Stone Guardian(60)

“What?”

“People are watching me.”

“My friend already assumed that. I’ve got it covered. Just be waiting in the lobby.”

“I’ll be there,” said Larissa, hanging up the phone even as she went to her bureau for shirt and pants.

Gods, it would be so good to get some answers. If she knew the why, maybe Terak…

Terak.

His name brought her up short. What should she do? Who knew if he was guarding her? Maybe he left with his In-ten-ded.

She winced. Who knew her subconscious could be so bitchy?

She sat down on the bed, wasting time she didn’t have but needing a minute. If she had gotten two hours of sleep she was lucky, and even that short time was filled with unremembered but unsettling dreams, the type that sour your mood the next day even when you can’t remember a single detail about them.

This needed to be put to rest inside her, fast. She didn’t have the luxury of acting all Junior High School, pouting because the boy she liked didn’t like her back and taking it out on the world.

She liked Terak.

There. She admitted it. Damn Junior High.

Maybe more than like, or within easy distance of that thought. But even if he didn’t have an Intended – not like that was a small issue – they still could never be together. He was a leader who was dragging his Clan into this new world and dealing with the consequences of those actions. And she was a human who once this finished would go back to teaching kids and pretending everything outside the city gates didn’t exist.

Right?

No.

No. It was loud and clear and certain. No, she wouldn’t be going back to that life.

She could picture clear as day the look on dad’s face as he worried over Michael, the only child who had ever left the nest.

She loved her father, but for the first time, the thought of that look wasn’t enough to have her backing down.

No, when this was over, it was time to explore this world, to learn all the things she wanted to learn but denied herself out of the fear of hurting her father. It was time to make her place. It was time to cut the strings and leave the nest. She fooled herself in thinking moving out of the house was the only step she needed to take to make that happen, but she wouldn’t make that mistake again.

A lightness hollowed out her chest, and she couldn’t breathe deep enough to fill it. Tears and laughter were threatening in equal measure, and it would be really nice if her mind would choose a more appropriate time to make known these little revelations. She had ten minutes before she had to leave to meet someone who might know what’s going on.

Which brought her back to Terak.

And any more revelations would be for later. Right now, she would leave it at she needed him near and by her side. He was the only one she could trust.

Dressed, teeth and hair brushed, shoes on with five minutes to spare, and she went out to the balcony, waving her arms and jumping up and down. If he wasn’t near the silver ball was stashed in her pocket and she’d call him while on the road.

Within moments Terak landed in front of her. Relief and a whole slew of emotions she threw into her mental lockbox ran through her. “You’re here.”

“Where else would I be?”

“I have some news. My friend Olivia knows someone she thinks might be able to help us. She called me and is on her way here to pick me up.”

Terak stilled, his claws flexing at this unexpected piece of news. Damn, she should have told him about this possibility earlier, but so much had happened and she forgot all about it. “Who is she taking you to see?”

Larissa shook her head. “I have no clue. Olivia wouldn’t say, but from what I gather he is a difficult man to talk to. He’s in hiding from something, I don’t know what.”

Terak was already shaking his head. “I do not like this. I do not want you going to an unknown.”

She wasn’t thrilled about the thought either. She was still shaky from earlier – both of the night’s surprises. There was nothing to be done though. “In this case, I don’t think we have a choice. The chance to learn something supersedes the fact we’re flying blind.”

Terak snarled, but Larissa paid it no mind. It was aimed at the situation, not her. “This Olivia, you are sure she is trustworthy?”

Talk about echoes in conversation. Larissa could only answer the same way she had earlier. “Yes, I’m sure. Of course, I don’t know him so I’m not trusting him. That’s why I want you to come with me.”

Surprise crossed his features at that. “You are not going to fight me on this?”

“Remember when I told you I’m not stupid and won’t go into situations alone I have no business in to try to prove something? This is what we call a case in point. But you can’t come as a gargoyle. You are going to need to switch into human.” Terak’s mouth tightened and his tail twitched. Time for some charm. “You can protect me, I know you can, no matter what form you wear. And you can switch if it becomes necessary. But like you said, we’re walking into an unknown, and they don’t need to know I have a gargoyle watching over me. The less information we give them the better. So please, trust me?”