Page 23 of Magic Claimed

I swallowed that thought. “She should turn up in one of them before too long.”

“I’ll stay here,” Seamus offered from behind the bar. “So the rest of you can go search.”

I nodded gratefully. “Kira, could you try Myriad Gardens? And Faris, maybe you could check next door? She wasn’t at The Assemblage very often, but she did have fun hanging out in the office with Angelica.”

I was just about to turn and head out the front door when I heard a flurry of curses from the kitchen, then the clang of a pan bouncing off the floor or a wall. Faris looked over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised, as all of us turned to look at the kitchen door.

Were we under attack again?

The door swung open, six pairs of eyes glued to its progress…

I let out a gasp as a monster appeared in the doorway. It bent nearly double so it would fit through the opening, then straightened partway as it entered the room.

When standing at its full height, it would probably reach eight feet at the shoulder, with gray skin, long curved horns, and a coarse dark mane falling down its back between bat-like wings. As it was, it remained hunched over, surveying us from a craggy face, lips peeled back from sharply pointed teeth. Clawstipped both hands and feet, while its eyes glowed a malevolent red.

And the reason it crouched low was because the pinkie finger of that enormous clawed hand was being gripped securely by a tiny girl with curly dark hair and sparkling eyes…

“Ari!”

“Oh, thank heavens.” Kira didn’t hesitate for a moment, just darted forward, crouched down, and ruffled my sprite’s hair with an expression of relief mingled with disapproval. “Where did you find her, Hugh?”

Wait. I’d met Hugh. He was Kira’s resident gargoyle assistant, who looked after her bookstore and had basically adopted her cat. His typical appearance was almost entirely human—slightly stooped and slender, but otherwise average—other than his gray skin, which mimicked the shade of his stone form.

How had I never realized that gargoyles had more than two forms?

“She was hiding on the roof,” the winged nightmare said in a deep, gravelly voice. “But she is sorry. And will never do such a thing again.”

Ari looked up at him with an adorable grin. “Because Uncle Hugh promised we would go flying again if I’m good. Right, Uncle Hugh?”

Oh my hecking heck.

“Yes,” the gargoyle said around a mouthful of fangs. “But only if you cease to be willful. Your magic is a responsibility and must not be used for such trifling things in the future.”

Terrifying or not, I could have hugged him.We’d been trying so hard to help her understand this, but she wassix. And none of us had any idea what it was like to have her magic.

So if Uncle Hugh was the one who could convince her? I would be endlessly thankful.

I also wished I could take a picture. My Ari-bug was holding that clawed hand with such trust, gazing up at the gargoyle’s terrifying visage with a face full of as much mischief as adoration.

“I promise I’lltryto be good,” she told him. “But it’shard.”

“Indeed,” Hugh said. “It is difficult not to be irked with humans and their chaotic transience in this world. But if I must persevere, then so must you, hatchling.”

Ari burst out laughing. “You make me sound like a duck.”

“Indeed, no,” Hugh said. “I prefer toeatducks. You would not be nearly as edible.”

That only made Ari laugh harder.

“Guess we can call off the cavalry,” Kira murmured to me over her shoulder. “Should have known I could count on Hugh to save the day.”

I sent a quick text to Kes to let her know that Ari had been found, and then was nearly bowled over when my sprite let go of Hugh’s hand and rushed over to throw her tiny arms around my waist.

“Are you mad, Rainy?”

As if I could be mad at those eyes.

“I’m not mad, Bug. But when we couldn’t find you, we were all scared that something bad had happened to you. That’s why you shouldn’t disappear like that. There are so many peoplewho care about you, and we would do anything to keep you safe.”