Zeph lifts a bed that managed to get tangled in some branches and throws it. Pigeon roars in triumph and slaps the sky shadow’s butt with the tip of her tail. I choke on a laugh, because I’m pretty sure she just good gamed him. The sky shadow’s tail flicks Pigeon right back, and she snaps at his paw before bouncing back away from him.
Alarm shoots through me, and I immediately question Pigeon’s sanity. Why the hell is she picking a fight with Zeph’s gryphon? His tail gets all sassy as though he’s more amused than annoyed, and out of nowhere, he leaps for Pigeon.
I scream, shocked by the explosive attack, but Pigeon just chuffs as I she dives sideways off the humongous tree. She falls like she’s mimicking the rubble her and Zeph’s gryphons have been tossing around, and then she spreads her wings, and we’re suddenly darting around the behemoth tree trunk and soaring up into the cloudless, star-peppered night.
The sky shadow roars as Pigeon expertly dodges him, and his eyes light up with excited challenge as he dives off the tree in pursuit. I feel like Slider in Top Gun as I try to keep track of the bogey, but the fact that Zeph’s gryphon is almost pitch black does not help with that task.
I’m waiting for him to show up inverted right above us, but Pigeon is seemingly in heaven as she finally gets the game of cat and mouse she’s been begging for since we first spoke.
I squeal in anticipation, not able to contain it. “I lost him, Pidge,” I shout out and then immediately go quiet so we can feel the air for him.
Pigeon flashes me a got him two milliseconds before she dives to the left, and the sky shadow goes screaming past us, missing us by only a feather. He flips back so he can come for us again, but now it’s really on. Pigeon dashes through the sky like a speeding falling star, just begging for some poor sap to make a wish.
I can practically hear the wind as it screams past us and our breakneck speed, and I love every fucking minute of it.
“Go!” I scream with glee when I can feel the sky shadow almost on our tail.
Pigeon blows my mind when she puts up the flaps and flips back going Mach holy fucking shit, tapping the sky shadow on the back as she evades him in some gravity defying, cat-bendy move.
I laugh so hard at the badass boop she just gave him, all because she could. A deeper chuffing noise sounds off below us, and I’m stupefied into silence.
Is Zeph’s gryphon...laughing?
He grabs our paw and yanks us down out of nowhere, and I oh shit scream and then crack up when Pigeon releases this surprised squeal. The sky shadow rolls us onto our back, and we twirl and swoop, swirl and loop around each other in a stunning display of flying and finesse.
I watch in awe as the gryphons play and tag each other, moving seamlessly through the sky like they can anticipate each other’s moves. The carefree happiness that’s radiating out of Pigeon right now makes me want to cry, because she’s deserved this from the beginning. This is all she’s wanted from the very beginning, this simple act of trust and play. She’s wanted to chase and be chased and just be free to be a gryphon.
I send her waves of warmth and love as she streaks through the night, finally letting go and just being who she was always meant to be. She was trapped inside of me for so long, and I’m overwhelmed by the beauty and rightness of her much-deserved freedom.
Pigeon dives down and nips at the sky shadow’s ear, and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face if I tried, because this...Pigeon and I...is perfection. And this is how things should always be.
17
“Does it hurt her, dad?” I ask, pulling my hand away from the little pig with the black mark like daddy’s on her back. She scampers away with little piggy grunts, sniffing at the grass.
“It stings her a little, My Heart, but she’s helping me teach you to protect yourself, so she doesn’t mind. We’ll make sure to give her extra treats and cuddles as soon as we’re done,” he reassures me.
“I don’t want to hurt Princess, even if it is only a little,” I tell him, tears welling in my eyes.
My dad’s bright green gaze softens, and he gets on his knees in front of me. “I know, My Heart. I love that you want to look after her. How about we try just one more time? You focus really hard on everything I’ve told you, and if you do it right, then we’ll never do it again,” he offers me.
I study him and then Princess for a moment. “Not ever?” I ask, making sure he means it.
“Ever,” he agrees.
I take a deep breath and nod once. He gets to his feet and goes to get Princess, then brings her back and sets her down in front of me again. I rest my hand on the mark dad gave her earlier and try to remember everything he said I had to do. Princess squirms a little, and I use my other hand to hold her still. Dad said I have to touch the magic if I want to stop it.
I close my eyes and focus. “Nusht fialow odreece tamod kle,” I declare confidently, and I feel the magic under my hand crumble like my sandcastles do at the beach when dad and I play dragon horde and climb all over them.
Princess gives a pained
