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“The Sphinx, you mean?”
“I thought that Sphinx were supposed to be women.”
“I’ve been curious about it since you mentioned it some time ago, but since then, the Sphinx himself came to personally discuss you with me.”
I scowled at him. “And you told him that he should talk to me because my life was none of your concern.”
“I’m asking because I noticed how you were speaking with Judge Matthews about the legal system, the injustice, the people who get convicted without due trial, and those who are released because of who they know, the corruption on all levels of government, and I wondered if political justice is something that you’re interested in pursuing. Percival’s family is very closely tied to politics, particularly the legislative branch, but he’s more interested in working in the judicial system, with aims at becoming a judge until he’s a justice of the Supreme Court.”
I stared at him. “Percy of No Mercy wants to be a Supreme Court judge? The world is screwed.”
“I noticed that you lack direction in your course of study. When signing up for next semester’s classes, you chose like you’re using a shotgun method, not precision aiming to accomplish your goals.”
“Are we really having this conversation while we’re on our way to have pizza with my mom?”
“Pizza? I thought that she preferred sushi. Should we stop to pick up the pizza? At any rate, someone needs to talk to you about your future plans, and I’m sure she will ask me about your future plans, and continued support for your education, but I could be more capable of reassuring her if I knew what those plans were.”
I curled up in a ball for a whole five seconds while my skin ached and probably turned to stone around the edges before I could get my emotions under control. I slowly uncurled and swallowed hard before giving him a tight smile. “Are you suggesting that I go into law enforcement?”
“Law, like Miss Tertrue without the driving. You could try it, see if it suits you, but it could be somewhere to start instead of blindly searching through a morass of options, hoping to stumble on something that resonates with you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. There was something fishy about this. “You think that I would do well as a lawyer because I’m a naturally talented manipulator and liar?” Well, I was his daughter, so…
“Specifically, a criminal defense attorney. You automatically assumed someone was innocent and in need of defending, and then you put yourself in danger. A court of justice would be a much more secure location for exercising your honorable instincts to protect the weak than a back alley in Song.”
“You want me to tell my mom that I have a major so you can chart my expenses to schedule paying for my schooling instead of being willing to pay as long as I want to take classes?”
“I want you to choose a major. Feel free to change it as often as you like, but undecided is not a good position in which to move forward.”
“And you came up with pre-law because I accidentally stumbled on a murderer?”
“Percival suggested it. He knows your nature far better than I do.”
I flinched and stopped breathing at the sound of his name, and again with the shifting around the edges of my skin as I tried to hide away in stone. “He thinks I should do pre-law, so I can take cases against him as judge, and he can destroy me and my clients for the rest of my life? What a fun idea!”
He cocked his head. “Or choose business, painting, or science. Just make a choice.”
I nodded and tried to breathe normally. “Sure. I’ll choose something right now. Farming.”
“Agriculture is very important to the economy.”
I held my hands together on my lap and tried not to bare my teeth at him. I was doing this for my mother, because she wanted to ask him out to sushi, and I owed her respect more than I owed anyone else anything, but I really wanted to tell him that she changed her mind, and tell her that he had a girlfriend, and nip this whole burgeoning disaster in the bud.
The rest of the ride was spent in claustrophobic silence. When we pulled up at the courtyard gates, he grabbed my arm when I moved to get out while he leaned forward, peering at the building and looking more deadly dangerous than he had in a long time.
“What is it? You have guards here, right?”
“Something’s wrong.”
“How do you know?”
“Stay in the car with Miss Tertrue.” He got out, but I followed him before he could close the door. His brows grew lower and darker as he stalked towards the gates, his shoulders broadening, whole body growing taller and more ominous. I’d never seen him in his gargoyle form before, only the partial shift with wings.
He stopped and shuddered, then broke into a run, knocking the gates off their hinges so they flopped over with a crash. I ran until I saw the blood, then I slowed down. I stopped when I saw Earl, but my dad didn’t stop or slow down as he ran through the courtyard then inside, like he knew exactly where he was going, like he’d been here before, many times.
I crouched next to Earl, but his blank eyes were a sign that his soul had flown. His body was ripped apart messily, the sight so terrible and shocking that it didn’t seem real. I shook my head.
“I’ll go get mom to help you,” I said then ran inside, down the blood-streaked hall, up the stairs, and past Earl’s apartment, where the door had been shattered and hung in strips from the hinges. Our apartment had no sign of the door, just a hole around where it had been. Inside, there were body parts mixed with chunks of rubble, but I didn’t realize that they were pieces of gargoyle until I saw a horrible face, distended in anguish and fury, half stone, half flesh, all awful.
