Zayd Hassan and the Seal of Solomon

Chapter 1

I looked down the alley clutching the backpack in my hands. I felt a beak peck at my legs and looked down to see my pet griffin. His tiny brown spotted feathered wings were folded up against his back. He was only a baby now but I knew he would end up bigger than I was. Trust me, I've met full grown griffins before. Bad times. I knelt down and pulled out a pack of beef jerky. His favourite. He scarfed them down and I stroked his head.

"Good boy, Rocco," I told him.

A shuffling noise from the end of the alley caught my attention. A short broad-shouldered man in a suit stood with a bodyguard at either side.

"Gunther," I said. "Right on time."

"I'm never late, Zayd," he said.

Zayd? He never uses my name. His voice was gravelly and cold but I sensed something different. Uncertainty.

He looked at my backpack and then glanced down the alley.

"You got the goods, runt?" he asked.

Runt. There we go, back to normal.

"Of course," I said, rummaging through my bag. I pulled out a small jar. Inside a yellow powder sparkled like glitter.

"100% pure pixie dust," I told him. "It'll go well with your unicorn teddy and tiara."

One of the bodyguards snickered but stopped abruptly when he saw Gunther glaring at him. He looked back at me and snarled.

"You know well that pixie dust can be used as a dangerous explosive when in the capable hands," he said.

"All you gotta do is light a match, Gun, ain't that difficult,"

"Don't call me "Gun", and don't push your luck."

"Hey, someone's in a bad mood, wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

Gunther fixed his suit uncomfortably.

"Well, "The Boss" wants to talk to you, runt," he said.

""The Boss"?" I asked. "Why doesn't he just tell you to do his work?"

"This is a more... important matter."

I glanced at Rocco who was currently rummaging through the trash.

"This "important matter" doesn't involve my griffin, does it?" I asked.

I knew "The Boss" was an obsessive taxidermist.

"Of course not, you know as well as I do that if he wanted that griffin, he would have that griffin."

He was right. "The Boss" was no wannabe push-over. He ruled all the people like me and Gunther through fear and power.

I tried not to show any worry but I couldn't stop my hands from trembling. Gunther looked at me with an expression I'd never seen on him. Sympathy?

Only for a second though, then he was back to his usual snarl.

"Well, hurry up, runt, boss man ain't gonna wait forever," he said, turning and walking away.

One of the bodyguards prodded me in the back to get me to follow.

Rocco snarled at him and he stopped poking me.

I walked out of the alley and spotted Gunther's car.

"We going for a nice romantic drive in the moonlight, Gun?" I asked him.