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

I tried, and this time the word rolled off my tongue on the first go. A line of gold trickled from my fingers in response.

“What was it?” I asked.

“Shield,” she replied. “Although I’m not sure if this one will act like an actual shield.”

“Or maybe a defense boost,” I said, holding my hand up to see my screen. Sure enough, defense showed a plus three in parenthesis. “That’s the one.”

“In that case, there might be another spell that gives you an actual shield.” She started flipping through the pages, but my focus was still on my screen.

“Whoa,” I said, watching as the ‘Level One’ words lit up and then changed. “I just leveled up.”

“You what?”

“I have levels, and I guess because of using that spell, I leveled up.” I went to the book, stared at the page in front of me, and tried something. Sure enough, the page appeared in my screen. Only now, the writing made sense to me and the symbol for my hand—when necessary—was with it, and the level of the spell. “Yes! I can keep track of these, and this one is level two, so…”

“Tell me what it says. I’ll see if I can guess what it does.”

“Elfenol Streic,” I said, making a fist as the symbol showed and hoping it had something to do with an elf. Instead, options popped up around my fist showing the four elements.

“Careful,” Ebrill said. “That’s an elemental strike. You should be able to use that with weapons, too, where you can imbue them with the ability to have fire, ice, etc., although the effect likely fades the moment you cast something else.”

I looked at my fist, then shook it out, dismissing the idea. The last thing I needed at the moment was to accidentally burn my aunt’s house down.

“If you’ve leveled up…” She eyed me, then glanced to the stairs.

“Right, let’s try the other gargoyle again.” I started for the stairs, but she caught me.

“Her name is—”

“Kordelia, I know. Sorry. Let’s try to wake Kordelia.”

She smiled, nodded, and we made our way back to the roof.

77

We were emerging onto the roof when a rumbling sounded, followed by a distant explosion. I poked my head up to see fire, or what I thought was fire. Flames licked the sky but not the trees or other buildings nearby. In fact, the fire was clearly meeting an invisible barrier, spreading out, then fading away.

“An attack?” I asked.

Ebrill emerged from behind and stood with me looking out over the attacks as more came. She nodded. “They’ll try. The wards will either hold, or they won’t.”

“As a level two mage, I wouldn’t think my wards would hold up long against whatever’s out there.”

“That shows how little experience you have with any of this. Your wards aren’t based on your power alone, but likely tied to some power of this house. Not the walls and all that, but some setup I imagine your aunt put in place to enhance defensive spells.”

“And we still haven’t gotten into how you know all of this, exactly.”

She grimaced. “If only I knew. But… more is coming back. A coven, a group of ladies who worked together to protect an ancient magic.”

“That’s… big.”

She nodded. “It seems it would have been. Bigger if I could remember more of the details, but for now, let’s give this a go. Better to have all the help we can get, in case that attack breaks through.”

We walked over to the other statue, watching as more attacks came and more explosions of fire and other elements were repelled by the invisible force created by our wards. At one point I swear I saw winged creatures flying about in the night, but when I looked again, they were gone.

“I’d think they would be worried about the police or… fire department,” I said, coming to a stop next to the statue of Kordelia. “But I imagine you’re going to tell me that somehow this isn’t visible to them—to civilians, I guess.”

Her look of confusion was enough to remind me that, wherever she came from, police and fire departments hadn’t likely been a thing.

“What I mean is, will others see the magic?”

“Ah.” She pursed her mouth in thought, then shook her head. “I’d think not, if your aunt set it up that way. You might be able to sense concealment wards, actually. They basically act to hide anything she might be doing in that regard, for research or practice, but also would work to conceal attacks such as this from prying eyes.”

“Gotcha.”

I turned to the statue and tried as I had before. This time, the option for “Awaken” showed on the screen, but when I tried to select it, no go. Thinking that maybe it was a matter of focus, I closed my eyes, focused, then tried again.

Nothing.

“What’s the problem?” she asked.

“Still not letting me, is all.”

Her frown deepened as she mumbled something under her breath. “Well, try again.”

“Ebrill…”

“Do it!”

I made another attempt, but without any luck. I sighed, watching as a flicker of green hit the barrier and snaked across it in all directions before fading. I shook my head.

“Then we’ll come back again after more practice. Or…” She took a step back, held out her hands. “Practice here. Level up here. Come on, come at me.”

“I…”

“This is as good a spot as any to attempt your elemental strike.” She spread her wings, braced herself, and said, “Give it your best shot.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Try.” Her mischievous, cocky grin almost made me hope to land a strike. Nothing crazy, but enough of a shock to keep her from being too smug.

“Elfenol Streic,” I said, holding up my fist and sliding it toward the lightning option before charging in.

She was right, of course. I didn’t stand much of a chance. For one, I was attempting to punch a girl. That didn’t sit right with me. Of course, after the first leg sweep and me hitting my head on the edge of a garden gate,