New Problems

Dr. Morris sat behind his desk early the next morning, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. Things were getting bad out east – and Mystics were hitting back. The attack in Ranelk was unexpected, completely out of the blue, but now the other camps were aware of what happened they started lashing out at any human even NEAR their camps. No deaths yet from those incidents, but there had been 2 attacks by Hunters in the last week, not including Ranelk. And one of them failed. There was inevitably going to be another bloodbath, it was only a matter of time – and he wasn't entirely sure which side would win.

He looked up annoyed as a knock came at the office door. "It's open."

Jessica entered, looking worried. "Dr. Morris," she stated, noticeably avoiding eye contact. "There's a family here to talk to you. It's an emergency, I'm afraid."

He lifted the newspaper back up and responded, "If it's anything bigger than a St. Bernard, come back. Otherwise, you know the drill. Get the animal in to be examined and assessed."

"They're not here about an animal. They're looking for their child, who went missing a week ago. The police sent them here."

Swearing, he put the paper down and said, "Send them in."

After a few minutes, a husband and wife walked in and he gestured for them to sit down. The man was dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, the woman a red dress. Dr. Morris considered them for a moment, then said, "Missing persons cases are for local law enforcement. I'll help if I can, but I'm a medical practitioner, not a private investigator."

They exchanged a glance. "We went to the local sheriff's department," the man said, "and they sent us here. Wouldn't say why." He paused. "His name is Avery Daniels."

Morris was about to respond when realization struck. "Avery Daniels?" The man nodded. "Any chance he goes by the name 'Daniel'?"

A worried expression crossed the woman's face. "You know where he is?"

Dr. Morris buried his face in his right palm. "Damnit…" he swore quietly. This problem with the Gryphon just got very complicated. He finally looked at the 2 of them. "Tell me…exactly how much has Deputy Matthews told you about Daniel's current…condition?"

"Nothing, only that he's here. Is he alright? We'll pay the medical bill if he got hurt."

"He was gravely injured a week ago by a pack of wolves…" There was a gasp. "…but he's doing a lot better now and was discharged yesterday morning. This was the nearest hospital we could get him to in time to save his life."

Daniel's parents relaxed a little at this news. Now for the bad news. "Daniel, however…" he hesitated, unsure of exactly how to say this, "…he's…different from how you remember him."

"How so?" the father asked.

Dr. Morris studied his palms and said very quietly, "A week ago he was involved in the Camp Ranelk incident. Afterwards, he was forced to drink a veil and…" he looked up, looking the father dead in the eye, "…his body had an EXTREMELY rare reaction to it, rendering the change permanent."

There was a very long silence. "Avery always hated Mystics, but…he's still our son. Whatever creature he is now, we'll make it work."

The veterinarian rubbed the back of his neck. "If nothing else, there is one good thing to say about his condition: he's finally taken a liking to Mystics. In fact, he's become close friends with a Kitsune named Claire."

"And his health? Has he recovered completely?"

Time to stop beating around the bush, it seemed. "His body recovered more quickly than expected. In fact, he's a perfectly healthy male Gryphon now."

The silence was deafening. "A GRYPHON…?" Daniel's mother asked finally, shocked. "He's…"

Dr. Morris stood up. "I was going to go looking for them in a few hours, but I think it's best to get this reunion underway."

Phillip yawned, shaking off the light snow that had fallen on him in the night. Still half-asleep, he looked bleary-eyed at the Gryphon near the lake. Daniel was still asleep, but after a few minutes he saw Claire slip out from under his wing and walk into the woods – headed in Phillip's direction. Curious, he watched the Kitsune walk right past him without saying anything. He swooped to another branch ahead of her.

"You alright, Claire?" he asked.

Startled, she looked up, emerging from her thoughts. "Phillip? What are you doing here? Haven't seen you since that morning."

He shrugged, shifting slightly on the branch. "Just satisfying my curiosity. Quite a character, that Daniel."

Her expression suddenly turning to anger, Claire continued walking. "Unless you know where Luc is, I don't want to talk about it."

He stared after her for a few seconds before saying, "He's not far from here, actually." This immediately grabbed her attention and she spun around. "He moved shop into town after New Year's."

Claire's expression relaxed and she smiled half-heartedly. "Thanks, I…" she paused, ears pricking as she heard Daniel waking up back near the lake. She couldn't see his face clearly, but there was something wrong. He quickly set out into the woods. Thinking he went looking for her, she quickly followed him, forgetting for the moment that Phillip was even there. The Augurey hesitated for only a moment before following her.

The Gryphon's ear perked. It heard humans – very close. In ITS territory. It quickly found them, 3 humans walking through the woods. They looked familiar, but…

Something held it back, a thought at the back of its mind that these humans were no threat to it, but the instincts won out and with a screech it leapt onto the path, blocking their way. As it took a step toward them, however, something clicked in the avian's mind and Daniel once again came back to the surface, shocked. "Mom? Dad?" he chirped, wishing beyond all reason he could speak right then.

His parents were terrified, but Dr. Morris stopped them from fleeing with a few quick, whispered words. Mom was the first to approach Daniel. "Avery…? Is that really you?" She placed a hand on his dark beak. He closed his eyes as he leaned into the touch. A tear ran down his face, realizing he couldn't say ANYTHING to them.

He was torn at that moment. The instincts were driven back by the joy he felt to see them again, but he knew this reunion would be short: He wanted nothing more than to go home with them, but with the state of things it would be just too dangerous - for everyone involved.

After a moment of stroking the feathers on his face, his mom finally asked, "Doctor…how did this happen? You said it was because of a veil."

Dr. Morris hesitated for a moment. "He is what's called a Descendant. Somewhere, buried very deep in his blood, there is a Gryphon in his lineage. This occurrence is not unique, but it is extremely rare. Drinking a Gryphon veil awakened that part of his lineage, permanently turning him into one." He paused, placing a hand on her shoulder. "He's still in there, he's just having trouble controlling the instincts."

Mom remained silent, gazing into Daniel's golden eyes. It was Dad, however, who finally spoke: "Can we…talk to him?"

Dr. Morris was about to answer but hesitated, suddenly unsure. "Daniel…where IS Claire, anyway? She's usually with you."

Realization struck him and he looked around, suddenly realizing he had no idea where the Kitsune was. The patter of paws on the snow and the flutter of wings behind him, however, announced their arrival. His gaze softened as he looked at Claire and a smile appeared on the Kitsune's snout. The source of the wings, however, surprised him: a green-and-black vulture, a Mystic he had neither seen nor heard of before. "Claire," he chirped at her, turning away from the strange bird. "You had me worried for a second there."

She shifted into a human and walked up to him, nodding at the assembled humans. "Phillip says he knows where Luc is," she said to Dr. Morris.

"You can understand him?" Mom asked, surprised, glancing at Daniel.

Claire nodded. "Yeah, I can understand everything he says. We met right after he changed." She smiled. "My name's Claire, I'm a Kitsune."

There was a long silence. Dr. Morris could tell something was eating Claire, hidden behind a half-genuine smile. Something must've happened between her and Daniel the previous night.

It was an awkward conversation, but in time Daniel's parents started to adjust to this new way of communicating with him. He told them he had been at the camp when the attack happened, but he grew closed-beaked when it came to WHY he was there in the first place. It was something he was going to have to tell them eventually, but it would cause no end of problems if he didn't do the telling. Once his parents were a little reassured he was at least somewhat comfortable with his new life (or at least adjusting to his new way of living), they finally left.

Daniel felt a lot better, knowing he still had a family to go back to, but his future still looked uncertain and bleak. At this point, he was just living his life day by day, no real direction. That was going to change, sooner or later. Inevitably, as Claire had said the night before, the Hunters were going to catch wind of a Gryphon in the area. He'd have to learn to fight – to actually fight, not wait for the instincts to take control in a brawl and pray for the best. A good place to start would be learning to fly, but first Dr. Morris had something important to do.

"Daniel," he said as he returned to the lake's edge. Phillip was perched in a tree a short distance away. "We need to find Luc, before anyone else does. Not only to get veils, but to order a specialty potion. It'll be important for you, but what exactly it does is…complicated." Phillip squawked from his branch and everyone looked at Claire.

"He says he knows where to find Luc," she translated. "In fact, Luc's pretty close to here, according to him."

Daniel nodded, thoughtful. "Good, we can head there right now. Where exactly is he?" He looked at the avian, but suddenly Phillip fell silent, looking away.

"Phillip?" Claire asked, suddenly growing worried. Phillip chirped quietly. "In town? You already told me that. That's alright, we'll just go without Daniel." The response from him was far longer in coming this time and all color drained from Claire's face as he finally said it.

Daniel immediately saw this. "Claire, it can't be all that bad. You'll be perfectly safe in Richmond."

She shook her head. "He's not in Richmond…" she met Daniel's gaze, her eyes suddenly filling with tears, "…he's in Ranelk."