Read Online Jake & The Gingerbread Wars (A Gryphon Chronicles Christmas Novella) (The Gryphon Chronicles) by E.G. Foley - Free Book Online

Jake nodded, well aware that Gladwin took her duties as a royal fairy courier very seriously.
    “ You be careful,” she warned. “The North Pole’s a long way off, with many dangers.”
    “ I’ve got Risker with me.” He patted his magic dagger, sheathed at his side. “And we’ll have Red to look after us, too. Don’t worry, we’ll be back in plenty of time for me to glue that ridiculous beard to my chin for the Nativity play.”
    Gladwin chuckled. “I’ll see you there, then. I have a starring role in it myself, you know.”
    “You do? What abo ut the audience? I thought ordinary folk aren’t allowed to see the fairies. But you’re going to be in the play? As what?”
    “You’ll see.” She bade him farewell with a familiar, teasing tug on his blond forelock, then flew up to the tiny, hidden door.
    “Hmm.” Jake shrugged off this entertaining mystery and headed down the central hallway, letting himself out the back door.
    He stepped out onto the frosty terrace, then marched across the snow-dusted garden to the carriage house, which sat by the stables behind the mansion.
    Inside the dark carriage house, he passed a collection of fine coaches and servant wagons belonging to the Order, most of which possessed hidden magical qualities. He stopped when he came to the large open sleigh. “Perfect.”
    They won’t mind if I borrow this for a day or two.
    He hauled open the wide door across from it, and sta rted trying to drag the sleigh outside by its jingle-bell-studded harness.
    It did not want to come.
    The sled-like runners scraped stubbornly across the flagstone floor. He struggled to get it outside, first pulling it as best he could, and then pushing the vehicle from behind with all his strength.
    Blast, this thing’s heavy! he thought, annoyed, until it dawned on him to use his telekinesis. He rolled his eyes at himself. Would he never get used to having magical powers?
    Lifting his hands from his sides, Jake concentrated hard on the sleigh and managed to lift its sturdy bulk off the coach-house floor. Using nothing but his mind, he made it glide through the air, out of the carriage house, into the starlight. Then he set it down gently on the snow.
    H e dragged the wide door shut again, then lifted his gaze up to the roof of Beacon House and let out a loud whistle.
    A moment later, Red peeked over the edge of the roof, leaving his cozy eagle’s nest in answer to the summons.
    Jake beckoned him down.
    The Gryphon leaped off the rooftop and started circling his way down amid the tall, bare garden trees. Meanwhile, Jake took out Gladwin’s tiny pouch of fairy dust and wondered if it would be enough.
    Though there was only a pinch of it, he sprinkl ed it all over the sleigh. To his amazement, the vehicle lifted off the ground and hovered in midair.
    An e ager smile spread across his face as he stared at it.
    With all the holiday preparations going on, this was most un expected, but suddenly, his anticipation for a new adventure was rushing through his veins.
    “Becaw?” Red asked, tilting his head in puzzlement when he landed and saw the floating sleigh.
    Jake grinned at his pet. “I know you’re a royal Gryphon and all, boy, but tell me. How do you feel about pulling a sleigh?”
    Red’s feather y eyebrows drew together in a dubious stare as Jake held up the leather harness and gave its jingle bells a jaunty shake.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    Yetis
     
    Before long, all four kids sat in the sleigh as it soared through a dark indigo sky spangled with stars. Though the night was bitter cold, the enchanted sleigh enveloped them in a magical bubble of warmth, thanks to some Order spell built into it.
    Their cheeks were rosy, and their eyes smarted every now and then when a burst of wintry wind blew by. But bundled up in several layers of warm clothes, they were quite comfortable.
    They stared down over the edges of the vehicle, marveling at the miles of frosted patchwork countryside beneath them.
    With every