Page 52 of Mastering Mayhem

“Oh, shit.”

She flapped, taking to the sky and—since I’d so brilliantly coiled the rope around my hand—dragging me along with her. I grabbed it with my free hand as she ascended, and I hung from her neck like a human albatross, swinging in the breeze as she circled just above the trees.

At least I was right-side-up this time.

“Can you see the amulet?” Chaos shouted from below. “Perhaps it’s matted in her fur.”

I gazed up at the momma-to-be. Her white eagle feathers blended perfectly into sleek, brown fur. Not a mat to be seen. Her belly was even bigger than the day before, and her udders…or were they called nipples on a lion? Whatever the proper term, they looked painfully red and swollen.

Something in her tummy shifted, her eggs, I assumed, and she let out a deep, distraught bellow that nearly broke my heart. This poor creature needed to nest…now.

“I don’t think she has it,” I shouted as I climbed the rope. What I planned to do when I reached the top, I wasn’t sure, but I was too high to let go and fall. My legs would snap on impact from this altitude.

“She does,” Mayhem said. “Use your magic to sense it. She has it somewhere on her person.”

Oof. Yet another skill I hadn’t practiced in a while. Ash was the one who scoured the thrift stores and collected magical artifacts before the humans could get their hands on them.

The griffin bellowed again and swooped toward a tree. Branches slapped across my arms, cutting into my skin, and I buried my face in her feathers as she unsteadily perched in an oak. The blob in her stomach shifted again, moving closer to the exit, and she huffed out a mewling moan.

“Hey, sweet girl. I’m not going to hurt you.” I tentatively rested a hand on her shoulder, running it over her silky fur. “I just need to see if you have the amulet. I don’t think you do, but the demons down there insist.”

I grabbed a handful of fur and hauled myself onto her back. She made an irritated chuffing sound, and I stroked her, running my hands from her feathers to her fur and focusing on sending soothing energy into her.

“My love is wide, my caring deep. I wish you calm so you may sleep.” My mom used to say those words to me when I was a kid and was too wound up for bedtime. My palms warmed, my peaceful intent seeping into her as I recited the spell again.

I continued petting the griffin and glanced at the scene below. The demons no longer strained, which meant they had closed the rift they’d opened. Shade sat with his back against a tree trunk while Patrice stitched up his arm, and Ash and Miles worked together on a potion.

The griffin began to relax, the tension in her muscles easing as my calming energy soothed her.

Me, calm and soothing. Crazy, I know.

With the beastie subdued, I shifted my focus to sensing the amulet. I lay on the griffin’s back, resting my cheek against her feathered neck and spreading my arms, creating as much contact as I could. Her low, underworldly vibration registered in my psyche, growing stronger and stronger until my entire body hummed.

Wait. I lifted my head and smiled. That wasn’t her magical vibration I felt. She was purring.

“That’s a good girl.” I laid my head on her neck and tried again. “Confess, expose my magic sleuth. I call on you to reveal your truth.”

I didn’t think the spell would actually work. Not without a potion to amplify my intent. But the moment the last word crossed my lips, I felt it. The griffin’s magic was unmistakable, low and gray. She hadn’t come to this realm with ill intent.

I felt Patrice’s new binding spell too, though it was nothing like the one we normally used. This bind seemed to be more about controlling the receiver. Forcing compliance. It was an interesting choice for a healer witch, but we were all acting outside our comfort zones lately. Lucky for the griffin…and unlucky for us…she was too powerful to be subdued by Patrice’s magic.

The amulet’s energy was the strongest. The mix of Hecate’s high and Lucifer’s low vibrations registered in my being, and I scooted down the griffin’s back, following the magical pull and searching for a pouch in her skin where she might have hidden it. She was already an eagle and lion combo. Why not kangaroo too?

I kept moving down, running my hands over her fur until…

Oh no.

I moved up to her neck, straddling her back and leaning toward her ear. “I know the guys said you don’t understand words any more than a house cat does, but I think they’re wrong. I think you understand me, don’t you?”

Her purring intensified.

“We want to send you back home so you can raise your babies in peace, but we need your help first.” I dug my hands into her feathers, gently gripping them. “I promise no one on the ground will hurt you. Will you please take us down?”

She let out a noise that sounded half-chirp, half-meow, but the communication I received wasn’t audible. I couldn’t tell you if she put the words into my mind or if I simply felt what she wanted to say, but her message was clear. She just wanted to go home.

“We’ll get you home. I promise.” I focused on the strange connection we shared. Could all griffins communicate this way, or was it the amulet’s doing? At the moment, it didn’t matter. “Please take us to the ground so I can tell my team what’s happening.”

I felt her compliance a moment before she leaped from the branches. I squealed, tightening my grip on her feathers as she flapped her wings. She circled above the trees, and the chilly autumn air whipped my hair back, stinging my cheeks as we soared.

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