In The End: Gargoyle Saga

Chapter 30 Royally Effed the Biscuit

Chapter 30 Royally Effed the Biscuit

After a few minutes, Masters Skye and Mack were in position. Isa and Mistress Adams were in front of the cathedral gates, and somewhere in the air directly above the cathedral, Joe clutched onto my left leg for dear life. 'Didn't I tell you I'm afraid of heights?' He whimpered.

'And you call yourself a Watcher! What if you get your wings instead of a tail? Honestly, most of you guys only have one trait!' I spat.

Thrusting my sword upwards, I used my magic to send us flying up into the air. My wing twitched. I felt as though it wanted to glide down to the ground, but I wouldn't even be able to manage that.

Putting that irritating and depressing thought behind me, I made the sword stop right above the cathedral. I wasn't good at judging distances, but we were up at least a hundred feet, maybe more. Holding onto my sword with my right hand, I reached down and grabbed the back of Joe's hoodie and held him up. 'We are giving you three attempts at this,' I told him and shook him a little to let go of my leg. 'Don't piss this up!'

Joe reluctantly let go and gasped and tried to grab my leg again. 'No, no, I don't like this!'

I wrapped my tail around him for additional support. 'Happy?'

He glanced at the pointed tip, which was inches from his nose. 'Er, not really!'

'Just get on with it!' I roared.

I saw Joe closing his eyes and opening his hands; he clapped. The magical echolocation flew straight down but only bounced off one amplifier. I think it was from Master Skye. It never reached the second, and no ward was lit from the east side of the cathedral.

'Joe, open your damn eyes! The longer we are up here, exposed, the more chance a demon could spot us.'

'I know, I know. I just...' he opened one eye and yelped. 'I can't do this.'

'I am NOT going to let you go. Even if I dropped you, I'd be able to pick you up with my magic. Hurry up!' I snapped.

Joe huffed. 'Some motivational speaker you are!' My tail tightened around his chest. 'Okay, okay, second clap!' He opened his eyes and aimed for the centre where the edge of the amplifiers would be and clapped again. The west side lit up, but not the east.

'Shit, we need to move over. We've only got one more shot.'

'Why are you only giving me three tries?' Joe asked as I moved us east a little.

'Because, you moron, Skye and Mack can only be magically amplified for a certain amount of time, and they are giving you a short amount of time within which to do three claps, now move your fecking arse and clap!'

'Oh no,' Joe gasped. 'There's a demon!'

I felt sick to my stomach. Below, I saw a huge shieldlock demon come careening towards us. 'Joe, do your job!'

'But-' The demon was inching closer. With fast, powerful wings, it was going to plough straight into us within seconds.

'FUCKING CLAP!'

Joe took a deep breath and, ignoring the danger, clapped. I didn't wait to see if Master Mack and Master Skye's amplifiers did the trick. That now wasn't my main objective. Protecting Joe was. Hoisting him up, I took his hand and forced it onto my sword. 'Hold this for me.'

Concentrating on the sword, I held it in mid-air for Joe to cling onto as I dropped like a stone towards the shieldlock demon. I couldn't open my wing and slow myself down, or I'd spiral. So, flattening it against me, I grinned at the upcoming smash of muscle, but it saw me coming and dodged.