Gargoyles and Graves by Lily Webb

Author:Lily Webb [Webb, Lily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lily Webb

Chapter Nine

Flora insisted on walking me back to The Crescent, but even with an FBI agent at my side, I couldn’t stop looking over my shoulder the entire time. I probably shouldn’t have let Rodyn’s warning bother me as much as it did, but I couldn’t help it. When a dozen or more journalists had gone missing for reporting on the same thing I was investigating, it made me more than a little nervous. And I still didn’t have a wand to defend myself if it came to that.

So, when Flora and I got back into the office and I opened the door, I let out the breath I must’ve been holding the whole walk. Hayley sat in the corner scrolling on her phone, while Jaina hunched over her laptop, hammering away at the keys.

“Hey,” I said, startling them both. Apparently, neither heard me walk through the front door, which did nothing to calm my nerves. Was it really so easy to stroll up in here unannounced? Maybe we needed to beef up our security. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare anyone.”

“It’s fine. Everyone’s on edge, understandably,” Jaina said as she pushed away from her laptop and rubbed her eyes. “Who’s our guest?”

“Flora Gemwood,” she answered for herself.

“We used to work together at the Messenger. We ran into each other over in the Werewolves’ Quarter,” I explained. “Flora, this is Jaina, my business partner, and this is Hayley. She’s, uh, a guest.”

“You’re Vanessa’s assistant, aren’t you?” Flora asked Hayley, and she nodded, still gripping her phone.

“Do I know you?” Hayley asked.

“No, but it’s nice to meet you. And you as well, Jaina.”

“Thanks, likewise. So, Flora, what can we do for you?” Jaina asked.

“I just wanted to walk Zoe back. With everything going on right now, I thought it would be a good idea.”

“Speaking of, did you learn anything about Seren, Zoe?”

“Other than they’re definitely dead? No, not really. But I had time to talk to Rodyn again. Lucky me.”

“And?”

“He insists it couldn’t have been a werewolf attack, and honestly, I agree. It makes no sense. Have either of you ever heard of a werewolf shifting without a full moon?” I asked Jaina and Flora, and they both shook their heads. “Exactly. So if it wasn’t a werewolf who attacked Seren, then who — or what — did?”

“Maybe another gargoyle,” Hayley said softly, and everyone whipped around to face her. What did she know she hadn’t told us? Based on all the other crazy conspiracies she’d shared already, she didn’t seem like she’d have any reason to hold back — until now.

“What makes you think that?” I asked cautiously. Jaina and I had done a good job of shutting down Hayley’s crazier ideas, but this wasn’t one of them.

“Their claws,” Hayley said. “Jaina told us the police are saying the injuries on Seren are consistent with a werewolf attack. But werewolves aren’t the only paranormals who can leave slash marks like that.”

“True. And I’ve thought it was weird all along that the MGPD would throw their own kind under the bus like that from the get-go,” I said.

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