Page 13 of The Gargoyle in the College

He says, “Look, I’m only here because you said I could visit you tonight. I can leave if I’m making you uncomfortable.”

“That was a dream. I had a dream last night, no?”

“It’s not exactly a dream. I tried to talk to you, but you were asleep.”

I lift my hand between us to put some distance between us, except there was no distance between us from the beginning, so my hand ends up on his chest as if I set out to pat him. He is a heavy dude to push against and I don’t even know whether he feels the push. He doesn’t move a tiny bit.

I push harder and he finally takes a step back with a frown as if he’s confused. I say, “I don’t understand. It is a dream, right? How can you be talking to me like that?” And... hugged me like that. Did he actually hug me? Or did I imagine that?

He clears his throat. “I hate how humans don’t learn magic anymore, then we wouldn’t have to be stuck in this talk. Say, I prompted the dream. So that happened when you were sleeping,so it qualified as a dream, but at the same time, it happened. I asked you, and you said I could come.”

“So... Was I fully conscious when that happened?” That I actually let him hug me and enjoyed that?

He nods. “Yes, you were. But I suppose you may have thought it was a dream like you thought we were in your dream a bit earlier.”

“Were you in the room last night?”

“No, I was outside, enjoying the wind and my clean wings.”

It... Doesn’t feel comfortable when I didn’t know what happened. It wasn’t that fair. If I knew that was real, I wouldn’t have let him hug me. Even though he is pretty handsome and can hug me well, we just met, if that.

He says, “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about that when I did it, I kept forgetting humans nowadays don’t know about magic and gargoyles like me anymore. I didn’t mean to take advantage of you with the hug and stuff. I thought you were fine with that.”

“Did you... read my mind? That’s creepy.”

He stares at me. “Is that not meant for me? I’m sorry...”

Did I say my thoughts out loud? “Did you read my mind, or did I say something?”

“You can’t be thinking about me when you think your private thoughts. Otherwise, it’d feel like it’s meant for me.”

“So... You can hear my thoughts as if I speak them.”

“Yes, but only if you want me to know about that.”

“I didn’t want you to know about that though. Like... I didn’t expect to tell you that.”

He scratches his head and rubs his pointy ear. “I think we have work to do with that. I don’t hear every thought, but if people think about me hard enough alongside their thoughts, I can hear that. You’ll have to guard your thoughts to stay safe from other beings.”

He goes to the window, looking out of it as if he’s trying to make sure we’re alone. He can’t be watching out for another human, no human will be peeking or trying to get in through the window. “It’s a dangerous world out there.”

“With the robber, that’s for sure.”

“Also with all the beings outside. I’m not the only one who humans don’t think exists. Um… To be simple, I mean there are other beings out there even though you’ve never heard about them before.”

I take a breath. “So... Other monsters, or say, mythical beings exist out there and are alive?”

His frown grows deeper. “Indeed. Be careful out there. Some of them lurk among humans like me, some hide and wait to strike.”

I still can’t accept that it’s the truth. All the mythical beings? “Like... Even unicorns exist out there?”

“They do. Why are you that surprised?”

I swallow. “That’s wild.”

“Is that? It feels normal to me.”

“Why don’t I know about that?”

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