Midnight Frost (Mythos Academy #5)(59)
Author: Jennifer Estep

"Crikey," Vic said from his scabbard. "He’s a big fellow, isn’t he?"

"Sshh," I said, talking out of the side of my mouth. "Don’t make him angry."

The gryphon stood in the middle of the trail, staring at me. Just . . . staring at me, as though I were some sort of bug he was examining. After a few more seconds of scrutiny, the gryphon’s gaze flicked to Logan. The creature studied the Spartan with the same intensity before his eyes dropped down to Logan’s side. He could probably smell the blood that was no doubt still seeping through the bandages I’d wrapped around the Spartan.

I tensed, then turned my body so that I was standing between the gryphon and Logan. I thought about pulling Vic out of his scabbard, but I’d have to let go of Logan to do that, and I didn’t want to drop him in the snow, not when he was so badly injured already. But I’d go for the sword if I had to. Because whatever happened, the gryphon was not going to hurt Logan.

At least, not until he had eaten me first.

Seconds ticked by and turned into minutes. The silence stretched on and on, and, still, the gryphon didn’t move. Finally, I drew in a breath. Because I still had Logan to think about, and we were both growing weaker and colder with every passing second.

I drew another breath and took a step to my right.

The gryphon didn’t move. The creature could have been one of the statues outside the Library of Antiquities for all the emotion he showed. So I took another step to my right. Then another, then another, until I was no longer directly in front of the gryphon.

And then, I started to walk forward.

The trail wasn’t all that wide, and the creature’s wings brushed against my snowsuit as I stepped past it. The gryphon turned his head, watching me, but I kept walking. I’d never wanted to just run, run, run as badly as I did in that moment, but I forced myself to keep my panic down and put one foot in front of the other. Slowly, carefully, cautiously, and mindful of the mythological creature at my back the whole time.

"What are you doing?" Vic said.

"What I have to," I said. "Now shut up. Maybe he likes to eat things that make unnecessary noise."

"Unnecessary noise? Unnecessary noise? Hmph!" Vic sniffed.

But thankfully, the sword didn’t say anything else.

I kept walking, my shoulders tense. At any second, I expected to feel the gryphon’s claws sinking into my back or his beak tearing into my neck. But nothing happened. Maybe the creature had lost interest in us. I hoped so. I’d gone about fifty feet down the trail when I felt safe enough to look behind me.

Once again, I found myself staring into the gryphon’s eyes.

The creature was about five feet behind me, his head stuck out and down as he peered at me. Despite his size, I hadn’t heard the gryphon move through the snow. Once again, curiosity glimmered in his gaze, and I realized I wasn’t a bug he was staring at – I was a mouse.

A tiny, tiny, little mouse – one that could be eaten at any second.

I swallowed down a hard knot of fear, along with a scream that was stuck in my throat, turned my head, and started forward once more. Every fifty feet or so, I stopped to look back, but the gryphon was always right there – following me.

Seriously, the creature was trotting along the trail behind me like Nyx running after me across the quad. Okay, that was creepy. But since the gryphon wasn’t attacking us, I slogged on.

Logan drifted in and out of consciousness as I hauled him down the mountain. Occasionally, he would mumble a few words, but I was so focused on following the trail that I didn’t pay any attention to what he was saying, although every once in a while, he called out my name.

"Gypsy girl . . ." he mumbled. "Can’t fight it . . . can’t fight him . . . run, Gwen . . . run!"

Logan thrashed against me, lost in his memories of our fight and the moment when he’d stabbed me. I wasn’t the only one with some serious nightmares. But there was nothing I could do for him, so I gritted my teeth, pretended I couldn’t hear his anguished cries, and trudged on.

I don’t know how much farther I’d gone before I noticed the baby gryphon.

For the longest time, the trail ahead was a mix of snow and wind. Then, I glanced up, and the baby gryphon was there, like he’d just popped out of the trees. I slowed, then stopped, wondering if this was what the adult gryphon had been waiting for. If the creature had been following me and Logan this whole time because he knew that his baby was waiting and this would make it easier for both of the creatures to tear into us at once. I was so cold and exhausted that it took me a moment to realize why that would be a Bad, Bad Thing. Getting eaten by gryphons? So not cool.

Once more, I stopped and waited to see what the creatures would do.

The little gryphon crept closer to me. The baby eyed me the same way the adult had. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the baby let out a sharp, squeaky cry.

The adult gryphon screeched back some sort of response. Before I even realized what had happened, the adult gryphon had lunged forward, hooked his beak through Ran’s net, and pulled Logan away from me. One moment, I had my arm around the Spartan’s waist. The next, the entire net was dangling from the gryphon’s beak, with Logan swinging back and forth like he was relaxing in a summer hammock.

The gryphon gave me a long, almost pointed look, then darted off the trail and into the trees.

I was so stunned that I stood there for a moment. Then, the reality of the situation hit me.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Come back here with him!"

But the gryphon ignored me and moved deeper into the forest, taking Logan with him. I drew Vic out of my scabbard and plunged into the trees after them.

I’d thought the gryphon might spread his wings wide and soar up into the sky, but instead, the creature loped through the forest at a slow, steady pace, like a lion running through the plains of Africa, despite the fallen trees, rocks, and other obstacles that littered the forest floor. I followed as fast as I could, not caring that my boots slipped in the snow with every step and that I was in danger of falling and breaking a leg. All I could think about was Logan and how I couldn’t let him get eaten by the gryphons.

Apparently, the baby gryphon thought this was some sort of game because the creature hopped through the snow right beside me, occasionally letting out little screeches of excitement. Well, I was glad someone was having a good time because I certainly wasn’t.

I don’t know how far back into the trees we’d gone when the adult gryphon finally stopped. The creature stared at me another second before plunging into a dark opening that led into some sort of cave. The baby gryphon let out another happy screech and followed the older creature into the darkness.