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Thunder rumbled overhead as the three gargoyles hurried to shelter before the storm broke. It seemed to them that it could happen any minute. Banshea, Mikaia, and Shaunsha were coming home from an adventure, just to glide into yet another. The wind was strong, and it alternately helped and impeded their progress. They could not get above the clouds because the electrical charge was too high. There was as air of suspense as if the city was waiting for something. Then the storm broke. Rain pelted the three in heavy, blinding sheets. They could barely see where they were going. Calls to each other were lost in the howling wind. A shaft of lightning suddenly lit up the sky. It had struck Banshea. Another flash gave Shaunsha and Mikaia a glimpse of Banshea falling to Earth.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Bronx caught the scent of the approaching gargoyles long before anyone else had noticed the specks on the horizon. Bronx was determined to let the rest of the clan know, and if anyone tried to leave the parapet on the turret he howled with disappointment until they came back. Soon the specks grew larger, and Shaunsha, Mikaia, and Banshea were recognizable. In sight of home, they sped along on a wind generated by Mikaia’s magic.
Bronx was obviously pleased to have the three sisters back home. Just moments after they landed, Bronx gave a running leap that knocked Banshea flat on her back.
"Get this beast off me!" she screamed as she cuffed him on the shoulder so hard that she sent Bronx tumbling several feet.
"Bronx is just glad to see you, Banshea," Shaunsha tried to soothe her sister, "that’s all. You know he didn’t mean to knock you down."
Nobody seemed to notice the look of sheer terror on poor Lilah’s face.
"What’s wrong with Banshea?" Lexington whispered to Mikaia.
"Don’t really know. She was struck by lightning a couple nights ago, and she’s been like this ever since. The electricity must’ve re-wired her brain, or something." Mikaia made a face and twirled one finger around one side of her head to show how crazy Banshea had seemed to have become.
Suddenly Lilah shrieked, "No!" With a heavy sob she continued, "It wasn’t supposed to happen this way! I should have stopped this!" No one could get more out of her than that at the time, for poor Lilah had broken down to nothing more than plaintive wails. Banshea was the only one who didn’t seem to care about little Lilah. Indifferent to the reason for the hatchling’s moans, she stalked into the castle.
"Can’t anybody shut that brat up?" she yelled over her shoulder.
Banshea became worse and worse as the week progressed, as did Lilah. Banshea seemed physically well enough, so she was put on patrol a couple nights after her return. Had Mikaia not been there, Banshea probably would have killed a disgruntled mugger that came after her with a trash can lid. Several similar incidents happened before she was declared too high strung and taken off patrol for a while. Lilah, on the other hand scarcely spoke. She even refused to eat. She cried most of the time, and had the nearly everyone deeply concerned (nearly everyone because Banshea could hardly care what happened to her). One night, Banshea’s resentment for her clan for holding her back and for the chiding she received came to a peak. She left.
She flew high above the city, going nowhere in particular except away from her clan. She wanted to get as far away as possible before her absence was noticed. She was thinking about where to go when a passenger jet loomed in front of her. She dodged just in time, and angrily let out a long breath through clenched teeth. She would show those pitiful humans for violating her airspace! She dove at the plane, threatening to destroy the engines before any of the humans knew what was happening. Before she touched the plane, however, all was blackness.
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