Where else could we have gone, other than the mansion? It needed fixing up, sure, and safeguards to ensure that whatever evil Fatiha had done was counteracted, but we had the magic of Avalon. We had my team, which now included Aerona, and I better understood Shisa now.
According to Ebrill’s guess, we still had about an hour until sunrise. I set about redecorating the house in terms of my transmutation abilities, while the ladies put up every sort of defensive ward they could think of. I searched deep, connecting to the house and surrounding grounds, ensuring no passages or other secrets were left by Fatiha, looking for anything that could be used against us. Several passages led out from under the house, but I closed those off until a time when we might be able to use them to our advantage. As I finished, I briefly checked into the news on Steph’s phone—the only one among us, and only source in the house. Apparently, Virginia had suffered minor earthquakes that had resulted in fires. How strange, to know the truth when everyone else was being lied to.
All in all, the defenses didn’t take long, and soon I went to find the others, discovering that they had taken over the master bedroom. My aunt had kept it sparse but pristine.
Aerona and Kordelia were talking with Steph, filling Aerona in on everything they could, while Shisa sat at the window, always on guard. Seeing Aerona in the light of the house and in her gargoyle form, I was struck by the difference between her and the other two. While Ebrill and Kordelia had both been a sort of blue and purple shade, Aerona’s skin was almost gold, eyes light blue in a way that reminded me of a pendant my mother used to wear. This gargoyle was every bit as beautiful as the other two, and Steph. Even with her frame slightly smaller than the other two, and with horns that curved around instead of flowing back, she had an aura about her that spoke of power. Knowing who she had been in the past, the aura made complete sense.
“Wards in place?” I asked.
Kordelia nodded. “We washed up, too. You might want to, when Ebrill’s done.”
I glanced down and saw what she meant. Our fighting and underground travels had left me filthy.
“What’s next?” I asked. “I mean, can I do something while you all are… stone?”
“We,” Steph corrected me. “Can we do something?”
“Right.”
Kordelia scrunched her nose in thought and turned to Aerona.
“I have a lead,” Aerona said. “It has to do with Avalon and, well, I’m trying to put the pieces together still, but think we’ll have something to go off. Tomorrow night, we’ll begin.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“And if the enemy attacks during the day?” Steph asked. “Or even tomorrow night?”
“Let them try,” I replied, puffing out my chest. “We’ll be ready for them.”
“So, it’s true?” Aerona asked. “You’re the one, now?”
“The one?”
“You know. The wielder of the Liahona. Our clan’s leader, in a sense.”
I considered this, at first about to be humble, to deny it. But you know what? Fuck it, I loved the idea of being the leader of this group, so I nodded. “That’s right.”
Kordelia grinned, apparently liking this confident side of me.
“Well, then,” Aerona said, eyeing me up and down. “I look forward to fighting under your command.”
“She looks forward to doing a lot more than fighting under you,” Kordelia said with a chuckle.
Aerona eyed her, allowed a laugh, then turned back to me, very matter-of-factly. “She’s not wrong. But… not yet. I’d like to see this city of ours, this land of the future where magic is thought to be myth.” As she went to the doorway, she nodded to Steph. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“You, too.”
As soon as she was gone, Ebrill emerged from the bathroom, completely nude. Her hair was wet and hanging over her shoulders. She stood in the doorway and beckoned me in. “We don’t have much time before sunrise, and… I’d like to take full advantage of it. Hurry, now. Rinse.”
“Excuse me?” I turned from her to Steph, who was already grinning and pulling off her shirt.
“You heard the woman,” Steph said. “Get undressed and into the water.”
“I’ll let you three get to it,” Kordelia said, heading for the door with a humored glance my way.
“Join us,” Steph said.
Kordelia paused and assessed her, then Ebrill. “I’m… not ready, yet.”
“Well, when you are, you know where to find us.” Steph blew her a kiss, giggled, and then took my hand to lead me into the bathroom.
It was a large, whirlpool-style bath. When I was relaxing against the side toward them as instructed, they started cleaning me, hands in the water and making sure to get every inch of me. Every inch.
A creak sounded from the door. It was open. Kordelia watched, biting her lip. Steph motioned her in, and, to my surprise, the large gargoyle entered. She approached, hand running along her exposed stomach, up to the curve of the armor that covered her chest, and then up to the side of her neck, where it lingered as she leaned in to my ear.
Kordelia’s lips almost touched my ear as she whispered into it, “I’m about to get so hard right now. Her eyes showed her desire to laugh as she pointed past me to the window. “Hard as stone.”
Sure enough, sunrise would be there any second. Already the sky was light blue, a hint of yellow at the edges.
“Shit,” I said, quickly slid off of Ebril. Before I knew it, she was stone—frozen until the next night.
Steph eyed me, shrugged, and beckoned me over. She ran her fingers along my abs. “I missed you. Even if I didn’t really know you—or the real me didn’t—I missed you.”
I laughed, pulled her close and gently kissed her. “It’s good to have the real you here, with me.”
She kissed me again, and then led me back to the bed. We paused there, looking at Ebrill’s stone form. I nodded to the next room over, and then noticed Shisa eyeing us.
“You got this?” I asked.
Shisa nodded and turned back to the window.
This time, I led Steph. Soon, we were in bed in the guest room, her curled up in my arms, both of us drifting off to sleep. We had adventures ahead of us and were more power than I could’ve ever imagined,.
I was in heaven.