The Lost Heir (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 1) by E.G. Foley Read Free Book Online

were doing him a favor.
    When they had finally lost interest in their sport, she had gone over and scraped the boy called Jake Reed up off the cobblestones. Something about the way he pretended to be all right, though his eye was swollen and his chin trembled with his refusal to give way to angry tears, well, it had wrenched her heart—all the more so when he had told her he came from the orphanage.
    Dani had made it her business since then to look after him, as much as he would let anyone do so. Now, as the world’s best expert on all things Jake, she was extremely worried about the weird things happening to him of late.
    These days, it was one bizarre surprise after another. It was not so much his seeing ghosts that alarmed her. Her Irish granny, rest her soul, used to say the second sight was not uncommon. ‘Twas a gift the Good Lord gave to certain people, to let them give the news to those who grieved that their loved ones were in Heaven, or to deliver a message for them, like maybe some money they’d stashed somewhere in a shoebox.
    What really worried Dani was the other bit, the way her friend could move things with his mind. It made her want to reach for her Rosary. Of course, Jake laughed at her for thinking that it might signify something evil, but that was why she had been so strict with him lately, making him promise not to steal or do anything bad. For if the devil had taken an interest in Jake, then her friend had better watch his step.
    Teddy and she pressed on. After the usual trek across the bridge, they finally arrived at the once-grand, arched entrance to Elysian Springs Pleasure Gardens. The old, abandoned amusement park had once been one of London’s main attractions.
    Now the paint was peeling on the weathered white pillars, the colorful letters on the curved sign fading into oblivion. She walked through the archway into the park’s green acreage and skipped up the winding drive with Teddy. She loved coming here to Jake’s hideaway. Elysian Springs was decades past its glory, but it was still a place that made the regular world and all its cares seem a thousand miles away.
    The big pavilion with its fanciful pastel turrets had been closed for years, but once upon a time fashionable ladies and gentlemen had come here for dinners and concerts and dancing in the garden under the stars. She could just imagine them. There had been strolling musicians and all sorts of acts for entertainment: jugglers, acrobats, a tightrope walker, a fire-eater, daring trick-horse riders, a man with a dancing monkey, and clowns on giant stilts.
    Back in the old days, there were fireworks shows and carnival games. You could stroll the flowery walkways in the moonlight, or hire a gondola shaped like a swan and go for a boat ride with your sweetheart. The park had many interconnecting canals and small, manmade lakes and ponds; the water flowed in from the river.
    Across from the main pavilion was a smaller one where you could pay a penny to go in and see the freaks: the bearded lady; Mr. Lilbit, the world’s smallest man; Big Tess, the fattest woman; Lizard Boy; the Siamese twins; or the odd fellow who drove nails up his nose with a hammer.
    They all still lived here, quietly minding their own business, still happy to let people come and gawk at them, which, to Dani, seemed very rude, but as they said, it was a living. The freaks were not ashamed of who and what they were, and so, as Jake put it, “Bully for them.”
    But Dani did not stop to visit the carnival people today on account of delivering the potpie back to Jake.
    With a tug on Teddy’s leash, she strode down the graveled walkway toward the lily pond. The fountains no longer ran, but frogs chirruped everywhere amongst the pussy willows. Dani scooped up Teddy and carefully stepped into one of the old, faded swan boats. Tail wagging, Teddy put his front paws up on the edge of the swan’s wing as Dani put down the oars. “Here we go, boy.”
    She rowed toward the