The Girl and the Gargoyle: Book Two of The Girl and the Raven Series by Pauline Gruber Page B

stronger. I hear a low hum, and the current moves along my arms, to my palms, up each of my fingers and back again. I recall Marcus in his stone form on Jude’s roof the night of the homecoming dance. Angry tears burn behind my closed eyelids.
    “You want him, there he is,” Jude said dryly. “Take him. Just know that he will never be human again.”
    Why not? My eyes darted from Jude to the gargoyle and back again. He was stone before, and it wasn’t permanent then. What did Jude do to him?
    “Turn him back!” I cried, my heart pounding painfully in my chest. Every nerve ending in my body screamed.
    “Better take him soon, Lucy.” Jude leveled his dark glare at me. “I would hate to see what would happen if someone knocked him off the roof. My guess is he would shatter into a million pieces.”
    I gasp as fury rips through me. On instinct, I extend one arm in front of my body. I open my eyes, startled by the fireball balancing on my right palm.
    Jude suppresses a grin. “You want to throw that at me, don’t you?”
    I purse my lips and focus on the fireball, trying to gain control over my anger, but it’s too strong now.
    “You nearly destroyed Marcus.” I glare at him. “And you tortured Dylan.”
    Jude’s eyes darken. “The gargoyle is not worthy of your concern. As for Dylan, what I did was necessary to trigger his powers.”
    I shake my head, my body trembling with anger. The fireball glows yellow and red in my palm. Jude is only ten feet away.
    “I begged you to turn Marcus back, but you wouldn’t. It wasn’t until you needed him that you changed him. Why?”
    The fingertips on my left hand tingle. Then my palm. I welcome the fiery sensation. I roll it over my palm, bounce it from one hand to the other. I pull at the flame with my fingertips until it separates.
    I raise my left hand. Now two fireballs burn.
    Jude ignores my question. “Better. Still too emotional, but you’re starting to exhibit some ability to conjure.”
    “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Aiden roars behind me.
    I spin around. Aiden’s got Dylan face down on the ground, his arms pinned behind his back. Like a gunshot, I take off. I reach them in seconds and hurl the fireballs at Aiden, one after the other. He jumps off Dylan, effectively dodging both of my attacks. Dylan climbs to his feet, red-faced.
    “What’s your problem?” Dylan shoves Aiden.
    Aiden steps toward Dylan, stops halfway, and looks at Jude as if called. Can Jude speak telepathically to Aiden, too? Aiden jabs Dylan in the chest with his finger. “The next time you try to remove my arm from its socket, I will tear you to pieces.”
    I tug Dylan by the arm in an attempt to break their killer eye contact. “What happened?”
    Dylan’s whole body twitches. His skin is hot to the touch.
    “He attacked me,” Dylan snarls. He lunges toward Aiden and I jump between them.
    “Dylan, you can sit out the rest of the session. You’re not ready to learn what Aiden has to teach you,” Jude calls out.
    “That’s a load of crap!” Dylan yells.
    “Lucy, we’re not done with your session. Turn around. Your next target has just arrived,” Jude says.
    Dylan and I whip around as a large white-tailed deer enters the yard. It’s a buck with eight points on its antlers. His reddish-brown coat twitches.
    A block of ice settles in my stomach. I peer over my shoulder at Jude. “You expect me to kill it?”
    He glances at his watch. “Today, Lucy.”
    How does killing a cute, furry animal help me train to kill demons?
    “Lucy! Take it down or I will, just enough to maim it, so Dylan can snap its neck.”
    “What is it with people always telling me what to do?” My insides grow hotter; my heart beats faster. “If it’s not Persephone, my uncles, or Marcus, it’s you !”
    “Exactly.”
    I meet Dylan’s gaze. The anger on his face mirrors my own.
    He feels what I feel.
    Dylan’s irises turn black. Similar to Jude’s but without menace. He holds his