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

she gestured me forward, to look into the water from the edge. I expected her to shove me in or something, so knelt hesitantly, but when I saw my reflection my heart leaped with excitement—there in the reflection, staring back at me, were Red, Sharon, Elisa, and Pucky!

Arms wrapped around me and I turned to see Pucky there by my side, the others now with us too.

“Magic,” Nivian explained with a wink. “This is where my darker self sent them… And again, sorry about that.”

“She’s on our side now?” Red asked, staring at Nivian with hesitation.

“In a strange way, she never wasn’t,” I replied. “Just, you know…”

“Shadow,” Sharon said, nodding.

“That and a desire to protect Arthur,” Nivian replied, as she stepped forward and introduced herself, embracing each of them as she apologized. “Not every day you get attacked by a mermaid and sent to the Fae land, is it?”

“Not most days,” Elisa replied with a laugh, accepting the hug with grace.

When they were done, Sekhmet cleared her throat, motioning at our surroundings. “So… what now? How do we get back?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Nivian replied. “It was only because of the shadow part of me that I was able to send you here in the first place. Not a power I’m able to recall without it—and that’s not something I’m able to use at will.”

“So we’re fucked,” Red said. “Wonderful.

“I don’t get it,” I admitted. “This place, it’s like a whole actual world? Not just the strange planes of mist and Shades I saw with Riak?”

“In a sense,” Nivian replied. “It’s like this—it was a land of magic, of fairies, dragons, and more… until we discovered it. Now there are communities here, established by fairy tales who no longer wanted to live among the Normies of Earth.”

“So the legends of Arthur going off to live in Avalon…?”

She nodded. “True, though they left out the vampire part. At the time, it was one of the only ways to keep the vampire side of him at bay. To ensure he no longer faced the darkness, he came here with me and we enjoyed a long, healthy time together. That all ended the day he was brought back.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said, my heart aching for her.

She bit her lip, nodded, and said, “Come, I’ll show you where we stayed. Maybe he’ll be there.”

The home she led us to was tucked away behind trees and up against a cliff-face at the side of one of many rolling hills. It wasn’t horribly constructed, but clearly had been done without a construction team in place. The place’s saving grace was that it had been nicely decorated with flowers and was surrounded by a garden with all manner of vegetables and fruits growing. I saw one strawberry bigger than an apple, and was willing to bet it was the juiciest, sweetest strawberry I’d ever come across.

“Arthur,” she called out, running in, and when I took a step to follow, Elisa put a hand on my arm and shook her head slightly.

We waited while Nivian called out his name several more times, appearing at different windows. After a few minutes, the situation became clear.

She stumbled back, eyes full of sorrow. “I was afraid of this…”

“Could he be… out?” I asked.

“When she sacrificed him like that, she sent him here… in exchange for Merlin, but in a way that didn’t leave him whole. He might be here in spirit, but not beyond that.” She took a deep breath, processing this, and then tried to smile. “Come, rest. We’ll find a way back to the fight when we’re all… ready.”

The last word had been hard to get out as she tried to stay strong, and then she turned and led us to a room that could be ours. There were only two rooms in the place, and she said she’d work on figuring out more of a bedding situation. Maybe go visit others she knew who came here occasionally, or maybe the Fae would bless us.

She left us to it, and we milled about the room, making ourselves at home. I stared out the window, taking in this world in the glory that it was without the mists, now noticing the hills and mountains in the distance. We had no idea how we were getting out of here, yet, though we were working on it. For now we had accept that as enough, and be happy that at least we were together.

And that meant all the difference—because being together meant we could actually be together.

Still, it was frustrating as hell. When Sekhmet, Bastet and I had filled in the rest of the team about what had happened, and we’d discussed our options and decided there really weren’t any, I laid back on the bed, closed my eyes, and said, “Fuck.”

“I know I’m usually the pessimist,” Red said, coming over to me, lying down on the bed next to me, propped up on one arm so that she could look me into my eyes. “But today, no. We’ve come too far, made too much progress… and the world faces too great of a threat for us to lose hope.”

“You sound like a fucking superhero movie,” I said, rolling my eyes.

She leaned in, pressed her lips to mine, and said, “That was to make you shut up.” I opened my mouth to try and say something else, when she leaned in again for another kiss.

“And that one?” I asked dreamily as she pulled back a tad.

“That was for motivation, inspiration.” She gave me a peck, throwing one leg over mine, so that her thigh was pressed against my crotch. “And this one’s to get you in that ‘superhero’ mode, so that when we’re done you’ll jump up all inspired like you always are, ready to kick some ass.

I was skeptical, considering our situation, but when her lips pressed against mine and our tongues met in a dance of rising passion, I started to see how she made a lot of sense.