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

It was like I had created a ghost of it, or a replica of some sort. And without any sort of orders, it joined in the fight, turning on the others and helping Megha with her destruction.

“You need to see,” Megha said, “then look!”

I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, at first, but when my eyes rose to the army, the magic like a portal forming, a jolt hit me. Then again, and this time it was like my conscious was pulled through the monster I’d made into a remnant, using that connection to move out and through the portal.

There I was, in a basement. Looking through someone else’s eyes, placing an item on a pedestal. A blade, it appeared, with runes glowing on it. As the figure turned, I took in more magical items, and it became clear to me—this was how they were opening the portal. Using magical items, likely stealing them, and I needed to stop it from happening further. But it was more than that, I realized, scanning the runes around the room. They were runes that I had come across before… runes that belonged to Glitonea. I’d seen them on the arrow, the one that had allowed her to reach me in the Dark Lands!

The owner of the eyes I was seeing through seemed to sense me and pushed back, kicking me out. Before I went, though, I sensed more beings there, more magic. A coven.

In a flash, I was back on the wall, watching Megha and my remnant fight. Another second and they had cleared the immediate air space of enemies. Megha came flying back toward me, eyes wild with excitement as she pulled her hands from the creature’s head—no gore or guck—and stood while the creature started to fall away.

“Now!” Megha shouted and leaped, arms stretched out, and caught hold of my arm. As she fell, swinging toward the wall to slam against it, I grabbed the senator’s card and we were pulled out of that world.

I woke to find Ebrill leaning over me, eyes focused on mine. She smiled when I woke, and then kissed me. Not in the senator’s house like I had expected, but back in the mansion where I had fallen asleep.

“What was that for?” I asked.

“To remind you that I still exist,” she replied. “After you kept saying her name over and over.” Pulling back, she glanced around. “Where is Megha?”

“I thought for sure…” It hit me—and made total sense, but damn, this wasn’t good. “She’s still with Fatiha, of course. Only, now she’s on our side—freed, you could say. We have to get to her.”

I was up, moving, buttoning my pants and finally throwing off that ridiculous suit jacket. I found my red one instead, then… froze.

“Where do we start?” I asked.

“Glitonea?” Ebrill didn’t look very confident in that answer. “She’s the only one who might know, right?”

“Let’s find the others, then pay her a visit.”

116

Aerona was still insisting that this was a bad idea when we arrived at Glitonea’s prison. The lady was one of the Nine, and a captive. Not likely to help us. Still, they were all at my side this time, ready in case there was trouble. We didn’t know what might be necessary to get answers.

Runes on my mind, ready to let her speak, I said, “I saw the arrow in that coven. The runes on it.”

How can I properly respond like this?

I considered my options, then set my jaw. Focusing on the runes below, I deactivated the ones that held her in place, mentally imprisoned. Her hands sprang out and I braced myself for an attack, but she was merely stretching.

“Ah, that feels good,” she said. “Release me, we’ll pay them a visit.” Glitonea grinned, purple coating moving along her body like liquid metal. “Come, let’s play this game.”

“No fucking way,” I said, but then had an idea. “Unless—”

“Jericho, what’re you doing?” Steph hissed at my side.

I squeezed her hand, hoping that would communicate that she needed to trust me on this. “Unless you swear an oath. Some sort that keeps you magically bound.”

She looked at me, then at my companions, and laughed. “Sure, I can do that. Just… unleash me from this building.”

“Agreed.” I stepped forward, made an adjustment, and then pulled up my screen to scan her. As soon as she made a move, my illusion of change was gone. No way was I letting her use an ounce of magic, but my little stunt had allowed me to trace her magic, to show me what she would have done.

The first move that showed up was an attack spell, one that looked damn powerful. I was glad I’d been able to prevent that, and logged it into my digital memory for future use. The next was an escape spell—and since I knew her runes were in the coven, I had to hope that’s where the connection led. Checking it against my scan of the earlier one I had seen, it cleared. Good to go.

“Well, Glitonea… enjoy your time in this fabulous home. You’ll be here for a while yet.”

She charged us, but the wall was back in place, a thud audible from the other side, and then we were off, walking away. As we went, I reactivated the runes below, locking her in place with the mental prison.

“I restored Megha—meaning, the version of her that was in there, and the version out here are now one, and she’s able to think for herself. Judging from what I saw of her, she’s not exactly… stable?”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Ebrill said with a sly smile.

“Right, well if that’s the case, she’s probably raising hell over there already. Right? So, let’s find this coven so we can raise hell with her, then get her out of there.”

Ebrill eyed me. The others noticed the suspicious look at the same time I did.

“What?” I asked.

“She was nude, wasn’t she?” Ebrill laughed at whatever expression my face must have