Surprisingly, the hatchlings didn't receive any chastising from the adults upon their return from the early patrol. The clan certainly noticed the strange smell still lingering on Lyndon and Lark and gave them a side-eye before turning to laugh among themselves.
"What did you do to them?" Orion accused Sister as he headed past them to put his gear away, with a disgusted expression on his face.
Lyra, who had been playing outside with the rest of the hatchlings also noticed the new aroma.
"Well you two smell…pretty," she commented awkwardly.
"Pretty awful!" Fleet added, covering his snout in disgust.
The already depressed twins squirmed in embarrassment at Fleet's mockery, but not nearly so much as when they were approached by Lexington and Linnet, who were both eyeing them with great suspicion. The twins looked down at the floor, waiting for what was to come, but the two adults studied them silently. Finally Linnet looked at her mate with a warm smile.
"T'is bath night around here, it seems," she commented and Lexington laughed.
"About time too, I'd say."
The twins glanced up anxiously at their laughter. They both realized that they must be the butt of the joke, but had the sense to remain silent, lest they reveal anything that Lexington and Linnet hadn't already figured out.
"Have you finished your school work?" Linnet asked them with a pleasant smile.
"Uhh…We were just about to get started on that," Lark replied uneasily.
"Good!" Linnet replied, "It'll be dinner in the rookery tonight, I think. It seems that too many of these wee bairns have been neglecting their schoolwork of late. We ought to get them caught up, lest idle minds turn to mischief! Wouldn't you agree, my love?"
"Yep!" Lexington replied with a snort of laughter, "Get a move on!"
The twins quickly scampered away toward the rookery and Lexington turned to his mate and whispered,
"Should we punish them before or after their school work is done?"
"Neither," she replied with a laugh, "That stench ought to be punishment enough! And what about you, Sister? Did you finish your chores?"
"Oh! Umm. Yes," Sister stuttered as she watched the twins disappear down the stairwell, "I got all the chores done. Twice, in some cases."
Lexington nodded his approval.
"You kinda missed a spot, you know?" he asked, pointing to the floor behind her. Sister glanced down and noticed that the end of her tail was still coated in the remnants from the glitter bomb."
"Opps!" she said quickly, hiding her tail under her wings, "I'll have to get that in a minute."
Lexington laughed again.
Sister gradually came to the realization that she wasn't going to be assigned another punishment from Lexington either, so she excused herself awkwardly.
"Well, I have my school work too. I guess I'd better get started."
When Sister and Orion arrived in the rookery, they were greeted by the delicious aroma of hot stew, steamed carrots, and fresh bread. Most of the hatchlings were either seated at the tables in the sunroom, or standing around chatting. Brooklyn was there as well, with someone they hadn't expected to see.
"Adelpha!" Orion greeted happily and she embraced and kissed them both.
"Come and sit with us children," she invited them and they all dug into the comfort food before them. As they ate, Adelpha asked each of the older children about their studies and what they were working on, to the point that Bonnie began to show her frustration at being overlooked.
"Fleet taught me to count to twenty in Spanish," she interrupted proudly, as she pounced into Brooklyn's lap, "Un, deux, tois, quatre, cinq…"
"Muy bien," Brooklyn replied with a laugh. It was the first time he'd spoken during the meal. Sister looked at him curiously. She found it very strange that he sat beside Adelpha and there seemed to be no animosity between them. She even smiled at his joke. Sister wondered if this meant that they had come to some sort of agreement with Coldstone and Coldfire and Adelpha would no longer have to be hidden in her room.
After they ate, the children were dispersed to various corners to work on their studies. Adelpha sat among the pages at the table, checking in on their individual work and making corrections. Brooklyn curled up in a corner with the hatchlings, who crowded around and on top of him, trying to see the illustrations in the book he was reading to them.
Sister and Orion sat together on some beanbags, in a corner of the library where they liked to hang out together. Having done all of his work in school, Orion was reading a book that he seemed to find quite humorous. Meanwhile, Sister opened her laptop and worked on her lessons in her tutoring program.
"Hey, Sister," Orion whispered to her, "Do you think this means that things are alright again?" He gestured to the table in the other room, where Adelpha sat contently with the younger children.
"I hope so," she replied in a low voice.
"Is anyone there?"
Another strange dialogue box had popped up on her screen and she sighed.
"What's wrong?" Orion asked.
"These stupid boxes have started popping up," she complained.
"Well don't open them," he cautioned her, "They're probably a virus or scam or something."
She clicked on the top of the box and it disappeared. As she continued with her lesson, Lyra came over to sit with them.
"What are you doing?" Orion asked her.
"I finished my work with Adelpha during the day," Lyra told him, "So I thought I'd come hang out with you."
"Brooklyn let you stay with her during the day?" Sister asked in surprise. She thought this was a little unfair, that only Lyra was trusted to see her without Brooklyn looking over her shoulder. But she was happy to learn that Adelpha wasn't being left completely alone all day. Maybe Goliath had been right, and this was not the time for righteous rage? After all, if Adelpha herself wasn't upset with Brooklyn, why should she be on her behalf?
"I spent the day with her," Lyra admitted, "We were mostly sleeping, but we also worked on my schoolwork and …other stuff."
"Like that magic book?" Sister asked her earnestly, "Did it show you anything helpful yet?"
"No," Lyra replied with a shrug, "Not yet."
"What magic book?" Orion asked and the two girls had to tell him about the book Alexander had loaned Sister and what she hoped it would do. Orion frowned.
"Seems a little reckless to me," he commented, "How can you trust a book when you have no idea who is writing it?" Sister realized there was some truth to her brother's observation.
"You just have to trust sometimes," Lyra pointed out. With that, she glanced apprehensively toward the table and the crowd of hatchlings sitting on the floor around Brooklyn.
"Something else happened today," she whispered to them in an ominous tone.
"What?" they replied in intrigued unison, so enthusiastic that Lyra looked startled and glanced back at the adults to make sure they hadn't caught their attention.
"Mr. Xanatos came by while I was sleeping," Lyra explained, "He woke up Adelpha and he started asking her questions about this book he had. She got really upset."
Sister and Orion shared a puzzled look.
"What book was it?" Sister asked, "Did you ask him?"
Lyra rolled her eyes.
"Of course I didn't ask him! I was pretending to be asleep, so I could hear what they said!"
"Well, what did they say?" Orion asked her.
"I heard Mr. Xanatos say that the book he had was all the notes they had on the original Coldstone project because the spell book Demona used to bind the souls to the robot was destroyed. He wanted Adelpha to explain some of the notes in it because he and Lexington are working on Coldsteel."
"Why would he be asking Adelpha?" Orion asked.
"I don't know," Lyra admitted, "Maybe Demona's notes were in some sort of ancient language that he doesn't understand and he needed her to translate? And Adelpha does know alot about sorcery. But she couldn't help Mr. Xanatos and she was really upset after he left. She didn't know I was watching her, but I could tell."
"Well, she looks okay now," Orion observed as he glanced at Adelpha again.
"Yeah," Sister agreed, trying to make sense of this new information, "Hey! Maybe Xanatos was able to figure it out and that solved whatever beef Coldstone has with Adelpha?"
"I hope so," Lyra replied a little gloomily, "I don't like keeping all these secrets from Adelpha."
Sister leaned back into her beanbag and stared blankly at her computer screen. The background on her desktop bore a colorful inscription of three words; Logos, Ethos, Pathos. Goliath had placed them on both Sister's and Orion's computers as a gentle reminder of what a learner should seek. The words blurred now into meaninglessness as she could no longer focus on her task.
She had felt a wave of relief at the presence of Adelpha and Orion's hopeful prediction that things would be getting back to normal soon. But now, Lyra's words kept replaying in her head. They seemed to spin around her and no matter how she tried to focus on positive thoughts and the objectives of her assignment, her consciousness kept returning back to two new ideas that she had never considered before. If Lyra had heard correctly, Xanatos possessed a book of Demona's old spells…and Adelpha apparently knew a lot about sorcery.
The story time concluded in the corner, and the youngest clan members were now free to run, climb, and leap on the training equipment. Brooklyn rose and joined them, trying to organize some training exercises for them as, one by one, the pages each left their place at the table and joined them.
"It's after midnight," Orion observed, "I'd better get some rest before school tomorrow." He rose and stretched his long arms and wings.
"Goodnight," Sister and Lyra each replied and he disappeared into the bunkroom. Sister continued to stare listlessly at her screen until she was startled by a gentle touch on her shoulder.
"You did a good job in here," Brooklyn told her genuinely, "Go get your gear on. I'll have you with me for the late patrol tonight."
"Oh, uhhh…" Sister stuttered, "Thanks but…I haven't gotten very far in my school work."
"Your training is important too," he reminded her.
"I know," Sister lied, "But I'm kind of on a roll right now and…"
She trailed off and Brooklyn studied her with a look of concern.
"All right," he said finally, "We'll get you tomorrow on the early patrol."
Sister nodded.
"Thanks, Brooklyn."
Sister watched as Brooklyn gestured for Adelpha and she rose and followed him, leading Bonnie by the claw. Micah came over and invited Lyra to a game on the training course and she jumped to her feet to join her rookery. Sister smiled. Surely Orion was right, and things were going back to normal. Comforted by this idea, she opened her browser and, ignoring her school work, proceeded to the next matter at hand.
"Magic that can cure sickness," she typed into the search engine. She had not had the highest hopes, but the actual results were staggering. None of the alleged remedies suggested were likely to pass Goliath's test of logos or ethos, and the pathos was pretty sketchy on most of them as well. Sister sighed as she closed the browser.
"I wonder if the spells that Xanatos has in that book are as bogus as all these silly oils and crystals that Google has to offer?" she thought out loud in a grumble, "They at least have to be somewhat real, if Demona got them to work!"
She couldn't seem to push the idea of a gargoyle sorceress out of her mind. She had heard Alexander say before that 'power is power, whether it comes from nature, pure magic, or sorcery.' If that was true, then why couldn't the clan use Demona's spells for a good purpose? It made no sense to her.
"They're a bunch of hypocrites," Sister complained to no one in particular, "They don't mind Xanatos messing around with Demona's old notes in order to keep Coldsteel harmless, but they won't even consider using a healing spell on Elisa, when she could be dying in that hospital right now!"
Suddenly, she was alerted back to her laptop by a gentle ding.
"Please help me!"
"Oh, go away already!" Sister grumbled as yet another unwanted dialogue box popped up on her screen.
"But I can't go away! I am trapped! Please, help me!"
Sister's eyes widened in disbelief.
"No way!" she whispered, "Do you hear me?"
"Yes, I can hear you."
Sister's mouth fell open as she tried to reason through this bizarre situation. Wherever these messages were coming from, they were answering her in real time. Possibly, she had encountered a scam bot that was skillfully programmed to convince a gullible person to click on a link that would lead them straight to some sort of online exploitation. Or maybe it was one of those advanced AI bots, able to listen to what people say and form a response almost immediately, easily deceiving its victims into believing they were speaking to a real person. Or maybe, as disturbing as the idea was, she had happened on some sort of real life hacker that had made their way into her instant messenger. She took her time, trying to think of the smartest way to react. Finally she asked,
"How can you hear what I'm saying?"
"Through your computer's microphone."
"Are you real?"
"Only fools say otherwise."
Sister paused. She needed to think of something to ask that a bot wouldn't be able to answer sensibly. As she struggled to come up with the perfect question, another message appeared.
"How lovely you are! You remind me of my own dear sister!"
Sister laughed.
"Now I know you are fake! How can you know what I look like?"
"I saw you through your camera and I heard you talking to your brother and sister."
Quickly, Sister snapped the cover on her camera lens closed.
"I didn't mean to startle you or spy on you. I sensed your computer connecting to the drive where I was stored and the next thing I knew, I was drawn into your computer."
"What do you mean, drawn?" Sister demanded, "How can someone be drawn into a computer?"
"It's hard to explain."
"A computer is just digital memory," Sister reasoned skeptically, "If you are coming from inside my computer, then you must be an AI or something." .
"But I am not an AI. I am quite real! Please, believe me!"
"Then who are you?"
"I am a wretched castaway. Once, I was of your world, but my brethren have banished me to this senseless, lightless, silent realm. I know not how or why fate has allowed me to communicate with you, dear child, but please don't leave me alone! I can endure the emptiness no longer!"
Sister paused, both confused and suspicious.
"Tell me your real name," she commanded.
"I was given no name by my elders, but your clan calls me Coldsteel."
"I knew it!" Sister replied with triumphant indignation, "How are you getting into my computer?!"
"I told you, I don't know. Sorcery bound me to a mechanical shell, but someone has meddled with that magic. Now I seem to be unfettered, but unable to cling to any physical form. I was adrift in endless nothingness, until you pulled my consciousness to you."
"I better get Lexington," Sister realized, pulling her cell phone out, but as soon as she opened her text menu, the image on the screen fizzled and then went blank.
"Hey!" she shouted angrily, as she tried in vain to restart the phone, "What did you do?"
"Forgive me, little sister! I mean you no harm! But if the others find out that I can communicate with you, they will not allow it. Then, what chance have I of making amends and earning their forgiveness? You are my only hope! Now, I beg you! Do not let them cast me back into that void!"
"Making amends?" Sister repeated.
"Certainly, young one. All I hope for is the chance to redeem myself."
"After the story Coldstone told us earlier, I find that pretty hard to believe."
"What fate is more cruel for our kind than to be banished from our clan? My brother and sister don't understand. They have never understood me. But if I can have the chance to prove myself, perhaps Goliath will see fit to forgive me when he returns?"
"Wait…How do you know that Goliath isn't here?" Sister demanded.
"I know he has left the clan alone, to go and help his beloved human friend, who is ill. You wish to help her too. You are a good child. I can see that. And I can help you! Demona was my sister too. I know what she was capable of. If you can find her notebook, perhaps I can show you the spell that can save your friend!"
Sister drew her breath in sharply. It was as if this disembodied being could read her thoughts!
"No way I'm going to trust you," Sister told the strange entity defiantly.
"But just think! If your friend Elisa is healed, then she and Goliath can return home! And surely, he will give me a fair chance!"
"Forget it!" she replied, slamming the lid of the computer shut. For a brief moment, she raised the laptop in the air, prepared to shatter it into pieces, but then she thought the better of it. Somehow, Coldsteel had transferred himself from his body, to her computer, probably by way of that drive that Lark had plugged into it. If his spirit was no longer attached to the pieces of his robot body, then what anchored him to any one device? The thought unnerved her greatly. Destroying her laptop could mean setting a monster loose to roam from device to device, in a city full of potential victims. She was playing a game for which she didn't know any of the rules.
Hesitantly, as if expecting some violent force to issue from it, she opened the laptop again. A new message had appeared.
"I understand why you don't want to help me, young one. Surely my brother and sister have told you many horrible, frightening stories about me. But let me prove myself to you! I know that together we can save your friend!"
Trying to remain calm, Sister wordlessly went into her settings and turned off her microphone and WIFI. Next, she shut the laptop and turned it over, trying to find the compartment that contained its battery. None was evident and she realized that the computer's battery must be so small that it was sealed inside the casing and couldn't be removed without taking the thing to pieces. With a deep breath, she pulled out her cellphone to call Lexington, only to remember that Coldsteel had toasted that as well. She wondered how he had gotten access to it, and if he had the power to access any other devices she might come in contact with. Not wanting to keep the possessed laptop, but now too anxious to put it down, she carried it to the courtyard to search for the others.
All she found was Coldfire, who was perched alone on a stone planter.
"Where is Lexington?" Sister asked anxiously, "I need to talk to him real bad!"
"He and some of the others took the young ones to play in the park," she explained in her emotionless robotic voice.
"What?"Sister cried in exasperation, "But I need him!"
"Perhaps you can text him?" Coldfire suggested, "I'm sure he will hurry home to help you."
"My phone…uh…isn't working," Sister told her vaguely. Perhaps she was already prejudiced against trusting Coldfire, because of the situation with Adelpha, but Sister's instinct told her that telling her about Coldsteel was not a good idea.
"Is that what you want Lexington for?" Coldfire asked, "I can help with that." She stretched out her metallic claw for the phone and Sister, not being able to come up with a plausible reason not to give it to her, handed it over. Nervously, she looked down at the stone floor while Coldfire seemed to examine the phone. A cable emerged from her wrist, which entered the phone's power jack. Sister waited anxiously, wondering if Coldfire would be able to recognize Coldsteel's destruction when she saw it, or if there was still a piece of Coldsteel inside the phone that could harm Coldfire.
Nothing seemed to happen though.
"Your battery has shorted out," Coldfire explained, "Odd. I don't know what may have caused it, but I can repair it. I will return it to you tomorrow night."
"Th-thank you," Sister stammered, not knowing what else to say.
"I am happy to help you," Coldfire told her, "We are clan."
Now she really didn't know what to say.
"Okay," she finally replied in an awkward tone, and hurried away.
Anxiously, she wandered the castle, trying to think of what to do. She knew it would be dawn soon. How she wished that Lexington hadn't taken this crucial moment to go to the park! She felt as though she was carrying a time bomb that could go off at any moment. She didn't know for sure how Coldsteel's consciousness had moved from his robot to her computer, and she was concerned by the idea that he could possibly move to some other device in the same way, without her even noticing.
She wondered if she should just return the laptop to Lexington's lab, until the clan returned to the castle. She reasoned that Coldsteel had been trapped in the lab for several nights, unable to escape, until she and the twins had inadvertently breached his security. Maybe Lexington had measures in place to stop Coldsteel from entering any other device in there? But what if Lexington didn't realize that Coldsteel was able to do so? Coldsteel's messages had sounded as if he himself hadn't been aware until Sister's computer had come available, though she realized that it was unwise to trust too much of anything the wicked cyborg said.
She made her way down the stairs to the lower levels of the castle, toward the direction of the lab, still not sure that was the right way to go. As she passed the corridor which led to Adelpha's room, she peaked around the corner and was relieved to see the door to her room wide open again. This gave her an idea. Adelpha was not permitted access to the internet and she didn't own a computer or even a cell phone. In fact, there were no devices in her room that Sister was aware of. Not even a television. This might be the safest place in the castle for her to wait with the computer, until she could get Lexington's help.
With an abrupt turn, she headed toward the open door, but froze just inside the doorway when she heard Brooklyn's voice inside.
"I was hoping this would make you happy," Brooklyn said disappointedly. Adelpha sat before him on the edge of the daybed, and she did not look the least bit happy.
"Won't you at least tell me why?" she pleaded.
"He says he needs your help," Brooklyn replied.
"Is it really so important?"
"I suppose it must be, or he wouldn't be asking," Brooklyn reasoned. Adelpha seemed to consider this.
"Goliath wouldn't like this," she observed with great confidence, "Does he know?"
"He doesn't know yet," Brooklyn replied hesitantly, "And you are probably right. He and I differ on this subject. He wishes to protect you, but I've felt this has been overdue for a very long time."
Adelpha looked up sharply.
"Have I ever asked you for it?" she pleaded.
"No," he admitted, "You have never asked. But things cannot stay this way forever. Goliath knows that, even if he doesn't want to admit it. I think it's well past time we start looking toward the future. You've fought so hard and you deserve this chance."
"Do I?" she asked softly, though Sister suspected she was asking herself more than Brooklyn. She wondered what he could possibly be suggesting that had Adelpha looking so upset. Brooklyn seemed to be genuinely surprised by her dismay and he knelt beside her.
"It won't be long," he promised, "And when this is over, you will be stronger and more free."
Looking thoroughly unconvinced, she nodded her head slowly.
"As you wish, Brooklyn," she replied and he smiled and embraced her.
As they spoke, Sister had managed to creep into the room unseen. She now hid behind a counter that sectioned off a tiny kitchenette with a small sink and an electric kettle, listening to the grownups talk. For the moment, she had forgotten the computer in her arms and was thoroughly engrossed in their drama. She peeked around the corner of the cabinet to see Brooklyn rising to his full height and assuring Adelpha that things were going to be alright.
Sister hopefully wondered again if all this meant that Brooklyn had come to an agreement with Coldstone and Coldfire. Perhaps what he was asking Adelpha to do was some form of making amends for whatever crime it was they held against her after all these years? But though she had agreed to honor Brooklyn's request, Sister could see that Adelpha was not happy about it. Sister watched as Brooklyn departed and Adelpha hunched over as if in grief. She could hear her rookery mother's breathing becoming heavy, as if she were trying not to weep, and she felt her own heart aching for her.
Slowly, Sister tried to rise to her feet so she could follow Brooklyn, but in the silence of the room, Adelpha heard her.
"Sister?" she called in surprise, "Come in here, child."
A little ashamed at having been caught eavesdropping, Sister came out from behind the counter sheepishly.
"Are you alright, Adelpha?" Sister asked softly.
"I'm fine, my dear one. Why do you ask?"
"You seemed upset. What does Brooklyn want from you?"
Adelpha raised a brow at the impertinent question, but she didn't scold her for not minding her own business.
"I've been asked for my help in something," she explained vaguely, "It's not a task to my liking, but I'm not upset at Brooklyn."
"Does it have something to do with magic?" she asked even more boldly and Adelpha seemed quite surprised by this question.
"Why do you ask that, my child?" she asked in a very serious tone and Sister told her about what Lyra had overhead and related to her and Orion.
"That troublesome girl," Adelpha scolded in a tone that dripped with fondness, "I thought she was asleep!"
"Is that what Brooklyn wants you to do? Some of the magic that was in the book that Mr. Xanatos had?"
"Certainly not!" Adelpha exclaimed, "Brooklyn would never ask that of me, and even if he did wish me to do magic, he knows it would be impossible without a source of power. And I have none."
"A source of power?" Sister asked excitedly.
"Yes. A talisman of some kind, from which the magical energy can be drawn."
Sister considered this for a moment.
"Adelpha? What talisman did Demona have?"
Adelpha's eyes darkened at the mention of the clan's mortal enemy, and she fell silent for so long that Sister began to worry that her unruly mouth might have gotten her in trouble again. When Adelpha spoke again, her voice was tense, but not angry.
"She had an ancient book called the Grimorum Arcanorum. It was a horribly powerful talisman. Even a single page from it held the potential for devastation. But it was destroyed."
"Are there no other talismans that we know of?" Sister asked and Adelpha frowned even more.
"Why do you ask such things?" she asked in a firm voice, "Surely you know better than to seek such power?"
"What's wrong with seeking power if I plan to use it for good?" Sister cried, "There's so much that's bad in the world, and sometimes it seems like we are powerless to stop it! Why shouldn't we use magic to help, if we can?"
"The quest for such power brings nothing but misery," Adelpha lamented and Sister looked up at her sudden shift in timbre. The sadness in her eyes struck Sister more than her words.
"Is that what happened to Demona?" Sister dared to ask and Adelpha was caught off guard.
"Not exactly," she admitted, "No. It was fear from within that assaulted her spirit. But the fear of vulnerability that first led her to sorcery quickly turned into a lust for vengeance. Let's just say, it didn't do her any good."
"But not everyone who does sorcery turns evil, do they?" Sister asked.
"Maybe not," Adelpha answered her with hesitation, "But the desire for power and control is a terrible temptation, especially when driven by fear. I know. Such a wicked desire once cost me nearly everything I loved."
"You have done sorcery then?" Sister asked in astonishment.
"Yes," she answered sorrowfully, "To my deepest regret."
"What did you do?" she asked eagerly, "What happened?"
Adelpha shook her head.
"I shall tell you one night," she promised, "I must tell you. But for now, let it suffice that the cost was great, and it ultimately took all of the clan's love and mercy, and then some, to draw me out of the prison of madness I had cast for myself. I do not ever wish to see you, or any of our young ones suffer the same fate! Do you understand me, child?"
"I think so," Sister replied reluctantly, and though she knew she was still not thoroughly convinced that all mortal magic was evil, hearing Adelpha's account helped her understand why the grownups feared it so much.
"Adelpha?" Sister whispered as she drew close to her, "I'm very glad the clan was able to save you. If they hadn't, I wouldn't have you here with me, and sometimes I feel like you are the only one I can talk to."
"You know how much we all love you, don't you Sister?"
"Yeah, but it's hard to talk to Goliath and Brooklyn, and even to Angela. They expect so much and…it just seems like I'm always coming up short. Sometimes it seems like no one understands me."
"Understanding doesn't always come easily," Adelpha admitted, "And even grownups fall short at times. But, my precious daughter, you must always be assured that the privilege of learning to understand you is a subject of great interest and joy to us."
Sister fell into Adelpha's embrace, her eyes burning with tears at the emotion behind her words. They remained that way for several silent minutes, before Sister remembered the task at hand.
"I need a safe place to keep my laptop," Sister told Adelpha and she smiled knowingly.
"Has someone been getting into it down in the rookery?" she asked.
"Yeah. Something like that."
"You can put it there in the closet," Adelpha told her, "No one will mess with it there."
"Thanks!" Sister said with relief and laid the device flat on the top shelf of the closet, where even a full grown gargoyle would have to stretch up on their toes to see it. Then she bid Adelpha goodbye and hurried to the north tower to wait for the others.