Dylan

Lilly clapped her hand over Merlot's mouth as the girl started to scream.

I sort of wanted to scream, too.

Terry had snapped out of his berserker rage. Staggering in the parking lot, Terry's skin was bubbling before our eyes. His change reminded me of my father's. Only, instead of black feathers, his were tan.

You idiot, I wanted to say. Why didn't you remember that your birthday was coming up?

Why hadn't I remembered?

It had been an easy thing to forget. We didn't live around calendars… But now that I thought about it, Terry had become increasingly erratic over the last few weeks.

I thought it was just the stress of everything. And, Terry being Terry.

But…

We should have left sooner, I thought.

I had the feeling, in the same place where the visions had come from, that it had been too late for him for a long time.

The turning itself didn't take very long. And a griffin filled with rage took to the sky. Soon, he was lost in the bright sunshine.

The sun… I thought.

Today had been his birthday. But only until he had stepped outside, under the sun, did he fully begin the change. Yes, his behavior had been deteriorating, but only when he stepped outside did the physical change begin.

Did that have something to do with it? My father and the others had changed in the amphitheater, but the initial turning had been a worldwide event. Perhaps, the first wave had been the strongest and had gotten everyone old enough, in the sun and out.

It hit me then: My cousin was dead.

I felt like I should cry the way Merlot was crying.

But, I only felt numb.

Across the parking lot, I saw Clarissa sitting in the car, her hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel.

She was still alive. But, she was almost seventeen, too.

* * *

"I vote we don't let her back in," Lilly said.

"Well," I said, "I vote we do. She isn't turning, Lilly. It's not her time yet.

"She has feathers, Dylan!"

Lilly and I had been arguing through the late afternoon, and now it was coming onto the evening.

"We're not leaving my sister!" Ben yelled.

Lilly opened her mouth to start to object. Ben, with a surge of ferocity, pushed past her and out the door.

"Ben, what are you doing?" I yelled.

The sun wasn't down all the way yet, but we heard no griffin shrieks. None – not even my cousin — had stuck around.

Ben ignored me and marched to the truck.

Clarissa, seeing her brother, tumbled out to greet him.

He threw his skinny arms around her waist and started to cry.

Clarissa comforted him the best she could, and glanced up at me. She didn't try to join us in the convenience store. I think she knew she was still awaiting judgment.

"Merlot," Lilly whined, "You're with me, right?"

"She hasn't started to turn," Merlot said, unexpectedly landing on my side.

"What you think those feathers are!"

"They're like scabs," I said. "I've known about them for a while now, Lilly. She isn't going griffin."

At least, not yet, I thought.

I followed Ben out of the convenience store.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Clarissa looked up at me. Her eyes were red and puffy. "I'm sorry about your cousin."

I felt a lump grow in my throat but I swallowed it down. "Me too."

"What we do now?" Ben asked.

"We head for Big Sur," I said. "As fast as we possibly can."

* * *

That was a lot easier said than done. The bay area was much more populated in the Central Valley. And the turning had hit close to rush hour. That meant a lot of cars on the road and many more mega-crashes. What was worse, the coastline was rugged and the roads narrower.

Sometimes, the highway became impassable for miles. We got out and walked for long stretches of time, loaded up our supplies in a new car at the first clear patch of road we could find. Then we'd drive for a mile, and hit another beggar crash.

Our progress slowed to a crawl.

Clarissa never complained, though I knew that she could feel the ticking clock of her birthday every night that we fell asleep.

None of us were cavalier about the date again.

It was all on our minds, but not even Lilly said a word.

We hit highway one and turned on the last leg of the journey. It was slower going than getting out of the rugged alpine mountains.

The coastline was majestic — even at night. And during the sunrise and sunset, griffin cries melted with the calls of seagulls.

Then… something very odd began to happen when we were a few miles out of the town.

It started with a tingle across the skin. Sort of like when you sat on a limb and it went numb, only across the surface.

I looked around, and from the uneasy glances everybody gave me, they were feeling it too.

Lilly was the first to voice her concern. "What the hell is that?"

"I think…" I started to say, before my usual unease with magic reared its ugly head. I stopped talking.

Lilly, of course, noticed and rolled her eyes. "Just spell it out, Dylan. You are the magic guy."

Magic guy, huh? Well… that was sort of a concession from her. "I think it's some sort of anti-griffin field," I said.

"What makes you say that?" Lilly asked.

"I don't know. Just a feeling."

She rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything snarky so she was taking me at my word for once.

I glanced to Clarissa who was behind the steering wheel. She looked about as uncomfortable as everybody else, but this anti-griffin field wasn't stopping her.

The roads cleared up again as we got closer to the house. It was a remote location, despite being close to the beach.

Suddenly, the tingling feel sharpened, and then snapped. It was as if we had erupted on the other side. I glanced around… And the first thing I saw was an owl on the wing swooping in front of the car.

"Did you see that?" I asked.

Clarissa nodded. "Yeah, an owl. Cool." She sounded curious, but not enthused.

Lilly was the first to pick it up. "We haven't seen wildlife or anything since the turning started. Maybe it is an anti-griffin field. Maybe we're actually safe here."

"Does that mean we can go out in the daytime again?" Merlot muttered.

I hoped so.

* * *

We drove up to the house which sat on top of a bluff overlooking the beach. Lilly and I let out simultaneous exclamations when we saw it.

"What's wrong?" Clarissa asked.

"They've redone the house!" Lilly said, her jaw-dropping. "Hey, Dylan… Does it look like…"

"I thought our uncle said that he was refurbishing the house. Why did he make it look like the Lake Tahoe house?"

"Because he was listening to mom, and mom was crazy…?" Lilly suggested, though without her usual venom.

I shook my head in surprise and stared as we rolled up to the house. The house looked very similar to the one we had left way up in the mountains. It was like an architect had built it from the same blueprints, only substituted some of the larger logs with driftwood for an added beachy vibe.

It was also empty, and dark.

We stood in front of the front door, and I realized, belatedly, that we had no way in.

I tried the knob anyway and it slid under my fingers.

The inside looked almost the same as the Lake Tahoe house, too. The same flooring, the same layout… Only the decorations were different, with a laid back beach theme.

It was eerie, and ominous.

"Dylan… You should see this." Clarissa had made her way to a table that was sat in the middle of the entranceway. There was a folded letter.

She held it to me, and everyone gathered together as I looked it over. There was just enough moonlight streaming in to read by.

Kids,

By the grace of my brother's wife, I was warned about magic returning to the world. I did my best to prepare. Use this place as the sanctuary it was built to be. If she is right, the rest of my life will soon be spent in the sky. There is hope for you, yet. I've given you supplies enough to last years are in the hangar. Dylan, if you are reading this, you know what to do next.

Your uncle,

Marlin.

"He built this place for us… she built this place for us," I said and felt bad for every time that I had called my mom crazy.

Even if she had been unbalanced by normal societal standards.

"What does he mean by you know what to do?" Lilly demanded.

I looked at Clarissa. "The tide pool."

She looked at me. "It's time."

* * *

The path to the tide pool took us by the airplane hanger. As promised, it was stuffed full of supplies. A mini version of the distribution center we had visited in the valley.

Part of me wanted to stop and catalog the supplies – one glance told me there was enough to last us a good amount of time.

Or, many people a shorter amount of time.

Surely, this was not a sanctuary meant for just us. We had passed signs of survivors. And if this tide pool cure worked… It would be our duty to go out and save as many as we could.

That was later. First, I had to save Clarissa.

The moon shone through scattered clouds and illuminated our beach word path to the cave.

It was easy to find. A blue, almost neon glow emerged from the cave itself, sparkling the tide pool water inside.

"I don't get it," Lilly said. "Mom knew all this was going to happen and she, what? Put LED lights at the bottom of the tide pool? She didn't go on the national news? She didn't try to warn other people?"

"No one would believe her, Lilly," I told her. "And these aren't LED lights. I get the feeling… It's a collection of power, somehow."

Merlot spoke up. "Is it the only one in the whole world?"

"I doubt it," I said. "At least… I hope not."

If this worked, we would save as many people as possible. But it would only be a small fraction of the survivors.

I had to believe there are other places like this scattered throughout the world. That we had been given some reprieve from the magic.

A crystal goblet sat at the corner of the tide pool. The light caught it and sparkled.

I took it in my hand and dipped it into the tide pool. It was as if all the light coalesced into the glass as I lifted it again.

Then, I held it out to Clarissa.