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“I don’t know,” Kallum counters, shaking his head. “If they get their teeth right over your skull and crush, then it’ll be a lot faster.”
“But that would be super scary, having your head between their teeth.”
“Not as scary as being pulled down to the bottom of their tank, knowing you’ll never reach the surface in time to –”
“Okay! I get it!” I cut in. “Go feed the kelpies, and I’ll make sure there’s another bucket of seaweed ready for you when you get back to the kitchen. But do me a favour and let me know how the kelpies are. If they’re too stressed over their adventures” –they were just brought back in a couple hours ago– “I’ll need to one-way their ward.” That will let the public see, hear and smell them, but the kelpies won’t be able to sense them at all. Kelpies normally like watching people though; otherwise, their ward would be one-way at all times. Like it is for the shyer animals. Just because they need to be seen to bring in funding for conservation and educating the public, as well as building empathy in humans, that doesn’t mean they have to be stressed the entire time it happens.
Kallum nods, and the two of them leave.
Blowing out a sigh, I glance at my clipboard. There are wet stains on it, but my To Do list is still legible.
See if the chimera ward needs to be made one-way
Reinforce the manticore ward
Get 16 glamour and 29 communication bracelets to the Rangers to replace those that have been lost
See if the kelpie ward needs to be made one-way
Meet with Pitta, the lead researcher in gur’akkavon, as I have no idea what to do with its new forms. Though they are very cute
The list goes on, but at the moment, I need to focus on the issue at hand. Pulling out the walkie talkie on my waist, I say, “Clean up needed outside Riona’s enclosure.”
“Again?” someone asks.
The dragon preens, and I fight back a smile.
“Yep.” I slip my walkie talkie back onto my belt, then turn to her. “That was a really good pounce,” I murmur, my heart breaking just a little.
Eviera dragons are as intelligent as crows and are pack animals. So what she really needs is a flock to play with, but there are only two of her kind left. When Sebastian the Ancient Destroyer and Rakian the Call of Ragnarok raged war across the Seven Planes millennia ago, they destroyed Persic, the dragons’ home world. She was found as an egg, a believed decoration until she started to hatch. Then the couple tried to keep her, thinking she was cute, but they had no idea what they were doing. One day, when she was about the size of a wolf, Riona ate the wife. So the husband tried to kill her, but she escaped their house, and a good samaritan spotted her in the skies, recognised her as a nearly extinct species, and called us to come get her.
Fortunately, though, the only other eviera dragon is a male, so rebuilding their population is possible.
Unfortunately, Draco does not like her.
At all.
I glance at the enclosure beside hers (he was put there with the hope she’ll grow on him), but I can’t see him anywhere. He’s probably flying over the sanctuary somewhere – his enclosure reaching high into the sky and further out once he goes up a couple dozen metres. He also has a wind tunnel, as does Riona, but unlike her, he much prefers the open world. I’m hoping to commission a pocket universe for him if we can get the funding.
Nerves prickling my skin at the thought of failing him and all the other creatures relying on me, I drag my hand through my hair. Now bored with me, Riona flaps her wings and takes to the air. I glance at the display in front of her enclosure and tap on the screen to pull up the footage of her flying. There is a very small camera on the end of her snout, pointed towards her so we can watch her soar. Draco doesn’t like wearing one – even though I doubt he can actually feel it, like a bit of dirt on one’s skin, but whatever his reason, it’s his choice. Us humans –the term for every humanoid shaped creature– destroyed his world; the least we can do is let him do whatever he wants in the pitiful section he has left.
“I’m going to commission you a pocket universe,” I murmur with determination. Although that is going to take a lot of money – money that can be better spent on the needs of way more creatures, I’m going to make the Kingdom of Tails and Feathers so damn successful, that it doesn’t matter.
Nodding firmly, I stride towards my office. First things first though. I need a shower and a change.
The Kingdom of Tails and Feathers opens tomorrow, and I need to make sure everything is shipshape by the time, Sus Oklina, the head journalist at the Otherworld Adventures magasine, gets here.
But just as I open the door to my building, my radio crackles to life. “Code black! Code black! The eunixa has escaped!”
My blood running cold, I spin around.
Just in time to see a large slimy beast with eight tentacles charging at me, its four-split, teeth-lined beak open in a roar.
Chapter Two
With no one nearby to shove between me and the eunixa, I throw my clipboard at it, then dodge to the left. But it simply swats the item away with one tentacle, making it fly into the door of the building with a hard thump, and reaches for me with another. Its slimy limb is just about to wrap around me to haul me into its gaping mouth when Zenin, the head of the Rangers, appears out of thin air right beside me. As a born vampire, he has the ability to phase, a skill he utilises once more as soon as he grabs hold of my arm.
We blink out of existence, then reappear inside my office. My stomach revolts, my body not used to phasing. I gag, then cough, but I manage to keep everything down. Before I can tell Zenin thank you for saving me though, he’s gone again, and I rush to my window and throw it open.
