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

Red, so when the last blast from the rifle hit, it was with more malice—but it only sent a brilliant burst of light that caused him to stumble and look around in confusion.

Red made her move, taking him out, but waved the Ichor over to me. The red light came to me, making me feel refreshed, though I could sense it wasn’t as strong as before. I wondered if it would still work in the same sense of upgrading, but for now was too stricken with the chaos we’d caused.

“Damn,” I said, looking at what we’d done.

“Make no mistake,” Red said, going for the exit the mummy had taken. “They are the enemy, and would do far worse to any of us.”

“You can’t go through there,” I noted, and she stopped short, holding her hand against the invisible wall to confirm it.

“The question is, then,” Pucky said, moving over to the wall that seemed to trap the two Myths, “how do we break them free, and then ourselves?”

“For them, it has to be a curse,” Red replied. “And the witch who cast it isn’t likely far off.”

“Jack, now might be a good time to let yourself slip slightly,” Red said.

“What?” Pucky asked, turning on her. “He’s not bait!”

“Whoa, bait?” I scrunched my nose, not liking the sound of that.

“You can’t do it,” Red said to her. “Not with your sister so close. But we have to reach into the darkness, see what’s dwelling here.”

“And you can’t?” I asked.

Pucky scoffed. “Red here’s Miss Pure. Never been touched by the darkness.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Sure, until moments like these when it’s all too convenient to let the new guy risk his life.”

“Risking my life, though… isn’t that what we’ve been doing this whole time?” As neither could argue against that, I said, “Tell me what to do.”

“Like you did back there, with the thoughts that pushed the darkness away,” Pucky said. “I sensed it from you—and you’ll be able to sense it in others too, in time.”

“To get this straight, I’m going to basically go negative, full-on dark… and what? Some witch will hopefully show up?”

“Pretty much.”

“Damn.” I ran a hand through my hair, shrugged, and said, “I’m not even sure what would get my mind dark.”

“Parents are happy and alive?” Red asked.

“Yes, but if they weren’t I wouldn’t like this game.”

She waved it off. “Gotta go deep. Come on.”

“Anything bad ever happen to you?” Pucky asked. “I mean, really… really bad.”

I frowned, trying to think, but shook my head. “Not me, per se. But… Okay, I think I got it.”

They both looked at me expectantly but forget that, I wasn’t about to open up like this in front of them. As intimate as we were getting, we’d still really just met.

Closing my eyes, I thought back to my youth and the days spent at Ocean Shores with my cousin, where we’d find driftwood or go out onto the water and float around when the waves were tame enough. I still remembered her face and the way she’d laugh, the corners of her eyes crinkling up, and the way she’d stick out her tongue slightly when she was having a really good time.

And then the time we couldn’t make it back, how we’d swum as hard as we could, calling out encouragement to each other. I remembered how we’d been going backwards, pulled by the tide, still too young to know that swimming at an angle was the key. How she’d almost drowned, but a man rescued her, performed CPR and saved her. I focused on the feeling of how great it felt to see her alive, how her life had been such a blessing after that.

I focused on that feeling, so that when I turned my thoughts to the day I’d found out she took her own life it would hurt that much more. It might not have been exactly a dark place as much as sad, but if there was one thing I’d ever been good at in life it was putting myself in other people’s shoes. What had those moments been like for her, so dire, leading up to that moment when she chose to throw away the blessing of life? Her second chance, gone… on her twentieth birthday.

My rage at that moment, the darkness of going through such pain that she’d even consider such an action, all built up in me. I embraced it. For the first time, I allowed myself to get mad at her—how dare she do that to everyone who loved her? How dare she be so fucking selfish!

And then my arms were shaking, my breathing heavy, and I sensed Pucky there, feeding me with negativity but also acting as a buffer, prepared in case I went too far.

Then… another presence.

It was unlike anything I’d ever felt. Like all my anger was mud but had suddenly been turned to sharp, jagged stones, cutting through me and tearing flesh, eating away at every molecule of my being, my soul even, until Pucky was shouting for me to come back and her spiritual hands were gripping my heart, holding me in place.

I felt certain I’d simply explode, but I pushed it aside, focusing again on the love I had for my cousin, the forgiveness.

A deep breath sounded in front of me. When I opened my eyes, I wished I hadn’t. There she was, wretched yet beautiful, bent and twisted yet stunning and proud. A woman with white hair flowing back and away from me, her shadow connected to me as she was pushed back and away. Pinkish-red eyes stared at me with fury.

“I haven’t finished feasting on you, boy,” she said, her voice a slow hiss. “Come into my embrace. Join me, so that we may become one.”

She spread her arms, and for a second the shadow in me wanted to go to her, but it lost out. Instead I scoffed, brandished my blade, and said, “I think this is the part where we kill you.” Glancing