Page 141 of Cherish

The beast lets out an eerie growl that makes my friends take a healthy step back, and then he jumps straight down the well.

We stand there staring after him, and I can’t help wondering if they’re all thinking what I’m thinking—we’re screwed ifthatis the level of monster that keeps the other monsters away.

Eventually, though, I turn to Hudson and say, “All right, then. See you at the bottom.”

He nods and steps toward the well. But it’s too late. Before he can so much as grab the brick edges of it, I’m tucking my wings as tightly as I can around my body and hurling myself over the edge.

And then I’m falling, falling, falling.

76

Gargoyles Are

Friends, Not Food

Wind rushes by me as I plummet through the darkness…down, down,down.

I have one moment to think about Heather—to worry whether she’ll survive this fall and how I can possibly catch her when it’s complete pitch-blackness all around me—then, just like that, I jackknife straight into water.

Because it’s a well. Of course there’s water at the bottom.

Which is great for Heather and everybody else. Not so great for me, since I made the genius move of turning into a brick.

When I first hit the water, I sink like the stone I am, plunging deeper and deeper, like an arrow seeking home. And though it only takes me a flash to turn back to my much more buoyant human form, it takes a lot longer to reach the surface and breathe again. Unfortunately, my lungs were totally unprepared for the huge mouthful of water they got when I first went under.

I spend the next several moments kicking my way back up to the surface—short arms and legs are a complete pain in the ass in situations like this—and finally make it just as someone drops into the water beside me.

He hits with a splash that sends water careening into my face and has my already spasming lungs spiraling into another coughing fit.

“Hey, you okay, Grace?”

So it’s Flint who just nearly drowned me for the second time in as many minutes. Big surprise.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I direct my answer toward his voice. I can’t actually see him yet in the darkness, but before I can start moving toward him, two more people drop in right next to us, followed by three more.

After we all check in on one another and make sure everyone’s okay—especially Heather, thank God—we start to try to get our bearings.

“Now what?” Eden asks.

It’s a good question, considering we’re all currently treading water in the dark, with absolutely no idea of which way to go next.

“Does anyone see the chupacabra?” Hudson asks, and I’ve never been more grateful for the fact that vampires and dragons can see clearly in the dark. Or more annoyed by the fact that gargoyles can’t.

“I think there’s something up ahead to the right,” Jaxon tells him, and then there’s a whole lot of splashing as the rest of us take off to our right.

But some of us can’t see the others—namely, the human, the witch, and the gargoyle—so our right turns end up being thewrongrights. Macy and I slam straight into each other, our rights apparently in direct contrast to each other.

“Could you be a little more specific?” Heather asks as she, too, gets tangled up with us. “For the mere mortals among the gods?”

“So what you’re saying, Heather, is that I’m a god?” Flint teases.

“If you tow me out of this mess, I’ll call you anything you want,” she answers.

“God works,” he answers cheerfully. And then must make good on his word because Heather brushes against me fast and hard, like someone is suddenly pulling her.

“I’ve got you,” Hudson says as Macy and I untangle from each other. He doesn’t tow us nearly as aggressively as Flint towed Heather, but he stays with us as we paddle our way through the darkness.

A couple of minutes into the swim, we turn some kind of corner and the world in front of us gets at least a little lighter. It’s still near complete darkness to the tiny gargoyle, but there’s at least enough light to make out a beach in the distance—and the chupacabra wading ashore and shaking himself like a dog on the sand.

---