Page 43 of Wishing Upon a Monster
“Oh, you’re falling in love with him!” Anna squealed, tossing her toast high in the air, much to an opportunistic bird’s delight. That toast didn’t even touch the ground; it was gone that fast, making all of us laugh.
I could feel my face was bright red from embarrassment, everyone seemed so focused on telling me I was falling in love with Olan, even Olan, that I wondered if I’d ever get to tell him the words myself? Maybe that was unfair.
Olan pulled me closer, the outside of our thighs touching.“I would happily wait a thousand years for you to tell me you loved me. It is meaningless coming from anyone else,min elskede.”
I turned redder, this time from happiness.
18
Aurora
“None of this makes any sense!” Rocio growled at our briefing Monday night. “It's been almost two months of this, creatures that shouldn’t be here, in overwhelming numbers, but there’s not a whisper of monster fighting rings on the preserve or in Magnolia Springs.”
“We aren’t counting the illegal flying pig races?” CJ tried to whisper.
“Well, no, CJ, they weren’t fighting, were they? They were just racing,” Isla whispered more effectively back.
“They were still creatures that shouldn’t be on the preserve, on the preserve,” he defended.
“Well, maybe that’s the point,” I said, interrupting everyone.
Irene sighed, “What is the point?”
“Things that shouldn’t be on the preserve being on the preserve,” I explained, “things that don’t quite fit. Flying pigs aside, we have a mixture of nocturnal creatures that could be used for fights and groups of creatures that seem to be migrating too far or have been dumped in the wrong spaces.
“We keep thinking some dumbass can’t control their illegal enterprise, but what if that is the point? What if it's one big ass smokescreen to keep us running around so we can’t see what’s really going on? What if it’s not about these invasive monsters at all? What if it's about something else entirely?
“Out of all the shit that has gone down over the last month and some, what doesn’t fit the most? Maybe we need to look at this from a different angle. If we remove all the wild and crazy shit––”
“That’s almost everything,” CJ muttered.
“What’s left that’s off?” I asked.
“I’ve got no other ideas,” Rocio said, kicking her heels up on the table. “I vote we go through all the reports from the last two months, looking at everything, where they originally came from, where the incidents happened, what kinds of creatures they are, if they are used for anything else besides fighting––”
“Get your feet off the table,” Irene scolded before looking at her watch. “I wanted us to check out B16 tonight. There were reports of something invisible, most likely a Kobold, tearing up the Langston farm, but I can send...”
“I’ll go!” CJ boosted himself up, adjusting his tactical belt. “Yari owes me for a few months back, we could check it out.”
“Yari hates fieldwork,” Rocio cautioned, finally removing her boots from the table.
“Yari hated what I took care of infinitely more. He owes me.” He looked to Irene.
“Yes, fine, go. When you go past the front, tell Vickie we want her and all the cases for the last two months,” she ordered to CJ’s retreating back.
He gave a salute to the air on his way out.
We discussed theories of monster trafficking, monster hunting for sport, gambling rings involving flyingpigs...
“Where is Vickie?” Irene asked, noting that twenty minutes had passed.
“I’m here! I just needed some help!” She called, floating in with an overbalanced armful, followed by Nash, who dutifully carried a large stack behind her.
“What are you still doing here, Thistledown?” Irene bristled.
“Oh, you know, just my job, Fitzpatrick,” He needled back, “The lovely Victoria asked for assistance, and I was able-bodied and still here. Besides, she had a good point; you needallof the reports for the last two months from both the day and the night shift. If this is a pattern, I would think looking at everything would be best.”
Irene turned a deathly pale shade of her deathly pale shade. Man, I didn't know you turn the color of bloodless outside of vampirism. She gave a tight nod.
