The Conduit (Gryphon Series) (21 page)

I retrea
ted to the edge of the clearing where I figured out what caused the creature’s pained cries. The wind stirred up by Kendall’s wings dissipated his foggy form. He stumbled frantically to get away from her. Backpedaling, he tripped over something—the slack body of a lion. He lost his footing and fell, right over the box he emerged from earlier. His form evaporated into a heavy cloud which was sucked back in from where it emerged. I attempted a cocky sneer at this display of their weakness; however, as soon as I moved my battered face, it quickly turned into a wince of pain.

Seeing their friend disappear back into the box angered the remaining monsters. They bellowed deep, gravelly roars
, then turned to Kendall and me for retribution.

“We need gale force winds, Keni! Now!”

She gave a sharp nod of understanding and lifted higher into the air. “I’m on it!” She circled the perimeter of the clearing, flying as fast as her inner eagle would allow. In a moment’s time, she worked up a robust, continual wind.

The remaining monsters staggered, desperately seeking some sort of cover. They lost their footing repeatedly as their foggy legs blew out from under them. In an act of frustration one of the smog ogres gave up and solidified his entire form. He stamped after Kendall.

He didn’t notice the head of the mighty lion rise up of the ground, and I’m sure he didn’t see Gabe wink at me. Gabe sprang to his feet and charged the enormous, corporeal monster. A piercing howl escaped its slash of a mouth when our lion clamped down on its thick, grey leg. It thrashed around wildly, striking out at our Gabe-lion. His face took a beating, but his vise grip jaws never faltered. He dragged the flailing creature to the box. It disappeared inside, just like the first.

After seeing how we disbanded his comrades, the third fog thing tried to make an escape. Keni intercepted his departure by flying in low and beating her wings directly at him. He pivoted on his heel, back toward Gabe and me. With Keni low to the ground, he could stay in mist form as soon as he got some distance from her. An evil grin reminiscent of a jack o’lantern spread across his face. He could fight again, at least for a moment. He charged for Gabe, seeking some retribution. Unless he went solid, we couldn’t get him.

I bolted toward Gabe on the other side of the clearing. “Let him hit you, Gabe!”

The brawny lion scowled at me and shook his head. “
Nooo
!”

“Take one for the team and let him hit you, you overgrown tabby!”

Gabe planted his feet and grit his teeth. The monster stomped up to him and arced back that sledge hammer of a fist. I saw the texture change from dense cloudy air to solid, bumpy skin. I jumped, kicking both feet straight out in front of me. My fast-flying feet hit the beast right square in the middle of his back knocking him forward. The open box happened to be lying right there. I’d like to say I planned it that way, but it was sheer luck. In a swirl of smoke, the last of the monsters vanished. Its contents restored, the box snapped shut and locked.

Kendall landed
, and the three of us tentatively approached the burgundy container, cautious that it might not be over. The sound of applause behind us confirmed it was.

“Very well done for your first time
,” Alaina encouraged.

“It sure didn’t feel good.” Something popped and sent a shooting pain through my face. My hands flew up. “
Oooowwww
! What the heck was that?!”              

Kendall recoiled at whatever freaky thing happened to me. “It was a good pop, Cee. Your nose was broken and pointing in the wrong direction. It just fixed itself. Yeay!” Her “yeay” lacked any enthusiasm.

“Yeah,” I said flatly. “That hurt like a…”

“I am very proud of you all,” Alaina said. “Even when you were not faring well, you kept looking for ways to turn things around. That was impressive.”

“And we learned how to take a punch. So yee-haw to that,” I said, gingerly rubbing my aching sniffer. I glanced at Gabe and Kendall. Kendall looked great, barely a hair out of place. Gabe looked rough. His head hung wearily, chunks of fur missing like he had mange. The eye I had blackened was swollen shut again and bruises peppered him enough to be visible through his furry hide. I could only imagine that I looked pretty rough myself. Every inch of my body hurt. I hoped my speed healing would get cracking, or it was going to be a painful drive home. “Those guys were tough. It was like a thousand times harder to get them to go ‘poof’ than it was with the Seeker. And he was actually willing to kill us!”

“What?” Alaina’s wild and panicked eyes caught me off guard.

“Well…these guys didn’t really want to…” I stammered, confused by her reaction.

“Not that! What do you mean the Seeker went ‘poof’?”

“When he died, he went ‘poof,’ you know? Black cloud of smoke. Then he was gone. He just ‘poofed’,” I babbled.

All the color drained from Alaina’s already milky skin. She spoke with a vacant, hollow tone. “Seeker’s liquefy and evaporate when they die. However
, when they teleport, they do so in a cloud of black smoke.”

I heard the pounding of my heart ringing in my ears. I knew the answer to the question before I asked but hoped somehow I was wrong. “And if he teleported, he went…”

She met my eyes with a steely gaze. “To tell Barnabus. He knows who you are and where to find you.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Keni, please tell me you saw Grams leave the house heading for some crazy, old lady fun today.”

Her trepidation caused her voice to waver. “She’s at home. She said she wanted to catch up on her stories.”

The urgency of the situation made me forget my sore muscles and bones. “Get to the truck now!” I ordered. “We have to get home.”

The three of us spun and sprinted for the truck. I paused when I realized Alaina wasn’t following.

“You're not coming?”

She shook her head sadly. “My role is to guide you. This fight belongs to you, Gabe, and Kendall. I cannot stand beside you.”

“Are we ready for this?”

“You have to be.”

CHAPTER 24

Everything looked normal as we sped down Dole. The town still stood, so one of my fears got squelched. But as we neared Grams’ street
, red and blue flashing lights made my pulse race.

“Oh
-no,” Kendall whispered. She unfastened her seatbelt and slid forward to peer over the front seat.

A boulder of cold, hard fear settled into my stomach. “It’s not Grams. It’s not Grams. It’s not G
rams,” I chanted to myself.

I turned onto our street and our fears were instantly transformed into reality. Four police cars surrounded our grandmother’s house. Room for only one of them in the driveway meant two others parked on her lawn and the last in the road. Their lights flashed away
, and yellow crime scene tape surrounded the tiny property. Kendall let out a choked sob while Gabe punched the roof of my truck hard enough to dent it. I must have switched into autopilot because I managed to park the truck without wrecking. I felt numb from head to toe.

The neighbors stood outside watching. I opened myself up to their feelings hoping the mood of the crowd would tell me things weren’t as bad as they looked. Instead
, I felt collective sorrow. My lip trembled and my heart sank.

You cannot fall apart right now, Celeste. Do you understand?
I scolded myself.
Get out of the truck and get answers. You owe it to Grams to be strong.

The pitiful gasps from the neighbors when I climbed out of the truck
didn’t escape my notice. I held my head high, clenched my jaw, and marched toward the house. I closed myself off from the wave of sympathy from the crowd before it could crash down on me. I couldn’t risk crumbling beneath it.

I ducked under the yellow tape perimeter and heard, “Excuse me, Miss? I’m going to have to ask you to stay behind the tape.” I looked up into the young officer’s stern face. He had been at Ella’s house too. When he recognized me
, his face blanched. “Oh, Miss Garrett. Go on in. Captain Cooper’s inside.”

“Thank you.” I continued toward the house without waiting for his response.

As soon as I stepped inside, my breath caught. It looked like a tornado tore through the living room. Grams’ glass coffee table had been shattered. The wrought iron base of it ripped in two, the sides strewn to opposite corners of the room. Grams’ curio cabinet leaned precariously against the arm of her leather chair, all its contents broken and embedded in the cushions. The ceramic angels that lived on a shelf above the couch did not survive the fall. Their ceramic limbs and assorted body parts were scattered around the room. Framed pictures of our family lay on the floor, crushed beyond recognition. The wall that divided the foyer and the living room—where Grams measured us when we were little and marked our growth with a pencil slash—sported a deep hole in the plaster. I cringed at the dimensions of the hole. It matched a human body. I prayed that was a coincidence.

Uniformed strangers milled around. They dusted for prints, took photographs, and collected evidence in little baggies, jotted down notes and a
ll that other CSI stuff. A grey-haired man in a tan sport coat stood in the middle of the room, barking orders.

“I want this entire place dusted for prints. Mess like this, he couldn’t have been careful about what he touched.” The crunch of glass under my shoe spun him toward me. His moustache matched his hair. A hefty paunch around his middle strained the buttons on his shirt. His thick eyebrows drew together when he saw me. “Why isn’t anyone patrolling the perimeter? I got people just wandering in!”

“Captain Cooper, my name is Celeste Garrett. I live here with my grandmother, Gladys.”

His expression softened. He pursed his thick lips and inhaled deeply. I
followed his gaze as he glanced around for a place for us to sit and talk. The living room window had also been demolished. There wasn’t an inch of the room that wasn’t decorated with glass shards.

Captain Cooper noticed my pained expression. “Why don’t we go sit out on the porch?” He placed his hand on my shoulder and steered me back out the door.

Robotically, I sat in my usual rocking chair and gazed around at the vastly different scenery. It looked like one of those cop shows Grams loved so much. Gabe played the role of the angry family member. He took out his frustrations on a rookie cop that held no answers to Gabe’s bombardment of questions. Kendall sought solace in the arms of a former love. Keith comforted her, our tragedy reuniting them. Alec, the steadfast reporter, nosed around eager to get to the bottom of this. The gawkers watched out of equal parts concern and morbid curiosity. The rocking chair next to me squeaked under Captain Cooper’s weight. This was no show. I couldn’t change the channel or turn it off. Like it or not, I had to sit here and wait for the good captain to tell me if my grandmother was alive or dead.

“Celeste, someone broke into your grandmother’s home today. We think it started off as a simple robbery. A rarity here in Gainesboro, but sometimes people get desperate.” He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “It seems the intruder didn’t know your grandmother was home. Realizing she was must’ve startled him
, and he panicked.”

“What do you mean he panicked?” I asked somberly.

He ran a hand across his mustache and then over his mouth. Beads of perspiration dotted his forehead. “She was attacked.”

The way he was tiptoeing around the details grated on me. “How bad is it?”

His bleak expression caused a lump in my throat I had to choke back. “It’s bad. He roughed her up pretty severely. I don’t know to what degree just yet. But we put her in an ambulance and rushed her to Nashville General. The last update I got was that she was slipping in and out of consciousness. She’s in the ICU.”

Tears threatened to spill from my eyes. I fought them back. I couldn’t cry. Not here. Not now. Instead
, I rose from my seat and started down the stairs, headed for my truck.

“Wait, Celeste!”
He called after me. “I have a couple of quick questions for you.”

“I have to go,” I barely got the words out. He nodded, the possibility I may never see Grams alive again loomed between us.