“What do I say?”
“‘I swear to protect Ivy House and my circle until the day I die. I will uphold the honor that is due my role and the legacy that is Ivy House.’”
I repeated the words quickly, with trembling lips.
“Shed blood onto the soil.”
Sebastian put up another net to catch Ulric.
Austin ripped the petite woman off him and sent her flying. He struggled to stand, burned and bloodied and shaky. I’d never seen him like this. His rage pushed through the muted link, hotter and fiercer than the pain. He was bringing forth the beast. He was shrouding himself in darkness so he could give everything to this fight. I doubted he’d regret it.
“Shed blood onto the soil,” Ivy House repeated.
With shaking hands, I sliced my finger; deep crimson welled up. I shoved it into the ground, wincing at the searing pain.
Thunder rolled above. Great wings beat. Our other friend was back. I’d have to beat that bastard in the sky. But first I needed to take out the phoenix.
“With great power comes great responsibility,” Ivy House said.
The petite woman pushed up from the ground, facing Austin. She knew which of us was her greatest competition.
Kingsley paced in front of me, watching his brother, keeping me from the fight.
Austin stood on his hind legs, bent over a little toward her, and roared.
They ran at each other.
“With great responsibility, you must have great courage. The courage to do what is right, and not what is easy. The courage to protect those sworn to you. The courage to wield the power without blinking.”
Before the woman could reach Austin, he swiped, his great paw hitting her shoulder. I could hear the crack from here. She rolled across the ground like a tumbleweed. Down on all fours, he ran after her, but this time he knew better than to pounce. She was good on the ground. Her body was a weapon, and she used it to her advantage.
“Use it wisely.”
A tidal wave of power welled up inside me, pumping through my blood. Stretching my skin to cracking. Dizzying my mind.
Through it, I could see the woman charging Austin, her injured arm tucked close to her body, flames rising from her skin. Austin swiped again, but she ducked under the strike and kept going. He lowered quickly, mouth open, and clamped on to her other shoulder, ignoring the pain I could feel blistering through the link. He wrapped his arms around her, a bear hug, the pain now agonizing, tearing him apart, no beginning and no end.
He tore with his teeth, ripping out her shoulder. Still squeezing, ignoring the misery it was causing him. Ignoring her screams. Trapped, she had one power, the pain she bestowed, but he was pushing past it. He opened his great jaw wide and clamped down on her head, his teeth digging into bone, and then he wrenched. The victor.
I turned from the grisly aftermath and magically cut off his pain. He didn’t need it anymore. He didn’t need to know when he was nearing the edge of never coming back. Now he just needed to heal. Something I would help him with after I dealt with the thunderbird.
He’d taken down one of the pair, and I fully intended to handle the other. But I’d have to fly to do it.
I shed my clothes and shifted, wasting no time. Color swirled from my tiny little wings, nothing compared to that mammoth in the sky.
Sebastian jogged toward me, looking up as I thrummed my wings, calling to me. I didn’t know what he was saying.
That big beast soared above the woods effortlessly, born to fly.
I labored after it, definitely not.
Frustration and fear bled through the now unmuted link. Austin didn’t want me to go. He’d done his part, though, and Ivy House had given me the power to do mine.
Jasper still flew around the thunderbird, and as I neared, I could see him dipping in and coming away, making small attacks. He was still getting shocked, but not badly enough for it to take him down. He couldn’t hope to take this creature on his own, but he hadn’t given up. He hadn’t relented.
My heart surged. He’d been a good choice.
Another shape caught my notice. Another gargoyle flew toward us, moonlight shimmering off its silvery hide.
The last part of the summons. Just one gargoyle this time. No team to sort through or try out. One gargoyle to help me do the impossible.
Nearer still, he carved through the sky with a dexterity that not even Damarion had been able to achieve. The thunderbird rolled, tucking in its wings and diving, nearly smashing Jasper out of the sky. But Jasper pulled back at the last moment, careening and then correcting his course.
The newcomer moved with great speed, silvery light slicing through the dark night. When he neared, he snapped his wings out, the effect thunderous, and hung stationary in the sky. His wings thrummed like a hummingbird’s, although the motion was barely noticeable, creating a low-pitched sound that pulled at the center of me.
Jasper rose higher. Then, across the town, I saw other fliers lift above the trees and buildings, rising like balloons after a parade. Most of the gargoyles that hadn’t made the cut at Ivy House had stayed in the area, and I knew—without quite understanding how I knew—that they’d heard this newcomer’s call to arms. Heard the distinct sound that brought their kind together.
Mr. Tom and Ulric tried to rise as well, clearly knowing what it meant.
Without specifically knowing how, but feeling the rightness in my blood, I cut out the sound to them. Just to them. Like snipping the strings of an instrument.
The thunderbird regained height and then banked lazily, heading back in my direction.
“Here we go,” I said, the actual sound like a jumbled mess around my enlarged teeth.
The lesser-statured gargoyles filed in, flocking to this newcomer like they had Damarion back in the day. This time, Austin could pull rank if he needed to. I wouldn’t stand in his way. The newcomer had a good trick, and I wanted it at my disposal.
The newcomer darted forward, flying toward me. I gestured like an idiot, not sure how to communicate. It turned out I didn’t need to.
Jasper soared to my left and flew at my speed. The larger new guy took my right. All the others spread out around us, some above, some below, some behind.
The thunderbird shot straight for us. To touch it in any meaningful way would send a shock of electricity through us.
Think it through.
I had to cut out that electricity. Or shield the gargoyles from it.
The gargoyles flew steadily around me. The one at my side thrummed and then snapped his wings, like a battle commander barking commands.
Think it through.
It occurred to me that I really didn’t know what that meant, and repeating it over and over wouldn’t help anything.
Charge that sonuvabitch and think on the fly.
That had always been more my speed, anyway.
The speed with which the thunderbird flew frazzled my brain, though, and it wasn’t even trying! It was just gliding, as handy as it liked.
The gargoyles around me shot upward, and New Guy dove in to attack just behind the thunderbird’s head. I slapped up a protective barrier for him, and the lightning zipped around him, leaving him unharmed. Another went in, following New Guy’s lead. And another. I covered for them, fast as I could, missing one and throwing up a net to catch him down toward the trees.
The thunderbird was right on me.
I flapped harder to dart upward, but it was coming too fast for me to gain enough altitude. I thought about dropping, but it pumped its wings and shot forward. I wrapped myself in an energy-absorbing shield as the newcomer rose and turned my way. He would never get there in time.
The lightning hit my shield first, soaking in. The beak hit next, trying to pierce me through the middle. It hit off my shield, and the shock turned to a violent explosive. The great bird’s head shot backward and its wings pumped helplessly at the sky, offering me a killing shot.
But I was sailing away end over end, rocketed just as hard by the blast but much, much lighter.
I was spinning so fast that I couldn’t even figure out where I should throw a net. I flared my wings, but the wind caught them and tweaked one, wrenching it painfully. I cried out, pulling it in, spinning. The trees reached up to break my fall and probably crack my limbs.
A body hit me from the side. Strong arms wrapped around me and held me close while large wings snapped open and stopped our fall. The newcomer grunted as he took to the sky.
The thunderbird had regained control, and it was flying faster now, angry. It went after the other gargoyles, trying to peck at their wings, beating its hind wings quickly to send out flurries of electricity. A great, thunderous roar scattered everyone close to it.
I pointed. Get me closer.
New Guy flew at incredible speed, pulling up behind it. Apparently he thought I was going to do something.
He was right.
That thing wasn’t impervious to blasts, and I was really good at blowing things up.
Right on its tail, I sent off an explosive spell. I immediately pointed away, and New Guy banked, so smooth and natural, so much less jarring than flying with Damarion had been. Or maybe I was just used to it, although I could never fly like this on my own. My wings simply weren’t made for it.
The explosive hit and the bird squealed, flapping and trying to turn. Its wings weren’t as dexterous as gargoyle’s, though. We banked and dove, getting under it.
“Waaai-t,” the new guy said in my ear.
A gargoyle dove in from the side, and I threw up a barrier for him. It occurred to me that the blows they were landing probably wouldn’t even leave bruises. They certainly weren’t doing any real damage. I had to cut out that electricity or they could just go home.
What was the nemesis of electricity?
“No-ow,” the gargoyle said, the word surprisingly clear. Male gargoyles had bigger fangs than I did and struggled more to communicate in their shifted forms.
I blasted the thunderbird in the neck this time. It squawked, knocked off-kilter, flapping its wings.
Ground. Lightning was extinguished when it hit the ground.
The next time New Guy swooped around, I hit the bird with a different spell, covering it with a fine layer of rock. Skin like a gargoyle’s.
The bird’s flapping increased, laborious now. Thunder still rolled from each of its wingbeats, but no one was in front of it to get hit by the sonic waves. Gargoyles dove in, punching at it like they’d been doing, then realized they could dig in.