“Tree knots.”
“What?” a few of us call out in disbelief.
“Tree knots,” a younger gargoyle says as she steps forward, holding her tail. She kind of reminds me of myself, except she’s wearing a pale yellow dress and has straight midnight black hair and blue eyes. “If you look closely, you can see them move.” She moves over to Blessing to grab his leg, and I immediately put it together. They are related, probably father and daughter or at least older siblings. Since gargoyles guard their secrets strictly close to their hearts, we don’t know how long they live. Shit, the fact we’re standing here is a huge thing. They might putusin history books for even getting this close to gargoyles outside of Professor Stone.
“To answer your previous question, our hatchlings were taken from our nursery a few weeks ago from creatures that normally don’t attack our kind. From what I’ve discovered, they traded them to poachers. I thought our young ones were lost to us and sold off,” Blessing reveals as he runs his fingers through the girl’s stony midnight curls. “I don’t know what purpose they are using our young, but we have lost too many. There are rumors that our blood is used for powerful spells, or others want to build armies of our young, but I refuse to believe our young can be broken that easily.”
My heart drops thinking of him trying to hold his family together, all the while knowing babies have gone missing and feeling that guilt. Even if it’s not his personal fault, the guilt would eat at him. I don’t have to look at myself to know my bark has shifted to blue, but it’s confirmed when Chester’s warm arms wrap around me. Blessing shifts slightly, making me wonder if I’m making him uncomfortable with our public display of affection, and suddenly, I can’t remember if they have any customs we have to worry about. I know we didn’t go over this in school, but I did live with Matthew and Levi. Surely I would have picked up something.
‘Your friendship with the shadows is enough to favor us,’Blessing’s garbled voice rings out in my head.
I glance around the room and notice by the look on my friend’s faces that they can hear him as well.
“Come, let me show you where our young ones were kept. Oh, but first, can I unite our family with the ones you have brought home?” he asks, and indicates Rez’s pack on her back.
“Sure,” Knox says, pulling out an egg from his S.I.N. box and holding it out. A young white-haired gargoyle runs up to him with tears streaming down her face. She reaches out with trembling hands and gently grabs the egg, cradling it against her chest and bowing to Knox before whispering “thank you” and quickly disappearing into a side room.
It’s the same process with all the eggs until the last two, when Blessing holds them up and asks who will come and claim them until birth. He explains that they are orphans and their parents fell in the last fight. Two young, twin red-headed gargoyles who look no older than twelve come up and volunteer, but in reality, they’re probably over hundreds of years old.
Blessing pats them on the shoulders before turning and motioning for us to follow. He starts walking towards the back, and Chester grabs my hand before we follow. As we trail behind, I notice small sections carved out of the stones, some at ground level and a few that you would need a ladder or wings like me to reach, but all lead into rooms. Some have arches or beds, dressers, toys, and even nests on the grounds.
“This wing is for our nesting mothers or …um, what’s the word that you would use for your fledglings?" Blessing asks, looking back at our group.
“Nursery,” Knots provides.
“Thank you.” Blessing continues down the hall. “This hall is our nursery. When our young hatch, they normally stay here with their mothers or wet nurses. Once they are old enough,they are sent to the Clan Elders and paired for training. But unfortunately, we have met our match against a foe we can not beat and cannot keep our young in our nursery anymore.”
“What kind of foe?” Ryker asks, his interest piqued.
Blessing stops, turns, and looks at our group, assessing us as if we are to be trusted.
“The kind we cannot defeat,” he says simply, but my stomach drops out from the look he gives us. “What I am about to tell you will bind you to our clan as allies and our existence together. If you need help, you can call on us and vice versa. Do you wish to know more about our foe and us gargoyles?”
“I’m not sure I want to be a walking, talking genie,” Lynx speaks up. “I mean, I am pretty priceless. There’s a lot that comes with this baggage.”
“There is a reason the rest of the Supe world does not know of us,” Blessing reminds us. “There is a price, yet we give as much as we demand, and there is a war upon our door that is waiting to burst open.”
“How do you know that?” Levi narrows his eyes as he takes in our newfriend.
“The trees aren’t the only things that have eyes and ears.” Blessing gives us a toothy grin, sending a chill down my spine. He looks ferocious at times.
“I’m down,” Rez throws her hand up, and the boys groan around her. “What? You don’t have to, you know.”
“Yeah, we do,” Ryker grumbles.
“We can’t let you do it alone. What kind of mates would that make us?” Knox explains.
With everyone in agreement, I easily raise my hand. “I’m with my bestie,” I agree, and Chester raises his without complaint, so Blessing nods.
“We have a lot of good qualities and have, for the longest time, been used for the ultimate guards. Our skin is made ofstone, so it’s impenetrable to all man-made weapons. We are strong and can carry fifty times our weight, and live extremely long lives. Some would say we’re immortal, but that is not the case. We just live for hundreds of years until our stones start to weaken. We were mostly used as good luck for believers of faith or as protectors and guardians.”
“That’s why you’re allowed on Earth and perched on buildings, correct?” Rez interrupts.
“Yes, but most of us who go to Earth long-term do so to work for N.I.T.R.A. in a special branch.”There’s that notra-dumbass name again.“Now, we gargoyles act more as enforcers or informants than living as our true purpose,” Blessing confesses with a growl undertone.
“And why is that?” Knox picks up on the tension in our host.
“It’s safer, and it’s the reason I decided to bring you here.” He makes eye contact with every one of us. His deep obsidian eyes reach into my soul, seeking out my coffee gauge and finding it full and pure with the Nectar of Life. “Come,” he states and continues walking to the last room at the end of the hall.
