by E. G. Foley
Half of London had gone into Everton House to celebrate Jake’s return. The snooty half, thought Dani.
The square was lined with parked carriages that all the fancy guests had arrived in. The elegant music from inside the house reverberated through the walls.
Dani sighed, wondering what it was like to be a fine lady and go to a ball. She supposed she’d never know.
Derek had apparently seen enough. He turned away with a scowl and a harrumph, and leaned against the tree.
She could tell by the look on his face that he would have rather burst into the mansion and dragged Jake out by the scruff of the neck. But of course, they had already tried that earlier today. It had not worked out so well.
After Jake had ejected them this morning, they had spent the whole day in the library at Beacon House trying to research some solution for how to break the spell he was under, to no avail.
As Dani stared at the mansion, she still couldn’t believe her best friend had used his powers against her.
A part of her wondered if maybe she deserved it after telling on him, but she felt especially sorry for Derek, who had been subjected to the same indignity.
The warrior had been quiet and gruff all day long, mentally beating himself up about Jake falling into Waldrick’s hands. Dani had tried to tell him not to worry, that Jake had been in worse scrapes than this. But at the moment, neither of them was sure of their next move.
The last they had seen Jake, he had been completely under Waldrick’s spell. How could you help someone who didn’t want to be helped?
Suddenly, Dani noticed a faint twinkle of lights across the street, like tiny sparks of fire, traveling low to the ground along the base of Waldrick’s house.
Moving rapidly through the darkness, the glittering trail of sparks hugged the mansion’s outer wall, moving toward the cobbled street.
“What is that?” she inquired, pointing it out to Derek.
He drew in his breath, his sharp supernatural senses homing in on the target. “It’s Gladwin!”
“Huh?”
He turned to Dani, firmly grasping her arm. “Stay here,” he whispered. “I’ll be right back.”
“What is it?” she exclaimed.
“Don’t you know?” he drawled, leaning closer and lowering his voice. “That’s a fairy trail!”
“A fairy trail!” she echoed, but the warrior was already in motion. In the next heartbeat, he had pushed away from the tree and was striding toward the wrought-iron gates of the park.
“Derek! I want to come, too!” Dani called in an insistent whisper, which was ignored. She snorted.
No wonder he and Jake had got along so well! she thought. They were both impossible.
She watched uncertainly as the Guardian dashed off, leaving the trees’ shadows cloaking the garden square. At the risk of being seen, he walked out into the dim glow of the streetlamps and crossed the street, slipping between the parked carriages.
When he ducked out of sight, Dani could only wonder what was happening. A few minutes later, he returned, holding something carefully in his cupped hands.
Something that glowed.
Dani barely dared breathe as he joined her once more behind the cover of a wide tree-trunk.
“What is that?” she asked in amazement, staring at the faint golden light emanating from between his cupped fingers.
“Not what, who.”
“You have a fairy in there?” she blurted out. “Let me see!”
“Careful, she’s hurt,” he murmured as he slowly opened his hands and let her look upon the small, delicate being.
Dani gazed in wonder at the beautiful fairy with moonlight-colored hair kneeling right in the center of the warrior’s rugged palm.
But something was missing—the most important part! Dani looked at Derek. “How can she be a fairy without any wings?”
He shook his head grimly. “Waldrick did this to her.”
Dani gasped. “Oh, no! He pulled off her wings?”
“Cut them off. Don’t worry, Gladwin,” he reassured her softly. “We’ll get you to Beacon House soon. Perhaps there’s something Doctor Celestus can do.”
“Yes, Doctor Celestus! He’s terribly clever! He helped me when I got bashed in the head,” Dani assured the tiny thing, heartbroken for her. When the fairy glanced at her, she hesitated. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I-I didn’t mean to be rude. If there’s anything I can do…”
The fairy tilted her head, gazing back at Dani, then she turned to Derek with a curious gesture.
“Of course. Where are my manners?” he mumbled. “Gladwin, this is Miss O’Dell, a friend of Jake’s.”
“Call me Dani,” she said with a little wave, though she was still privately horrified about the wings.
She heard a silvery, tinkling answer. It was the most adorable sound she had ever heard. If flowers could talk, that’s what they would sound like, she thought, but unfortunately, she could not make out the words. “What does she say?”
“She’s pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise! Would you please tell her I didn’t mean to be rude about her wings?”
“She can hear you. You should be able to understand her, too, since you’re a child. Listen a little bit harder.” Derek glanced at the fairy. “Gladwin, would you mind repeating yourself?”
Dani leaned down and concentrated, listening for all she was worth.
“Don’t worry, Miss O’Dell,” the fairy said in her tiny, charming voice. “I know you didn’t mean any harm. You have a kind face.”
Dani’s eyes lit up when she heard and finally understood Gladwin’s words. A smile from ear to ear broke across her face. She gazed warmly at the tiny being, but all the fairy lore she knew warned her to be respectful. A wise person never risked angering a fairy. “Thank you, Gladwin. I’m so pleased to meet you! I’ve never had the honor of meeting one of the fey folk before. Granny told me all about the ones she saw when she was young in Ireland. You’re still a beautiful fairy, wings or no.”
Still standing on Derek’s palm, Gladwin curtsied in thanks.
“This is Gladwin Lightwing, one of Queen Victoria’s royal garden fairies,” Derek hastily explained. “She’s been missing for weeks. Now I know why. She was supposed to bring me a message about Jake, but Waldrick captured her. He’s been holding her captive all this time.”
“How awful!”
“Fortunately, Jake got her out of there, and now she’s brought us a message from him. He’s free of the spell, but it showed him some things, Gladwin was just telling me.”
“Waldrick is working with the sea-witch Fionnula Coralbroom, and Jake is now convinced that it was the two of them who killed his parents,” Gladwin informed them. “He also wanted you to know, Guardian Stone, that Fionnula put a spell on you the day of the attack, some potion to dull your Guardian instincts. That’s why you couldn’t sense the danger to your friends. You see?” Gladwin said. “It wasn’t your fault.”
A stunned look settled on Derek’s hard face. “It wasn’t my fault?” he echoed barely audibly. He turned away, deeply shocked by this revelation. “All these years, Waldrick’s made me feel so guilty every time our paths have crossed. He never…lets me forget my failure that day. As if I could ever forget it myself.”
“But it wasn’t your fault,” Dani repeated.
“Yes,” Derek whispered. Then he looked at the mansion again with flames in his eyes.
“There’s something else,” Gladwin hurried to tell them. “When I last saw Jake, he was heading off to confront his uncle in the ballroom.”
“Really?” Dani’s eyes widened. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”
“Of course not,” Derek agreed. “It’s foolhardy, reckless—”
“Typical Jake! How are we going to get in there and stop him?” Dani prompted.
But Gladwin shook her head in worry. “I’m afraid you’re already too late.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Big Red
Hanging, maybe. Dying of starvation. Being murdered by his uncle’s henchmen, skewered by Magnus the Blacksmith, or drowned in the Thames by an angry water nymph…
Jake had imagined several unpleasant ways he might’ve died, but being eaten alive by a large, hungry monster wasn’t one of them.
He was not looking forward to this.
The growl from the darkness grew louder. Cursing himself for taking on Waldrick alone, Jake scrambled to his feet from where the chute had dropped him onto the cold stone floor. To make matters worse, his blasted hands were tied behind his back. He was defenseless.
Heart thumping, he retreated from the snarling sound.
By now he had more or less figured out what this stone dungeon really was. Faded, rusty watermarks on the walls suggested he was at the bottom of an old rainwater cistern, no longer in use. Once it must have held a water supply for the mansion. But Waldrick had long since turned the empty, cave-like reservoir into a secure stone cell for his pet monster.
Chains clanked and scraped across the stone as a black silhouette began moving in the darkness.
It was big.
Jake cowered, his whole body shaking. He had never been so scared in his life. He felt utterly alone, a scream trapped in his throat. He didn’t want to die this way. Not even a ghost appeared to face this horror with him.
Then he gasped and ducked as a large shape whooshed above him; something with a wide wingspan pounced across the cell and landed on a rocky outcropping a few yards above his head.
Still chained, the creature crouched on the ledge, studying him; he could feel its stare, but could not make out what the monster looked like.
Jake struggled not to panic, hunkering down behind the bottom of the chute, wondering if he could crawl back up that steep, narrow slide. Otherwise…
Chains rattled again as the creature launched itself off the ledge and flew across the dark space, ricocheting angrily off the walls that confined it.
Jake let out a yelp of terror and ducked as the creature buzzed him, as if trying to figure out what he was before it moved in for the kill.
A bead of sweat ran down his face. He hid behind the chute, whispering over and over again, “Please don’t eat me, please don’t eat me.”
Whoosh.
The beast landed on all fours in the center of its lair. With his heart in his throat, Jake forced himself to look and see what he was up against. Slowly, he lifted his head, peeking over the metal edge of the chute’s slide.
Stalking closer, the creature stepped into the shaft of moonlight streaming in from high above and was fully revealed.
Jake stared in amazement. He could not believe his eyes. The creature was magnificent and terrible—and not supposed to exist.
“I know what you are,” he breathed in shock, as if the animal could understand him. “You’re…a Gryphon.”
At the sound of its name, the creature let out the piercing scream of an eagle and reared up on its hind paws, flexing its red-feathered wings and slashing at the air with razor-sharp lion’s claws.
A very angry Gryphon.
Jake stifled a shout and ducked, his hair ruffled by the wind from the creature’s wings. As its screech reverberated off the walls of the stone cell, the beast’s image was burned into Jake’s mind, standing on its hind legs, a gryphon rampant, just like on the ancient battle-flag back at Griffon Castle.
As soon as Jake steadied himself, he looked over the edge of the chute again, his pulse pounding.
The Gryphon had dropped back down on all four legs again, arching its neck, tossing its head, its golden eyes flashing in the darkness.
“Blimey,” Jake whispered, staring.
It had the body of a lion, with muscles rippling all down its flanks. Its long tufted tail whipped angrily from side to side as it approached him, setting each massive paw silently on the stone floor, claws gleaming.
It folded its powerful wings against its body; they were covered in scarlet feathers with a vague shimmer of gold at the tips.
So that’s where Fionnula was getting those magic red feathers, Jake thought, fascinated by the creature that was about to devour him.
The Gryphon had the head of an eagle, but the sleek feathers on its head were also red, like its wings. It had a sharp gold beak, hooked for tearing flesh from bone. Its large, intelligent eyes were golden as well, fierce and piercing in expression as it stalked nearer, its stare fixed on him.
Jake did not like the way it was eyeing him. “Easy, big fellow. I’m friendly, right? What are you doing down here? I saw your picture all over Griffon Castle. I get the feeling that’s home for both of us, isn’t it?”
The Gryphon let out a mournful caw, though fury still burned in its eyes. It stepped closer with the prowling grace of a big cat, while its head cocked and tilted with jerky, birdlike movements.
Jake was encouraged. “Easy now. You don’t want to eat me, trust me on that. I wouldn’t taste very good. Nothing sweet about me.” He gulped as the creature advanced, then he tried to reason with it. “Blimey, how long has Waldrick kept you locked in here? He’s my enemy, too, you know. You and I should get along. After all, you’re a Gryphon, and it’s me, not Waldrick, who’s the rightful Earl of Griffon. Are you the one that found my family’s goldmine? I’m guessing my ancestors named our title after you…so, that would make us, what, practically cousins? Easy now, good birdie…” Jake took another slow, terrified step backward, praying the chain attached to the thick iron collar around the Gryphon’s neck would keep it from reaching him.
No such luck.
It leaned forward and sniffed him with the holes at the top of its beak, then it let out a scream right in his face.
Jake screamed back.
The Gryphon reared up and knocked him down with a shove of its front paw, spinning him so he fell onto his stomach.
He looked over his shoulder in horror as the Gryphon unsheathed the claws of its front paw with a moonlight glint. He squeezed his eyes shut for the death-blow as the claws sliced through the air, slashing toward his back.
“Huh?”
Instead of his spine behind torn out, he felt his hands jerk apart, and realized the Gryphon had just cut away the rope binding his hands.
Before he could react, the Gryphon bent its head and with its huge beak, picked him up gently by the back of his tuxedo coat and set him on his feet.
Jake turned around, astonished; then his jaw dropped as the Gryphon pushed its head against him and began to purr. Like some huge, cuddly lion.
In complete shock, Jake reached down and cautiously touched the creature’s sleek, feathered head.
Another realization suddenly dawned on him. “You’re here because of your feathers, aren’t you?” Jake recalled Fionnula’s words in the memory he had witnessed inside Uncle Waldrick’s mind. ‘Bring me that creature. I mean it, Waldrick. Elemental magic of an immortal beast like that is extremely rare.’ “They’ve been stealing your magic feathers just like they stole my parents away from me, haven’t they?”
“Caw,” the Gryphon said indignantly.
“Poor fellow.” Jake ran his fingertip along one individual feather, marveling at it. “I can’t believe it,” he murmured, half to himself. “Well, you must have very powerful magic if one of your feathers can turn that ugly squid into a lady.”
The Gryphon growled at the mention of Fionnula but was apparently so happy to have a companion in his lonely cell that he sat down on his lion haunches and just looked at Jake. His eagle eyes glowed golden in the darkness, as if to say, Entertain me.
Jake’s heart was filled with pity that such a noble beast had suffered such injustice—kept in this dungeon, used for the magic in its feathers, and scornfully referred to as a ‘monster.’ Those wings of his were made for flying. This strange, beautiful creature should be free. Jake set his jaw, suddenly full of determination. “Right. Don’t worry, Red, I’m going to get us both out of here.” Rubbing his wrists, he to
ok a confident stride past the large animal to have a look round at the cell.
There had to be a way out.
If he had managed to rescue Gladwin and the satyr and the others, he would jolly well get the Gryphon out of here, too. Just like a Lightrider.
Like his parents.
“These rock walls look pretty solid. And you’re too big to fit up the chute.” He dropped his head back, staring up the long, narrow ventilation shaft. Up at ground level, it was covered with a metal grill. But maybe…
Jake loosened up his hands, then drew up all his concentration, summoning up his telekinesis.
Pah! He flicked his fingers, aiming straight up the long, dark, ventilation shaft.
The Gryphon squawked, spooked by the crackling energy that flew like lightning from his fingertips.
To Jake’s dismay, however, the metal grate at the top of the air shaft did not budge. “Blast. Either that thing’s too heavy or I’m too far away. Unless…you could fly me up there?”
With a low, sad caw, the Gryphon showed him the rusty iron shackle chained to its back leg.
Jake frowned, but he was abruptly reminded of the bobbies putting the handcuffs on Derek. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Here in the dark cell, the thick chain ran from the solid cuff around the Gryphon’s leg to an iron bolt in the floor.
The rock ledge above was as high as the winged beast could go, tethered like this to the ground.
“You know,” Jake mused, resting one hand on his hip as he stroked his chin in thought. “I could try to zap that for you. Don’t know if it’d work, but it’s worth a try. You broke my bonds. Maybe I can break yours, too—but you have to promise not to have a conniption, right? Don’t bite me or anything. I’m not going to hurt you. So—try not to go mad when I zap you.”
It stared at him warily, as if to say, Maybe I will and maybe I won’t.
“But if I get that shackle off your paw, you have to let me climb on your back and fly us up to that opening. Then I think I can try again to blast that metal grate aside. Between the two of us, we might just be able to get out of here tonight.”