We were emerging onto the roof when a rumbling sounded, followed by a distant explosion. I poked my head up to see fire, or what I thought was fire. Flames licked the sky but not the trees or other buildings nearby. In fact, the fire was clearly meeting an invisible barrier, spreading out, then fading away.

“An attack?” I asked.

Ebrill emerged from behind and stood with me looking out over the attacks as more came. She nodded. “They’ll try. The wards will either hold, or they won’t.”

“As a level two mage, I wouldn’t think my wards would hold up long against whatever’s out there.”

“That shows how little experience you have with any of this. Your wards aren’t based on your power alone, but likely tied to some power of this house. Not the walls and all that, but some setup I imagine your aunt put in place to enhance defensive spells.”

“And we still haven’t gotten into how you know all of this, exactly.”

She grimaced. “If only I knew. But… more is coming back. A coven, a group of ladies who worked together to protect an ancient magic.”

“That’s… big.”

She nodded. “It seems it would have been. Bigger if I could remember more of the details, but for now, let’s give this a go. Better to have all the help we can get, in case that attack breaks through.”

We walked over to the other statue, watching as more attacks came and more explosions of fire and other elements were repelled by the invisible force created by our wards. At one point I swear I saw winged creatures flying about in the night, but when I looked again, they were gone.

“I’d think they would be worried about the police or… fire department,” I said, coming to a stop next to the statue of Kordelia. “But I imagine you’re going to tell me that somehow this isn’t visible to them—to civilians, I guess.”

Her look of confusion was enough to remind me that, wherever she came from, police and fire departments hadn’t likely been a thing.

“What I mean is, will others see the magic?”

“Ah.” She pursed her mouth in thought, then shook her head. “I’d think not, if your aunt set it up that way. You might be able to sense concealment wards, actually. They basically act to hide anything she might be doing in that regard, for research or practice, but also would work to conceal attacks such as this from prying eyes.”

“Gotcha.”

I turned to the statue and tried as I had before. This time, the option for “Awaken” showed on the screen, but when I tried to select it, no go. Thinking that maybe it was a matter of focus, I closed my eyes, focused, then tried again.

Nothing.

“What’s the problem?” she asked.

“Still not letting me, is all.”

Her frown deepened as she mumbled something under her breath. “Well, try again.”

“Ebrill…”

“Do it!”

I made another attempt, but without any luck. I sighed, watching as a flicker of green hit the barrier and snaked across it in all directions before fading. I shook my head.

“Then we’ll come back again after more practice. Or…” She took a step back, held out her hands. “Practice here. Level up here. Come on, come at me.”

“I…”

“This is as good a spot as any to attempt your elemental strike.” She spread her wings, braced herself, and said, “Give it your best shot.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Try.” Her mischievous, cocky grin almost made me hope to land a strike. Nothing crazy, but enough of a shock to keep her from being too smug.

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“Elfenol Streic,” I said, holding up my fist and sliding it toward the lightning option before charging in.

She was right, of course. I didn’t stand much of a chance. For one, I was attempting to punch a girl. That didn’t sit right with me. Of course, after the first leg sweep and me hitting my head on the edge of a garden gate, then her landing a kick to my abs that sent me on my ass, I was starting to rethink my qualms about that one. The bigger issue was that I simply wasn’t much of a fighter. Never had been. Raised an only child, it wasn’t like I had brothers or sisters to roughhouse with. I had never taken karate classes, and the most boxing I had done was on the virtual reality boxing games, although I was pretty good at those. Going up against a real person was quite different, especially when that ‘real person’ was actually a badass gargoyle who clearly knew her way around a fight.

Except, when she struck me with an elbow across the sternum, I saw my opening and took it—a good punch right across the jaw.

Fuck, that hurt! My wrist stung, knuckles not much better, and no spark or lightning or anything of the sort had shot out. As I shook my hand out and cursed, I pulled up the screen to see that it had gone past its time and now had a cooldown of thirty seconds before I could use it again.

“All right, there?” Ebrill asked.

“Is this a session on beating me up, or training me?” I spat back. “Because it sure as hell feels like the former.”

She looked about to argue, but then nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, but I thought it was important to test you, to see how far you have left to go. You have… some room to grow.”

“Thanks,” I said, my wrist feeling a bit better already. Still, I wasn’t ready to jump back into the fight. “Why the hell did that hurt so much?”

“Ah, yes.” She indicated her body in an ‘I’m on display’ way, then said, “Although I’m not still made of stone, from what I can tell gargoyles move fast and are quite strong. I also get the sense that my skin is quite tough, based on Steph’s fire shot before not doing much damage.”

“That makes sense, actually.”

“And, we need to get your powers stronger. So, come on. Try it again.”

I nodded, holding up a finger so she’d give me a minute, then checked my screen. Cooldown was just finishing up, so I activated it again, this time going for ice.

“Hit me,” she said, arms held out.

“No, thanks.”

“Not hard, but enough to test the spell. Come on, this is necessary.”

I walked up, pulled my fist back, and stared in horror as she moved to hit me instead! The thwack took me in the chest, and immediately I shot back, slamming her in the left breast in a way that both made her cringe and left a layer of ice over her breast.

“Ah, dammit!” she pulled back, hands on her chest, breathing heavily, eyes furious when she looked back at me again. “Get rid of it!”

Not sure what to do, I switched to fire and hit her tit again. The effect was a burst of flame that removed the ice, caused her to fall back in surprise, and left her glaring up at me.

“You told me to,” I reminded her.

For a moment longer she glared, attacks against the barrier still going on around us, and then she laughed. “I thought my nipple was going to freeze off, you prick.”

“You sure it didn’t?” I replied with a chuckle.

Her expression turned to worry and she pulled at her top, enough that I even caught a glimpse of her areola before averting my gaze.

“Still there,” she said, covering herself again. “Lucky for you.”

“And hey, the magic worked, so… there’s that. You have your nipples, I have my magic spell. We all win.”

That earned another laugh, and then she pushed herself up. “We win when you’ve managed to wake Kordelia.”

“Right.” I glanced around, feeling my confidence up a notch from where it had been, and said, “Go again?”

She grinned. “Sure, but… new rule. You don’t hit me in the chest or nether regions, I leave your twig and stones alone, too. Deal?”

“Do I win in that scenario?”

“Meaning, nothing negative to the general down below. Positive, we can discuss later.”

I nodded. “Deal.”

We sparred again, this time with her actually helping me to understand certain fighting moves and why they would come in handy. I also worked more on the elemental strike, but with it aimed past her each time, so that we wouldn’t risk putting her in ice.

After about an hour of this, though, I was dragging, even starting to yawn during breaks.

“You haven’t slept?” she asked.

I blinked my eyes, letting them half-fall, and shook my head.

“I see.” Her eyes moved to the barrier, where the attacks had stopped, I realized. “They’ll return, that’s for sure. But for tonight, we might be safe. Come, let’s make our way back and get you to sleep.”

“And you?” I asked, realizing how stupid the question was as soon as I asked it. “Ah, right. Gargoyle—stone by day, alive at night.”

She nodded. “I’ll keep watch the rest of the night, if you do during the day.”

“Agreed, but only after…” I charged one more time, hoping to catch her off guard. She laughed, flipped me over, and knelt over me. “This...” I grunted.

Her hand gripped mine to pull me up, but I held up my other hand for a moment. Lying there, I had a realization. If I had leveled up, shouldn’t increasing my stats be a function, too? I pulled up my screen, tried swiping left, and grinned to see that, sure enough, it would let me.

I groggily nodded, yawning again as we made our way inside. Guilt rose at my inability to wake Kordelia, but I knew that wasn’t my fault. Soon, we would figure it out. I hoped.

When we reached my bed, I barely had the cognitive ability to manage to brush my teeth and throw off my shoes. I turned to the bed to find Ebrill sitting on its edge, looking at me, and I nodded in thanks as I collapsed beside her.

“You did well,” she said, although my eyes were already closing.

The last thing I processed was her lying down next to me, draping an arm over my chest, and mumbling something about how it had been so long and how she craved the comfort of a man.

Before I could respond, even smile at the thought, sleep took me.