I’m happy to say, it’s time for the second Sunday Snippet. I’ve gone a bit paranormal this tome, and I hope y’all like this direction.I think gargoyl twins might have some potential for an intriguing plot. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know whta you think.

If I say nothing, he gets away with everything. If I speak up, I lose everything. Because even if anyone believes me, there will be questions. How do I know? Why was I there? What was I doing in that alley? All things I can’t answer. They can’t know about me. About us.

Carefully, because the years did not sit well on a body that spent long hours in one position, I stretched, expanding to my full, if modest, height. The creaks and groans were audible, but once my spine had uncurled, the aches fell away like so much dust. I shook myself, unfurled my wings, and let out a sigh. A fine shower of very real dust sprinkled down. The scale always grew first over my wings, and shaking off the weight of it felt good.

*People will see you, brother*

I glanced over to where my twin sister remained crouched. Her wings sagged slightly under the weight of the stone-like scale that had begun to creep over her skin at the back of her neck, her shoulders and down her spine.

If she doesn’t move soon, she won’t be able to. Not without help. And I don’t know if she’ll let me help.

“I’m so tired of hiding, Kristinia.” My voice sounded like old hinges and grinding stones, but I used it. One more defiance against the momentum of stillness that kept our kind in the shadows.

*Who’s hiding?* 

“True.” Anyone who bothered to look up—and plenty of people did—could see us, at any time, exactly as we were. We hid nothing. And yet, none of those who looked at us, knew what they saw.

Kristinia made the effort to look at me, her already craggy face twisting with the effort of breaking the stone-skin’s hold on her spine. Chips fell from her cheeks, revealing the smooth, alabaster skin beneath. She is so beautiful. To hide that from the word is a travesty. Not that she’d believe me if I told her that. She’ll say I’m flattering myself.

I touched my own face. My fingertips came away gritty. At least the stone-skin hadn’t made it to my face. Yet.

*Vain brother* Kristinia’s voice in my head held a gentle humour as well as a sharp prick of truth.

Unlike others of our kind, I valued a human aesthetic of beauty more than most. Not that I really met their standards in that. I was still too craggy, too heavy of limb, and too short.

*Why are you up?*

“I cannot remain still.”

*Its easy.* She rolled her eyes at me, though that was the only movement in her otherwise, literally, stone-still body. *You simply refrain from moving*

Easy for her to say. She doesn’t have the same curiosity I do. She doesn’t care what happens down there. And maybe she’s right. What’s a seventy- or eighty-year life span in the face of the hundreds upon hundreds we face?

What it was, I knew, was a life, as important in its own right as any other. And I’d seen one, a tiny, helpless one snuffed out for no reason. To tell no one what I’d seen was wrong. No matter how short a time on this plane the soul had, it deserved to be acknowledged, if not avenged.

Please leave a comment. I’m happy to hear your thoughts, and remember, I’ll be taking a poll leter to determine which SUnday Snippet might get a longer treatment. Happy Sunday!