Gryphon of Glass - Zoe Chant Page 0,1

bring through at the last New Year’s Eve and it still gave her nightmares, remembering how helpless she had been against them. She, Trey, Daniella, and Robin the fable had barely been able to turn them back, and Robin had suffered greatly to seal the portals that would have let them through.

Gwen re-settled her halo, regretting the fact that she hadn’t been able to do much in the scope of things. Her sword was worthless against the shadowy form, slicing through it without doing any damage. Robin swore that she would come into her power once she was united with the gryphon-shifting knight, Henrik.

The only problem was that no one knew where Henrik might be.

Four of the knights had been captured in glass and thrust into a strange world with their mentor, Robin. These ornaments, a dragon, a unicorn, a gryphon, and a firebird, had been found by Ansel...and subsequently sold, one at a time.

Gwen sometimes wondered if his generosity was a matter of apology, for not recognizing the magical glass ornaments for what they were, and for accidentally separating the four of them. But Ansel’s hospitality seemed genuine, and his appreciation for their situation was not feigned; if all four knights were not freed from their glass prisons and united with their keys, there would be little to stand between the dark forces of the place they’d come from and the helpless human world.

It seemed strange that their battle had been less than a year ago, and it was terrifying to think that they were no closer now to finding the two missing knights, with New Year’s looming in a few short months.

A scream shook Gwen from her musing, and Trey and Rez both reached for the swords at their sides. Heather had decked them out in medieval costumes from her Renaissance Festival contacts, and they had real weapons from her blacksmith friend.

Gwen was the first one out the open door, but she knew before she got to the bottom of the porch steps that the scream was more outrage and surprise than pain.

A little brown-skinned boy was lying in the slushy snow beside the steps, holding his arm and wailing. His friends hovered over him in various states of scorn and sympathy.

“Hey there, Superman,” Gwen said kindly, weaving between the kids. “Did you fall off the steps?”

“Jerry pushed me!” the little boy accused.

“I did not!” Jerry protested. “You slipped!”

“You going to want a bandaid on that?” Gwen asked, before they could argue about it further. “I bet we have some fun designs!”

The little boy brightened at the idea; he was wearing short sleeves despite the snow, and trying to crane to see his injured elbow. “Is it bleeding?”

“C’mon, I’ll help you put it on,” Gwen said. “The rest of you can come in and play with the dogs for a minute.”

That brought them all tromping eagerly in with wet boots and laughter. Heather let Vesta down to greet them and Fabio bounded forward with his tail wagging the moment Daniella released his collar.

Vesta was a tiny Italian Greyhound, close in size to Gwen’s cat Socks, who was undoubtedly hiding somewhere safe from dangerous doorbells and sticky, grabby fingers. Fabio was a full-sized Afghan Hound with a floating blond coat like the cover model he was named after. The children were immediately enthralled with both of them, and the boy holding his elbow looked like he wanted to stay and play.

“I’m Gwen,” she offered, herding the hurt superhero into the kitchen. “What’s your name?”

“Lawson,” the little boy said sullenly. Gwen passed him a piece of candy behind her back and he brightened considerably.

“Looks like you got a little scrape,” Gwen said casually as he unwrapped the treat. “Let’s clean it out and I’ll find a bandaid.”

Lawson was inclined to snivel over the hydrogen peroxide that Gwen used, but she easily distracted him. “Did you know that I used to teach martial arts to kids just your age?” she said.

“You know karate?” he asked skeptically.

“I’m a black belt in Tang Soo Do,” Gwen said, adding, “Fifth degree,” even though it probably wouldn’t mean anything to him.

He looked duly impressed. “That’s cool!”

She found a tube of antibiotic and squeezed out a tiny bit to rub over the scratch, which had already stopped bleeding.

“Feeling better?” Gwen asked.

Lawson shrugged, like he’d forgotten that there had been any injury at all. “My mom has one of those!” he said, pointing suddenly at the window.

“She has the same curtains?” Gwen asked, not looking. She screwed