Bound by Stone
Page 7
“Well, I mean, what are her powers? Besides being able to contact Hecate?”
Marcus shrugged. “Some say she’s able to see into the future. Some say she’s able to recall events from the past. Others say her only power is the ability to live forever. No one quite knows the truth of her.”
I shivered, glancing over my shoulder at where Sebastian and Eli were hacking through thick brush. “Then, how do we know she’s on our side?”
“Well, that’s the thing. She might not be on the side of the gargoyles,” Marcus said with a thin smile, “but she is most certainly on your side. As a daughter of Circe, you’re a goddess. She’ll want to protect you, just like Eli does.”
I couldn’t help but notice that he conveniently left off any mention of Jasper, even though he was why we were hacking through this forest in the first place.
After what felt like eternity, we finally reached the edge of the forest. We stopped short when the brush ended only inches from the edge of the cliff. We were high above the bottom of the mountain, the sea crashing hard against the jagged rocks far below. It reminded me of the cliffs at the City of Wings, although instead of stone and mist and gray, we were surrounded by lush vegetation and mossy earth.
And there was a tiny rocky path carved into the mountain, leading down.
I swallowed hard. “Let me guess. You think the caves might be down that path.”
Eli stepped up beside me and let out a heavy sigh. “I’m afraid so. When I looked at a map of this place, that seemed like the most logical place to find a cave entrance. Remember, it will be deep inside this mountain somewhere, so we need to go around the edge of the mountain.”
“I don’t suppose we can fly?”
“No can do, princess,” Sebastian grunted from behind me. “Hecate didn’t allow flying on her rock, and it’s a spell she never reversed. If we’re going down there, we’re going to have to do it the hard way.”
I pressed my lips into a tight smile. “Fantastic.”
Chapter 14
The path that led down the side of the mountain was about as wide as my shoulders, which meant that the gargoyles had their work cut out for them. They were at least twice as bulky as my own slim frame, particularly Sebastian. For once, the shifters were having a harder time of it than I was, though that did little to comfort me.
My fear for them was much stronger than any fear I could feel for myself.
A light wind fluttered past us, bringing with it the cool spray of the churning water below. Sebastian took the lead with Eli just behind him, leaving me in the middle with Marcus in the rear. The rocks crumbled underneath my feet as I took step after step after minuscule step, one hand frantically gripping the slippery rock face. We crawled forward, slower than even the tiniest of snails.
A bend in the path curved around a jagged piece of rock that jutted out from the mountain to form a sharp V. We slowed to a stop to survey the situation ahead. The very tip of the V had crumbled away, leaving nothing but the smallest of slabs to step between.
“Maybe we should turn back,” I said, glancing down at the sharp drop to the rocks below. If one of the gargoyles fell, they wouldn’t survive the impact. “Maybe we can find another way to search for the caves.”
Sebastian jerked his chin over his shoulder to shout over the whistle of the wind. “I can see an entrance. Once we get around this bit, we don’t have much farther to go.”
“That’s settled then,” Marcus said from behind me. “We’ll keep going.”
My heart thumped hard. “I don’t think this is a good idea. There’s nothing to even hold onto at that part of the path.”
“If we don’t go on, we’ll never get Jasper back,” Eli said as he shifted toward me. “Remember Ro, we love Jasper, too. We want him back just as much as you do.”
Wind brushed against my skin, cold and dangerous. I knew that if I demanded we turn back, Marcus would follow. Eli, too. They’d both committed themselves to stay by my side. The only one who was far more stubborn than me was Sebastian, and if he wanted to continue on this crumbling path, fine with me.
But the caves were just up ahead, and they held the key to getting Jasper back.
We’d come all this way. We couldn’t turn back now.
With a deep breath, I gave a nod. “Okay, but please be careful.”
Despite my hesitation, we carried on. Sebastian reached the missing chunk of path first. He was the biggest and bulkiest of the four of us, but he was surprisingly light on his feet. He edged around the corner, barely clinging on by the tips of his fingers. Eli went next, inching slowly along the path. When he reached the gap in the rocks, he paused, eyes cast on the sea below. The rocks speared through the churning water into sharp jagged peaks. Mini-mountains that would end in nothing but pain.
“Careful,” I whispered.
Eli took a step back and then hurtled forward, taking the gap at a run. A scream exploded from my throat, and I threw out a hand to grab his arm and pull him back. But he was gone, leaping the distance between here and there. His heavy boots landed hard on the other side of the gap, rocks crumbling underneath his weight. For a moment, the world stilled. I stared at Eli. Eli stared at Sebastian. And Sebastian’s jaw flickered as his eyes caught mine.
A sharp crack echoed around us, and more rocks crumbled on the edge of the path were Eli stood. They broke underneath him, spilling down against the side of the mountain. Eli let out a yell of surprise, and his body began to fall.
“No!” I screamed and rushed to the edge of the path, throwing out a hand in desperation. This couldn’t be happening. I had to stop it. Somehow, I had to save him from tumbling to his death.
But Eli was too far away for me to reach, not unless I leapt myself, and even then I might make it worse.
Sebastian dropped to his knees and grabbed Eli’s arm just as he plunged fully through the gap. He grunted as Eli’s weight yanked him down, but he stayed firm on the crumbling path, his muscles straining with every breath.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, heart hammering hard in my chest. Marcus gripped my shoulder, his breath swirling in my ear. “Sebastian caught him.”
“Damn straight,” Sebastian grunted. And then he hauled Eli back onto the pathway, his face turning red and his arms bulging from the weight. When Eli was finally back to safety, the two of them stumbled back and clapped each other hard on the back.
With a shuddering breath, I leaned my forehead on the cool rock. We had almost lost Eli. If Sebastian hadn’t been here...I lifted my eyes to find Sebastian staring at me from across the gap in the path. He gave me a nod, solemn and serious. I nodded back. All this time, I’d thought I couldn’t trust him. I’d thought he was only looking out for himself. But he’d just put himself in danger to keep Eli from falling to his death, even though there wasn’t anything in it for him.
Maybe I’d been wrong about Sebastian.
“Come on, love,” Marcus said with a gentle squeeze. “We need to keep moving. We’re running out of darkness.”
“We can’t keep going,” I said. “Not after that. You still have to make it across, and you could fall.”
“Okay, but those two are on the other side already. They’d have to cross back over anyway on the way back to the house,” he noted. “Besides, I’m not going to be an idiot and take it at a run. No offense, brother?” Marcus grinned over my shoulder at Eli.
“None taken.” Eli rubbed his hand across the back of his neck and grinned. “That’s what I get for trying to show off.”
I frowned, both at Marcus and at Eli. “I can’t believe you guys are joking when Eli could have died.”
“That wasn’t the first time one of us had a close call, and it certainly won’t be that last,” Marcus said.
“Come on, Ro.” Eli held out a hand, though he stayed well out of reach. “It’s going to get light soon if we don’t keep moving.”
With a heavy sigh, I followed. It was a lot easier for me to tackle the gap. There were a few small
pieces that were still lodged into the mountain, and I used them as stepping stones instead of leaping through the air. Marcus followed quickly behind, moving with a kind of speed and grace that boggled the mind. Once I was behind Eli, I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around him and bury my face in his chest, breathing in the very essence of him. For a moment, I let my eyes slip shut so that I could pretend that I had, and I imagined the whisper of the wind was his caress.
At long last, we finally reached the cave entrance. It was a small round hole in the side of the mountain, partially hidden behind thick green vines. It was shorter than Sebastian but taller than me and about as wide as it was tall. One by one, we filed inside, and it took my eyes only seconds to adjust to the heavy canopy of darkness.
Something shifted in front of me. I sucked in a sharp breath and stepped back, eyes widening. A flash of yellow melted into a cascade of pale hair, and the acrid scent of burnt tar filled the air. It was the Oracle, and she pointed an arrow straight at Eli’s heart.
Chapter 15
“Rowena, my love,” Marcus said, his voice tight with tension. “What’s going on?”
They couldn’t see in the dark, not like I could.
“It’s the Oracle.” I kept my feet rooted to the spot, not daring to move for fear she’d let the arrow rip right into Eli’s flesh. If only I could warn him to shift, she wouldn’t be able to harm him in his stone form. But I was too worried he wouldn’t be fast enough.
“The fuck’s the Oracle doing here?” Sebastian asked in a growl, hand halfway to the sword on his back.
“Don’t bother with the weapon,” the Oracle said to Sebastian. “I have my arrow pointed right at your friend here. The second you make a move, he’s dead.”
My heart shuddered. “She’s telling the truth, Sebastian.”
He merely grunted in response.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I should ask you the same question,” she said. “I believe I explicitly told you that it was against the rules of my home for you to enter these caves. And yet you couldn’t even wait a day to seek them out.” She tsked and lowered her weapon. “Truthfully, it’s a little disappointing how easily you were tempted, Rowena Mortensen.”
“Tempted?” I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“It was a test,” she said. “I wanted to see if you would honor your word. Your gargoyle guardian has broken his oath. I wanted to see if you would as well.”
Irritation and frustration battled for dominance inside me. What the hell was all this about? What was the point? It was if the Oracle was playing games. After what happened with the fae, games were the last thing I wanted to play.
“Look, just get to the point,” I said with a frustrated sigh. “What do you want from me? I’ll do whatever you want if it means you’ll help us contact Hecate. Because that’s what all this is about, right? You wanted to test me to see if I deserve speaking to the goddess.”
“Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me,” Sebastian said.
I shot the shifter a look, one he couldn’t see in the dark.
“It is not bullshit, as your shifter here so distasteful calls it.” The Oracle narrowed her glittering eyes. “You made an oath not to enter the caves, and you broke that oath. Therefore, you must be punished for it.”
“What the hell?” Sebastian muttered.
From the depths of the caves came a rushing sound, one of wings against wind. A storm of mist assaulted my face, knocking me back several steps. Gritting my teeth, I narrowed my eyes and could only just make out the flash two large shapes. They were wings, but not any like I’d seen before. These were in shades of deep red, each feather a different color than the last.
And then every vanished into the darkest midnight black.
“Wakey wakey, princess.” The words irritated the hell out of me, but they were familiar enough to keep my sudden panic at a minimum. I cracked open my eyes to find Sebastian kneeling over me, backlit by a flickering torch on the slick rock behind him. When he saw that I was awake, he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, chains rattling with every move.
“What the hell?” I asked, pushing up into a sitting position. That was when I realized I’d been chained up, too. There was one around each of my wrists and around each of my ankles, attached to the opposite wall where Sebastian was chained. I glanced around the dim chamber. There was no one else around. “Where’s Eli and Marcus?”
“The crazy lady took them somewhere else,” he said. “Something about not trusting you to refrain from fornicating with your mates.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered.
“Well, she has a point,” he said with a grin.
I glared. “You sure are cheery for a guy who’s trapped in a cave.”
“These chains won’t hold me,” he said. “When I shift, it’ll rip them to shreds.”
“So, then why are you still sitting there in chains?”
He shrugged. “Thought I’d wait until you woke up so I could show off my skills. It’s not every day a girl gets to watch a powerful gargoyle rip through pure steel. Am I right, princess?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re...what’s the word?”
“Strong. Powerful. Handsome.”
“More like a megalomaniac.”
“Yeah, well,” he said, shrugging as he widened his grin. “Not everyone can be as impressive as me.”
“Thank the goddess,” I muttered.
“Seriously, though, I can get us out of here. Just give a moment.” He flexed his fingers and began to drop his clothes to the floor. I had to avert my eyes to avoid seeing far too much of Sebastian, but even just knowing what he was doing sent a rush of embarrassed heat to my cheeks.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him. Sebastian arched his back, and ripples of gray shimmered across his skin. His muscles bulged and his body shook. The scent of stone filled the air. I took a step back as his body began to change. Arms expanded. Legs lengthened. Neck thickened. I’d rarely seen a gargoyle shift, and I was amazed at the power of it. Watching him now, I couldn’t help but think of how Jasper had looked when he’d changed. It had been much rawer, much more painful. Much more permanent.
A roar shot out of Sebastian’s open mouth, one that made me tremble in response. His body continued to shake, his skin hardening into steel gray stone. My breath came out in cool breaths of mist as his body finally stilled. And then it began to shift again, that cold stone transforming into skin. I tried to keep my gaze averted, but it was no use. It was impossible not to stare. The way gargoyle bodies could morph from man to stone and back again...well, it was breathtaking, even if it was Sebastian.
After he’d dressed, he somehow used his brute strength to get the chains off my arms and legs. “Now what?” I asked as I rubbed my wrists where the steel had been clamped down hard.
“Now we find the others and find the fucking veil, if it even exists down here,” he muttered. “After that? Up to you, princess. I would personally love to throttle the Fury, but something tells me you’re not going to go for that.”
“The Fury?” I grabbed the torch from the wall. Even if I didn’t need the light, we were better off with it than without, especially if we ended up needing to fight.
“Yeah, she’s no Oracle. Maybe she never was.” He shook his head and barked out a laugh. “Have to hand it to her. She fooled us all for a hell of a lot of years. All this time she’s just been a Fury. No wonder she was happy enough to take our oaths.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” I said, frowning.
“Eli can explain it better than I can, I’m sure.” He grabbed the other torch and motioned for me to follow. “Now, come on and stop your yapping. We’ve got some shifters to find.”
Frowning, I followed after him. “Why are you being so helpful lately? It’s creeping me out.”
“You’re welcome, princess. You’re a peach.”
“You ever think that maybe I don’t want all the gargoyles to disappear? It’d be a fucking boring life if I was the only one left.”
“Right. You’re risking your life so you don’t have to be bored.” Sebastian was, as always, like a strange alien to me. He’d never made much sense. One minute, he was a full-blown assassin who didn’t give a damn about anyone but himself. The next, he risked his life to save Eli from falling. And then he used boredom as an excuse for anything good.
What was really going on in his head? I had a feeling I’d never know.
“Ro?” Eli’s voice cut through the echoing silence of the caves. He and Marcus were just up ahead, huddled in a small cavern. One on each wall, both chained like Sebastian and I had been.
“Why the hell are you two assholes still chained up?” Sebastian asked, kicking at the large metal chain attached to Marcus’s legs. “You know you can break through them if you shift, right?”
“Er.” Eli frowned and glanced my way. “The Oracle told us she had Rowena and that she’d kill her if we tried to break free.”
“Sounds like you two got played.” Sebastian grabbed the chain and yanked hard before letting out a strange cackle. “She was pulling your chain.”
Marcus groaned, and I had to purse my lips to keep from laughing. As much as I hated to admit it, Sebastian was making this entire ordeal feel a hell of a lot more bearable. It was hard to be tense when he was making ridiculous jokes and comments that inspired the biggest eyeroll you could manage.
Once Eli and Marcus had shifted out of their chains, the three gargoyles surrounded me, like each point of a perfect triangle.