Griffin Quest: The Search

Chapter 2 - I Experience Great Pleasure in Using My Immense Vocabulary

 Spirit swung her bag around her neck and over one shoulder as she ran, fluttering her wings excitedly.

 As she arrived at the lake she spotted several of her friends beside the trees, right where they said they'd be. Bright Star hadn't been included. Spirit assumed her friends thought Star was too young.

 Bear, the head of their group, was leaning against a tree. He was tall, with brown and white feathers like a bald eagle with the back half of a black tiger. His full name was Wondering Bear, because he was always coming up with crazy ideas to find out about things. Like a scientist, he thought.

 Beside him stood Cheetah, thoughtfully staring into the distance. She was almost as tall as Bear but less muscular. Her feathers were that of a hawk and she had the back half of a cheetah like her namesake.

 Stripes and Avalanche were talking together. Stripes was a scarlet macaw-tiger and Avalanche was a snow leopard-bluejay.

 Bear and Cheetah waved Spirit over.

 "How much food did you pack?" Bear asked, holding up his own small cooler.

 Spirit held up a couple of sandwiches.

 "Definitely not enough." Bear said. He grabbed the sandwiches and put them in his cooler, which was almost completely full.

 "Not enough for what?" Asked Spirit. "I brought enough for a meal. I was thinking I could eat one, go swimming, and then eat the other."

 Cheetah shook her head. "This is why you should've had me write what we were doing." She said to Bear.

 "But then she would've just not come." Bear argued. "When she doesn't wanna do something she just doesn't come and makes up an excuse later. Unless we don't tell her until she's here."

 Spirit glared between them. Talking about her as if she wasn't there would not be tolerated. If they were going to act like this she'd just leave.

 "We're going to explore beyond the forest. Nobody's ever been beyond the forest in years and I wanna find out whether some myths are true. Like the legends about the humans. They sound amazing." Bear chirped, turning back to Spirit. "Come on!" He grabbed the cooler he'd brought and ran off.

 He'd been right. Spirit wouldn't want to go. She had always wanted to find out whether humans were real, and if she wanted those sandwiches back she'd have to follow him. Her friends were already following while she stood there and thought. But exploring beyond the forest? Who knew when she'd be back. She could always make a new sandwich. Unless she had to explain to her mom why she'd made two sandwiches, run off, and come back sandwichless within minutes.

 Would she have to explain that? She didn't have time to think about that, Cheetah had grabbed her bag and run off with it. She had no choice but to follow them.

 "Hey!" She called after them. "Give my bag back, Cheetah!"

 Cheetah didn't listen until the lake was out of sight. She slowed down so that Spirit could catch up and handed her the bag. "Now you have to join us. We're the only ones who know how to get back, there's no path and you have no sense of direction." She chirped.

 "We've just been walking straight haven't we?" Spirit said, tossing the bag over her shoulder again. "I just have to turn around and go back."

 Cheetah shrugged and gave her what Spirit thought must've been a knowing look, it looked like how she'd imagined a knowing look when reading a book.

 Spirit turned around, looked back to make sure she was lined up correctly, and started walking back toward the lake.

 The sun was setting, the forest was getting dark, things looked different than they had on the way. It felt like hours of walking, crickets chirping, owls hooting, and foxes screeching before Spirit decided to turn back and rejoin her friends. No lake in sight and no landmarks to guide her, the only way to go was back in the direction of her friends' voices.

 "How long was that? Five minutes?" Bear asked Cheetah when Spirit caught up. "That's a new record for longest time spent in the forest without us."

 Spirit growled. "If this takes too long I demand that one of you takes me home. How long will you go on for before you decide to give up and admit that humans probably aren't real?"

 "I demand!" Avalanche squeaked mockingly. "You and your fancy words."

 "I experience great pleasure in using my immense vocabulary." Spirit said haughtily, jokingly. "You are word-peasants in my eyes." She closed her eyes as she laughed and her friends joined in.

 "Couldn't think of a fancier word for 'word peasants'?" Bear asked playfully.

 "Literary subordinates." Spirit chirped. "Illiterate lowlifes."