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“So heroically,” he grumbled adorably.
I beamed at him and nodded. “Exactly! Let me repay you somehow. I know. If you take me home, I can show you where I live, and then tomorrow night, three a.m, I can serve you ch-ch-chocolate.” I shuddered again while my feet slid on the steep shingles and my hand started cramping. None of that mattered because a gargoyle was standing in front of me, living up to every bit of the hype.
“You’ll serve me chocolate?” He sounded so skeptical.
Wait, who served chocolate like it was a thing? “Hot chocolate, and chocolate scones, and chocolate soap,” I rambled, trying to land on something that would make it possible to see him again. If only I had a tranquilizer, I could use on him so that I could chain him up in my bedroom and stare at him for the rest of my life.
“Chocolate soap? Are you suggesting that I need to bathe?” He growled long and low, sending goosebumps down my spine.
“No, you smell so good. I don’t mean that, but I make soap, and I’m really good at it. I don’t think—” My hand slipped, and I crouched down, trying to keep my balance, but it didn’t matter if I fell over when I was sliding down the steep roof towards the long drop.
He flew beneath me and caught me before it registered that I was about to die, gathering me up against his chest in a bridal carry. I linked my arms around his neck and stared at him, bumping his cheek with my nose when we spun left. His hair mingled with mine, dark water and old fallen leaves.
“Where do you live?” he spoke into my ear, so low, so growly, that I shivered again.
“The old Healery.”
He took off, flying through the towers of the city while I stared at him, strands of darkness sliding over his cheeks like a caress. I wanted to touch him like that. Would he drop me if I tried? He’d danced with me when we were caught in Singsong’s music, but maybe this would be different, intentionally trying to seduce him into letting me touch him. Would he ever consider dating me? Did gargoyles date? Maybe he was already happily married and had a hundred great-grandchildren.
“How old are you?” I asked, leaning closer to him so my cheek brushed his. A shock of electricity went through me at that touch.
He didn’t answer me, just held me tighter and flew faster. Too soon, we lit on the roof garden of the old Healery where my mother and I had lived my whole life. Two other people lived in the large building, the old grumpy caretaker, and Earl, the healer who was a noble soul that worked too hard for not enough money, but was always happy, which he showed by snapping at me to put a coat on before I caught my death. He was like the uncle I’d never had whose favorite thing was to pour noxious potions down my throat.
The garden led into my room, which was more of a pass-through space before you got to the rest of my mother’s apartment, so him landing us there was basically ideal, except that Earl’s room overlooked the garden, so if he was up looking out his window at three a.m. he’d see me hanging out in a slip and would trouble himself to yell at me about it.
When I complained, my mother said, ‘at least he cares,’ so I guess that was something, and the gargoyle, he’d noticed that I was cold, even though I wasn’t nearly as cold as I was excited, so did that mean that he cared as well? Probably not, although he had saved me from the huge werewolf.
I stared into his eyes, arms locked around his neck until he finally broke away, studying me intently as though he was as curious about me as I was about him.
“Yes,” he said abruptly as he put me down, holding me once I was standing in case my legs spontaneously fell off.
“You think my legs are going to fall off?” I asked and then winced when I realized what kind of nonsense I was spouting.
“From the cold, I wouldn’t be surprised. Yes, I’ll come for chocolate soap. 3 a.m. as long as you wear something warmer. Do we have a deal?”
I nodded and beamed at him while the sun exploded in my chest from happiness.
“Y-y-yes. I will you give you all the chocolate soap you can eat.” I was too dazzled to realize what I’d said until after he bowed formally, then exploded back into the night sky until it swallowed him up.
Chapter
Two
Iwoke up buzzing with a swelling feeling of delighted expectation until I remembered the books. I scrambled out of bed and pulled on slouchy pants, t-shirt, hoodie, and grabbed my backup board. I needed to hurry. If I was lucky, I could gather them up before someone else stumbled over them. I didn’t know how much magic books like that were worth, but they were always expensive, which is why my mother had only a few volumes on healing magic.
“I made you waffles,” my mom said when I came out of my room. She was smiling like the sunshine and feeding little nuts to her squirrel, Peter, who sat on her right shoulder while Poe sat on her left.
“Oh. Thanks.” I didn’t have time to eat, but I wouldn’t hurt her feelings for anything. It was so difficult for her to cook, to read instructions and remember what she was doing.
I grabbed her in a hug before I pulled away and grinned at her, ignoring the scar tissue that marred her soft skin. “How did you know I wanted waffles? I’m so hungry. I would have eaten Peter if there wasn’t something even yummier.” I kissed his head and then opened my mouth for the seed he offered me. Peter was a real sweetheart, much nicer than the last pet she’d healed that wouldn’t leave her alone afterwards. It wasn’t the skunk’s fault that it stank even when it wasn’t spraying.
“We can still eat him,” she offered with a crooked smile.
“We’ll have to fatten him up first. I’ve got to run, so I’ll take these with me.” I kissed her smooth cheek and grabbed my backpack and a stack of waffles before I headed out.
She followed me to the door of the apartment while I put down my board and prepared to ride down the long hall that led to the back exit of the solid stone healery.
“Are you sure you should eat waffles and ride that thing?” she asked, frowning at my board. “It seems dangerous.” She couldn’t exactly remember all the times I’d broken something doing stupid moves, but she felt the lingering anxiety from it.
