Page 88 of Hidden By the Gargoyle

His wings flapped once, curving to catch the air as he dropped down onto the rock outcropping. He didn’t stop moving, immediately transitioning from flight to walking without a pause.

It was only when we were in the shadows beneath the overhang that I saw the stone wall with a heavy steel door set in it. Dax shifted my weight so he could reach behind a rock on the other side of the ledge. He pulled out a skeleton key after fishing around for a few minutes.

I didn’t say anything at all as he went to the door, unlocked it, and shoved it open. I squinted as he crouched and carried me inside the dark space.

I remained still in his arms until he shut the door behind us. It wasn’t until I heard the key re-enter the lock and the bolt slide home with a clang that I realized he was locking me inside.

With him.

ChapterTwenty

“Stay here,” Dax murmured when he sat me on my feet. The room was completely dark, not even a stray sunbeam peeking through the door.

I heard nothing but the air around me felt empty, so I knew he’d walked away from me.

I waited for a long moment, my breaths sounding loud in the pitch-black silence. The magic hummed in my blood, reminding me that I was no longer human but a witch. A very powerful one.

I bent my arm at the elbow, lifting my palm up even with my waist. Then, I focused on bringing light to the cavernous space.

Quicker than ever before, a ball of white magic formed over my open palm. It swelled until it was the size of a huge paper lantern, but it was three times as bright. I tossed it into the air, imagining it floating five or six feet above my head.

My magic responded effortlessly rather than with the sluggishness I’d felt before. It seemed now that I had manifested, I had no trouble shaping my power with my intentions. Which reminded me that I couldn’t wait to try some of the spells that I’d memorized when I was younger, and my aunt was still teaching me about magic because she thought I was a witch.

While she and Talant both insisted that intention was the most important part of magic, I knew that spells could sharpen that intention to a fine razor point, guiding the magic to work in a chain reaction to achieve a desired result.

As the light spread throughout the room, I saw that there was a bed against the stone wall to my right, the mattress even bigger than the one at his cabin. Also, unlike his bed at the cabin, it was piled with pillows of all shapes and sizes and covered with a fluffy duvet and what looked like an insanely soft faux fur blanket.

My gaze moved from the bed to the back wall. There were two passages exiting the back of this cave, but it was what was against the back walls that caught my attention. There were huge shelves made of wood and stone that soared eight or nine feet into the air and stretched along the entirety of the wall.

On those shelves were books, knickknacks, photographs, paintings, and sculptures. A huge, low sofa faced a firepit in the center of the cave, flanked by two rustic wooden tables that appeared to be handmade.

Another wooden table stood to the left with one chair shoved beneath it, also appearing to be handmade.

A primitive kitchen was against the far-left wall, a short cabinet that held a tiny sink and drainboard for dishes. There were three shelves above the cabinet, and they held a basket of spices, a set of four plates, bowls, and cups, and a jar filled with silverware and cooking utensils. The middle shelf held several pots and pans and the one above that held a kettle, a teapot, and a Dutch oven.

As I surveyed the space, I realized that this was where Dax actually lived, where he was actually himself. I heard a loud clang followed by a low hum. My eyes widened when I looked and saw bare light bulbs strung along the walls above where Dax’s head would be in full gargoyle form. There was a lamp on the nightstand next to the bed that also blinked on.

I glanced up at the ball of magic still hovering in the air and released it with a thought. By the time Dax made his way back into the space, the white ball of light had completely dissipated.

Dax was no longer in full gargoyle form. His body had shrunk back to his normal human dimensions and his wings were gone. His skin was still grey, and his horns still spiraled above his head, but he wasn’t quite as intimidating as he’d been earlier.

I watched in silence as he dropped the leather strap that held the key to the door over his head. Then, he walked to the fire pit, laid out a few logs, and started a small fire. He didn’t look at me or speak to me.

I prowled past the bed to the back wall of shelves and started looking through the books and other detritus. To my surprise, most of the books were fiction, everything from classic literature to the latest thrillers and even a few romance novels.

But what truly caught my attention was the photographs. They were scattered throughout the shelves, all at eye level with Dax or below. There were none on the upper most shelves.

My heart began to pound in my chest as I paced back and forth, studying each one.

I was in every single photo. Some were of Minerva and me together, either embracing or doing something. Others were of me alone, usually when I wasn’t even looking at the camera. There were even a few of me as a child or a teenager. He even had one of my baby pictures!

Confused, I turned around to find Dax standing right behind me, his hands clasped behind his back. He didn’t look implacable right now, just solemn, and maybe a little sad.

“Dax, why do you have so many pictures of Minerva and me?” I asked.

His dark blue eyes stayed glued to mine. “Because, somehow, the two of you became my family.”

My heart was no longer pounding, it was racing, so fast that I wasn’t sure I could stay upright. I stumbled over to the small kitchen table and collapsed into the chair.

---