This time, I was too freaked to bother caring about how far the stairs went or how exhausted I was. I pushed on, excitement starting to take over. As horrible as this situation was, I not only had magic, but it seemed I’d had some form of it all along. Being told you’re crazy, or have a learning disability, only to find out it’s not that at all, but a subtle form of magic? Brilliant.

Steph’s voice came from below, more indistinct the farther I went, and then there was banging, smashing. Crashing.

I was at the end of the stairs, though, and found a wooden end to the staircase. Pushing up on it, I found that it opened up onto the roof. While I failed to see how this would be the safest place, there was no denying that my aunt had been telling me to go this way.

If not for the sounds of destruction below, this would have been the most beautiful, peaceful spot in the whole city. My aunt had the place decorated with a rooftop garden complete with a gazebo and gates covered in vines, and all of it looked out over D.C. On one side, I saw the National Cathedral, lit up in a way that made it look almost purple. A cold wind tousled my hair, making me wish that I had grabbed my jacket from my room.

A laugh escaped my lips as I considered how silly it was to be concerned over a jacket with everything else that was going on. Then again, what the hell really was happening? My girlfriend had turned out to be some sort of demon or something like that, she’d brought others like herself into my aunt’s home, and killed my aunt?

The door slammed shut behind me. I jumped and took a few steps back, causing me to run into one of the vine-covered gates. I ducked around it, wanting to get away from that trap door before they came up after me, and spun around searching for ways down from here.

But, as I turned, I came face-to-face with a beautiful woman, mere inches away. Staggering back in confusion, I hit my head on the gate this time and cursed. When I looked again, I realized the woman was nothing more than a statue. A beautifully carved statue, but merely stone. And not exactly a woman, either, or not just a woman, I should say. The stone curved back from her head in what looked like four horns, under which were pointed ears. Her body was mostly on display, with what looked like stone armor and a loincloth covering key spots. She also had a spaded tail, along with great wings.

She was terrifying, and amazing.

So much so, that staring at this simple statue had almost made me forget the immediate threat. Banging on the hatch shook me from the moment, so I ducked behind the statue while hurriedly glancing around for options.

From what I could see, there were none.

That meant I could face a group of murderous demons—at best this being my delusional state taking over and they were simply regular, human murderers—or I could jump. I ran to the edge of the roof, glanced over, and decided that was the worst of the two options. While I wasn’t too high up to survive the fall, I would likely break something. And then where would I be? Lying there, crippled, while Steph and her gang came after me. At least on the rooftop I could fight, and maybe my new powers would help me.

My hand reached as I grew dizzy. Heights had never been my thing. Feeling stone under my touch, I glanced over to see that my hand was on the shoulder of another one of these stone ladies. Gargoyles, I decided. This one was perched at the edge of the roof, looking out as if to defend the house from evil.

More banging on the hatch, and this time part of it splintered away.

I moved back away from the edge of the roof, back to the first gargoyle statue, figuring that if I stood behind her, at least they might try to attack the statue first, not realizing it wasn’t real, leaving me with the opportunity for a sneak attack.

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Another attack sent the hatch flying off its hinges. Go time.

Speaking of attacks, I needed to see if I had any options here. As holding up my hand had worked before, I did the same again here and found my screen floating in front of me, just off from the gargoyle’s head. Maybe I didn’t need to do it this way, and my aunt likely hadn’t needed to, but the screen helped me process what was going on.

It listed several options, but others were blurred out, new screen options blurred as well. Meaning, there was room to grow, room to discover what I was capable of. If I lived long enough.

The one that caught my attention, though, as I leaned forward, other hand against the statue’s wing, was an option that showed upon contact. It read, “Awaken.”

My eyes shifted from the screen to the statue, narrowing as I wondered if this could be for real. Could I activate inanimate objects, like making a warrior of this statue? My own golem, in a sense?

“Jericho, it’s time for the walls to come tumbling down,” Steph called, knowing I hated that shit. For the first time since meeting her, the stupid saying actually kind of made sense.

A head appeared, looking about, not seeing me yet, luckily. I thought they would spot the screen, but apparently that was for my eyes only. The figure started to climb up to the rooftop, another behind, it, and I was able to see that these were not normal people. They wore red hoods with red, glowing eyes visible in the darkness beneath, and spiked armor that looked like it had come straight out of a Medieval Times show, the sort that would only be worn by the villains. Each carried swords that had small skulls on the hilts, adding to the name that came to mind for them: death knights.

Steph emerged after the first two death knights, and she had changed. Her hair was now white, her eyes glowing red. I don’t know when she had time to put on another outfit, but she wore a black and red dress that went well with the death knights. Her hand sparked as she looked around, then an orange fire erupted, and her eyes locked on mine.

Shit. I didn’t hesitate any longer, selecting ‘Awaken’ from my screen, and cringing as I waited to see what would happen. Nothing did.

“This is what it’s come to?” Steph said, stepping toward me as more of her death knights followed, along with two others like her—a man and a woman, both looking older than her, maybe in their thirties. She paused, one arm crossed over her body, the other with hand up, fingers moving as she played with fire. “Give it to me, and we’ll leave.”

“Give…?” Maybe it should have come as a relief that I was suddenly much more confused than scared. “Is this some sort of sick game for you?”

“What?” Her eyes flashed bright and she growled. “Not—no. Give me the Liahona!”

“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.” I stepped out of hiding, hands up to show her I wasn’t a threat. “Call this off, go home. Maybe this is all a dream, I don’t know, but it needs to stop.”

“A dream?” She laughed. “If so, then wake up and tell me where it is!”

She was referring to whatever strange object she was looking for, and I had no idea what that was or where it would be.

When I shook my head, she threw fire my way. A small ball of fire that surely would’ve taken out an eye or worse, had I not dodged back behind the statue. It hit stone, and there was a rumbling sound. The rooftop shook slightly, and Steph’s team looked around in confusion.

She, however, hadn’t broken her focus. “Tell me where to find the Liahona.”

“What the hell, Steph?” I shouted, scrambling back past the statue, behind another gate. “This isn’t funny!”

“Do I look like I’m laughing?”

Hands snatched me up, the man who had been with her with his face inches from my own, and then we were moving through the shadows, him pinning me down in front of Steph. He was tall but wiry, with more pronounced cheekbones than looked natural, and a sickly yellow shade to his eyes.

“Best give her what she wants, boy,” the man said, and then pulled back as Steph and the other woman—wiry hair and eyes of all black—leaned over me.

“Last chance.” Steph pointed at me with long, red fingernails. Almost claws. The fire was moving between her fingers as if it had a life of its own. “Give me the Liahona, or die.”

Another rumbling, this time enough to create a crack in the roof, and cause the wiry-haired woman to lose her footing and stumble back, falling on her ass. The death knights took up positions around Steph, and she turned, eyes narrowing.

For a few more seconds the rumbling continued, then all eyes turned, and I pushed myself up to see what had drawn their attention. There in the garden, the gargoyle statue I’d hidden behind glowed purple, light shining from cracks in the stone. The cracks spread and a heartbeat later the stone broke off, shooting out as the female beneath burst free, eyes glowing for a moment before the magic light faded and she was left standing there, glaring our way.

A beautiful, in the flesh, real-life gargoyle.