"Wait, come back!" Mel cried. He and Buddy tried calling the rescue party back but it was no use. The wolves were on the hunt and they had chosen their prey. The girls Daisy and Chloe stared sadly at Norman's still body, tears running down their faces. "He was too young..." Chloe stuttered, choked up on her own words. Rooster was silent, staring at Norman. His ears pinned, the shadow dog murmured, "I'm so sorry little guy."
"Guys, he's not dead," Duke pointed out. Confused, everyone whirled around and faced the grizzly bear with the same dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Gesturing towards the motionless griffin cub, Duke explained, "You can clearly see him breathing." Throwing his paws up in the air, Mel cheered, "He's alive!"
"What about Sergei?" Buddy questioned, pointing. Everyone looked to see that the man in black was stomping towards Norman, who was stirring. Harshly grabbing the cub by the scruff, Sergei spat, "You are going to wish you weren't born!" The griffin cub squealed, trying desperately to escape but to no avail. The evil man, meanwhile, whipped out a sharp dagger from his coat. "Oh no you don't," Rooster snarled, backing up. Confused, Daisy asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm gonna do something about this tyranny," Rooster answered. Without another word, he ran full speed into the bars as hard as he could. There was the satisfying sound of metal snapping. The collar around his neck hit the ground. Smoke formed around his paws and his body took on a slightly more wispy appearance. A sly grin on his muzzle, the shadow dog closed his eyes and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"Where did he go?" Duke asked, waving the air where Rooster had just been standing. The rest of the Circus Gang was just as confused. They were so focused on the fact that the shadow dog was missing they didn't realize Sergei was being attacked until the evil man screamed in pain. "Oh, found him," Buddy declared. The Circus Gang immediately began chanting their friend's name, egging on the fight.
Primarily focused on trying to not get eaten alive, Sergei went to grab another dagger from his black fur coat. In order to accomplish this, he tossed Norman aside. The young griffin cub landed near the now abandoned stands, dazed from the blow to his head earlier. He was about to get to his feet when something else grabbed him.
"It's okay, I won't hurt you," Liam spoke softly. The little boy picked up the strange animal. He had never seen anything like it. At first squirming and crying and over all just making a big fuss, the weird creature settled down when it realized it wasn't in danger. Quietly carrying the animal out of the big top, Liam took his newfound friend to the edge of the parking lot and set it down in the grass.
Placed down on the soft grass, Norman looked up at the little boy. Smiling, the human spoke kindly, "It's okay, look. You're free! You can go be with your daddy and mommy now." Rubbing his cheek against the small human's knee, the griffin cub purred, "Thank you. I won't forget this." Determined to find his dad, he then raced off, hoping he could pick up the trail. Waving goodbye to the strange animal, Liam then walked away to find his own mom and dad before they started worrying about him.
