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“Show you?”
“Show. Me.”
He takes a heavy step toward me, nuzzling his beak at my neck before standing tall. “Come.”
His right wing dips, as if to offer me aid, and I move toward him without a second thought.
“What are you doing, Shadow?” Brax asks as I pull myself onto Ari’s back.
“The griffins are being held against their will, I want to see what the situation is,” I state, clutching Ari’s feathers a little tighter than necessary, but I feel completely disoriented up here.
Creed steps forward, glancing between Ari and me before he takes two steps toward us and points a finger in my griffin’s face. “You bring her back here in one piece with a fucking beating heart or I’ll destroy you all by myself, do you hear me? And do not let her get off because she’ll start waging some kind of fucking war and we already seem to have one of those looming over us as it is.”
I blink at him with wide eyes as Ari slowly tips his head.
“I like him,” he says into my mind, and I grin, my teeth sinking into my bottom lip in a failed attempt to conceal it.
“I like him too,” I murmur, just loud enough for Creed to hear before Ari takes a step back.
“Are you ready?”
“No.”
It’s like my answer doesn’t register, or he simply doesn’t care for my uncertainty, because in the next breath, his feet push up off the ground and we’re up in the air.
Holy. Fuck.
I hold tighter somehow, plastering my face against his feathers as my thighs hold on for dear life.
My stomach somersaults as the air whooshes around us and I’m unsure if I’m going to be sick or not. Loose tendrils of my hair sweep around my face as I realize my eyelids are slammed shut.
“Are you not going to enjoy the view?” Ari asks, a sense of amusement in his tone, and I scowl, even though he can’t see me.
“I wasn’t aware there was anything to enjoy,” I snap, attempting to pry an eye open but faltering at the last second.
“If you would just open your eyes, then you would know,” he grunts back as we soar through the skies at an unreal speed, confirming that I’m good where I am.
A few minutes pass and it almost feels like we’re holding a steadier speed and a level height. Confidence gets the better of me and I manage to ping one eye open as my hold on him turns deadly. Not that he seems to notice as I focus on the sky first.
The clouds look just as they did when I was lying in the grass, offering me a sense of familiar comfort and a hint of courage. My jaw falls slack as I look around us. Mountain tops, the ocean, and an array of trees in a variety of colors cascade around us.
“It’s beautiful.”
“It is. It’s just a pity it’s only superficial and if you look below the surface, it’s not as sweet at its core,” he replies, and sadness floods me.
I don’t know what to say, so I don’t say anything, appreciating the view despite his words as Ari guides us to the compound. Glancing over my shoulder, I see the academy in the distance, standing tall and dark among the otherwise vivid scenery.
“Hold on, we’re going down.”
It’s impossible for me to hold on any tighter, but I don’t tell him that as he dips toward the ground. A squeal lodges in my throat, but I at least manage to keep my eyes open as he lands with a thud at the edge of a forest.
He tilts his wing as he did earlier and I shuffle down, slightly relieved when my feet touch the ground.
“Where is it?” I ask, glancing around, and he nods toward the forest. “I don’t understand, it’s just a…” My words trail off as I see a griffin, just like Ari, on the other side of the tree line. “Do you know them?”
“Yes.”
“Why don’t they come closer,” I ask when the other griffin remains exactly where they are and Ari doesn’t take a step closer.
