My eyes sprang open, staring into Ebrill’s closed ones.

“Was it you? Were you there?”

Only, she wasn’t moving. She was stone.

Shit, it was daytime. She had not only turned to stone but was still lying on me, arm draped over me in a way that made moving her off very awkward. In the process, I accidentally grazed her boob, only to realize how stupid a thing that was to be concerned about. She happened to be stone, it wasn’t exactly the same as when she was in the flesh.

I would have to wait until nightfall to ask her about my crazy experience, apparently. How had she gotten from that strange place to where we were now? She had been human, or, actually, now that I thought about it, her ears might have been unusually pointed. Was she an elf or something similar, once upon a time? My mind was spinning with questions, my nerves rattled with the thought that I couldn’t have my answers yet.

Even when night fell, for all I knew, she still wouldn’t remember.

I headed for the bathroom. My limbs were stiff, my bladder full. Apparently, that happens when being cuddled by a hot gargoyle and going back in time to see her and other beautiful women as… elves? The thoughts were hitting me now that I was awake, and it all sounded so much crazier.

In a world where I’d been told I was crazy for thinking I could alter my surroundings with my mind, to finding out it was magic and there was so much more… did time travel via sleep seem so out there? Might as well go with the flow and see where it took me. Speaking of flow, damn, did I have to piss. I entered the bathroom, did my best not to make a mess, and then decided to wash off the sweat that had soaked right through the back of my shirt last night.

A result of the dreams, or travel, perhaps? Meaning, my body had likely stayed here, while my mind did some crazy astral projection shit. Or… something like that. Who knew?

I undressed to take a shower, pausing at the thought that Ebrill was lying right there on the bed. Damn, the way her loincloth fell back to reveal her ass was hot, and to think she had been sleeping next to me, curled up against me! Checking out a statue… an odd moment, for sure.

At least I didn’t have to worry about her sneaking a peek, although it wasn’t like that really would have been a negative. Her being awake in this scenario was by far my preferred choice. As I stripped and stepped into the shower, I kept imagining her shedding the stone as she had the night before and then stepping in to join me. Shampoo cascaded down my face and I closed my eyes, instead imagining her as the elf lady version of herself. Both were sexy in their way.

I was very confused about all of this. My aunt had died on my first night in Washington, D.C. Not some fantasy land, not some place where elves or gargoyles existed, and certainly not a world where it made sense for a girlfriend to suddenly become a demon with her own little evil army.

Speaking of which, I wondered why I didn’t hear any attacks. They had to know Ebrill was a gargoyle and would be asleep during the day, so this would be the best time to attack. I finished rinsing and dried off on my way to the bedroom window to pull the curtains aside and have a look.

It had to be midday, or at least late morning, judging by the angle of the sun. There were no attacks, no walls of fire or even burnt trees. Everything looked so… ordinary. Aside from the sleeping, stone gargoyle in my bed—creating a massive indentation in the mattress, I noticed—it was as if none of the night before had happened.

“Will you need breakfast?” a voice said, and my head jerked up as I realized at once that I had dropped my towel, and that Fatiha, the servant lady, stood in the doorway, staring with an amused smile.

“Yes, please.” I played it cool, as if this were normal, although in my head I was shrieking, covering myself, and running into the bathroom.

She nodded, gave me another glance, then walked off. “It will be ready in the…” She paused as she turned back. This time, her eyes went to the bed. “Oh. I see you, er, made a new friend.”

“The statue?”

When her eyes met mine, the smile gone. I had no doubt that she knew Ebrill was more than a statue. “Where is Gertrude this morning?”

“That…” My hands finally moved to cover myself, finding it much more awkward when she wasn’t checking me out, for some reason. “Do you mind if I dress, first?”

An intense sorrow filled her eyes as she apparently took my meaning from those words. She nodded and stepped away as she added, “Tell me over breakfast.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

My heart thudded as I pulled on my boxer briefs and pants, found one of my remaining three clean shirts, and headed downstairs. Was it wrong that I’d first paused to give Ebrill a kiss on the cheek? Maybe weird… I don’t know, but I wanted to thank her for saving me the night before, and even though I knew she wouldn’t feel it, the action felt right.

Fatiha was sitting with a rigid posture at one end of the table, toast and a jar of orange marmalade in front of her. My setting included a cup of coffee, orange juice, and a plate with sausage patties and eggs. Now that it was before me and the scent of those sausages and the coffee reached my nose, I realized how hungry I was and dove in.

When I’d eaten half of the plateful, the lady finally cleared her throat.

I looked up, finished chewing, and set my fork down. About to tell her everything, I paused for a gulp of coffee, but she held a hand up.

“I’m going to fill you in, and tell you what I assume happened last night,” she started. “Feel free to tell me when I get something wrong. In case you don’t recall, I am Fatiha, and I was your aunt’s closest friend. Sometimes, maybe more. But, that’s not important. What you need to know, and probably already have an inkling about, is that your aunt was much more than you originally thought. She was the Searcher, the one my order had hoped would find the Liahona, an ancient item of great magical importance.”

At the mention of the Liahona, I blinked, and she noticed. For a moment we stared at each other, and then I said, “That’s not the first time I’ve heard that word.”

“Gertrude mentioned it?”

“Before, and…” I shook my head. “I mean, as stupid as it sounds, a dream.”

Her eyes took on an intense fascination and her hand shook as it moved for the marmalade. She took a small spoonful, and used the back of it to spread the marmalade on the bread. “And the… gargoyle?”

“Last night, we were under attack. I woke her.”

Fatiha’s hand froze in place, marmalade on half of the bread. “And in the dream?”

“How…?” I started but nodded.

“Gertrude is dead, then.”

Again, I nodded.

She set aside the spoon, eyes staring blankly, then picked up the bread and took a bite. Just bread, no marmalade. She chewed slowly, blinked, and seemed to remember that I was there.

“Where?” she asked. “Where is Gertrude?”

“About that.” I took another chug of my coffee. “I can show you where she was.”

The expression in Fatiha’s eyes went from hopeless to confusion, followed by her standing. “Show me.”

With a glance of regret at my food, I took a sausage patty with me and my half-finished coffee, going with her to the room where my aunt had died and then her corpse had vanished. Along the way, I finished my patty, then my coffee as Fatiha explained that she lived in Bethesda but had known Gertrude since they were children, and had been involved in this Searcher business since my aunt had decided it was her role.

“Decided?” I asked.

“That’s correct. There was a book that spoke of things beyond our belief, our comprehension, really. But she started studying them, learning… dreaming.”

“I see.”

“And it led to riches, but all for the cause. It led to enemies, too, and eventually she was taken in by a group known as The Order of the Mystic Moon. It’s a group carried down by those first, early protectors of the Liahona. Lost to time but rediscovered in a book passed down for generations until it vanished, only to be rediscovered in the late 1800s. For years, they put pieces together, practiced spells discovered along the way, and searched for the Liahona.”

“My aunt…” I let that all sink in. The idea that she was all part of this secret order and had never told us. Or maybe my mom had known, but thought it too weird to share? I couldn’t believe my mom would have let me stay at my aunt’s place if she had known, though. My parents wouldn’t even let me watch Rainbow Bright when I was a child because they thought that show had too much to do with witchcraft. This was a whole other level.

“She discovered the gargoyles,” Fatiha went on, “and brought them here, but never learned how to wake them. At times, I wondered if she was mad, if the gargoyles were nothing but statues. Then, this morning… to see one in your bed like that…”

“We didn’t sleep together, I mean in that way, if—”

“Enough,” she waved her hand. “It would be none of my business if you had.”

I nodded, not really sure where I stood in all of this. We reached the hallway, each step feeling heavier as we approached the room. Stepping in, I frowned in confusion. The room was not at all how I had last seen it, but was completely put back in order, even with broken walls fixed.

“There.” I pointed to the spot where my aunt had fallen. “But I don’t… I don’t understand.”

“You will,” a stern voice said, and there was my aunt, standing in an alcove of the room. Only, it wasn’t quite her, as I could see the shelves behind her.

“A ghost?” I asked, not sure what would surprise me at this point.

“Not exactly,” Fatiha said, stepping toward her, but stopping at a shelf at her side, where a jade sculpture of a small tree was kept on display. “More like her… but not her.”

“I had myself linked to this Life Tree,” my aunt explained, approaching us. “This isn’t me, exactly, but like the essence of me. A part left behind, should you need my help.”

“Considering everything that’s happening,” I replied, “I’d say that’s a very real possibility.”

“With my last breath, I transferred magic to you, and my consciousness here. If I can guide you, I will. Fatiha…” My aunt turned to the woman, a sorrowful smile taking over. “You were my everything. I’m sorry it had to end like this.”

“My best friend, my rock.” Fatiha held up the tree, pricked her finger on the side of it, and chanted under her breath as she let a drop of blood fall onto the base. “I accept your sacrifice, and give of myself so that what remains may grow stronger.”

With those words, my aunt faded into a ball of light that entered the jade tree.

“Okay, what the fuck…?” Cringing at the look Fatiha gave me, I added, “Sorry, but this is all too much.”

I gave the tree one more glance, then turned to get out of there.

At the door, Fatiha caught up to me. “Where are you going? We have a lot to do, a lot to—”

“I just… need to think.”

I was out, jogging down the street, cursing that I didn’t have a phone to call a driver. Since I didn’t have a car, I walked. A stranger to this city, I had no idea where I was going but that didn’t stop me.

At the moment, all that mattered was being alone and away from all the crazy bullshit.