Chapter 1
DYLAN
“All right, Dylan, hold her steady; this griffin isn’t going to tame itself.”
“Grandma, if Roman finds us in the backyard with a griffin, he’s going to kill me.”
I held the rope steadily, pulling while my grandmother Hazel slowly approached the winged creature. Sweat poured into my eyes, sticking my brown hair to my forehead and curtaining my gaze. I couldn’t stop to push it away for fear that I would lose my hold and the creature, all eagle-headed with glittering talons, would rip me apart—literally.
“Shh,” Grandma said, silencing me. “I promised your sister that she would have a tame griffin to ride for her processional on her wedding day, and I won’t go back on that promise.”
“If you get us killed, you will.” My youngest sister, Reid, pulled her end of the rope. “How did I get talked into this? ‘Come with me, Reid; I’ll show you a mythical creature,’ Grandma said. ‘Don’t you love mythology?’ And stupid me, I had to go on and say yes, I did love mythology, and where has that gotten me?” Reid screeched. “About to be gutted by a creature that would sooner eat me than let me ride it.”
Grandma scowled at Reid, but she said calmly, as if she were talking to a baby, “But this handsome fellow will let us tame it. Won’t you, boy?”
The griffin screeched in reply. That did not sound promising.
“Sure it’ll let us tame it, after it eats your heart,” Reid said.
Grandma tsked. “Reid, I don’t appreciate your lack of confidence.”
“It’s not a lack of, it’s negative confidence,” she corrected. “We’re going backward, not standing still.”
The griffin pulled, and I felt myself starting to be dragged with him. “Reid, I need you to focus.”
“This is all your fault,” Reid said.
“What did I do?” I spat. “I’m in this same as you.”
“You came, too, Dylan. If you hadn’t agreed, I probably wouldn’t have followed Grandma.” Reid grunted as the griffin tugged and squawked. “I swear, if I get out of this alive, I’m never listening to either one of you again.”
“Does that mean you’ll be quiet?” Grandma said.
I laughed. The jolt of air leaving my body caused my grip to slip because, of course, sweat slicked my palms. It wasn’t as if this was a low-stress situation. “I can’t hold on much longer. You have to tame it now, Grandma.”
“If you insist.”
“We do,” Reid shouted.
Grandma stretched out her hand. The griffin, eyes wild, snapped at her fingers. The creature released a high-pitched screech, and its tongue snaked from its mouth.
Grandma raked her fingers through her white hair, hair that had a tendency to stand as if she’d stuck her finger in an electrical socket. “There, there, let’s calm down,” she said soothingly.
The griffin thrashed and snapped. There was no calming this creature down. We would be dead within minutes. Even if we survived tussling with the bird, I would be killed once Roman saw what we were up to.
For some reason my husband didn’t like it when we messed around with magic in the backyard, where our human neighbors could see.
Granted, my grandmother had spelled the area so that no one could peek in, but I knew that wouldn’t give Roman any comfort. We weren’t supposed to perform magic where any nonmagical person could witness the event. My sisters and I had gotten in trouble several times because of just that.
In Roman’s opinion, rules were rules. And the rule was—witches were not to perform magic in front of nonwitches, period.
As all these thoughts swirled in my head, Grandma pulled the old diversion trick out of her hat—not literally, of course. She flicked her right hand out. The griffin’s gaze followed it. While the beast was distracted, Grandma tapped its forehead with the index finger on the opposite hand.
Magic rippled from her touch, buoying out from the creature. The griffin immediately calmed and sat on its haunches. I swear a purr rumbled in its chest. Interesting.
“Well, that was easy,” Reid said. “Why didn’t you do that ten minutes ago, Grandma?”
The creature pawed at Reid playfully before rolling onto its back. Its tongue drooped from its open beak, and I swear it wanted Reid to pat its belly.
Grandma brushed her hands triumphantly. “I knew I could do it. Of course, it helps that I once raised a baby griffin all the way to adulthood.”
“That’s impressive,” I said. “What happened after it became an adult?”
She grimaced. “It destroyed a small town and had to be exiled beyond the veil, where all the magical creatures live.”
“That’s horrible,” Reid said.
“That ain’t even half the story, toots.” My other grandmother, Milly Jones, stepped onto the back deck. Milly wore her usual getup of a shapeless brown skirt, brown shirt and cardigan. Her support hose were pulled to her knees, and her black orthopedic shoes thumped on the wooden deck along with her cane. “Supposedly that griffin now guards the entrance to a darker area of the veil. It hangs out at a bar, a sort of crossroads, where the light and the dark meet.”
“Why are we talking about this?” Reid said. “We’ve got a tame griffin in the backyard. Can I please leave before it decides to be untame and eat me?”
Grandma plucked her orange scarf from the wrought-iron table and wound it around her neck with a flourish. “Reid, that’s an excellent idea. Let’s get out of here before Roman gets home and we’re all in trouble.”
My family headed inside, and I followed quickly, annoyed that they wanted to leave me to pick up the pieces when my husband got home.
“I don’t appreciate y’all ditching me. I’ll have you know that as soon as Roman gets home, I’m going to tell him about your involvement in all of this.”
I heard the front door close. “You’re going to tell Roman about whose involvement?”
My stomach knotted. I shot daggers at my family while Grandma grinned at me innocently. “Time to go.”
Before I could say another word, she clapped her hands and the three of them disappeared in a cloud of magic. I glanced out the screen door at the tame griffin and felt my stomach tighten. Well, at least it wasn’t going to rip anybody’s head off.
I waltzed through the house and spied Roman kicking off his shoes. He’d already tossed off his jacket, and the T-shirt he wore underneath hugged his physique like a second skin. He lifted his arms over his head and stretched, revealing a sliver of the dragon tattoo that snaked up the left side of his torso and peeked out from underneath his collar.
He smirked. “So, whose involvement in what are you going to tell me about?”
“Promise you won’t be mad?” I squeaked out.
“I most definitely will promise no such thing.” He raked his muscular fingers through his hair. “I’m pretty sure I’ve never done that, and I’m not about to start.”
I sashayed over and wrapped my hands around his neck, inhaling his scents of pine and musk. I shot him my most dazzling grin. “Now, I know that you, Roman Bane, have, at least once or twice, promised not to be mad about something, and I need for you to do it again. Because what is in our backyard is not my fault.”
He scowled. “What’s out there?”
“How about we just forget it?”
Roman unhooked my hands from his neck and headed to the back door. Cringing, I crossed my fingers in the hope that he wouldn’t be angry.
“What in the world is that thing?” he yelled.
Oh, it looked like Roman was going to be angry no matter what. He stormed into the living room and glared at me. “Would you like to explain why a man-eating griffin is in our backyard?”
“Sera wants to ride one at her wedding?” I said, hoping that if I gave my voice a little bit of a question at the end of it, Roman would take pity on me and not be angry.
“Sera wants to ride it,” he repeated skeptically. “This is your grandmother’s doing, isn’t it?”
“Yes?”
He shook his head in frustration. “Dylan, you cannot give in to her wishes every time she asks. She likes to play with dangerous creatures. One of these days she’s going to wind up getting someone killed.”
“She means well,” I argued.
“I’m going over there,” Roman said, heading toward the front door.
My eyes widened. “Roman, don’t!”
“Dylan, we can’t have a griffin in our backyard. I won’t allow that.” He pointed toward the yard. “What if it gets out and hurts someone? I will not have that on my conscience.”
I wanted to argue, tell him that the creature was now tame, but I knew it would be no use—my pleas would fall on deaf ears.
Roman opened the door and stepped onto the front porch. My insides twisted as he dropped down the steps. I couldn’t let Roman do this by himself. This was my family he was confronting, and honestly it was my responsibility.
I exhaled an annoyed shot of air and headed out after him to confront Grandma.
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