get this apartment by accident?”
The gargoyle nodded.
“So why did I end up here?”
“The building chose you, lad, what do you think?” Greystone nodded wisely. “That’s the long and the short of it. No one comes here that Guardian House doesn’t want; that’s the way it was built. It felt you enter the city, and it made its own calling-on song to bring you here. That’s why you went for a walk, and that’s why you found the building and saw the sign. The building manager just serves the building’s needs. When it has a vacancy, Ms. Hernandez waits until someone shows up who can see the For Rent sign—not everyone can, but you’ve probably guessed that by now. That’s why it’s called Guardian House. One of the reasons.”
A building that picks its own tenants? Boy, that’s a new one! “Why choose me?” Eric persisted. He wasn’t alarmed; he was quite certain that if there had been anything ill-omened about this place, Kory would have sensed it. And the name—Guardian House—sounded as if it were a force for Good, at least. “Is it because of the magic?”
Dharinel had warned him it would make him visible to all kinds of creatures that didn’t have the time of day for an ordinary mortal, but Eric had already had a taste of what that was like.
“A bit.” Now Greystone seemed to be picking his words carefully. “Most people who live here aren’t witches, sorcerers, or even mages—not the way you are, me lad—they’re just people with a very singular talent for living, and certain gifts to be nurtured. Most of ’em are artists, but not necessarily