The Culling Trials (Shadowspell Academy #2)(12)

“You filthy, stinking…” I gritted my teeth.

“Cheat. Hoodwinker. Scam artist,” Wally finished, thankfully heading toward Pete. “Deceiver. Liar. User. Jerk.”

“Okay. We get it,” I said.

“Morally bankrupt whoreson—”

“Wow. We get it.”

All three gargoyles started down the tower, each larger than the previous. My heart rate increased and adrenaline buzzed through my veins. This was about to get hairy.

Gregory skittered below me, moving nearly as well as the gargoyles on the rough stone wall. He reached Pete and climbed onto the tiny ledge beside him, positioning himself between the honey badger and the monsters.

“There are too many for just me,” he called out, watching the creatures slowly move toward him.

“I’m coming,” I said, out of breath, arm muscles screaming for more oxygen. “I’m coming.”

Fingers starting to cramp, I grabbed another handhold. I braced the blunt toes of my boots, horrible for climbing, against another too small hold. My leg shook with the effort. The creatures descended, speeding up. Their eyes were all on Gregory, who clung to the wall, braced for action.

Understanding dawned, cutting through the lack of oxygen.

“They sense that you’re one of their kind, in a way,” I said while reaching up. My fingertips brushed the edge of a hold and slipped. My weight shifted and I slid, my cheek scraping against stone. I just barely caught the next hold, my weight pulling on my grip, my fingers threatening to give out.

“Yes,” Gregory said. “They’re making it harder for me. Testing me. Which means…”

“You’re…worthy,” Wally finished. I could hear the approval in her strained and tired voice. “Congratulations. I hope you don’t mess up.”

I chanced a look down. Sweat dripped off of my face and sailed into the nothingness below. Down the way, bodies clung to the wall. They looked awfully small way down near the bottom. As I watched, someone peeled away from the sheer face, falling back with slack arms. They hadn’t been thrown, they’d simply given up.

My stomach flipped. While heights didn’t scare me, falling did. While other students might be magically saved from their doom, my family seemed to be targeted for death. I had to assume that everything I did here was life or death. It had been for Tommy, after all. And it would’ve been for Billy.

More adrenaline coursed through my blood, giving me a boost. The gargoyles sped up, their feet and arms churning over the stone. I grabbed the next hold, and the next, putting everything I had into getting to that ledge.

Gregory surged up for the first gargoyle. It swiped out with a claw. He ducked out of the way and then lashed out, nearly scoring a blow of his own. I reached the ledge and pulled myself up beside Pete, shaking with exhaustion but knowing I couldn’t stop now. Gargoyle number two picked up speed, passing Gregory and the first gargoyle before working back around, ignoring me and the others.

I let it pass, getting in position to flank Gregory before balancing my weight on the ledge and snatching out my knife. It might not be magical, no matter what Gregory said, but it was sharp and currently all I had to fight these creatures.

Gregory scraped gargoyle number one along the side, but he hadn’t gotten deep enough. The gargoyle slashed out, opening up four parallel red lines on Gregory’s shoulder.

Gregory sucked in a breath and pulled back, the pain clearly acute. He balanced on his toes at the very edge of our landing. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back without taking my eyes off gargoyle number one.

The stone muscles on gargoyle number two bunched in preparation to strike. I stretched, using my long reach to my advantage, and quickly jabbed my knife into it.

The creature shuddered as I dragged my blade across its hard-stone underbelly. Its lunge cut short before it had even began, it slowed and then turned back to stone.

“Huh,” I said, jamming my knife into the sheath before changing my position. “Guess it doesn’t need to be magical after all.”

“It does,” Gregory grunted as he crawled along the wall, drawing the first gargoyle with him. “I felt it when I first met you. It smells like magic. I assumed you knew.”

I didn’t have time to argue. The third gargoyle had honed in on me, realizing Gregory wasn’t the only threat. It zoomed down the wall so fast, I could barely focus on it. Bracing my legs as wide as they’d go, I yanked out my knife again, my mobility drastically cut down now.

Gregory slashed out before moving up the wall. I lost sight of him as the huge stone gargoyle bore down on me, the big lion head at odds with its lizard-like body. A claw shot out, slashing straight at me, a blow I couldn’t avoid. Blistering pain seared the skin on my arm.

I jabbed forward. My knife clinked against the thing’s side. It slashed again, barely missing me, before changing position. I cut off a curse. With only one good hand, needing to hold on to the wall, I was stuck. The gargoyle had the high ground, literally.

The hissing and spitting increased in volume, and Pete leapt up to latch on to the creature’s hind leg. It squealed and jerked away. I used the distraction, stretching as much as I dared, but my angle was off. I slashed under the thing’s arm, not far enough in.

Ignoring Pete for the moment, gargoyle number three pushed forward and struck out. My eyes widened as the claws, aiming directly for my neck, whipped through the air. I jerked my knife up, but it wouldn’t help. My fingers slipped as I shifted, trying to brace myself for those stone claws to tear into my neck.