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“Yes. They do have those in America, don’t they?” I smiled my most innocent smile.
She grinned. “Yeah.” She set her hand on a stone statue that I’d placed on the table just inside the doorway. When she didn’t notice what she was leaning on, I grinned.
“As your friend, I feel I should warn you that he might bite,” I said, jutting my chin in the direction of the statue.
She glanced down and jumped, snapping her hand back and hugging it to her chest. “What is that?” she asked, taking a step closer and bending her head until she was eye level with its snarling snout.
I laughed. “It’s a Gargoyle.”
“But what is it doing here?” She craned her neck to peer at it from each side.
“I think it looks quite nice there.” I’d set it on the dressing table temporarily while tidying up, but something about it made me feel like I had a friend keeping me company while I worked. Today, I’d tucked a stack of leather-bound books under the bat-like wings that hovered in their frozen, half-extended pose.
She reached out a finger to touch the point of one of its fangs. “Sharp,” she said, holding her finger up to see if she’d punctured the skin.
“It was a wedding present,” I said.
“For my aunt and uncle?” She glanced at me with a horrified look on her face.
I shook my head. “No. For your uncle’s, let’s see, great-great-great-, oh, never mind. I’m going to lose count that way. One of your uncle’s ancestors. I found it up in the attic. There’s another around here somewhere.” Actually, I knew exactly where it was, but I decided now was not the time for an explanation of my system for cataloging artifacts. “I’m fairly certain they were mounted on the house at one point and then removed by a later generation.”
“You found them in the attic?”
“Yes, why?” I asked.
“Oh. Nothing.” She shrugged and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s just…I don’t remember ever seeing anything like this in the attic. I think I would remember.”
“When was the last time you were up there?”
“I was just a little girl. I think I was maybe eight when we came to visit last. But I stayed up in the attic, with my brothers. I’m sure if there was anything like this up there, my brothers would have found it and wasted no time using it to scare me silly.” She wrapped her hands around her waist and stared past me.
“Well, lucky for you, your brothers never found these. Instead, I discovered them on a shelf behind a cabinet. The other one is still up there.”
“You really are making yourself at home, aren’t you?” She didn’t appear particularly happy about the idea. I still couldn’t decide if it was the living arrangement or my job that had ruffled her feathers. I tried to keep it light.
“Just making sure we’ve cataloged and cross-referenced everything. Never know when you might need a few gargoyles. Couple of these in the front of the lecture hall, and no one would dare fall asleep.”
“I suppose.” She laid her hand on top of the gargoyle’s head, between its pointed ears, like it was a favorite dog. “I wonder if I have anything interesting hiding in my room.”
“I’d be happy to help you look.” I grinned at her, unable to resist the opening she’d given me.
She glared at me out of the corner of her eyes.
I held up both hands and smiled. “Purely in a friend-like capacity.” Years of living among humans had not given me nearly enough practice with this thing they called flirting. Without using my powers, I’d have to rely on their primitive method of charming others if I hoped to win over Oscar’s niece.
“Friends,” she said.
“Friends,” I said. It was a start. She relaxed a bit and stopped glaring at me. “So, I can wrap up here if you want to head into town.” A flash of light near the ceiling caught my eye, and I sucked in a breath. My eyes darted between Evelyn’s profile and the ceiling, but she didn’t turn her head. Good, she hadn’t noticed.
“I don’t think I have time. I was planning to have lunch with my uncle,” she said.
“Maybe later, then?” As much as I wanted to attempt to change her mind, that flash of light meant I needed to get rid of her, fast.
“Sounds good,” she said.
I waited until she’d retreated down the hall toward the guest rooms before I shut the door and turned to lean against it, looking into the chaos of crates. “All right, Ari. Where’d you go?” I asked.
Arabella stepped out from behind a stack of boxes. She smirked at me. “How adorable,” she said.
