His lips tipped slightly upward. If it was a smile, it was the first one I'd seen on his handsome face. It was pretty thin, but it was a start.
I gave him a few instructions and we were off. Dare was a natural when it came to driving. I could tell he'd been watching me, and he knew almost exactly what to do before I said anything. He steered the car back home, up the driveway and right into the garage.
"Good work," I told him.
"Thanks," he responded quietly, but there was more life in his gold-flecked eyes than I'd seen up until then. "It was…nice of you to give me a lesson."
"Do you want to do something nice for me in return?" I asked, all innocent-like.
He slid me a wary look from the corner of his eye.
I felt a little guilty because I knew Valor didn't want me to know what I was about to ask. But I asked anyhow. I was just careful to keep my voice low so the gargoyles in the house wouldn't hear us. "Tell me how to fight a harpy."
Dare rubbed his hand over his mouth and eyed me as if he was reluctant to start. "You know there probably aren't any more harpies, right?"
"Maybe. Maybe not." I stubbornly repeated the words I'd said to Valor the night before. "Either way, I want to be prepared."
He gave me another thin smile. "You aren't going to go picking a fight if you do find one, are you?"
"Of course not," I mumbled, feeling a little bit silly. I guess I probably sounded like an idiot by implying I might be able to take on a harpy. "But if I wake up one morning and discover you guys are missing, I'm gonna come looking for you."
He watched me a long moment. "I believe you would."
"Hey," I said. "I'm a member of the pack now and I protect my own."
With a soft chuckle, Dare started his explanation. "The best way to get rid of a harpy is to take a sledge hammer to her. Harpies aren't indestructible like gargoyles. The stone they're made of is common rock and can be broken. But that doesn't make them easy to kill. Harpies can remain motionless on the side of a building for eons, but if they see you coming after them, they'll peel away from the building and fight. They're big and they're strong. Although they can't turn to flesh and blood like we can, they can move while in their rock form. And they don't have to wait for the sun to touch them."
"A sledge hammer?" I mused doubtfully. That would be heavy. I wasn't sure I could do much more than pick one up.
Dare gave another low laugh. "They're easier to kill with a long knife but you have to slide the blade between the stony plates on their bodies. And that isn't easy to pull off, either," he pointed out. "At least it wasn't easy back in my time because harpies tended to hunt in gangs and single out a lone gargoyle then attack him together. When that happened, a gargoyle wouldn't stand much chance of getting in a blow."
"They sound horrible," I muttered. "Ganging up on you guys like that."
He nodded. "Gargoyles soon learned to form packs and avoided traveling alone."
I thought this over. The whole pack thing was more than just a social grouping. It was a strategy to improve the gargoyles' chances of survival.
"Once the harpy is dead, she returns to stone forever," he continued.
I wondered how many of the ugly sculptures I'd seen in Oxford were dead harpies…and how many were still alive. "Then she can be broken up?" I asked.
"She could be broken up after she was dead but it isn't strictly necessary. After she's dead, she'll never rise to harm another living thing."
"Anything else?" I asked, determined to learn as much about harpies as possible.
"Bright light bothers their eyes."
"Really?"
"And they hate music."
Well, there you go. Any creature that hates music has nothing good in them. "All music?"
"All music," he confirmed. "A harpy wouldn't even like the Beatles."
I hadn't known Dare was a Beatles fan. He and my mother would get along like gangbusters. "Anything else?" I asked.
The passenger door opened suddenly and I jumped at the deep click of sound. I'd been so focused on my conversation with Dare that I hadn't seen Valor approach the car. I thought he might envy his brother getting driving lessons but the look he shot at me was pure gratitude. "Were you driving?" he asked his brother enthusiastically.
"First lesson," Dare admitted with a grin.
"How'd he do?" Valor questioned me.
"The guy's a natural," I proclaimed as I grabbed my backpack and jumped down to the garage floor.
Valor put his arm around his brother's shoulders then reached for my hand as he hauled us back to the house. We found the rest of the pack in the living room, busy working on a set of bows.
"Did you…find some yew trees?" I asked Valor incredulously.
"I spotted some when we flew over the park last night. We hiked over there today and gathered some wood."
"That's great," I said as I dumped my school stuff behind the couch. For several moments, I watched the guys shave away thin curls of wood with their knives. I could see they'd eventually need some sandpaper so I went out to the garage and found some for them. They thought it was brilliant.
"What would you have used in place of sandpaper?" I called out from the kitchen where I was working on my Sir Walter Raleigh head. I had glued a cheap black wig to the back of a mask and I was stuffing it full of tissue paper.
"Stone," Victor answered. "Probably sandstone, come to think of it. Or a metal file if we could afford one."
It was hard to imagine a time when metal was in short supply. Gold, yes. Plain old steel, not so much. I glued some bright turquoise marbles into the mask's eye sockets and rearranged the dark hair.
"What do you think?" I asked the guys after I'd crammed the head inside the plastic jar.
Victor slid a grin toward the others. "It looks familiar, somehow. What do you think, Havoc?"
Havoc rubbed his chin and pretended to study the head in the jar. "It does look familiar, especially around the eyes. I can't quite place the face, though."
Everyone turned and looked at Valor. "Personally, I can't see the likeness," he declared without cracking a smile.
Grinning, I set my plastic jar on the kitchen counter and headed for the computer in the family room. I got online and ordered the stuff the guys would need for bowstrings. I didn't want them skinning any cats although Havoc assured me that bowstrings weren't made of catgut or any other animal intestines. He insisted that bowstrings were made from plant fiber and they were completely vegetarian.
Whatever. I ordered the nylon just to be safe.
Chapter Fourteen
The next morning, I left for school "sans guards". The fact that none of the gargoyles insisted on going with me convinced me they trusted me to keep their secret. I would have stopped by the library after school and picked up some books so we could get started on reading lessons, but it was Halloween so I hurried straight home.
When I opened the mudroom door, I could smell food cooking. Havoc was in the kitchen with my mother's striped apron pulled over his head and tied around his waist. He looked utterly adorable in a lean, dreadlocky sort of way. He'd already started dinner—something he called dead bird stew. At first I freaked, until he told me he'd found the bird in the freezer above the refrigerator.
It was a chicken. And the stew was really good. Way better than it sounds.
Not only that, Defiance had discovered the vacuum cleaner and he thought it was genius. He'd spent the whole day sweeping the house from stem to stern. My mother wasn't going to recognize the place when she got home. And if I let her think I'd done all the work, she was going to wonder what was wrong with me. She'd probably haul me off to a doctor, or at least a psychoanalyst. I decided I'd have to tell her that Mim and Whitney had given me a hand with the housecleaning.
After an early dinner, I took Dare out for his second driving lesson. We even ventured off the gravel roads onto the county highway. I figured if we happened to cross paths with a policeman, he wouldn't pull us over. Dare was a
t least two years older than me and he looked it. So as long as he followed the rules of the road, we weren't likely to draw attention.
Before it got dark outside, Whitney brought Mim over in her mother's van. Mim stepped through the front door with an armload of costumes and the guys jumped up to give her a hand. I was so relieved they didn't ignore her like Dare had. Quite the opposite, the guys seemed to be really taken with her. In fact, except for Defiance, they all seemed more interested in Mim than they were in Whitney, who is certified gorgeous.
Unlike Mim and me, Whit has even had a few boyfriends. She could have had a lot more of them but she's picky when it comes to guys. Some people think she's stuck up. She's not, really. But she is sort of regal…in a good way. Her father's a doctor and her family isn't short of money so her clothes are always nice. And she has long, pale blond hair. In the summer, she works as a lifeguard at a mountain country club so she has this lovely golden tan that lasts through the entire winter.
She was gonna look so great in the gold brocade.
We dressed and did our makeup in my bedroom. Mim had even made some fake moles for us to wear. I stuck one of the little dark patches at the corner of my upper lip. Mim wore hers at the side of her cheekbone while Whitney positioned hers below her mouth.
Whitney tilted her head and gazed at her reflection in the mirror. "So, why did women wear fake moles back in the day?"
"They were considered sexy," I explained as I reached for a tube of lipstick that was darker than anything I'd normally wear. "They were called beauty spots."
Whit stuck an extra mole on her nose and we got to giggling and I ended up with a lot more lipstick on my mouth than I needed. My sides were aching before Whitney finally peeled the mole from her nose and tossed it at the wastebasket in the corner of my room. Still laughing, we tumbled down the stairs to join the guys.
"What do you think?" I asked as we twirled into the living room trailing yards of gold brocade, blue satin and cheap black silk.
I could tell the gargoyles were gobsmacked. Each one who wasn't already standing rose to his feet and stared at us in our costumes. I have to admit we looked pretty awesome. Mim had sewn those bodices to within an inch of our lives and they fit. I don't know about Mim and Whitney, but mine was so tight I could hardly breathe.
Victor was the first to recover his poise. "You…look amazing," he murmured as he took Mim's hand and touched his lips to her fingers.
Mim blushed like crazy but the pink cheeks looked good with the blue satin.
I swung my gaze toward Valor to get his reaction and noticed Dare standing in the background. His expression was a mixture of anger and dark despair. I wondered why he was so upset. It didn't occur to me that he might not like Victor paying so much attention to Mim. After all, he'd had plenty of chances to express his own interest in her.
"What about you?" I asked the guys. "Aren't you gonna get dressed?"
The gargoyles shared a bewildered look. "We are dressed," Havoc said, and glanced down at his jeans.
"Aren't you going to wear your costumes?" I asked, emphasizing the last word.
"Costumes?" Defiance questioned without removing his eyes from Whitney's face.
I gave Valor a pointed look.
"I think MacKenzie means our Celtic warrior costumes," he said, finally catching on.
"Ah," Victor said. "Right."
As the gargoyles herded upstairs to change into their wool shorts, Mim turned around and sent me a wide-eyed look. While she fanned her face and tried to catch her breath, Whitney's quiet, regal gaze followed the gargoyles up the stairs.
"What do you think?" I whispered.
Whitney just tilted her chin in a cool nod that seemed to say, "They'll do".
Mim placed her hands on her hips. "You were lying when you said the others were better looking than Dare," she declared.
"Keep your voice down," I warned her from the side of my mouth, pretty sure the gargoyles could hear our conversation.
The words were barely out of my mouth before Havoc appeared at the top of the stairs. He hitched the side of his butt on the handrail and slid down the staircase. When he reached the bottom, he jumped to the floor then held his arms wide as he turned in a circle. "What do you think?" he asked, mimicking my earlier words with a grin.
"Awesome," Whitney said approvingly.
"Jolly awesome," I agreed.
Havoc sidled up next to me. "I never realized how itchy these breeches are," he complained beneath his breath as the rest of the guys followed him downstairs.
I have to admit the gargoyles looked more comfortable—and more handsome—in their jeans. Dare was the last to appear at the bottom of the stairs, his loose white jerkin tucked into his wool shorts, a sulky scowl etched into his features.
I picked up my big plastic jar and we all traipsed out the front door. Whitney's van seats nine people so we were able to fit everyone in; we just had to decide who was going to sit where. I couldn't help but notice that Defiance didn't wait around for someone else to decide they wanted to ride shotgun. He slipped into the front passenger seat before anyone else could claim it.
Mim and I weren't quite sure how to manage the massive volume of our skirts. We'd had enough trouble getting through the front door. Now we had to climb into the van and find room for all the fabric. I hung back, waiting to see what Mim would do, planning to copy her or at least learn from her mistakes. But Victor took command of the situation.
He threw Mim's skirt over his arm and handed her up into the first seat then settled down beside her with the blue satin spread over his knees like he'd been managing skirts for women all his life. Before I could adequately express my awe, Valor guided me up into the seat behind Victor and Mim with the same skill, leaving the back seat to Reason, Havoc and Dare.
Mim turned her head and gave me a brief, shocked look as if to say, "Can you believe what just happened?"
I just smiled back at her. There was no doubt about it. We'd landed in thirteenth century heaven.
We got to Boulder a little after nine o'clock. It was dark by then and the streetlights cast a soft glow on the Pearl Street Mall. The brick-paved street was packed with diehard Halloweeners ranging in age from newborns to senior citizens. Some of the costumes were pretty amazing; Boulder goes all out when it comes to Halloween.
Defiance and Whitney led the way as our group strolled along behind a bunch of Jedi Knights. Victor followed with Mim, Reason and Havoc. Valor and I were next in line while Dare brooded along at the rear.
Mim was right in front of me and I could see that Victor was making a big fuss over her. I thought she'd be in heaven to be the center of his attention, but her furtive gaze kept flicking backward toward Dare.
As we made our way past the shops that line the mall, a woman traveling against the flow of traffic threaded her way between the groups of people. She cackled and crowed as she swerved through the slow-moving column. The long skirt of her tattered gown trailed behind her like a ragged black banner.
"What was she supposed to be?" Valor asked as he turned his head to watch the dark-haired woman sweep behind us.
"A witch," I told him.
His eyebrows tilted upward as if he was surprised. "Not a very convincing getup."
"No?"
He shook his head. "No. To begin with, the hair's all wrong."
"Not red enough?"
"Not nearly red enough," he confirmed as he gazed at the hair I'd piled on top of my head. "Not pretty enough, either."
I felt a blush creep into my cheeks and lowered my gaze to the ground. "Are witches always pretty?"
"No," he admitted. "Some of them are almost as ugly as harpies."
"Is there anything here as ugly as a harpy?" I asked. I caught sight of a tall grim reaper on the other side of the mall. He was wearing one of those weird glow-in-the-dark "scream" masks. A plastic baby doll was impaled on the end of his scythe. It was pretty gross and I nudged a little closer to Valor.
Valor cast
his gaze over the crowd. "Some of them are pretty close," he admitted.
It occurred to me that one of the monsters could walk around freely on Halloween night and never be recognized for what she was. "You're not worried about running into a real harpy tonight, are you?"
"Not really."
"Would you be able to sense a harpy's presence in this crowd?" I asked, wondering what would happen if the harpy was wearing a mask or some sort of costume that covered her completely.
"Probably not," he answered. "I'd only be able to sense an evil presence and there are a few of those in every crowd."
"Really?" I asked. Generally, I thought most people were good. I glanced at the family behind me with their three small children dressed as turtles. The kids were adorable. "Even here?"
"Even here, there are people like your neighbor," he affirmed.
Creeped out by the idea, I looked across the mall again and noticed a group of girls from my high school. They were working their way in the opposite direction but when they caught sight of us, they stopped dead in their tracks.
"Uh-oh," I muttered as I watched the girls from the corner of my eye. They peeled away from the traffic going the other way.
"What is it?" Valor asked sharply as his shoulders squared up like he was preparing for attack.
"Incoming," I warned him.
Alexa Thompson breezed up with two of her friends. All of them were dressed as vampires, assuming vampires wear that much makeup. They planted themselves directly in our path so we had to stop if we didn't want to run over them. The costumed mass of humanity flowed around us like a river of bright color and black splashes. "Hey MacKenzie, Whitney," Alexa bubbled without mentioning Mim. She tossed her well-behaved auburn hair behind her shoulders. "Great costumes."
"Thanks," I murmured and shifted the plastic jar on my hip. "You guys look great too."
"What are you supposed to be?"
"Headless heroines," I explained without going into details. I figured Alexa wasn't really interested in my costume or me. It's not like she's mean or anything like that. I actually have her in some of my sophomore classes, even though she's a senior. And she's copied my homework once or twice.
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