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Bob continued to lower his hand. As abruptly as it had started, the wind stopped. The four gargoyles started forward, one of the females zipped up the body bag, then each of them took a corner of it. Their wings extended. With their free hands, each gargoyle gestured as Bob had done, and the wind came again. This time the gargoyles used it to lift themselves up, taking the body bag with them. I watched as they slowly and laboriously flew back towards the church that housed them.
Bob watched them too, until they were gone from view. He turned back to me. ‘It’s best that you call it a day.’
Why would you call it a day? It is quite clearly night,Esme muttered.
Bob grinned. ‘It’s a saying. It means leave it alone, my four-legged friend.’
We’re not terribly good at following orders,Esme growled.
‘Not an order, my mamtams, a suggestion.’ He winked. ‘Do with it what you will.’
It felt like he was trying to distract us, but he’d said it was a clue. He’d used magic to summon the wind, to control the air; were gargoyles related to air elementals in some way? They clearly had humanoid roots if that transformed corpse was anything to go by.
‘You’re an air elemental,’ I stated.
‘Nothing so distinguished. Gargoyles have no air magic of their own.’
‘I just saw you use it,’ I pointed out.
He flashed me a grin full of sharp, shark-like teeth. ‘That was clue number two. Someone will come by for our car. I’ll be seeing you, Lucy Barrett. Esme.’
He went to raise his hand and my own shot out to stop him. ‘Wait! Please. You say leave it alone, then give me some sort of clue. I don’t understand what’s going on.’ I hate admitting ignorance, but in this case I had no choice. I really had no idea what he was trying to convey.
‘I don’t suppose you do. Time to figure it out,non?’ His French accent came out thick and fast when he was being annoying.
I dropped my hand reluctantly.
‘Your mate has my number,’ Bob offered.
I felt cheeks colour, and hoped that the night’s veil hid them from sight. ‘He’s not my mate, he’s my second.’
‘If you say so, wench.’ Bob winked again and raised his hand. Air whipped around him, apparently summoned by something other than elemental powers. It took a few moments to gather sufficient force, then his squat wings stretched out behind him. They started flapping rapidly, nothing like the elegant swoops of Emory’s golden dragon wings, and finally he lifted off. It was not a quick getaway.
I waited until Bob disappeared, watching carefully lest I should miss clue number three. Although I donned my clothes hastily, my skin was speckled with goosebumps, and I barely suppressed a shiver. The men stood silent and respectful as I dressed.
‘Well,’ I said, ‘that was unexpected.’
‘The body or the gargoyles?’ Archie asked.
‘Both,’ I admitted. ‘Do any of you know what mystery Bob is hinting at with his clues?’
Greg and Liam shook their heads, but Archie frowned. ‘I’m sure I remember my dad telling me a story about gargoyles and werewolves being connected, but I can’t remember how. It mustn’t have seemed important. He told me all sorts of stories when I was a pup, allegories that usually had some sort of deeper meaning that I was supposed to discover.’
‘But you didn’t find them,’ I guessed on a sigh.
‘Rarely. I’m not a deep thinker.’
I grinned. ‘No shit.’
Liam was smirking too. Archie shrugged. ‘There might be something in Dad’s library, that’s all I’m saying.’
‘And there is definitely something to find out,’ Greg pointed out.
‘That, too.’
I pushed some annoying blonde tendrils out of my face; I’d left my hair loose that morning, and I’d regretted the decision ever since. ‘It’s getting late, and we have a mansion full of wolves. We're not going to solve this tonight. Come on, let’s go and enjoy pack movie night.’
‘I’ll patrol the grounds tonight,’ Greg stated.
