Page 80 of Suncatcher

“I speak properly.”

Pearl laughed lightly. “Yeah. Funny. Why’s that?”

Driz shrugged. “It is how I learned. Gargoyles do not speak much, so each word seems important to get right.”

Pearl liked that answer. She liked an alarming number of things about Driz. She didn’t know what to do with herself or these mushy, unsettling feelings.

Driz watched her too intently, so Pearl hid her face in the uninjured side of Driz’s neck.

Driz held a sleeping Pearl in her arms. As the night deepened, Pearl relaxed into her, warm and pliant. Her breath and heartbeats drummed steadily, her head cradled in the crook of Driz’s elbow, features so smooth and beautiful.

Driz had never touched a sleeping creature. It filled her with joy that Pearl trusted her enough to rest against her. And Driz was terrified by the immense responsibility of it.

Pearl was so fragile and tender in this state. So vulnerable. Driz held perfectly still so she wouldn’t jostle or wake her. Driz stared down at the smattering of dots, the star patterns over her skin, memorizing them like the constellations that slowly shifted above.

Driz wasn’t certain how to process everything that had happened. She was hurt, but she was also deeply happy to have Pearl with her.

Pearl had come after her. Given up everything for her. No one had ever done that for Driz. She’d never dreamed anyone would.

Even if Pearl had accidentally cursed her with the blight, Driz would take it. She would rather be cursed with her than clean without her. And perhaps that was wrong too. But as Driz gazed at Pearl, it didn’t feel wrong.

Pearl wasn’t entirely still in her sleep. Her breath changed sometimes. She twitched and shifted, but her eyes didn’t open. Was she dreaming? Driz wished she could know what that was like. What was Pearl dreaming of?

Driz waited until the glow on the horizon was too strong. And then she waited just a bit more.

“Pearl?” Driz rumbled, her voice rough after not speaking all night.

Pearl mumbled and nestled closer.

“It is almost dawn,” Driz said, easing forward and laying Pearl on the ground.

When Driz pulled her arms from beneath her, Pearl finally blinked open her eyes.

“I must go.”

“No.” Pearl grabbed her wrist, her eyes heavy with sleep.

“I must. I will find you tonight.”

Driz hated leaving her, but it wasn’t safe for her to stay. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to Pearl’s cheek as she stood, her body stiff and screaming. Her fresh wounds made their presence known. When she stretched her wings, they jittered, sending pain lacing down her back and up her neck, spilling from her throat in a sound she hadn’t meant to make.

Pearl sat up. “You’re still hurt.”

“Yes.”

Pearl reached for her. “Stay.”

“It is not safe. I may wake.”

“Have you ever woken from your stone sleep before?”

“No.”

“Then I’m not worried.”

“I do not know what I am like.”

Other goyles had spoken of it at Meetings. She knew she would remember if she woke. They told of being out of control. Of feeling too many things. Like being a different soul in a different body. A burning destruction that spilled out.