A massive paw pressed me against the tree, and foul-smelling breath caressed my cheek. I felt something wet and rough, which I assumed was its tongue, glide across my cheek and work its way down to my chin, leaving a fresh trail of saliva behind. I shivered at the sensation but didn't dare to open my eyes. Was it sampling me before it decided to take a bite? I prayed that I didn't taste good.
Its hot breath moved away from me, and my body relaxed a bit in relief. From beside me, Santana let out a loud shriek, and my body tensed up again.
" I-it just licked my face!" she sobbed.
My heart slowed down a couple of octaves. From that scream, I had thought it had already taken a nibble out of her. "It just licked my face too, and it isn't eating me yet, so maybe it won't!" I choked out. Or was it trying to decide who to eat first?
"Yeah," she squeaked back weakly.
After what must've been only minutes, but seemed like hours, I felt the presence of the paw gradually recede from my shoulder, and heard the sounds of huge paws padding across the soil. Confused, I opened my eyes just enough for a quick peek. Was it letting us go? Maybe we hadn't been that appetizing?
I glanced around the forest nervously, but saw nothing. Had it really gone? Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a blue tuft of fur disappearing behind a tree. Suddenly, I felt like I was forgetting something important about griffins. I tried to remember, but the detail slipped from my mind.
Ugh! Why did my brain never work right when I needed it to? For crying out loud, I had done an entire school project on them, and all I could remember was that they ate almost everything, and their poop glowed in the dark!
I nudge Santana, who was still sobbing beside me. "Hey, I think it's gone," I whispered.
She opened her round blue eyes. Relief spread across her face. "Oh, thank god!" she said, wiping tears away. She pushed herself away from the tree and walked toward the bushes where the griffon had sprung out at us.
"Wait, where are you going?" I called after her and started to follow. Who was this girl? She'd just been crying and saying her last words! Not even ten minutes ago, we'd almost been eaten, and now she was walking around like nothing had happened. She seemed completely calm!
"To get a weapon from one of those freaks that the freaking monster just killed," she replied coldly, pushing her way through the bushes in front of us. "I'm not facing another one of those things unarmed again!"
My nose began to pick up a metallic scent, which grew stronger with every step I took following Santana. I stopped short of the source of the smell, knowing very well what its source was.
"Wait!" I said, and Santana froze.
"What!?" she asked nervously, the calm she had shown earlier fading in an instant. She turned her head to face me.
"Why did the griffon not kill us?"
The girl looked at me, annoyed, "How am I supposed to know that!? Do I look like I have any clue what's going on!? Which reminds me..." She turned her body to face me fully and began moving towards me, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. She stopped just short of me. "What do you know about all this?" she motioned to the trees around us.
I gulped, "It was just a rhetorical question," I said hesitantly, "I was going to say if the griffon had two fresh kills, so that's why it didn't eat us. It might have gone back to the bodies to finish them up. I don't know about you, but I don't think I want a second meeting with Mr. Griffion."Santana unnarrowed her eyes and looked at me thoughtfully. "Maybe... but how do you know that?" she pressed.
Common sense, something which even I had in this situation.
I threw up my hands in defeat. "Okay, I'll tell you everything I know, but first, another rhetorical question: where do you think we are?"
The girl shrugged.
"W" Well, this place we are right now is still called Earth, but think of it as Earth 2. Originally from Earth 2, and I kind of ended up on your Earth 1 by mistake."
Santana's eyes widen in fear, and she began to back away from me, "So you are the freaks who've been chasing me around for like half the day!?"
"No, I mean no!" I said, holding up my hands, but that just made her more afraid.
She bent down and snatched up a large stick off the ground and pointed it at me, "Don't come any closer, or I'll hit you with this! So that you know, I was the only girl to ever make it on the boys' baseball team at my school!" She raised the stick in the air and brought it close to her ear, gripping it with both hands.
"I'm not like those men who chased you," I said calmly, trying to keep a soothing tone.
The look in her eyes said she wasn't buying it, and I began to chew on my lip nervously. How was I going to win her trust?
"You said you weren't like those men, so are you telling me that you can't throw rocks at me without touching them or make water float?" she asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
I shook my head, "No, they were earth and water element users, my element is death." I said and realized my mistake when her face grew even more afraid. "But I don't know how to control it," I said, digging myself into a deeper hole.
Yeah, I know it was pathetic. I hadn't learned how to control my powers even after a year, but in my defense, I had also been in a place for a year where magic hardly existed.
Santana turned her body away from me, and I knew she was about to bolt for it. "If you run, how long do you think you're going to survive out here?" I blurted out.
She stopped, "I think I'll be alright," she said, but I could tell by her tone that she didn't completely believe it herself.
The sun was beginning to set, and the shadows were beginning to grow longer, making the forest even more ominous-looking.
"You don't know anything about this world, I do!" I said, pointing to myself. "And I know where your sister is and why you were brought here!"
She lowered her stick.
"When you were getting sucked in, I tried to stop it. Why would I do that if I wasn't trying to help you?"
She lowered her stick further.
"Why were we brought here?" she asked. I told her she was beginning to trust me, but she wasn't quite there yet.
"Because like me, you and your sister aren't full Earth 1 blooders. You're only half; one of your parents came from this world, and the other came from your world. For whatever reason, babies from the two worlds accidentally switch places, and nobody notices. They grow up, get married, and have little half-babies without suspecting a thing."
Santana shook her head, "That's impossible, I don't have powers like you people, my sister doesn't have power like you people, neither of my parents have powers like you people!"
"That's because there is no magic in your world, so our powers don't work," I explained, but Santana continued to shake her head no.
"I don't buy it," she said and began to raise her stick back up.
"That's okay, but this lady Gretta, she's kidnapping all these halves from your and from my world, so she can rip a hole through the barrier separating the two of them and invade your world."
"But I thought your powers didn't work on our version of Earth?"
"They don't, and I don't think that the people trying to do it know that," I said.
"And you will help get my sister back and get us home?" Santana asked, sounding hopeful.
"I will try my best, and Henry will too," I promised sincerely, and held out my hand.
She looked at my hand hesitantly, "I won't die if I shake your hand, you said your um...?"
"Element."
"Right.. your element was death. Do you shoot death out of your hand in a dark mist or something?"
I laughed, "No, it just brings dead people back to life and lets me see ghosts," I said, and based on the expression that crossed Santana's face, I decided I should just stop talking about my element altogether.
"Violet, thank god-"
Santana and I both jumped at the sudden addition of a male voice. Santana brought her stick up and whacked a boy wearing leather with black hair, who had just emerged from a bush near her, in the head.
Henry managed to stay on his feet for a few brief seconds before his eyes rolled into the back of his skull, and he collapsed.
I let out a small scream of horror and dove for his limp body. I quickly turned him onto his back and pressed my ear next to his mouth. I let out a sigh of relief when his breath tickled my face.
"He's alive!" I cried, but somehow that didn't make me feel that much better.
I had a strong feeling that Henry's unconsciousness was a very, very bad thing right now, but why? Then I remembered.
I turned towards Santana, my face showing the depths of my terror, "Ma-man eaters! It didn't eat us because griffins only eat boys!"