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

trying to take the other. There, by an art sculpture in the grass, I saw what I hoped was what I had been looking for.

The ground was glowing, in a sense. More like heat waves of light. Another search, this time knowing what I was looking for—sure enough, there was another spot opposite the portal. More became apparent, and I focused on seeing it from above, as if flying. Using my transmorph power, I was able to make a line of light appear before me to draw it out.

“As I thought,” I said. “A simple rune pattern.”

“No shit?” Steph said, and I turned to see that she had apparently joined us.

“It’d seem so. Meaning, she had to arrange the magical items in certain locations to set up the portal. Disrupt them, and it closes.”

“Close,” Steph said. “But… I’d caution that it might have been to open the portal, not keep it open. You might have to do a counter-rune to really close it.”

“Shit.”

I looked at the rune, realizing it was similar, maybe even the same, to one back at Gertrude’s.

“We’ll need to disrupt it before we can alter it,” Steph said, apparently having seen something in my eyes.

“Then let’s focus on that.”

I nodded to Riland and was about to charge for the closest glowing spot of the rune, when a roar came to my left. We all turned to see a massive lion with wings, and there alongside him was Galahad and other fighters attacking the enemy’s flank. The cavalry had arrived!

Taking advantage of the moment, I sprinted. Whatever force Galahad had brought with him was likely to at least be enough to give me the time I needed. I reached the ground and knelt, hand on the ground and fingers in the dirt, willing it to move aside.

A moment later, I was staring at a hole in the ground. An item hovered there where the dirt must have been used to conceal it from most eyes. Mine happened to be special.

This item wasn’t really an item at all, but a small creature curled up in a ball, its heart area glowing bright, emitting the light. Shit, I didn’t want to kill this thing. I didn’t know what it was!

At that moment, Megha went storming by on her tank of a monster, laughing as it smashed heads and pummeled teeth out of mouths.

“That gives me an idea,” I said, and whistled.

Megha glanced up, and I said, “A little help, here.”

Her tank charged over, and halfway to me she pulled her hands from its head, then leaped and rolled out of the fall to land next to us. The monster fell, no longer having anyone to control it, and faded out of our world.

“What is it?” Megha asked.

“Can you… try your thing on this guy?” I indicated the floating creature.

Megha eyed it. “Shit!” she exclaimed, suddenly leaping toward me and grabbing me as she fell to the ground, so that I was pulled out of the way of a blast of fire.

“I let this go on for far too long,” Fatiha cried as she came at us again.

“Get it out of here, then we try,” I whispered to Megha, bracing myself. Staff held high, ready to call on the Liahona and my connection to the other worlds, I indicated the nearest building, “Get it there.”

“The bathroom?” Steph said, frowning.

“Anywhere that’s out of sight!” I shouted.

“Bathroom works,” Megha shouted back, taking off with the creature in her arms.

Fatiha let out a shout and flew after Megha. I was ready, though, my powers recharging fast. As the robes of the other worlds flowed around me and light burst forth in all directions, I pulled myself toward her by connecting us, and focused on using the magic to try and transmorph her. While I hadn’t really been sure what I was doing, it worked! Halfway to Megha, Fatiha transformed into a massive whale and plummeted into the ground below.

The effect was short-lived, though. A moment later she turned on me as she morphed into a massive crocodile, and I was reminded of Captain Hook. No thanks. I struck out with magic attacks as she turned herself back into her natural form, matching my spell with hers.

“Go!” Steph said, and thrust a barrage of fire attacks at Fatiha while three wraith knights charged the witch. Riland was there, too, pressing the attack, and I knew where I was needed.

“Be safe,” I shouted, and took off after Megha. With each step, I noticed that as the extra burst of magic from the other worlds faded, so did my otherworldly robes, leaving me as I had been.

I found Megha inside the doorway of the women’s restroom, where she indicated one of the stalls and said, “It’s hiding in there.”

“No way.” I checked, and sure enough there were little feet, along with whimpering. “Damn.”

Megha nodded, but held the creature up, hands in its head. It was almost cute, in a way—like a rounded out, furry lizard-puppy. “What do you want me to do?”

“Tell the creature to deactivate whatever magic it’s tapped into.”

“Already done,” she replied as the glow faded from the creature. “Also, I’m keeping it.”

“What?”

“Bob. That’s its name now—I’m keeping Bob.”

Confused, I realized she was talking about the strange creature. Giving her a quick nod of ‘who the fuck cares,’ I glanced back out and saw the portal still there. “Damn. And… any chance we can use this thing to figure out the counter-rune?”

She thought, then closed her eyes. “Tap me.”

“Sorry?”

“I mean, tap into me. See if you can pull out what I’m seeing.”

“Ah, right.” I put a hand on her and focused on doing exactly that. Sure enough, I was able to see the runes necessary for the portal, and even better, they made sense. The building rocked. No, not just the building, but the ground around us. Part of one of the nearby government buildings was collapsing. We had to do this, and now.

A gush of air hit and then the gargoyles were there two