Page 40 of Mated to the Gargoyle
Trustyourself.Useyour magic,the voice insisted.
ItwasAdelaide, wasn’t it?Mygrandmother.Butwhat magic?Ididn’t have any inside me.
Nowwasn’t the time to debate that.Itook a deep breath and carried the mirror over to the book.WhenIglanced at the page,Iswore under my breath in awe.Itdisplayed a reflection spell.
Iturned to the mirrorIheld.Couldthis work?Iquickly reread the instructions.Thiswouldn’t require as much of me as some of those most complicated spells.Infact, it put the onus on the other person.Orsorcerer.Orphoenix.Orwhatever the hell that unnatural things was.
ShouldItry it?Myheart pounded asIwrestled with the decision.IfIbrought the book out of the library,Icould be putting it directly into the hands of the sorcererIwas entrusted to keep it from.Butno way didIhave time to memorize the lines to cast the spell.
Screwit.Theother option of not doing a damn thing to helpHugowasn’t an option.Iclutched the book against my chest and ran outside.WhenIwas greeted once more by this unreal battle in the sky between a phoenix and gargoyle,Igaped in disbelief.AtleastHugowas still up there, fighting.Stillalive.
Iheld out the mirror, opened the book, and began to read the words to the spell.Thephoenix paused in its aggression forHugoand redirected its position on me.Ashe soared toward me with magnificently fast trajectory and deadly intent in its eyes, he snarled, “Giveme the book.”
Ohhell,I’dmade a terrible mistake, hadn’tI?
Asthe creature bounded for me, flapping his fiery wings,Icrouched on the ground and used the book to shield me—not that it would do a damn thing against destructive wings of fire.
HUGO
Iquickly communicated the situation toDumontasIfought this creature.Hewas dealing with another fire, not far away on campus, and had calledLucandMarcto help.
Itmust have been a diversion,Dumontnoted with a grunt.Again.
Sincefire was involved, it was likely.Thesame thing had happened the night of the break-in at the library, pulling sentries to other locations.
Becareful,Hugo.Thiscould be the sorcerer,Calix.Thedemons must have been working for him.
Fuck.Great.Fightingthis magnificent beast on my own wasn’t easy.Hewas powerful and fast.Itevaded many of my blows and came at me with its fiery wings.Ifit weren’t for the protective magic thatAdelaidehad bestowed up on theStoneSentries,I’dbe badly burned and in terrible shape by now.
Below,Anyaran back outside holding the book.Whatwas she doing?Ifit got into the wrong hands, like those of a dark sorcerer, it could lead to more devastation.Worse, she was risking her life in doing so with her greatest fear—fire.Heraction seemed downright suicidal.
Firehad taken her parents.Firehad taken her home.Firecould take her away from me.
Thephoenix broke away from our fight to go forAnya.She’dheldAdelaide’smirror up and had been chanting a spell but now crouched on the ground, using them both to shield her from its destruction.Noway in hell wouldIlet that happen.Noway wouldIlet him or anyone hurt her.Noton my life.
No, the fuck not!
Iadjusted in flight to pursue the phoenix as he went after my mate.I’dhad barely a minute’s notice to even be aware of the threat.Dumontgot back to me after piecing my description with other intel, and confirmed that my adversary was indeed the dark sorcerer we suspected—Calix.He’dbeen in pursuit of greater power for several years, manipulating, if not straight-up murdering, others to develop greater abilities.Hewas now so adept in dark magic that he’d been able to shift into the form of a phoenix and wield fire with its magic, incinerating whatever it touched.
Ibarely took in the info asIchased afterCalix.AlthoughI’dfelt the heat,Adelaide’smagic protected me.Iflapped my wings as hard as possible, despite the effort sapping me after fighting the phoenix.Ashe moved in onAnyawith his fiery wings,Iused every bit of energy to launch myself at him.
Iroared out asItackled the burning shifter, knocking it offtrack in its trajectory.I’dbeen going so fast thatIbarely pulled myself up before crashing headfirst onto the ground.Imanaged to adjust so thatIstumbled in a graceless landing and almost lost my balance.
“Anya, are you okay?”Iasked in a breathless tone while rushing over to her.
Shenodded, staring at me with wide eyes, before stuttering out a yes.Weboth turned to look in the sky, fixing on the bright glow of fire amid the darkness of the night.Thephoenix adjusted its position and spread his fiery wings in an awesome display of might and imminent destruction.
Hereleased a malevolent laugh that sounded like something between a squawk and a shriek.Thebeast glowered at us with a deathly glint in his eyes.Heopened its beak and released a blast of fire.
“No!”Icried, andAnyascreamed.
Instinctively,Iwrapped my wings aroundAnyaand desperately tried to shield her from harm as the world burned around us.
CHAPTER16
ANYA
Hugoroared as the flames licked at his wings, and still he protected me within them.Myheart pounded, my brain screamed in horror.Wewere trapped by a creature who was trying to burn us alive.Icouldn’t imagine a more terrifying situation.Tobe trapped by fire…
