Elisa couldn't bear to see Goliath again that night, so she hid in her room until morning when the clan was asleep. He'd come by once and knocked on her door. She remained silent until he moved on. She felt like a coward, but she didn't want to talk to him, to face him.
If he wanted to be with Tsering, that was his choice, but she did not want to talk about it. She didn't want to talk about what that meant for her. That they weren't…
She forced herself not to think about it.
Eventually she drifted off into a sleep that was plagued by dreams, including one where she and Goliath were standing on two separate but identical skiffs in the middle of the sea during a storm. A rope connected them and they hung onto it until the sea surged and the rope snapped and they drifted apart, yelling for each other over the sounds of thunder and violently crashing waves.
She woke up in a sweat, tears wet her cheeks.
She forced herself out of bed, there was no sense wallowing in self pity, and she got up and went in search of Pema.
Pema was on her way to the Monastery when she found her.
"Ah, Elisa, we missed you last night. Are you feeling well?" she asked.
"Yeah, I was just tired, that's all," Elisa said brushing it off.
Pema eyed her skeptically.
"I'm off to check on the rookery. Would you like to join me?" she offered.
"I'd love to," Elisa said genuinely.
The entrance to the rookery was concealed by a rug in the archives. When Pema rolled it back, a trapdoor and a ladder were revealed that descended into a dark cavern below. Pema climbed down with a lantern in hand. There were no lights below, but once down, she lit a slender stick from her own lantern and used the flame to light lanterns hung up around the rookery until it was well lit.
Elisa followed her down and shivered slightly at how humid and cool it was. The rookery looked like it was a natural cavern carved out by water from the river long ago and reinforced by large wooden beams by the clan. The conditions were exactly what gargoyle eggs needed to thrive.
On one side, it appeared construction was taking place, an expansion of the rookery perhaps in anticipation of more eggs, as it was currently, the platform in the center of the room that stood at about knee height and contained the giant brood of eggs, appeared to be overcrowded.
Elisa stared at them fascinated. They were white with blue-violet spots, and they were rather pretty, in a way.
Pema was more than happy to teach Elisa how the eggs were cared for and even let her hold one.
"Oof!" Elisa said as she held the egg up. "It's so heavy!"
"They're about 10 kilos each," Pema explained as she rotated one of the eggs.
Elisa looked at the egg, its size, and felt really sorry for female gargoyles.
"Do you ever regret being mated to a gargoyle?" Elisa asked as they set about their work of turning all of the eggs.
Pema gave it some thought as she turned an egg.
"No, I do not regret it," she said eventually.
"You don't regret not having children?"
"I have children," Pema said with a smile. "The hatchlings running around driving us all crazy, and this next clutch that will hatch soon...I am happy with my life, Elisa. It is not conventional, but I love Tenzin with all my heart...and even after all these years, he still makes me feel like the same blushing young woman who took him to her bed nearly thirty years ago. When you have love like that...you don't let it go."
Elisa looked away from Pema and turned another egg. She needed to keep her hands busy or she'd think too much about...him...and her.
She'd never been more confused and conflicted in her life.
"I know gargoyles do not like to talk about this, but I can see Goliath's resemblance in Angela. She's more than just a rookery daughter, isn't she?"
Elisa nodded.
"She's his own flesh and blood."
"Was her mother lost in the massacre that destroyed most of their clan?" Pema asked.
"No, she's very much alive...unfortunately."
"But…" Pema furrowed her brow. "If she's alive, then...I just thought...I must have been mistaken."
"They're divorced, I guess you could say," Elisa explained. "She was the one who betrayed the clan to the Vikings and caused the massacre."
Pema covered her face with her hands.
"How horrible," she said.
"Kind of makes sense why they're not together anymore, doesn't it."
Pema eyed her thoughtfully.
"And yet, after all that he has suffered...he loves you."
"What?" Elisa said, startled to hear Pema acknowledge it.
Pema gave her a sympathetic look.
"He's in love with you, and I'm pretty sure you're in love with him."
Elisa looked away.
"Are you sure you're not mistaking me for Tsering?" Elisa said bitterly.
"Tsering?" Pema said skeptically. "I have been around all three of you enough over the last few days to notice the way you and Goliath look at each other. You practically mate with your eyes," she said with a laugh. "I have never seen him look at Tsering the way he looks at you."
Elisa blushed at the thought that Pema had noticed the looks between them.
"But what if he's moved on?"
"Elisa, you're thinking like a human," Pema said gently. "Allow me to offer you some advice from one who has lived a lifetime among gargoyles. When a gargoyle loves someone, truly loves someone, they don't just move on, even in death. Goliath had a mate once, and yet he loves you which is...incredibly rare. I've never seen it before. You see, there's just no possible way he would move on from you to Tsering like that."
Elisa sighed with frustration.
"But what do I do, Pema? I can't do anything about it, and honestly I don't even see the point! When we finally get back to Manhattan, nothing will have changed. I will go back to a world that believes gargoyles are just rain spouts that hang off the sides of buildings. I can't love him openly. I can't marry him. I can't...I can't have children with him."
"Love, especially true love, which I think you and Goliath have for each other in abundance, is a precious and rare thing, especially for Goliath. You may have some great challenges to overcome, but I think to have that kind of love offered to you and not take it, is a great waste, and I do not think your issues are as insurmountable as you think."
Elisa growled with annoyance.
"I'm not good with stuff like this. Give me something to fight, cases to investigate, criminals to arrest, but matters of the heart?" She let out a short derisive laugh. "I've always been a coward about it. In the past, I always chose men that I knew I couldn't have a future with...Goliath is just the most extreme case in a long line of bad romances."
"The difference here is love, not romance," Pema said as she put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Have faith, Elisa, and courage to be happy."
Elisa looked away, and idly rotated one of the eggs.
"Shall we finish taking care of these babies and then get a cup of tea?" Pema suggested.
Elisa smiled gratefully at the change of subject and then they busied themselves with their task.
"There, that's the last one," Pema said as she patted the last egg to be turned.
And then the earth moved violently.
The ground beneath their feet lurched, tossing Elisa to the ground as it heaved and shook. She cried out in pain as she landed roughly on her hip and shoulder.
"It's an earthquake!" Pema cried out in fear, as old childhood trauma gripped her like a vice.
As the world around them shook violently, rocks and dirt began to fall from overhead.
"The eggs!" Pema cried out, and she threw herself over the clutch of eggs they had been so tenderly caring for that day, mindful not to crush them in her attempt to save them.
A large rock fell and hit Pema right on the back of her head and rolled off her back. She cried out once and slumped forward.
"PEMA!" Elisa screamed.
She crawled her way over to her as the ground still heaved. The sound was unbelievable, like rocks grinding together. It finally stopped just as soon as she was able to get to Pema. Blood trickled from a wound on the back of her head and she was unconscious but breathing. She quickly assessed the eggs and was relieved to find that none of them had sustained a single scratch or crack.
She moved the petite woman gently off the eggs and laid her onto the ground. A few moments later the earth rumbled again, shaking more dirt loose, but thankfully nothing larger broke free during the aftershock. She glanced at her watch. They were about an hour away from sunset. She checked on Pema again; her condition was unchanged. She took off her jacket and put it under her head to help staunch the blood flow.
She needed her first-aid kit and went to retrieve it, but when she stood at the bottom of the ladder and looked up, she saw the door was closed.
But they had left it open. She was sure of it.
Elisa climbed up the ladder and pushed up on the door, but it wouldn't budge. She gave it everything she could, but it wouldn't move an inch.
"Shit!" Elisa cursed as she hit the door frustratedly with her fist.
Something must have fallen over the door, closing it and pinning it shut, and then she wondered what other damage the earthquake had caused. Had any other buildings or rooms collapsed? The whole clan was in the monastery. What if some of them had been hurt or damaged? Her heart began to race at the thought of Goliath, Angela, or Bronx being hurt or worse.
And she was unable to do anything to help them.
She climbed back down the ladder, and her feet splashed in a puddle of water at the bottom.
"What the hell?" Elisa muttered and looked around. The rookery had filled with several inches of water. She couldn't tell where it was bubbling up from, but something in the foundation must have broken. The river was nearby, and if the land had shifted…
"Oh, fuck!" she cursed and splashed through the water to help Pema who was still lying on the ground, her head nearly submerged in the water.
She got her arms under Pema's armpits and dragged her into a seated position and propped her against the platform that held the eggs.
The water was halfway up her shins now, and it was icy cold. The water level was rising quickly, and she realized at this rate, the water would be over the platform and submerge the eggs well before dawn when help would hopefully arrive.
Eggs were gas permeable, and if they were submerged into water, the hatchlings would eventually suffocate. The water that was rushing in likely came from the river which was formed by snow melt off the mountains. It was incredibly cold, Elisa was already losing the sensation in her toes from it. The hatchlings would freeze to death before they could suffocate.
Sunset wasn't far off, but how long would it take to notice she and Pema were missing? And what if there was no one above who was still alive to help?
She began to panic and then forced herself to take a few calm breaths as she decided what to do. There was a recess in the wall where they had begun to expand the rookery. It was several feet higher than the egg platform, and the ledge of it was just above her shoulders.
It would have to do.
Elisa began the arduous task of lifting each egg, one by one, over to the relief in the dirt wall. When she had cleared enough space, she pulled Pema up onto the platform and out of the water. It took her a little over a half an hour to move all of the eggs, and her arms and back were sore by the time she had finished. Her shoulder and hip throbbed from where she had fallen on them, but all of the eggs fit snugly in the recess.
Except for one.
There was one egg too many to fit.
She climbed up onto the platform with the one egg in her lap, but then she was forced to stand as the water kept rising. A short while later the water was up to her thighs again, even on the platform. Whatever hole the water was getting in through must have grown wider allowing water to flow in faster.
She couldn't do much to help Pema unless she put down the egg, and she knew that if Pema had a choice, she would want Elisa to do everything she could for the egg first. She did the best she could to help Pema as well, and she managed to keep her floating on her back with her face above the water, but between the two of them, she was quickly wearing out.
The egg in her arms suddenly wobbled, and she realized the hatchling inside was awake. It must be night now.
Goliath and the others would be awake too, she wouldn't think of the alternative, and they would find her and Pema soon. She just had to hang on.
"Don't worry, baby. I've got you," she crooned to the little life inside. "Just hang tight with me. We'll get out of this mess."
The egg jerked again in response to her words, and it made her smile in spite of the perilous situation she found herself in.