The Skelitin Saga: Volume One

6. The Child of Stone Part I

"Your whole family knew," he whispered "Carly knew that someone of her bloodline was going to be the Child of Stone. So she took her son to sit with me, and they read the book together. And when he turned nine, she took him down to Scary, to see if he could set him free,"

Gray took ragged breaths, and tried to keep his head from spinning as Simon regaled the history. That extra chapter that the story had always been missing.

"He couldn't. Because he wasn't the Child of Stone. So when he grew up, and he had his daughter, he took her to my spot, and they read the story together. But when she turned nine, she couldn't do it either. She took it harder than her father did. She was beginning to believe that she was the Child even before Scary's existence was confirmed by her father,"

Simon pulled away from Gray and sat next to him. "Then she had a son. A strong willed, arrogant, adventurous boy named Grayson. She started reading him the book before he could even crawl. He lived and breathed the story. I remember the day when she told him that they'd go searching for the statues. He was so excited. But then... then they never came back,"

Gray covered his face. And took a deep breath. "My mother had colon cancer," he whispered. Simon put a hand over his shoulder. "Nobody knew. Not until way too late. She got sick and..."

Gray looked up at the ceiling, tears stinging his eyes. "And she never got better,"

"She'd have been so proud of you," Simon assured him "You did the one thing that she wanted since she was just a child. You are the Child of Stone,"

There was a crash from the living room, and the two of them looked up to find Scary sitting in the living room, next to an overturned table, a couple broken glasses, and a slightly upset Oscar.

Luft threw his arms around him. "I've been looking everywhere for you," Luft sighed.

Scary patted him on the shoulder, making Luft yelp.

"What?" Scary looked at him. Then he saw the blood. "Dammit, Luft. What happened?"

"I tried to kill the new guy, and Simon didn't recognize me," Luft chuckled.

"Oh, I recognized you," Simon corrected him. "I'd have aimed for your nuts if I didn't,"

Scary tilted his head around, and spotted Simon and Gray sitting in the next room. To Gray's surprise, Scary glared at them.

"Hold still," he said to Luft, then he drew his wand out of his sleeve and waved it slowly over his head.

The light seemed to slowly drain from the room and the tip of the wand absorbed it all, glowing and projecting a light, as blue as the deep sea. The magic seemed to drip from his wand, onto the cut, and the skin stitched itself back together.

Luft smiled and wiggled his shoulder. "Thanks Scary,"

Scary merely nodded. Then he stood up, his joints popping, and glanced at his surroundings. He saw Oscar and nodded at him. "Thank you,"

Oscar nodded back. "I suppose you're welcome. But you're not welcome to stay. You must all leave before the Committee finds you here and pins me for assisting you,"

"You don't truly believe you can stay here, do you Oscar?" Scary stared at him. "The only reason you aren't dead already is because they knew I'd come to you. You're just bait. Which is why I didn't want to come here in the first place," he shot a withering glare in Simon's direction.

"Come on Scary," Simon looked up at him sheepishly. "You know it was either come here, or let you die. And too many people have waited too long for you. I wasn't about to just watch that happen,"