Page 22 of Dragon's Golden Mate
Lucille knew that and ignored the jab. “It looks to me as though someone had already tried to salvage it once from an even older binding. You can read it in more detail, but I skimmed it.”
“And?” Maeve would study it, but they both knew Lucille was a librarian for a reason. She highly disliked the fact that so much information these days was dispersed through videos, because she could glean it all from a book with more efficiency.
Lucille picked up a muffin. “There are plenty of texts regarding gargoyles in the architectural sense, serving as downspouts and such, so it was hard to weed through them and find something that discussed them as supernatural creatures. It turns out their power is psychological more than anything. There’s no known language for them, but they communicate telepathically.”
Maeve took a bite of her muffin and washed it down with a sip of coffee. “Then the strange visions and the awful feelings Kendrick and I had came directly from them. I’ve been wondering if those were warnings or threats.”
“I’ll leave that up to you to decide, but they’re protectors by nature,” Lucille told her. “You could interpret that as protection against the devil or sins, like when they’re used in churches, or you can thinkabout it in a more pagan way. Scary things keep the wrong people away from sacred places.”
“Yet it doesn’t make sense to have creatures who are driving peopleawayfrom a church,” Maeve theorized. “Usually, you want people to go to church. There has to be some reason they attacked us, though.”
“I can’t imagine what they’d be protecting,” Lucille admitted.
“And in the meantime, how are we going to protect the cathedral itself from demolition?” Maeve asked. “It sounds like Kendrick’s client is determined to tear it down, but that bothers me.”
“Well, I know a few people from the library who may want to get involved if they hear about it,” her sister told her. “All those nerds I hang out with are really into preserving history.”
“Even if they want to throw out this old book?” Maeve jested.
“Yes. Even if!” Lucille took a big bite of her muffin. “Oh, that’s good. The streusel topping is to die for. Jamie must’ve made these.”
“She definitely knows her way around the kitchen,” Maeve agreed. She set the book aside, not wanting to get it full of crumbs, and took a few more bites. “There has to be something going on at thatchurch. Ley lines converge there. Stone statues come to life there. Even my magic came back to me for a moment.”
“It did?” Lucille asked excitedly. “You didn’t tell me that!”
“Don’t get excited,” Maeve warned her. “It was just once, and now it’s gone again.”
She held up her hand to show the fizzling sparks. “Couldn’t even light a firecracker with that. I had Amanda look me over, but she didn’t find anything. It’s really starting to bother me, Luce. What kind of High Priestess am I if I don’t have my magic anymore? And can it just stop like that?”
“Hm.” Lucille was studying her, squinting her dark grey eyes slightly.
“What?” Maeve demanded. She swept her hand over her mouth. “There’s no point in cleaning up the crumbs until I’m done, you know.”
“It isn’t that.” Lucille shook her head slowly. “I just remembered something.”
“That you’re an obnoxious little sister?” Maeve took a long sip of her coffee.
Lucille shrugged. “Be that way about it if you want.”
After a few moments of silence, Maeve couldn’t handle it any longer. “Okay, tell me.”
“First, you have to say that I’m not obnoxious.” Lucille lifted her chin. “I’m waiting.”
“Fine,” Maeve sighed. “You’re not obnoxious.”
“I don’t think you meant it, but all that really matters is that you said it.” Lucille leaned forward in her chair, leaning one elbow on her knees. “I remember the last time you were magically constipated.”
Maeve burst into laughter. “Don’t call it that! It sounds terrible!”
“Clogged?” Lucille suggested, a wicked sparkle in her eyes. “Plugged up?”
“No! Those are no better!”
“Congested? Impacted?”
“Stop! I know you’re a walking thesaurus. You don’t have to prove it.” Maeve wiped a tear away from her eye.
Lucille’s mischievous smile turned into a sincere one. “It was when you met Patrick.”
