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

given time. If she had already done the homework in regard to finding the others—and apparently, some of the Nine—there was no use duplicating it.

“It’s not here,” Moronoe said, tilting her head.

I blinked, confused.

“Shit, Jericho!” Ebrill leaped, a moment later gliding down at my side. “She has a connection to you, somehow. Get her out of there.”

A quick refocus showed that she was right. Moronoe’s connection felt like a glare on a computer screen, only in this case it was a strange darkness in my mind. As I tried to target it, something brought me to my knees, and all of my surroundings changed to that blackness at the moment of impact.

It was flooding into me, like water that stung and tore. Filling my nostrils, my mouth, entering my pores. And yet, the whole time I could feel her touch, her nudge for the substance—which meant I had something to push back against. And sure enough, as I shouted out a mental “FUCK YOU!” I rose out of the blackness, hovering a few feet above the roof, just me and her. All the others were gone.

“I… see.” Moronoe floated close to me—and she was different. No black sphere, no darkness to her at all, really. Simply a woman, a young one at that. At least, by appearances. If I had to guess, I would put her at nineteen, although I knew in reality she was over a thousand years old. Her hair flowed out behind her, a light brown with sun-dried blonde streaks. Black eyes, lips that curled up in a tantalizing, playful way.

Circling me, she started to laugh.

“Leave,” I told her.

That silenced her laughter, but then she moved close, stopping inches from my face so that I could taste her breath—sweet, but intensely so. Overwhelming, like one too many sugar cubes. “You’ve chosen the wrong group here, you know that?”

“I’ve chosen.”

“While your little witches were frozen in their curse, spread to the winds, me and mine were rising to godliness. Do you understand what I’m telling you? What we’re capable of? Join us instead, share your power with me, and together we can be unstoppable.”

“So, you admit you’re stoppable now. Good.”

Anger flashed in her eyes, so I took the moment to mentally attack, shoving her out and latching onto my thoughts of Ebrill and Steph.

The darkness vanished from below and the rest of them returned as we had left them on the roof, everything the same except for Shisa, who was whimpering at my feet. The moment I returned, the lion-dog was up, hopping around and growling at Moronoe and Gliten.

“Stay out of our way,” Moronoe said, and then the two witches stepped back as the black sphere appeared again. It pulled them in and then it was gone, taking them and all their other creatures away from our rooftop.

131

Retreating back into the house and checking to ensure all wards and rune-enforced magic was in place to protect us, we all agreed we needed a moment to regroup. We went for the kitchen, where the guards nodded and gave us space.

“One of you, on the roof,” I commanded. “The other, watch windows—can’t be too safe.”

“We sensed trouble,” the second asked, eyeing us. “Bad?”

I nodded, and as they exited, turned to see that Ebrill was staring at me, impressed.

“What?” I asked.

“Taking control like that, it’s hot.”

My grin came unbidden, but I wiped it away to try and look more mature, more in command. “That’s how I do it.”

Megha chuckled at my side but leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. “Our man, Mr. Senator all of a sudden.”

I stood taller at that, remembering that life had changed now, and that maybe it was why I was taking control. This was a role I needed to truly fit into, possibly for the rest of my life.

“How bothered should we be by this?” I asked the group. “Two of the Nine, here…”

“Three, in a sense,” Megha countered. “I’m guessing that was one of them controlling Yenifer.”

“Agreed,” Aerona chimed in.

“But why? And she was fighting the other two when we arrived, so…?”

“There’s disharmony among the Nine.” Ebrill frowned, tail moving around like a snake as she thought.

“How’d they even get in, is what I’d like to know,” Riland said. “The house isn’t exactly without protection.”

“Powerful magic?” Ebrill offered.

“Except both they and Yenifer got in,” Steph pointed out. “Both might be that, but… it also might be that there’s something about this place that gives it away. Acting as a beacon.”

“The runes,” I said.

Everyone looked at me, silence following until Aerona cleared her throat, then nodded. “That’s likely it. Are they necessary?”

“I honestly don’t know. They do things, like enhance the magic in other ways, and can be used to turn off magic in the area. So much more.”

“As great as that is, don’t think you think it’s time you trusted more in your powers?” Steph shrugged, gesturing around the place. “I mean, you’ve done so much already, how can you not?”

“But, the runes—”

“They help, but aren’t necessary.”

Aerona nodded. “You could turn them off until you need them, or feel they would help. As for now, you have the house invisible and all that.

I tried it, and felt a strange change in my magical sensing as the runes’ power stopped. It was like holding a pet’s side as it breathes its last breath, only in this case I could turn the runes back on when necessary. At least, I hoped so.

It seemed to have worked, because no more attacks came that night. At first, we were rigid, waiting to see what would happen, then realized that was pointless. We figured we might as well get some rest, and headed for the main room, the one that had once been Gertrude’s.

As soon as the first slap on my ass came, though, I knew rest wasn’t what they had in mind.

“I’m just going to…” Riland said, seeing it in their eyes. He and Shisa exited, and I noted a shimmer as Megha’s new pet