Basil frowned more severely and folded his arms. “After a thousand years, you continue to make no sense,” Basil said. “If you serve in this house, it would be useful to your master to make introductions.”
“Oh,” Bob said. “You’re moving in?”
“Indeed,” Basil said. He looked around the roof of the castle, at the glowing designs all around him. His expression softened. “I had not thought to return to this place.”
“Whoa, whoa, hold your horses, there,” I said.
“Don’t—” Bob began.
“I see no horses,” Basil said seriously, eyes sweeping around the rooftop as he turned.
“Bob,” I said plaintively.
“He’s a gargoyle,” Bob said. “Not like those cheap things Ancient Mai does. Basil here is one of Etienne the Enchanter’s master projects—a spirit of earth.”
“Like you’re a spirit of air?”
“Hey!” Bob said, outraged. “He isnotlike me. He’s…”
Basil was looking studiously into the middle distance, but he let out a low growl that shook the stone of the roof.
“…practical,” Bob finished tactfully. “He’s so practical it can sometimes be mistaken for idiocy.”
“Yeah,” I said. “But what is he doing here?”
“You invited me,” Basil said gravely.
I held up a finger toward the gargoyle. “Hey, uh, Basil. Let me talk to Bob for a moment.”
“Of course, Wizard Dresden,” Basil said.
“Is he a threat?” I asked Bob.
“I mean,” Bob said, “he’s a security system. So it kinda depends on what you mean bythreat.”
I frowned. “Security?”
“We were created,” Basil intoned gravely, “to protect the castle”—he held up one finger—“of a good-hearted wizard”—and he put up the next one. He paused to consider his fingers. “I have found it historically unusual for each to happen concurrently. I have considered the idea that owning a castle does something to a wizard’s state of mind.”
“Uh,” I said, blinking. “How do you know I am a good wizard? I mean, I’m mostly competent, but…”
“Not skilled,” Basil said firmly. “Good.” Standing straight, he was astall as I was. He took a step forward and pointed his forefinger at my heart. “There.” His grey skin wrinkled around his nose as he leaned toward me and sniffed. “Kindness. Hope. Even a little faith.” He straightened and met my gaze calmly. “We have been watching you for months. In great pain, you nonetheless make kind choices. Care for others.” He turned and paced over to Maggie’s covered bicycle, crouching down into an easy animalistic stance. “This was infused with great love for an innocent. A gift for the child?”
I blinked. “Uh. Yeah.”
Basil nodded. “We were made to sense benevolence and malevolence. To protect the former from the latter. We are extremely efficient at doing so.”
I blinked again. “We?”
“He’s part of a set,” Bob said petulantly. “Please tell me they aren’t all here, Basil.”
“I cannot,” Basil said firmly. “It would be a falsehood. If Wizard Dresden wishes it, I will call them in.”
The door slammed open and Bear appeared, wearing clamshell tactical armor on her torso, carrying the four-bore in one hand. She held a heavy, long-handled war hammer whose head was shaped like a clenched fist with a spiked thumb pointing off the back in the other. She looked around with her eyes a bit wide, focused on the gargoyle, and said, “Everyone all right?”
“Fine,” I said slowly. “Uh. This is Basil.”
“One of Etienne the Enchanter’s guardians,” Bear said firmly. “I know of them. Why is it here?”
