Page 15 of Guarded By the Gargoyle

“It nearly got me but I heard my Pop-pop telling me to run,” I told her. “And then I saw a door outlined in light standing at the end of an alley.”

“Yes, the door or Portal to Hidden Hollow sometimes appears during a low point or a time of great danger andneed,” she explained. “And it seems that your Grandfather had prepared you for it, since he gave you a key.”

“He gave me two keys.” I laid them both on the table, the huge iron one and the tiny, delicate golden one. “I never knew what they were for. I still don’t know whatthisone is for.” I nodded at the golden key.

“Well, something tells me you’ll find out when the time is right,” Goody Albright said mysteriously. “In the meantime, you’d better spend the night here and give that door to the Pit you opened time to close.”

“Oh, will it just close on its own then?” I asked, feeling relieved. “Because I wasn’t sure what to do. I’ve never had The Power until tonight and I still don’t really know how to use it.”

“My guess is you’ve had it ever since your dear Grandfather died,” Goody Albright said. “A Gift like that tends to pass from one person to another in a family—it can only manifest in one family member at a time, you see.”

“That must be why my Grandfather always said that someday I would have the same Power he did,” I said thoughtfully. “I guess he meant it literally—when he passed, it jumped to me.”

“Exactly, my dear. And of course, it can be quite disorientating to suddenly have a Power you know nothing about filling your body.”

“Tell me about it!” I muttered. “I just don’t understand why Pop-pop didn’t warn me about it more.”

“He might have thought that you wouldn’t believe him,” she said gently. “Didn’t you tell me that you thought he was just ‘pretending’ when he Channeled spirits in the past?”

“Well…yes,” I admitted. “How did you know him, anyway?” I asked.

“Oh, Giovanni came to me a couple of years ago asking for a Spell of Disinterest and Banishment,” she told me. “He said hewanted the strongest one I had. Of course, I warned him that it wasn’t a good idea to tie it to his own life-force, but heinsisted.”

“Tied to his own life force?” I said, feeling numb. “What…what do you mean?”

“Well, there are spells of Banishment to get rid of bad people in your life, but those don’t usually work if the person is reallyfixatedon you,” Goody Albright explained. “Which was how your Grandfather explained it to me. To get rid of someone who’s really obsessed, you need to give the spell a continuous flow of power. And since Giovanni wasn’t a witch and his Channeling power couldn’t really be harnessed in that way, he had to havesomeway to keep feeding it—the spell, I mean.”

“So…he hooked the spell of Disinterest to his ownlife?”I asked.

She nodded.

“Yes, the spell drew a little vitality from him every day. I warned him that he would have to monitor it—to stop it before it was too late and it drained too much of his life away. But he—oh my dear, whatever is the matter?”

For a minute, I couldn’t answer her. I could feel my face going the wrong way—twisting the way it does when you’re trying not to cry. I was so tired of being emotional tonight! But what she was saying was just confirming the awful suspicions I’d had myself—that Carlo’s willingness to let me go was somehow linked to some kind of magic spell—a spell that made my Grandfather grow old and die before his time.

“My dear, what is it?” Goody Albright reached across the table and put a hand on my arm. “You can tell me,” she said softly.

“He…hedidn’tstop it in time,” I whispered, still trying not to cry. “He used that spell to free me—to get rid of my horrible ex, Carlo. But then, I guess he just let it keep going. Why didn’t he stop it after Carlo gave me the divorce?Why?”

“Oh my dear, I’m so sorry!” Goody Albright shook her head sorrowfully. “It’s possible that he went past the point of no return, after which it doesn’t matter if you stop the spell or not. It’s like a kind of balance—once you reach the tipping point, there’s no return.”

I buried my face in my hands and breathed deeply. Poor Pop-pop! He had sacrificed himself for me—given his life to get me free of Carlo. How I wished he hadn’t done it, but I knew if he hadn’t, I might be dead right now.

Carlo had been getting really violent near the end of our marriage—violent and unpredictable. I could never tell when he was going to go into a rage at the littlest thing…or nothing at all. Sometimes he didn’t even need an excuse because he just wanted to hit me.

“I’m sorry,” Goody Albright said again. “I should have dropped in and monitored him. But he seemed to know exactly what he was doing…”

“No, it’s not your fault,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s mine. It was my stupid choice to marry my ex and Pop-pop paid for it.”

“I’m sure he did it because he lovedyou,” Goody Albright said quietly. “I know you miss him, but with your gift, you can still reach him.”

“I heard him tonight,” I admitted. “But I don’t know about calling him up and talking. After what happened with Kitty Valentino, I don’t think I ever want to deal with the dead again!”

“That’s quite understandable,” she nodded. “And of course, you don’thaveto use your Power. After all, it lay dormant inside you all the time after your Grandfather passed until tonight. You can just go back to living your life and ignore it…if you can.”

“If I can? What doesthatmean?” I asked, frowning.

“Well…” She sighed. “It’s different with different magic users, but sometimes once the Power in your blood wakes up, it’s difficult to put it back to sleep again.”

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