Nikolas didn’t move. “Not without us.”
I let out an aggravated sigh and moved around him. “Fine, but you better not frighten her. You two can stay by the door unless the vicious griffin attacks me.”
“I think she’s gotten bossy since she came here,” Chris said to Nikolas in a stage whisper. “What have you been teaching her?”
Nikolas muttered something in Russian. I knew he was just being . . . Nikolas, but it wasn’t like we were going to face a pack of crocotta for heaven’s sake. This was a frightened child who had been stolen from her family, and she needed compassion, not force.
We entered the menagerie, and Nikolas and Chris stayed just inside the door while Sahir and I walked toward the cages. Hugo and Woolf started to whine as soon as I drew near them, and I had to stop and pet them, then order them to go lie down so they did not upset the griffin.
Alex was crouched in the back of his cage as usual, and I called softly to him while giving him a wide berth. He watched us with that unblinking stare of his that never failed to give me the willies. People who trained wyverns must be either the bravest or the most insane people on earth.
A golden feather floated in front of my face, and I looked up at the ceiling. “Wow, oh, wow.” I stared at the creature perched on the highest rafter at the center of the glass roof. She was as big as a Golden Retriever with a leonine body, the head of an eagle, and wings folded against her sides. Even from this distance, I could see that her feathers were ruffled and dirty, an unusual state for a creature known for its preening and cleanliness. At the sound of my voice, she tilted her head and peered down at me with a sadness that tore at my heart.
“Sara, this is Minuet.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off her. “She’s incredible,” I breathed.
“She won’t be that way for long if we don’t get her down from there and get her to eat something,” Sahir said, reminding me why I was there.
“Right, sorry. I’ve just never seen anything like her.” I studied the griffin a minute longer, then looked around for a place to sit. This might take a while – if it worked at all. I settled for a spot on the floor with my back against the cage across from Minuet’s. “Sahir, could you stand with the others so you don’t frighten her?”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m just going to talk to her for a bit.”
He walked over to join Nikolas and Chris, and I felt their eyes on me as I began to release my power into the air. Trying my best to ignore my audience, I spoke to the young griffin.
“I hope you don’t mind me keeping you company, Minuet. I bet it’s pretty scary and lonely for you here.” She blinked and turned her head away. My chest tightened. “I know how you feel. I miss my family, too.”
She did not make any sounds, but I saw her shift from one foot to another. Another feather drifted toward me. According to Remy, griffins are very intelligent, and they can understand every spoken language. I wasn’t sure if young griffins had the ability, but I hoped my soothing tone would put her at ease – that, and the power rising through the air toward her.
“Minuet, would you like to hear a story about a girl who got lost far away from her family? Kind of like you, I guess. It has a happy ending, I promise.
“The girl’s name was . . . um . . . Mary, and one day she disappeared and none of her friends or family knew where she’d gone. They all thought she was lost to them forever. But what they didn’t know was that Mary was very sick, so sick she almost died, and some good faeries had taken Mary home with them to heal her. For a long time, Mary lay in a deep sleep while the faeries worked their magic on her. And then one day, she woke up and found herself in the most amazing place she had ever seen.”
I looked up the griffin and caught the slight tilt of her head toward me. Hiding my smile, I continued with my story. “Mary was lying in the softest bed you could ever imagine surrounded by walls made of vines and pretty flowers. Then the vines moved and in walked the most beautiful red-haired sylph who told Mary they had healed her. Then she shocked Mary by telling her that she was actually half faerie, which was why the faeries had saved her. She took Mary outside and gave her the most delicious food and drink, then took her on a walk to show her a place so beautiful it brought tears to Mary’s eyes.” I described a glassy lake, lush greenery, a brilliant blue sky, and the birds and creatures living there.
“Mary and her new friend talked for a long time, and the sylph told her this was her home now if she chose to stay. Mary looked around her and knew she might never feel as safe or as content as she did at that moment. She could have that forever if she gave up her life in the human world and stayed in Faerie.”