Page 14 of Guarded By the Gargoyle

Standing in the middle of the garden was a large marble statue. It appeared to have two faces and the one facing me was of a hideous gargoyle. I saw curving horns and twisted features scary enough to give anyone nightmares. Large bat wings extended from its broad, gray shoulders and spread wide in the moonlight. Just looking at it made me shiver.

“Here we go!” Goody Albright bustled back, carrying a silver tea tray in both hands. She set it on the table and I saw that it held a steaming teapot, two cups, a little pot of honey, and a small pitcher of cream. “I see you’re admiring my Garden Guardian,” she remarked.

“Yes, he’s…really something,” I said, nodding at the snarling face in the moonlight.

“You ought to see his other side, it’s absolutely gorgeous,” she said, smiling. “The face of an angel and the body of an Adonis.”

I shook my head as I took the cup she handed me.

“No thanks—I prefer the ugly side. Pretty men are trouble.”

Carlo had always been the most handsome man in almost any room he walked into. It was one reason I felt so flattered when he attached himself to me—and look wherethathad gotten me.

“Hmm, well you could be right.” Goody Albright offered me the honey pot and I drizzled some of it into my cup. “So tell me dear, what brings you here tonight? Or should I say, whatchasedyou here?”

“I don’t know exactly what it was,” I said, adding a dollop of cream and then sipping carefully at the hot tea. The warm steam rose to tickle my nose and the cream added just the right touch—it was like drinking a cinnamon roll. “Mmm—this isreallygood.”

“It’s a family recipe,” she said, smiling. “So if you don’t know what was chasing you, just tell me what happened. Maybe I can help you figure it out.”

I normally wouldn’t tell a complete stranger my private business, but I had to admit that I was way out of my depth. Besides, Goody Albright had known my Grandfather and she seemed like a trustworthy person.

I started out by telling her about how Pop-pop had always claimed I would get “The Power” that he had at some point.

“Which I guess is the power to reach over to the Other Side and you know, talk to the dead,” I admitted hesitantly.

Goody Albright shook her head.

“My, my—that’s adangerouspower, my dear. Especially if it’s used the wrong way.”

“I don’t know if I used it the right way or the wrong way,” I said. Then I shook my head. “No, that’s not true. I’m pretty sure I screwed it up right from the start. But I didn’t think it was true—all that stuff about ‘The Power’ or ‘The Gift.’ I thought Pop-pop was making it all up—that he was justpretendingto Channel the spirits of the dead.”

“Oh my—so you’re not just talking to them, you’reChannelingthem as well?” Her eyes grew wide. “My dear, that takes the danger up a whole order of magnitude. Why, do you know what can happen if you allow a spirit to enter you that doesn’t want to leave?”

“I have a pretty good idea,” I said dryly. I told her about trying to Channel Big Nicky Valentino’s dead mother and getting his dead wife instead. When I got to the part where Kitty Valentino wrapped my hands around his throat, she stifled a gasp.

“Oh no! How did you ever get her out of you?”

I explained about how I had envisioned myself pulling the spirit out of me and she nodded.

“Yes, visualization is a key component to any strong magic, whether it’s witchcraft, necromancy, or what have you.”

“I wouldn’t call what I did ‘necromancy’ exactly,” I said uncomfortably. “I mean, I justtalkto the dead—or let them talk through me. I don’t actually bring them back to life.”

“True, you’d need a body to raise to do actual necromancy. But Channelingdoesfall under the general umbrella of the Dead and Undead. That’s neither here nor there, though—tell me what happened next?”

I explained how Big Nicky had been so angry with me and had insisted that I send his ex-wife’s spirit back to Hell.

“Oh my dear…tell me youdidn’t,” Goody Albright exclaimed.

I nodded reluctantly.

“I’m afraid I did. I was so flustered and I didn’t want to risk her getting back inside me. Having her in me was…justawful.”I made a face, remembering the feeling of being filled with the dead woman’s hate and resentment, as bitter as stale cigarette smoke. I had never felt so violated. Not even when Carlo…but I cut that thought off abruptly.

“So did you send her to the Pit?” Goody Albright asked.

“Ithinkso. I saw her getting sucked into a kind of black hole outlined in red flames—almost like she was being sucked into a vacuum,” I explained. “She went right into it. But then I saw something comingoutof it.”

I described the shadowy monster which was vaguely dog shaped and its three heads and six burning red eyes.

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