Chapter 3

I cocked my head. "What do you need to tell me?"

Rhain sighed and glanced at the ground. "Maybe now is not the right time." In a quieter voice he added, "I didn't think she would be this clueless."

"Clueless?" I questioned. I knew he didn't want me to hear what he said, but my ears have been trained to pick up quiet sounds.

Rhain looked up, flustered. "What I meant was that I was surprised you didn't know what the Dry Desert is," he lied.

I rolled my eyes, believing his lie. "I've never even heard of the name. Someone should put a sign up saying, "BEWARE!"

Rhain shrugged. "There is no need to. Most people turn around once they notice the change in the climate."

"Hey! I was curious!" I defended myself.

"I have no doubt you were. But anyway, do you have something to eat? I'm starving! I haven't eaten in the past couple hours!"

I narrowed my eyes. "Spoiled," I muttered, but I reached into my satchel anyway and pulled out some gooseberries and held them out to him. "Here."

Rhain wrinkled his nose. "Don't you have something a little more... appetizing?

I pulled my hand away, shocked at his rudeness.

"Like... maybe some chicken or pie?"

I growled, barring my fangs. "You think I have that type of food? I can't just find a pie on a bush!"

Rhain took a step back. "Whoa there. I was just asking, I didn't mean to get you angry."

I put the berries back in my satchel, not answering him. Now I was beginning to ask questions in my mind. Where did this person come from? Why does he look so much like me?

"Why do you have wings?" I blurted out. I couldn't help myself. I've never met someone with almost the same wings as me.

"These?" Rhain stretched out his wings, the sun casting a beautiful glow on the feathers, making my wings look like I dug them out of the trash.

"These are my wings. All griffins have them." I stared blankly at him. Griffins? Aren't griffins suppose to be a cross between an eagle and a lion? Not just a winged human?

"Oh," he realized why I was so confused, "I'm in normal form at the time. The wings and the horns just stay with me in all forms."

My brain tried to take in all this information. If Rhain looked so similar to me, could that mean a griffin? But why are my wings and horns black, not golden like his?"I can't answer any more questions, if you were going to. Anyway, I need to get back... home," Rhain announced, drawing me out of my thoughts.

"I- ok. Thanks again for saving me!"

I didn't know if he heard my thanks as I watched him soar up into the sky, his mighty wings lifting him effortlessly. I peered down at my own wing, looking at them with disgust. They were useless compared to Rhain's.I started forward, but my foot kicked a little vial filled with a silver liquid. I carefully picked up the jar, watching the silver liquid slosh around in the long narrow tube.

"What's this?" I mumbled to myself. I twisted off the cap and poured a drop of liquid onto my finger. The silver liquid felt cool on my finger, like regular water but silver. I raised my finger to my nose, sniffing it briefly. It didn't smell like anything.

I carefully licked my finger and swallowed the liquid. Hopefully it wasn't poison and I would be dead in the next minute or so. I waited. And waited. Not poison. I frowned and drank the rest of the silver water. This time, I felt a difference. The water seemed to fill up my energy and I looked over my body and gasped.

My wings...

They...

I was lost of words. My wings were pure black, no graying feathers could be seen. They didn't look frail at all and didn't feel weak. My wings stood taller and stronger. If this liquid made a difference to my wings would it make a difference to my horns? My hands reached up to brush my horns, but they weren't small and dull anymore. They had grown at least a couple inches and I couldn't feel any cracks when my hand gently brushed up and down the horns.

How...?

Was this some sort of medicine I've been needing my entire life? And why did Rhain have it? Does he have the same issue as I seem to have?

My head raced with billions of questions and they needed to be answered. I took off into the sky, going a little too fast due to the sudden power in my wings. I slowed down, trying to get used to the new feeling. Next, I flew off into the direction Rhian disappeared to. Maybe, if I flew fast enough, I could catch up to him. The thing is, I don't exactly know where he went. Did he turn to the left, the right, or keep going straight? I went left. Going right would take me to the Dry Desert I think, and from what Rhain had told me about it, nobody would have business there.

I have never flown so fast in my life. I swooped in and out of the fluffy white clouds, which I now know that they were just wet, not a sugary sweet I always thought it would be.

I saw a flock of large blue birds flying by in a big group. I grinned and strolled by them. It was so peaceful up in the sky, unlike the ground. It was harder to run than to fly, and while flying you can cover farther distances quickly and keep a lookout.

I giggled as I saw tiny animal figures grazing, hopping, swimming, climbing, sleeping. Occasionally, some animals would look up at me and waved down, not caring that they had no idea what I was doing. I looked ahead, hoping to see the golden wings of Rhain. Nothing. Just blue and white.

I glided on, surprised my wings weren't tired yet. On a normal day, I would have been exhausted the minute I got up in the air. This new strength, this new energy makes me feel so powerful. It makes me feel not useless, like I can actually do something. It was a great feeling that hopefully will last.

I dove closer to the ground, so close that if I stuck my foot down it would brush the grass. Maybe Rhain had landed somewhere I couldn't see from above. I wanted to call out his name, but I also didn't want to draw attention towards me.

I finally slowed to a stop. There wasn't any use in flying further. Rhain clearly wasn't around this area. I sighed. All the flying for nothing. I had so many question that are ricocheting inside my brain. But the biggest and loudest question I asked was: Who am I really? When I started thinking, I can't recall any other creature that look even a little similar to me, unless you count a crow. I shuddered. Was I half crow or something? No, that logically doesn't make sense.

I glanced around my surroundings. I had landed in a meadow, full of yellow, orange, and purple flowers. It would have been a pretty sight if I wasn't so busy trying to find Rhain.

Suddenly, I heard a twig snapped. My head jerked in the direction of the sound, my heartbeat pounding. At first, I thought it was going to be a bear or wolf pack, so I spread my wings out, hoping to look bigger.

Nothing stirred. Maybe I was hearing things.

My feathered wings lowered back down at my side.

Snap!

My wings flew back up.

Silence.

I stared at the spot where the noise keeps coming from.

"Come out!" I called, hoping my voice sounded more confident than I thought it was. "I know someone is there."

The ground rumbled and I immediately dropped to my knees. My eyes widen as I felt the ground. What's happening? Is it any earthquake?

I had seen a destruction of an earthquake once, it was almost as bad as a forest fire. The ground had collapsed in places and trees domino down. It was one of Mother Nature's cruel destructions.

The shaking stopped after a couple seconds. It could have been an earthquake, just a less severe one. I walked over to the place where I thought I was hearing noises from. There was nothing there except... a huge hole, big enough for me to climb down in. I peeked in it. I couldn't spot the bottom, it must be far down in the earth. Was whatever that was making this hole causing the rumbling or mini earthquake? I didn't dare go down that hole, even if it did answer my question.

I slowly crept away from the hole, almost waiting for some large insect creature to pop out of the ground and scare me.

I took off immediately after that.