The Stone Survival (Gargoyles of Stonehaven #4)

CHAPTER 4

T here was plenty of seating in the room, and Curi and Serath moved the sofas so we were gathered around the large oak coffee table facing Ivor. I sat with Serath, and Curi sat with Shar, while Levi claimed an armchair.

Tea was passed around, and we settled in to listen to what Ivor had to tell us.

“We should start at the beginning,” Ivor said. “When the rift to the other place first opened. The gray began to seep into our world. It was their atmosphere, toxic to humans and home to terrifying beasts from their world. The gargoyles were able to withstand the gray to a degree, but the rift was guarded by creatures that even they couldn’t best, and the atmosphere close to it was lethal, even to gargoyles. We were losing the war against what was essentially a terraforming of our world. But then the high council of witches made a proposition. They’d had contact with beings from this other world—disembodied entities called shedim. These shedim were the protectors of powerful relics that were housed in the world beyond the gray. They had the power to withstand the gray and fight the beasts but not in their disembodied states. The rift opening had pulled them through, stripping their souls from their bodies in the process. Their queen promised that they could close the rift if they were given hosts.”