He felt dizzy and fell hard; his head bleeding profusely. Running to him, she, too, tumbled. Her arm snapped, and she screamed.

She crawled painfully to him. “Are you okay, Jack?”

He winced. “There’s something wrong with the well water, Jill. I feel sick. Tell everyone not to drink it.”

“Oh, Jack,” Jill bawled from her inability to stem his hemorrhage. Even more so as she tried to get up, feeling the jaggedness of her broken bone. A dark shadow fell over her and Jack, accompanied with the sound of flapping wings. Looking through her tears, she saw a creature with an eagle’s head, wings, and a lion’s body.

The griffin ululated, as it hovered close to her. She swore that if she hadn’t pulled back, its beak would have pecked one of her eyes. Instinctively shutting her eyes tightly and holding her breath, she could hear the beating of…