blond to grey and silver. I slid lower to hide from the sun completely. The act was polar to my nature as a sun worshiping Austinite.
Uncomfortable and too anxious to hold still, I scooted far left on the backseat and jerked up my hood. I reached for the window controls and let fresh, cool air buffet my face since we rode on the outside of the traffic. Rolling green raced by outside, broken up by occasional farm houses or barns.
Peter adjusted the rear view mirror so I was in his line of sight. I maintained eye contact, my gaze pleading, telling him things from my soul, about how my greatest fear was failing. How I needed him by my side, and how sorry I was for doubting him. He winked from deep beneath the
fabric of his hood, watching me a moment longer before his gaze moved back to the road ahead. He urged the car forward, releasing the horses beneath the hood, sending them racing through the miles. The sooner we made it to Kelty, the more daylight we’d have to work with.
And the fewer “other” gargoyles we’d have to work against.
Worry about Brea and my decision to try to trick Kai twisted my nerves into a screaming network of stressed-out anxiety. I fidgeted with the seatbelt and watched the miles tick by on the gauge in the cockpit. “What-if” scenarios paraded through my imagination like Heffalumps in one of Winnie the Pooh’s nightmares. I was a wreck. Taking a long, exhausting run sounded better then, than any other time before. I hated it, but my mind kept returning to my pact with Kai, and all the ways it could be made better. He could get hit by a bus, for instance. Game over. Deal’s off.
Kai had given our bargain some serious planning, as far as time was concerned. We were given two days to get back to his place with the book. A good portion of that time was spent on the road.
We were over half way there and I was doing my best to come up with a plan. I wasn’t equipped to bargain for the life of another person, let alone my best friend, with a tool that could end the world as we knew it.
As if sensing my mental wheels spinning in the seat behind him, Peter spoke up, frustration heavy in his tone. “This whole thing would be a lot less complicated if I could help with that damned book. I say the wards are taken off. Kai will know we’ve brought it back with us anyway.” He turned toward Ezra on the seat beside him. “I can’t even see the bloody thing.”
“Taking down the wards would be devastating to us, once we arrive,” Ezra said.
“Isn’t there some way you could make wards that only worked on Kai and his groupies?” I sounded naïve, but it needed asking.
“Wards do not work that way,” he responded.
I kind of felt like that might be a half truth, but didn’t want to start off arguing. “So basically, when we get there, we can put the thing wherever we want and Kai will have no idea where it is?”
