Page 20 of The Stone Secret
The steak didn’t taste asnice after my chat with Curi. I’d messed up, and it bothered me. I’d had no right to push him into revealing information that was obviously painful for him, but my knee-jerk reaction to his probing about Levi had been defensive.
Back in my room, I kicked off my shoes and carefully cracked open the wardrobe, searching the shadows for the mournful eyes that always made me feel better.
Derek emerged, blinking up at me as if waking from a sleep.
“Hey, buddy, how you doing?”
“Unngg arga.”
“Really? I didn’t know that you slept.”
“Ummm jagad.”
Yep, he didn’t usually, so this was strange. “Maybe it’s this place. There are strong wards here, and we’re in some kind of hidden part of the rim.” I pulled the door wider. “You want to come and hang out for a while?”
“Mmmm gah.”
I stepped back, and he spilled out of the wardrobe, tall and wide, and what the actual fuck? When had he gotten so big?
He looked down at himself, shadow hands patting his shadow chest. “Huh?”
It would have been comical if not for the fact that it was downright abnormal. “You’ve grown.”
“Hung ha grag.”
“We’ll have to figure out how.” But who to talk to? Derek was a tulpa. My tulpa. But there was obviously more to him than simply being a boogeyman. He’d protected me when Ignus, the new breed of graynite, had attacked me. Derek was special, and I couldn’t risk him being taken away by the instructors here. Gargoyles extinguished tulpas, so I needed to be careful who I trusted with this…this development.
Willowman might be a good choice. He worked directly with the elite, and I’d be on that team soon…
Made sense to speak to him about this.
“Wait a second, Derek.” I pulled my timetable out of my pack and studied it. Herbology was on there, second period after Arcana on Friday. Two days away. I’d ask him then. “I’m going to figure out what’s happening to you, buddy. Don’t worry.”
Derek groaned and sat on the edge of my bed, head bowed, staring at his large hands. “Karik agoo.”
“You’re not a monster.” I sat beside him and put my arm around him. It was weird how he could be shadow but also have physical form. “You’re my buddy, and I love you no matter how big or small you are, okay?”
He looked at me with eyes that gleamed with gratitude and smiled with his razor teeth. “Huugg uuu ooo.” He yawned, and his eyelids drooped. “Gubba sleep.”
“Yeah, get some more rest.”
I tucked him back into the closet and closed the door, then jumped at the sight of Melanie by the window. “Shit! You scared me.”
Melanie stared blankly at me, her mouth moving without sound.
“Melanie?” I took a step toward her, and she vanished.
This was my fault. I’d roped her into helping me find out what happened to Romi, and she’d broken into the filing room where all the classified information was kept to get to his file. She hadn’t been the same since. And the information she’d come back with…
Wait a minute…She’d told us that Romi had died in a cave-in after going against orders, but that was a lie. Would the gargoyles have planted false information in a classified file? Would Lionel have ensured that? Or did she find out the truth that day and get caught? Oh…wait…Flora had been found unconscious close to the office.
Could it all be related?
I’d speak to the others about my thoughts tomorrow, but right now, I needed a shower and bed.
* * *
I woketo whispering and the gray light of dawn. Melanie stood by the window again, but this time she was holding out her arms as if waiting to be given something.
