Page 13 of Guarded By the Gargoyle

“My Grandfather,” I corrected myself. “His name was Giovanni. Giovanni Callahan.”

“Oh, Giovanni!” she exclaimed, coming closer. Her low kitten heels, which were also trimmed in floating ostrich feathers, clicked on the pavement. “Why didn’t yousayso? How is the dear man? I haven’t seen him in positivelyages!”

“He…he’s dead,” I said, still too rattled to be anything but blunt.

Her hand flew to her mouth.

“Oh my dear! How dreadful!” she exclaimed. “Oh that poor, dear man! What happened to him? Was he…” Her voice dropped. “Was he killed by whatever was chasing you?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “He…he died about a year ago. But I heard his voice tonight,” I added—though I wasn’t sure why I was telling her this. “He told me to run because those…those things would drag me down into the…the Pit!”

I was starting to cry for the second time that day (or night) which made me mad at myself. Ihatecrying—I did enough of it when I was married to Carlo and it never helped anything. It only made things worse. I sniffed hard and swiped at my eyes, willing myself to get my wayward emotions under control.

“You poor thing! Here I am questioning you in the middle of the night and the middle of the street!” the woman exclaimed. “Where are my manners? I’m Goody Albright and you must be Willow—the Granddaughter that Giovanni spoke of so often.”

“Yes, that’s me. Willow Callahan,” I said. I had taken back my maiden name after I finally got a divorce.

“Well, Willow—welcome to Hidden Hollow,” Goody Albright said. “We’re something of a sanctuary town for Creatures and people who are magically gifted.”

“Magically gifted?” I shook my head. “But I don’t have any magic.”

“Are you sure, my dear?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because I promise you, the Portal to Hidden Hollow won’t appear for just anyone, even if their need is dire. It only comes to those who have magic. No mere magicless mortal can pierce the veil that protects us, you know.”

I opened my mouth to deny I had magic again…and then I thought of how I had been able to open a doorway into the Other Side and how The Power had flowed through me like an electrical current.

And don’t forget theotherdoor you opened,whispered a guilty little voice in my head.The one that let that Hell Hound through!

Ugh! Just thinking of the six-eyed beast—if itwasonly one beast—made my blood turn to ice in my veins. I shivered all over as though a chilly wind had rushed over me.

“Look at you, shaking like a leaf! We can’t keep talking out here in the street—it gets cold here during the Autumn months,” Goody Albright said. “Why don’t you come with me and we’ll have some nice hot tea to warm up?”

Feeling like I had little choice in the matter, I nodded.

“All right. Thank you.”

“Good, just come with me my dear. We’ll have a seat out on the sun porch and you can admire my garden while we talk. It’s quite lovely by moonlight,” she added.

Not knowing what else to do, I followed her up the steps of the huge Victorian mansion. The wide front porch was shadowy but I managed to make out a wooden sign by the front door. Ithad a stylized lion carved in it and the words over it said,The Red Lion.

“Oh, a lion!” I exclaimed and looked down at the iron key I was still holding.

“Yes, The Lion has been around since the sixteen hundreds—it was established not long after the Salem Witch Trials,” Goody Albright told me.

“No, I meant mykey—the one my Grandfather left me. It has a lion on it. See?”

I showed her the key and she nodded her head.

“Well, now IknowI was meant to help you. Thank goodness I was awake when you came to town. Just imagine if you’d gone knocking on doors and wound up at, say, Mr. Horn’s house. Minotaurs aresogrumpy when you disturb their slumber,” she added.

“Minotaurs?” I asked, following her through the shadowy interior of the huge house. It was kind of like a maze inside, with long corridors that led in different directions, so I made sure to stay close to her.

“Well, it’s not fair to single out the Minotaurs—a Kraken would have dragged you down to the watery depths first and asked questions after too. Really,anykind of Creature can be alarming when you interrupt their sleep. It’s one reason people in the Human world call them ‘Monsters,” she went on glibly. “But they’re not really monstrous, you know—you just have to know how to get along with them.”

None of this was making any sense to me, but by this time we had reached the back of the huge, rambling structure and had stepped out onto a glassed-in back porch.

“Now you just have a seat,” Goody Albright said, indicating a small table that had two chairs. “I’m going to make you some of my best cinnamon spice tea. It will warm you up and then we can talk.”

She bustled off as I settled myself at the table. Through the glass widows I could see the garden she was so proud of spread out under the moonlight. There seemed to be wildflowers mixed in with a variety of vegetable plants and the effect was one of chaotic beauty.

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