3
“Ace!” Hasan grabs my hand and pulls it to his side. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to get its attention.”
“By drawing attention to yourself in front of everyone?”
I swallow hard and ball my fingers into my palm. “You’re right.”
“I’ve got a better plan,” Gilbert says, watching the golem walk right into a large glass window. It reaches up, and suddenly I can feel Jacques’s presence. He’s on top of the building.
Get inside, I mentally tell him. I’m able to summon the guys when I’m in trouble, but I’ve never tried to send a message like this before.
“It’s going in,” Hasan says, and darts forward. “We need to get everybody out. If we can trap it inside, we’ll have a better chance at killing it.”
“You guys get the people out,” I tell the twins. “I’ll distract the golem.”
The golem is still at the windows, almost as if it’s confused by the clear glass. It walks forward, and it’ll only be a matter of seconds—maybe a minute or two if we’re lucky—before the glass shatters.
Thomas and Gilbert run to the doors of the building, which is a hipster coffee bar that’s surprisingly full. A few people are standing in front of the window with their phones out. Fucking idiots. They’d do anything for a viral video, including putting their lives at risk.
Others are gathered in the back, hiding under tables. A few are edging near the door, not sure if they’ll be able to make it out the front or not.
“There has to be a back door,” I tell the guys. I outstretch my hands again, preparing to summon the fire at a moment’s notice. “Take them out that way and over into another building or something. The police will be here soon and we could use the distraction of needing an escort to buy some time.”
“We got this,” Thomas promises me. He leans in, kissing me quickly on the lips, and then takes off, running right through the front door. The golem turns, eyes zeroing in on the twins. It might be able to sense the magic surrounding the guys, but they look normal. If someone is looking through the golem’s eyes, they won’t be able to tell they’re gargoyles at least.
“Hey!” Hasan yells, and marches right up to the golem. He punches it in the face, and little pieces of clay crumble and fall to the ground. The golem bellows, rounding on Hasan.
Hasan’s eyes light up like a kid on Christmas morning. He throws another punch square in the golem’s jaw. The golem swipes its large hands at Hasan, who easily ducks out of the way. The golem is bigger than Hasan, but due to its large size, it’s much slower.
Thank goodness.
I steal a glance into the coffee bar. Most of the people have cleared out, and I see Gilbert standing near the front door ushering the rest back. My heart is pounding in my chest. We need to get the golem inside and out of the public eye right away. Hasan is faster, but we can only keep the golem for so long before it goes back into destruction mode and starts throwing shit again.
Inching closer to the front door, I hold my hands out in front of me. One guy remains inside the coffee shop, filming Hasan beating up the golem. Gil calls for him to follow him into the back, but the guy keeps recording.
I ball my fists, fingers smoking. I can’t contain the fire for much longer, and something tells me the golem isn’t going to keep playing cat-and-mouse with Hasan. Mostly because he’s the mouse.
“This way!” I shout to Hasan, who doubles back, meeting me by the door. The guy with the phone steps back as the golem comes lumbering toward us. I throw open the door, kicking the door stopper down. I’m not entirely sure the golem will actually fit through the door, but it beats smashing in through the windows. The less destruction the better.
I have no idea how this is going to be explained, but right now I shouldn’t even worry about it. I should worry about myself, because my fingers are sparking, and now the golem has his eyes set on me and he’s coming at me with more and more speed. I push my shoulders back, wiggling my fingers. The sparks turn into little flames.
Come on…come on…just come in here so I can kill you.
The golem’s eyes latch onto me, and it inhales deep, as if it’s breathing in my scent just like a dog tracking a rabbit or something. It slows and tips its head down to me, becoming very still. Its large mouth opens and a deep gargling sound comes from its throat.
“Acelina,” it croaks, making me freeze. It knows who I am. Its mouth opens again, but it’s not the golem talking. He’s a conduit for whatever is controlling it. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“Why?” I ask, even though I know better than to fall into this trap. I need to kill the golem, not interrogate it. I’m not going to get answers, and every second I waste puts us at risk for being exposed.
The golem straightens up and then barrels forward, crashing into the glass windows. Metal from the window frame twists and comes crashing down, raining pieces of broken glass along with it. Hasan grabs me, pulling me to his chest and turning away to shield me from the glass with his wings.
Only, he’s still wearing the concealment charm. Glass cuts into his back but he hardly even winces as he holds me close, keeping me safe.
“Oh shit,” the guy with the phone says, stumbling back. The phone falls from his hands, clattering to the ground. He makes a dive for it, but the golem is faster. It swings one of its paw-sized hands at him and knocks the guy in the head. He falls to the ground, unmoving.
“Hasan!” I step out of his arms, eyes wide. “You’re bleeding!”
