Callie took her time preening, and occasionally helped Corinne with her preening. This was normal for them, after all.

Two days passed as normal, for a preening. And then two mages found the house, almost by accident.

"Look at this," Jeremy said, leaning down and picking up a feather. It was gold-colored. "Doesn't look normal for the area."

Caleb looked at the feather, blinking.

"No it does not," he agreed, taking it and feeling it. It was soft, but the shaft was surprisingly hard. He smirked. "Oh, I know what this is."

"So do I." Jeremy grinned and started looking around more closely. "We got any feather root on us?" They needed to find the house, first, but the feather root was the next step.

"I don't," Caleb replied, shaking his head. "Wasn't expecting to need it. I know we have some at home, though."

"Right. So we need to find where this came from and come back," Jeremy said, starting to look around. "If we can, anyway."

Caleb grinned and pulled a coin out of his pocket. He pushed a bit of magic into it and then dropped it on the ground, grinding it into the dirt with his foot until it was covered.

"There," he said. "We can track that back here."

"Excellent." Jeremy grinned. "So, go get the feather root, grab the van, and come back." He looked at Caleb, starting to get really excited. "Can you imagine if we actually get one?"

"We'll be set for life," Caleb agreed, grinning. "Come on, let's hurry, we don't want to risk it running."

Jeremy nodded and let him drive back to their house. It was a little bit of a drive, but he knew where the feather root was.

"Get the van," he said, jogging into the house to get the package.

"Done," Caleb said, moving to the other vehicle. He started the van and pulled around front, waiting for Jeremy.

Jeremy barely remembered to lock the door with a flick of magic, jumping into the van. He was grinning, tapping his fingers against the bag of herbs.

"Let's go," Caleb said, grinning. He hit the gas and headed back to where he'd left the little bitty coin-anchor.

As soon as Caleb parked, Jeremy hopped out and started putting bits of powdered root in the air vents of the four houses around where they'd found the feather. Humans wouldn't notice the difference, but a gryphon would start to get sleepy and somewhat drugged, more pliable. Giving them the perfect opportunity to snag themselves a gold mine.

"I'll check the two on the right," Caleb said once Jeremy had spread the feather root around. "You take the two on the left. I'll let you know if I find it."

Jeremy nodded and headed over to check the houses. The first one was nothing; no one was even home.

But the second house was more promising. He could hear movement inside, and all the curtains were drawn. But a touch of magic let him move a living room curtain aside just enough to see feathers everywhere, gold and gray mixed. He looked over at Caleb and motioned him over, grinning.

Caleb saw Jeremy waving to him and grinned. He went over quickly and peeked into the window as well. Bingo. That was what they were looking for.

Jeremy grinned.

"Bring the van closer, we've got enough feather root to keep them subdued until we get home."

"Just make sure you've really got them under," Caleb said, taking out the keys again. "Gods, we got lucky with this one."

"Yes we did." Jeremy grinned. It took only a few more touches of magic to unlock the door and slip inside, tossing more feather root at the gryphon he saw in the living room.

Corinne stirred when the door opened, but she wasn't able to do more than try to stand before the feather root hit her. It worked quickly, and she was unconscious again in moments.

Caleb brought the van around quickly and went in to help Jeremy. They would definitely need more than two hands for this one.

Jeremy was about to start hauling the gold-colored gryphon out to the van when a second, silver-colored gryphon emerged from the kitchen.

Callie hadn't been hit quite as hard as Corinne had, and she was able to keep her feet, but only just. She was wobbly as she hissed at the intruders.

Caleb's hand darted into Jeremy's jacket pocket and pulled out another handful of feather root. He flung the powder at the silvery gryphon, ready with more just in case.

Callie blinked a few times before she fell, clinging to consciousness for a few stubborn moments before she, too, passed out.

Jeremy let out a little whistle. "Two," he murmured, eyes wide. "Holy shit, we are so damn lucky."

"We hit the jackpot," Caleb agreed, eying the second gryphon warily until he was sure it was unconscious. "Come on, let's hurry before anyone else tries to move in on our luck."

Jeremy helped get both gryphons in the back of the van. From there, it was a fairly quick trip home, and he made sure they were both still drugged before he and Caleb hauled them out to the shed. While it looked a little out of shape, the shed had the best defenses on it, and would be nearly impossible to break into or out of, especially for someone not versed in magic.