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After the longest moments of my life, nothing happened, so I exhaled loudly. “Hell, that was close.”
Really? You don’t say. Tonight’s heist wasn’t worth the risk. You were reckless.
“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong. It was completely worth it.” I pulled myself up to a sitting position and wrestled my arms out of the bag’s straps tangled in my hair.
Movement shifted in the shadows of my abode. Darkness flooded the place, but Gingernuts emerged from the kitchen. His golden fur dragged behind him like a cape, but it grew shorter, magically drawn into his body before my eyes, while my mane grew and slithered outward across the rug like dozens of snakes, wriggling for escape.
At dusk, every day, my long hair withered away and regrew at dawn. Yep, the damn spell from five years ago hadn’t worked entirely, but it had given me freedom during the night. And I embraced it because it offered me time to find a solution to get rid of the gargoyle for good.
Still don’t like the cat’s name. “Princess” suited him fine.
I laughed. “I disagree. He’s a boy with oversized nuts. I’m sure the female cats would love him for it.”
He meowed and spun on the spot, pawing at his long fur to keep it from vanishing. But within moments, he’d morphed back into the tabby cat I’d lured into my high prison five years ago. That same incantation not only put the gargoyle into sleep mode through the night but also transferred long hair to the cat. It wasn’t as long as mine, but still ridiculously lengthy. I was left with a short-cropped hairstyle, which I loved. That must be why the witch had told me to get an animal for the spell. But if I knew the enchantment would have made the cat the gargoyle’s prison, I might have reconsidered, but then again, Gingernuts pranced about at night with his locks as if he were the lion of this castle.
But now, he was my pet, and I adored him.
More like hostage.
“Oh, you’re not a captive, are you, Gingernuts?” I used my baby voice as I always did around him.
He lifted his chin, staring away from me as he hobbled past me on his three legs. But at once, he pounced onto my hair and rolled himself under the mess and covered himself with the strands. He was used to concealing himself because he did it every time the gargoyle neared the window.
“Come here, you.” I snatched him into my arms and pressed him to my chest. “Oh, I missed you so much.” I kissed the top of his head, despite his paw pushing against my chin. “Feel like going outside to chase insects? Get some exercise?”
He stopped squirming and looked at me as if I’d declared bath time.
Stop teasing him; he hates the outdoors.
Gingernuts bounded out of my arms and kept meowing. This was quite unlike him, as his usual response was to give me a nasty look most mornings when I returned—probably for taking back my hair. The little guy adored the hair too much.
Except right now he lingered near my feet, looking from me to the left, where I had my bed set up. The morning light crept into the tower, lighting the kitchen to my right, a floor of cushions against the back wall. I’d painted a field of flowers there with dragons in the air, and a castle in the distance. I used to imagine I was a princess who’d been locked up and my Prince Charming would come to my rescue. Never happened.
Gingernuts prowled toward the free-standing wardrobe and kept glancing at me, then the cupboard.
“Did you catch another bird or lizard and put it in there for me?” It wouldn’t be the first time I’d come home to find my room drowning in feathers, and all I could imagine was he’d attacked any bird that had perched on the window, or some poor reptile that had scrambled up here looking for food. It must have happened a lot because it had become a common occurrence. Last week, I’d found five dead skunks. Yet I didn’t have it in me to close the wooden shutters and keep Gingernuts cooped up, as there were no other windows for fresh air.
Not ready for another cleanup, I got to my feet and shoved a hand into my bag. I grabbed a leather-bound book and took it out. Flipping through it, most pages were torn out, but that hadn’t mattered when I’d found a section on gargoyles.
You risked our lives by breaking into a lord’s house for a freakin’ book.
“Not just any book. This could save me.” The title readAll Things Undead.I had no clue what the deal was with the gargoyle, but technically, he was an inanimate object walking around. I would have spent more time searching through the bookshelves because there were so many more texts, but the owner had returned home early. And I had no intention of getting tossed into prison to only have the gargoyle come and break me out before he beat me.
Though I might return later to see what else he had in his library.
Yeah, you help others but still can’t find a solution for your problem.
I sighed. “Give me a break. I’m trying.” I waved the book in the air. “Hello, exhibit one. We gain magical intelligence on the gargoyle and how to take it down for good.”
Gingernuts was standing on my hair and clawed at my pants. He kept glancing up at me and then the cupboard.
“Geez, what’s with the wardrobe?” I marched across the room when the door to the tall cupboard swung open.
I flinched and lurched backward, my hand falling to my waist for my knife. Legs planted apart, I was ready for something to pounce out.
Instead, a man with light brown hair falling to his waist stood in my cupboard, shoving aside my hanging clothes.
“Whoa!” Who in the world was the strange man my bedroom?
