Chapter 16 #3
“They might as well have popcorn. I’m keeping it mostly contained, but you know gargoyles, they’re expressive.”
“Why haven’t they been moved away?”
“We’re trying but having a hard time. They sense a battle and want to get involved. We’re keeping them at bay as best we can.”
I ran my hand down my face in extreme frustration. At the very least, it should be me handling that. When this was over, I’d need a damn good explanation for their keeping me out of the loop.
“And the garhettes?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“They’re with the basajaunak. The shifters aren’t comfortable with non-shifters. Austin and Sue and all of them are trying to talk things out. To calm things down.”
I laughed sardonically. Idiots. Austin and Sue and Aljoe, even Aurora, all had big beasts with volatile energy. Their power was probably pumping out, barely under control, setting off everyone else. Of course it was a tinderbox.
This reminded me of Austin’s trying to deny extended help when Kingsley was in trouble.
He wanted to handle it with family and friends, with known quantities.
He didn’t want to ask gargoyles and basajaunak for their aid, not with something so personal.
That was how they grew up thinking in their culture.
It was not how our convocation worked. Dividing everyone up was not how we solved problems. Austin and the others had clearly forgotten that.
I hung up without saying goodbye. Without saying anything at all. I was too mad for that. Yes, Armendale had likely started all this, but he shouldn’t be able to keep this going. He shouldn’t be able to manipulate us like this.
Austin was too close to see it. Where was Niamh? Surely she knew better than to handle things like this. And really, the basajaunak were allowing the others to keep them on the periphery? Dave knew better than that. His mom did, too.
Frustrated, I grabbed a purple muumuu and headed for the roof. Once there, I shifted. In times like this, I really wished I had Tristan’s giant wings.
Downtown was jammed with people in the streets, roaming, looking on. Gargoyles hovered in the sky, looking down, probably waiting for things to kick off. Basajaunak were in the park half a mile away, clustered in a group with the garhettes.
Who the hell was watching the rest of this town? Momar could waltz right on in. No one would notice, distracted as they were with each other.
No.
Just…no.
I blasted out magic in pulses, some calming, some commands. I felt the reluctance from various gargoyles who clearly didn’t want to leave the action. They probably had a good view.
That greatly pissed me off.
I hit them with different magic now, the painful kind. A few still didn’t want to budge, and I fried ’em. Really hit them hard. Then I gave the command again. Rise.
Do not get stubborn with me.
I sent commands to Dave and his mom and all the basajaunak I had connections with. They, too, hesitated. The Elder was in charge.
Not anymore.
I flew that way as Tristan rose into the sky with the rest of the gargoyles. He came toward me, but I ran my hand through the air. Wind twirled him out of the way, along with anyone else crowding my path. Instead, I called Ulric and Jasper up to me.
They found me immediately as Austin’s bonds lit up with wariness and frustration. He didn’t want me coming in here and mucking things up, just like he hadn’t wanted me and the Ivy House crew invading Kingsley’s town with random motorhomes carrying basajaunak. He definitely wasn’t thinking clearly.
We had to present this convocation as we were used to running it, as a collective effort and by working together. We rolled with chaos. That was what we did.
Not to mention we had prepared for something like this. It was why we had garhettes armed with magic and extra basajaunak on hand. It was why we’d brought in the gargoyles two weeks earlier than the shifters so they could start training and get used to the connection with me.
Cyra and Hollace rose into the sky near the basajaunak. I set them to work firebombing and using lightning to scatter the denser pockets of shifters in the downtown area. We needed some space, and they needed some fresh air to cool down.
Jasper flew me toward the basajaunak. I looked down at the Elder, and then I dropped down in front of her, two arm spans away. She could be on me in a moment and we both knew it. We’d battle, and neither of us probably knew the outcome. My magic was intense…but so was she.
I stared her right in the eye and then gave my commands to everyone again, pushing them out to the boundary lines first to make sure all was well, and then spread out into town to help lock things down.
She didn’t budge. Her people looked between her and me.
Help, or leave, my magic said now, blistering in its intensity. I’d trained for stamina, for using powerful spells over and over all afternoon and beyond. A standoff here wouldn’t affect my ability to handle the shifters in a moment, so I didn’t hold back.
Help. Or leave.
Her hair puffed out. She stood up, all twelve feet of her. This was about to get real.
Fine.
HELP or LEAVE.