Blind panic sears my vision. My arms pump the air. I’m running so fast my feet hardly touch the ground.
Light trickles from up ahead. The lake shimmers in the distance, students dotting the campus behind it. A quick check behind me reveals nothing but trees.
I slow a little, feeling beyond foolish. Nothing is chasing me. I overreacted.
I’m ten feet from the tree line when something darts across the path, causing me to freeze. Frick! Hands on my knees, I peer through sweat-burning eyes at the black shape slithering across the forest floor.
Shadow. It’s a shadow—a really freaking big shadow. Which means—
I whip my gaze up to see something that at first glance, doesn’t make sense. The spread of ginormous white wings flares from what looks like the muscled body of a lion. Taloned claws similar to a bird of prey cut through the treetops, raining the forest floor with branches.
Another predatory shriek bursts from its golden beak, and then I watch in complete shock as the beast turns its eagle-like head to look down.
Shrewd golden eyes hone in on me.
Griffin. I barely have time to congratulate myself on recognizing the creature before my legs propel me down the path.
Above, the crack of entire tree trunks being snapped in half shakes the forest as the griffin shoots straight for me.
9
My first thought as I burst from the woods is that I’m going to die a very public death. The shoreline around the lake mills with students who had the same bright idea I did about extra training. They’re just far enough away that I won’t put them in danger, at least.
I fling a look over my shoulder, and my stomach hollows out. The griffin smashes through trees like they’re made from dust, the sword-length talons protruding from its paws shredding everything in its path.
The closest tree groans as it plunges forward. Cursing, I leap out of the way a split second before it would have flattened me.
Weapon! I spin around, scouring the grass for anything—
A broken branch rests near my feet. Plucking the crooked limb from the ground, I sprint toward the lake. Dizziness sends me careening sideways, and I gulp the air like its ice-cold Mountain Dew in a heat wave.
I hardly make it five feet before a whoosh of air slams into me, blowing my pale hair around my face. Brandishing the limb high above my head, I whip to face the beast.
Ebony claws swipe from the air—
I duck, swinging the branch like a baseball bat. My arms nearly pull from their sockets as the griffin jerks the weapon from my hands and snaps it like a twig.
Well, that went well.
He circles away, his high-pitched cries growing softer. I dart across the ankle-high grass to the lake’s shoreline, my shoes sinking into the ivory sand, and glance up. The smell of lake water fills my nose as I shield my eyes from the morning sun.
There. The griffin soars a hundred feet or so above me, riding the air like waves. If not for the situation, I would find the sight indescribably beautiful.
Focus, Summer. Focus!
I glance across the lake to the other side where onlookers have already gathered to watch.
If I run like hell, I can make it. Safety in numbers and all that.
My body tenses, prepared to flee. But, no. My shoulders sag. I can’t save myself by sacrificing others, even if most of them are already probably gunning to get me kicked out.
Besides, I’ve watched enough hawks to know he’ll strike like lightning before I reach the other side. His speed from such a height will knock me into a stupor.
Incapacitated, I won’t even struggle as he lifts me hundreds of feet into the air. Then, if the textbooks are true, when he’s high enough to ensure the fall will crack me open like a piñata, he’ll loosen his hold and drop me to my death.
Afterward, he’ll take me to his mate for first dibs.
Smart and a gentleman. Is it weird to be a fangirl of the thing that’s about to kill you?