“No.I never read anything about gargoyles in the temple.It was in a book I had as a kid about mythological creatures.But maybe”—his head came down as he stared at the first gargoyle tucked into its alcove —“they’re not so mythological.”
I restrained myself from strolling out of the cavern and never returning.Unfortunately, the exit lay above.
“Do you… do you really think they could come alive?”Scarlet whispered.
“I don’t know, but I’m eager to find out,” Tucker said.
“Again, we differ in things,” Scarlet muttered, and Callan nodded.
“There’s enough airflow in the tunnels that it will be easy for us to create wind, but while there’s moisture in the air, rain will be more difficult.Who possesses the ability to create rain?”Tucker asked.
Everyone but Scarlet raised their hands.
“And who can control the wind?”Tucker asked.
Ryker, me, Tucker, and Scarlet raised our hands this time.
“Okay, so between the five of us, we should be able to draw enough rain to make at least a few of them talk, and the wind won’t be a problem.”
“This is crazy,” Callan said.
“It will be crazier if it works,” I said.
He made a face.“You’re right.”
“I’m not sure I want them to speak,” Ianto said.
I wasn’t either.I was desperate for answers, but I might pee my pants if the gargoyles responded to us.
CHAPTERSIXTY-ONE
Ellery
“All right.”Tucker clapped his hands together as he grinned at the cavern.“Let’s get this party started.”
Ianto and I both looked at him like he’d lost his mind.As if scared his crazy might be contagious, Scarlet stepped away from him.
“We probably won’t need all of us for the wind,” Tucker continued.“But we will for the rain.”
There was some moisture in the dirt, but it would be more difficult to pull it from the earth than from the sky and clouds.However, with all of us working together, we soon had the steady patter of drops hitting the ground in the cavern’s center.
“Now for the wind,” Tucker said.
His grin didn’t align with the apprehension churning like acid in my stomach.Even if we did manage to get the gargoyles to speak to us, were we ready for what they might say?
“Wind,” Tucker encouraged with a wave of his hands.
Ryker, Scarlet, and I exchanged looks before drawing on the currents of air.Pulling them from deeper in the tunnel, we brought them toward us.
Our wind currents mixed with Tucker’s as they swept into the room.They didn’t possess the strength of a hurricane, but they were a breeze that would rattle trees until they clicked together.
Caught up in the wind, the rain swept toward the pathway and carried past to the gargoyles perched fifty feet away from us.The wind howled past their alcoves and drove the rain into their small spaces.
We’d only created enough rain to affect the first five gargoyles, but it peppered them until water slid down their stone faces and dripped from their jaws.The first two were chiseled with their mouths closed, as was the fifth, but the third and fourth had their jaws open to reveal the four razor-sharp fangs within.
If those jaws clamped down on someone, they’d shatter bone.
“Now what?”Ianto asked.
