Daydream (ONC 2024)

Chapter 15: Smile Just a Little

"I'm not depraved enough to murder children, but we have to get them out of the way." Kearo called his wind to hover above the grass, and I lifted a hand to keep the wind out of my face. That ultimately served pointless as Sven landed with a crash that knocked half the children off their feet. With a roar, he blew flames into the air over their heads, and I felt terrible as half of them cowered behind their leader and her griffin.

So did Sven.

When he saw them quaking, his wings sank, and he turned to use his tail to swipe some of them out of the way like we could walk through them. It was gentle movement that scooted them along, but as soon as they saw that he wasn't hurting them, half the kids jumped right on it. Laughter echoed as more children surrounded Sven with squeals of delight and grabby hands that rivaled Lexington's

The hostility faded from the air as Sven sat down and lifted a line of children with a wing. Peals of laughter sounded as they flew off the ground hanging on the edge, and he dropped them down with a weak flap that had them rolling off dizzy. More clamored over him like ants on a cookie, and Sven rolled happily as children screamed about how they were going to slay the dragon.

Their efforts were as genuine as their traps.

Ray had about as much control of the situation as Sven, and he joined in to lift a child up on each of his biceps. When they tired of that, he wrestled with a lion until a bear joined in to near crush him with fluff. As they laughed, Lexington crawled off to enjoy the shade of the trees, and I was too distracted by the flood of children to notice the griffin sneak up behind me.

Its head slipped under my legs, and I dug my hands into its mane of feathers as it ascended quicker than I could hop off. The ground dwindled below me, but Kearo chased the beast like a bullet. The griffin squawked in a jeer and pawed at the air with the likely assumption that he wouldn't attack with me on its back. Kearo had a different idea about that and spun wind around me and the griffin both. It toppled the beast from its safe hover and tossed me into the air so dizzy I couldn't tell up from down.

Kearo made a swipe to grab me, but his hand fell short, and I tumbled for a full rotation until I collided with something soft. Heart pounding, I lifted a handful of fluff and let it sift back to the massive cloud I'd landed on, and then I laughed.

"Heidi, please," Kearo grumbled as he drifted down to me, but he couldn't stop his own half smile.

"They just want to play us, Kearo. Have some fun," I urged as I did a snow angel in the cloud fluff, and he groaned.

"Back off, adult. This is the valley of the dreamers, and we don't have room for party crashers." The griffin creator shared the skies with angel wings extending out from her back, and the beast joined her side as she strung an arrow on a bow. "I, Violet Earthborn, will banish you."

"You have to be kidding," Kearo scoffed with a hand on his hip, the air around him swirling to keep him suspended, and it started my cloud in a slow spin.

"Fun," I repeated as I toppled from dizziness.

"Aye aye." Kearo saluted as he rushed Violet. The griffin intercepted with a head-butt to Kearo's side and sent them sprawling through the air together. "Bird brain!"

Kearo pushed the bird off only to take a barrage of light arrows to his back, but they merely burst into sparks instead of piercing through him. Brushing them off, Kearo kicked the griffin way and threw up whirlwinds to disrupt the skies as he glided back to me.

"Are you happy?" he ground out as he plopped on the cloud with me, but a chuckle finally slipped his lips as Violet and the griffin righted themselves in the distance.