Page 113 of The Shade of Things
25
Despite everyonein my life telling me how great I was at puzzles, I spent all day working on this stupid puzzle box and getting precisely nowhere. I was tempted to smash it with a hammer, but if the thing inside was as dangerous as Clea believed it to be, I didn’t want to unleash it in my living room. Especially not on my precious sofa. That said, I did everything short of hitting it with my scythe, though I did use the weapon to try to bore a hole through the box. Nada.
I didn’t fare any better using Delilah and her green vision either, which sucked because I’d had high hopes for it revealing some divot that would unlock the whole thing, but it was smooth and sealed tight with nary a hinge.
I’d resorted to lying on my back on my living room rug, holding it above my head and squinting at it with first one eye open and then the other while downing copious amounts of peanut M&Ms to amplify my alertness, and thus my cognitive abilities.
The ground thudded.
Delilah jumped in front of me, her fists up, facing a very put out gargoyle.
He blinked at his surroundings then turned in a slow circle, wide-eyed.
I sat up. “Pyotr?”
The gargoyle picked up the blanket thrown over the back of my sofa and rubbed it against his cheek with a rumbling sigh.
“How—no, why are you here?” I snapped my fingers twice.
Pyotr dropped the blanket and pushed past Delilah while flipping me off. “Why you hate me? Triplicate!”
Oh, okay, he wasn’t giving me the bird. That was just him showing off his callus, which had grown to the size of a large pebble.
“We had a deal,” I said. “You let Laurent in and deal with the reports in triplicate and I’d take you to the garden store. I haven’t forgotten. I just haven’t wrapped the case up yet.”
“Not that! Other reports.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Other unexpected reports.”
I scrunched up my face. “What other… Oooh. The man I sent into the KH?”
He glared at me. “No Ohrists in Kefitzat Haderech. You know this.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of why I sent him.”
Pyotr made a strangled noise.
“I didn’t think you’d have to fill out reports.” I paused. In hindsight, this should have been obvious, but I wasn’t exactly thinking about bureaucratic procedure at the time. “What did Smoky do to him?” Okay, there was a bit more anticipatory glee in that question than I’d intended.
Pyotr planted his broad stone hands on his lanky hips. “I’m not telling.”
I nodded in satisfaction. “That bad, huh?”
“No. You’re that bad. I file complaint.” He whipped a rolled-up paper from the back pocket of his brown pants and shook it at me. “Deal with golem from now on when you come.”
“I’m very sad to hear that.” I put on my best distressed face. Honestly, if he went through with this complaint and banned me from his presence, I’d be incredibly upset. This wacky gargoyle had wormed his way into my heart.
“Good.” He jutted his chin up. “Now I leave and you never see me again.”
“Oh. Maybe… No. You wouldn’t want that.”
He peered suspiciously at me, his hands on his hips. “What?”
“I bought brownies the other day from a fabulous bakery.” Zev had yet to contact me to tell me that he’d gotten the magic-detecting artifact, so I’d run a few essential errands while I waited. And yes, brownies counted. Shrugging, I shut Delilah down. “But you don’t want to spend more time with me to try one. I get it.”
Pyotr took a step toward a shadow that would take him back to the KH, then he crossed his arms. “I will eat your brownie now and then never see you again.”
“That’s big of you,” I said somberly.
Fighting a smile, I led him into the kitchen and poured us glasses of milk.
