Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
“Edgar, go stall them,” Nessa said through her teeth, shoving him toward a gush of laughter. “Hurry!”
He disappeared in a flash of movement, and seconds later his voice carried to us. We worked frantically and released the spell just as Edgar skulked around the corner with five people. The three men wore ill-fitting suits, while one of the women had on what was either a flowy pant suit or a flowered skirt down to her ankles. Middle-aged and older, all of them had clipboards and smiles, chatting and having a good time.
Those smiles dripped off their faces as they saw what Edgar had in store for them.
The spell finished locking around the flower. The flower poked forward, hitting its cage and simultaneously drawing the attention of the people walking toward the exhibit.
“Did that…” A man with thinning gray hair styled in a combover pointed at the flower. His brow furrowed.
“What was that, Dick?” another of the guys asked, a very fitting name.
Ulric flew upward a bit and then headed sideways, careful not to make sound. I followed, sticking to the wall.
“Oh. Look.” The woman in the flowered skirt pointed at Jasper, standing in front of the others. “A few of the cheering squad put on capes.”
“That is because of the gargoyle theme,” Edgar said, rubbing his hands together. “In myth, it’s said that when a gargoyle is in its human form, their wings turn into large capes down their backs. I thought it might be fun to cosplay a bit.”
“Then why aren’t you wearing a cape?” the other woman asked, a crease forming between her eyebrows as she caught sight of the main statue.
“Oh no, don’t be silly.” Edgar laughed. “I would never presume to impersonate so great a being as a gargoyle.”
“He’s laying it on a little thick,” Niamh muttered. “I regret this whole joke.”
“I should hope so,” Mr. Tom replied indignantly. “Those flowers are a menace.”
“Are ye daft? Those weren’t my doing! Fierce useful, though, if ye were to plant them all around Kingsley’s place. That’d give the coming”—she hesitated, sliding a glance at the coming judges—“outsiders a shock.”
Ulric and I landed softly, Sebastian stepping forward to get out of the way while the two of us quickly shifted. Nessa wandered back over, pretending to randomly survey the wall, and gave Ulric his clothing. She handed me two vials.
“Your clothes couldn’t be salvaged,” she whispered and handed me a vial. “This is to strip away the revealing potion.” I took it, and she held out another. “This is to apply the invisibility potion to yourself.”
You couldn’t have both potions at the same time or they nulled each other, something Sebastian was working on fixing.
I took the first and then waited a bit as everyone moved out of the way and allowed Edgar to lead the judges to the focal point of his exhibit.
“Ah yes, I see, gargoyles,” one of the men said, looking everything over. “Interesting. Haunting, even. The statue in the middle is even…off. Do you see that? It’s like…things aren’t quite in the right places.”
“Oh yeah.” The woman with the flowered shirt cocked her head. “Odd.”
“Yes. That is the gargoyle god, carved by hand,” Edgar said.
He continued to explain his design elements as I took the other potion. Austin made his way to me, clearly having no interest in the design elements that made up Edgar’s masterpiece. Tristan was right behind him, drawing the attention of all the judges.
“Yes, didn’t he do a great job dressing up?” Edgar asked, putting out a hand to stop Tristan. “It’s like he just stepped off the battlefield.”
Tristan looked at the hand, and his whole bearing vibrated with warning. His wings fluttered ever so slightly, and his pecs, bloodied from his encounter and peeking through a large rip in his shirt, flexed.
“The king of the gargoyles, right here,” Edgar said wistfully, dropping his hand. “If only I could’ve stuck him in the exhibit, right?”
“How did you get your eyes to glow?” one of the people asked, but Tristan didn’t stick around for a question and answer session. He glanced at me as he stopped next to Austin. Through our gargoyle bond I could feel his anger and concern as his gaze did a quick sweep of my body. Seeing nothing, he glanced away, tracking some people down the way as they stopped and surveyed what was probably their exhibit. They began fluffing up some moss.
“Look!” Combover exclaimed. “Look, the plant is moving! At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks, but no, if you watch closely, they move!”
“He needs to tweak them so they appear to be moving with a breeze, not on their own,” Tristan said softly, presumably not wanting the judges to overhear. “If they are moving independently of the environment around them, the enemy will notice them.”