“So your power flows freely,” mused Balin. “You are all the more precious now, Dark Knight.”
Carter turned to Balin. “Give it up. I already said no. I’m not going to change my mind.”
“Yes, you are,” the wizard-scientist snapped. “No more games. You can join me as the Dark Knight Pride, or else. Choose now!”
“Or else what?” Carter asked warily.
There was a crack like a gunshot as the wall of stone cracked. A piece of rock the size of a television fell off right above Fen. Carter instantly shoved her aside.
As the rock smashed into the ground where Fen had stood, Eunice swooped down. She seized Fen around the chest, clamping her arms against her sides. Carter lunged at them, but he’d pushed Fen too far away from him and Eunice was very quick. His reaching fingers closed on air as Eunice flew up into the sky, holding Fen tight. Fen kicked and struggled, but the gargoyle was far bigger and stronger than her, and had tough and leathery skin.
“Or else your treasured female takes a fall from a height,” said Balin, with relish. “If you want her to live, you must pledge yourself to my service. And by the way, I can tell if you’re lying. If you make the pledge meaning to go back on it later, I’ll have Eunice drop her.”
Carter had never in his life been filled with such a mixture of fear and rage, not even in his year at Apex. But another emotion rose up to swamp it, and that was love. He loved Fen too much to let her die, and too much to do anything that would make her unhappy. She’d be furious if he joined the dark side, even to save her life. And she’d be furious if he didn’t have the faith in himself that she had in him.
She believed he was fine exactly the way he was. If he couldn’t believe that too, then he wasn’t worthy of her.
Carter flung off his coat. His black wings opened, and he leaped into the air.
He moved so quickly that he took both Balin and Eunice by surprise. He took himself by surprise, too. He’d had no idea if his wings were strong enough to lift him. They were not only strong, but quick and agile. Before either of his enemies could react, he was upon Eunice, slashing at her with his claws. Her skin was tough, but not enough to withstand the sharpness of his claws.
With a shriek of pain, the gargoyle loosened her grip on Fen and swiped at him with her talons. Fen instantly took advantage of that, wrenching one arm free and bashing the gargoyle across the face with the stone cell phone. Eunice let out another yell of pain.
Carter caught Fen around the waist and wrested her free. Eunice made a grab at her, but Carter kicked the leathery creature hard in the solar plexus. The gargoyle began to spiral downward, the breath knocked out of her.
His batlike wings beating the air, Carter began to fly down from the mountain. Fen was warm in his arms. Sugar clung to Fen’s blouse, chittering excitedly. Precious had again disappeared, but Carter figured she was probably spying on their enemies.
“Still hate the wings?” Fen asked when she’d gotten her breath back.
“Not so much now,” he admitted. “The claws, too. They did come in handy.”
“I wish I’d taken the knives with me,” Fen said. “I totally forgot about them.”
“You didn’t need them. The rock was plenty.”
Her dark eyes gleamed. “I still have it.”
“Good,” he said grimly. “Because I don’t think we’re done yet.”
A familiar shriek sounded. It was Precious, angry and frightened. Carter looked up and saw her flying faster than she ever had before. She was pursued by a beast so weird and huge that he could barely comprehend what he was seeing.
The creature was like a pterodactyl but far bigger, with disturbingly human-like hands at the joints of its immense leathery wings. Its beak was long as a car and needle-sharp, and both the hands and the hind feet had cruel hooked talons. It screeched as it flew, and it was coming fast. The weird beast would overtake them in a moment.
Carter veered off, flying back toward the mountain. If he could reach the woods, he could at least drop Fen off there, where the thing would have trouble getting to her due to its sheer size.
“Is that Balin’s shift form?” Fen gasped.
“Must be,” said Carter.
“What the hell is it?”
“Got me.”
The Balin-beast whipped a wing forward, striking at them. Carter folded his wings and dropped like a stone, evading the blow, then unfolded them and darted into the woods.
He landed hard, stumbling against a big oak, and hurriedly put Fen down. “Run.”
“No!” She was clearly ready to stand up to that immense and vicious creature with nothing but a rock that had once been a cell phone.
