Page 18 of Take Me For Granite

I swallow.

“Hey.”

My voice comes out softer than I intend.

“Are you okay?”

Silence.

I reach toward him. Then stop. What if touching him makes something worse? What if I hurt him?

And then the logic and absurdity of the situation hit me.

I scream. Very loudly. The kind of scream that probably sends every bird in a three-mile radius fleeing for its life.

I stumble backward and smack into my wicker chair.

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

Must you do that?

I freeze.

Because the voice, or rather his voice is inside my head.

Not coming from the gargoyle. Not coming from anywhere. It’s just there.

Deep and slightly irritated and unmistakably Gabriel.

I stare at Rocky.

“Did you just talk?”

Yes.

I look around the balcony. There’s no one else here. Obviously. Because why would there be?

“Out loud?”

No.

I press my hands against my temples.

“Oh, my God.”

You say that quite frequently.

“YOU’RE IN MY HEAD!”

Apparently.

“GET OUT!”

A pause.

I’m not entirely certain how.

I make a noise that isn’t quite a scream. More of a squeak. An undignified, deeply distressed squeak.