Page 20 of The Stone Initiation
Touron went as still as stone behind me, and the air spiked with murderous intent.
“Look me in the eye and say that again,” Touron said.
Blue boy, turned to face us, his wide mouth cocked in a smug smile. “I said—”
“Back off,” Sharniza shot forward and shoved him hard enough to force him to take a step back. “You make me sick, Curi. You’re a fucking stain, and if you open your mouth again, I’ll wipe you clean off this ledge, you hear me?”
Curi dropped low, his muscles rippling and bunching with tension as if he wasn’t sure whether to attack or retreat.
Sharniza stood over him, hands on hips, unfazed.
Curi hawked and spat. “You’re making a mistake, Shar, you need to stick with your own kind.”
Sharniza snorted. “I don’t need tostickwith anyone. I got this. Solo.”
“Then why you are standing up for him,” another gargoyle asked. “He’s a no one.”
“Because I don’t like bullies or assholes, and Curi…” She snorted in derision. “He’s the best of both.”
“Enough!” Serath called from a ledge above us.
How long had he been up there watching, and why hadn’t he intervened?
“It’s time to start the test.” Once again, his piercing husky eyes looked past everyone and focused on me. “There will be no aiding another potential in completing this task. You may work together, but you must complete the task under your own steam, using your own faculties.”
Shit, what was he going to ask us to do?
“Your task is simple. To get from this side of the ravine to the other.”
Curi chuffed and flexed his wings, and my heart sank.
This was a test of flight?
“Your path won’t be uninterrupted,” Serath said.
A horn blared so loud it made my teeth rattle. When the blast ended the world was muted and eerily silent. But that silence was soon broken by angry screeches coming from across the ravine.
A dark cloud rose to skim the bottom of the full moon before spiraling down to circle the chasm.
“Terror hawks,” Touron said. “Fuck.”
Huge birds with long sharp beaks swooped and flapped in agitation. “What are they?”
“Evil fuckers that’ll take a chunk out of anything.” Sharniza replied.
“You have an hour to make it across,” Serath said. “You’ll either succeed or end up as terror hawk bait.”
Bait.
That’s what they’d called me.
He launched himself into the air and vanished from view.
“You want to go solo, huh?” Curi said to Sharniza. “Try getting across solo in this task.” He chuckled cruelly as he joined two other gargoyles.
They put their heads together to strategize.
“I’m sorry,” Touron said to me. “I’d fly you across if it were allowed. But he said to get across under your own steam.”
