I returned their affection, kissing and hugging each of them.

“Are you okay? What in heaven’s name happened to you, girl?” my mom cried, clutching my face in her hands. “What did those people do to you?”

“I’m okay, Mom,” I said. I was still feeling traumatized by the experience, and I didn’t want to start reliving all the details just yet. I wasn’t sure if I would ever tell my mom that they had cut me open on an operating table without my even knowing what exactly they’d done. “I will tell you what happened,” I continued. “But first I need you to meet someone.”

I was sure that Hero would frighten them at first—especially my younger sisters—but I could not fight the urge to introduce them to my rescuer. Showing him to them would also help me to explain how I escaped from the hunters.

“Huh? Who?” my mother asked.

“Just put on some shoes and come with me,” I said, tugging on her hand and leading her to the door.

My family followed me out of the house, and as we neared the square, my footsteps quickened. I felt oddly excited to introduce him to them, as though he were a dear friend. But when I turned the last corner and faced the square, I stopped dead in my tracks.

“What is it?” my family murmured behind me as they arrived by my side.

“Hero,” I breathed, my heart sinking as I gazed around the empty square. “He’s gone.”

Ben

I wouldn’t forget the promise that I’d made to myself after interrupting River’s last dream.

I wouldn’t haunt her after she no longer needed me.

After River turned the corner and headed back to her townhouse to see her family, I spread the griffin’s wings and launched back into the air. Residents and visitors were still able to leave The Shade without permission, so I had no difficulty in rising outside of the boundary.

I could have left the beast on the island and traveled away in my spirit form, but without my control over him, this animal was dangerous. I had to lock him out of The Shade.

After breaching the invisible barrier and soaring away from the island over the waves, it was time for me to let this griffin go. For good. I had pushed his body hard over the last few days. So hard, in fact, I’d been afraid that he might collapse mid-journey. I hadn’t stopped once to feed him, or given him anything to drink. But his body seemed built to weather discomfort and hardship.

I raised my spirit out of him and watched as he staggered in the air. His wings stopped beating completely for a moment and he hurtled downward. Coming to his senses at the last second, just before he fell into the ocean, he flapped his wings and rose again in the sky. He paused, taking in his surroundings uncertainly, before launching into the direction opposite from The Shade.

“So long, Hero,” I muttered, even as my chest twinged at the reminder of River.

I wasn’t sure where he would go. But I had freed him from the hunters’ grasp, and I supposed that wherever he ended up would at least be better than that.

I couldn’t imagine what the creature must have been feeling. How odd it must have been for him, to be possessed like that for days… Then again, I’d experienced my own fair share of possession when the Elder had still had me under his influence. Though, thanks to Arron’s vial of blue liquid, Basilius had never had the chance to control me completely.

My thoughts slowly turned back to the present. The waiting, inescapable present.

What do I do now?

As afraid as I’d been when River had been captured by the hunters, having my mind overtaken by her plight had actually been a kind of blessing in disguise for me. I’d been so consumed in figuring out how to rescue her that I hadn’t had a lot of time to think about myself. Now that I did, I felt vacant.

I drifted to the nearby islet, the same one Jeramiah had brought my parents and grandfather to, and slumped down on a rock. I gazed out at the horizon. Dawn was breaking. A brilliant, breathtaking dawn. For a moment, I let its beauty overtake me as I listened to the sloshing of the waves against the rocks. In the distance, The Shade’s birds awakened in their nests, and the redwood trees whispered. Engulfed in the calm and stillness of the morning, thoughts about my life and my fate ebbed away for a while.

My mind trailed back to the hunters. I felt shaken by everything I’d witnessed in their lair, and I still didn’t know their goals or the purpose of their strange activities and operations. They were rumored to be backed by the government now, but I could only guess what their game plan was. Whatever it might be, I couldn’t help but feel that nothing good would come of it.

Though of course, I couldn’t exactly blame them. With more and more supernaturals filtering down from the supernatural dimension into the human realm, Earth’s future was uncertain. Who knew what the future held? Who knew how much longer it would be until there wasn’t a single human of sound mind left in the world who could deny the existence of supernaturals? Thanks to my misadventure in Chile, the code of secrecy had been broken and since then, there had been a number of other televised incidents. And no doubt those would only continue to increase. I foresaw a time when humans could no longer brush the events off as hoaxes. A time when this realm became so rife with paranormal creatures that encounters would become an everyday occurrence for regular citizens. Something they’d either have to live with, or fight against.

My mind reeled as I wondered what would really become of Earth if the balance tipped. Would the different species figure out a way to cohabitate? I guessed these matters were what the hunters were considering at present. Their actions, however strange and mysterious they appeared to be now, would in time become clear.