Midnight Frost (Mythos Academy #5)(43)
Author: Jennifer Estep

But that didn’t work either. The gryphon started screeching in my ear and batting his wings against my body, trying to drive me away, as if he thought the Fenrir wolf was going to jump out of my mind and somehow attack him. So I tried showing him images of me playing with Nyx instead, but nothing eased the gryphon’s suspicions, and I could tell he was thinking about trying to claw me again.

Finally, in desperation, I called up all the memories I had of the gryphons on the steps outside the Library of Antiquities back home. The baby gryphon immediately stilled, and I let him feel how beautiful I thought the statues were, how noble, how regal, how brave and strong and fierce. Most of all, I tried to show him how I’d come to view the gryphons as my silent friends and that I wanted to be the same sort of friend to him.

It was so freaking hard, especially since the gryphon kept beating his wings against my body and trying to worm himself away from me. Sweat slid down my face, and my hand ached from gripping his paw, but I held my position and poured all of my energy, all of my concentration, all of my magic, into trying to reach the gryphon and put his mind at ease. Finally, I felt the creature settle down and sensed his realization that I wasn’t going to hurt him, that I wanted to get the trap off his leg. That would have to be enough for now. I didn’t have the strength for anything else.

I opened my eyes, let go of the gryphon’s paw, and wiped the cold sweat off my forehead. Then, I looked over my shoulder at Daphne. "Okay. You can pull the trap off his leg now. He’s not going to bite us."

Rory looked at me, then at the gryphon, her green eyes wide with surprise. "How did you do that? One second, I thought he was going to tear your nose off or try to beat you to death with his wings. But now, he looks like a puppy you could pet."

It was true. The gryphon had flopped down on his side, exposing his pudgy baby tummy to me. I reached out and carefully ran my fingers over his silky bronze fur, before reaching up and scratching his head. Nyx always seemed to like that, and the gryphon did too, judging from the happy little squeaks he let out.

"What can I say?" I grinned. "I have a magic touch when it comes to animals."

Daphne snorted. "You’re touched in the head is more like it."

Still, she handed Vic back to me and dropped down to her knees beside me. With her Valkyrie strength, it was easy for her to reach down and carefully pry open the trap clamped around the gryphon’s back leg. Rory lifted the creature’s leg free from the metal. Daphne eased the trap shut, then kicked it away.

"Horrible thing," she muttered.

I stayed on the ground next to the gryphon, still petting him. "It’s okay, buddy. Everything’s going to be just fine now."

I didn’t know if the gryphon understood my words or not, but he surged to his feet – and promptly fell back down again. He let out a pitiful screech that told me how much pain he was in.

I turned to Daphne. "Do you think you could work your healing magic on him? He’s really hurting, and I don’t think he’ll let us carry him back to the stream where the others are."

She looked at the gryphon. Doubt filled her black eyes. "I guess I could try. I’m still learning about my magic. But I know what you mean. We can’t just leave the little guy out here like that. It’s worth a shot."

Daphne put her bow on the ground and slowly crawled toward the gryphon. The creature eyed her with the same suspicion it had me, so once again, I put my hand on his paw and showed him my memories of Daphne and how she was my friend.

"She’s going to make your leg all better," I told the gryphon. "It’ll be okay. You’ll see."

Daphne reached for her magic, and the pink sparks streaking out of her fingertips combined to form a beautiful, rosy golden glow. She leaned forward and gently pressed her hand to the gryphon’s side, just above where the trap’s teeth had dug into the creature’s flesh. The rosy golden glow slowly spread down the creature’s body and pooled in the ugly, jagged gashes that ringed his leg. As I watched, the edges of the wounds slowly pulled together and then seamlessly healed. All the while, I felt the soothing power of Daphne’s magic, wave after wave of it pulsing off her and sinking into the gryphon. Just being near her when she was using her power made me feel a little stronger and my heart a little lighter, and I knew that if I put my hand on top of hers, I would see the bright princess-pink spark that burned at the very center of her being.

"There," Daphne said a few minutes later. "It’s done."

She dropped her hand from the gryphon, leaned back, and let out a long, tired breath. When I looked at the gryphon, the creature’s leg was completely healed. Except for the blood still matted in his fur, you would have never known that the gryphon was injured to start with.

The baby gryphon seemed to sense the change too. The creature scrambled to his feet and shuffled back and forth, as if he was testing out his once-injured leg to see how good a job Daphne had done of healing him.

"Hey," I said, stretching my hand out to him once more. "You might want to take it easy – "

But it was too late.

With a loud screech, the gryphon flapped his wings and darted up into the air. Daphne and I scrambled to our feet. The creature hovered in midair for a moment before letting out another screech, zooming up, bursting through the tops of the pine trees, and disappearing into the cloudy gray sky far, far above.

All I could do was crane my neck up and look at where the gryphon had been. I’d wanted to spend more time with the creature, but he was a wild thing, just as Covington had said. I should be grateful the gryphon had let me, Daphne, and Rory help him. At least now he was free of the trap and his leg was healed. I would have to be satisfied with that. Plus, it had been rather amazing to watch him blast up into the sky like a rocket.

"Well, that was weird," Rory said. "Do you guys do stuff like that all the time?"

Daphne and I looked at each other, then at her.

"More often than you might think," Daphne said.

Rory wandered over, squatted down, and looked at the snare-snap I’d kicked to the side. Daphne and I stared at the device too. As Rory had said, it looked like a bear trap – but with more teeth. The gryphon’s blood glistened on some of the sharp, pointed edges, making me sick to my stomach.

Daphne nudged me with her shoulder. "You going to do your thing on that? It might give us a clue about the Reapers."

I didn’t want to use my psychometry on the trap, but she was right. So I crouched down, reached out, and touched part of the metal that was free of blood. Images of the gryphon struggling to get free of the trap flickered through my mind, but I pushed them aside, trying to see who had planted the trap in the first place. For several moments, the only memories I saw were of the trap lying on the forest floor, hidden under a pile of leaves and then the snow that had fallen on top of them. I concentrated, going even further back.