Free Halfway (Wizards and Faeries) by Stephanie Void

happened… because of me? My Magic! I was using it! Again!
         Something shoved me hard in the back, and I felt sinewy arms wrapping themselves around me.   Cold arms.   Like water.
         Bending double, I reached for one of the thing’s legs and pulled… the thing fell to the ground like a waterfall.
         I stood back up, my hair and the rain falling into my mouth, stifling my breath.   I shook my head.
         Three of them were left, glimmering dully like tarnished silver.
         They lunged at me all at once.
         I spread my hands and they all collapsed as rain.
         Shaking, I stumbled away from the fountain.   What had just happened? I was so tired…
         Blinking through the rain, I could vaguely make out the dark silhouette of a building. The cathedral…
         Lightning split the sky, highlighting figures on the roof—open-mouthed, fanged, angry beasts.   Startled, I staggered back, ready to fight again, feeling blue flames form on my fingertips.   But the beast did not move. Looking closer, I saw with a flood of relief that the figures were made of stone.   The many ledges on the side of the cathedral were covered with them—bat-winged monsters clinging in various ways to the cathedral.  
         Gargoyles, I knew. They couldn’t hurt me.
         I stumbled away, determined to keep moving. Nothing was safe except the darkness that hid me. A flash of lightning illuminated everything again and I saw there were houses all around me. I kept walking, faster, shivering in the rain.
         Did I imagine those shadows to be Enforcers?  
         My walk turned into a run. I didn’t know where I was going anymore…. I just wanted to get somewhere safe, fast. I ran, my heart pounding, legs aching, breath heaving.
         Lightning crashed through the sky again, and in its brief light I could see several of the watery figures shimmering ahead of me, coming for me.
         Searching for an escape, I spun around and saw a very faint light off to one side, through several alleys. My heart pounded and fear clogged my throat as I ran towards the light, through the alleyways.
         What was I doing here? I was going to get murdered over a foolhardy plan to find a brother I had not known for a decade!
         The faint light had solidified into a lantern hung from a tall, wrought-iron gate.
         Mindlessly, I ran to the gate, groping blindly in the dark. It swung open and I ran into the blackness beyond.
         The branches of bushes tugged at my skirt. I slowed down, my hands out to feel any obstacles.
         A structure, a large one, loomed against the darkened sky. I approached it.
         My hands touched something solid at the same moment the rain stopped pelting me. I must be under an overhang or eaves of some sort , I thought. I felt my way along it. My toe hit a ledge. I felt around some more and knew it was an alcove. Climbing into the tiny shelter, I curled myself into a ball.
    I want to go home.

Chapter 13
    Cemagna
    “Miss? Miss, are you awake?”
    Blinking, I opened my eyes and looked up. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but I could see a man looming over me. He was tall, perhaps around middle age or older, with whitish hair and round dark glasses over his eyes.
         I looked around. I was curled up in an alcove in a large stone building. More gargoyles—why were there always gargoyles?—peered out around me.
         “I—I’m sorry!” I burst out. “I had nowhere to take shelter from the rain!”
         The man’s eyebrows raised slightly above his dark glasses. “How did you get in here? The gate is locked at night.”
         “I—I don’t know.” I started to get up.   “I’ll leave now.” The last thing I needed was more trouble.
         “No, stay,” he said. “Come inside with me, please. You must be cold and hungry.”
         “I—I really am,” I blurted before I could stop myself.
         “I’m Duke Von Chi,”