No,the griffin snapped back, its fury – and fear – rising.There is… something here.
Thatgot Kieran’s attention.
What do you mean?
But now that he was no longer half-asleep and slightly disoriented at having been woken up by falling on the floor in griffin form, he could sense it too: somethingwashere. Something he couldn’t place. Something he didn’t understand.
It’s not another shifter,he thought, turning his head slowly, his eyes scanning the room. But even with the griffin’s incredible night vision, he could see nothing. The room was completely empty.
Maybe it’s nothing,he thought uneasily, even as he didn’t really believe it himself.Maybe it’s just stress because of everything that’s been going on recently…
The next moment put paid tothatidea.
Kieran leapt to his feet – all four of them – as a massivethuddingsound rang through the room, seeming to echo off every wall. It was louder than should have been possible, as if somethinginthe room was making the noise. But still, Kieran could see nothing.
There’s nothing here!he thought, turning, his head swinging first one way and then the other.
The thuds subsided for a moment, though somehow the memory of them seemed to linger in the air like an echo, even though the silence was thick and blanketing.
What’s going on?!
The griffin was angry and confused, and its animal instincts were jostling for control of his mind – trying to push his human consciousness aside and take over.
Kieran struggled against it. The griffin’s instincts were useful in a lot of situations, that was for sure. But in this one, when it wasn’t surewhatwas going on and it was out of its element – in a house, instead of soaring through the skies or bounding over a mountainside – Kieran wasn’t sure it was the best idea to let it have free rein.
The griffin rose onto its back feet, letting out ascreechof anger and defiance.
I really think you should just let me change back so I can go investigate,Kieran told it desperately, trying to calm it down.It’s nothing, I promise!
That seemed to bring the griffin’s panic down a notch, but it was still clearly unnerved by the mysterious banging and thudding sounds, and Kieran couldn’t really say he blamed it.
Perhaps it was just the timbers of the house settling,he thought, glancing around.Or the plumbing? It’s probably not in great shape after all these years…
One thing was for sure, however: if he wanted to investigate, he was going to have to shift back into his human form, since the griffin was far too bulky to walk around the house comfortably. It could leave this room, with its wide French doors, and it could definitely climb the huge main staircase. But after that?
I can’t even really open doors in this form.
But when he tried to change back, his griffin adamantly refused.
No. There is something here. Our human form is weak. We are strong.
Kieran couldn’t exactly argue with it on that score. True, in his human form he was bigger and stronger than other humans. But it didn’t compare to the strength and swiftness of the griffin.
I can’t check things out if you won’t let me change back!Kieran tried, but the griffin was having absolutely none of it.
We are not staying here. There is something here with us.
A shiver rolled down Kieran’s spine at that – a moment before another series of rolling thuds and bangs broke out, the sounds slamming off the walls before seeming to disappear off down the corridor, almost like running feet.
What the –Kieran started to think – but before he could get any further, he found himself suddenly bounding out of the room, the griffin seizing complete control of their shared body and catapulting them across the floor, racing out into the foyer before coming to a skidding halt by the front doors.
You can’t open them!Kieran mentally yelled at the griffin as soon as he realized what its intentions were – but apparently where there was a will there was a way, and the griffin wasverydetermined to get itself out of this house as quickly as possible.
Rearing up on its back legs, it brought its front legs, with their eagle’s talons, down on the handles of the front doors, leaving deep gashes in the wood, but also managing to push the handles down. The doors creaked open, and in a single bound the griffin had leapt through them, over the porch and down the front steps, and into the frigid night air.
Luckily, the cold didn’t bother Kieran in this form – griffins were hot-blooded creatures, after all. But as he stood, looking back at the house with his tail twitching, all his senses on high alert, he realized it’d bea lotof work to get the griffin to go back inside.
If it ever lets me shift back into my human form,he thought glumly, as the griffin, quite determined to have its own way, turned its back on the house and began trotting off into the forest.
