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She nods. “I will.”
“And make sure the centaur –”
“Rony.”
I nod. “Make sure Rony goes to therapy.”
She nods, then turns on her heels to talk to her squad.
Leaving them to it, I pick up the clipboard I threw at the eunixa earlier, then trudge back up to my office, nerves twisting my gut.
With luck, tomorrow will go a lot better than today…
Chapter Three
As soon as the sun rises the next morning, I’m running through the Kingdom of Tails and Feathers, my clipboard in hand as I do the last checks before opening. After a hard seven days of scrambling around who knows how many planes, timelines, and dimensions, the Rangers have managed to retrieve all but a handful of the animals we lost when the transportation spell went haywire.
Aeria, my troll assistant, comes up beside me as I head over to the kikimaras enclosure – creatures that looks like a squirrel with rabbit ears. There’s supposed to be twelve of them, but it’s been marked that only eleven have returned, so I just want to see which one is missing. Hopefully, it isn’t Delilah, whose favourite past time is eating people’s faces off.
Thank gods, it isn’t. She’s there, lying on her back while she’s being groomed by the other kikimaras.
“Hades called again,” my secretary says as she goes through her notes of things to tell me. I check my watch, then groan as I stride towards the front gates of the sanctuary. We’re to open in thirty minutes, and I need to cut the big red ribbon, letting everyone in. I do not have time to deal with Hades right now.
“What did you tell him?” I ask. I’ve been dodging his calls all week, ever since he found out that the demons he’d sent over to help me, as I didn’t have enough Rangers, have been handing out favours to people in various worlds and timelines on ‘my’ behalf. Something he did not authorise.
“I told him you were busy, but you’d call him back as soon as you could.”
I wince. That was the third time she’s told him that in as many days; I doubt he’ll accept that answer again. I’m going to actually have to call him back at the end of the day.
“Thanks. I’ll do that this evening,” I say begrudingly.
“Shall I let him know?”
“No.” There was a good chance I chickened out again. Although we were friends, and he was a lot more mellow than the stories around his name – much preferring to stay home and read rather than steal people’s souls, he absolutely had the power to force me into servitude so I could carry out all the favours his demons have been offering to random people in order to get my animals back.
“Get D’jin-smak to write up a list of where the favours were given,” I say. He’s the head eknor demon on loan from Hades, and hopefully the list he makes will all be places and times in other dimensions. That way, it won’t be this world’s Hades who has to honour the favours. It’ll be that world’s Hades (if he so chooses). Please gods, let it be so.
Aeria nods as she hurries away, and I breathe out calmly as I reach the gates of the sanctuary.
I can hear a loud buzz of people on the other side if the large, wide wooden doors.
“It’s a huge crowd,” Zenin says as I approach. “You’ve done well.”
I smile nervously. “As long as nothing goes wrong. Like an animal escaping during opening and eating all the children.”
“If that happens, I’ll make sure to eat Sus so she can’t report it.” He licks a fang.
I laugh. “Yeah, okay. That is your job today.”
He nods, looking way too serious, and as always with him, I can’t quite tell if he’s joking. Deciding I don’t want to know, I climb up the ladder that’s temporarily leaning against the gates and stop on the platform attached at the top of them.
My heart drops into my shoes at the sight of the crowd before me. It takes a moment for people to notice I’m here, but once they do, the chatter of the crowd drops away as everyone stares at me expectantly.
I clear my throat. “Thank you all for coming here today on our grand opening.” A giant octopus-like creature at the front of the crowd catches my eye, and I pin Sus with a customer-service smile. “We have thousands of creatures in the Kingdom of Tails and Feathers, many of which are vulnerable in the wild. Us humans have a duty to protect not just the planets we live on, but the creatures who live on them with us. They might not be able to voice their emotions, but I hope by visiting us today, you will come to realise that they all feel just as much as we do.
“So at the front of each enclosure is a board talking about their lives, as well as the human dangers they face in the wild. If you are touched by their struggles, then there are also petitions for you to sign, demanding more protection for these beautiful creatures. There’s also pen and paper if you want to write to politicians directly.”
I breathe out. These animals are my babies, and I want everyone to care about them as much as me. “Anyway,” I say, clearing my throat and smiling wide as I descend down the stairs on the other side of the gate. As soon as I’m on the ground, a giant pair of scissors is offered to me, and the platform I was just on vanishes. “Thank you so much for supporting the Kingdom of Tails and Feathers on opening day. May you enjoy the familiar petting zoo, where you can potentially find your new companion as they are up for adoption.” There is excited whispers from many young witches in the crowd. “As well as the talks about all the animals.”
