by Logan Jacobs
I felt myself go slack-jawed again, but this time, I made no effort to stop it. I’d heard of these sort of creatures before, but seeing a griffin up close was extraordinarily majestic. Its eagle head tilted as two black eyes raked over Maaren, and it gave off a strong sense of wise intelligence. The lion’s tail at its rump flicked through the air a few times as it folded two huge, brown wings into the divets in its back. One set of talons came forward, and it bowed its huge head over its front foot. Maaren mirrored the action slowly as she kept her eyes on the griffin the entire time.
A sense of understanding settled over the enclosure, and I knew that silent exchange between Maaren and the beast had culminated in a truce. Victor let out a small, squeaky gasp behind me, and Ariette’s body relaxed next to me.
“Okay, that’s so freaking cool,” Kalista breathed out. Her violet eyes shone with childlike excitement, and she clasped her hands in front of her, mesmerized by what she watched. “I wonder how they’re communicating. Maybe it’s telepathic? Maybe it’s eye movements? Flick to the left … okay … oh wait, no, that’s not what’s happening--”
Kalista ceased her mumbling beside me, but I heard little puffs of air escape her lips as she continued to mouth her thoughts.
Maaren let out a string of bird calls now, and then the griffin responded with a different string of bird calls. One tear fell from its right eye when it finished. Maaren gave it a regal nod, and then they bowed to each other once more before the hunter turned back to us.
“So, uh, just for the record, that was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life.” Kalista jumped on Maaren the moment she came back into the safe room.
“I’m full of surprises, Kal, just you wait.” The hunter grinned before her expression fell into grief. “That poor thing.”
“What did she say?” Victor piped up.
Ariette jumped at the sound of his voice, and I knew she’d forgotten he was even there. Unfortunately, his mouth-breathing made it so I couldn’t forget he was there, even if I tried.
“You know, that’s going to have to stay private guild business for the moment,” Maaren responded. “We’re on police business, remember?”
“Oh, right, of course,” Victor puffed back, his face bright red.
“And you should give that griffin a bigger enclosure,” Maaren ordered, and her usually bright green eyes were dark. “She needs to be able to stretch her wings a bit more.”
“Ummmm,” the man stuttered, “I’ll have, uh, the budget committee look into it.”
We climbed back into the elevator and returned to the hard concrete walkway of the zoo.
“Could you give us a minute?” Ariette requested sweetly to Victor. He just nodded and trotted off toward the security hut.
“What did she say?” I asked the hunter.
Maaren’s body was stiff, and her bottom lip trembled slightly. Her eyes were shiny with tears she barely managed to hold back, and she chewed on her bottom lip as she spoke.
“Her food was drugged,” she said finally. “She started to wake up just as the thief was taking her baby, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Couldn’t even move.”
“What an asshole,” I growled under my breath.
“Alright, let’s think, guys.” Ariette sighed, and then she started to pace in a small, slow circle.
“I wonder,” I started as a thought began to form in my brain. “I wonder if there’s a reason they want the babies instead of the adults? They drugged the griffin. The thief could have easily taken the mom, who’s a lot more dangerous, but she didn’t. She took the baby.”
“They’re more malleable,” Ariette said with a nod. “So maybe it’s a long-term scheme? Take the baby and then train it to be an unstoppable killing machine over time? Whoever’s behind this had to have planned it out well in advance too, which says a lot.”
“And Amy has some sort of magic,” Kalista added, “which means she’s either a magi, or she’s a really good illusionist.”
“Or has a Hand,” I added as I waggled my fingers. “That always seems to be on the table. Okay, so we’re looking for either a magi or a Fae who has some long term evil plan. That can’t be too hard, right?”
“I’m still wondering how she got the drugs in the food?” Ariette pondered aloud. “With the museum, she worked there. She had an in. We need to find out who’s in charge of feeding the griffin and then start there.”
“Yo, Victor,” Kalista called out as we stepped back into the security hut. “We need your zookeeper expertise.”
Jackson was still seated in front of the computers with his head in his hands, and Victor was in front of the grimy old mirror next to the lockers. His hands smoothed over his suit rapidly as if he thought they might be able to iron out the wrinkles.
“Technically I’m a director, not a zookeeper,” he replied shakily.
“Whatever,” Kal said dismissively before she motioned for the man to come over. “Just get your crinkly suited butt over here.”
Victor scuffled over to our position and nearly doubled over, out of breath. “Is there any way we could have the zoo open today?” he asked through wheezes. “We’re meant to lift the gates in two hours, and we’ve never taken a day off.”
“That’s not a good idea,” I replied, and Victor’s sallow figure sagged. “We’ll have to call in a forensics team and crime scene divination unit. We really don’t need people hanging around and muddying up the crime scene.”
“But without visitors--” Victor started breathlessly, before Kal cut him off.
“Yeah, okay, we’re sorry, but you can’t mess with evidence,” Kalista said as she stepped in with her hands raised. “But what’s more important right now is: who’s the hombre in charge of feeding the griffin?”
“That would be…” Victor puffed air in and out of his mouth a few times as he turned to open a huge binder on the desk and scanned a page, “... Fanny Eldridge. Fanny was scheduled to feed the griffin today at eight o’clock.”
“First there was a ‘Lyle’ and now there’s a ‘Fanny?’” Kal chuckled. “Murder case or not, I’m loving these names.”
“What’s the chance you can get Fanny to come to the guild?” I asked.
Victor turned to us with sad wide eyes. “You don’t think Fanny had something to do with this, do you? She’s so sweet.”
“The food was drugged,” Maaren said shortly, “so if she didn’t do it, someone who had access to the food did.”
“Well, that makes it a lot better!” he cried out. “Let’s see, I’ll have to call up…” The skinny man turned back to the binder and ran a finger down the white page. “George White, and Bernie Nan, and Zara Fin, and Kate Blanco, and--”
“Hold on.” Ariette put her hand up to stop him. “Are you saying all of those people had access to the food?”
“Well, yes,” he replied, and then he rubbed his hands together nervously as he shrank under Ariette’s gaze. “The food is prepared in our kitchens. We pride ourselves on giving these creatures the best lives possible after all. Anyone who has access to the kitchen has access to the food. There’s about twenty employees on that list.”
“That’s great,” Maaren groaned. “It could take days to interview everyone.”
Suddenly, the shrill shriek of an alarm began to blare around us. The sound grated against my eardrums as our group rushed out into the courtyard outside the security hut. The blaring of the alarm only grew louder and echoed around the entire zoo.
This wasn’t your typical “get out of bed” alarm, either. Something bad was going down.
Chapter 6
“What’s that sound mean?” Ariette called to Victor over the screech of the alarm.
“It means someone has breached the security perimeter around an enclosure,” he called back.
“Didn’t the alarm go off when the griffin was taken?” I questioned.
“They dismantled it,” Victor shook his head. “But Jackson got it back up an hour ago.”
“Well, they weren’t expecting that. I think our culprit is trying to strike again, right now,” I hollered. “We need to move!”
At that moment, Jackson wheeled out of the security shed, completely out of breath. “It’s coming from the Cerberus enclosure,” he huffed out.
“This way!” Victor yelled to us, and then he shot off in the direction of the enclosure. For a skinny mouth breather, he moved awfully fast.
We ran past grassy enclosures full of trees and animals, all of whom were now wide awake and made panicked noises in response to the commotion. As we got closer to the origin of the alarm, a low, long keening could be heard as it reverberated off the walls of the zoo. The keening bordered on a wail and sounded like an animal in immense pain. My stomach twisted in knots at the sound, and I sped up slightly.
Finally, we came upon an enclosure surrounded by a tall chain-link fence. There was a huge dog house in one corner, but the rest of it was nothing but soft grass. And there, just in front of the entrance to the dog house, was a giant, three-headed dog. She lay on all fours, and each head let out a wail. Her six huge brown eyes were terribly sad, and drool dripped from each of her three sets of jowls. The Cerberus was focused on a section of chain-link fence to our left, and I followed her mournful gaze.
Imposter Amy was back again.
The woman had climbed all the way over the fence, and she looked almost comical with a huge black backpack strapped on her back. Three tiny puppy heads stuck out of the top, but their eyes were all closed in sleep. Just as we turned to face her, Imposter Amy hit the concrete zoo floor and met my eyes with her own. Her blue irises were cold, and she smiled cruelly before she took off in the other direction.
Instantly, I sprinted after her.
“We’ll cover the entrance,” Maaren yelled, and she and Kalista dashed off to the front of the zoo. “She’s not getting away this time!”
“HC, be careful,” Ariette called from my right. “Your magic might hurt the baby.”
I knew she was right. If Amy fell the wrong way, or slammed into something, the baby Cerberus could get seriously hurt.
The blonde head of the thief bobbed about thirty feet in front of me, and my Hand itched to connect with her blood and to fling her body backwards. I wanted to just stop her in her tracks, but I had learned my lesson about distance and magic with Lyle. The sleeping puppy on her back made me tamp down the furious vibration in my Hand, and instead I tried to increase my speed.
Amy sprinted into a netted enclosure with a huge sign above it that read “Interactive Snakes.”
“Aw man, I hate snakes,” Ariette muttered beside me as we approached the makeshift door. The zipper was undone, and I took a deep breath before I swung it open for the Fae.
“Just don’t touch anything, and you’ll be fine,” I said as she passed me.
We stepped into what I expected a jungle enclosure would be like. The netted tent surrounded an area as big as a large event room in a fancy hotel, and the space was covered in trees, vines, bushes, and exotic-looking plants. There was a sign immediately in front of the entrance that read “Beware: stay on path!” in huge, scary letters.
My eyes darted back and forth through the foliage as we stepped down the brick path, and my ears listened for any sound to indicate Amy’s presence. A breath, the snap of a twig underfoot, anything that would give them away. But there was none.
“Split up,” Ariette breathed to me as she patted my bicep softly. “We can cover more ground that way.”
“But what about--” I began.
“Don’t worry, Milton,” Ariette protested, “I can handle myself.”
I just nodded in response.
I watched the elf’s blonde head disappear into the foliage to the right side of the path, and I stifled a sharp gasp as a bright yellow snake dropped down from a tree just behind her.
The thing was huge. Its thick body was covered in white circles that stood out strongly against the yellow scales, and it had beady red eyes that took me in like I was a snack. A forked tongue flicked out of its mouth twice as we stared at each other. Then, as soon as it had appeared, the beast slithered off into the dense foliage. I reminded myself there was no way a zoo would have an attraction like this if any of the animals were remotely dangerous, but after all the things I’d seen, I wasn’t sure I believed that.
A twig snapped to my left, and I spun in that direction. I scanned the bright green trees, but saw nothing. To steel myself, I took a deep breath in through my nose and let it out slowly. I called on the familiar tingle of my Hand of Blood, and I readied it, just in case. Even if I couldn’t use my full powers on Amy, it comforted me to feel the vibration of my magic.
My feet made soft squelching noises on the damp dirt as I crept through the exhibit. The bit of sunlight that had begun to light up the zoo was mostly obscured completely by the thick flat leaves of the trees above me. Something heavy and tubular smacked into my face, and I forced myself not to reach out and touch it. In the darkness, it could be either a vine or a snake, and I figured it was best not to know.
Suddenly, I heard a soft mewling come from the thicket of bushes off to my right. It was a strange sound, somewhere between the cry of a human baby and a whine, but it sounded extremely puppy-like in nature.
I bent down low to the ground to make myself as invisible as possible. Thankfully, my work was already halfway done for me in the dark, dense foliage. There was a quick snap right next to my ear, and I glanced over to see a venus fly trap retreat slightly. I wasn’t sure if it had tried to catch my head, or if it had snapped up a bug in my vicinity. I shook myself to refocus as the mewling grew louder, and then I found its source.
Right at the base of a huge Kapok tree was the backpack Imposter Amy had carried on her back, and the baby Cerberus was still zipped snugly inside of it. Two of its heads were still asleep, but the one that was awake mewled softly. Its chocolate brown eyes landed on me as I crept closer, and its teeny mouth opened to reveal a bright pink tongue. The backpack vibrated a little, and its ears perked up in excitement.
“Think, Milton,” I muttered to myself and forced my body to stop moving. If the backpack was there, the thief had to be somewhere close. She wouldn’t just dump something she’d worked so hard for.
“What’s the matter?” a shrill voice called from above me. “Cat got your tongue?”
I turned just in time to see a mass of blonde hair and black clothing leap from the thick branches of the tree above me. A heavy body crashed into me, and a sharp pain shot through my center when her elbow collided harshly with the soft space between my muscles and my abdomen.
Impostor Amy, still on top of me, reached up to snarl her fingers into the hair on my scalp, and it burned powerfully as she yanked hard and pulled my head back to stare into her face.
Icy blue eyes met mine, and a shimmer ran over her face so fast I almost missed it, but that shimmer was unmistakable. She was using a glamour.
“You know,” I growled as I fought against her grip. “You totally didn’t land that taunt. It would have been way better if you had said ‘every dog has his day.’”
“You are one messy, irritating human, you know that?” she snarled in my ear.
I brought my knee up quick and hard and made contact with the base of her ribs. The impact flung Amy’s body backwards, and it gave me just enough time to call on my magic. My Hand answered with the familiar vibration of its power, and I prepared to attack.
As Imposter Amy began to rise, anger on her face, I connected to the rush of blood in her veins and flung her backwards into the trunk of a nearby tree. She crashed into the trunk sideways with a sickening crack, and then the thief let out a sharp yelp.
“Good job, HC!” Ariette was suddenly beside me, and she wore a look of pride. “As tempting as it might be to kill this woman, we’ve got to take her in alive.”
The two of us strode over to Amy quickly, but before we could grab her to restrain her, she yanked a sharp blade from
a belt at her waist and stabbed Ariette in the stomach as fast as lightning.
“Fuck!” Ariette shouted as the blade dug into her stomach.
My body reacted instinctively as blood spread across the blonde warrior’s abdomen. I used Amy’s blood to fling her away from Ariette, hard enough she lost her grip on the blade in the process. The blade stayed lodged in Ariette’s stomach, which made staunching Ariette’s blood flow easier. I took a moment to do just that with my magic as Amy hit a thick gray tree trunk with a sickening crack that split the air and assaulted my eardrums. The thief’s body slid down and landed on the ground with a moan and a dull thud. Her arm was at an odd angle, and I saw a flash of white as I beared down on her.
The moment she hit the ground, I was on top of her, and my hands slammed down over both of her wrists as she writhed and struggled beneath me. I used all of my weight to press into her torso and keep her down. It didn’t matter how hard she struggled, she wasn’t getting free.
Her blue eyes looked up at me, and I was surprised to see they were full of anger and twisted pride. The tendons in her arms shivered with effort as she writhed beneath me, and I noticed her left arm was broken near her shoulder. A piece of white bone stuck out an angle, and my stomach turned over at the sight.
“Who are you working for?” I demanded as I stared down into her face, twisted with a sick glee as if she was in on a joke I wasn’t.
“Wouldn’t you love to know?” she spat at me. “The only thing I’ll tell you is I’m not alone.”
“That’s not the only thing,” I snarled as I rolled her over. I unhooked the handcuffs from my waist as she struggled against my grip. It took me a second, as I hooked the metal clasps around her wrists, but I realized her floppy movements had changed. She no longer struggled against my grip. Instead, she now twisted around on the ground as if she was in pain. As soon as I latched the cuffs securely on her, I flipped her over.