Page 7 of The Beauty and the Griffin

“Maybe thirty minutes.”

“She might have waded in a pond.”

“There is no sand in the resort gardens, and the sunburn?”

Pukai’s frown is as beautiful as her smile (sometimes I almost hate her). “I do hope you’re right about this. Now what?”

She had me there. “I haven’t the slightest. We go home and wait for her to grow up, I guess.”

“Nonsense. He must win her heart as he is now. We don’t dare waste time or opportunities. You must look for a way to get her back here as soon and as often as possible. I suggest you connect the girl with a family who comes here regularly. Time is running out, and if he fails . . . Well, you know the rest.”

3

BEATRICE

Even after thinking allday about what Othniel said—I mean the part about gates messing with time—I could make no sense of it. Auntie hadn’t questioned my ravenous hunger and dirty clothes, though I was sure she noticed. I would have told her everything if she’d asked, but even when I outright told her I’d been gone for hours, she brushed me off.

The next morning, I couldn’t find the rose-arbor gateway anywhere. My frustration grew as I searched for Othniel among the resort guests during each day’s activities. No one I asked knew him or even recognized his unusual name. Every morning, I searched in vain for Starfire or the pond or the unicorn fountain.

For all she’d claimed to bring me along for company, Auntie pretty much left my entertainment to the resort staff while she was all into crocheting lace, playing card games, and gossiping with the other old ladies. I suppose even grandaunts need time off now and then, but I desperately wanted to tell someone about my strange adventure and ask for answers.

On our final morning at Faraway Castle, I searched one last time. What did I find? Not Othniel. Not even a cinder sprite. Just an ordinary old iron bench hidden in a niche in the box hedge. I sat on it anyway, and since no one could hear or see me, I had a good cry.

I was just wiping my face on the shoulder of my T-shirt when a rush of magic and a beautiful musky sort of scent swept through the little alcove. Afraid to move, I rolled my eyes to look around with something between anticipation and dread. “Who’s there?” I squeaked.

“A friend.”

Those two words might have emanated from the earth beneath my feet . . . or the warm breeze ruffling my hair? I couldn’t be sure. Inside me, terror and delight vied for control. That magic I’d first sensed when we passed through Faraway Castle’s front gates? It—all of it—seemed to be here in this leafy alcove with me.

“You’ve been trying to find your way back to a secret garden.”

A thrill swept through me, and my courage returned in a rush. “Yes! Where is it?”

“That path is closed.”

My heart sank. “Closed . . . forever?”

“I know only of the past and the present, not the future.”

I wilted in despair. “Even if it’s here tomorrow, I won’t be.” Auntie was already packing our things.

“Take heart, child. Such paths reappear in their proper time and place.”

Instead of marveling over the warmth and kindness in the voice or appreciating its words of encouragement, I scowled. “You mean I have to bepatient.”

But the magical presence was gone, leaving behind a sense of intermingled delight and sorrow. Which I utterly failed to appreciate. “Ihatewaiting.”

Arabella

Pukai was late for our final meeting.

Beatrice and I would return to Biscarosse in the morning, which meant another long drive in that rattletrap car with an overtired child. Waiting in the cave for the siren queen further soured my mood; spray from her pretentious magical waterfall kept drifting toward me.

Palau Kalah, the Lost Island, wasn’t so much lost as displaced. Before the resort first opened its doors, many years ago now, Pukai had simply lifted the little volcanic island, its lagoon, and a narrow buffer zone of surrounding tropical ocean, and swapped it with a corresponding amount of Faraway Lake. That was her magic, not mine, so I can’t explain the process properly. Suffice to say, the creatures living in both bodies of water were completely unaware when they instantaneously swam from one side of the world to the other and back again.

From her island vantage point, the merqueen could keep close tabs on our rogue mage and his pet-project resort, then quickly swim back to her underwater palace on the far side of the world. I kept a few hideouts of my own near Faraway Castle, but since I’ve never been one for spectacular power displays, mine were far less noticeable.

Pukai didn’t know it, but just being in that island cave dragged up a memory I preferred to leave far behind. Memories of sorrowful dark eyes, strong hands wrapped around mine, and . . .

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