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

“Before, when you said going dark was like being in a dream,” Sharon started walking closer to me, eyes looking lost in thought, “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it, and I don’t think that’s right. Not for those of us who’ve been there longer, or those who don’t know the difference. Some were born into darkness and have never left it. Imagine, if you will, being born into a ‘dream’ and not knowing what reality is. For many, it’s like that—they don’t know what’s considered just, or right, and the idea of doing anything other than what you’ve been raised to do seems impossible.”

“I get it,” Pucky said, walking up on the other side of Sharon and wrapping an arm around her, too. “My sister fell to the darkness. I’ve tasted it, and come back.”

“Will…” I started. “I mean, do you think Riak’s able to?”

“Come back?” Pucky stared out at the night, at the silhouette of Hekate where she walked slightly ahead of us. “I think she could, but don’t think she will. The problem is…” She glanced over to Hekate, and then Sharon. “It’s tough, once you’ve crossed certain lines.”

Sharon cleared her throat, Hekate glancing back with a look of contempt.

“What, you want a list of our transgressions?” the witch asked. “Because fuck that.”

“Of course not,” Pucky replied. “I was simply—”

“Simply judging us for the wrongs of our past,” Sharon said, but then held up a hand to Hekate. “And there’s nothing wrong with that. We’ve done what we’ve done, regardless of how we were externally influenced. And be honest, at times you embraced the darkness—you more than most, perhaps.”

Hekate shrugged, looking smug in the thought, and then nodded. “I’m a murderous bitch, but now I’m your murderous bitch. Doing ‘horrible things’ in a war is only horrible when done by or for the other side, no?”

“No,” I said, finally taking a stance. “Someone in war can torture, and it’s wrong. You can attack innocents, kill children to scare off your enemy. Wrong. Killing someone when taking them prisoner is an option? Wrong, ninety-nine percent of the time. But you’re right, you’re on our side now, and my thought on that is it’s awesome—but only if you’re going to do it the right way.”

Hekate looked affronted, but Sharon was smiling, as if I’d just said the most brilliant thing ever. I worried about Chris going off with the witch, but figured Elisa knew what she was doing if she was pairing them up. Or hoped she did, anyway.

We kept walking, changing the discussion to more about strategy, how we were going to use our various skills to attack when we found Morganna, and how Arthur might have more vampires at the ready to face us. I asked about garlic and stakes and all that, expecting them to laugh, but Elisa simply nodded and said, “They’re in stories because we put them there. We have to prepare you Normies somehow.”

It was almost morning by the time we reached a small town with a train station, and by then I was more than ready to pass out. The village wasn’t more than a few dozen buildings, most looking like shacks and some with gates made straight out of the ground. A couple of people gave us weird looks but kept walking, and I remembered that Red’s cloak worked to keep us seen in the way we wanted to be seen, and Pucky’s horns weren’t visible to others. It was likely a safe assumption that they weren’t seeing Hekate as a witch or Sekhmet as their lion goddess or whatever she was either.

Sekhmet explained that Bastet would need time to do her tracking ritual. Luckily we found someone who, on seeing who wanted it, agreed to rent out their house to us. They vacated and went to stay with a neighbor while we took possession. Once inside I took a few steps, appreciating the simplicity of the mud-brick design, then saw a bed, dropped onto it, and promptly passed out.

It was still very early morning when I woke, the moon still in the sky though moving closer to the dunes in the distance, stars sparkling overhead like I’d never seen them in my life. A warm breeze ruffled my hair and I stood there for a moment, enjoying it, before walking on. Two more steps and I had to pause to stretch my back. The pile of blankets and hard pillow weren’t exactly what I was used to, but at least we’d had a bed instead of the train car I’d expected when we reached here.

I got up and went out to the courtyard where I knew Bastet had been working, but found her still at it, moving about as Sekhmet performed a sort of meditation, sitting still as could be, her face that of a lioness again and glowing slightly. Patterns had formed on the ground, indicating the level of magic this whole situation took to accomplish.

Not wanting to interrupt, I made my way back toward the bed but noticed Pucky standing in the hall by the front step. As I approached, I saw that she was watching a form on the steps.

“What’s going on?” I whispered, stepping up next to her.

She looked startled to see me but then smiled, took my hand, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “It’s Sharon. She’s been sitting out there for over an hour. I’m… worried.”

I frowned, then moved up next to Sharon and sat, Pucky coming a moment later and sitting on the opposite side.

For a moment, we all sat in silence until finally, without even a sign of having seen us, Sharon said, “I’ve just been staring at the stars—lights in the darkness, right? Like me, now… like us.”

“Wouldn’t you say it’s more like the Legends are small patches of darkness in a world of light?” I asked.

“Maybe….” She finally looked at me, pensively, then turned to Pucky and nodded before looking back out at