Ever After (The Hollows 11)

Chapter Twenty-Three

I could feel gargoyle eyes on me as I began picking my way back to the church, taking the shortest path but giving their hulking shadows as much space as I could. The sun had gone down while I'd been in the ever-after, and I wondered if I had time to take a quick shower to get the stink of burnt amber off me before I started in on some charms. I wasn't sure what would be the most helpful, seeing as Ku'Sox could take anything I could dish out and throw it back to me with four times the power.

"Don't let me down, Trent," I muttered, feeling as vulnerable as new skin. Damn it, why did I have to trust him? My life was a lot easier to understand when I didn't.

Behind me, the gargoyles rumbled like elephants, and I ducked when a shadow arrowed over my head. It was a gargoyle, my first wild hope that it was Bis dying as she did a flip to lose her momentum and land atop a grave marker facing me. I knew she was female because her eyes were yellow and the tuft of fur at the tip of her tail was black instead of white. She was more slender than Bis, too, and had a definite grace to her motions as she resettled her wings.

"I thought you were Bis," I said, trying to cover my surprise.

"I'm Glissando," the young gargoyle said, her ears almost flat to her skull and her higher but gravelly voice rumbling. "Bis's friend."

Uneasy, I flicked my gaze behind her to the church, the glow from the uncurtained windows spilling out into the garden. "I'm sorry," I said as my attention returned to her. "A demon-"

"Took him, yes," Glissando interrupted me, the slant to her golden eyes becoming angry. "His father would like to talk to you."

"He's out there?" I said, voice squeaking, and then I mentally kicked myself. Of course he was out there. Every gargoyle in Cincinnati was in my backyard.

"I'll take you to him," Glissando said, and my pulse pounded. Damn it, how was I going to explain this to him? Why I had put Bis in such danger?

"I should've tried to get ahold of Bis's dad right when it happened," I muttered, and Glissando ruffled her wings in agreement. I slowly turned, wondering which one of the pairs of watching eyes belonged to Bis's dad. What was I going to say to him? Did he know that I was a demon? That Bis was bonded to me? Bis had said he had talked to his dad just last week, but "Hey, Dad! I'm bonded to a demon!" isn't the kind of thing that came up in casual conversation.

Glissando's ears swiveled, catching the sound of Jenks's wings before I did. The irate pixy dripped a weird mix of blue-and-green glowing dust as he arrowed across the damp graveyard. "Oh God, you stink worse than six-week-old pepper piss, Rache," he said as he hovered before me, eyeing Glissando suspiciously. "Everything okay?"

I nodded, my hand touching my pocket where the slave rings sat. I was going to trust Trent with my life. I was an idiot. "I need to talk to Bis's dad," I said, and the pixy's dust flashed a surprised gold.

"Ah, you don't mind if I come along," Jenks said, daring her to protest.

But the cat-size gargoyle lifted her wings and shrugged.

Muttering half-heard comments about the back of an outhouse, Jenks snuggled in behind my hair just under my ear. It was too cold for him to be out here, but I wasn't going to insult him by saying so.

We turned back to the waiting gargoyles, and I flinched. It was one thing to tell yourself that the kid you took in is playing with demons to learn the lines, but another to tell his dad.

"You sure you don't want Ivy?" Jenks asked as Glissando flew past us to land on the next tombstone and blink at us impatiently. "She's bigger than me."

"You saw her sharpening her knives," I said as I picked my way back the same way I came out. "You want that out here in the dark with this?"

There had to be over two dozen pairs of red or yellow eyes turned our way, glowing in the twilight. Glissando shifted nervously as I passed her, hopping to a marker only a few feet ahead. "Can I talk to you?" she asked, and I hesitated, surprised.

"Sure."

With a small jump, the gargoyle landed on my other shoulder, startling me and making Jenks swear. I braced myself, but there was no echo of the lines in my mind. Bis had bonded with me. His images were the only ones that could reach me now.

"I was hoping Bis would be my life mate," she said, and Jenks made a pained whine.

"Sorry," I said as I followed her pointing finger and shifted my path through the long, wet grass. "I didn't mean-"

"It's okay," she said, interrupting me. "I simply wanted you to know that I've known him all his life. And now they're calling him the world breaker. The one we've been waiting for, who will set the lines ringing to a new song or destroy us completely."

My eyebrows rose. World breaker? The gargoyles that I'd seen when I'd popped in had all turned, and with a sinking feeling, I realized that's where we were headed. Can I make a good first impression or what? "Glissando . . ." I started, but heavy claws pinched my shoulder, bringing me to silence.

"He's always been just my friend," she said, her voice gruff and yet feminine. "Now?" She hesitated, snuffing. "I mean, can the goyle who spends half his waking moments trying to spit on a bird in flight really be the one who's supposed to change everything?" she finished plaintively, making Jenks snicker. "He's a person, not the savior they all think he is. The stupid half-flat is so noisy he can't catch a pigeon off wing."

Savior? I thought, confused. They thought Bis was something out of their collective foretelling? How come this was the first I was hearing about this? "I'm, ah, trying to get him back."

"Back?" She snorted, and Jenks yelled at her when her tail whipped around my neck for support. "He's learning the line," she said sarcastically. "He can't do anything from here."

She really cared for him, and guilt tightened around me. Damn it, I'd really messed up his life, and now he was in real danger. "Glissando, I really like Bis. He's important to me because he's a member of my family, not because of an old wives' tale. We're going to fix that line. I won't let him down."

The small gargoyle took a deep breath. "Thanks," she said, her head down. "I'll tell them you're coming. That's them, right over there."

She spread her wings behind my head, and I stiffened. "Wait. If they are calling Bis the world breaker, what are they calling me?"

Her tail slipped from around my neck, and her weight shifted. "You're his sword to break it with."

I blinked and gaped after her as she effortlessly took to the air.

"Holy crap!" Jenks exclaimed. "I've been taking rent from the gargoyles' savior?"

I swallowed hard, glumly forcing myself to keep moving forward. "And his sword," I said, thinking it was a lot to put on the kid. "What does that make you?"

"It makes me the landlord!" he said in satisfaction. "Hurry up, will you? It's cold."

Unable to see the humor in it, I inched onto the small patch of unsanctified ground, marked by a red slab of cement and Pierce's grave. Six large gargoyles, male and female, lurked on the surrounding stones, their wings draped over their backs. Behind them, dozens lurked, watching as well. A huge gargoyle was perched on the angel statue, his claws leaving delicate scratches on the angel's face like tears.

Nervous, I scuffed my feet, and his big red eyes narrowed at me. It was obvious they didn't like being this close to the ground, but it put them nearer to the one line in Cincinnati that was humming instead of screaming. "Uh, hi," I said, pulling one hand out of my jeans pocket to give him a little wave, and the rest of them shifted their wings in a leathery hush. I have two of the world's most powerful rings in my pocket, and I'm in danger of being squished. "Ah, you must be Bis's father."

"I'm Etude," the gargoyle on the statue said, his vowels grinding together low and deep in his throat. He shifted his claws, and a flake of stone broke from the statue, hitting the cement to shatter. His ears flattening for a second, he flushed a deep black. Suddenly I felt more relaxed, having seen Bis do the same thing when embarrassed.

"Don't worry," I said. "I never liked that statue much. This is Jenks."

Jenks made a burst of dust but stayed on my shoulder. "I'm here to make sure none of you hulks hurt Rachel," he said loudly, and the gargoyles around us murmured, sounding like a distant avalanche. "I'm just warning you, is all," he finished, and I lifted my shoulder to get him to shut up.

"Ah, about me losing Bis in the ever-after-"

"Bis?" the old gargoyle said, and I sighed at the interruption. "Yes. Ah. Can I talk to you?"

"Sure . . ." Confused, I stuffed my hands back in my pockets, not knowing what was going on anymore. This wasn't what I had expected.