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

that griffon form. I studied her, wondering how old she must’ve been to be one of the Nine, and then shook the thought away.

Glitonea glared at us, then spoke to Aerona. “You think I was the only one who sensed the connection to Avalon? Others will be here soon, and they aren’t all as reliant on magic as I am.”

“Who?” I asked.

She glared.

“To be fair,” Steph offered, “I doubt it’s hard for them to figure out where we are at this moment.”

“A good point,” Ebrill noted. “We’ll have to remedy that, and fast.”

Glitonea’s glare roamed over each of us in turn. Since Kordelia had released her, she started moving along the walls, hands waving as if checking for spells. When she reached the far wall, she paused, eyes narrowed, and turned to me.

“How?”

“You’ll never find out.”

“Fuck you. You don’t see me, or something?” With that, the purple ‘clothing’ receded and she stood there nude before us, runes glowing on her body. “You might have found a way to cancel out magic, but it’s never complete. Some magic is deeper than whatever this curse is you’ve managed.” She stepped toward me. “But I imagine you know that, don’t you?”

Kordelia moved into her path. “Make a move. Please.”

Glitonea’s runes glowed brighter still, but then faded. She cursed, then spat at my feet. “I’ll find a way around this. And when I do, you’ll all be begging for death.”

On a whim, I stepped around Kordelia and asked, “Why the messenger?”

“What?”

“The messenger you sent. Or one of you—what’s the angle there, if you were only going to attack us, anyway?”

The confusion on the woman’s face as the purple clothing moved back into place was enough of an answer. She had no idea about Galahad, and I purposefully didn’t name him.

“My turn.” Glitonea eyed Steph. “How is it that you broke free, little birdy?”

Steph, visibly shaken, simply turned and walked out of there.

“We’ll come back to get answers out of you,” I heard Ebrill say as I went after Steph.

“She’s captured, you don’t have to worry about her,” I said, taking Steph’s hand. “I’m with you.”

“I know. But… seeing one of them, having her address me like that, it was too much.”

“I’m sorry.”

She nodded, then looked up as the others emerged, closing the door behind them. Deciding there was no way I was letting that ancient bitch out of the room, I melded the door to the walls. Fuck her.

“We’ll either get answers or use her as bait,” Aerona said. “Either way, we’ve captured someone very powerful tonight.”

“Jericho, do you think you can find a way to target the runes?” Ebrill asked.

“Make it so certain parts of the house don’t allow magic,” I said, catching on. “Honestly, I have no clue, but we should try.”

“During the day, maybe that’s something you can experiment with?” Kordelia grunted. “The irony is, that woman in there is likely to be the most knowledgeable on the subject.”

“We all noticed,” Ebrill said, eyeing me.

“I wasn’t checking out her tits, if that’s what your look is insinuating,” I said. “Shit, she’s like… how old?”

“Ancient, but you could argue that so are we.”

I frowned and shook my head. “Doesn’t count.”

Aerona chuckled, but met Steph’s eyes. “You’ll be okay with her under the same roof as us?”

Steph nodded. “I hope so.”

“For now, let’s get some rest.”

“And then?” Ebrill asked. “We can go to their coven first, or go after Fatiha.”

“What’s the advantage of going after Fatiha?” Steph asked. “And… do we even know where to find her?”

“She knew how to summon Thiten,” Aerona explained. “And my guess is that Thiten is the key to finding the others of our team. As to where… No, but I imagine we can get her to come to us.”

“And this?” I asked, holding up the invitation Galahad had given me.

“When’s it for?” Ebrill asked.

“Not tomorrow, but the following evening.”

She glanced around, got a nod from Aerona, then said, “We learn what we can until then, stick to the plan, train… and then give it a try.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I yawned, still not fully used to the new schedule.

“You rest,” Ebrill said, hand on my forehead and healing my body so that rest would come easy.

I agreed, although Steph wanted to stay up with the other ladies a bit longer to, as they put it, have their ‘girl time.’

The bed welcomed me and sleep took hold instantly, but it couldn’t have been long before a creaking sound woke me. My eyes fluttered open to see Aerona, her gold skin with a slight blue hint to it in the dim light. The effect was magical, making me wonder if she had found some way of working around the block. But no, it was simply the light and her natural glow.

“Can I help you?” I whispered.

“Maybe, or maybe I can help you.” She sat next to me, awkwardly, then put her hand on my leg in an even more awkward way.

I raised an eyebrow. “Are you… hitting on me?”

She withdrew the hand. “No.”

“Aerona, what’s going on?”

Her eyes went to the floor, then back to me. “The thing is… and the others agree… I have something to show you. Maybe.”

“Meaning what, exactly?”

“We should sleep together.”

I nearly coughed. Without a doubt, I would enjoy it. But, judging by the awkward way she had put her hand on my leg, I wasn’t sure how this would work out.

Her eyes went wide with realization. “Oh, I didn’t mean that. I meant… sleep. Actually sleep, side by side. This is what I spoke about with Rianne. For you to… travel.”

“I thought that was done?”

“We think that it might not be. Not done with me, anyway. Rianne had ideas of other ways it could be used, and now that we have Glitonea, I think the chances are increased. I sense something from her… a connection to another place entirely.”

“But why?”

“There are… things left undone. Unsaid?” She took my hand in hers. A delicate moment, eyes meeting. “One way for you to find out would be