Chapter 11
Eleven
Georgie
I woke with a start, wide awake. I sat up straight and looked at the side of the mezzanine platform where Cairn had been perched overnight. He was still there. I searched for movement, anything that would tell me he hadn't turned back to stone. His chest expanded as he breathed in.
I almost sighed with relief.
I'd woken up multiple times during the night, always worried that he had either disappeared or turned to stone.
Cairn had refused to sleep on the sofa. Apparently, gharrgoils preferred to rest in high places, although my mezzanine was a poor substitute for a mountain or one of the towers on his home planet.
He had perched with his back against one of the roof beams, wings wrapped around his body and his tail hanging through the railing.
I'd been slightly worried about the extra weight on the platform, but the iron chains were strong enough to hold at least ten people, and surely gharrgoils weren't that heavy.
I still wasn't sure if any parts of him were stone in his natural state.
His skin still looked harder than I was used to.
And his wings would have added to his weight as well.
A question for another day. I stretched and pushed my tangled hair out of my face.
Cairn slowly turned to me, a smile on his lips. I could just about make out the fangs peeking through.
I looked at my wrist. There were no marks, not even light bruising. No sign at all that he'd drunk from me. That hadn't been a dream, right? No, the memory of that blissful state returned in full force.
He unwrapped his tail from the chain and stretched. His wings opened until they brushed both sides of the roof. The platform swayed beneath the movement.
“Careful!”
Cairn froze. “I barely moved.”
Maybe I should have asked for his weight after all.
He rose into a crouch, unable to stand upright beneath the sloping roof. His battle wrap had shifted during the night, sitting low on his hips. Very low.
I dragged my attention back to his face.
Cairn grinned.
“I was checking whether you had turned to stone,” I told him.
“That part of me has never been stone.”
“Downstairs. Now.”
He laughed and climbed down the ladder ahead of me. His tail brushed my arm as he descended. I was beginning to suspect that it did far fewer things by accident than Cairn claimed.
My phone rang before I had finished making the first pot of tea. Pam’s name appeared on the screen.
“Morning,” she said when I answered. “How’s our new alien?”
“Large. Still half-naked. Still moving.”
“I can hear you,” Cairn called from the other side of the room.
“I know.”
Pam laughed. “Good. The Authority has provisionally registered him, although they’re asking questions nobody can answer. Species, home planet, reason for arrival, length of intended stay.”
“He crash-landed five hundred years ago. I don’t think he intended any of this.”
“That’s what I told them. They’re treating it as an unusual first-contact situation.”
“Unusual?”
“The last first contact involved an alien laying eggs in the Edinburgh University library. Safe to say that species did not get on my roster. My standards have shifted since I took up this job.”
I decided not to ask. This was all too crazy for me.
Cairn stood close enough to hear both sides of the conversation. He had discovered the leftover naan from last night and was tearing pieces from it while he watched me.
“We need to get back to Stirling,” I said. “My car is still at the castle, along with half my tools. And I need to talk to my apprentice and come up with an explanation for disappearing in the middle of the job. And for taking the Guardian with me.”
“Keiran has been dealt with,” Pam said.
I lowered my spoon. “What does that mean?”
“The Authority removed the digital footage showing Cairn and you leaving the castle. Your apprentice told his supervisor that you became unwell and went home.”
“I didn’t tell him that.”
“He apparently decided it was the most sensible explanation after receiving your message. We encouraged everyone to accept it.”
That sounded ominous. “He decided that? You didn’t wipe his memory, did you?”
“No. We’re matchmakers, Georgie, not supervillains. I've arranged for scaffolding and conservation sheets to be placed around the Guardian’s position. Officially, serious cracks were found yesterday and the area is closed until a full inspection can be completed.”
“But...how?”
“We have built up a lot of resources since we started working with aliens.
There's always a risk of discovery and we do our best to mitigate that.
We don't lack for cash because the exchange rate for Intergalactic Standard Credits to British Pounds is very favourable for us.
We charge aliens for the pleasure of finding human mates and trust me, it's not much for them but a lot for us.”
I would have to talk to Keiran at some point. He wasn't stupid. He might see the holes in the explanation given to him. But for now, I was somewhat reassured.
“I still need to go to Stirling to get my car and tools. I can't take Cairn with me on the train and he can't stay here. He had another small petrification incident last night.”
“Tell me more.”
I shook my head before realising she couldn't see that. “Not now. He can tell you himself at some point.”
“Okay. I can arrange a car.”
“No limousine. It was really cool to ride in, but it attracted enough attention outside my cottage yesterday.”
“I’ll book a taxi. A people carrier, obviously. I’m also sending you a C-suit.”
“A what?”
“Camouflage suit. The Albyans use them to hide their second set of arms and antennae. We lend them to the Vikingar when they need to pass as human. It should hide Cairn’s skin, horns, wings and tail, provided he keeps everything pressed close to his body.”
Cairn folded his arms. “I do not like the sound of this.”
“The Vikingar don’t either,” Pam said. “Apparently, the fabric itches. Tell him not to scratch too hard. The projection starts flickering if the suit is damaged.”
“He can hear you.”
“Excellent. Then I don’t need to repeat myself. The courier will arrive within the hour. I'll book your taxi for ten.”
Pam ended the call before I could ask any more questions.
I finally got to bring the pot of tea to the table and sit down.
“Albyans, Vikingar, alien eggs in a library,” I muttered. “This is ridiculous.”
“You've been living a very sheltered life,” Cairn said gently. “Your species is still in its infancy. You've barely reached beyond your own moon, if what I heard from my wall is true. It must be quite a shock to find out like this that you're not alone in the universe.”
“You can say that again. But if I think about it any further, my head might explode. So let's have breakfast so we're ready for our lift to Stirling.”
His expression darkened.
“What's wrong?” I asked.
“I am not sure I'm ready to see the place where I was trapped.”
“You can stay in the car. Don't worry. I won't go very far. Or maybe you'd like to see parts of the castle you didn't get to look at from your perch on the wall? The palace is beautiful inside; they restored it a few years ago. A few friends of mine were involved in the project.”
“Maybe. I will decide when we get there, if that is alright.”
I gave him a big smile, pretending to be more upbeat than I felt. “We can do this. Together. Do you mind if I finish that korma?”
The C-suit arrived in a plain brown parcel that looked far too small to contain anything capable of disguising a gargoyle. The courier left without a word, which was fine by me. I didn't want to have to explain the huge alien in my cottage.
The garment inside was made from thin black fabric. It looked like a cross between a wetsuit and a pair of expensive tights. There were openings for two sets of arms, although a silver seam had sealed the lower pair.
Cairn poked it with one finger. ”You want me to wear this?”
“Only until we’re safely back here with my car.”
“It is too small.”
“It’s alien technology. I'm sure it’ll stretch.”
He lifted the garment from the box and held it against himself. It barely reached from his shoulders to his knees.
“This is undignified.”
“You’re the one who flew through Glasgow city centre without any trousers.”
“I was wearing my battle wrap.”
“Yes, and every person underneath you got an excellent view of it. I still don't know if whatever Pam did has erased all footage of you flying in broad daylight.”
Cairn sighed and put on the suit.
The fabric stretched further than seemed possible, sliding over his legs and battle wrap before sealing around his waist. He pushed his arms into the sleeves, then stared at the empty openings intended for an Albyan’s second pair.
“Maybe put your wings through those?” I suggested.
He gave me a look that would have turned a lesser stonemason to dust.
The wings had to be folded flat against his back. I helped ease the fabric over them, trying not to think about the warm texture of the thin membranes beneath my hands. Cairn’s breathing changed when I ran my palms along the struts to make sure nothing was trapped.
“Does that hurt?”
“No. It feels good. More than good.”
I resisted the urge to stroke his wings some more. We were on a tight schedule, or, in Cairn's case, in a tight suit.
His tail was an even bigger problem. In the end, he wrapped it twice around his waist before pulling the rest of the suit over it. The result gave him a strange bulge beneath his ribs.
“I look deformed.”
“You look like you swallowed a snake.”
He shot me a glare.
As soon as he'd pulled the hood over his head - I was amazed it fit over his horns - the C-suit shimmered.
Grey skin became warm brown. His horns disappeared beneath short dark hair, his wings vanished and the suit projected a black shirt over his chest, paired with jeans and heavy boots. Even the shape of his tail was gone.
A very tall, broad and ridiculously handsome human stood in my cottage.
I kind of hated it.
“Well?” he asked.
“You look wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“Too human.”
His dark eyebrows rose. They were definitely not his eyebrows. “Is that a complaint?”
“I prefer the horns.”
His smile was pure Cairn, even without the fangs. “You prefer me as a gharrgoil.”
“I suppose so. I met you as a gharrgoil. This just looks weird. But if it means you can leave the house with me, then we shall both have to endure it. You because it's uncomfortable, me because I don't get to ogle you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Ogle me?”
Heat rose to my cheeks. “Purely from a professional stonemason point of view. I have to check for cracks.”
“You can check my cracks any time you like.”
Why did that sound so dirty?
The taxi ride passed without incident, except for when the driver asked Cairn whether he played rugby and Cairn clearly showed that he had no idea what that was. The driver didn't ask anything else after that.
The castle appeared above Stirling through the rain, its walls dark against the pale sky. Cairn went still beside me.
“You alright?” I asked quietly.
“Yes.”
He wasn’t. I knew that. But there was nothing I could do just now other than stay by his side and distract him from whatever anguish he was going through.
The taxi dropped us at the main car park. My car was exactly where I had left it, damp and covered in leaves. Beyond it, the castle rose above us. White conservation sheets hid part of the outer wall, fluttering in the wind.
They covered the place where the Guardian had stood.
Cairn stared up at them.
Tourists walked past without paying us any attention. The C-suit worked. They saw a tall man standing beside me, not the missing gargoyle looking at the prison that had once held him.
“I thought I would be pleased to see it empty,” he said.
I slipped my hand into his. His projected fingers looked human, but beneath the illusion they were larger, the skin warm and textured like polished granite.
“You never have to go back up there.”
“No.” His grip tightened carefully around mine. “But Sten or Hallr may be trapped on a wall like that. Or somewhere worse.”
“We’ll start searching as soon as we get home.”
“It will be like finding a diamond flake in a desert of sand. How many statues are there in this country? And what if they were transported elsewhere? Or if they're held in private collections that won't show in your records?”
I squeezed his hand. “We will try our best. I will help you. That's all we can do.”
He turned to me. The human face created by the C-suit was attractive, but I missed his real eyes. I missed the dark granite surrounding them and the horns framing his head.
“You would do that for them?” he asked.
“I’d do it for you.”
The C-suit shimmered around his mouth when he smiled. He looked like he was about to kiss me, but then a tourist almost bumped into me , breaking the moment.
“Do you want to look at the castle or go home?” I asked.
“Home. I want to get out of this suit. Pam was right when she said it was itchy. I really want to scratch my wings.”
Cairn folded himself into the passenger seat of my car while I pushed it as far back as it would go. His knees still touched the dashboard.
“This vehicle is even smaller than the taxi.”
“It’s also mine, so don’t insult it.”
“I am not insulting it. I am stating that it was designed for a much smaller species.”
I bit back a laugh.
The rain grew heavier as we left Stirling. Cairn scratched at the collar of the C-suit.
“How much longer must I wear this torture device?”
“Until we’re out of town. There are cameras everywhere.”
“It is crushing my wings.”
“Five more minutes.”
“I don't know how long a minute is.”
We'd have to go over human units of measurement at some point. I guessed he'd heard the words for minutes, hours, days up on his wall, but nobody had ever explained to him just how long they lasted.
“You can remove it when I say it’s safe,” I said, trying to remain patient while also focusing on the road.
“You are very commanding for such a small female.”
“You like it.”
His human disguise couldn’t quite hide the movement of his tail beneath the suit.
The road narrowed after we left the last houses behind. Trees pressed close on either side, their leaves dripping onto the tarmac. Water gathered in the dips, pulling at the tyres whenever I drove through it.
A deer burst through a gap in the hedge.
I slammed my foot on the brake.
The tyres lost their grip.
The back of the car swung to the side. I turned the wheel, trying to correct the skid, but the road had become a sheet of water. The deer vanished into the opposite field while we spun towards a low stone wall.
“Georgie!”
Cairn moved.
Black fabric tore as one of his wings ripped free from the C-suit. The human projection flickered, revealing flashes of granite skin and leathery membrane. His arm crossed my chest while his wing wrapped around my head and shoulders.
The car hit the wall.
Stone cracked. Glass shattered somewhere to my right. The seat belt dug into my chest as the car bounced sideways and slid into the muddy ditch beyond the verge.
Then everything stopped.