Author: admin

My brows shot up. “Animated how?” “Will there be kissing?” the gargoyle asked. “What-no.” Rory made a face. “We’re going to…” He turned to Maude for help, but she offered none, grinning as he struggled to articulate. “We are taking up the mantle and challenging this man to his craft,” King Castor said, then blinked…

“That.” The gargoyle had dropped lower in the sky, making sweeps over the nearby hills. When he flew over us, the scribe cried out, ducking into his stall. “What kind of fowl-like sprite is that?” There was a loud crash. The gargoyle landed upon grass. Sneezed, then toppled. “Did that man just call me foul,…

“One gargoyle per Diviner.” “Did you see anything? Anyone suspicious?” “Besides you? No.” His eyes narrowed. “Who broke the mirror?” “I did.” “Why are your arms bruised?” “I’ve been pinching myself. To stay awake.” Rory’s voice went rough. “And the blood?” His hand came up slowly-a phantom through my hair, pushing it away from my…

“If only we had a tool that could help us, oh, I don’t know-move through walls?” “Fine.” Rory reached into his pocket once more- “I say, what on earth is the racket?” The knife I didn’t know Rory carried was soaring. It hit the batlike gargoyle between his stone eyes, then dropped brusquely onto grass….

It was my first time on a horse. I hated it. “You’re too rigid,” Rory called over his shoulder. “You’re going to knock the wind out of yourself. Relax, Diviner.” Relax. Sure. Maybe in my next life. All I could think about was Rory’s coin. The Artful Brigand’s coin. How many times had I dreamed…

I dove for the keys in the batlike gargoyle’s hands. “Open the shed door-now.” Stone fingers curled around the iron ring. “Take me with you, Bartholomew.” “What?” “Is my voice too quiet?” He hauled in a breath. Shouted in my face. “Take me with you, Bartholomew! I don’t want to start over again and again…

No. The truth of what One had seen beneath her shroud had not saved her-nothing had. I slammed my fist into the mirror instead, shattering the already fractured pieces. Glass rained upon the floor. I dropped onto my mattress. Buried my face in the pillow that still smelled of One. Night came, the moon tossing…

“Almost worth the sleepless nights,” Three muttered through a yawn. “Almost.” “What of your knight?” One put her hand on my shoulder. “Was his dream interesting?” The moth. The vision of the statues in the courtyard come to life. Of the Diviners, twisted and wailing. “I-” The dream lodged in my throat. “I don’t know….

“He didn’t even invite me in.” The gargoyle stuck out his stone tongue. “A prodigious idiot.” We waited. The night was a purple blanket, soft and silent. Then- Laughter echoed behind me, and with it, the rolling noise of a cart. “Told you,” came a loud, slurring voice. “Gargoyle. Right fuckin’ there.” There were shouts….

A twig snapped from above. My gaze shot up. Sprites. Dozens of them, watching me from the gnarled ceiling of branches. Moonlight bathed them in deep blue halos that winked when their wings fluttered. They followed me down the road, never near enough to touch me, tearing through leaves and errant spiderwebs to remain close….