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CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Ellery

The word was a dragged-out groan that shot up the hair on my arms and nape. I nearly yanked my hands back and shoved them in my pockets to stop my control of the elements.

“You can hear us,” Tucker said with far more excitement than anyone should feel right now.

“Yeeeessss.”

Having come from both gargoyles this time, the word was stronger as it echoed around the cavern, but it sounded as if it was coming from a rusty, creaky voice box that hadn’t been used in thousands of years… and that was probably accurate given what little we knew of them and the town.

None of the statues moved, but I sensed a rising excitement in the air that didn’t just come from Tucker. I was sure if the gargoyles could come to life, they’d thump their chests as they issued animalistic sounds between their words.

“Why are you here?” Tucker asked.

“Trapped,” came the response.

The word wasn’t as dragged out or rusty this time. They were adjusting to using their voices again, or the rain was lubricating their windpipes.

“Trapped by who?” Tucker asked.

“ You .”

An icy chill crept down my nape as fury vibrated from that word. I might have been imagining their rage, but I didn’t think so. These things were pissed .

“We didn’t trap you here,” Tucker said. “Until recently, we didn’t know you existed.”

“Your kind put us here,” the third one said.

I didn’t want to talk about these things, but that piqued my curiosity. “Why?” I blurted.

“Greed,” the third one said.

“Control,” the fourth said.

“Power,” they said together.

“Power over you?” Tucker asked.

“They wanted it all,” the third said.

“All of what?”

“ Everything .”

“Were they scared of you?” Tucker asked.

Just looking at them told me our ancestors were probably petrified of these beasts, and that’s why they were trapped here. Apparently, it wasn’t as obvious to Tucker.

“They had no reason to be afraid of us,” the third said.

“Did they know that?” Tucker inquired.

“These things are really talking to us,” Ianto’s voice was filled with awe.

“Shh,” Tucker hushed with a wave of his hand. “Did they know they didn’t have to fear you?”

“Yes,” the third answered; he was the dominant one of the two. “We’d lived in harmony for millennia until they turned on us.”

“And when they turned on you, you killed them,” Ryker stated.

“NO!”

The word rebounded around the cavern as the gargoyles shouted it at us. I cringed as it echoed all around us and hammered at my skull.

“We killed no one,” the third continued. “They killed themselves.”

“How?” Tucker asked.

Only the wind, pattering rain, and that strange hollow noise could be heard in the cavern. As I studied the silent watchers, which were far more than what they seemed, I wondered if they could telecommunicate.

Are they talking to each other and trying to decide how much to reveal? I hadn’t thought the chill encasing me could get any worse. I was wrong.

“Greed,” the third finally answered.

How much had it considered telling us before deciding on that one word?

“The amsirah who killed themselves, are they from that town at the other end of the tunnel?” Ryker asked. “Are you talking about the dead amsirah there?”

There was another stretch of silence before the third answered. “What’s at the other end of the tunnel?”

“There’s a sunken town with vibrantly colored homes trapped beneath the earth.”

“The town was once the center of Tempest and was aboveground,” the third gargoyle said.

“So, what’s it doing underground?”

The gargoyles didn’t speak for a minute, but finally the third replied. “There was another cavern there. We used the tunnel and the exits there to join the amsirah aboveground.”

“There aren’t any exits now,” I said.

“They probably collapsed.”

“If it all collapsed, why isn’t the town buried beneath rubble?” Tucker asked.

“The stone would have protected itself. What remains of the town?”

“Only the ashes of the amsirah who once resided there and their empty homes. I’m assuming they were amsirah because of the lightning rods on the homes, but I could be mistaken.”

“Only ashes, you say?” the third asked.

The amusement in its voice was unmistakable. I exchanged an uneasy look with Scarlet.

“Yes. There are thousands of piles of ash and clothing throughout the town,” Tucker said.

“They were amsirah,” the third confirmed.

If it could smile, I was certain it would be beaming ear to ear.

“What happened to them?” I asked and was happy when my voice didn’t tremble.

“They killed themselves.”

And now we were back to this, except there was no way all those amsirah turned themselves into piles of ash. Something else happened to them, and I was certain the gargoyles knew what it was.

“How?” Tucker asked again.

“They paid the price for stealing the Heart of Stone.”