The Conduit The Gryphon Series

CHAPTER 17

Come to find out the first step in channeling one’s inner eagle is meditation. I do not have an inner eagle. Therefore it made no sense for me to be cross legged on the ground focused on my breathing. Concentration on anything wasn’t coming easily. There was a Seeker in town doing God knows what—and my pants were soaked from sitting on the ground. I opened one eye and peeked at my sister. She was doing exactly as Alaina told her; eyes closed, head up, breathing deeply. If she was uncomfortable it didn’t show. Maybe the ground wasn’t wet where she was sitting. If that was the case, I was probably sitting where some wild animal had recently…Eeew.

“Celeste!”

I sheepishly opened both eyes and peered at Alaina. With her hands on her hips and her cross expression, she was the picture of disapproval.

“Sorry.”

“Will you please try to focus?” She pleaded.

“I’m trying, I am.” I lied.

Again she began her instructions. “Close your eyes.” I did. “Now, inhale a deep, cleansing breath. Feel your lungs expanding to their fullest capacity. Exhale and blow out all the tension in your body. Good. Again, inhale.”

I wonder what Alec is doing right now?

“All the stress is leaving your body, leaving you refreshed and rejuvenated. Inhale. Exhale. Your body is relaxed and your mind is free to roam.”

And roam it shall…

“Let your subconscious focus on all those you love. Let your mind center on them. Open yourself to the love in your heart. Feel the warmth of it radiating through you. It’s spreading through your chest, castings its glow through each part of your body that it touches. It reaches your arms and legs, right down to the tips of your fingers and toes.”

Blah, blah, blah. For a Spirit Guide she’s surprisingly long winded.

“Up into your head, even your hair is tingling. Every inch of your body is alive with the love that you possess. Let your entire being become encompassed in that beautiful feeling.”

I wonder if Kendall is faking. She totally could be. I opened myself up to her to check. Love emanated off her with such a force that it made warmth explode through me. I had never felt anything like this. It was an amazing, euphoric high.

I could also feel that she was teetering on the precipice of her change. She was so close, but seemed stuck, needing a nudge to push her over the threshold. I centered everything I was feeling, drew it into a tight circle in my chest, and with a touch of my hand gave it to her. The energy passed through me and into her. She jerked at my touch, and then absorbed the weight of what I’d given her like a person being electrocuted. She convulsed from head to toe. Her eyes rolled back in her head. A foamy, gurgled scream tore from her throat.

Panicked, I scrambled to get to my feet to aid my baby sister. Alaina intercepted me and physically blocked me from getting any closer.

“No.” She whispered in my ear. “It’s happening.”

The trembling stopped. Keni sat ramrod straight, still as the dead. Her eyes popped open and stared straight ahead. Fabric tore. Alaina took my hand and guided me around to Kendall’s side.

“You’re going to want to see this.”

I crinkled my nose. “I’m fairly certain I don’t.”

Two mounds of flesh rose up out of Kendall’s shoulder blades. Slow and steady they grew. Thick stalks of cartilage drew outward to pull and manipulate the fleshy lumps into a taunt wing form. The bare flesh stretched out wide behind her. Fuzzy white down sprouted up to cover it. A beat later the down fell away to reveal silky, ivory feathers beneath it. Her wings shook and flapped off the remaining fuzz, then snapped open to exhibit the finished product. A gigantic pair of magnificent ivory wings protruded from baby sister’s back.

“Well there’s something you don’t see every day.” I gaped.

“I do.” Alaina corrected.

Kendall’s eye blinked rapidly as she regained the ability to focus. “What happened?”

I pointed. “Uhhh…those happened.”

She glanced over shoulder. “OH! Whoa!!”

“This is great, Kendall.” Alaina assured her. “This is exactly what we wanted to happen.”

I’ll admit my next little barrage of questions probably didn’t help the situation. “What does it feel like? Do they hurt? Can you move them? Can I touch one?”

“No, you cannot touch one! Oh, this feels so weird! Like I just grew another set of arms or something.” She groaned.

I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out and rubbing one of her new feathers between my thumb and forefinger. They were soft, just like bird down. She jerked her wing away from my touch which sent her on a whole new tirade.

“Oh! It’s moving! I’m moving it. I can move it and it feels soooo gross!” She flapped her wings back and forth. “You have no idea how wrong this feels. I don’t know how I’m doing it! Oh, oohhhh…this is so very, very, very, very weird! Uhhh!”

Alaina cradled Kendall’s face in her hands. “Kendall, I need you to calm down so I can help you. Okay?”

“Slap her or something.” I suggested.

“I am not going to slap her, because she is going to calm down. Right, Kendall?”

My sister’s wings did another involuntary flap. Even with her mouth clamped firmly shut, a muffled whimper escaped. Her eyes pleaded with our guide to somehow, someway, make this better.

“I need you to listen. The only way you are going to put your mind at ease is to learn to control them. Do you understand?” Alaina asked in her soothing made-for-radio voice.

“Mmm-hmm.” Kendall squeaked.

“I want you to pull your wings in. It is an act similar to drawing your arms in to your sides. It will come naturally. You just need to try. Can you do that for me?”

“Nnn-mm.” Kendall shook her head from side to side.

“Why not?”

Kendall’s beseeching eyes met mine. I opened myself up to her, then answered for her. “It scares the crap out of her when she feels them move.”

“I see. I suppose I should have explained myself better.” Alaina said and stroked Kendall’s cheek. “I am trying to show you how to put your wings away so that you can have a break from them.”

Kendall’s eyes widened with her desire to be rid of her new attributes for a while.

“Now can you give it a try?” Alaina attempted again.

Kendall’s faced turned stone serious. Her wings twitched inward and prompted another unintentional yelp. She set her jaw and tried again. In one rapid motion, like folding up an umbrella, they flattened together and disappeared into her back.

“There now,” Alaina smiled. “Just an ordinary girl again.”

A new realization dawned on Kendall, the fashion plate. “Hey! My brand new shirt is ripped.”

“The sacrifices of being a superhero.” I said sarcastically.

“I’ll say. I loved this shirt. What the heck am I supposed to do, wear tank tops all the time?”

Alaina and I exchanged amused glances.

“How do you feel now, aside from your ruined garment?” Alaina asked.

“Better.” Keni nodded.

Alaina offered Keni a hand to help her up. “I do remember that the first time is quite—disturbing. I promise you it does get easier.”

“I sure hope so.” Keni stood up and brushed off the back of her striped board shorts.

“You could prove it to yourself right now. Go ahead and expand them again.”

Kendall hesitated for a moment, and then closed her eyes. As if it was already a reflex, the awesome wings sprung open.

Her face brightened. “It was easier that time! Why was the first time so painful?”

With a bird-like twitch, Alaina cocked her head to the side. “It was painful?”

“Very.”

I sheepishly raised my hand. “I…think that was my fault.”

Kendall scoffed. “Wings ripped their way out of my back and you think it’s your fault it hurt?”

“I helped.” I croaked.

Both the beautiful, winged women turned to face me.

“What did you do, Cee?”

“Meditating wasn’t working for me. I wondered if it was working for you. So I felt your emotions, which were really nice. You were all glowy. But then I felt you get stuck, right before the change. So I channeled everything I was feeling. The good, the bad, the indifferent and I gave it to you. Sorry. So sorry.” I rambled it all out, not even stopping to breath.

Alaina gave me a maternal frown. “I was having her meditate on love because that is the emotion that triggers her change. Adding foreign emotions added pain.” I gulped and prepared to be reprimanded. “However, you do seem to have mastered the skill to pass your feelings to others, so some good came from this.”

“Was that a ‘yeah me’?” I asked.

“I’m pretty sure that was a ‘next time keep your emoting to yourself.’” Kendall said and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Will do.” I agreed. “Once again, so sorry.”

Keni shrugged; her wings bobbed up and down. “Whatevs. So Alaina, when do I get to, like, fly and stuff?”

“Right now, if you are ready.” To me Alaina added, “Would you please act as our look out while she practices? Keep a vigilant eye out for the panther. If he appears, warn us immediately. We will need to get you out of here at once.”

I was used to fading into the background while one of my siblings shined in the spotlight, but it never bothered me as much as it did right then. I moseyed over to a nearby rock and sat down. Inadequate seemed too weak a word to describe how I felt as Kendall flit up to the treetops. She was the embodiment of angelic beauty. Silken feathers framed her, while her blonde hair cascaded around her shoulders. Based on sheer principle alone this was cosmically unjust.

***

Sprawled out in our bedroom, Keni and I filled Gabe in on what he missed. More accurately I tried to fill him in while Keni gushed over what it felt like to fly.

“…the wind was in my face. I could see, like, the entire mountain range. It was amazing.”

“No you couldn’t.” I snipped. “Alaina didn’t let you go above the tree tops.”

“Well, you wouldn’t know, being down on the ground and all, but from where I was I could totally see everything.” She rolled onto her back on her bed and made Mr. Hoofington “fly” over her head.

“Did the Seeker make an appearance at all?” Gabe’s asked while giving me a ‘does she have a mute button’ look.

“If he was anywhere around, I totally would have seen him. Did I mention I could see everything up there?”

“It came up.” I snapped and squeezed the pillow in my lap a little tighter. “He didn’t show. Hopefully, it wasn’t because he was busy feasting on express line customers.”

Gabe threw himself on my bed. The bed springs screamed as his enormous frame landed. “I doubt there was any bloodshed. Small town like this we would’ve heard about it the second it happened.”

I feared he would break the frame and swatted him off my bed. He groaned, but settled on to the floor. “True. Plus, Kendall just became a big neon sign pointing him to us. He won’t waste his time in town much longer.”

A knock on the door, then Grams poked her head in. “Gangs all here, huh? What are we talking about?”

“The panther in town.” I answered truthfully. “Did you hear anything about what happened today?”

Fired up for a good bit of gossiping, Grams threw open the door with gusto. “Yes! It was really somethin’! They had that critter cornered up there on the roof. Animal rescue shot it with three different tranquilizer darts before it finally went down. Or at least they thought they hit the panther…” She paused for dramatic effect. “But when they got up on the roof—no panther. There was a man up there that somehow got caught in the crossfire. No one knows who he is, or what he was doing there. All they know is he was in the worst possible place, at the worst possible time and got himself darted in the rump for it. They carted him off to the hospital in Nashville. Hopefully when he wakes up, they’ll get some answers. Poor fella. Scared by a panther, and then shot in the butt. That’s a bad day, right there.”

If all evil creatures are this incompetent, this saving the world thing might not be too tough.

“Wow, just wow.” Gabe marveled.

“Excitement like that is even better than my stories!” Grams gushed and waved her freshly polished fuchsia nails in the air. “Anywho, I came up here to let ya’ll know I’m off to Casino Night at the Bingo Hall. Gonna try my hand at Blackjack. Grams needs a new pair of shoes! Ha! You kids have a good night.”

She planted bright red lipstick marks on each of our foreheads before she disappeared down the stairs. We waited until we heard the front door click shut behind her before we resumed our ‘other’ identities.

“Am I the only one that expected more from the Dark Army than some spaz that gets darted by the local law enforcement?” I asked.

“Maybe he’s new to being evil.” My sister shrugged, then struck yet another Superman pose and giggled to herself.

“This may’ve bought us some time though. If he was unconscious he probably missed Kendall’s powers being activated.” I ran my finger along the ridges of the Gryphon statuette on my nightstand, and wished he could answer our questions directly.

“That’s good. That gives us more time to prepare.” Gabe seemed lost in his own thoughts as he stared out the door. “But what if they come here? What do we do about Grams?”

We all fell silent. The idea of Grams being harmed was unfathomable.

“She’s never left alone.” I declared.

Kendall and Gabe nodded in agreement. If the Dark Army wanted to come for us, let them come. But hands off the Grams.