And to be honest, she still wasn’t sure she actually did. She wasn’t sure at all that this wasn’t a dream, and sooner or later she was going to wake up in a hospital, after having actually slid onto the rocks and hit her head.
But again, I guess I better just enjoy the dream while it lasts,she thought, as she slid down off the griffin’s back, not without a little reluctance, and not only because the griffin waswarm.
Once her feet were back on solid ground, Natasha found she wasn’t really sure what to do next. She supposed it wasn’t every day that someone was rescued by a giant mythical creature, dream or not. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to say? And was this griffinreallyactually Kieran? If so, why didn’t he turn back into the hot guy she knew?
“Uh,” Natasha said, after a few moments of silence. Things were getting a little awkward after all, with the two of them just staring at each other. The griffin’s golden eagle eyes definitely had a kind of human intelligence that made her think it’d understand her if she spoke to it. “Thank you for saving me. I was pretty sure that was it for me. I mean, if you actuallydidsave me, and this isn’t just some kind of weird dream.”
The griffin let out a low, urgent crooning sound at that, as if it were trying to reassure her. It shook its massive head, feathers rustling, and extended its wings – as if trying to show her exactlyhowit had rescued her.
“That – that’s very impressive,” Natasha stuttered out. She got the distinct impression that the griffin was showing off to her – as if trying to show her just how impressive it was. And itwaspretty magnificent, she had to admit. It was much bigger than she thought a regular lion was, and its wingspan was enormous. In the sunlight that broke through the trees, its wings glistened like gold. It was, in a word,beautiful. And clearly, it was strong. It had carried her all this way as if she’d weighed nothing at all.
“I, uh, I definitely owe you one,” Natasha continued after a moment. She knew she sounded stupid, but for now, her head was completely empty of thought. But then, what was shesupposedto be thinking at a time like this?!
“So… are you actually Kieran in there after all,” she said, inspiration finally striking her. “Because if so… I guess I owe you an apology for not believing you. But on the other hand, can you really blame me? Why didn’t you just turn into a griffin yesterday, when you said you would? Or were your powers really not working then?”
The griffin shook itself, letting out another little croon, before clucking a little, as if it were trying to explain something to her. Natasha had never really thought about what a frustrated eagle might sound like before, but now that she heard it, she definitely thought this was it.
Can he now not turn back or something?she thought – just as, at last, the griffin began to… toshift.
Natasha gasped, her eyes flying wide.
It was like nothing she’d ever seen before – a shimmer ran over the full length of the griffin’s body, before its fur and feathers began to disappear, its body getting smaller, its wings vanishing before her eyes. It all took only a heartbeat or two – and then, Kieran was standing in front of her, looking exactly as he had the day before when he’d come to see her: the same broad shoulders, long, muscular legs, and floppy blond mop of hair.
Right now though, the dazzling smile was missing – instead, he wore an expression of concern.
“Natasha – are you all right?” he asked, frantic worry clear in his voice. He took a couple of steps toward her, arms raised as if he meant to pull her against his chest in a tight embrace, before he suddenly stopped, letting them fall back down to his sides. “I mean – I hope I didn’t scare you. There was no other choice. When I sensed you were in trouble – or rather, mygriffinsensed it – I didn’t really have any time to do anything else. I just shifted and flew to where you were, and then I saw you –”
Kieran cut himself off, his face going even more pale. It was clear that he was frightened, his eyes roaming over her body, but not in a way that told her he was appreciating her curves – he was clearly looking at her mud-stained leggings and jacket, which now also had holes torn in them, and checking to see if she had any obvious injuries.
She didn’t think she did, aside from a few cuts and scrapes, but that was all thanks to him.
“No, I… you didn’t frighten me,” Natasha said, shaking her head, and she was mildly surprised to find that it was true. She had to admit, however, that shedidfeel just a little light-headed, her knees wobbling. “I just… I mean, this really isn’t a dream though, is it? This is real. You reallyarea griffin.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Natasha realized that she was actually starting to believe it.
“No, Natasha, I swear it’s not a dream,” Kieran said softly. “I was trying to tell you yesterday that this is what I am – but lately, me and my griffin… we haven’t really been seeing eye to eye, I guess you could say. Either it takes over my body when I really don’t want it to, or else, just when Idoneed it, it refuses to come out.” He swallowed, looking at her in a way that was almost pleading. “I really was telling the truth – that was why I missed our date yesterday. My griffin reallydidtake over my body, and I didn’t think it’d be a great idea to turn up for the date looking, uh, well, like I did a few moments ago.”
Natasha shook her head, a small, incredulous laugh bursting from her lips. “Um. No. Maybe not. But I can definitely say I’m glad you showed up looking like you did just now. I was pretty sure I was a goner. I was just too mad to look at where I was going, and, uh…”
She trailed off, embarrassment making her face flush as she remembered justwhyshe’d been so mad.
“You were mad about me missing the date, and then, as far as you knew, lying about the reason,” Kieran said, his eyes widening. Maybe he could tell by the look on her face that he’d guessed correctly, because he took a few halting steps to her side, and this time, he reallydidput his arms around her – well, Natashathoughthe was going to do that, but in the end he just rested his hands on her shoulders, gazing into her eyes with a stricken expression on his face. “Then it was my fault you almost –”
“No! No.” Natasha shook her head. “No, it wasn’t. I wasn’t looking where I was going. You weren’t to blame for that. I should have been keeping my wits about me, no matter what kind of mood I was in.” She took a deep breath, suddenlyveryaware of how close his face was to hers, and just howwarmhis hands felt on her shoulders. “And as it turned out, you were telling the truth all along.”
“But I can see how you would have gotten the idea I was lying,” Kieran said, his eyes still searching her face. “I mean… it does sound pretty ridiculous. And then I couldn’t shift. So it wasn’t like you were being unreasonable in thinking I’d made it all up.”
“Well, whether that’s true or not,” Natasha replied, “I guess I reallydohave proof now that you weren’t lying at all. But you said that you and your griffin, uh, haven’t been getting along recently? But you shifted just now, when you needed to save me.”
Kieran nodded. “Yes. To be honest, that was the first time in weeks I’ve really felt in sync with it – the way I always used to be. It sensed you were in danger, and I told it to do what it needed to do. We were working together again. I guess when it was something important enough, we could come together. I don’t know if things will stay that way, though. Not until I…”
Kieran trailed off, glancing at her. Natasha frowned, intuiting there was something he wasn’t saying – but after telling her that he was a griffin, what else could there possibly be to know about him?
“Not until you what?” she prompted him, curiosity simmering within her. Suddenly, she realized, she wanted to knoweverything. If this really wasn’t a dream, then she had about a million questions she needed answered. Kieran had said there were other people like him in the world – but how many? And where did they live? Were there other griffins? Were theredragons?!
Kieran pulled in a deep breath, letting his hands drop from her shoulders – and Natasha found herself missing the contact immediately.
“Maybe we’d better go inside,” Kieran said, after a long moment. “I feel like I have some explaining to do.”
