Gargoyle: A Reawakening (Briarcliff Series, #2) (22 page)

“
Chance if you think
something is out there then why are you opening the door and
slamming it shut?” All she got was another dazed and confused look.
“You are letting whatever is out there—know we’re in here,” she
elaborated and walked around a chair to get closer to the
door.

“
I swear, there is
something out there this time,” he said.

“
Come on, knock it off.
It’s probably just the wind.” She wasn’t sure if she believed him
or not. He was like the little boy that cried wolf…but then again
the boy was right on one count wasn’t he?

His eyes widened. “Nope, not wind,” he said,
shaking his head back and forth like he was having a spasm of some
sort.

“
Well?” She crossed her
arms and gave him what she hoped was a reproving look. “What is it
then?” she asked.

“
I’m not sure.”

A jolt of fear shot through her. His eyes
looked crazed, just like the guy in the tighty whities had
been.

The book Barnaby was holding slipped from
his fingers thudding loudly on the desk. Normally, he never really
paid much attention to Chance, he freaked about everything, usually
a random bug or bird flying in the air he somehow never noticed
before. But this wasn’t his normal doped - up response. “Come on
Chance,” he said, his voice starting to shake. “Stop messing
around. How can you not know what you are looking at?” he asked
making his way around the furniture scattered through the room.

“
Man I think I am seeing
things,” Chance said if possible his eyes widening even
more.

Barnaby froze. He knew
that look…
fear.
Colton had the same look on his face when he pointed out the
Cujo looking dog. His heart dropped and his blood ran cold.
“
Oh Shit”!

Colton turned his head toward Barnaby but he
couldn’t see his face but he could see Chance’s and he looked
freaked.

“
Oh hell
no!”
he said, scrambling down from the
ladder. He knew that look. In one fluid motion, he was across the
room and climbing the spiral staircase leading up to the second
level.

Evie gnashed her teeth together determined
to put an end to his foolishness once and for all.

“
Move
Chance,” she said and pushed him out of the way and jerked the door
open. “
Ahhhhhhhhh!
” she screamed, slamming the door shut, starting a bad chain
reaction.

Barnaby flew across the
room with lightning speed but not to help her, no, he headed for
the spiral staircase.

“
I told you something was
out there.” Chance pressed his hands on the door giving her an “I
told you so” look.

“
Sorry,” she gritted. The
door bumped against them, jostling them together. He gave her
another glare for good measure, she supposed. That just irked her.
What did he want a freaking bozo button? Well too bad, she was out
for the moment.

The door bucked under them again.

“
Shit! I can’t hold it
shut,” Chance said his body tilting to the side, off balance.
“Evie…” He looked over his shoulder.

“
I’m here,” she said and
pushed harder using her weight. It wasn’t working. Fear constricted
her breathing but she still pushed as hard as she could. “Barnaby…”
The door thumped against her back. The handle jabbing her, making
her flinch in pain.

Barnaby stopped at the bottom of the stairs
clearly torn.

“
Don’t do it man—save
yourself,” Colton wailed from above.

“
What the hell Colton?”
Evie shouted, hearing his warnings plainly.

“
Sorry Edie. Barnaby is my
friend.”

Anger quickly replaced
fear. “My name is Evie—
asshole
!” She pushed even harder.
The door clicked shut this time. “Chance lock the door,” she said,
breathing hard. “Chance?” she looked over her shoulder. She didn’t
see him leave but she heard a faint... “
Sorry Evie
”. Now she was alone. The
door thumped against her. She flinched in pain. The bottoms of her
shoes squeaked against the tiles as she was shoved slowly forward.
It was a losing battle.

DESERTION

SATURDAY * 11:15 PM

Wasn’t desertion a crime?

The room was stoically
silent after the door debacle. Silently fuming, Evie glared over at
each of the offenders. She crossed her arms, leaning against the
desk; the burled pattern of the wood was barely visible under the
stacks of books that littered the top. Thank God, the “IT’ Chance
had been talking about had turned out to be human—Kingston, Moriah,
and Heather to be exact. But still…what if it had been something
else—something terrible. She glanced over at the offenders again.
Of course, she expected that type of behavior from Colton and even
Chance would get a pass—he tried to help…but Barnaby? That one hurt
a little more than she thought it would. She didn’t figure
him
for a
deserter.

LOOK
WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN

SATURDAY * 11:23 PM

A loud thumping noise came from the
foyer.

This time Evie didn’t even
bother trying to get to the door. It was everyone for themselves.
The thudding grew louder. Scrambling around the desk, she headed to
the window but Barnaby was blocking her. She pushed against him.
“Move,” she yelled.

He pushed back. “No.”

She gaped at him.

“
I can’t get the window
open,” Barnaby explained.

Evie narrowed her eyes at him just the same
and shoved up beside him. Pressing her hands on the glass, she
tried to slide it upward. “Come on!” she gritted, fuming once
again.

Of course… the window was stuck.

She released it and looked
for something to hurl through the glass. A few feet away she
spotted a bust of some historical figure sitting on a pedestal. She
could swear it was mocking her. “Oh screw you,” she muttered,
grabbing it and tucking the bust under her arm like a football. And
just as she was about to hurl it through the glass she saw who was
making all the racket. Brianna and Addison screeched to a halt
inside the room; their bright eyes bulging from their sockets like
they had seen a ghost.

“
Ladies,
ladies
, calm down,” Colton said with an
authoritative tone, strutting over to them like a glorified
peacock.

Oh, so now he was Mister
Calm, cool and collected, acting like a CSI agent. What happened to
that guy earlier when she could have used some help? No, he ran as
fast as he could, yelling for Chance and Barnaby to follow him to
safety—leaving her completely out of the equation.
Jerk
. Evie was tempted
to throw the statue at Colton but instead placed it back on the
pedestal.

“
Well thanks …ah…” She
glanced down at the name on the bottom of the bust, “Ponce de
León.” She exhaled. “Why do you sound so familiar?” She looked
around the room trying to jar her memory and then noticed the stack
of books on the desk. Then she remembered she had seen his name on
one of the books. She patted his smooth stone head and walked over
to the desk. There were several books actually, on explorers.
Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Hernan Cortes, Lewis
& Clark, John Smith, Vasco da Gama, Jacques Cartier, Sacagawea,
and Henry Hudson, to name a few. She lifted up the books and
finally found the one about Juan Ponce de Leon. “So Ponce, what
were you famous for?” Flipping a few of the yellowed pages, she
skimmed over the text. “The Spanish conquistador and explorer Juan
Ponce de León and the legendary fountain of youth have been linked
to one another to this day.”

A memory of her old gym
teacher from High school, Coach Gibbs and his abnormally gorgeous
face and sublime physique popped into her mind. He looked like a
student. Actually, for most of the year she thought he
was
a college student,
maybe earning some extra credits or something. Then one day, near
the end of school she entered into the side door of the office to
return one of the overhead projectors to the supply room and walked
right in when the Principle was serenading Coach Gibb’s with a
“Happy Birthday” song. Except this was obviously a rehearsed
version because she was really taking it to another level. It was
like when Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday to JFK, full of unsaid
innuendos like she was going to jump his bones or something and he
didn’t seem adverse to it, either.

She hung out in the
background, not able to cut across the room to drop off the
projector until the song was over, then saw the big
Five O
on his cake and
almost
fell out
!

“
Margie,
err
, Principle Levinson, it that a joke?” she asked, gawking at
the smoking candles on top of a triple layered chocolate
cake.

“
Nathan’s age?” she asked
absently, never taking her eyes off the man in question.

“
Nathan? Oh right, Coach
Gibbs, is that his real age?” Evie had to ask, eyeing the candles
doubtfully, thinking it was a joke.

“
Oh yes,” she breathed,
giving his body a long lingering stroke with her glazed over hazel
eyes.

Evie frowned. “He
looks
really
young for his age.”

“
Oh
yes
,”
she gasped like she was about to have an orgasm. “It’s his youthful
vigor.”

Evie took a step back,
looking at buttoned up Levinson with new eyes. Apparently, she was
a
freak
under her
bookish outward demeanor with her sensible short brown haircut,
thick tortoise shell glasses, putrid colored sweaters, and skirt
choices, along with her sole squeaking orthopedic earth mama shoes.
She had them all fooled.

“
I will be helping him
release his youthful vigor tonight…anywhere he wants it,” she
confided, running her unusually large man looking hand over her
perky bottom.

Eww. Eww.
Eww
. Evie glared at Margie in
shock.

Turning suddenly, Margie
gave her an odd look. “You waiting for some cake?” she asked,
sounding too sweet, narrowing her eyes.