The Key

by Felicia Rogers

  Whoever it was planted fists on hips. “We can’t rescue Maddie unless you get out here and help Gregory round up the black gryphons.”

  Only one person sounded that imperious without also sounding arrogant. “Mrs. Casey-Brennan?” Chase squinted into the sunlight.

  “Draoi, remember? I’m named for the druids of old. And if Serena knew how to get a daughter of Arin in, you better believe I know how to get one out.”

  “How did you get here?” Dougal sounded just as puzzled as Chase felt.

  It was difficult to make out more than her outline, peering out into the glare. But it looked as if she huffed. “Well, I thought about taking a plane, but that seemed a tad pricey. I’m an old woman on a budget.”

  Dougal looked at Chase. Chase shook his head.

  She threw out her hands. No need to guess about that motion. “I wished a spell, like Serena did. How do you think I got here?”

  Chase felt heat rush to his cheeks. “We’re stuck.”

  “Not for long.”

  She closed her eyes, lifted her hands, scrunched up her face, and whispered unintelligible words before yelling, “Hurry!”

  Startled, Chase jumped again. But his wings swooped down without waiting for him to think about it, throwing him into flight. He flew through, Dougal almost close enough behind him to tangle their wings, and she collapsed. Chase landed next to her, cradling her head in his crooked arm.

  She pushed him away. In a strained voice, she said, “Now, boys, go round them up.”

  “How?” demanded Dougal. “It won’t be easy to trick them back into the tower. When Chase flew in, they weren’t willing to enter even to catch him.”

  “Never mind all that.” Chase helped her up. “Are you okay, Draoi?”

  “I’m fine.” She trembled in his supporting arm and her face was pale and waxy. “I haven’t had this much fun since I was a young girl.” She breathed deep but couldn’t stop trembling. “Here’s the plan. I’ve spoken with Gregory and he’s willing to help us corral them again. He’ll pretend to be on the black gryphons’ side, which should be easy enough, since he looks like one of them. With an illusion, I’ll conceal the tower’s true form and cause it to look different. Then you two turn into humans and stand on the battlements, pretending to guard it.

  “The idea is, we’ll make it look like a great fortress they can use for a military base. And as soon as they’re inside, I’ll release the concealment and the black gryphons will be trapped. Once they’re inside, Maddie will be released.” She swallowed. “At least, I think that’ll work.”

  Again Dougal looked at Chase. And again Chase shook his head. “Are the black gryphons really so dumb they’ll fly into a fortress and not know it’s the same place they just left?”

  Dougal shrugged. “I’m not sure. I wouldn’t think so. But maybe Gregory will bring them a different way. Maybe fly them around in circles. So maybe, maybe not.”

  “It will work.” Draoi straightened, stepping away from Chase’s supporting arm even though she still trembled. “It has to.” One more deep breath, and some color returned to her face. “Now go. Stand on the battlements and look fierce.” She turned and stumbled across the heather to the distant line of dark trees.

  Dougal started to call after her, but stopped himself and grimaced. “How are we supposed to get out when the tower closes again?”

  Good question. “I’m sure Draoi has a plan.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  The tiny druid vanished into the trees. Chase waited, wishing he could give her some of his returning strength. But within seconds, a ripple of something invisible swept across the heather. The tower seemed to twist, growing taller, stretching into a curtain wall, and morphing into a medieval castle. A moment after that, two thick branches appeared on the ground in front of them; seconds later, they faded, shifted, and changed into two iron-headed spears.

  Once again Dougal looked at Chase. Once again Chase shook his head. Together they took off and flew to the battlements, spears in hand, and took up positions as if they were lookouts.

  Dougal sucked in a deep breath. “I’m sorry I was blinded by selfish desires.”

  Still too angry to reply, Chase grounded his spear. The hardwood handle grated on the stone beneath his feet. It sounded, looked, and felt real.

  “Do you think Maddie will forgive me?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You do realize I care for her?”

  “Yes.” Chase squirmed.

  Spear held across his body, Dougal paced across the raised walkway behind the crenellations. “You know, if not for her, I wouldn’t be helping you. I would let you all die. She’s the only human who’s ever been nice to me.”

  Sounds like blustering. “What about Stephanie? She seemed pretty friendly with you.” Chase fought sarcasm. He had to work with Dougal and couldn’t afford to alienate him.

  But Dougal’s glance aside was cool. “Stephanie was only out for herself. She thought I looked good and she liked my car. If I hadn’t been popular or mysterious, she would never have hung out with me.” His grimace faded. “On the other hand, I acted strange with Maddie, and yet she told Draoi I was her friend.”

  That sounded like Maddie, and warmth drove out the jealousy in Chase’s heart. “When did she do that?”

  “When she visited Draoi in the ICU.”

  Wait a moment. “How did you know?”

  “I was listening.”

  “You mean eavesdropping.”

  “Yeah, I guess I was. I must tell Draoi sorry for that, as well as for other things. If not for Serena, she would never have been in the hospital in the first place.” Dougal stared out at the empty Irish sky, turning on his heel. The butt of his spear clanked against the merlon and he pulled it closer to his chest. The iron spearhead gleamed in the light, utterly real. “I’m still not sure what Serena did to her. She said something about an herb, but I wasn’t close enough to tell.”

  Chase held back his retort and focused all his energy on remaining human rather than attacking and killing Dougal. Then he stiffened. His fingers tightened around the spear. A crowd of black creatures flew their way. “I don’t believe it.”

  “What?” Dougal turned and froze beside him.

  “Gregory must really want the black gryphons locked back in the tower.” Chase released a breath. “Look alive, here they come.”

  They screamed and shouted, using the tower’s hollowness to make their voices echo and multiply. But just as the black gryphons came close enough for Chase to see individuals, half of them split off. His stomach knotted. “This is not good, not good. What are we going to do?”

  But Dougal appeared dazed. What was he staring at? Chase traced Dougal’s focus to the tower’s base. At the head of a small horde of black gryphons, Cahal gazed upward and cocked a brow.

  Dougal whispered, “He knows.”

  Wings buffeted the air. Eyes wide, teeth bared, Gregory barreled past and roared through the open sally port. Moments later, a squadron of furious black gryphons followed him. The pounding of their wings deafened Chase. They looked like a never-ending black tide, pushing and shoving in pursuit of their mortal enemy, fighting each other to be first through the port. At that speed it was hard to get a good look at them, but he glimpsed ragged feathers, clawless hands, malformed arms and legs.

  As the others rushed inside, Cahal stayed outside. Hundreds of black gryphons circled behind him, never landing, strong wings pumping. And Chase understood. Cahal kept the strong and able-bodied with him, and sent the weaker ones chasing after Gregory, right back into captivity.

  Dougal was right. Cahal knew.

  Something clattered against the stone. A spear rolled on the stone walkway, unregarded, and behind it Dougal transformed. He flew over the fake easement and soared down to the gate. Sunlight flashed off his wings, highlighting each dark feather as he backwinged and landed before Cahal. Cahal didn’t shout. He just stared at Dougal.

  Leaning between
two crenellations and peering down, Chase stifled a curse. There went his last hope. Draoi was busy concealing the tower. Gregory was trapped inside with his victims. Dougal had apparently forgotten the plan — which left him. What could he do?

  “Father?” Dougal said, reaching out his hand.

  “Father, you say?” Cahal scoffed. “Are you Serena’s son? For you do not belong to me.”

  Dougal froze. His hand stayed frozen in place, reaching across the distance between them. “Yes, I do. You’re my father. Don’t you remember Caitir? You took her from her family. When she came home, she had me.”

  Cahal rolled his eyes, as if at a fool. “Of course I don’t remember! How can you expect me to remember every child I sired with those village wenches?”

  Somewhere in the fake tower below Chase’s feet, a man screamed. It sounded like Gregory’s voice, and suddenly Chase realized that Draoi hadn’t let the traitorous black gryphon fly back out of the prison. He was trapped in the tower along with half of the company he’d helped trick one hundred years before. She’d taken her vengeance upon the man who’d murdered her granddaughter.

  Not good. Not good at all, and Chase huffed a breath and transformed, feeling the crawling sensation along his spine as his gryphon self burst free. All he could do was work a con of his own. Wings spread, he flew over the purple fields of heather. The free gryphons swirled in a type of circular formation. Heart in his teeth, he joined their ranks, hoping to survive the trickery.

  A punch struck his cheek and he reared his head back. Oh, great start, just great.

  A black gryphon hovered in front of him, eyes wide with disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

  Chase spit blood. “I’m here to prove that I’m better than you.”

  Several black gryphons laughed. One said, “Is that so? And just how do you plan to do that?”

  The one who hit him flexed his claws. A scar ran across his cheek, an old wound that had healed wrong, and it made him look especially ugly when his teeth bared. “There are many of us and only one of you. We could kill you in an instant.”

  True, that. His heart hammered against his chest. Swallowing back his fear, he cocked a brow, “You have to catch me first.”

  His wings flared, pumped, and Chase punched the ugly gryphon in passing. With all the speed he could find, he roared from the circle, yelling as loud as he could, and raced toward the fake fortress. Voices rose behind him as the black gryphons followed.

  Can’t make it too simple. Instead of flying straight into the tower, Chase banked, circled around boulders, and skimmed over the heather in nap-of-the-earth flight. Suddenly he flashed over what was left of Serena. Already flies gathered upon her dead flesh, and his pumping wings threw them everywhere. Fighting the urge to retch, he banked again, passing over and circling around Dougal as he confronted Cahal. Their argument raged as if he’d never been there. He didn’t stop. If only he could have signaled Draoi and asked for help.

  The assault caught him unaware. A strong punch landed from above. He was knocked in the side, throwing him off balance and sending him plummeting to the ground. His wing smacked on impact and he grunted.

  “Better than us, are you?” The ugly gryphon stalked around him. Chase’s punch had landed on his other cheek but had already healed, giving him a matching set of scars.

  Another gryphon kicked him in the ribs; another spit at him.

  He ducked and rolled, then used his arms and pulled himself toward the tower, as he’d done earlier when trying to escape Cahal. If they thought he sought the fake fortress as refuge, maybe they would bar his way.

  They did, gathering in a pack ahead of him, between him and the tower. Chase leapt to his feet then bounded into flight. His wings tilted, turning him away as the black gryphons scrambled to follow, then his wings folded along his back, diving him beneath them and back toward the open sally port.

  Hope flared in Chase’s heart. Maybe they would enter before him. He yelled with all his might, “I’m coming, darling, just hold open the door!”

  The black gryphons howled with laughter. A pack of them split off and raced through the sally port, folding their wings as they vanished inside. Another fist flew at Chase. He dodged, dodged again. “No!” he shouted. “No!”

  More of them split off and ducked inside the tower, then more. Chase wove through the boulders, screaming as if in a rage and trying to force a path through the remaining black gryphons, but they kept massing between him and the port. As they tired, they retreated inside. None came out; Draoi was keeping up her end of the plan.

  Finally only the ugly scarred gryphon lingered and Chase had had enough. As they circled around each other, he grabbed Ugly’s wing and heaved. A hard pump with his wings, another heave, and Ugly, startled and yelling, sailed through the sally port. Electricity crackled, blue lightning rippling across the fake fortress, then it vanished and the pale tower remained, glowing in the sunlight.

  The wails rent the air. Chase did a fist pump. He flew to Dougal and landed behind him, panting for breath.

  Cahal’s furry face had twisted and specks of spittle sprayed as he yelled. But Chase could feel Dougal’s rage. It burned like a fire, billowing in almost visible waves around them. And Chase pitied him. All that time Dougal had dreamed of fitting in. He’d thought if only he could rescue his father, he would have a family. But all his hopes were being dashed.

  “You don’t even remember her! I’ve spent my entire life trying to save you and you don’t even remember my mother!”

  Cahal straightened. He glared past Dougal at Chase, as if finally realizing what had happened. “It would be easier to feel gratitude if you hadn’t kept me distracted while your friends again entrapped all my brothers. But there it is. Now, how would you like to help me rule the world?”

  Dougal stretched to his full height, spread his wings as far as they would go, and yelled, “Chase, tell her I love her.”

  He took flight, swooped straight toward his awed father, grabbed him, and hauled him bodily through the open tower door. Once inside the tower, Dougal was trapped. He had sacrificed himself to save them all.

  ****

  Inside the circular room, the ground shook. Even kneeling on the glass floor, Maddie had to crouch or fall over. “What’s happening?”

  “I don’t know.” Cian spread his arms for balance. A hint of his legions returned, deepening his voice. “But I wonder…”

  Maddie blinked. She could see the glass through her hand. Her eyes widened in horror. “I’m fading! Am I dying?”

  Cian smiled. “No, my dear. The prisoners have been reinstated and you are going home.”

  The last word faded into a many-voiced echo. The enclosing room vanished. Suddenly a sweet-scented breeze blew across her face. Sunshine blazed around her. Startled, she wobbled and landed on her bottom with a hard plop — in a field of heather.

  Dazed, she looked around. Grandma Draoi sat on the ground nearby, holding someone to her bosom. Maddie scrambled to her feet. Drawing closer, she gasped. It was a black gryphon. No — it was Gregory, and she didn’t have to look twice to see that he was dying. He’d been battered, great chunks of flesh torn from him. Golden fluid like blood poured from his wounds.

  “Grandma, what are you doing?”

  “Oh, my dear.” Grandma Draoi wept, tears coursing down her wrinkled face as she rocked the black gryphon like a child. “Gregory tried to escape the tower once the door was closed and this is what happened to him.” She sobbed. “I should never have locked him in there. It’s my fault, all my fault.”

  Maddie looked around at the carnage and wreckage. Large trees had been uprooted; small animals lay dead. It looked like a tornado had swept the area. Then she saw him. He was in human form, standing on two feet not far from the tower entrance, and completely whole. The door behind him was again iron-bound wood and impenetrable.

  With a glad cry, Maddie ran to his side. He opened his arms to her and she ran into them. He hugged her.

&
nbsp; “Chase!”

  “Yeah, it’s me. Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m okay. Are you okay?”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  She pulled back, her hands around his neck, and asked, “Where’s Dougal? I need to tell him—” But the expression on his face stopped her.

  He didn’t want to say, she could tell. He glanced toward the tower then back at her.

  Her breath caught in her throat. “He didn’t?”

  “He did. Cahal realized we were trying to trick him. But we tricked him again. Then Dougal rushed him and pushed him in.”

  “Why didn’t he come out?” Maddie peered over his shoulder. The tower door loomed beyond, like an ugly mouth. She shuddered.

  “He couldn’t. Didn’t you see what happened to Gregory?”

  Hot tears slipped onto her cheeks and she swiped them away. Pulling away from Chase, she ran to the tower and lifted her hand.

  “No! Maddie, stop. You mustn’t open the tower.”

  Maddie froze. Two stories up, one of the barred windows framed Dougal. He waved his arms and shook his head frantically.

  She cupped her mouth and yelled back, “But Dougal, I have to save you. I’ll open it and you can rush out.”

  She could see him. He was alone in a small room, debris piled against the barred door as if to wedge it shut. Wailing echoed around him as his brothers screamed in woe. “It will never work.”

  “But—”

  “Madelyn, you have your whole life ahead of you. Marry Chase and be happy. But remember this — I will always love you.”

  Chase came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She fell against him and he pulled her away. As they left, she heard a whisper on the wind. “You opened my eyes and took the darkness from my heart.”

  Dougal’s fur changed to gray as he and his family disappeared behind the ivory stone walls.

  Epilogue

  Months passed and school ended. Chase and Maddie graduated from Coal Creek High School with plans to attend the local community college in the fall. Their associates degrees would transfer to the state college if they wanted to continue their educations, and in the meantime they could stay close to their families.