"Crikey," I muttered, echoing Vic's earlier sentiment.
I glanced around the cavern, but everything was the same as before. Gryphons arranged in a circle around me, the pools of water giving off heat, the walls glowing with those strange golden rocks. Finally, I looked toward the mouth of the cavern. For a moment, all I saw was a solid sheet of white as the snow continued to pour down outside. But then the flakes parted, as though the wind were whipping them back like curtains, and a figure appeared outside the cavern.
Her long, white dress was the same shade as the snow swirling around her, although the curled ringlets of her hair glimmered with a polished, bronze sheen. Wings arched up over her back. They too were the same white as the snow, but the soft feathers didn't ruffle, despite the fierce wind. She stood there, her hands clasped together, like she was patiently waiting for me to notice her. Her eyes met mine, and, once again, I was struck by what an unusual, vivid color they were - all the different hues of purple and gray mixed together to create one vibrant, twilight shade.
Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, stared at me for a second longer, then turned and walked out of sight of the entrance. Well, if the goddess wasn't going to come in here, I supposed that I would have to go out there to her.
I tiptoed through the sleeping gryphons, even though I probably didn't have to. Since, you know, I was in this weird sort of a world, and they weren't. At least, I didn't think they were, since I was awake and they weren't. Or I was dreaming, and they weren't. Or whatever exactly it was that I was doing that they weren't. I shook my head and pushed the thoughts away. Thinking about how real or not this dreamlike world was always gave me a headache.
I reached the entrance. To my surprise, the snow had stopped falling, although more than a foot of the white powder covered the ground like fluffy frosting on a cake. I stepped outside and realized I didn't feel cold, despite the fact that I'd left the warmth of the cavern and the gryphons' bodies behind.
I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye and turned in that direction. The goddess was perched on a wide, flat rock several feet away. Her face creased into a smile.
"Hello, Gwendolyn," Nike said.
I looked around at the snow, the rocks, and the pines that towered above us. Everything looked exactly the same as I remembered from when I'd first gone into the cavern. I don't know how much time had passed, but it must have been close to dawn, because the streaks of silver and lavender in the sky were slowly giving way to a pale orange sunrise.
"Hi," I finally replied to Nike. "So we're doing that weird dream thing again, huh?"
The goddess kept smiling at me. "If that's how you wish to think of it."
"If I try to think of it any other way, I'm pretty sure my head will explode."
She laughed, the sound washing over me like the high, lilting melody of wind chimes tinkling in the breeze. She patted the rock, and I walked over and plopped down next to her. We sat there in silence for several moments.
"So," I asked. "Does this mean that Logan and I are going to get off the mountain alive?"
"Why would you think otherwise?"
I shrugged. "Well, it was a little touch and go there for a while. What with all the snow, Logan being injured, me trying to get us both down the mountain. It hasn't exactly been a fun trip."
"No, I suppose it hasn't," Nike murmured. "But you did what you needed to do."
"What do you mean by that?"
But the goddess didn't answer me. Instead, she got to her feet. "Come," she said. "Let us walk."
Mystified, I got to my feet and followed her deeper into the forest. Nike seemed to glide over the snow, as if she were a cloud drifting along, and I noticed she didn't leave any footprints behind in the dense powder. I turned around and realized I wasn't leaving any indentations in the snow either. In fact, I couldn't even feel the wet weight of it pressing against my legs. Creepy. I shivered and hurried to catch up with her.
Nike stopped at the edge of a large clearing, and I crept up beside her. Snow was piled all around us, the drifts two and even three feet deep in places, but inside the clearing, wildflowers had somehow bloomed, their green stems sticking up through the powder, and their blue, pink, purple, red, and silver petals glistening like jewels that had been spilled across a white marble floor.
A woman stood in the middle of the clearing. Her long, velvet gown was the same rich green as the pines, although the edges of the fabric seemed to shimmer with all sorts of opalescent colors - pinks, blues, purples, reds, silvers, golds. She wasn't beautiful, not like I considered Nike to be, but her face was kind and gentle, although her lips were turned down with a hint of sadness. Her black hair was short, with ends that curled under. Her skin was as pale as snow, which made her eyes seem that much greener. Something about her features seemed familiar, as though I'd seen her before, although I couldn't quite place when or where.
As I watched, the woman moved through the clearing. She didn't have on any shoes, but the snow didn't appear to bother her, and she didn't leave any footprints in her wake. Her head was bent, and she was speaking softly, as if she was talking to the carpet of wildflowers that surrounded her. I couldn't make out her words, but the flowers seemed to respond to her voice, their stems turning and their bright petals arching toward her, as if they were trying to show off their best sides just to please her.
"Who's that?" I whispered.
"That," Nike replied, "is Eir."
So that was why her face looked so familiar. I'd seen it in the carvings and statues at the ruins.
"That's the Norse goddess of healing?"
Nike nodded. "Eir is one of my oldest, dearest friends - and strongest allies."
We watched Eir move among the wildflowers. Suddenly, a shadow darted across the snow, and a gryphon dropped down from the sky - the same gryphon who had saved me and Logan from the snowstorm. I wasn't quite sure how I knew that, but I did.
The gryphon bowed low to Eir, then gently tugged some wildflowers free from the snow and presented them to her, just like in the carving I'd seen at the ruins - the one where the ambrosia flowers had been. Eir smiled and returned the creature's bow before carefully taking the flowers from his beak. She brought them up to her face and inhaled deeply. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I almost thought I could smell the same thing she did - the sweet scents of the flowers mixing with the cold crispness of the snow.
Eir whispered something to the gryphon, and he soared back up into the air, darted toward a nearby tree, and grabbed something out of the top of it. He landed in the clearing again a moment later. Eir bent down and plucked a green plant from his beak - something that looked like a clump of mistletoe. After a moment, she turned. Her green eyes met mine, and I was again struck by the kindness in her face. She radiated the emotion the same way Nike exuded victorious power. Eir started walking toward us, while the gryphon padded along at her side.