Chapter 2
Adela
The mayor said he noticed the town’s Gargoyle was showing its age. I had marveled at the stonework many times before. Whoever had carved him had taken their time and care to create a marvelous creature. His form was mostly human. The peak male human, of course.
His wings were what always enchanted me. The way they were carved, they almost looked real. How they got the membrane of the wings so thin still baffled me, and I was a skilled sculptor. If I could help this beauty look even better, then it was my mission to do so.
I plopped my bag down below the raised pedestal before looking up at the creature. His tail curved around the base of his feet. The furrow carved into his brow made him seem intent, watching, assessing everything beneath it.
He was also filthy. Moss was growing on him, dirt and wear ate at the aged stone. When was the last time he was cleaned?
The mayor didn’t really know why he was here, the records of him having been lost in the labyrinth that is the Everlyn Library.
He had asked archivist, and my good personal friend, Iris Goldburn to hunt it down for him.
In the meantime, I was tasked with assessing him, the runes etched on his side, and do any needed maintenance on the stone.
I began with brushing the dirt and grime away. The swish of my brushes caused a puff of dust to fill the air around us. If only he could talk, he’d probably be thankful that someone was bothering to clean him up.
On the side of ribs, down the side of it, were carefully carved runes. As my brush flicked over them, an iridescent shimmer rippled across them. I scrambled back down the pedestal. I didn’t think I’d need the book, but apparently it had been a good idea I brought it.
The children who were playing around the base of the statue when I arrived had been shooed away. The people noticed I was at work and were giving me the space. As the area’s only stonemason, I was always the one people called for this type of restoration.
Whistling as I made my way to the van, I reflected on all I had done lately in town.
Recently I had helped install a new pillar out at the Willowridge Sheep Farm.
They had a nasty run-in with a feral wolf clan, and her wards weren’t working correctly.
It was no fault of hers. Faye was a powerful witch in her own right, but I had a penchant for protection warding, and lately, most people’s wards were getting weaker.
The mayor already had me install a new stone arch that towered over the main entrance into the town that boosted the town’s glamor spell.
We were still getting tourists passing through regularly.
The more monstrous of us had had our glamours flickering a little too often lately.
Couldn’t have the child from Texas learning that demons walk among them.
They’d be coming for all of our heads after that.
The ward I had used was actually for the visitors instead of for our people. It made them more impressionable regarding magic. They were more likely to dismiss things as a trick of light or sometimes, their minds would simply go blank when they thought of it.
It was difficult to set up, and it only lasted about a day after passing under it. My friend Iris had helped me find where the leylines connected there and I had hunted down the perfect runes in an ancient tome. It worked, for now, but they really needed to figure out what was going on.
Rummaging around in the van, I found the old rune book.
I was flipping through it on my way back to the statue.
The evening light was catching the statue in just the right angle.
His jaw line was so sharp, it could cut someone.
I snickered to myself, thinking he had been built out of granite and in theory if sharpened, it would cut someone.
I stood looking up at the marvelous, handsome gargoyle.
Whoever originally carved him had to have thought themselves to be a comedian.
Putting such a handsome statue in the middle of the town for everyone to have to look at every day was torture.
I was sure various generations blushed at his perfectly carved abs.
If only the men around here looked like that, maybe I wouldn’t be so incredibly single.
Pulling out a small notebook, I tried to replicate the runes etched down the side of his ribs. They were ancient runes, at least. It would just take me a bit to figure out which ones.
I leaned against his base as I thumbed through the book. A warmth grew across my back as I leaned into him. It spread through me, comforted me.
Whipping around, I looked back up at the statue. He still stood there, wings opened, but completely inert.
This city was so full of oddities, it could have been anything.