Stonebird Read Free

farther into the room, holding the phone higher. A whimper. There’s a whimper somewhere, like a trapped mouse. My mouth hangs open, and that’s when I realize the noise came from me.
    Because it’s here.
    It’s here, right in front of me.
    Wide, glowing eyes.
    A long curved beak.
    Claws sharper than knives, sharp enough to cut through bone.
    It isn’t just head and shoulders, like the other gargoyles out there. It’s bigger than me. Bigger than Mom, even, with huge wings that brush the ceiling and powerful-looking lion’s legs.
    My stomach’s so tight I feel as if I’m going to throw up. I can hear my breath getting faster and faster, the blood rushing in my ears. The church was quiet before, but it’s so loud now.
    Because it’s the same .
    This gargoyle, this big stone bird, is the thing I saw the other night.
    It’s the thing on the front of Grandma’s diary.
    Daisy moves in front of me, growling again. Her hair stands on end, and suddenly she looks ten times bigger. Her nose wrinkles up, and her lips curl back, showing all her teeth. She’s barking and barking.
    But I can’t take my eyes off the gargoyle.
    Those eyes . . .
    They’re flickering, dancing in the darkness.
    It’s not real , I tell myself.
    It’s just stone. Just a statue.
    “Daisy, come,” I say, but it comes out too quiet. I glance around desperately for a way out, but the only door I can see is the one we just came through, and from here it looks miles away.
    “ Daisy ,” I say, louder this time, forcing the words out, “come!”
    I try to move, but my legs aren’t working. The gargoyle’s looking right at me, looking right through me, right into my heart.
    Come on, Liam! Run!
    Daisy turns and bolts, and it sparks me into life. I stumble back, out of the crypt, and then I turn and run, legs tingling, heart thumping, out of the door and into the safety of the morning light.
    “Where have you been?” Mom says, when I fall panting through the door. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
    I glance back, but there’s nothing there. There’s nothing there.
    “Daisy got out . . . ,” I say, breathing heavily. “She—she escaped.”
    Daisy bounds in behind me and starts leaping up at Mom, trying to lick her face.
    Mom’s expression softens. “All right,” she says. “Down. Down, Daisy. But next time, you have to tell me, okay? I was getting worried.”
    “Okay.”
    She strokes my cheek and smiles. “Now, how about helping me move some things to the loft? I want to get everything done before I go to visit Grandma.”

4
    “You don’t have to come,” Mom says.
    I look at Jess, but she doesn’t say anything.
    I can tell she doesn’t want to go. I don’t really want to go either, but it’s Grandma’s birthday, and if no one came to see me on my birthday, I wouldn’t like it very much. And, anyway, I think sometimes being the Man of the House means you’ve got to do things you don’t like doing. Mom gets upset every time she sees Grandma, and I don’t like seeing her upset, so maybe I can help.
    The retirement home is at the end of a road called Fair Blossom Drive, but the road isn’t exactly fair, and there’s definitely no blossom. We pull to a stop outside a bare gray building. It doesn’t look like a house, even though they use the word home. It’s a hospital in disguise. The air around it is thick with the smell of dust and dry flowers. There’sa keypad next to the front door, and a button that says CALL FOR HELP in bold printed letters. Mom walks up to it and jabs 2476, and the door clicks open.
    “Come on,” she says. “This way. She’s got a new room.”
    Jess and I glance at each other, then follow Mom inside.
    The last time I visited, Grandma had been shoved in a small room at the back of the building. But they’re so old, most of the people in here, and when they die I guess the ones left behind get shunted along into the bigger rooms.
    Mom leads the way. Light from the ceiling shines