Cursed, p.15
Cursed, page 15
A griffin’s claw is said to have medicinal properties, and a feather from its wings is supposedly able to restore sight to the blind. (It is not clear whether the latter is actually true.)
Because of its mix of parts, the griffin is seen as having a dual nature. For some it is a symbol of the divine. For others it is ferocity on the wing, the very sight of which terrifies all but the bravest of men.
Indeed, the griffin community divided over these very matters in the Great Griffin Schism of 1792, which led to the establishment of the American Aerie.
Heloise Batwing, Dwarf
Lead Scholar, Guild Hall
Friday, June 19 (continued)
All right, I’ll admit the encyclopedia describes what I look like well enough, right down to my silly ears.
But that whole thing about being ferocious?
HAH! And again, HAH!
Okay, I suppose a lot of griffins really are ferocious.
Okay, maybe most griffins are ferocious.
Unfortunately, I don’t qualify. Except, of course, when I get really angry. But that never lasts for long and usually ends in tears.
Mine.
Good grief! Does what I just wrote mean that my rotten siblings are right when they say I’m not a true griffin? Great Izzikiah, maybe it’s so. Right now I do not feel ferocious.
Mostly what I feel is frettingly nervous.
I’d write a poem about it, but I’ve already done one for today.
The reason I am nervous is simple: In only twenty-four days, my Tenth Hatchday (which is supposed to be a major holiday) will arrive. Alas, for reasons I would rather not discuss, this is not my real Hatchday, simply the one we count as my Hatchday.
The problem is, I must acquire a True Treasure by then or be declared not a True Griffin…this time not by my stinky sibs but by Artoremus Lashtail, the High Lord of the Griffin Stronghold of the Northern Quarter. And it will happen in front of everyone we know, at the Hatchday Gathering at the Great Cavern.
I cannot bear to think of Dad’s disappointment if I do not succeed in this. But I have no idea what to get or where to get it. I have been fretting about this, but I have not been thinking about it as I should. This is because treasure does not interest me as much as it is supposed to.
I really am a very bad griffin.
The situation is so awful that I am seriously considering running away!
But where? Pretty much anywhere I go in the Enchanted Realm they would find me. That leaves only the human world.
But that idea is too horrible to even consider!
Letter from Delia Ashango, mother of Bradley Ashango, to Bradley’s grandmother, Agatha Riddlehoover
June 20
Dear Mom,
I’m writing to ask if Brad can stay with you again this summer. He had a great time last year, and right now Manhattan looks to be even hotter than it was then. (Global warming…a topic on which we actually agree!)
To be honest, it’s not just the heat. It’s been a bad year for Brad. He’s had to deal with a fair amount of bullying at school. Not as bad as at the old school, but even so…
Also, he’s really been missing his dad. It’s been over three years, but sometimes I think it’s even worse for him now than it was when it happened. Maybe it’s just that the older a boy gets, the more he needs to have his dad around. Or at least some man in his life. So I’m thinking maybe your buddy Herb will be good for him.
Look, Mom, I know the two of us still aren’t getting along that well. But Brad loves his “Bibi,” and I think this would be really good for him.
What do you say?
Love,
Delia
Sunday, June 21
Sometimes I wish I were an only child!
Seriously.
It’s not that I don’t love my sibs.
Well, in a way.
If I really, really try…
Boogers and frog guts,
A shred and a shard,
Loving my siblings
Is pretty darn hard!
This love thing is a mystery, and the kind of question my teacher, Master Abelard, likes to discuss. Should you have to try to love someone? Shouldn’t it come naturally?
He can talk about that kind of thing for hours.
Love or not, natural or not, I can’t take Cyril’s bossiness and Violet’s snippiness any longer.
It didn’t help that Violet had her pegasus friend Aerilinn over today. The two of them are so snotty when they’re together! (And it is well known that there is nothing snottier than a snotty pegasus!) I wish I had never accepted the feather from Aerilinn’s right wing that Violet gave me on our eighth Hatchday. It truly is a thing of beauty and a fine treasure. But it wasn’t worth what I’ve had to put up with from the two of them ever since.
What I wish even more is that Mom hadn’t slipped last month and told my brat brother and snip of a sister the true story of our Hatchday.
Days.
I know Mom regrets this now that she sees how they use it against me (though she only sees a small part of it). But there’s no taking it back, and ever since it came out, my sibs have been so full of themselves it makes me want to yark up a hair ball.
Which just shows how annoying Violet and Cyril are, since I hate puking up hair balls. It is impossible to have any sense of dignity while you are doing it! Okay, I know. Cats of all sizes cough up hair balls all the time. But even though I have the body of a lion, having the head of an eagle makes spitting up those wretched, soggy globs of fur truly disgusting. I especially hate it when they get caught on my beak and dangle there like giant juicy boogers!
Stupid hair balls.
Oh well. At least I have talons in front and claws in back. That is kind of cool, since it makes me extremely dangerous.
Yes! That is me! Gerald the Invincible!
Blarg.
I am about as invincible as a daisy.
Anyway, between Violet and Aerilinn teasing me this morning, and that wing whap Cyril landed on the back of my head this afternoon, today was the last straw. I have decided for sure. I am going to run away to the human world.
Yes, the human world!
I can just imagine Violet gasping in horror and telling me this will be a violation of the Code of the Griffins. Which is actually true. But how griffinlike is it for them to pick on me the way they do? Don’t they have any sense of family honor?
I can also imagine Cyril (or, more technically, Cyril-the-Pain) correcting me to point out that a griffin would not “run away,” he would “fly away.” He is so literal-minded that it is useless to make puns at him. For example, if I tried to point out that Fly Away would be a good name for an insect repellent, he would never get it.
I like making puns. Alas, Master Abelard claims it is a bad habit and not something I should indulge in.
Well, pun or not, bad habit or not, I am going to fly away!
Once I am free of my brat brother and snippy sister, and no longer under my parents’ wings (so to speak), I can start developing my own true life.
If only the idea weren’t so scary!
But if I don’t do this, I’ll be a griffin wuss forever!
June 22
Mrs. Delia Ashango
New York, NY 10023
Re: Summer Assignment for Bradley
Dear Mrs. Ashango,
This is to confirm our conversation regarding summer work for Bradley. First, let me repeat what I told you in our conference: Bradley’s teachers are unanimously in favor of letting him continue at the school, but only under the conditions we have discussed.
Regarding those conditions: As you know, WIPS prides itself on holding its students to the highest standards. According to test scores from his previous school, Bradley is one of the more gifted students we have had the pleasure to accept in recent years. Alas, he is also one of the most unmotivated. Though he glides through his work, he rarely exerts himself. In this regard, he is a bad influence on his fellow students. We need to see a serious commitment to “Pursuit of Excellence” if Bradley is to return to campus for his sixth-grade year.
For this reason we have mandated, and you and Bradley have consented, that he will keep a journal this summer. He is to make entries in this journal no less than four days a week, and they must consist of at least three paragraphs of at least three sentences each.
To avoid having Bradley put this off and then write several entries during the last few days of summer, the journal entries are to be sent to Mr. Delong every Saturday.
Failure to adhere to this agreement will result in Bradley being unable to return next year.
We truly do not wish to lose Bradley as a student. However, WIPS has a long waiting list with many applicants. Please do not doubt that dozens of bright young students are eager to take your son’s place in our hallowed halls.
I hope you will not mistake my tone in this letter. I have endeavored to be firm but polite. If I have failed in that, I apologize.
Hopefully, and in the spirit of positivity,
Headmaster, WIPS
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Bruce Coville, Cursed
