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

figuring the passive tactic was the way to go here. My hands were up, but I slowly put them down now to show I wasn’t being aggressive.

“Much of the day, a magic block kept me from reaching this place, even after my patron was made aware of your discovery.”

He took a step forward, hand held out. My instinct was to cut off his fucking head, but when I held out my hand and started to consider a spell, I noticed that he held a simple card in his hand. Not so simple, actually, I noticed as I made it larger in my vision—whoa, that was badass, like zooming in on a computer screen—and saw the red swirly lines, the address and time listed.

“What is that?” I asked.

“An invitation, nothing more.” The man stopped, and I stepped forward to accept. No attack came, but when I looked back at the others, it was clear they had been expecting something more aggressive as well.

“We’ll be in touch,” the man said.

“That can’t be all.”

He gave me friendly smile and nodded. “For now.”

“And your name is?”

“Galahad,” he replied, then vanished into a puff of smoke that was swept away as fast as he had arrived.

“As in…?” I frowned, confused.

“One of the Knights of the Round Table,” Steph said, nodding.

“Like King Arthur stuff?” I chuckled. “Come on, when’s he going to step out? Maybe I can get a knighthood from this all, huh?”

Steph shook her head, solemnly. “We don’t talk about him.” The ladies and I shared a look of concern.

“Aerona,” I said, breaking the silence, “didn’t you say you have a lead, via Avalon? Before you returned to stone this morning, I mean.”

Aerona nodded, eyes on the sky. “The world has changed. But yes, I have an idea or two we can start with.”

Glad to have them back, even if my head was spinning with the new insight into the magical aspects of our world, I led the way back downstairs. At least we had the gargoyles awake again, and a plan for next steps.

And, apparently, an invitation to a fancy D.C. style dinner from Sir Galahad himself.

102

“If that was Galahad,” I started as we entered the room, unable to leave it alone, “doesn’t that mean… Regarding his brother—”

“That one of my wraith knights was one of the Knights of the Round Table?” Steph nodded. “Or more than one. Yes. All of them, perhaps.”

“Damn.” I looked at the others, wondering what they thought about this.

“Considering what we are,” Aerona waved at herself and her fellow gargoyles, “and the fact that you opened the magic Avalon after all this time, that doesn’t seem like the biggest of revelations.”

I frowned, then laughed. “You’re right. Still, it’s kinda badass.”

“We’re not actually going to the event, right?” Ebrill asked.

“What? Why not?”

“I mean, because it’s clearly a trap.”

The others nodded, although Steph held up a hand, then cleared her throat.

“You don’t think it is?” Ebrill asked.

“It could be, for sure,” Steph replied. “But… it’s tough. My understanding is there’s a connection between the Round Table and the Order of the Mystic Moon. Galahad being the one to deliver the message makes me wonder if maybe it’s legit.”

“And we can trust this Order?” I asked. “I mean, I was told they were set up to protect the Liahona, but it was Fatiha who told me. She hasn’t exactly proved trustworthy.”

“The Order is legit,” Steph replied. “That much, I do know.”

“Still, proceed with caution.” Ebrill took my hand. “Even if an organization is on the right side, that doesn’t mean all the people within it are.”

Steph nodded, no arguments there.

“How can you be so sure about them?” Kordelia asked Steph. “I thought you couldn’t remember much from that time.”

“It’s been coming back,” I explained for her.

“And if there’s trouble, the Order would come to our aid?”

“I think they serve the purpose of trying to keep everything in order, within margins.” Steph went to the window, moving the curtains so we couldn’t be seen from outside. “Imagine a fire department that only acted if a fire was threatening to completely destroy a house.”

“A fire…?” Ebrill asked.

“Just—”

“We get it,” Kordelia cut in, nudging Ebrill. “Or the point, anyway. Right?”

“Sure.” Ebrill eyed the other, and I wondered which of them would win in a fight—they were both quite intimidating, although Kordelia was the largest of the three.

“It’s all pretty stupid,” I said. “If there’s a fire, it’ll burn down the house if not checked.”

“If not checked by any other influence, sure,” Steph countered. “But that’s not likely in our situation, is it?”

“So, we think of them as a safety net,” I replied, eyes moving to the card Galahad had given me. Eyes going wide, I laughed. “This is a ticket for a dinner party. At the French Embassy.”

“What?” Steph leaned over, looking at it. “How the fuck does that make sense?”

“Whoever we’re supposed to meet with will be there,” Ebrill posited.

“It’s an odd place to meet,” I said. “But… we’re in D.C., after all.”

“When is it?” Ebrill asked.

“In two days,” I read from the invitation in red cursive ink over black.

Steph grinned. “I’m kind of excited. To go, I mean.”

“We’re going? To be clear… Even if it’s a trap?”

“Are we?” Ebrill spread her wings, as if making a point. “Doesn’t seem like the sort of party ‘we’ can all attend.”

“The rest of us will find areas to be ready—stay perched and keep a lookout,” Kordelia offered. “If there’s a problem, we’ll be there.”

“Guess that means we’re going,” Aerona said. “But only Steph and Jericho get to have fun.”

“If we get to crack skulls, I’d say we’ll all be having fun.” Kordelia grinned wide, showing off her gargoyle teeth.

“And on the note of having fun… Aerona, you’re up,” I said, ready to move on to the next topic. “I think it’s time we visit Avalon. We have time to decide on the rest of that stuff.”

“Ah, for finding the others, yes.” Aerona eyed me with curiosity—a good reminder that we hardly knew anything of