Embrace (The Gryphon Series Book 2)

by Stacey Rourke

  I may just melt into a puddle on the floor.

  “Thanks,” I peeped. Realizing my gooberness was getting out of control, I stood up straighter and pressed my pencil to my order pad. “Would you like to hear our orders? Or do you know you’re special?” Crap! Did I seriously just say that?! “I mean, would you like to hear our specials or do you know your order?”

  Smooth, you idiot. You’re getting a forehead smack for that later.

  “A warm drink would be bliss. I’ve heard great things about cappuccinos, but ne’er actually had one. One of those’d be great.”

  “Sorry, our cappuccino machine is broken,” I apologized. “Dead actually. Won’t even turn on. We have a great assortment of teas or coffees, if you would like one of those instead.”

  Confusion creased his brow, creating the only lines in his otherwise unblemished porcelain skin. With narrowed eyes, he peered past me to the counter. “Ya sure it’s broken? Sounds like it’s on now.”

  I turned my head in the direction of the counter. He was right, something was whirring. I could hear it, too. But it wasn’t coming from the counter, or the DOA cappuccino machine. It was closer than that. Close enough that I could feel the vibration in my chest.

  Oh, sweet- mother-of- all-that’s-good-and-pure, IT’S ME!! I’m purring!! I know I have the essence of the Gryphon in me. And part of that is, in fact, feline. But, seriously?! Purring?! Someone kill me now!

  “I’ll go check on that,” I muttered and spun on my heel.

  Without a glimpse at my boss or co-workers, I high-tailed it to the safety of the backroom. I intended to stay right there until Dreamy McDreamerson left. Yes, hiding. While the purring stopped as soon as I got some distance from him, I wasn’t going to risk a repeat performance. Instead, I collapsed into one of the breakroom chairs.

  My head thudded down onto the table. “Ow,” I uttered, then followed up with a couple extra head thunkings. It wasn’t the promised forehead smack, but it would suffice. “What. A. Moron.”

  Granted, I didn’t expect it to go well, but this went beyond tragic. Back when I was just “normal” Celeste I was accustomed to embarrassing myself in front of the opposite sex on a fairly regular basis. But never like this. As the Conduit I now had supernatural ways to humiliate myself. Awesome.

  CHAPTER 10

  I needed guidance in a major way. Since my questions pertained to supernatural matters, my first choice for a sounding board was Alaina. But when I walked in the house to see her hustling into the living room gripping two giant bowls of popcorn, I knew my timing was off. Desperation prompted me to try anyway.

  “Hey, Alaina. You got a sec?” I asked, as I dropped my giant purse on the foyer floor.

  Alaina froze. Her eyes shifted from the living room to me, and back again. “We were just about to watch a movie about a billionaire that dresses as a robot and blows things up. Gabe picked it out. Why? Is there something you need?”

  “I…uh…” How does one admit to purring at a stranger? “I had a really weird day.”

  The feathers that tracked up the nape of her neck, over her head and ended by framing her porcelain doll face ruffled with her slightly piqued interest. “Weird, how?”

  “Lani, come on!” Gabe hollered from the living room. “Previews are over! Movie’s starting!”

  She cast a look in the direction of the living room, then turned back to me with a bird-like twitch. “Ignore him. Your issues take precedence.”

  Now that I had her attention I didn’t know where to begin. I wrung my hands feeling all kinds of silly and a fair amount of dumb. “It’s really not a huge deal. I just…”

  “LANI!” My eyebrows raised at Gabe’s nickname for our guide.

  Her velvety smooth voice vanished and traces of her eagle call broke through as she screeched, “In a minute!”

  No way could I talk about this in these kind of conditions. “Ya know what?” The broad grin that spread across my face felt fake and wrong, but I held it steady just the same. “Never mind. It’s really no big deal.”

  Her avian eyes clouded with concern. “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely.” I nodded and shooed her away. “Go enjoy your movie.”

  “Okay.” Hesitantly she walked to the living room. A second before disappearing around the corner she added, “Maybe we can talk later?”

  “Maybe,” I lied.

  With a deep sigh of dejection, I walked to the kitchen in hopes of finding Grams. She may not know much about mystical stuff, but when it comes to life experience Grams has done it all—usually twice. She’d bestow some wisdom that would make me feel better. Or, she’d make me chocolate chip cookies. Either option would do.

  Instead of Grams I found Kendall and Keith in the kitchen. Keni wore a lilac tracksuit. Flowered barrettes held her golden hair back, as she tightened the laces of her tennis shoes. Her boyfriend, Keith, tried to cram himself into a corner out of view when I walked in. He’s genuinely weirded out by the knowledge I’m the Chosen One. He stares at the ground, breaks out in a sweat, and fidgets uncontrollably whenever I’m around. I’m probably more amused by that than I should be.

  “Hey. Grams home?” I pulled out a chair and flopped down at the table.

  “Nope.” Keni finished one shoe and started on the other. “The Senior Center is having a pajama party. Grams left about a half-hour ago wearing a kimono, and a pair of feathered mules. It was frightening. Be glad you missed it.”

  “That guy she’s dating…” Keith began. He blushed bright red as he forced himself to speak in my presence.

  “Dr. Allyn,” Keni offered up.

  “Yeah, he was dressed like Hugh Heffner.”

  “Yikes.” I grimaced at that visual. I plucked an apple from the fruit basket and turned it over in my hands with no real interest. My guide was preoccupied with my bonehead brother, Grams was out being Grams, and I was in serious need of some girl talk. Desperation set in as I peered at my little sister. “You’re not leaving, are you?” That came out way whinier than I intended.

  Keni rose from the table and shouldered her bag. “Sure am! We’re going up into the mountains. Keith’s going to time me while I practice speed-flying.”

  “Speed-flying?”

  “Yep!” She confirmed brightly.

  “Uh, did you run this by Alaina?”

  “I tried.” Keni gave a little shrug. “But I don’t think she heard me. She was busy trying to figure out the “mystical forces” that make the microwave work.”

  I set the apple down and folded my hands on the table. “Okay. Do you really think the forest is the best place for this—ahem—exercise? Maybe a wide open space absent of obstacles would be a better idea?”

  Keni rolled her eyes and readjusted the bag on her shoulder. “Where people could see me? Yeah. Brilliant, Cee. Really.”

  I wet my lips and tried to figure out another way to explain this to her. Keith pulled his gaze up off the floor to give me a nod of understanding. At least one of them knew this was going to end badly.

  To him I said, “When she slams into a tree—and she will—wrap her wings around her. They’ll heal her.”

  With an annoyed “tsk-uhh” Keni tossed her head and stomped out of the room.

  “I will,” Keith quietly confirmed then chased after her.

  I shook my head as I watched them leave. If it wasn’t for the funk I was in I may have tagged along just for the comic relief that was sure to come. Instead, I moped up to my room.

  As I pushed the bedroom door open a flutter of motion from within the room triggered my warrior instincts. The end of a crimson cloak snapped as a shadowy figure fled into the cramped closet. I sprang to action. In a blur of speed, I crossed the room and yanked the closet door open wide. Nothing was there but Keni’s expansive wardrobe and the few items of mine she allowed me to hang in a tiny nook of space. Hangers squealed across the metal hanging bar as I shoved the clothes out of the way. The closet was vacant of any and all creepy cloaked persons. I sp
un around looking for some clue as to what they were after. Tingles tap danced down my spine. On my pillow, tied with a crimson ribbon, was a scroll. I glanced over my shoulder at the closet where the clothes still swung. I had stolen my first glance—fleeting as it was—of my mysterious ally.

  With eager hands I untied the ribbon and unrolled the thick parchment paper. The message inside read like something out of a Spirit Plane biology textbook.

  The Conduit of the Gryphon will inherit the animal’s essence. As the gryphon is a creature that mates for life, its Conduit will be drawn to do so as well. Potential mates can cause a physical reaction in the host, up until the time that an ideal suitor is found.

  “A physical reaction?!” I yelled at the closet. Chances were whoever it was couldn’t hear me, but I was annoyed enough not to care. “What else can I expect? Am I gonna twitch my tail at boys I like? Nip at them to show my interest? ‘Cause that’ll make dating loads easier!” I crumbled up the paper and threw it across the room. It bounced off the closet door and rolled back at me. “Friggin’ Chosen One crap!”

  With a flump, I collapsed onto my bed, gripped my pillow over my face and screamed into it. As if dating wasn’t hard enough when I was just an awkward little nobody, now I have to do it as Queen of the Misfit Freaks. Convent life looked more and more appealing.

  CHAPTER 11

  I laced up my most comfy tennis shoes, yanked on jeans that allowed me plenty of movement, and topped it off with my favorite hoodie. What I needed now was a little demon maiming therapy. That plan made it as far as the foyer. Keni stumbled in with Keith gripping her by the elbow.

  “I said I’m fine!” she snapped, and swatted his hands away. “Fine” was the last word I would’ve used to describe her current state. Dried blood dotted her lilac top. She also brought a good portion of the forest home in her hair.

  “Hit a tree, huh?”

  Keith pressed his lips together and nodded a confirmation.

  “I will have you know…” Keni raised one finger in the air and wobbled on unsteady feet, “…that right up until that unfortunate ending I was making phenomenal time!”

  “I don’t doubt that a bit.” I tried to bite back my grin as I hooked her arm over my shoulders to help her up the stairs. “Thanks for getting her home, Keith. I’ll take it from here.”

  “Night shmoopsie-poo! I’ll see you and that fine be-hind tomorrow!” Keni called over her shoulder with all the inhibitions of a drunken monkey.

  My head whipped around. No way was I gonna miss his reaction to that. It didn’t disappoint. Keith turned from red to purple, then fumbled his way out of the house as fast as he could manage.

  “You know you just scarred that boy for life, don’t ya?” I asked, as we shuffled up the narrow stairwell, nearly knocking our elementary through high school pictures off the walls with our shoulders.

  “Nah.” She scrunched up her face and batted that idea away with the wave of her hand.

  I got Keni into the bathroom and had her get in the shower to rinse off as best she could. Afterwards, she wrapped herself in a terry cloth towel. I pulled a chair in front of the bathroom mirror. She sat and I stood behind her to evaluate the remnants of the mess. Pine needles, tree bark and various other forest paraphernalia were matted into her hair, held there by a thick layer of sap. I tweezed as much of the larger stuff out as I could, then resorted to massaging peanut butter into her scalp to pry the stubborn sap loose.

  “Thanks for doing this,” Keni muttered. Her loopiness had passed. She looked away, down at the floor, at the wall, toward the door, anywhere but at me. Her cheeks pinkened.

  “No problem. That’s what sisters are for; picking stones, acorns, and what I really hope isn’t a chunk of poison ivy, out of each other’s hair.” I dropped the stalk in question in the garbage, rinsed off my hands, then went back to smearing Jif through her golden locks.

  “That’s not all they’re for.”

  “No. They’re also for videotaping stupid ideas like this that the other has. And in that I failed you.” I ruffled her sticky, slimy, nutty scented hair to show I was teasing.

  “They’re also for confiding in.” She threw that sentence out nonchalantly but stared at my reflection in the mirror as she awaited my reaction.

  “I know,” I said. I purposely kept my eyes on my task.

  Keni caught my hand, pivoted slightly on the metal folding chair, and peered up at me. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

  “Yeah. Sure. I know that. Nothing to tell, though.” I may have shrugged one too many times during this proclamation. My attempt at casualness landed closer to a newly developed twitch.

  “Okay.” Keni relented. She dropped my hand and turned back toward the mirror. “I guess I just imagined your sad puppy eyes earlier when I said I was leaving.”

  My squish covered hands dropped to my sides as I glared at her reflection. “I did not have sad puppy eyes.”

  Peanut butter dribbled down her neck as she cocked her head to the side and gazed up at me from under raised eyebrows. “Dude, seriously. I thought you were gonna, like, latch on to my ankle and make me drag you across the floor until I agreed to stay here and talk you through whatever Condu-drama you concocted in that head of yours.”

  I ripped the hand towel off the edge of the sink, and wiped my hands with vigor. “Oh, what-ever! I did not. And I didn’t concoct anything. I friggin’ purred at a guy at work today and kinda wanted someone to tell me I wasn’t a total freak.” I punctuated my sentence by whipping the hand towel into the sink.

  Keni’s eyes widened. “You purred at a guy? Really? Why?”

  “Because he scratched me behind the ears, and I liked it.”

  “Huh?”

  I threw my hands in the air. “Geez, Keni! I don’t know why! One minute I’m taking his order and admiring his swoon-worthy accent. The next I’m purring like a cat in heat.” I took a deep breath to clear my head and plopped down on the edge of the bathtub. “He totally heard it, too. Which makes it that much more mortifying.”

  “Look on the bright side, now he knows you like him,” Keni said, with a lift of her dainty shoulder.

  I snorted a humorless laugh. “That little piece of info won’t do anybody any good.”

  Her flaxen eyebrows drew in. “Why?”

  I kept my eyes cast down at the floor. The pattern on the ceramic tiles looked like grey rain clouds. As the conversation had somehow turned to my love life, that seemed fitting. “Because dating isn’t an option for me anymore.”

  “Cee, it doesn’t have to be that way,” she pleaded.

  “Yes. It does.”

  Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Was your break up with Alec really that bad?”

  I opened my mouth to spout the same story I had recited time and time again. I was falling for him. He broke my heart by telling me he didn’t feel the same. But the bitterness of those lies soured on my tongue. I couldn’t bring myself to spit them out even one last time. Instead, I clamped my lips together and nodded at the floor.

  Kendall fell silent for a moment. She crossed her arms on the back of the folding chair and rested her chin on them. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure. My life is a very lame open book.”

  “You’re an empathe. How did you not know Gabe and Alaina were in love?”

  My head snapped up. “What?” Hello, random topic lane change.

  “All you had to do was tune in for half a sec and you totally would’ve known.”

  “But…uh…I…” I wanted to be indignant that I was the wronged party, but had no good argument. She was absolutely right.

  “But nothin’. It’s true.” Her fluffy white towel dress started to slip and she readjusted it. “One little peek would’ve told you everything. But you haven’t linked into any of us for a super long time. And I think I know why.”

  “Do tell, oh, wise-one.” I laid the sarcasm on heavy to hide my worry that she might actually be on to something.


  “You’ve been dealing with so much of your own crap lately that you were scared of taking on anybody else’s.” My jaw fell slack, my mouth formed a perfect O. When did my little sister become so insightful? It was deeply disturbing. Like the world had suddenly spun off its axis. “I just think that you’ve been going about this all wrong. You’ve been so worried about facing other people’s problems that you didn’t realize you could really use our strengths.”

  Before I could ask what she meant by that, Keni rose from her chair. After quickly tightening her towel gown, she knelt down in front of me and grabbed my hand. “Go ahead. Try it.”

  I inhaled a deep cleansing breath as I curled my fingers around hers. I hadn’t done this in so long I wasn’t sure I’d even remember how. With my eyes squeezed shut I used my essence to reach out to hers. Warmth cascaded over me like a hot shower. Keni was goodness, purity, and love. Tapping into her aura always felt fantastic. Like a vacation from the negativity that eats at the rest of us. I could trust her with anything. Count on her until the bitter end. She would never judge me harshly. Even if I admit to her all the awful truths that haunted me…

  “Alec didn’t break up with me.” The words tumbled out as if I couldn’t hold them in a second longer. And once they started the entire sordid tale poured out like an erupting geyser. “I went to see him at the hospital and he was…different. The way he looked, the way he acted, the awful—and grossly overly descriptive—things he said.” My eyes snapped open and sought out hers. All I saw there was compassion. “Keni, I could’ve sworn he was a Seeker. He gave off a definite demon vibe. He tried to tell me that it was the aftereffects from his bump to the head, but I…” The tears I had held back for so long began to flow. Slowly at first, then quickly gaining speed until they were coursing down my cheeks in torrents. “I just didn’t know. I couldn’t tell. He asked for my help. Told me he was scared. And ya know what your noble big sister did? I walked out on him and didn’t look back. Because if I was right, if he was a demon, it’s my job to destroy him and I could never do that. I just couldn’t. It’s Alec. I can’t hurt him.”