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

“And your sister?” I asked, surprised she wasn’t focused more on that aspect of our journey.

“Long gone,” Red cut in, then lowering her voice added, “And best not to talk about it.”

Indeed, when Pucky glanced over, there was a shadow across her face—darkness in her eyes that didn’t fit even down here. At least I wasn’t alone in battling my inner demons.

We kept moving, descending the rest of the way. At the bottom we emerged into a series of turns. As Red described it, it was a sort of maze that kept intruders from the inner sanctum of these enemy hideouts. It was also a sign that we were close.

She kept commenting on how strange it was that there weren’t more enemies here, at least if it was where they were keeping prisoners and expecting us to come for them.

Pucky was looking at the walls, horns glowing as she traced a pattern with her finger so we’d know if we passed that section of the maze again. A faint gold remained wherever her finger touched.

At a wall like all the rest, she paused, turned with a smile and said, “Maybe they weren’t expecting us.” She pushed on the wall. It vanished, revealing a large, octagonal room behind it. The other walls had more doors, interspersed with racks of swords, even a few rifles. In the middle of the room was what looked like a treasure chest with glowing red lines along the edges.

“The armory…” Red said, following Pucky in.

“Fucking loot!” Pucky said, going straight for the chest.

I was behind Red so couldn’t see the full picture of what happened next, except for hearing Red shout, “No, it’s enchanted for a—” and then get cut off as the chest opened in a flash of red light and purple fog. Pucky’s sister—the purple woman with the curved horns I’d encountered earlier—stood in front of us, on the other side of the chest.

“Ah, damn,” Pucky said, taking a step back.

“Their kind,” Red said with a sideways glance to me. “Can’t help themselves.”

“Our kind?” Pucky growled, glaring. “What? Sprites? Children of the Fae?”

Red pursed her lips, glaring, and nodded at the evil sister.

“It’s been too long, sis,” Riak said waving a hand so that black smoke circled the room, closing in on us and taking on the form of warriors as it did so.

“Not long enough,” Pucky countered. She pulled out her pistol and opened fire, but Riak was swept up in the darkness, circling us, vanishing, laughing.

“Have they told you yet, boy,” her voice echoed from all around, “that you’re fighting on the wrong side?”

She appeared again, thrusting her hands out so that they took the darkness with them and grew into large, black claws that would’ve destroyed Pucky if she hadn’t been able to dodge the attack with her disappearing trick.

“I’m on the side I’m on,” I replied, knowing that didn’t say much. It hadn’t come out as I’d expected, but whatever.

“You’ve betrayed humanity,” Riak continued swirling as new Shade warriors emerged from the dark, stormy clouds. “They’ve taken their dagger to you, labeled you a traitor to your kind… turned you into a monster.”

“He knows that’s not true,” Pucky snapped, charging one of the Shades and quickly dispatching it.

“Maybe you’ve brainwashed him, or maybe your magic has eaten through to his soul, I don’t know. But think about it, Jack. They’ve taken you away from everything and everyone you know, put those markings on you… and made you go up against your government. Me and mine? We fight alongside these human agents, because we believe in a higher purpose, an alliance that will lead to the greater good.”

“She means wiping us all out,” Red cut in, vanishing in a flutter of red only to appear between two warriors, dispatching them quickly before returning to my side, at the ready in a defensive stance. “Once all Myths are dead, then what… you turn on your human friends there?”

Riak appeared, floating at the edge of the darkness. “When that day comes, it’ll be too late for you to care.”

The two flew at each other as if they had no choice, red robes and dark clouds shooting out as if propelling them forward. When they met, the two were slashing with blades, dark hands thrusting out to try and attack Red while she spun and countered. Green prana floated to her and me, some to Pucky as she threw herself into the fight. She wasn’t tiring in spite of what I’d heard about her kind and shades, but figured it had to do with being the daughter of a Shade Master. I did my best, too, but was mostly lunging and stabbing and getting pushed back, only to spin and lunge again.

In all the chaos, I was able to make out Red slamming Riak into the back wall and nearly stabbing her with that blade, but then the latter’s horns glowed and she was staring at me, the knife hitting stone and Red falling past her, smacking her head against the wall and landing in a heap. Riak’s eyes went purple as the darkness around us faded too. Pucky was shouting my name, hands reaching at me from all directions, but I fought it, resisting.

And then it was gone and Riak was pushed away, thrust out and through one of the arched entrances.

I ran to Red’s side, knelt, and cradled her head. “Red, are you okay? Red!” Her eyes opened partially and she looked at me, groaning, as Pucky ran past, only to hit some sort of barrier that Riak had put up!

“They’re here with me,” Riak said, talking to some unseen person. A voice came through the other side, and then she replied, “No, they’re not going anywhere.”

She was at the entrance, less than a foot away from her sister, leering at us. With a dead stare, she slammed her hands together and the walls around us started to close. We sprinted