Dying Is My Business

She arched an eyebrow and gave me a skeptical look. She’d already given me that look so often she could have trademarked it.

“Okay, I freaked out a lot, but it’s over now. Just don’t ask me to explain it. I can’t. I don’t fully understand it myself.” That was a lie. I understood just fine. Part of me had wanted to die, and since I couldn’t, I was going to take down everyone and everything else instead. The new power inside me was dormant for now, but it was still there, waiting. I had no idea if and when it would surface again. It had brought out something dark in me, something frightening. What if it had changed me in ways I couldn’t control? Magic infected people when it got inside them. Was I infected now?

Bethany didn’t pry any further, but I felt the need to change the subject anyway before I drove myself crazy. “I’m sorry I broke the charm you made for me. It was a good charm. It worked.”

“Of course it worked,” she said. “I’m good at what I do. So are you, provided it involves punching, shooting, or breaking things.” She looked at the bullet hole in my shirt. “Did it hurt?”

“Nah,” I said.

“You’re a terrible liar,” she said. “I’ve never killed a friend before. Don’t ask me to do that again, okay?”

“I’m not dead yet,” I told her. “Besides, if it’s any consolation, it was a good, clean shot. You killed me like a pro. The Saint Aurelius Home for Orphaned Girls would be proud.”

“Don’t joke,” she said. “Not about this.”

“Sorry, but I’ve died eleven times already. Joking is the only way I can deal with it without losing my mind.”

She squinted at me as though she wasn’t quite sure what was about to come out of her own mouth. “I’m sorry if I hurt you when I shot you. Is that a weird thing to say?”

“I’ve heard weirder,” I said. “But I suppose I’m getting used to all the weird stuff now. Anyway, the way I see it, I almost killed you yesterday, and today you got to shoot me, so we’re even.”

To my surprise, she put her arm through mine as we walked. I liked the way it felt. It let me put the questions about the darkness inside me aside for a while. I wondered if this was what people meant when they used words like happy. I’d never really felt happy before.

A sudden downdraft lifted the dead leaves off the ground. A shadow fell over us. I pushed Bethany back with one arm, and looked up. A pack of gargoyles hovered against the gray cloud cover, two dozen of them at least, the wind from their wings blowing my hair back.

“Bethany, Trent, get behind me!” Isaac cried. He crouched down, laying Philip gently on the ground. Beside him, Gabrielle pointed the morningstar up at the gargoyles, but I waved at her to put it down.

“Don’t,” I said. “I don’t think you’re going to need it.”

She looked puzzled, but she lowered the weapon.

The gargoyles landed in the open field before us, folding their wings behind their backs. I could feel Isaac and the others tensing, preparing to fight, but the gargoyles didn’t attack. Instead, they remained still in an almost military formation. One gargoyle moved through the ranks toward us, a walking stick tapping the ground at its side.

“Jibril-khan,” I said, smiling. “I take it your side won.”

“There are no sides, not anymore,” the wizened old gargoyle replied. “We are unified now, under our new king.”

The smile faded from my face. “What new king? I thought you said you wanted to be free.”

“That is for our new king to decide,” Jibril-khan said. The gargoyle bowed before me, bending down on one knee and lowering its head. The other gargoyles did the same.

“Wait … what?” I said.

Jibril-khan looked up at me. “It is our tradition. He who slays our king takes his place upon the throne. What you decree, we must do.”

“So that’s how the Black Knight became your king,” I said. “He defeated Stryge when he was still Willem Van Lente. You know, if you’d just told me that from the start, it could have saved a lot of time.”

Jibril-khan bowed again. “If I have displeased you, my king—”

“Oh for God’s sake, I’m not your king!” I protested.

“I don’t think you have a choice in the matter,” Bethany said, stifling a laugh. “King of the gargoyles. As if your ego isn’t big enough already.”

“No, forget it,” I insisted, shaking my head. Then a thought occurred to me. “Wait, wait, okay then, yes. If I’m your king, here’s my first decree. My only decree. No more kings. You’re free.”

Jibril-khan looked up at me. “You would grant us our freedom?”

“You don’t need me. You don’t need any king,” I said. “You’ve been ruled over, controlled, and coerced for long enough. I know what it’s like to feel like you have no choice. It’s time you made your own destinies and lived your own lives. It’s time you were free.”

“Trent, are you sure this is a good idea?” Isaac asked. “What if a king was the only thing keeping them in line?”

“Under Stryge’s rule, and again under the Black Knight, they didn’t have a choice about who they could be, or what they could do. Now they do,” I said. “They deserve that, just like everyone else.”

Jibril-khan and the other gargoyles rose to their feet. “You have our gratitude. We will never forget what you have done for us.”

“So what’s next?” I asked.

“We will leave this place,” Jibril-khan said. “Go somewhere else, somewhere less populated where we can live our lives in peace. Somewhere with good hunting.” The gargoyle saw the expression on my face and added, “Not humans.”

“I think a change of scenery sounds like a good idea,” I said.

Jibril-khan hobbled closer and held out one hand. In the gargoyle’s palm was a whistle carved from animal bone. “Use this should you ever have need of us, and no matter where we are, we will come. We are forever in your debt.” I pocketed the whistle. Jibril-khan knelt again, and the other gargoyles joined in. They crossed their arms over their chests in what I figured was a gargoyle salute. “All hail the Immortal Storm, giver of freedom.”

“But there was no storm,” I pointed out. “The prophecy didn’t come true.”

“Didn’t it?” Jibril-khan asked. “For centuries we assumed the Immortal Storm we waited for was an event. It was not. It was a person. You are the Immortal Storm, and as the prophecy foretold, you have given us our freedom.”

My face fell. “What? No, there must be some mistake…”

“There is no mistake. May the Guardians show you favor, Immortal Storm. Always.”

My chest felt tight. I had trouble breathing. Me? I was the Immortal Storm? How was that possible? But before I could ask Jibril-khan anything else, the gargoyle spread its wings and launched itself into the air, followed by the others.

“Goodbye,” I called after them, waving. “Try not to eat anybody.”

Bethany elbowed me in the ribs. “Don’t be rude,” she said. Then, snickering, she added, “Your Majesty.”

I watched as they flew back over the Hudson River toward New Jersey. The rest of the gargoyles streamed out of the Palisades cliffs to join them, abandoning the cavern they’d called home for so long and flying westward to a new life.

A moment later, they were tiny specks in the sky.

A moment after that, they were gone.

Forty-two

“What will you do now?” Isaac asked. We were in his study on the second floor of Citadel. He sat at his desk, sunlight streaming through the stained-glass window behind him and casting him in a multicolored glow. On the desk between us, the empty Erlenmeyer flask caught the light from the window and refracted it in pretty