Gryphon of Glass by Zoe Chant

Author:Zoe Chant [Chant, Zoe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-25T00:00:00+00:00

15

Gwen gave a sigh of contentment when Henrik curled himself against her collarbone, and he caught himself purring against her.

He’d been worried about facing his gryphon form’s diminished size in this world, afraid that he would feel un-whole, that the lack of magic might make it uncomfortable. He could not help but think that Gwen would be disappointed in his small size.

But Gwen seemed delighted by his tiny form, and Henrik could feel her embrace relax as he rubbed his head against her jaw.

Henrik thought that his purr had changed in pitch, then realized that there was a new sound in the garage with them: a rumbling growl.

He cracked an eye open as Gwen swiveled her head. “What’s gotten into you, Socks? Do we have mice?”

At first, Henrik assumed that the cat had taken offense at his semi-feline shape, and he stirred against Gwen’s shoulder in case he needed to leap away and shift; he didn’t want to accidentally hurt either of them.

But Socks had no interest in the tiny gryphon; she was staring into the far corner of the garage, past the car, growling in warning.

Before Henrik could respond, she was springing into the darkness with a predatory yowl and Gwen was climbing to her feet. Henrik clambered carefully up to her shoulder. “What are you after, now?”

There was a shrill yelp of pain, and a crash, then Socks wailed. It sounded very far away.

The furthest covered car was parked very close to the crowded corner; there was no room for a human investigation, but as a ridiculously small gryphon…

Henrik leaped from Gwen’s shoulder and spread his wings, aiming for a place where he could fit between the car and the boxes beside it.

He had to fold his wings to squeeze into the space, and was instantly plunged in darkness.

At first, he thought it was normal darkness, and he blinked and paused on the hard concrete floor to let his eyes adjust.

But they didn’t, and he gradually became aware of the cold that was biting into his paws. He opened his beak and gave a cry of challenge. Once, his gryphon’s cry would stop armies in their tracks, but this time, it was a comparative squeak, barely a chirp. Both cold and darkness shivered back for just a heartbeat, then pressed forward again.

“Henrik!” Gwen called, and it sounded far away and muffled.

Giving up on vision, Henrik closed his eyes and stepped forward carefully, expecting at any moment to run full on into one of the boxes surrounding the covered car. He stretched out his wings, carefully, and found nothing. Behind him, the normal sounds of the garage seemed to fade away. Was it a portal? He desperately wished he could sense magic, and strained at the insides of his eyelids futilely.

A forward claw touched something soft and yielding, and there was a whimper of misery.

Socks!

Henrik opened his eyes, to no avail, and used his claws to carefully define where Socks was lying.

In his current form, Socks was larger than

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