Turned To Stone

Chapter 24 - Connor

Potential TW: mention of a dead body

Connor hauled himself to his feet slowly, grimacing in pain. The book he'd found in the library had an incantation in it that was designed to reverse demon-fae magic. It said there was a price, but Connor had easily decided that it was worth the risk.

He peered around the clearing. There was a smoking corpse on the side of the clearing that he had seen demon-fae last. Connor moved a little closer to it and nodded as he confirmed to himself that it was actually the creature he'd been trying to target.

He heard weak coughing and whipped around, peering through the slowly settling dust.

Zoe sat up slowly, shoving her hair back and squinting around. "What did you do?"

Connor just shrugged and tossed the book over to her. "Second spell down."

She shifted gingerly into a sitting position, picking up the book.

"Connor..." She frowned at it, then looked up. "This is really advanced magic. You managed to pull it off?"

Connor nodded, crossing his arms. "It didn't seem that hard."

"You did this. First try. That's- that's amazing! Connor that's like, years above my abilities, that's probably higher than Mom's!"

He grunted. "I'm more worried about the line at the top than impressed with myself."

Zoe frowned and looked down again. Connor allowed himself to puff with pride for just a moment. He hadn't even realized that the magic he was using there was advanced, he'd just seen a spell and tried to use it the way it was written to be used.

"A Magic of Returns Always Requires a Price." She stood up slowly, looking up at Connor again. He glanced away from her to make sure their gazes didn't lock. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know but it's making me twitchy."

Someone groaned off to the left. Zoe gasped and tossed the book down. "Evan!"

Connor peered over to where the gargoyle was lying and his heart stopped.

A slightly chubby blond boy was slowly sitting up, rubbing his head. He groaned again, opening his eyes slowly. "Wha'happened?"

"Evan?" Zoe asked hesitantly, her eyes wide. Connor began to feel an ugly emotion twisting in his gut.

"My- m-my head-" Evan squeezed his eyes shut tighter and made a whining sound. "Oooow."

His voice sounded very different coming from a human voice-box. A lot higher pitched than the gravelly rumble, and quite a bit softer.

Zoe went over to him and knelt down, laying her hand on the side of his head gently. He flinched away and she apologized softly, then asked him what hurt.

After a few moments of fumbling, he managed to tell her, and Zoe began to speak again, her hand glowing orange as she healed him.

Connor turned his gaze away, walking over to pick up the book. A Magic of Returns Always Requires a Price.

So that was his price? That was what the universe decided to take away from him?

Evan was the only person Connor had ever been able to get close to. His being a gargoyle had given him the unique advantage of being unfreezable. Un-petrifiable. The perfect friend for a friendless gorgon.

Connor gritted his teeth and threw the book to the ground, taking off running. He heard Zoe shout his name, and Evan's shaky voice call out too, but he ignored them.

He ran until he found the break in the fence that he and Evan had snuck through when this all started. Slipping through, Connor kept running, looping around and making a break for his grandma's place.

He didn't know if she was home, but he burst inside anyway, looking for the bag he'd left. It was sitting in the guest room he had been in, untouched.

Connor grabbed it, dumping out all the extras. All he wanted was clothing and food.

He darted into the kitchen, grabbing as much nonperishable food as possible and shoving it into the bag. He scribbled a note on the whiteboard his grandma had up, apologizing for ransacking her kitchen.

Once he was sure that he had what he needed, Connor went to the little library that Renee kept updated with every spellbook she could get her hands on. He peered at the books, then grunted and muttered another apology and began to grab books at random.

"If the world is so freaking ready to isolate me, I'm not going to argue."