Gryphon
Chapter 1
Evania had just finished reading the first chapter of her new book, Gryphon. Grinning, she licked her lips before tucking a loose strand of sun-kissed brown hair away from her face. The book had to be one of the best she'd ever read. The characters and setting had just felt so real that she'd found herself drifting in and out of one of the most vivid daydreams she'd ever experienced, trying to imagine what would happen next.
Sighing wistfully, she turned the page to the beginning of chapter two and froze. The page was blank. Flipping hastily through Gryphon, she began to realize that all the pages past the end of chapter one were empty.
"Funny," she muttered to herself, disgruntled. "I could have sworn that the pages weren't blank when I leafed through it at the store."
Shaking her head at her own mistake, Evania sat the book down on her bedside table and switched off the lamplight. She'd just have to return the book in the morning.
Just as she'd drifted off to sleep, the pages of the book began to flutter in an eerie, unfelt breeze.
It was dark and wet when she woke up. "What the hell?" Evania wiped at her brow, removing the sticky sweat that clung there.
She was in a forest, a dense one, and it was too murky to see anything beyond vague shapes. Scrambling up, she clung to a vine and peered through the inky mists that surrounded her. "I'm dreaming," she rubbed hard at her eyes. "I've got to be dreaming."
A sharp snapping had her wheeling and her breath quickening. She had to stay calm. None of what was happening could be real.
Another snapping sound came from closer to where she was standing, somewhere to the right. Evania didn't wait to determine whether or not she was really dreaming. Tearing off in the opposite direction of the noise, she clambered over thick tree roots and other various broad leaved plants and let out a low, frightened sob as her foot caught an upturned root. Curling herself into a tight ball against the trunk of a tree, she tried to remain as still and as silent as possible, her pajamas soaked through and muddy from her fall.
Her face buried in her knees, she felt his breath on her before anything else. When Evania looked up, she was met with a sight no other human could ever hope to see.
A wild mass of coal hair covered the beast-boy's head, his gleaming hawk eyes pinning her to her place against the trunk. He walked on all fours towards her and embarrassed, Evania realized he was naked. The boy was clearly primitive and not entirely human.
He leaned forward and sniffed her neck experimentally. "W-who are you?" She trembled, her heart beating erratically against her ribcage as his nose brushed her collarbone.
He moved back startled and studied her face intensely, tilting his head to the side. "Wh…who arrre yoouu?" he repeated back to her gruffly and his face lit up, pleased with himself that he was able to mimic her words.
Evania was shocked at how adaptive the boy was. His untrained voice led her to believe that he had never spoken or had not in a very long time, but he picked up on her words easily.
Momentarily forgetting her fear, she slowly placed a hand to her chest and said, "Evania."
The beast-boy did the same and placed a large, clawed hand over her own small one against her chest, making her hesitate in alarm. "Eeee-vain-eee-ya."
She was just about nod her head in that he'd almost gotten her name right when a shrill screech echoed throughout the jungle. A sharp look of alarm passed over the beast-boy's face before he tugged her to his chest. Clutching her with one arm, he climbed one of the trees with ease and moved swiftly through the canopy.
Evania couldn't bring herself to scream as she was whisked away by the creature she'd just met. In the pit of her stomach, she knew that whatever he was taking her away from was much worse than anything a nightmare could harbor.
Quick Note: I don't really know...it felt a little rough to me. Should I continue?