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Part II
Five Years Later
Chapter 3
Present Day
Five yearsof returning home before sunset, and you’d think I would have learned my lesson. Nope. I still ran, thumping the forest floor with each rushed step, lungs pumping furiously. I cursed myself for arriving home late again.
Told you to not steal the book, but no… Now you’ll get beaten.
“Shut up. That’s not helping.” My heart pounded, and I sprinted down the dirt track I used every night. Five years ago, I had messed up Vanore’s spell. Instead of eradicating the gargoyle, the incantation had turned him into an impenetrable statue during the night—he couldn’t see or move. But when the sun rose, he snapped back alive, and if he didn’t sense me inside the tower, he hunted me down.
The sky grew bluer. Once the first rays climbed over the horizon, the stone gargoyle would awaken and savagely attack me when he found me outside.
Of course, I had visited Vanore’s home two times and left her notes, but she hadn’t been home. Both times, her neighbors had explained she’d gotten injured and had taken an extended vacation by the sea. She’d never come for her payment either, and it worried me to know I’d caused her harm. Still, her home was too great a distance. After each of those escapes, I’d gotten beaten for arriving after dawn, so I’d given up on going to find her. One day I’d pay Vanore back and get her to give me a spell that fully worked.
So I’d been working my ass off helping other people solve their problems to make the money. I’d gotten to know many people, shifters, and fae. The trick was discovering what each offered. So when someone asked for help, I knew who to hire to help them. I ran a referral service and connected clients with people able to do their job.
And despite knowing so many people, I still struggled to make close friends. I ticked the reasons off on my fingers. Telling them where I lived wasn’t possible, I could only meet them during night. Oh, and I spoke to myself. But I didn’t care what anyone thought when all I craved was freedom. They could call me “insane” for eternity, but if it gained me freedom, I’d change my name to Crazy.
Bursting free from the dense woodland, I entered the open ruins. The breeze swooshed through my short, cropped hair. I loved the freedom, its heaviness gone, and the way it had overheated me. A benefit of the spell. Now I felt as light as a bird. If only I had wings.
The first glows appeared on the horizon with the pre-dawn orange gleam. My skin tingled, and dread filled my veins. I trampled over the knee-length weeds that swallowed everything in the cleaning except the tower.
The granite structure stood in the middle of the area, vines curling upward around its base like a snake choking it, and the only way in and out was through the arched window three-quarters of the way up the building. An oversized flat roof of slate reminded me of a cage. A weather vane sticking out depicted a man on a horse slaying a dragon. The poor creature was hunted, just like me.
The monster that haunted my nightmares perched on a raised stone platform in the center of the roof, frozen in place, his granite eyes staring right though my soul. My skin crawled.
Hate him. Hate him. Hate him.
“You and me both.”
I stared out over the landscape. Most deemed the ruins haunted. But truth was, the gargoyle killed anyone who accidentally stumbled anywhere near the ruins during the daytime. Which was why I refused to ask for anyone’s help. I’d placed signs around the surrounding woods to scare people from the ruins and encourage the myths about deadly spirits living here.
I leaped over rubble and sprinted toward the tower. A yawn pushed forward. An orange hue glowed to my left through the trees. My pulse raced, and I rushed up the tower, gripping the grooves I’d chiseled into the stone for my hands and feet.
Halfway up, the sun’s ray speared upward from the horizon. My heart galloped, and already the spark of energy prickled over my scalp. Goddess, not yet.
You’re too late.
I climbed the wall, faster, but my toe slipped and I gasped as I dug my fingers into the holes in the wall. Heavy footfalls boomed across the roof.
It’s coming for you.
My veins turned to ice. My head itched as if I’d fallen into poison ivy. My hair grew back in fast motion, the tresses already hitting my shoulders.Fuck!
Keeping my shit together, I scaled up like a spider, my breath wedged in my throat. The window was in sight, and my golden hair cascaded around me, growing at lightning speed like a waterfall. The weight pulled me backward, and every move felt like I carried a mountain on my back.
The ledge was within reach.
There were thunderous steps overhead.
I seized the window frame.
A shadow loomed over me, and I held back the strangled cry in my chest. I scrambled inside and threw myself in a forward roll. I landed on my back, heaps of blonde hair spreading around me.
The bag I lay on dug into my spine. I gasped for air, unable to move. My pulse drummed in my ears, and I listened for the distinct flap of wings, the grating of stone.
