▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 14║▌║▌║█│▌

After Gala went around to each of us, we headed out. I went over to John and Giselle to talk to them for the first time since yesterday morning. I walked next John, and I asked him, “Sooo, you awakened your powers huh? What are your powers? They have to be pretty powerful to turn that griffin into ash, right?”

John’s face twisted into a guilty look, and he rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. “Yeah, about that,” He said, “I haven’t really awakened my powers yet. We were walking in the woods, and we saw you two laying on the ground with a pile of ash next you. I honestly didn’t think anything about the ash at first and just thought that you and that vampire girl had sex haha.”

I shivered at the thought of having sex with that scary woman. “Never in a million years.” I told him. “She’s scary as hell. What were you two doing away from the group anyway?”

Giselle piped up before John, saying, “That isn’t any of your business!”

I looked over at her with squinted eyes and told her, “I wasn’t asking you, was I?”

John put his hands in between Giselle and I and said, “That’s enough you two. We just got caught up in a conversation, Cody, and lost our way from the group.”

“How could you get lost in a conversation with her?” I thought to myself.

Just then, one of the minataurs run up behind John and grabbed hold of him and yelled. I was shocked by this, but John was standing there smiling. I guess a lot happened in the few hours that I was out from the griffin. I noticed that he stared at me as he had a hold of John. I didn’t see any malice in his eyes, but there was a curiosity in them. I could tell this situation was just going to get awkward for me. I still haven’t apologized for my comments yesterday, and although his eyes don’t have the same disgust as they did last time, I can tell I’m probably going to end up feeling out of place again. I looked around for Garen, and he was walking near the front of the group with Sasha. I quickly escaped the soon to be awkward situation for me with the rest of the minataur brothers showing up, and I made my way to the front of the group beside Garen and Sasha. I walked up beside Garen, and he greeted me with a friendly smile. “Where is our next stop going to be?” I asked him.

“It should be a place just outside the Fairy Forest. It’s a lake that holds the ancestors of Nessie and some lake spirits. It should be a safe camp with them there for protection.”

The lamia slithered up behind us and she came up beside me. I tried to hide my shock the best I could, but the half snake, half girl thing is still hard to get used to. I want to ask her so many questions about what it’s like to have that body and what her powers are, but with Sasha right there to hit me if I say anything wrong, I didn’t feel up to the task. Garen being his usual up-beat self, asked her, “How are you doing Sonya?”

“I’m doing fine, Thanks.” She said with a smile, “I was just wondering if we should be on the lookout for other monsters on the trail. Since we don’t know if the griffin acted alone, we should stay alert right?”

Garen responded, “Yeah, I think so, but with John having his powers being awakened, I think we are safe from most attacks trying to kidnap him.”

“Yeah, I guess. It’s weird though how he won’t say what his powers are. I would have thought he would be excited to show off his new found abilities.” She turned her attention towards Sasha and I and told us, “You two are lucky that you survived that. If John didn’t show up when you did, then you both wouldn’t be here right now.”

Remembering what John told me about him not awakening his powers, I lowered my head a bit and just responded with a solemn, “Yeah, he always comes through for me.”

First rule that John and I ever had with each other was to not snitch on the other one, and I’m not about to break that rule here. A thought lingered in my mind though ever since I heard that he hasn’t awakened his powers though. What happened to the griffin then? I felt a surge of energy deep inside me again as I was reminiscing on the events, and it brought my thoughts back to the beautiful pool of golden sap. I turned towards Sasha and asked her, “Hey, are you still feeling the effects from the sap bath?”

She turned her head from looking forwards to myself, and she squinted her red eyes, probably from my informal way of talking about the sap pool, and told me, “Yeah, my body feels so much lighter now, and I can see ten times farther than I was able to before. I’m still getting used to it. What about you?”

I put my hands in my pockets and turned my head forward telling her, “I don’t really know. I feel different, but it’s hard to explain. I feel like there is a wild and furious energy deep inside of me. It’s weird.”

Garen’s eyes flickered when I said this, but before he could say anything, Sonya piped up asking, “Oh yeah, you two were lucky enough to bathe in the Fairy’s Sacred pool. I still don’t know why you got too, and John didn’t get the chance. What did it feel like?”

Sasha answered the question saying, “It’s hard to explain. I think it varies for different people too, so there isn’t one defined answer.”

CRACK!!

There was a loud noise that could be heard behind us. We all whirled around, and saw a little man with red hair standing there in a green suit and a grin on his face.

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued║▌║▌║█│▌