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

moved. Pucky held up her rifle and charged it so that the glow was bright, and Elisa sent out a wave of swan-shaped light that went through the wall in front of us.

“Fakes,” she said. “Illusions. Follow me.”

I shared a nervous glance with Hekate, as the last thing I wanted to do was walk through walls and not be able to see where I was going. And sure enough, as soon as we stepped through it wasn’t at all like the Platform in the Harry Potter movies, but pure darkness and more flashes—only now it was spiraling purple and I could hear a strange whispering in an alien language.

Cold wind blew from our right and a hand on my midsection guided me along. Presumably Pucky, as she’d taken the position directly in front of me. But as we walked my mind filled with doubts, imagining a creature long dead with slimy skin and eyeballs falling out of their sockets.

When the light flashed a moment later, that’s exactly what I found—and even felt it clinging to me.

“Shit,” Pucky said, only the voice came from the ghoul, and then it was her and the image was gone again, replaced by a glow from her horns and her rifle as darkness otherwise returned.

“Just as I thought,” Elisa’s voice said from not so far off, though it started to get distant, echoing. “Not illusions so much as playing on our fears.”

“So we… ignore everything that happens that could be something we’re afraid of?” I asked.

“Try, and my powers can help counter this.”

Something moved by my leg, brushing against it so that I nearly jumped. Dammit, my mind instantly went to slithering, monstrous snakes. We kept on, Sharon’s hand on my shoulder gripping me tight and breathing quick breaths as she faced her own fears, I imagined.

“Stay with us,” Red said. “Whatever they’re throwing our way… fuck ‘em.”

“Elegantly put,” Elisa said with a chuckle.

Hearing laughter in a place like this put a smile on my face, the juxtaposition of it with my fear, the sudden switch in emotions, caught me off guard and I was suddenly laughing. I felt crazed, like there was no reason to laugh, yet I couldn’t stop.

Then Pucky was laughing too, and it seemed about to catch on when a hissing filled the relative darkness and a shape darted across our path, barely visible in the faint glow.

Elisa sent a burst of light after it, and then it turned, leaping at us and exploding in a flurry of bats and spiders. But we were already past being scared of this place. Elisa’s swans emerged, charging forward as Pucky unleashed blasts with her rifle. Red’s cloak fluttered out behind her and she darted over to my side as if I needed protection, but Sharon and I stood firm, watching as the barrage vanished.

When the shots and swans faded, so did the darkness.

Only, I was alone. There was an oasis and I found myself standing beside a pond, the ghost of a breeze sending ripples across the surface of the water, and gently blowing through the nearby palms. No sign of the others, no sign of a pyramid or tomb or whatever we’d been inside.

The water rippled again, this time starting to lift. It was cascading off of a head, then a body, as a woman emerged. She stepped toward me, black hair clinging to her dark skin, eyes pure black and skin covered with tattoos but otherwise bare. Her dark nipples stood erect, water trickling down and catching the sun like diamonds as the drops fell back to the water, passing her perfectly curved hips on their way. When she took her next step, the water fell away to give a view of neatly trimmed hair, then her thighs, so smooth and glistening as the water gave way.

She didn’t stop walking once she’d exited the water, but came up to me and wrapped one arm around my neck. She was cold—unnaturally so, but my body craved her, begging me to give in to the desires of the flesh.

“You’ve traveled far to find me,” she said, her other hand moving along my chest, up to run a finger along my lips, and then pulling me in for a kiss.

I resisted, putting my hand between us. Sharp pain hit me like a scalding iron and I pulled back to see her tongue darting out like a snake as she stepped back, hands out to her sides and what I now saw to be claws at the ready.

“Pick your next move wisely, or I’ll see that it’s your last.” She blinked and it was like thin layers of membrane covering her eyes.

“You’re not Sekhmet,” I said, eyeing her.

“That little imp?” The woman let out an evil cackle, then charged me.

I stepped back to block her stroke, my foot sinking into the sand. With a roll I was free, moving as her foot came at me and left a line of black smoke in its wake. When she came at me again, her nude form had a much less tempting appearance as the tattoos lit up and fire burst from her in all directions.

My first thought was the water, so I threw myself back. If the fire hit me, the water could put it out. Except, I realized as I dodged another strike and spun to see large, feathered wings sprout from her back, she’d come from the water. Would my falling in there mean death? Maybe that was her goal, or maybe there’d be more of her within.

I searched for Excalibur to strike back, but the sword was gone! Of course, this was all an illusion, anyway, wasn’t it? So it made sense that I’d be unarmed. At least she’d left me clothed.

She had taken to the sky, circling me and shouting how I’d made a mistake, how she was going to tear me limb from limb. But as I searched for a way out—only sand in all directions beyond the palms of the oasis,