Myths and Gargoyles by Jamie Hawke (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

his ass. Bastet rolled out of the way as Isis came at her, but instead of attacking, knelt at the man’s side and cradled his head, checking on him.

I had a feeling the relationship between these four had been a complicated one. A story for another day, because everyone seemed to have stopped fighting then, as something in the sky seemed very out of place.

A helicopter was coming right for us.

We all stared, dumbfounded, watching it land. I expected Morganna to hit it out of the air with one of her spells, but she stood there watching like the rest of us. She must’ve been equally as confused, though, because she simply took a step toward it, hair not even reacting to the wind from the blades, and stared in annoyance and curiosity.

When the blades stopped and the door opened, out stepped Agent Torrind.

“You look different, Riak,” he said, his voice cutting though the silence. “And look at this mess you’ve gotten yourself into. But don’t worry, Daddy’s home.”

“Go fuck yourself,” Morganna said, and thrust out a hand that sent a barrage of lightning and fire at him, each strike coming one after another in successive hits so that, by the time she stopped, a wall of smoke remained. She chuckled to herself as it cleared, and we saw scorched earth, an utterly destroyed helicopter, and… the agent.

“How…?” Sekhmet said, stepping up to my side, her lioness face contorting in confusion.

I imagine every single person or fairy tale there was asking themselves that exact question.

And Agent Torrind, for his part, had an answer. He held out his hands, his suit destroyed and falling off of him—but his body transformed as it did, so that he was glowing, too bright to look directly at, and began walking toward Morganna.

“You see,” his voice came with a hint of familiarity, but much deeper, much more… godly, “we didn’t allow you to run unchecked all these years simply because humans were stupid enough to believe you’d help them win the war against fairy tales. No—while they are that stupid, you were left alive because of me. You were chosen to lead me here, to finally achieve your destiny, your calling.”

“And that is?” Morganna asked, voice starting to show worry as it cracked.

“To allow me out of my cage,” he replied, and in that second the light faded as his head transformed into that of a falcon one minute, a strong man with fiery hair the next.

“Father,” Sekhmet muttered, eyes wide. Her hand took my arm and she whispered, “We have to go… now.”

“Go where?” I hissed, and saw that Nivian was inching closer to us, Bastet at my feet.

“Anywhere but here,” Sekhmet muttered. “Now.”

“Father…?” I said, putting this together. “You mean that’s—”

“Ra. Yes. Now, can we…?”

“Ah, daughter,” Ra said, eyes turning to us with a hint of humor. “I’ll deal with you in a minute, but first.”

He suddenly burst forward like a flash of light, hands on Morganna as we’d seen her with Merlin, and while Nivian grabbed me and Sekhmet, Bastet leaping into her sister’s arms, we witnessed Ra pulling the Ichor from Morganna, tearing away her magic, her power… her life.

And as his eyes were moving back toward us, Nivian muttered, “Arthur, take us with you!”

I was confused, at first, but then saw what resembled ashes, only sparkling, tumbling down from the sky, falling around us. Our surroundings started to fade as Ra began to address his new followers.

“You have a choice,” he said. “You now follow me, or die. And when I say die, I mean completely—there will be no prisoners under my new world order. The gods have returned, and we will control this world along with all others.”

He kept on, but his voice became muffled, the last bit barely audible as he seemed to have noticed us vanishing and began commanding the others nearby to stop us from escaping, kill us or die themselves.

I might have felt bad for them, if not for the fact that they’d been trying to kill us moments earlier. What was happening with us, though, I had no idea.

We seemed to still be alive, floating in grey mists. Nivian was to my right, eyes wide, searching, while Sekhmet was holding onto Bastet, both floating to my left. We’d escaped. Our enemies couldn’t get to us. For now, at least, that would have to do.

45

My feet were suddenly on solid ground, without falling or even stumbling. Green grass under my feet, the tendrils of mist floating amongst it in patches, rising up in others and even starting to fade. More of what appeared to be a grass field became visible, then several weeping willows, and finally patches of blue sky.

By the time it had all faded, I’d had enough time to realize what had happened—that we’d gone through a portal.

“Where’d the portal take us?” I asked.

“Wrong question,” Nivian said.

I frowned, realizing I was somehow wrong. “The right one being?”

“You might ask where Arthur took us, and the answer would be that we’re in the Fae land.”

“Wait a minute,” Sekhmet said, letting Bastet jump out of her arms and investigate our surroundings. “Is Arthur not dead?”

“She ‘sacrificed’ him to call upon Merlin,” Nivian answered. “But didn’t take his Ichor, didn’t end his life, exactly.”

I ran a hand through my hair, trying to grasp all of this. “And now we’re in Fae land.”

“And if we can find the nearest lake…” Nivian turned at a meow from Bastet, where she was already moving off from us toward a lake. In spite of Nivian’s weary expression, she actually managed a smile. “There we go.”

“How does this help us?” I asked. “I get it out there, but in here?”

“In here, in some senses, works a lot like out there. Our magic can be amplified, in certain ways, and there are, of course, the Fae and the Shades to worry about. As for how this, in particular, will help… Well, watch and learn.”

We reached the edge of the lake and