by Priya Ardis
“That is what I’m afraid of,” Sylvia muttered.
“I have a small army outside for your protection, but I doubt we’ll need it.”
“He won’t hurt me,” Sylvia said. “But I won’t risk Grey and Ryan—”
“No need to worry. I will have them taken out of here tonight.”
“Ryan doesn’t want to leave,” Sylvia said. “A lot has happened. She needs time to recover and lick her wounds for a bit.”
Matt rubbed his forehead. “There is no time left. It ran out as soon as the second tremor occurred.”
“If they find out about Rourke, they won’t go,” Sylvia said.
“Once I tell Vane who is coming tomorrow, he won’t give her a choice.”
I’d heard enough. Seething with anger, I let go of Matt’s mind. The link untethered with a loud snap. My eyes flew open. Footfalls sounded inside the office. “Whoops.”
Vane hissed at me, “I told you to be quiet.”
The office doors flung open. Matt halted at the sight of me standing in the hallway. His lips thinned in a strict line of disapproval. He looked over my shoulder at his brother. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
CHAPTER 4 – A HAUNTED HOUSE
CHAPTER 4
A HAUNTED HOUSE
“What’s going on?” Grey asked.
“The gargoyle king wants to see Sylvia and she’s going to let him.”
“What? I’m not letting that monster near her.” Grey rushed toward the office to see his mother.
Matt moved to let him by. He took a few steps into the hall.
“How can you ask this?” I asked.
“Rourke didn’t attack Alexa, you know that.”
I was about to grumble, “They’re all the same,” when he beat me to it.
“They are not all the same. We need to find out why Excalibur is here. He can tell us.” Matt took another step toward us. “I am not here on a whim. I was not removed as Second Member. I asked to be released—for this reason. We need to know why the sword has been sent to us. You saw my vision today. I’m trying to stop it.”
“You had a vision?” Blake asked. “Was it bad?”
“Very bad,” I said. “What does it have to do with Rourke?”
“I am hoping Rourke knows how we can stop it.”
Vane moved to stand beside me. “You haven’t answered the question. Why does Rourke want to come here?”
“I don’t know,” Matt repeated impatiently. “I’ve agreed to the meeting to find out.”
I took a breath. “Is it because of me? Does he think he can turn me into one of them?” A gargoyle. Just the thought left me horrified. An old memory of a cold monster with protruding fangs and long claws jumped to the surface of my mind. Red blood on white stone tile. One of them had torn my mother apart and tried to do the same to me.
Vane squeezed my shoulder. “Just because you have some remnant gargoyle genes, it doesn’t make you a gargoyle.”
“You’re not one of those beasts,” Gia said fiercely.
“Admittedly, while we do not know everything about them, you have not shown any ability to turn,” Matt soothed. “I doubt you ever will.”
Gargoyles looked like regular humans. It was only when they turned that the true beast underneath became visible. My first boyfriend, Morgan, had been a gargoyle. He’d been sent to find out if I was a Candidate and kill me if I was. He’d almost succeeded.
Sylvia walked out of the office. Grey followed at her heels.
“Mom, you are being ridiculous. The gargoyles are monsters—”
Sylvia held up a hand. “Enough. If Master Emrys says we must, then we must. I deal with gargoyles on a regular basis, Grey.”
“What!” Grey exploded.
Sylvia tapped her foot. “At the bank, Grey.” She gave me an anxious look. “But I would like you two to be safe. Leave tonight.”
Grey crossed his arms. “I am not leaving you alone.”
I glanced at Sylvia. Her hands were fisted. She was digging her nails into her palms so deeply that she’d have marks. But what struck me was that she didn’t look scared, she looked stressed. Out of the front windows, I watched the guardians scramble. Some had taken positions in the trees. One stood half-visible on a trellis beside the garage. I’d seen one climb up to the balcony above us and I had no doubt more hid in other crevices of the manor.
“Why does he want to meet now?” Vane continued to press Matt.
Matt shrugged. “I received the message while traveling. They went to a bit of trouble to find me and the messenger who delivered his request hinted that there’s a compelling reason that the meet happen immediately. There has been no word from the gargoyles since Rourke was forced to concede Excalibur to us.” Matt’s eyes fixed on Sylvia. “My feeling is that he is in some sort of trouble.”
“Since when do we care if a gargoyle is in trouble?” Vane sneered. “It’s simple. If Ryan is here, then no gargoyle will be.”
Sylvia bit her lip in an oddly girly way. She was… nervous. For a second, I had a sense of her as a woman, not just a mother, and it startled me. She wanted to meet the king, I realized.
I made a decision. “Let me see the gargoyles and I’ll agree to go to England.”
***
Both Matt and Vane gaped at me.
“You would go back?” Matt said first.
“After I meet with Rourke,” I clarified.
Vane shook his head. “Unacceptable—”
“It will have to be acceptable,” I snapped. “If Rourke knows something about why Excalibur is here, then I deserve to know.” I surveyed Grey, Gia, and Blake. “All the Candidates deserve to know. If we don’t know why Excalibur matters, what is the point of further training?” I walked up to Matt. His eyes flared with surprise when I reached into his jacket. Matt held himself stiffly as the back of my fingers skimmed his ribs while I groped through the garment. I drew out the knife from an inside pocket.
I touched my amulet. The Dragon’s Eye glowed. The knife elongated. The golden hilt of Excalibur winked at us. My hands trembled and I held it out to Blake, Grey, and Gia.
“The sword is ours. It’s our right.”
***
Gia sat on my bed later that night in my room. “Do you really think whatever happens with Excalibur, it’s our right to know?”
I gave her a funny look.
She colored. “I mean—Merlin must have a reason for not telling us.”
“You sound like Blake. Matt isn’t always right.” I flopped down on the queen-sized bed next to her and lay back. Soft wrinkles covered the white ceiling. “We’re just puppets to him and he wants to stay the puppetmaster.”
“I’m sure he’d like to puppetmaster you,” she said tongue-in-cheek.
I grabbed a pillow and threw it at her. “Funny.”
“Of course, there’s Vane. Is it me or is he more cut than when we were training every day?” She said the last part glumly, reluctant to give him any sort of compliment.
“He still trains everyday,” I said.
“Does he?” Gia said, her voice heavy with implication. “Do you train… together?”
I threw another pillow at her. “Stop, please.” I got up on one elbow and fixed her with a look. “What about Grey?”
Gia pulled her knees up and rested her chin on them. “What about Grey? He’s been different since the rooftop. He’s shut me out so completely. It’s like he doesn’t want to feel anything.”
“I think we’re all different since the trial.” I flopped around on my stomach. French doors led out onto the balcony on the right side of my room. Light had faded into darkness, but it was a clear night. A cold moon anchored the abyss of the sky.
A brief knock sounded at the door behind us. Vane strode inside.
“Leave,” he said to Gia.
Gia sprang out of bed with an indignant expression. “You’re not our trainer anymore, Vane. We don’t worship the ground you walk on.”
“Virahy
at,” Vane commanded.
Gia blinked. Without another word, she walked out of the room.
I sat up on the bed. “What are you doing? You could have just asked her to go.”
“I don’t have time for niceties.”
I sighed. “She already hates you enough. Where did you send her?”
“The spell will wear off before she leaves the house.” Vane stalked forward until he reached the edge of the bed. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t take you out of here tonight.”
“You agreed downstairs—”
“No, Merlin agreed.”
I made a face. Vane would probably force me to leave just to spite Matt.
“You want to know as much as I do what Rourke says about Excalibur.” When Vane didn’t say anything, I knew I had the right argument. I continued, “Did you notice that Matt never answered why he was headed here?”
Vane’s eyes flared just a bit in surprise. Not because he hadn’t caught that, I was sure, but because I had. I moved to the edge of the bed and rose up on my knees to face Vane. “What have you figured out?”
“What will you do to find out?” Vane said flippantly.
“Maybe I’ll ask Matt—”
Vane caught me by the waist. “I think I’ve heard you say his name enough times for today.”
I raised my chin, brushing his nose with mine. “Vane.”
“That’s better.” His hands pulled up the bottom of my shirt to touch bare skin underneath. My pulse accelerated. There had been a lot of lip-locking during the past few months, but nothing past second base. My hands ran over Vane’s shoulders, hard, yet smooth. Shoulders I could anchor myself to and never let go. I inhaled his cologne—one of those with a name I couldn’t pronounce. The magnetizing scent of dark wood mingled with the coarse flavor of tobacco beckoned me closer. It surprised me a bit that he was wearing any fragrance. I was so used to seeing him in nothing but athletic track-pants that it didn’t seem as if he should smell of anything other than sweat.
My breathing hitched when his palms slid up my side, tugging up my shirt. His fingers traced over the sensitive hollow of each rib. Cold wind hit my bare midriff, caressing it. Vane put a knee on the bed and pulled my hands tightly around his neck. He started to bend me back onto the bed.
The dull roar of an engine being turned on sounded from outside.
Vane let out a groan. He waved a hand and the French doors opened behind us.
I blinked. “What?”
Cupping my face, he gave me a quick hard kiss. “Later.”
He rushed outside. I followed him. Cold stone bricks made up the floor of the wide balcony. My toes had curled into my feet by the time I caught up to Vane at the balcony’s ledge. A black SUV sped out of the driveway into the woods. Vane cursed. “He’s off.”
“Where?”
“I’ve got to go.” Vane leapt on top of the balcony ledge.
I caught his elbow and pulled him back, using one of the grappling techniques he’d taught me. “I’m going too.”
His eyes narrowed. “Not a good time to test me.”
“If it’s about the sword, it’s about me,” I retorted. “Is it?”
Vane opened his mouth. I slapped my hand over it.
My amulet glowed. I gave him a look. “Do you really want to try magic on me?”
Vane pushed my hand away.
“You know where he’s going,” I declared.
“What part of ‘there are gargoyles running around and it’s not safe anywhere but here’ are you unable to grasp?”
I scowled. “What part of ‘you can’t bully me’ are you not getting? I’m going.”
The moonlight left his lean face shadowed and sinister. His eyes glittered with a dangerous light. Little butterflies in my stomach fluttered. I shoved them down.
“You have no idea where to go,” he said.
I touched my amulet. “I can find out.”
Vane ran a hand through his hair and I knew he’d bought my bluff. Without a cataclysmic trigger like the last vision, I was pretty sure there was no way I could read Matt when he wasn’t around. But Vane didn’t know that.
He muttered, “You’re going to drive me mad.”
I played my last card. “Matt isn’t going to tell us anything.”
“Yes.” An arrogant smile broke over his face. “I suppose I did promise you a date. Never say I can’t deliver.”
***
A wide field stretched out in a large square surrounded by a fortress of classically architected business buildings. Tucked in one corner of the square, amorphous shadows floated here and there above the towers of the Salem Witch Museum. The melancholy museum building hid behind the protection of large oak trees. A bright moon highlighted the museum’s arched windows. Matching arched wooden doors barred any visitors from going in at this late hour.
Vane slipped the Land Rover into a dark spot away from any streetlight, about a hundred yards from the museum’s driveway. Not a soul other than us could be seen.
Two empty SUVs sat in the driveway.
“Not very subtle,” Vane remarked.
“Why are we here?” I sat in the passenger seat of the Land Rover. Tense waves of acid rose in my stomach. “Is this why you directed me to do a project there? Were you using me to look for whatever Matt is looking for?” My voice rose with every word.
Vane straightened away from the steering wheel. “Weren’t you complaining that I hadn’t read any of your work? Now you know I did… that it also gave me an excuse to pop into the museum worked for both of us.”
My voice dripping with syrupy sweetness, I asked, “Did you find out anything?”
“Do you want me to tell you?” he needled.
Blake leaned forward from the middle seat in the back. “Is that Master Emrys’s four by four?”
“Let’s go after them.” Grey snapped the release on his seatbelt and opened the door just behind me.
Vane waved a hand and the door shut itself. He gave me a look. “Did we have to bring the Scooby gang?”
If I hadn’t been so mad at him, I would have laughed. For someone so out of his time, Vane had assimilated well. But, really, how much TV did he watch? I told him, “They’re part of this too. You need the help.”
Gia snickered from Blake’s other side. “Does he always need help?”
Blake groaned. “Please, Gia, now I will never be able to remove that image from my mind.”
“Emerson, be quiet. Cornwall, I can always take you back to the hole I found you in,” Vane snarled.
“Vane!” I protested.
“Someone’s grumpy,” Gia muttered.
I sighed. Gia was still mad at him about the spell. She had gone from being a Vane supporter to a Vane hater fairly quickly after we’d started training. Or rather she, like Blake, couldn’t understand how I could walk away from Matt. On the other hand, Grey didn’t like Matt. He still blamed him for what happened to Alexa. It was cute how he and Vane had bonded over the past few months over video games; and as a jock, Grey was used to a coach’s abrasive personality, not to mention ginormous ego.
“Why are we waiting?” I asked, before things could deteriorate any more in the car.
Matt and six other wizards came out of the museum. Matt shut the huge door behind them. They started talking to each other.
“What happened?” Blake said.
“They’ve just figured out they’re in the wrong place.” Vane put his hand on the door handle. “Time for me to step in.”
The headlights of another SUV blinded us as it roared down the road on a collision path with us.
“Get out of the car!” Vane yelled. “Gargoyles!”
Vane waved a hand and all the car doors flung open. We leaped out just before the speeding SUV rammed the Land Rover. I landed hard, my palms scraping the ground. Behind me, Blake and Grey were on their knees on the sidewalk. The doors of the SUV opened and three gargoyles jumped out. Three tall men with beastly faces on—the protruding forehead
of a Cro-Magnon man, two sharp fangs, and hulking shoulders.
One stared at me. “The sword-bearer! Kill her! We may never get a chance like this again.”
A fireball leaped out of one gargoyle’s palm and headed straight toward me like a live grenade. I had no time to duck. The ruby gemstone on my amulet heated. I saw the soft sheen of a barrier extend around me. The fireball glanced off it.
It hit the Land Rover and exploded with an enormous bang. The mammoth SUV shook as it absorbed the bomb. The gargoyles launched a volley of fireballs.
Blake jumped in front of me. He put up his hand. Yellow light extended from it, making a small shield. On our knees on the sidewalk, Blake, Grey, and I hid behind the meager defense. A relentless barrage of fireballs bombarded us.
“The spell will run out soon,” Blake yelled.
“Can’t you fire back?” Grey shouted.
“It’s taking all my strength to hold the shield,” Blake answered.
“We need swords,” I said.
Grey took a knife out of his pocket. Blake took out a matching one from his. Blake said a word and the knives extended.
“Blake!” I cried.
The shield shook under Blake’s momentary distraction as fireballs continued to hammer it.
“Bugger.” He handed me his sword and concentrated on the shield.
Finally, the volley of fireballs weakened. I said, “Their power is running out.”
“I’m getting tired too,” Blake warned.
“Move forward,” I told him. “We have to take our chance now.”
Blake scooted forward. To our relief, the shield held. Our knees scraped along the concrete sidewalk as we inched toward the gargoyles. Blake faltered over a crack in the sidewalk and a fireball whizzed just above my head, burning off a few strands.
“Blake,” I hissed.
“Sorry,” he mumbled with a nervous laugh.
The fireballs intensified, the closer we got. Then, I heard one gargoyle curse. I met Grey’s eyes.
“Now,” I told Blake.
Grey and I jumped out from behind the shield. The shield evaporated. We ran at the gargoyles, swords in hand. Two of the gargoyles shot at us with weaker fireballs. Blake blocked them one-by-one. The gargoyles raised their own swords. Grey swung his sword at a tall gargoyle on the end. I took the one in the middle. Blake fired his own fireball at the last one.
