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“I’m not sure what my intentions are at this point,” he finally said. “You were a surprise. I was working towards establishing order and peace across a large swathe of people and causes that are not your concern when you showed up, my child, who I never dreamed existed. What is the place for a half-gargoyle in my world? I don’t know what your abilities or talents are, and neither do you, since your magic has been locked away for so many years. I am not going to force you to take place beside me in my work, nor am I going to insist on any other preconceived paths that an ideal child should take. I didn’t make plans for you, because I didn’t know you existed. You are old, too old to be raised up in any of the specialized sects that would interfere a great deal in your personal life. I am interested to see what you make of yourself, but I don’t have any plans, per se, other than to watch.”
I blinked at him. “Like an experiment?”
“Mm. Would you care for another cup of tea?”
I blanched and almost puked again. “No, thank you,” I managed to say.
He smiled. “You might want to go home and rest for the remainder of the day.”
“I might want to do a lot of things, but I have a shift at the sushi place I’ve got to get to.” I stood up and pulled my backpack over my shoulder and my skateboard under my arm. “I’ll see you around.”
“Monday. You’ll have to continue drinking tea until you change. Five days a week, at least.”
I swallowed hard and didn’t puke. “And how long will this whole process take?”
“It’s impossible to say. You’re the oldest half gargoyle I’ve ever met who hadn’t already shifted. It will be interesting to see.”
“Whether or not I die will be interesting? Ouch.”
He blinked at me. “I apologize if that seemed insensitive.”
“I said ouch. It didn’t seem insensitive, it was insensitive. You need more human contact. I guess I’m the lucky soul who gets to bear that burden. See you Monday, dad.” I almost threw up again, right there, but instead, I went out the nearest door so I could breathe deeply of the fresh air and try to think happy thoughts.
The ride to work was miserable, and the work shift, also miserable, but I’d worked through illness before and could do it again. When you had to buy groceries, you worked whether you were feeling it or not.
“You look like death,” Rynne said, when we had a minute in the kitchen as things started winding down. “Maybe you should get home and rest. You’ve been working a lot lately.”
I had to tell her this crap, but I couldn’t tell her about the gargoyles, could I? He hadn’t asked me to sign any nondisclosure statements. He hadn’t asked me to sign anything, just my mother with Miss Tertrue. That worried me. I needed to see what she’d signed. “It’s not that, it’s, well, maybe that is what it is. I met my dad. He’s rich and wants to pay for my school at Gray College.”
She stared at me for a whole minute, just standing there staring before she moved her hands in an elaborate spell of revealing that would show her my aura. It bloomed around me, an elaborate colorful tapestry that had so much going on, but there was a cupcake, I swear, there was a cupcake, and then it dimmed and she gasped and grabbed my shoulders.
“What are you majoring in?” she breathed, big eyes intent.
“I have no idea,” I whispered back. “Probably not accounting. I have magic. I actually saw your whole aura thing. It’s kind of cool. Before when you did that, I thought you just looked silly, but no, you’re legit.”
She grimaced at me. “Kind of cool? You have three kinds of magic and it’s ‘kinda cool’? Girl, you are too much. Get home and go to bed before I start asking questions, because you know I won’t stop until you’ve died. I’m so mad at you. We are going skating tomorrow, okay?”
I wrinkled my nose. “I have to do this thing.”
“Thing? Elaborate.” She put her hands on her hips.
“Percival Marigold is training me in the ways of the demon hunter.” That sounded so completely made-up that there was no way she’d believe me, but she only shook her head.
“Crap, that sounds worse than dealing with demons. It’s true, though, if you can deal with his toxicity, you’ll be good to go with demonic forces.” She pushed me towards the door. “Go home and get some rest so you aren’t cranky for sweet Percy.”
“Percy of No Mercy,” I corrected.
She grinned at me. “Sounds like love. Go easy on him.”
I went home and straight to bed, having weird dreams of flying with gargoyles and then falling to the earth and shattering into dust on impact. It wasn’t the most restful, but whatever. I crawled my way out of my blankets the next morning to find my mother sitting at the table frowning at a cookbook, a suspicious-looking glass of something to the side like it was waiting for me. I wasn’t sure if I could drink another cup of that horrible tea again, and if this was anything close to that, it could kill me.
“What’s that?” I asked, poking the glass.
“I’ve been doing research, but gargoyles are so secretive. I’m not sure if this really will help you or not.” She frowned at the mixture in consternation.
“You have his number, so ask him.”
Her eyes widened. “Ask him? Your father? You think that I should just text a perfect stranger first thing in the morning about his secret nature?”
