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CHAPTER SIXTY

Ellery

We took turns sleeping before eating a small lunch and heading out again at eleven the next morning. There was no reason to rush; we’d make it to the gargoyles with plenty of time to spare before exiting the temple.

I was happy to take my time as I dreaded hanging out in the cavern with all those statues. They hadn’t moved the last time we were there, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try to eat us this time.

Despite our unhurried pace, we eventually made it to the cavern of gargoyles. I stood with my toes at the cavern’s edge as I compelled myself forward while everything in me rebelled against entering.

But I couldn’t stay there forever, and as the others entered around me, I couldn’t let them go on their own. I crept into the cavern with my hands out at my sides and lightning at my fingertips.

“Holy shit,” Tucker breathed when Ryker’s and my lightning illuminated the massive cavern and some of the gargoyles within.

We weren’t producing enough light to illuminate all the gargoyles. The statues above a quarter of the way up remained bathed in shadows; I couldn’t think about what those hidden gargoyles were thinking or… doing.

If I heard one rustling sound, I would send a lightning bolt into every stone creature here. Now that I wasn’t completely overwhelmed by them, I could get a better handle on their number.

There had to be over a hundred in the cavern, if not more. And while it didn’t look like any of them had moved, I felt their stone eyes boring into us.

They were watching… waiting… hunting .

They’re not alive!

Are they?

The hair on my nape rose. I resisted tipping my head back to investigate the shadows.

They were there, tucked in their alcoves, claws and fangs at the ready. Would those wings make a sound, or would they descend silently on us?

“Amazing,” Tucker whispered. “Simply amazing.”

“Your idea of amazing and my idea of amazing are completely different,” Scarlet muttered.

“I’d go with terrifying,” Callan said.

“Me too.”

Tucker pointed at the stone door overhead. “The temple is up there?”

“It is,” Ryker confirmed.

“Amazing,” Tucker breathed again.

He looked like a kid in a candy shop while I felt like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

“My father and I spent years of our lives in the temple, and neither of us ever suspected something like this existed beneath it,” Tucker said.

“No one did,” Ryker said.

“What are all of these statues doing here?” Scarlet asked.

“Creeping me out,” Ianto said.

“I second that,” Callan agreed.

I wasn’t going to argue with them, but Tucker was completely fascinated by the winged sentinels as he moved further into the cavern. He turned in a circle with his head tipped back to survey the gargoyles.

“It has to mean something,” he said.

“What?” Ryker asked.

“I don’t know, but maybe, if the legends are true, we can figure that out.”

“Do you really think rain and wind can make them talk?” I asked. After the first time we’d first returned from this cavern, and revealed our discovery of the gargoyles, Tucker had told us it was a possibility.

Tucker shrugged as he surveyed the statutes. “That’s what the legend says.”

“Where did you hear this legend?” Ianto asked.

“I read it once.”

“In the temple?” I inquired.

“No. I never read anything about gargoyles in the temple. It was in a book I had as a kid about mythological creatures. But maybe”—his head came down as he stared at the first gargoyle tucked into its alcove —“they’re not so mythological.”

I restrained myself from strolling out of the cavern and never returning. Unfortunately, the exit lay above.

“Do you… do you really think they could come alive?” Scarlet whispered.

“I don’t know, but I’m eager to find out,” Tucker said.

“Again, we differ in things,” Scarlet muttered, and Callan nodded.

“There’s enough airflow in the tunnels that it will be easy for us to create wind, but while there’s moisture in the air, rain will be more difficult. Who possesses the ability to create rain?” Tucker asked.

Everyone but Scarlet raised their hands.

“And who can control the wind?” Tucker asked.

Ryker, me, Tucker, and Scarlet raised our hands this time.

“Okay, so between the five of us, we should be able to draw enough rain to make at least a few of them talk, and the wind won’t be a problem.”

“This is crazy,” Callan said.

“It will be crazier if it works,” I said.

He made a face. “You’re right.”

“I’m not sure I want them to speak,” Ianto said.

I wasn’t either. I was desperate for answers, but I might pee my pants if the gargoyles responded to us.