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

“I’m going to miss her,” Fatiha said.

“Ah, yes. Me too.” I indicated her pocket. “But you have…”

“The tree?” She allowed a smile. “It’s something, sure. But imagine, if you will, having a favorite hamburger, and then one day being told you can hold a toy version of the hamburger, but never taste the real thing.”

“That’s got to be one of the worst—”

“I know, I know. But you get the picture. It’s not the same as having the real her.” Hand going to her pocket, she nodded in appreciation as the waiter brought us waters, then watched him walk off. “Ask me.”

“What?”

“Why here. Ask me why I brought you here.” She turned back to me, sipped her water, and waited.

“Wh—”

“Because it was the last place Gertrude and I went out to. We mostly didn’t go out anymore, at least not when it could be helped. But she had made a discovery, about the time when she told me you would be coming. So, we had to celebrate.”

“Was the discovery… me?”

“You?” Her smile faded. “I… actually hadn’t considered that. She kept a lot of her work private, only filling me in on what was necessary. And she did talk about your coming quite often, but I never put the two together.”

“You two—”

“Holy shit.”

I turned to her and frowned. “What?”

“I can’t believe I didn’t put the two together before. Here I was thinking we had a lead on another gargoyle or something, or finally anything to do with the actual location of the Liahona. But it was you.” She turned to me, looking me up and down, and then laughed. “You’re the piece of the puzzle. But sorry, you were going to say?”

“Just…” I ran a hand over my chin, massaging it, not sure how to take her burst of surprise and the way she was suddenly looking at me. “I was going to say that you two sounded very busy. Doing what, exactly?”

“Traveling. We found those gargoyles, Ebrill being one, apparently—”

“And the other is Kordelia.”

“You don’t… say.” She eyed me, took another sip, then nodded as the food arrived. When the waiter was gone again, she leaned in, lowering her voice. “Those names aren’t completely alien to me, you should know.”

“You’ve seen them before.”

She nodded. “In a book, one that Gertrude found. We can ask her about it sometime,” she tapped her pocket, “find out where the book is for the other names. But yes, Ebrill and Kordelia were two witches who are said to have been part of the magical war that actually ended much of magic on Earth.”

“How so?” I asked.

“That’s something we’ll have to ask Ebrill.”

“If she ever gets her memory back.” I took a bite of my crab cake and leaned back, enjoying it. Perfection.

“What—er, what’s going on with you two?” Fatiha glanced over, as if she knew this was a weird question to ask.

“Does it matter one way or another?”

She shook her head. “Curious, is all.”

“I think… we’re bonding?” Leaning forward and lowering my voice now, I added, “After seeing her in the dream… more so.”

“Good.” She nodded, took another bite of her meatloaf, chewed, and swallowed while we sat in silence, me wondering if this was really good in her mind. I finished my first and second crab cakes, letting my mind wander to my buddies back home and stories they used to tell. This guy Rob had always bragged about fingering girls, as if that was better than fucking, and how many fingers he could get in. Then there was Jason, who had brought us to his house one day and put a video on the projector of him and some girl fucking. I wanted to look away, but at least his dick was in her most of the time. All until the end, when there was a closing image of her with the tip in her mouth making a peace sign. Crazy bastards. I couldn’t help but imagine how they would react if I told them a fucking gargoyle had come alive and cuddled me.

Not that I would, but imagining their reactions was fun. At the thought of Ebrill so close, I had to change how I was sitting so the bulge forming wouldn’t be so obvious. Fatiha noticed and gave me a humored glance.

“Shouldn’t we be, I don’t know, trying to find other ways to wake Kordelia?” I asked, trying to get the focus off me.

“Want to get me back there, is that it? Just the…” She froze, licked her lips, then muttered, “Shit.”

“What?”

“It’s… I took one of my medications earlier. Has this added effect of making me say things.”

“Like just now.”

She cocked her head and nodded. Then eyed me closely, waiting for me to say something. Suddenly, she was up and motioning to the waiter. “Check, please.”

We left without another word about it. I wondered if the moment had been her hitting on me or something else. At her age, it felt off, but… kind of hot? The longer the silence continued, though, the more certain I was that it was exactly what happened. She wanted me, or at least her medication made her think she did.

I glanced over. Her eyes met mine, and we shared an awkward smile.

“So… what now?” I asked.

“When night falls, we try to wake the second, like you said.”

The elevator door dinged open and we exited, turning right to make our way over along Fifteenth Street. Of course, I had meant what would happen between the two of us, but I left it alone. If she wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened, I could do that.

“I’m getting an ice cream,” Fatiha said, indicating the ice cream cart on the corner. Considering the heat, it sounded perfect. “Then maybe a drink, in Gertrude’s memory. You?”

“I’ll go for the ice cream,” I said. Grieving didn’t come easy for me, considering I had barely known the woman. While Fatiha was doing a good job masking her emotions, her eyes showed that