“This should do it,” Percy says.
A yellow light flashes and three lamp posts light up in the garden. There were eight in total, but three is enough light to see. The flowers are all overgrown with vines of morning glory, choking out everything else. In the middle of the garden are a bunch of empty stone platforms. All about four feet high. Square bases of river rock with a single flat rock shelf on top.
“Hey, what are these tables for?” Aaiden asks.
The gargoyles still aren’t thrilled about my friends being here, but I won’t relent.
“Those aren’t tables, those are our perches,” Zaphyra chirps. “Zemira and I are here.” She jumps up onto hers. In the front etched in the river rock are their names. I walk by each perch and dust off their names.
“Zemira, Zaphyra, Megara, sisters of chaos. Who’s Megara?” Blythe asks reading the perch Zaphyra is on. She seems to not mind Zaphyra as much as the others.
Zaphyra’s chipper smile falls.
I look around at all the gargoyles; they all seem uncomfortable.
“Megara is...was...mine and Zaphyra’s sister, a long time ago,” Zemira says. “She’s no longer with us. It’s why we need a zoana. The story we told you, about your family, it was a warning for us both. On our own, gargoyles have desires and urges that left unchecked would destroy us and everyone around us. Megara always resented having a zoana; she resented being cursed. For a while it was hard for all of us to give up our—”
“Carnal natures,” Zaphyra finishes.
“I like the sound of that,” Aaiden says winking at Zaphyra.
“Ha! You couldn’t handle her, kid.” Phelix laughs.
She giggles. “You would until you wouldn’t, and by then it would be too late to save you.” Her sing-song voice on the subject gives me the chills.
“The point is, Meg refused to fall in line. When one of our zoanas avoided her duty, we were left unchecked during her lifespan. Which is dangerous for us, for the zoana, and for humans in general. A lot of plagues happen during these times,” Alex says.
“Tessa.” Phelix sighs.
“Yes, Tessa Kai, she rebuked us. It was a dark time. Megara tried to use that time to her advantage and it got her exiled from the pack. She didn’t survive. It hurt all of us, but it was what we needed.” Percy finishes, “Some lessons can only be learned the hard way. We all needed to be reminded of the power of the curse upon us and the zoana pull.”
So, this must be why I felt that desperation, the need from them for me to accept being a zoana. The last time someone didn’t take responsibility for this magic, they lost their sister.
“Are you the leader?” I ask Percy.
“That would be your job,” he tells me steadily.
“Percy is being modest; he runs the show when you’re not around,” Alex slaps Percy on the back.
“Only with her blessing,” he says.
“It must be frustrating being so old and taking orders from a kid,” I say to him. Eugene said to trust his leadership until I figure all this out, but Percy doesn’t seem to want to be any of those things Eugene called him.
“The arrogance of your youth dies quickly in our line of work. You will find your footing soon enough,” he says waving a hand dismissively. His words are almost verbatim what Eugene said. Interesting.
“I could use your help, if you’re up to the task,” I say.
“If you require assistance, I am bound to help.”
“Anyone else feel a cold breeze?” Fiona says remarking on Percy’s cold demeanor.
Alex looks back and forth between Percy and I. My cheeks begin to heat up with humiliation. I was just trying to do as Eugene instructed, but Percy doesn’t seem to care about me at all. Achilles trots over to Percy. He is once again a three-legged dog. He stands by Percy’s legs and I watch as the legless side of his rear lifts and Achilles urinates on Percy.
All of us gasp.
“You infernal beast!” Percy shouts.
Achilles runs over to me, the sound he’s making is akin to a laugh. He wags his tail happily.
Zemira howls, “Oh you deserve it, you old goat! It will teach you to treat our zoana that way. You know he’s loved her since the day she was hatched, you can’t expect any less.”
“I’m so sorry!” I tell Percy.
“Don’t apologize!” Zemira yells at me.
“I’ll be in the house, I’m sure you all have this.” Percy stalks past me without a word.
“Violet was hatched?” Aaiden asks.
“Birthed, hatched, whatever,” Zemira says. “Good job, Achilles,” she adds.
I pet the dog. He licks my arm, excited. “I’m very confused, there’s so many questions swirling inside my head,” I say. Looks like I’ll need to rely on the others and not Percy if I’m going to figure this all out.
“For now, let’s train. You have years for your questions, but we don’t know when another attack will happen. Now that you are awake to your zoana powers, more and more demons will sense you and they will be coming.” Phelix hops off the perch he had been balancing on. He grabs my upper arm. “You got this, kid.”
“Open your book to the middle section, it holds many of the spells. There should be a green silk ribbon on the page if no one has removed it in the last few years,” Zemira instructs, immediately taking over.
I do as she says. I do find the green ribbon; on it is a list of spells under the labels ‘defensive’ and ‘offensive.’
“The rest of you should stand back, a new zoana’s powers can get a little out of hand,” Zaphyra warns my friends.
“Where do I start?” I ask.
“Let’s start offensive,” Zemira grins, “Repeat after me: Blitz.”
“Blitz,” I say nervously. Blue sparks dance across my fingers. I jump, yelling. The book falls on the ground with a thud. “I didn’t think it would be that easy!” I shake out my hand, the sparks are gone.
“You were born magical, it’s always been there just waiting for the right key to turn it on.” She picks up the book. “Now - again!”
“Blitz!” I say with confidence. The sparks flutter across both hands. “Oh my, I can already tell we are going to have a lot of fun!” I laugh.
Chapter Eleven
Alexandros
I watch Violet.
There’s something intense about her. She seems to get lost in her head often, disappearing off and on. When she is mentally present, she is quick-witted, precocious. I feel like she is just saying whatever Achilles is thinking. It’s annoying Percy to no end. Their bond is so strong I wouldn’t be surprised. She doesn’t remember us from years ago, that we’ve all figured out, yet that bond with Achilles persists. Phelix believes her memory loss may be grief related. It broke all of our hearts to hear about Lavinia’s death. Eugene was beside himself when his niece went missing, we all were. Then he went to the funeral and when he came home, he told us all that Violet was an empty shell. She barely recognized anyone, and for us, that is when we lost little Violetta. She was just as gone as Lavinia. We never saw her again.
There’s a disconnect when I think about the bright-eyed little girl glued to Achilles’ heels and constantly asking for Zemira to tell her stories about beating up boys. Which were all just revised stories of Zemira’s escapades. I smile to myself. She was spunky and full of laughter as a kid.