Page 64 of Taken for Granite
Juniper glanced at Chloe in the rearview mirror. Her sister playfully stuck her tongue out. Juniper returned the sentiment and all was well between the Bouvet sisters.
“Hey,” Chloe started in a conspiratorial whisper, “remember that time Mom hid the Easter eggs in a patch of poison ivy?”
* * *
Spending the night in an abandoned house smack in the center of a ghost town in the Yukon? Spooky. Super spooky. Still, sleeping on the dusty floor was better than sleeping in a tent when the temperature dipped below freezing. The old house had four walls, a roof, and all the windows intact.
Gargoyles were great for sleepovers in spooky houses, though. Tas kept watch while Juniper and Chloe snuggled up in their sleeping bags. Periodically he checked the coordinates on his sigil. His blue dot was now nearly upon the red location marker, and new white dots appeared on the map.
He examined the map when she woke. The alien device bathed the empty room in red light, which wasn’t murdery at all.
“What are those?” she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. What she wouldn’t give for a cup of hot coffee and a stack of pancakes. It was her last day on Earth. Pancakes seemed appropriate.
“Other Khargals,” he said, answering her question. “I cannot tell who from this distance, but the sigils sense each other.”
She dug into her pack and used the wet wipes to scrub down the most odorous parts of herself. It wasn’t ideal, but a birdbath would keep her skin from itching. They had a serious hike ahead of them that day. No one would smell their best at the end of it. “Nervous?”
“I am more curious to see who has made the trek,” he said. “There are friends I have not seen in many years.”
“It’s going to be a good day,” she said. A long day. A tiring day, but good. Tas identified the best path—a valley just east of the old airport. The valley would bring them north of the mountain peak, but it would put them near a river, which they could follow south to get to the base of the mountain. If something proved impassable, Tas could carry them up and over. It was a bad plan on paper. She hoped it would work.
Tas had explained that they would not need to climb to the summit, which sounded fantastic, because her butt was so not going up a mountain. They only needed to reach a certain elevation and the sigil would ping the ship, which would then transport them aboard.
She would be literally beamed up to a starship today.
Best. Day. Ever.
Tas stood abruptly. The light from the sigil vanished. “Wake Chloe. Now,” he ordered.
“What is it?”
“I hear vehicles.”
Juniper wasted no time trying to hear any approaching cars. His hearing was light-years better than hers. “How much time?”
“A few minutes.”
“Shit.”
“Yes, goodgrackingmorning to us. Hurry.”
She shook Chloe awake. “Hey. We have to go.”
For once, Chloe didn’t roll over and beg for more time or complain about the cold. She sat right up, fully awake and visibly pale. “It’s them, isn’t it?”
“Tas hears some cars. Could be anyone. Maybe another gargoyle.” She tried to give a reassuring smile.
“God, you’re creepy when you do that. Stop. Gah,” Chloe said.
“Get dressed. Hurry.” She slept in her clothes, so she had only to pull on a sweater, coat, and her boots.
“What about our stuff?” Chloe asked.
“Take water and food. Dress for the cold. Leave everything else,” Tas said. He somehow found an iron crowbar and rested it over his shoulder.
He turned to the door. “They are here. Quiet.”
“They’ll know we’re here. Our car is outside,” Chloe said in a loud whisper.
