Phelix’s eyes scrunch and before I know it, he laughs. A deep belly laugh comes out of him, so much so he falls backwards off of the tombstone he was perched upon.
Zemira glares at him. “I hope that hurt.”
Phelix stands up brushing himself off. “Nah.”
She turns back to me. “Violet, I promise you, I swear they’re asleep. I would never hurt them. It’s just, we need to talk to you alone and we are running out of time tonight.”
Confirming her story, Aaiden twitches and giggles in his sleep mumbling something.
I don’t lower the book. “Running out of time?”
“We sleep during the day,” Alex says.
“What, do you have a strict bedtime? Ignore it. You need to...” My thought trails off. What do I want from them? I ask myself. Maybe I don’t even know. I just stand there.
Zaphyra looks concerned. “Is she broken again?” She reaches her finger out to poke me.
I glare at her. “What are you doing?”
“Oh,” she peeps, “Just checking.”
Percy shakes his head. “We cannot stay up past sunrise; during daylight hours, we turn to stone.”
I blink at him. Stone.
“If you wouldn’t mind coming to meet with us after sunset tomorrow at your uncle’s home, we would be more than happy to begin your tutelage.” He bows.
“I... Okay,” I find myself agreeing. I want more answers. I need to know more. I just suddenly feel very tired. My eyes droop against my will. The last sound I hear is an echo of a sigh.
Chapter Seven
Violet
“Okay, so I need you both to confirm last night happened,” I tell Aaiden and Fiona. They woke me up about fifteen minutes ago and we have yet to talk about last night. Irene let them in as she left to drop Ezra off at his friend’s, then go to the estate. She told them to come upstairs and jump on me. Which they did not hesitate to do in the fullest extent. I woke up to Fiona bouncing on me and Aaiden slamming down onto my legs threatening to fart on me. They both seem very excited and not in the least bit freaked out that there’s a possibility we were all drugged somehow and hallucinated an entire night’s events. My stomach clenches telling me it wasn’t drug-induced insanity. But I can still hope. I look at the clock; it’s after three in the afternoon. I’m pretty sure I have never slept this late in the history of ever.
Fiona shakes her head. “Yeah, it happened.” Her words are incredulous, but her eyes are alight. Hungry even. It’s real, it happened. Zombies. Monsters. A weird room. That book that is some sort of magical family heirloom, and...magic. I used magic.
“Oh yeah, it happened alright. Complete with hot gargoyle chicks. I’m pretty sure this is better than any dream I’ve ever had. But what we can’t figure out,” he points between himself and Fiona, “is how we got home.”
I take a deep breath. “They—”
“The gargoyles,” Aaiden encourages me.
I sigh. “Yeah that. They did something to us to make us fall asleep and then they took us home. First, they asked me to meet them at the estate tonight after dark.”
“Perfect!” Fiona excitedly clasps her hands together. “That gives us just enough time.” She looks at Aaiden; it gives me an impression of conspirators in a plot.
“First, we are going to have to deal with Blythe,” Aaiden says.
“Then we research.” She bounces.
“Wait, what’s wrong with Blythe? What research?” I ping back and forth between them playing mental tennis.
Aaiden fidgets a bit in his chair. “Well, Blythe is—”
“She’s being a big baby. She won’t answer her phone, and the only text she sent was to Aaiden saying she ‘needed some time’ after he checked on her this morning. So, we are going to go pull her head out of her behind. Come on.” She stands up and yanks at me.
“Well, last night was a lot to deal with,” I say, defending Blythe. Why am I not freaking out? I wonder. Maybe it’s coming. I did faint last night. Something nags at my brain at the memory of fainting. Something happened when I fainted. Something important. It’s like a dream I can’t quite remember though. Something told me that I’m safe, that the...gargoyles...are to be trusted. I just can’t hold on to the thought, but I feel it. I shake my head, maybe I’m just crazy.
“Blythe can deal, and she will,” Fiona stubbornly interjects. “This is the most amazing thing to happen in any of our lives, and I’m not about to let fear stop us from finding out the truth. Which comes with research.”
“Research how?” I ask. I doubt there’s a lot of relevant info on how to raise zombies. Let alone having a group of gargoyles come in and save you from said zombies.
“We are going to Madam Leticia.”
“The lady who gave you your book?”
“That’s the thing,” Fiona taps her finger on her chin, “It’s your book. I heard the gargoyles say that a few times. When you fainted, they mentioned how the book found you just like it’s supposed to. They also seemed to care a lot about you.”
I give a puzzled glance at Aaiden who confirms what she’s saying with a nod.
Fiona throws her hands up. “And I was a little angry at first. Madam Leticia had thought maybe I was magical, and it upset me to think I wasn’t. I still might be.” She shrugs. “Even more importantly, you definitely are and Madam Leticia knew what a zoana was, so maybe she knows more than she told me.”
“Are you sure we should tell her what happened, though?” Aaiden asks. “This seems kind of like something you’re not supposed to tell anyone about.”
“We won’t exactly. I, for one, don’t want those things mad at us, but we can tell her the book was magic and that we did perform magic. That at least is somewhere to start. Are you mad that I was angry at you?” Fiona turns to ask me. Her face is full of concern.
Aaiden rolls his eyes. “We find out zombies are real, that something called gargoyles are real and can fight them, and you’re worried about the fact you got jealous.”
“Umm no?” I shrug, “I don’t even understand what is happening. We all have some adjusting to do I’m sure. I’m shocked you all still even want to talk to me.”
Fiona puts a hand on my shoulder. “Violet, I believe in fate and destiny. I believe fully that there is some cosmic order to the world. I’ve always hoped there’s more to this life than the small town we live in and our mundane lives. When you first came around, weird things used to happen and after you left, we would talk about it sometimes. You were the first one to make me believe there was magic. Then you left and the magic was gone. The fact that you’re back now, and so is the magic, just makes sense. Even if I discover I don’t have anything special inside me, which I will probably never believe, I know that the fact that when we all got back together, magic happened, means something.”
“What she’s saying, in her own weirdo way, is that we are with you, Violet. All the way. We weren’t kidding when we said we missed you while you were gone. We tried finding you on social media many times just to see how you were.”
“We’ve always been your friends,” Fiona adds.