The Truth about Griffin

Chapter 19

    

Griffin got the money easily, and the building process began a few weeks after that. Eramana was on the mend, but she had started to use a cane for support. When the builders came, Griffin would don a disguise that consisted of a trench coat, work boots, gloves, ski goggles, a scar, and a wide-brimmed hat. Whatever skin that was still exposed after that he would wrap with the clean bandages that he had salvaged from our supplies. The men gave him weird looks, but their palms were so heavily greased that they didn't ask any questions.

The housed turned out beautiful. The tree had made up the center of the house. It had its own, roofless room that branched off to every other part of the house. There was a kitchen, a dining room, two bedrooms, a living room, a small library, and a lab. Both the living room and library had had massive fireplaces. There was even a underground cellar a few feet away from the house. This may sound like a lot, and it is; the amount of money Sharifa's family had saved would have been enough to start a small country.

Griffin had said so when he had first opened the simple chest. "What exactly did you think a "rainy day" would be?"

Sharifa had shrugged. "Better safe than sorry, especially when you're a shape shifter."

The night of our new homes completion, Griffin had actually cooked a meal. A small turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce. The most surprising thing wasn't that Griffin had cooked, although that was up there, but the fact that I got table scraps before even asking. To be clear, cats do not beg. We ask and nag but never beg; that's a dog thing. I walked into the dining room to find that my dish was already full of giblets and other meat scraps. I purred, I could definitely get us to this. After dinner, we all went to the living room. U curled up by the fire while Griffin and Sharifa both took their customary seats.

"How's your leg feeling today."

Sharifa fingered her cane for a moment. "Fine, it aches a little bit, but that will let up when it finally rains."

"But, it didn't look like rain earlier."

"Trust me, it'll rain."

A book floated from the little table that was set between their two chairs. The title flashed in the firelight. Sharifa opened the book up to the spot where she had left off last night in the The Invisible Man.