Chapter 22: Gargoyle

“Make us invisible again,” Beca said. “We can do the rest.”

Aidan did as she asked, and both girls cast a levitation spell. They linked arm-in-arm with Aidan, and they floated up past the castle walls and landed on the roof. They found, to their frustration, that the entirety of the fortress was adorned with gargoyles, each the size of a large dog.

“Which one is it?” Bryn asked.

“We’ll have to search each one,” Aidan said. “Be careful! We don’t want to fall off the roof.”

As if his warning was prescient, lightning flashed above them, and with the rumbling of thunder, a cold rain began to fall. Aidan dropped his invisibility spell, as the water would make them easy to spot, whereas the darkness of night would keep them hidden in shadows.

Aidan could see activity outside the castle below him, but he could not hear what the men were saying. It did not seem to him that their cause was urgent, nor did he see anyone who looked like a magician. He hoped they could find whatever trinket awaited their discovery and escape unnoticed.

The rain intensified, pounding off the roof like a company of drummers, filling their ears with a steady roar that made their search more difficult. Aidan went to the right while the girls searched to the left, but every gargoyle they examined was nothing more than cold stone; no trinket of any kind to be seen.

“It has to be here,” Aidan thought.