He crossed the smoking remains, scaled the tree, and eased out on the branch to unhook the chains. “Hold on, Gryphon.”
Gryphon’s body dropped to the ground with a thud. Heart in his throat, Orpheus picked his way down the tree trunk to find Skyla already kneeling next to his brother, her backpack on the ground at her side, the blanket from inside it wrapped around Gryphon’s shaking shoulders.
“Wh-who are you?” Gryphon asked, clutching the blanket to his bloody body, shivering as if he were in the Arctic.
“I came with Orpheus,” Skyla said. “We’re here to help you.”
Gryphon’s head shifted in Orpheus’s direction but confusion creased his forehead. And in his light blue eyes there wasn’t a single shred of recognition.
Orpheus knelt next to his brother. “We’re gonna get you out of here.”
“No!” Gryphon’s eyes flew wide and he lurched to his feet, knocking Skyla back to the ground. “I have to get back to the city.” His wild eyes searched right and left. Beneath the blanket he clutched tightly to his chest, shivers racked his body again.
Orpheus eased slowly to his feet. Held up his hands in surrender. “Easy, Gryph. No one’s here to hurt you.” From his peripheral vision he saw Skyla push herself up and circle around to Gryphon’s other side.
“No,” Gryphon said, backing up a step, his bloody bare feet scuffing over ash and razor-sharp rocks. “This is a trap. This is more torture. I won’t stay. You can’t make me stay! I’ll find my way back to the city.”
Orpheus didn’t know what city his brother was talking about, but the pain in Gryphon’s voice told him he’d seen and been through horrors no one should have to endure. He took a cautious step closer to his brother. “There’s no trap. And no more torture. I promise. We’re here to rescue you.”
Gryphon’s spine hit a blackened tree trunk. The whites of his eyes could be seen all around his blue irises. “And who’s going to save you?”
Orpheus darted a look at Skyla. The one she sent back said Good question.
Orpheus took another step closer. “Gryphon—”
“Daemon,” Skyla whispered. “These forests have eyes. I feel it. We need to get out of here quick.”
Orpheus felt it too. The hair on his nape stood straight up. “Look, Gryph, we have to go. I promise nothing bad will happen.”
Gryphon held up both blanketed forearms and slammed into Orpheus, knocking him hard to the ground. “No!” He darted past Orpheus and took off into the field.
He was real. Down here, at least, his soul took on a solid form. Orpheus’s head spun from the hit and he rolled to his stomach, then pushed himself up. Skyla dashed after Gryphon and caught him just as he hit the knee-high grasses they’d crossed earlier. She hurled herself forward and grasped him by the waist. The two hit the ground with a smack, then disappeared from view.
Orpheus scrambled to his feet and tore after them. When he reached the grasses, Skyla had one knee pressed into Gryphon’s bare chest to hold him down, her hands pinning his to the ground.
Orpheus’s feet slowed, and in shock and disbelief he approached the pair, his heart in a fog, his head unable to grasp what he was seeing.
His strong, proud, invincible Argonaut brother was weeping.
Skyla glared up at Orpheus. “Help me here! He’s freakin’ strong.”
Orpheus knelt at her side, grasped Gryphon’s wrists with shaking hands. Gods…those damn gods. “We’re gonna help you, Gryphon,” he said, his own voice quaking. “I promise, adelfos. I promise nothing else will happen to you. We’re here to get you out. I swear it.”
Gryphon’s eyes shot wide and he stopped his struggle. His terror-filled gaze darted right and left. “She’s coming. She’s coming. They’re both coming…”
His words echoed in the air around them. Orpheus shot Skyla a look. In her holy shit look he saw the same thing he was thinking reflected back at him. Whatever she was or they were, they needed to be long gone before anyone showed up.
Together they hauled Gryphon to his feet. He whispered frantic, crazed words that made no sense as they wrapped the blanket around his body, darted nervous looks in every direction. Since there was nothing to be done about his bleeding feet, Orpheus slid an arm around Gryphon’s waist, propped Gryphon’s arm over his shoulder, and held him up. Skyla took the lead, her bow and arrow at the ready as they crossed the plains and headed back the way they’d come.
After only twenty minutes, Gryphon’s shuffling and incoherent mutterings turned to thrashing and fighting. He tried to push away from Orpheus and screamed, “No! I won’t let you take me!”
The blanket fell to the ground. Gryphon wrenched free of Orpheus’s hold and turned to run back to the trees, but his legs gave out beneath him and he slammed face-first into the dirt.
“Skyla!”