Mia
“Mia Braddock, this is the worst idea you’ve ever had.”
Clutching the steering wheel and peering into the snow, Mia slowly eased the car forward onto the road. She was driving down one of the long, steep driveways that led to one of the incredibly fancy, and even more incredibly expensive holiday homes of the rich and sometimes famous that dotted the secluded mountains around these parts.
Being a party planner and decorator had its perks, of course – she got to do what she loved, and she didn’t think she would ever get tired of seeing people’s faces light up when they walked into their lounge rooms to view her work for the first time.
Christmas was an especially rewarding time of the year: no matter whether her clients were working with a strict budget or the sky was the limit, all of them were utterly delighted when they entered to see their homes transformed with tinsel and bright Christmas baubles, gilded wall hangings and silver ribbons.
This client had most definitely fallen into the latter category in terms of how much money they were willing to spend to have their house done up for Christmas. They had basically handed Mia a blank check – and she had made the most of it. There had been red-ribboned Christmas garlands hanging from the balustrades of the stairwell, and hundreds of hand-blown glass ornaments for the tree that reached up two storeys high. Golden angels blowing brass trumpets dangled delicately from the long strings of holly that hung above every doorway. And, of course, there had been the mistletoe – discreetly hung in a little alcove, where even the most wary of visitors could easily stumble into its path and be subjected to a good dose of Christmas kisses.
Mia had been proud of the job she’d done. Sure, it was easy to make things look beautiful when money was no object, but she liked to think she added an extra bit of shine and sparkle. The owners of the house had certainly seemed to like her work – they’d thanked her profusely for everything she’d done, and tipped her generously.
It was money that would go straight into paying off her student loans, of course, but every little bit helped, especially at this time of year.
Christmas might have been a joyous occasion, but it was also an expensive one.
Which was why she’d taken on this job in the first place, despite the fact it was a five-hour drive from her home in Scarsdale, and she knew that heavy snow was predicted for the late afternoon and evening.
She hated driving in the snow.
At last edging her car out onto the road, Mia took a deep breath, and set off.
The snow wasn’t too bad – just at this moment, at least. It would come on far more heavily very soon, but she hoped by then she would have reached the suburbs, where things would be far more well-lit. If the worst came to the worst, once she was out of the mountains she could pull over and find a 24-hour diner. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d done that. Her job involved a lot of driving, and sometimes it was just safer to find somewhere for a nap than to try to get home.
For now, however, there was nothing to do but clutch the wheel and keep her eyes open as she slowly traversed the winding mountain roads to safety.
“Just keep your cool, Mia, and everything will be okay,” she muttered to herself as she cautiously pushed her foot down on the accelerator.
I wonder if talking to yourself like an idiot counts as keeping your cool, she thought, pursing her lips.
Probably not.
In an effort to keep her mind off the sickening bends and turns she was navigating, Mia turned to the car radio. Naturally, it was faint and staticky this high up and in this kind of weather, but there was just enough reception for her to pick out the faint strains of a Christmas-themed pop song, in which, from what she could make out, some sultry-voiced songstress was begging Santa for a boyfriend this Christmas.
Mia’s first instinct was to roll her eyes – but she couldn’t deny that the song struck a chord. A painful one.
Okay, so maybe a boyfriend might be hoping for a little too much this Christmas – but all the same, she’d rather not have been spending the holiday season alone.
She was an only child, and her parents had split long ago. They were off living in far-flung parts of the world these days, her mother in Spain, and her father... well, her father moved around a lot, his job as a humanitarian worker taking him all over the world. It meant she didn’t see either of them very often, but they exchanged emails a lot. They both seemed to love their lives.
Mia couldn’t bring herself to feel anything other than happiness for them, even if it meant she herself had no company. Both had asked her what she’d be doing for Christmas, but she’d waved off their concerns by saying she’d just spend the time with friends – but the truth was, she’d known even then that she’d most likely spend the lead-up to Christmas Day in a flurry of work, and then be too tired to do anything other than watch whatever Christmas specials were on TV, and text the friends she probably wouldn’t have had time to see in weeks.
So far, all her predictions were coming depressingly true.
“Don’t be such a grump,” she scolded herself as she took a particularly nasty corner. Shouldn’t she be able to take joy from the smiles of her clients, and knowing that she’d helped them to have a truly memorable holiday season?
Part of her wanted to believe that was enough.
But in her heart, she knew that even as her clients thanked her and sometimes even cried in joy at seeing what she’d done, she would always be on the outside, looking in.
It was always someone else’s parties, someone else’s friends and family.
Mia didn’t feel like she needed to be going to some glamorous party to be happy, but…
She sighed. Maybe the sultry-voiced songstress on the radio was right after all. Maybe it’d just be nice to have a special someone to curl up on the couch to drink eggnog with; someone to share half-drunk kisses and make fun of terrible Christmas specials with.
Stop thinking like this.
It wasn’t going to happen. Not this Christmas, anyway.
And probably not the next one either, if she kept up the way she was going.
All work and no play makes Mia a dull girl, she thought to herself, and almost laughed out loud. But then again, someone’s got to pay the rent!
“And right now, someone’s got to concentrate on driving the car,” she muttered to herself as she inched forward.
The wind was getting stronger, buffeting the car and spattering flurries of white snowflakes against the windshield. Mia didn’t dare drive any faster than she was already, but at the same time, she did want to get home sometime this century.
The radio was mostly static now, the songstress totally drowned out by the power of the storm. Mia bit her lip. Things were getting serious. She couldn’t stop, but visibility was getting worse and worse by the moment.
For a second, she briefly entertained the idea of turning around and heading back up the mountain to throw herself on the mercy of her clients – maybe they wouldn’t mind her hanging around for a few hours, just until the snow cleared up.
But… no. That would be unprofessional, she told herself. And she lived or died by word of mouth.
There was nothing for it but to keep on inching forward.
“Slowly does it, though,” Mia said. “Slowly does it…”
But just as she got up the courage to begin speeding up again, a sudden curtain of white snow fell down from the sky, completely obscuring her view of anything more than a few feet ahead, and utterly overwhelming her already over-worked windshield wipers. They stuttered to a halt, completely ineffective against the sudden snowy onslaught.
Gripping the wheel, Mia took a deep breath. Reaching down, she tried turning the wipers off and then on again, but it did no good. They were completely stuck.
Fine. Fine. No problem, Mia told herself. I’ll just get out and fix them.
Putting her hazard lights on, Mia moved the car slowly to the side of the road. Grabbing her thick parka and gloves, she opened the car door –
– and stepped out into a world of white.
It was easy to see how quickly someone might become disoriented, Mia thought, with the wind howling and the snowflakes cutting sharply against the skin of her face. Squinting, she bent over almost double to try to keep her face out of the wind as she scraped handfuls of snow from her windshield.
“Ack!” Mia jumped back, crying out in surprise as the wipers suddenly sprung back to life as they were freed, whipping across the windshield once more. Of course, she’d forgotten to turn them off again, and given herself the fright of her life.
Stumbling back a little, Mia almost fell flat on her backside – but managed to catch herself against one of the trees that lined the road.
Once she’d caught her breath, she found she couldn’t do anything but laugh – she felt like an idiot, but at least the wipers were fixed!
Pushing herself upright again, Mia was just about to go back to the car when she heard it.
Something, somewhere, had let out a small, desperate growl.
Mia paused, cocking her head.
What was that?
It had been only faint – barely audible above the howl of the wind and rustle of the trees. Or perhaps her mind was simply playing tricks on her, and she hadn’t heard anything at all.
She stood, listening intently, but there was nothing.
Just my imagination, then, Mia thought uneasily.
What kind of animals lived up here in these heavily wooded mountains? Mia had to confess she didn’t know – and she wasn’t all that keen to find out.
Swallowing, she again started toward the car – and heard the sound again.
It was louder this time, more insistent.
Mia could tell this time it wasn’t really a growl at all – more like a plaintive cry than anything that could be interpreted as aggressive.
Whatever was making it, it was clearly a cry for help.
Stopping and licking her lips, Mia looked around her. The snow was still heavy, but it had eased somewhat from the wildness of earlier. She could at least see her hands in front of her face.
It might be someone’s pet, she thought suddenly. The sound hadn’t been human, but that didn’t mean it was a wild animal, either.
She didn’t think she could just leave without having made sure – the idea of leaving someone’s beloved animal friend in the middle of a fierce snowstorm just didn’t sit right with her. She couldn’t bear the thought of some poor child spending Christmas frantic with worry for their pet.
She’d only ever had a parakeet when she was a kid, and she’d still cried her eyes out when he’d died.
“Here, uh, puss-puss,” she called hesitantly, hoping that the sound of a friendly voice might coax it into calling again and helping her to locate it. “Or doggie, I guess. Where are you?”
Naturally, there was no answer.
Mia staggered along, buffeted by the wind, nervous about going farther but unwilling to give up. She took a few more steps forward, and was reluctantly about to turn back, when the sound came again.
It had been only the thinnest of sounds – somewhere between a kittenish growl and a whine, and only barely audible above the whistling of the wind.
Mia paused, leaning down even further. “Kitty?”
Again, that small sound – a mewl, as if the animal was trying to tell her where it was.
She couldn’t turn back now. Some small creature was in need of her help.
Putting her hands out in front of her, she felt her way forward, fingers brushing against the newly fallen snow.
This is hopeless. How am I ever going to find anything in this snow? I’ll be lucky if I can even find the car again…
But just as the thought crossed her mind, she saw movement in the snow. Something was making its way down the snow bank toward her, before pausing, as if it was hesitating to come closer.
“Here, sweetheart,” she coaxed, holding out her hands. “Come here, I won’t hurt you. I just want to get you home.”
There was another mewling sound, and then the animal came bounding toward her, pressing its face against her gloved hand.
“Oh, poor little… kitty?” Mia murmured, squinting through the snow at what she had found. Taking off her glove, she ran her fingers through its coat, trying to comfort it, before slipping her hand carefully under its forelegs and pulling it toward her. The creature was as soft as a kitten, but it was too big – and too heavy – to be a cat. It was more the size of a large puppy. It didn’t struggle, but it was shivering from the cold. The little mew it let out sounded shaky.
“Oh, poor thing,” Mia murmured. She had to get it warm – and quickly.
Whipping her parka off her shoulders, Mia clumsily rolled the little thing up in it before stumbling back toward the car.
She was already shivering by the time she slammed the door closed behind her. She took a moment to breathe some life back into her frozen fingers, before curiously beginning to unwrap the bundle in her lap.
The first layer of unwrapped parka revealed some soft golden fur, then a rather large paw. Mia paused. It didn’t look like the paw of any dog she had ever seen. It was far more similar to a cat’s paw – but it would have to be the biggest cat on record, if that was the case.
“I hope you’re not a cougar kitten, whose mommy will be out looking for you,” Mia murmured. She shivered as she realized just how distinct a possibility that might be. She had no idea if cougars lived in these mountains, or whether they prowled around in the snow. She was strictly a city girl – the only wildlife she usually saw were feral rats and pigeons!
She swallowed as the next fold of the parka revealed the little creature’s face – and yep, that was definitely the cub of some large cat or other. Despite the fact it seemed quite content to sit here curled up in her parka, there was no way this was a domestic cat of any kind. Its eyes were closed, and it had a little snubbed nose and rounded ears, the top of its head dotted with spotted markings.
It looks almost like a lion cub, Mia thought, before dismissing the idea as absurd. She couldn’t base that kind of judgment on having seen The Lion King one too many times during her teenaged years working as a babysitter!
A soft purr wound its way up from the creature’s chest as Mia stroked her fingers over its head, and it opened its eyes, blinking at her sleepily before opening its mouth and yawning widely.
“Let’s have a look at you,” Mia said, easing the little body out of the parka. “Maybe you’re not too hurt –”
The rest of her words were stopped cold in her throat as she sucked in a short, sharp breath of surprise.
Wings. It’s got wings!
Mia closed her eyes, shaking her head.
This can’t be possible! Lions don’t have wings!
But when she opened her eyes again, the wings – sleek, golden-feathered, and elegant – were still there, attached to the animal’s back, its fur becoming feathers.
Her hands shaking, Mia probed gently against the animal’s back, wondering if this might be some kind of bizarre joke – but no. The wings were definitely attached. The skin between them was perfect and seamless.
Mia stared. She remembered reading about lions with wings like eagles – she had doodled them a lot when she’d been in design college, along with unicorns, pegasus, dragons, and every other kind of weird beast. What were they called again? Mia frowned, digging back through her memory.
Oh – that’s right. Griffins.
The only problem was, of course, that griffins weren’t real.
How can this be?
Biting her lip, she slowly folded back more and more of the parka. This had to be some kind of weird joke. She knew rich people sometimes had exotic pets, but this was taking things too far. The last time she’d checked, ‘exotic pets’ didn’t extend to mythical beings!
“Are you hurt?” Mia asked, still in a mild state of shock.
Okay, first it’s a griffin, and now you’re talking to it and expecting an answer?
But still – the sound of her voice seemed to comfort it. Its purr grew louder.
“Let’s have a look at you, honey,” she said. The creature didn’t look like it had suffered any harm, at least – all its legs were in working order, as were its... its wings. And it had trotted up to her just fine.
It was probably just cold – and, depending on how long it had been out there, probably hungry, and missing its people.
Still.
Just because she couldn’t see any obvious injuries didn’t mean it wasn’t hurt. Utterly baffling though it was, the poor little thing needed her help.
But… where do I take an injured griffin?
“It’s okay, honey,” Mia said as she gently moved the animal over to the passenger seat. It blinked at her, before shaking its head and mewing. Gently, Mia scritched her fingers over its head again, remembering how it had purred when she had done that before.
The action seemed to have the same calming effect on it now, and it yawned, green eyes becoming sleepy.
Okay. It’s an animal. So… a vet?
The car rumbled to life again after only a couple of false starts, and Mia began her agonizingly slow drive again.
But where am I going to find a vet?
She didn’t know this area at all. She didn’t even know if there were any towns hidden away here in the hills. It would take her hours to get back to the city at this rate. Mia glanced across at her little charge, before turning up the heater. She might not know what it was, but she was sure she needed to get it warmed up as quickly as possible.
“Well, we’ll just do the best we can,” she murmured. She wanted to scritch its head again, but she didn’t dare take her hands off the wheel. “Where am I going to take you, though? And where did you even come from?”
With desperation growing in her chest, Mia was just about to start thinking things were hopeless when a sudden massive gust of wind parted the snow like a curtain before her. A sign became visible by the side of the road, illuminated by overhanging lamps.
Biting her lip, Mia leaned forward, reading.
Welcome to Skyhaven.
She’d never heard of Skyhaven – and she was pretty sure she hadn’t seen it on the maps when she’d been looking up how to get to her client’s house.
Maybe the sign was just a relic of some place that had long since become a ghost town – though that didn’t explain why it was all lit up.
Well, as Bon Jovi said, we’ll give it a shot.
Steering the car past the sign, Mia found herself heading down a small, winding road between the mountains. Here, she was somewhat protected from the snow, and the visibility improved dramatically. She could speed up now without fear of zooming off the side of the road and into the great unknown.
“I wonder if that’s what you did, you little rascal,” Mia said, glancing down at the little bundle of feathers and fur in the seat beside her. “Whatever you are.”
It wasn’t long until she had found the outer limits of the town of Skyhaven.
Glancing out the window, Mia blinked in surprise.
This was clearly anything other than a ghost town.
The houses were large and beautiful, with Christmas lights dangling off every available surface.
If it hadn’t been for all the electricity clearly needed to power them, she would have felt like she’d stepped back in time – the houses were all of an old, stately style she wasn’t quite sure what to call, except fancy.
The lamps that lined the streets, too, were the old wrought iron kind, and the sidewalks looked like cobbles rather than concrete.
What the hell is this place?
It looked like some kind of fairytale village from a postcard, rather than somewhere that could actually exist in the real world.
But more importantly than that, Mia wasn’t really seeing many businesses or street signs around. There was nothing to tell her where the main drag might be – or how she might go about finding a vet.
Licking her lips, Mia looked left and right, scanning the streets for any clues she could find. She’d driven for almost another five minutes before at last she passed somewhere that looked like a shop. There was a painted sign by the sidewalk that said The Fenris Café.
Fenris... isn’t that some kind of legendary dog? she thought to herself as she leaned over to see if she could see anyone inside. Maybe it’s my day for mythical beasts.
The large windows were lit up, and she was sure she spotted someone behind the counter.
“Well, it certainly looks open,” Mia muttered to herself as she pulled up outside. “Maybe they can give me directions.”
Reaching over, she carefully scooped up her little charge, keeping it wrapped up as snugly as possible inside the parka. Holding it close to her chest, she got out of the car and hurried over to the door of the café, shouldering it open.
Glancing around, Mia could see there were only a few customers inside: an older couple, and – and –
Yowza.
What had to be the most handsome man she’d ever seen in her entire life.
His dark hair fell over his forehead and into his dark blue eyes. The strong line of his jaw was dusted with just enough stubble to add ruggedly to the handsome, and his cheekbones could have cut glass. A quick glance showed that not even the winter sweater he was wearing could conceal the broadness of his shoulders, nor the bulges of his biceps.
And then, there was the fact that he was staring at her. He had a cup of coffee half-way raised to his – full, gorgeous – lips, but he’d apparently forgotten all about it as soon as she’d walked in, because it was frozen in mid-air, going absolutely nowhere.
It was only after a moment that Mia realized that if he was staring at her, she was staring back at least twice as hard, her mouth hanging open like someone witnessing the first hot air balloon flight.
Not the time for this!
Somehow, her sense of higher purpose kicked in, and jerked her brain out of whatever ‘too much handsome’ fugue state it had wandered into. The little creature in her arms shivered, and she remembered why she was here.
“I’m sorry to bother you all,” she said, willing her voice not to shake. “But does anyone know where I can find a vet?”