Mary sighed. She adored the child, but she was tired of being a gryphon. It was time to become human again. She brushed the child gently aside, and went to the box. She placed the "Human" vial in the box, and after it refilled, she drank the entire the contents of the vial.
After several minutes, she was once again human. And nude. And very cold. She looked over to Amy, concerned for her health. The child was staring at her in shock, the cold environment around her temporarily forgotten.
"Mara! What are you doing?" asked Amy.
Mary sighed, and rubbed her skin to try to stay warm.
"Sorry, kid. My name is Mary, not Mara. I am not really a Gryphon. I never was. I was just a human being like you. I tried the vials like you did and had a little accident, " said Mary.
Amy pouted, and turned her back to her. "You lied to me! That's not very nice. And after all I did to help you, " said Amy angrily.
"Aw, c'mon, kid. I didn't mean to. I didn't want hurt you. But what was I supposed to do? Stay a Gryphon forever, " pleaded Mary.
"Being a gryphon wasn't bad. It was fun, " said Amy. "But you could have at least told me the truth. Adults are always lying, and they always get away with being bad. You don't even care about me."
"It's not like that Amy. I like you, " said Mary, as she approached the girl to give her a hug. "Jesus, you are cold. I am, too. We need to get out of here before we freeze to death. Where the hell are we anyway?"
"We're on the mountain that overlooks my farm. Look, you can see my house down there. I sometimes ride my horses on the trail up here, " said Amy.
Mary suddenly got an idea. "So you know how to get home from here?"
"Yeah, " said Amy suspiciously. "But it will take forever to walk home."
"But what if we had a horse?" asked Mary