The Other Tri-Brid

We're Being Punked, Pedro

“Hey Lizzie you uh.”
“Choose your next words very carefully, Pedro.” With that she continues to storm away. With an eye roll I squat down infront of him
“What did you need, Hunny?” WIth a smile he points to the flower and with a laugh I start helping him finish planting them.
After a while Lizzie comes back but decides to lay on a rock and not help.
“Is she going to help or just lay there?” Pedro asks me. Standing up we both walk over to my sister.
“Aren't you supposed to help.”
“Consider this a life lesson, Pedro. People disappoint” She says but I notice that Pedro seems to be elsewhere. Looking up I look at the stone statue of a gargoyle suspiciously.
“It just moved.” He tells Lizzie and I but neither of us saw it so we just suspected her was pulling a prank.
“Come on Pedro, no jokes. We have to get back to work.” I say
“I mean, I deserve to know what's happening just as much as Hope.” At the mention of my girlfriends name I look back down to Lizzie “I'm his freaking daughter.”
“Its doing it again” He says as he points at it.  Looking up Lizzie and I glance at each other as we notice that it has gotten closer.
“We’re being punked, pedro. The sixth grade witches are learning Illusion spells this semester.” As Lizzie keeps going on I look wide eyed at the gargoyle that had just moved.
“Uh Lizzie Its not a joke.”
“Let's guess, it's right behind me?”As Lizzie turns around I Fail to notice The Gargoyle is now behind me but let out a scream as I feel my back being scratched and falling to the floor.
“Nova!” Lizzie shouts as she quickly brings me into her arms. Noticing we can't out run it, Lizzie sits me down on one of the sofas and tells Pedro to give him her hand. I try to watch what's happening but I'm not able to move or talk. The only thing I can feel are the tears running down my face.
“Lizzie? Nova?” Oh what happened?” I hear my dad say as he crouches next to Lizzie on the floor. “They arent moving. Why-Why aren't they moving?”
“The statue hurt them” Pedro says
Lizzie is placed on a couch beside me (Dad having moved them together hoping that it would bring Lizzie and I some comfort) As he gave a speech of being on lockdown. My mind runs back to Josie and Hope praying that they both are okay. Seconds later Lizzie and I are lifted and we both let out a whimper of pain.

With Josie and Hope
“I'm sorry I can't let you leave” Dorian tells the two girls standing in front of him.
“No, I need to go home to see my sisters.” Josie says with her arms crossed
“Your dads with them. And I'm under strict orders to keep you here.”
“What. Why?”
“And why are you researching that?” Hope asks, growing more concerned by the second. She could feel something wasn’t right. The mating bond on her neck burned and she just didn’t have a good feeling.

Back to Lizzie and Nova
Thumbs and Scratches could be heard getting closer to the room as the children trembled in fear.
“Everyone stay quiet. Emma instructed as she used magic to conceal them. It worked as the gargoyle stopped for a second before seeing nothing and moving on.

Bum Bum Back to Hope 🙂
Hope walked down the hallways in the school towards the library hoping to find Nova. What she didn't expect was Dr. Saltzman to sneak up behind her.
“Dorian was supposed to keep you away.”
He tried. He lost. But here. Killing gargoyles 101. He thought you could translate it.” Hope brings her hand up to the mark on her neck that seemed to burn more every minute. “She's hurt, isn't she?” Dr. Saltzmen sighed.
“The gargoyle scratched her and Lizzie. They are both Paralyzed and Scared. But safe for now. We don't know how long that'll last though.” Looking back to the book he flips it over.
“Gaulish. Son of a-” He cuts himself off and opens the book. Hope looks at him expectantly but as he says nothing she gets impatiens.
“So are we on our own, or did the Gauls provide clear instruction?”
“In a nutshell, it says hit it hard, repeat as needed.” The two hear a roar and look around
“Is that?”
“Yeah. Listen, it poisoned Lizzie and Nova. I guess to get my attention. Then It attacked me and took the knife.”
“The Knife? The Dragon Knife. And you're still breathing?”
“Yeah I have a theory about that.”
“Well save it because we had to take down that containment spell to get inside the school, meaning our monster can get out.” Dr. Salztmen looks confused
“A containment spell? Lizzie wanted to make sure whatever attacked her didn’t escape into the world. Good girl. Alright well I guess we better find it before it makes the evening news.

As Lizzie, Hope, and Alaric fight the monster all Hope can focus on is the sharp burning of her neck but as they defeat the statue it starts to die down.

“How's Lizzie and Nova?” Hope asks as she stands in front of Alaric
“Recovering quickly, thanks to Josie.”
“So, how did you know the gargoyle wouldn’t kill you?”
“Gargoyles are protectors. And folklore tells a tale of a gargoyle who once protected a small settlement in France whose villagers revered a powerful relic a Knife”
“Our knife?”
“As the story goes, the gargoyle loved the humans he protected so much, he vowed never to harm humanity. Instead he chose to fight evil on their behalf.”
“Me being the evil one in this scenario Josie, Lizzie, Nova.”
“In its mind, yes. I realized when it didn't hurt me before it saw me as the one who needed protection.”
“Im not sure that knowing that will make them feel any better.”
“Hope.. Theres more.” Hope looks at him with a questioning look on her face. “It also tells of a tale of the Gargoyle having an Angle lover. He loved her dearly and promised to protect her kind because he found them to be much like the humans. He vowed to protect them from their form of evil…”
“Demons” Hope said with a slightly confused look.
“Yes but also of beings called Lost ones. Which is essentially and Angels that has broken the rules but not to an extreme to be deemed a Demon. It was said that sometimes they were more dangerous though.”
“This doesn’t make sense. Novas and Angle so why did he go after her?”
“Im not sure. But we know angels are real. What if our next monster was a demon? Or a lost one? There's barely any books on how to stop them.” The two stand in silence for a moment before Dr. Saltzmen declared he was going to check on Lizzie and Josie.

Hope makes her way up to her room thinking over everything that had been said. Nothing made sense to her. If Nova was an Angel then why would the Gargoyle attack her? Maybe he didn’t know she doesn’t often have her wings out.
Stepping inside she watches as the pile of blankets slowly rises and falls with the breaths her girlfriends lets out. Hope lets out a small sigh and she makes her way into the bed and brings Nova into her arms.