“I’m sorry, did you just ask me how Philadelphia was? It sounded like you said ‘How did Philadelphia look?’ And it looks amazing. In pictures I’ve seen. Liberty Bell, cheesesteaks…” Sam spoke rapidly, trying to cover his verbal tracks.
“Both you and Gladys Hartwicke show the distinct signs of havin’ encountered a gryphon. Luck. Luck when somethin’ is on the line. Be it life, death, or a few bucks,” explained Vantana calmly. “And your signs, Sam, are incredibly strong. Of course, I’ve never tested anyone who’s been in the company of a gryphon before. Phylassos has not appeared in quite some time.”
Sam remained silent. He wasn’t sure he could trust Vantana, so saying nothing seemed like the best strategy for the time being.
“Did he speak to you?” Vantana quietly asked. Sam stuck to his plan. “I know you don’t trust me yet, Sam. That’s a good instinct. But you’re going to have to learn to trust me, and quickly.”
“Quickly?” Sam said, puzzled.
“Yep,” Vantana replied, his voice taking on a more serious tone. “Because you and I need to get as far away from here as possible.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Sam declared. He instinctively moved his body back against the pillow. “Are you even a doctor?”
“I’m not a medical doctor. I have a PhD in zoology and mythological studies. I work for the government.” Before Sam could follow up, Vance added, “And there’ll be plenty of time to answer all your questions. But that time isn’t now. I can assure you I wasn’t the only one who saw Gladys on the news talking about a winged lion. The word has no doubt spread around the world. And that means there are forces out there who will be very interested in knowing why Phylassos chose to appear to you and you alone. Not to mention the fact that technically, you are the luckiest boy on the planet right now, a condition that could be exploited for less than noble reasons. In other words, you’re in a great deal of danger, Sam London. We need to find answers and we need to keep you safe. And I can’t do either of those things here.”
Vantana’s attention was suddenly pulled away by a smell in the air. He lifted his nose and sniffed curiously toward the window. A moment later, he shook off his unease and turned back to Sam.
“Ready?” Vantana asked as he grabbed his duffel bag.
“Even if what you’re saying is true, I can’t go anywhere; my mom will freak out,” Sam said.
“You’re right. She will freak out,” agreed Vantana. “That’s why she can’t know you’re gone.”
“How wouldn’t she know? I’m either here or I’m not,” Sam replied.
“Not exactly.”
Vantana placed the black duffel on the bed, unbuckled it, and removed what looked to be a cross between a dog and a raccoon. It was covered in reddish-brown fur with stripes of black beneath its large auburn eyes. The raccoon-dog’s ears were furry and perfectly rounded. It made a distinct purring sound that was higher-pitched than a cat’s but just as soothing.
“His name is Nuks. He’s an obake tanuki. I need you to hold your head directly over his. Can you do that for me?” Vantana asked.
Sam recognized the word “obake.” He had read about these creatures in his books. They were animals from Japanese folklore that possessed magical abilities. Could this adorable creature sitting on top of him really be an obake? Sam followed Vantana’s odd instructions and leaned forward until his head was extended over the animal. Nuks took the signal and nestled his snout into Sam’s neck and spread his paws on his chest. The purring sound Nuks had been making grew louder and faster and then abruptly stopped. Sam felt a shot of pain as Nuks dug his claws into Sam’s skin. Sam was instantly paralyzed, frozen, as he watched something extraordinary happen.
Nuks’s body began to grow, slowly and steadily stretching out until the creature was as large as Sam. He grew in proportion, with his back legs lengthening to match Sam’s legs, his front legs expanding to the size of Sam’s arms. Then the creature’s hair began to disappear, as if it were being absorbed back into his skin. In just a few moments, this small, furry creature had managed to transform into a human. Sam regained control of his body, and he pulled back to find that the animal’s face was still that of a raccoon-dog. But then Nuks met Sam’s stare and its face started to change, shrinking and expanding, until Sam London was gazing upon…Sam London.
“You’re a shape-shifter!” Sam exclaimed.
“You’re a shape-shifter,” Nuks responded in an animal-like growl.
“Good,” said Vantana. “Keep talking so Nuks can match your vocal resonance.”
“My vocal resonance?” Sam asked.
“My vocal resonance?” Nuks repeated. This time the voice was much closer to Sam’s tone.
“That was better,” Sam observed.
“That was better,” Nuks replied, now perfectly matching Sam’s “vocal resonance,” as Vantana called it.
Vantana handed Nuks a hospital gown, which the creature put on. He also grabbed Sam’s clothes from the closet and tossed them his way.
“Get dressed,” Vantana said anxiously.
As Sam dressed, Vantana went to the window. It was a casement design, the kind that was horizontal and opened out from the bottom. He moved the lock lever and pushed, letting in a rush of cool night air. Vantana put his nose to the opening and took a long whiff. He then quickly shut it.
“Nuts,” Vantana sighed.
“What?” Sam asked. “What is it?”
Vantana looked back at Sam and replied matter-of-factly, “Gargoyles.”
After witnessing the shape-shifting raccoon-dog transform into his exact duplicate, Sam London was convinced that Dr. Vance Vantana was the real deal. Sam didn’t consider himself vain, but he had never really seen himself like this—up close in three dimensions. He second-guessed his hairstyle and wondered if his ears stuck out a little too much. Then he speculated about the possibility of growing his hair out to disguise his ears. Two birds, he thought. Vance must have sensed his mind wandering.
“Hurry,” Vantana said.
The mysterious doctor hadn’t uttered much besides “Hurry” and “Let’s go” since he’d made the ominous declaration that gargoyles were near. Under any other circumstances, that warning would have seemed positively loony, but considering the events of the last few hours, Sam didn’t know what to believe. According to Vantana, someone was always within earshot in the hospital, and the utmost secrecy had to be maintained, hence his reason for remaining tight-lipped when it came to divulging any more information. He did, however, reveal one interesting fact when Sam was returning the gryphon book to his backpack—
“You’ve read Dr. Knox’s book?” he asked, a touch of surprise in his voice.
“Yeah, he’s the best. You know, when it comes to creatures like that.” Sam pointed to the tanuki. “You read his books too?”
“You could say that. I helped write that book you’re holdin’.”
Sam was poised to follow up on this exciting revelation, but Vance was already at the door to the room, motioning for Sam to follow.
“No time, kid. We gotta move.”
As they approached the elevator bank, Sam took up a position in front of the second of the two sets of doors. He was convinced this car would arrive first, and fortunately, he was wrong. The doors to the first elevator sprang open and Ettie emerged. Sam leapt behind Vantana to hide. The doctor quickly recognized the danger of the situation and casually shifted his body to conceal Sam. Ettie had paused after she left the car, appearing to get her bearings. But she didn’t look Sam’s way before figuring out the right direction. She continued down the hall as Sam slipped into the elevator. He thought back on what Vantana had said about the luck of the gryphon, namely that it kicked in when something was on the line. Maybe that meant more than just life, death, and a few bucks. Maybe it kicked in to protect Sam in ways he couldn’t anticipate, as though it instinctively knew what was in Sam’s best interests.
After the near disaster at the elevator, the two
exited the hospital and ran-walked through the parking lot.
“How do you know Henry Knox?” Sam asked as he wound his way between the parked cars, following the doctor.
“He was my mentor,” Vantana replied. He took a whiff of the night air and added, “We need to pick up the pace.”
“What do you mean ‘mentor’? Was he your teacher or something?”
“Yeah, in a way. But not like a schoolteacher, if that’s what you’re gettin’ at. He was the one who hired me. The one who brought me into the department,” explained Vance.
“Is that where you’re taking me? To see Dr. Knox?” inquired Sam, hoping Vance would answer in the affirmative.
“I wish,” Vantana said. He glanced at Sam solemnly. “Henry disappeared a few months ago.”
“Disappeared?”
The doctor nodded. “But I’m hopin’ you’ll be the key to findin’ him. If anyone’d know where he is—that is, if he’s still alive—it’d be Phylassos.”
“Alive? You mean, you think he could be—”
“I don’t know, Sam,” Vance answered with a certain resignation in his voice. The doctor stopped for a moment and hit a button on the small black remote attached to his key ring. A white SUV chirped back at him, as if to say “Here I am.” Vance turned and headed its way.
“You said Dr. Knox recruited you into the department. And before, you said you worked for the government. What part of the government?”
They had reached the truck, a Chevy Tahoe, and Sam noticed a green stripe on its side, an insignia on the car doors, and a low-profile siren on its roof. The stripe led to the words “park ranger,” and the insignia was an upside-down arrowhead bearing the words “national park service,” along with images of a tree, a mountain, and a buffalo.
“You’re with the National Park Service? You’re a park ranger?” Sam asked, quizzically.
“Sort of. Get in.” Vance opened the passenger-side door and waited for Sam to climb inside. Sam wasn’t budging. “Trust me, kid, this is not where you want to be right now. I’ll explain everything on the way.”
“On the way where? I’m not getting in that car until you tell me who you really are—like who you work for and what this—” Sam was interrupted by a terrifying noise that reverberated across the starlit sky. It was the strangest sound he had ever had the displeasure of hearing. It was best described as a guttural squawk: a loud cry that was a mix of vulture and grizzly bear but with a speck of gargling. The gargle element reminded Sam of his mother gargling with mouthwash before bed; of course, this was much more frightening than anything in Ettie’s presleep routine. Except for maybe those green facial masks she fancied—Sam had endured many a nightmare about those.
“Did you hear that?” Vance asked. Sam nodded slowly. “That’d be the distinct sound of a gargoyle—” Another cry joined the first one. “Correction. Two gargoyles…,” Vance added with concern. And then the night erupted in a chorus of the creatures. Vance swallowed. Sam’s eyes widened.
“I’ll get in.”
“Good idea.”
“Wait. What about Nuks? If those things are after me, then—”
“They’ll know he doesn’t smell like a human right quick. But it should buy us some time to get a bit of distance.”
Sam climbed into the SUV without another word. Vance jumped into the driver’s side, started the engine, and peeled out of the lot.
—
The noxious odor that assaulted Vance Vantana’s olfactory senses in Sam London’s hospital room was an unnatural blend of wet animal fur and quick-dry cement. The only other time he had encountered this unpleasant aroma was years earlier, when he was assigned to shadow a well-known real estate developer in New York City.
The developer had purchased a dilapidated nineteenth-century building on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and instead of heeding calls to preserve it as a city landmark, he had ordered it torn down to make room for an extravagant new high-rise. Unfortunately, the building happened to be a gargoyle’s nest. The bumptious developer was jogging in Central Park on a chilly January morning when the gargoyles attacked. Luckily, Vance was on the scene and managed to subdue the creatures by using an ingenious device invented by his colleague Penelope Naughton, a ranger at Redwood National Park. She had built the gargoyle equivalent of a dog whistle, and it worked like a charm. The creatures ceased their attack long enough for Vance to negotiate a truce.
It was his keen sense of smell that had led him to that moment, as well as to this unfolding situation—a sense his grandfather attributed to his unusual background. Vance Vantana was part Cherokee Indian, and the other part had roots that went all the way back to America’s famous frontiersman Davy Crockett. Over the years, Vance had found ways to enhance his sense of smell with the help of Ranger Naughton and Dr. Knox. These enhancements were another unique aspect of his job with the DMW. But more about that later.
Vance hadn’t counted on running into gargoyles tonight and wasn’t prepared. He had the distinct feeling this impending encounter wasn’t likely to prove as easily handled as that fateful morning in Central Park. “What were they after?” Vance wondered as he maneuvered the SUV northbound on Highway 99, a less-traveled state highway that ran parallel to Interstate 5. Considering the unpredictable nature of recent events, he felt it would be best to remain on roads with sparse traffic “just in case.” Of course, he hadn’t known gargoyles to be the type of creatures to attack without cause, only to answer a threat to their existence. But how was this boy a threat? It was still too early for Vance to answer that question. He simply didn’t have enough information.
All the doctor knew was that a twelve-year-old boy had chatted with Phylassos—the greatest gryphon to ever live, and one that hadn’t been seen in decades. For some unknown reason, the elusive creature had chosen to appear to a random child. Vance couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy. Maybe a little more than a twinge. Of all the humans in this world Phylassos could have spoken to, it should have been Vance Vantana.
He had so many questions for the gryphon, questions he had been saving since he was a boy in the backwoods of Tennessee. Now this boy—this Sam London—had his own questions. In some ways, Sam reminded Vance of himself as a child, and that made him feel familiar. It was this familiarity and the fact that the gryphon likely had some reason for choosing Sam that helped Vance overcome his initial envy.
Once they were safely in the car and cruising down the highway, Sam let it rip. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on? Who do you work for? Why are we being chased by gargoyles? Where are we going?” Like a verbal machine gun, the twelve-year-old pelted Vance with a barrage of questions. Vance knew that each query would lead to another and another as down the proverbial rabbit hole they would head. Vance had to admit he enjoyed telling people the truth about the world they thought they knew. He had been on the other side of that conversation once before, on the day that changed his life forever. The opportunity to enlighten a fellow human didn’t come often, but when it did, oh, how fun it was.
“Okay, okay. Slow down, partner,” Vance said, looking over at Sam with a smirk. “You’re probably not gonna believe what I’m about to tell you.”
“I just saw a gryphon and had a dog transform into my twin, and I’m apparently being chased by gargoyles,” Sam reminded the doctor.
Vance chuckled. “You’re doin’ pretty well with all this. Most folks would’ve probably freaked out by now. I know I did at first.”
“You did?” Sam asked. Vance nodded reassuringly.
“Things have been movin’ rather quick, Sam. But it’s time to put all the cards on the table. There’s somethin’ you need to know about the world around you. Truth is, the whole of humanity—except for a select few”—Vance motioned subtly to himself—“don’t see the world as it actually is. There are things out there that human eyes cannot perceive. They’ve been hidden from view.”
“Why?” Sam asked.
“As a punishment…”
Before Vance could explain all about the gryphon, humanity’s curse, Alexander the Great, and the Department of Mythical Wildlife, his attention was caught by a blur in the side mirror. It was difficult to make out against the night sky, but it was big, and there was more than one. “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear” was about to take on a whole new meaning.
—
“Hang on!” Vance yelled. He dropped his arm across Sam’s chest and swerved. But when Sam looked out at the road ahead of them, there was nothing to see. No other cars, no animals had wandered in front of them. What was Vance doing? The SUV sped up—Sam glanced over at the speedometer and saw the car was now going eighty, climbing steadily toward ninety. There was traffic up ahead, and Sam braced himself for what looked like an inevitable collision. Vance took his arm off Sam and grabbed the wheel with both hands. There were a car and a truck coming into view and effectively blocking the roadway from Vance’s attempt to pass. The doctor steered left and crossed the divider. They were now headed toward oncoming traffic. The headlights of an approaching tractor trailer nearly blinded them as they hurtled toward it at breakneck speed. The truck’s horn blared, but Vance was undeterred.
“What are you doing!” Sam exclaimed.
At the last possible second, Vance wrenched the SUV back into the northbound lanes, barely avoiding a nasty head-on crash.
“Grab the silver briefcase behind my seat,” Vance ordered. Before Sam could say a word, “Now!” followed firmly.
Sam reached back and pulled a small, shiny briefcase out from behind the seat. Vance snatched it from Sam’s hand and set it on his lap. He popped it open and Sam peered over to get a look at what was inside, but it was too dark in the car to make it out.
“Well, I’ll be, Sam—there’s Phylassos!” Vance pointed out the window excitedly.
Sam spun his head around to look. “Where?” he asked as he scanned the darkness.
Guardians of the Gryphon's Claw Page 5
