“Let me do something first, and then it’s all you, Pidge,” I promise her, and she gives a satisfied nod and sits back, ready to enjoy the show.
I leap off the branch, not nearly as gracefully as Zeph did. I’m more cannonball to his swan dive, but who cares? When the wind is rushing past you, and gravity is threatening to bring you to heel, all that matters is your wings on the wind and the way it makes your soul soar like nothing else will.
Zeph zips past me, and I giggle as I redirect and follow him like a bullet that’s hot on his trail. The faster that I’m ready to lob at him dies in my throat as he pulls his wings in tighter and shoots through the sky like a comet. I give chase, and I’m just about to catch him when he flares his wings out and drifts slowly onto a branch. I follow suit, stopping in front of a massive house that’s been built into the trees.
I try to picture what life had been like for the gryphons and their tree houses. I can practically hear the giggles of kids swooping around as they played tag or whatever it is gryphon kids love to play. I can see mothers and fathers watching their children from the branches of their home, calling loved ones home for dinner, or getting ready to celebrate one of this world’s many festivals.
It makes me sad that gryphons were forced to abandon this way of life. Now they reside in Ouphe abandoned castles and cities, and even though I know nothing about tree houses and what it was like to grow up in a community like this, I hope the gryphons can find their way back to all of this once the fighting is over.
I watch Zeph for a moment as he takes this place in. I’m not sure what’s running through his head, but it’s really none of my business. This is where his fight started, and this is where I hope he can find a way to make that drive work for him instead of against him. I don’t want Zeph to lose the fire that’s guided him for so long, but when this war is over and there’s no Vow anymore to fight against, what will be left for him? He needs to find more in his life that makes it worth living than hate and the need for retribution.
I nod once and then rip off a branch the size of my arm, stomp toward the house of horrors, and swing hard at the window. I let the branch fly from my hands, and the sound of shattering glass fills the air all around me. I don’t look over at Zeph to see what he thinks of my sudden tantrum—what he wants to do with his time is his business—but me...I want to tear this shit to the ground with my bare fucking hands.
I want to erase the legacy of pain and hate, destroy the home that fostered such torment. If I could light this bitch up with fire, I would, but since that’s not a power I have, my anger will have to do. I kick at the front door until it’s half hanging off the hinges and break off another branch to throw through another window. I go to work, grunting and screaming when it helps me, but otherwise I’m quiet and focused solely on destruction.
Something crashes to the ground on my left, and I look over to see Zeph pulling boards down and chucking them as far as he can throw. His face is fixed in fury and determination, and we both work alongside each other, doing what we can to rid the world of this shit hole, one piece at a time.
I’m panting and sweating in no time, but there’s not enough damage for me to stop. Damn, where’s a bulldozer when you need one? Pigeon perks up, as though Bulldozer is her middle name, and flashes me images of her ripping a fucking tree from the ground, roots and all. I chuckle and gesture for her to have at it. She cracks her neck from side to side, rolls her shoulders, and then puts a gryphon-sized hard hat on that says, “I got this” on it.
Before I can tell her to let me get undressed first, the overzealous little shit shifts, and we explode into her massive gryphon form. I throw up my hands in defeat.
“I fucking give up,” I yell at her inside our head. “I’m officially a nudist now; I won’t fight it anymore,” I concede.
Pigeon chuffs and then hits play on the soundtrack she’s selected for this moment. The lyrics “I came in like a wrecking ball” blast in our head as she shows me how gryphons like to get down when it comes to destruction.
I cheer my fucking head off when she rips part of the roof off as if it’s the foil seal of a Pringles can. She goes to town ripping shit to shreds, and you’d think I was sitting front row at the most epic sporting event with how into it I am. I’m like a beauty pageant/soccer mom, just clapping away and telling everyone within hearing distance, “That’s my baby,” and pointing to the amazing things only I care about.
A feral roar tears through the night, and we look over in alarm only to find that Zeph’s released the sky shadow, and that fucker is going pure Godzilla all over this place. Pigeon gives him an answering roar, and I Hercules-clap as they work as tandem forces of destruction.
Maybe Bulldozer is Pigeon’s middle name.
The house crumbles one wall and board at a time, and I’m surprised by the quick work the gryphons make of turning this place into rubble. Maybe I
