Maeve checked the weather app on her phone.
“Clear skies and a warm breeze.” She sighed. “I deserve this vacation. Finally a chance to get out of the office.” Maeve stretched her grey-black wings as far as they would go, feathers ruffled by the wind. She kicked the dust off her boots from hiking the extreme slopes north of Quorac where spires of rock rutted out of the lush woods green in mid summer.
“The Quorac city council needs to repave the paths here. There aren’t many good roads these days. Just because the new convention center started construction right at the start of tourist season doesn’t mean they get to neglect the parks,” Maeve spoke to herself. She slipped her phone into the zippered pocket on her thigh after selecting her favorite playlist. She walked closer to the cliff where the path ended. Hundreds of yards below, the forest sported its greenest colors this time of year.
Maeve smoothed out any wrinkles in her form fitting outfit. Rule one, never fly with improper clothing. Something I’ll never forget since I got my aviators licence. It only took some poor girl’s shirt to fly over her face before she broke her wing.
Maeve strapped on her flight goggles, a gift from her sister. She took a springy step off the rocky edge into the open. Her body fell through the thin air. Pressure kept her wings tucked against her back. The panic seizing her stomach forced laughter from her throat. Maeve watched the ground approaching rapidly as if she was zooming in on an image on her phone. Maeve relented and unfurled her wings. I don’t need to break any diving records today. I’m too old for that. The take off sight stayed quiet. Normally, young Wingeds dared each other on weekends to break the current record scratched into the rock wall.
She circled in a gust of wind that propelled her upward into the big blue. Her heart still thundered against her chest from the drop. It’s been too long since I’ve been out here. Work’s such a drag. They never let me do any field work anymore. Just because I’m the head of the department doesn’t mean I’m too good for fieldwork. I wouldn’t mind a spare job or two coming my way every once in a while. Maeve’s phone buzzed repeatedly in her pocket. She groaned. Speak of the devil.
She spotted a shelf in the rock to land. Her wings beat against her momentum until she placed a foot on the moss covered space and whipped out her device.
“Hello? This is Maeve Cumulus.”
“Yeah, uh, Maeve. Sorry to bother you on your leave, but we have a, uh, emergency?” She recognized the wavering voice immediately.
“Why, Reginald? What’s wrong?”
“Where are you right now?”
“Uh…” Maeve pivoted to take a look. “I’m at the Quorac Forest Preserve. Why?”
“I need you to work immediately. You know how you have been talking about getting out and about more?”
“Yes…?” Maeve dread the answer.
“Well, I have something for you, but you need to get there quickly. I just got a call. There’s a truck stopped along highway 8. I can’t talk right now, but they need the Head of Animal Welfare and Containment.”
“Is it sick? Do they realize they need to call the vet for that?”
“No, it’s much worse than that, Maeve. It’s… it’s escaped.” Her stomach dropped.
“I’m on my way. Send me everything I need. Can I fly?”
“Yes, I’ve already cleared a flight with the Air Traffic Control.” Maeve already beat her wings against the warm breeze that did nothing to dispel the chill shuddering along her arms. If something dangerous escaped, we’re in big trouble. People could get hurt. I could get fired.
“Oh, and Maeve?”
“Yeah?”
“They’re sending someone else over there as well.”
“Ok, I’ll talk to you later.” Maeve hung up and plugged in the coordinates Reginald sent her while they spoke.
The Animal Welfare and Containment Organization dealt with many endangered magical animals or threats to those living within or around the city. They used transport trucks to move animals from one facility or habitat to the next. As head of the department, Maeve organized where everything ended up and how.
Wingeds, Faeries, and Elves took up most of the positions in the field. To manage magical animals such as they often did required mobility and patience. The offices provided better diversity, although you wouldn’t find many demons around paperwork.
The terrain below her gradually change from lush forests to highways and backroads. A voice in her earbuds directed her to where the truck had parked. Cars honked at each other in denser patches along the road. Drivers laid on their horns. Demons. You can hear their road rage a mile away, as if sheer force of will would clear a path for them.
Maeve spotted the truck parked alongside the highway. Already, the police sectioned off that part of the lane. Maeve tilted into a dive. She didn’t have time for a gradual descent. If something got loose, the faster she arrived, the faster she could help recapture it. But why would they need me? What on earth were they transporting that they wouldn’t send a few elves or something. Jodie is pretty good in a pinch. I wonder if that’s who I’m meeting. The ground hurtled toward Maeve and she pulled out of the dive. Her wings scooped the wind with powerful strokes. The truck driver was a gnome a head shorter than she was. His curly hair stuck up from his hands running through it nervously.
“You’re finally here!” He burst. “I’m not fired, am I?” Maeve looked at the nervous wreck with a skeptical eye.
“That’s not for me to decide, sir. I’m just here to bring the,” She pulled out her phone and opened the file Reginald sent. Her breath caught when she read the species. “Chimera! You were transporting a chimera!”
“Y-yeah,” the driver admitted.
“So, you’re telling me,” Maeve rubbed the bridge of her nose. “That you were transporting a patchwork quilt animal of death and you let it escape?”
“Uh, let me show you.” The gnome shuffled to the other side of the semi.
“Oh, I see.” Maeve whispered. A chimera sized hole punctured the side of the metal container. “I thought these containers were fireproof and if an animal were to claw their way out, they would just slide off.”
“That’s what I was told,” The gnome retorted. Obviously, this is a first for him. Drivers, of course he’d think it’s our fault it escaped.
“Whatever. We can discuss that later. There’s supposed to be another AWCO agent here. Has he or she arrived?”
“I have.” A voice drifted over from the front of the semi. A figure leaned over the fresh tracks on the side of the road.
“Hello Zeppelin,” she greeted coldly. Zeppelin Switch, a faerie, held the position of best field agent in the department for 12 months straight, since Maeve’s promotion. He brushed loose strands of fiery red hair back into a short pompadour.
“Hello Ms. Cumulus. I see you’ve been hiking. There’s a uniform for you in my car. Go change. We got work to do,” he grinned.
***
Maeve slipped on the trademark blue jumpsuit. A rush of adrenaline pumped through her veins when she first touched the rough pads on the shoulders. Her name shone on a brass colored plate on the lapel. I never trust these things to be as safe as the designers always claim. They said the container was fireproof. We’ll see how these compare.
Maeve finished and returned to where the tracks started. She hardly looked up, preferring to read the rest of the file provided to her.
“You ready to go, Miss? You aren’t too old, are you?”
“Let’s go, Switch. We got a scared monster to catch.” She ignored the faerie. I’ve read your file. You’re five years younger than me.
“Isn’t monster boycotted nowadays?”
“It’s a chimera. I think you should start treating it like one unless you wanna lose a hand?”
“Sounds like you might be a little rusty.” Zeppelin started down the trail. Singed leaves and bark made a clear start. Maeve kept herself composed. Faeries worked miracles with animals and nature, but they never played well with others. Rumor had it that Zeppelin could track anything and he could recite the entire Magical Creatures Almanac. Maeve never officially met him, but their reputations were enough for each other. If I wasn’t already Director, he’d probably be considered for my job. He’d hate it. If he was considered, that’d break my record of youngest to ever hold that position.
“Come on, Switch. Have you ever wrangled one before?” Maeve brushed aside a low hanging branch.
“This will be the first, ma’lady.”
“But you have the backpacks?” Every team was given an equipment pack filled with everything needed to track, sedate, and retrieve any rogue animal including medical kits for both agents and animals.
“Never without it. Here’s your’s.” Zeppelin tossed her a black backpack. It varied from her partner’s. Buckles on the straps allowed for Maeve to strap them around her wings without having to awkwardly maneuver them through tiny holes.
Silence filled the space between them for some minutes. Zeppelin took the lead on tracking, while Maeve scrolled through the shipping file. She composed and sorted dozens herself. She got to the part as to where the truck came from and its destination. The chimera had been caught less than a week before and kept at the nearest facility. She glanced at the semi truck’s destination: CLASSIFIED.
“Hey, Switch?”
“Yes, Director?” The odd terminus distracted Maeve too much to object to him using her title in a mocking tone.
“Did you read the file for this?”
“I looked it over, why?” He bent low over a huge lion paw print in the dirt half hidden by leaves.
“Because its destination is classified, Switch. Are you blind? I thought you’re supposed to be our best and brightest.”
“You’re here to notice things like that, Feathers.” I’m going to slap him.
“An animal like a chimera would go to a safe facility. No zoo would be safe. You saw what it did to its trailer.”
“Yeah, so?”
“They have no reason to not label it.”
“Well, we got bigger issues on our hands.”
Maeve focused her full attention on their immediate mission.
“What?”
“Have you noticed which way we’re going?” Maeve took a quick look at her GPS and paled.
“The city,” she sighed with frustration. I just wanted a quick mission.
“No.”
“That’s against protocol. It would’ve been tagged as soon as it arrived at the facility.”
“Right. Maybe your suspicions hold water.” Zeppelin started to jog after the trail. “Come on. We need to reach the city before it does. Got radio?”
“On it.” Maeve fished out the radio connected directly with a correspondence officer at the office normally only used after something was caught or if the situation progressed into something of greater danger. “This is Cumulus and Switch. We have a situation. A chimera is headed toward the north side of Quorac. Requesting backup and police assistance in the city.” Maeve waited for a moment before someone answered.
“We have your position but there’s no signal on your chimera.” By the nasally voice, Maeve guessed the voice belonged to Grace, an elven techie. She’s new and trying her best, but why would they put her on this job?
“It was never tagged, Grace. Send out a warning now!”
“Geez, ok. Over.” The static ceased.
“Well,” Maeve turned to Zeppelin. “You were right. We got work to do. A lot of work. Come on.” Maeve started into a run down the charred and trampled track.
“So this thing isn’t tagged and its destination is classified?”
“Yeah. Making our job ten times harder. This rings a bell though. I don’t know why. This shouldn’t be normal, but I think I saw something on my desk the day before I left.”
“What?”
“A wild Phoenix had been captured. They told me not to worry about where it was going, and that they’d take care of it.”
“Who’s ‘they’?”
“Reginald.”
“Reginald?” Zeppelin said. “You mean the short office wizard, Reginald?”
“Yeah, he’s a federal worker, so he’d know about every file that passed through our department. He called me about the escape in the first place.”
“Me, too.” Zeppelin checked his GPS. “There’s a major road up ahead. Expect anything.”
Maeve emerged from the trees. A barricade of cars lined the highway. Burning rubber clogged the air. Sirens sounded as ambulances pulled up, along with half a dozen police cars.
“Well, we know where it went.” Zeppelin sighed. An officer jogged over to Maeve.
“What happened here? You’re with AWCO, you should know.”
“Sir, we sent out a warning.”
“There’s no warning. A chimera just ran through traffic.”
“That’s what we’re tracking. Calm down. We’ll handle this. Which way did it go?”
The officer pointed down the road. “We didn’t have the resources to stop it safely, but it’s heading towards Quorac.”
“OK, thank you.” Maeve nodded her head to dismiss the cop. As soon as he was out of hearing, she pulled out the radio. “Grace!?”
“Yeah?” She’s probably spinning in an office chair right now. Why’d we get the new kid?
“I told you to alert the police about the escape. I suppose you didn’t call for backup either.”
“What? No, I sent out the warning. They said another team would meet you in fifteen minutes.”
Zeppelin grabbed his own radio to speak. “Well, apparently you didn’t.”
“Grace, who told you another team was coming?”
“Mr. Locke.”
“Reginald?”
“Yeah, him. He said he’d handle it.”
“Grace, I need you to do it yourself. Don’t tell Reginald, OK?”
“But it’s protocol to log everything we––”
“Grace, people could die, just do as I say.”
“O-OK.”
“Thanks.” Maeve tucked the device back into her pack.
“Something’s up with that dude.” Zeppelin checked his phone. “There’s nothing about this on the news, yet.”
“Great,” she grunted. Maeve stretched her wings. “There’s no time to catch that thing on foot. We don’t have a vehicle or the authority to commandeer one. I’m gonna have to fly.”
“Hey, aren’t you bending the rules, Director?”
“Yes. If there’s no way to track it, the news isn’t reporting, and there isn’t another team searching, we need eyes on that chimera.”
“What about me?”
“You’re too heavy.”
“You’re not gonna stop that thing alone.”
“I’ll meet you there. If you need to radio me, I’ll be on channel two.” Maeve tightened the straps on her backpack.
“How am I supposed to get there?”
“I don’t know, use your natural charm and suave personality.” Maeve beat her wings and her feet rose from the ground. She kept low to avoid the open airway. I’m breaking so many laws right now.
The chimera left a path of destruction in its wake. The trail branched off the highway into the northern district of the city. Most civilians had the common sense to abandon the streets. A coffee shop stood on the main road. Smoke spiraled up from a flaming trash can. Scratches left by the chimera’s claws rutted the street. Maeve tilted into a dive. Her knees shuddered under the impact, but she trotted over to a café. The bell over the door dinged.
“Did you see the chimera?” She strode up to the counter. A young faerie girl quivered.
“You bet your fluffy wings I did. It was huge! Are you with the AWCO? I think you are. That’s what your name tag says. Can I get you some coffee?”
“Slow down. No coffee. Which way did it go?”
“Down the street.” The barista pointed.
“How long ago?”
“Two minutes ago. It breathes fire!”
“Thanks.” Maeve rushed out of the shop. The bells chimed behind her as she tore through the exit. It could be in the suburbs by now. She ran full speed down the middle of the road to ease take off. From the air, she spotted it. She caught her breath. The chimera’s lion head roared. Maeve wasted no time in unbuckling her bag and pulling out whatever she could find.
A shrill scream echoed down the street. She glanced up. The muscles in the lion body tensed. It crouched low to the ground. A small figure stood stock still in front of the beast. It’s gonna spring.
“Feathers!” The radio blared.
“Not a good time.” Maeve threw the radio down and jumped off the roof. Her wings brushed parked cars along either side of the street. Come on! She tackled the kid, wrapping him in her arms. Her wings cocooned both of them. She slid into a storefront. Glass cracked. Her head spun from the impact. She lifted her primary feathers to see four sets of eyes staring at her. I didn’t sign up to be this close to a goat-lion-dragon-snake beast of fury. The chimera stepped closer. The lion head bared its teeth while the dragon head opened its jaws. Sparks fell out from between its fangs. She tucked her feathers as tight as she could. The flames burst over them. Maeve gritted her teeth.
“Hey!” A woman’s voice shouted over the roaring blaze. “Hey, you, Scary!” The chimera’s heads turned. Maeve beat her wing against the ground to smother out the fire.
“Go, get out of here,” She whispered to the elven boy. Maeve rolled over and wiped the sweat from her face and regained her feet. The animal swayed from side to side as if considering which person to attack first. The young woman across the street held two or three Tupperware containers in her arms.
“Ma’am, get out of here,” Maeve yelled.
The girl ripped off one of the lids and threw its contents at the chimera. A ring of sparks danced where the liquid landed. The young witch met Maeve’s eyes.
“What are you waiting for? I can’t hold it off forever.”
Maeve haphazardly flapped back to the gas station’s roof. She snatched the radio from the pile of supplies.
“Switch!” She picked up the net and tranquilizer pistol.
“There you are, Feathers. What’s going on?”
“Yeah, uh, problem. Found it. Get over here now.” A car horn beeped below her. Maeve leaned over the edge. Zeppelin waved from the front seat.
“Get over there. There’s people in danger,” she shouted. He gave her a thumbs up and skidded down the road. He’s going to get himself killed. That witch better be smart enough to get herself out of harm’s way. Maeve jumped down, cushioned by her wings. She winced from the burns.
Metal screeched. Maeve rounded the corner. The hood of the car flew over her head. No! Flames bounced off the front of Zeppelin’s windshield. She pulled out the tranquilizer pistol and aimed. It’s close enough. I can hit it. The snake head bobbed around to face her. It hissed. The car bounced as the beast left the faerie to finish her off. Maeve pulled the trigger and the goat head bleated from the dart sticking out of its neck. Just a few more minutes. I need to stay alive for just a few more minutes.
“Switch! You alive?” No answer. Maeve dove into an alleyway. Fire scorched the bricks. She fumbled with the net gun. The terrible combination of bleating, roaring, and snarling burst out from around the corner. A paw appeared, then another. The chimera staggered into the alley. The lion’s tongue lolled out of its mouth. With a burst of compressed air, the net unfurled over the creature. Bleary eyes closed and the monster sank to the sidewalk.
Maeve took a long breath and pulled out the radio from her pocket.
“Grace.”
“Yeah?”
“Get a transport truck over here ASAP.” Maeve navigated over the giant and back into the road. She caught the witch peeping out from a pizza shop.
“You, get over here. What’s your name?”
“Beverly.”
“Thanks, Beverly. A quick word. When there’s an official warning to stay inside, don’t read it and think you can handle it yourself. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
“OK, get home safely.” The witch nodded and ran past the smoking car. Oh, no. Maeve dashed over.
“Zeppelin, are you OK?” She flung open his door. He blinked rapidly before looking up.
“Oh, yeah. Terrific,” he mumbled.
“Tell me you didn’t try to ram it.”
“More like it rammed me.” He rubbed his temples and groaned. “Where’s it now?”
“Unconscious in an alley. Grace is sending out someone to pick it up. You sure you’re fine? You’re bleeding.” Maeve stretched out a hand and pulled Zeppelin from the driver’s seat.
“I’ll be OK. Thank you, Maeve.”
“No sarcastic nickname this time?”
“I’m a faerie. We don’t use names lightly. I wanted to use yours sincerely.” Maeve paused. He must have hit his head harder than I thought. Sincerity from Zeppelin Switch? What a day.
***
Maeve slammed open the door of her office. Sweat still dripped from her nose.
“Reginald, what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Sure you did, buddy.” Zeppelin stepped out from behind her. A band aid covered a scratch on his cheek.
“I-I just followed orders.”
“Which were?” Zeppelin inched closer.
“I shouldn’t tell you.”
Maeve lifted her wings, casting a shadow over the rest of the room. “I don’t care. You shouldn’t have tried to kill us.”
Reginald squealed.
“I was supposed to make sure the container wouldn’t hold the beast. You two were put on the job with that elf, Grace. The government made the news turn a blind eye and I was told to block any warnings or backup. Grace overrode that. Please don’t hurt me.”
“We’re not going to hurt you, Locke, but you are going to keep talking. Why?”
“Once you all failed, we could fire you and take over the department,” Reginald whimpered. “No one would know what happened.”
“You wanted to make the AWCO a federal faction?”
“Yeah, that’s why they sent me in. I don’t think they expected this.”
“No one expected this.” Maeve’s wings spasmed from pent up emotion. “You could’ve killed us.”
“Sorry?”
“So what did the government want with the organization?”
“Let’s just say they didn’t agree with the mission statement of humanely taking care of and releasing magical creatures.”
“So they were gonna use them instead of protecting them?” Zeppelin said.
“Basically.”
“Out of my office.”
“I don’t think––”
“Out. And I’ll personally see that you’re fired.” Maeve held open the door. Reginald bumbled out of the room, muttering all the way. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
“What are you gonna do?”
“Publish it. All of it. Whatever records I can find about this, it’s going public. I doubt it’ll stop them, but I won’t allow them to work in secret like this.”
“What about you?”
“I’m the director. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”
“And me?”
“You’re good at your job. Don’t stop. Maybe I’ll join you after all this. I enjoyed working with you, Zeppelin. Sure you tried to run over a chimera with a car, but I think I can look past that. For now, I need to be here.”
“I thought you hated working in an office.”
“I’m still accomplishing the same thing. The work’s different, but these animals are safe from people like them.”
“Alright. See you around, Maeve.”
“It’s Feathers to you.” Maeve smiled.
