The Culling Trials (Shadowspell Academy #2)(13)

Chapter 6





The gargoyle had me dead to rights, and there was nothing I could do about it but try and stare it down and pray someone saved me.

Orin’s body popped into my line of sight. He pushed up in front of me and stuck out a forearm, taking the blow meant for me. The gargoyle’s claws raked across his arm, but the injury didn’t stop him. His fingers elongated into nasty, grayish-black claws, and he darted forward and slashed the underbelly of the gargoyle in one weirdly graceful movement.

Sparks flew and the creature’s face closed down in pain, eyes shutting tightly. It immediately began to slow, the stone hardening into a statue.

“Wow,” Wally said, poised on the tiny ledge next to me, her arms shaking as she clutched two handholds. “That was fast.”

“My kind have no problem with these creatures,” Orin said, and I could hear more than a trace of snootiness in his tone. It was clear why he hadn’t bothered to get involved until now, thinking himself above gargoyles in the magical hierarchy. So then…what had changed? Why come to the rescue?

Panting, Gregory clung to the wall next to a slowing gargoyle, watching it return to a statue. Below us, a group of three people, all somewhat spaced out, worked up the wall unimpeded, the way cleared by us.

“Let’s go.” Gregory pointed up at Ethan reaching the topmost ledge. He doggedly pulled himself over. “All he’ll have to do is find the treasure on top, if he knows to look.”

“He didn’t know last time.” Orin grabbed Pete by the tail and abruptly flung him. Pete sailed up over the ledge and probably smashed painfully onto the roof. Orin pulled himself ahead of Wally and me, moving like an oversized spider with those long thin limbs of his.

“I guess we’re lucky Ethan didn’t memorize all the details,” Gregory said dryly.

Utterly exhausted, arms and legs shaking, I pushed myself up the last ten feet. The guys reached the top edge and pulled themselves over. Wally labored beside me, working harder than she likely ever had in her life up to this point.

“You know… what I said about the percentage… of vampires being staked… for not working with others well? I made up…that fact…about them,” she whispered, nearly at the top. “I’m sure…there is a stat… I just…don’t know it.”

“Why bother?” I asked, my foot slipping. I jammed it back into the closest divot.

“The trick…with a vampire… is to appeal to their…intellect and fear. Dying scares…them like it scares…anyone, and the ones who aren’t…trained and don’t find a faction, often turn…rogue and dangerous. Then they’re…killed. He might not…totally believe me, but…it is just as easy…for him to help…us as to not. I gave…him incentive to do so.”

I let out a tired laugh as I pulled myself up and over the top, spilling myself onto the glorious flatness of the roof. “Well done, Wally,” I said, dropping my hands to my sides. “Well done.”

She crashed down right next to me. “Thanks,” she said sheepishly. “I’ll have to look up…more stats in case he stops helping. I’m sure…” She gulped and sucked in a deep breath. “I’m sure there are many. I’m tired. So, so tired. I hate this challenge. I’ve never liked climbing.”

I had to agree.

“Let’s go,” Gregory said urgently, reaching down and plucking at my arm.

“I’ve never seen…man boobs on a strong, skinny dude,” Wally said randomly, looking at the sky. “Weird.”

I froze for one moment before hopping up and tugging on my shirt, making sure it didn’t cling. “We all have our genetic issues,” I mumbled, glancing over the edge at the wall. One of the first gargoyles we’d shut down had reanimated. It slashed at the girl closest to it, claws sliding across her chest. She jerked back, screaming, lost her hold, and fell end over end. The other gargoyles slowly came to life as two more people climbed closer. But they were like the golems—we’d passed their territory, and they didn’t seem to notice us any longer.

“I snore,” Wally said, getting to her feet. “I get it from my dad. My mother always complains. Genetics are a funny thing. So don’t feel bad. Not like you can control it.”

I didn’t respond, figuring it was best not to engage in discussing my “man boobs.”

Instead, I focused on where we were going next. A free-standing door stood at the corner of the massive dirt and stone covered space. Two slouching, clearly exhausted people from the other team I guessed, reached it. One pulled the door open. Light glowed within, but nothing took shape beyond it. After both people passed through, a jacketed arm reached out, grabbed the handle, and pulled the door shut.

“Either they didn’t know to look for the treasure, or we’re too late,” I said, rubbing at my eyes. Damn it, it frustrated the hell out of me to come so close only to lose. I wasn’t going to bother commenting on the lack of a visible room beyond the door. Or the disembodied arm. Clearly the situation was magical, and everyone would just roll their eyes at my discomfort.

“They didn’t know. But Ethan does. The trinket is gold. I can feel it over that way.” Gregory nodded toward Ethan, who stood kitty-corner to the door. “He figured out that he has to find something up here.”