The Gryphon Project Read Online Free

jacket in her pack, because as they made their way to the downhill section of the sprawling indoor winterized complex, she was freezing. The sun still shone through the clear roof, but the temperature inside was positively arctic.
    Phoenix didn’t sit with her parents and Fawn for the race. They were far up the bleachers to the left of the man-made hill, with a better view of the top half of the slope. Phoenix was down with Nadia and the boys, closer to the finish line.
    “Did Gryph stay over at your place last night?” she asked Saul.
    “You know he did. Why ask?”
    “I don’t know. Just wondering. He’s hardly ever home anymore and—”
    “And I”—Nadia cut Phee off and planted a kiss on Saul’s lips— “would like you to myself every once in a while on a Saturday night.”
    “I’d like Gryph to myself every once in a while too,” Huy joked. He’d been in love with Gryph since probably the fifth grade or, in other words, when he and the others realized he was “different,” in that he liked boys. Or one in particular. Gryph.
    “Gross,” Neko said with a sneer.
    Tariq silenced him with one of his looks. The boys didn’t have a problem with Huy’s being queer, and if Neko was going to last very long in their midst, he’d have to be okay with it too.
    “Sorry,” Neko muttered.
    Another sharp look from Tariq prompted Neko to face Huy directly and apologize for real. “Sorry, Huy.”
    But Huy wasn’t paying attention. He leaped up to watch Gryph as he shot out of the starting gate and cut down the slope. He was so fast that Phee could hardly keep her eye on him. He devoured the entire course with his customary precision, as if his snowboard were simply an extension of his body, and the hill was his alone and always had been. For almost the entire course.
    Suddenly, mere seconds before he would’ve been an easy first across the finish line, he slowed. It was almost imperceptible, but Phee saw it in the sudden slackening of his form, a softening of his posture. Tariq caught it too—she could tell by the way his eyes shifted and he frowned. Huy was too busy cheering to notice. Neko and Saul didn’t look as if they’d spotted the shift, and neither had Nadia. She was nestled under Saul’s arm, inside the warmth of his jacket, and wasn’t even watching the race.
    “Come on!” Huy yelled, always Gryph’s most enthusiastic cheerleader. He obviously thought Gryph still had it nailed. “Go! Go!”
    “Go, Gryphon!” Neko pumped a triumphant fist in the air.
    With a flat expression, Tariq watched Gryph carefully. He knew Gryph had blown it.
    In the end, Gryph’s delay had held him back just enough for the guy who’d been in second place to gain a tiny lead. Only seconds apart, the two of them crossed the finish line. Gryph took second place.
    “No!” Huy yelled as the others grumbled.
    “What just happened?” Phee marvelled out loud. “He had it! He had it all along! He gave it away. Did you see that?”
    The winner, whooping with joy, threw his helmet into the air. The media members who had been flanked along the fence rushed him with their cameras.
    Gryph gave a small wave to the crowd, and they erupted with cheers. No matter what, he was still their favourite. But not the winner. Not today anyway. What would Oscar say if Phee suggested that Gryph didn’t care about winning anymore? Would that make him realize that something was wrong? That his son and proud winner would settle for anything less than best?
    Chrysalis would not be okay with second best. Phee could see Gryph’s Chrysalis agent making the phone call to his higher-ups from the VIP box, his posture communicating his disappointment keenly.
    BUT GRYPH was a crowd-pleaser, nonetheless. A section of the crowd behind him, made up of mostly teenage girls, had placards that spelled out W-E L-O-V-E G-R-Y-P-H-O-N , and they did the wave with them, chanting his name. His fans clambered to get near him, pods ready for signing, digicams