Page 22 of Horn in My Side
“Yeah, that sounds great.You must be so proud.”He closed the door behind him.“So, listen, remember that job we worked on in Caithness?”
“For the finfolk fam?Sure do.What about it?”
“I was wondering if you could put me in touch with your water-filtration supplier?”
“You working on another aqua mansion?”
“No, nothing that big,” Mal chuckled.“Just a couple of aquariums.”
“Ah, I see.Yeah, I can send you their number and give them a heads-up.”
“You will?Amazing.Thanks, Bob.”
“Anything for you, mate.I’ll text you the number.”There was a crash in the background, followed by a cry.“Whoops, I think little Maureen just discovered the corner of the coffee table.Gotta go.Great talking to you, Mal.”
“Thanks so much, Bob.”
Mal sighed with relief.One call down, and—
A shriek coming from the main floor sent every nerve in his body into full alert.
Jasmine!
What in Vorlak’s name could she have done now?
Mal nearly ripped the office door off its hinges as he raced out to the main shop floor.“Jasmine, what’s going—”
A feather landed on his nose as a flying blur whizzed right above his head.The urge to sneeze was unbearable, but thankfully he managed to brush off the plume in time.“Jasmine?”
“Help me!”She scrambled up to the counter, desperately grasping at something perched on the shelf above her.
“What did you do?”he roared.
“This isn’t my—Just grab the other one, and whatever happens, don’t let them go outside!”
The urgency in her voice spurred him into action.He followed the first creature he saw into the main room, spying it above a shelf full of soft chew toys near the back.As he stomped over to where it was, he grabbed a bug net hanging from the display, ripping off the plastic packaging.
“Here, here, little one,” he called.
“Don’t stare at it,” she warned.“They’re mini cockatrices, so they can’t kill you, but they can put you in a coma.”
“Cocka—” He rubbed a hand down his face, not even wanting to knowwhythey stocked these animals.“All right, come here you ...”
As the creature jerked its rooster-like head side to side, he avoided its gaze, focusing on its lizard-like body.Holding his breath, he quickly swatted at it, but it moved too fast, the bug net smacking against the shelf.
“Fuck!”Mal swung around to follow the animal as it flew across the room.He dashed over, net raised high and swung.“Gotcha!”
It let out an angry cry as it struggled against the net.He was just congratulating himself as he put it back in the pen when he heard Jasmine’s cry once more.
“The door!”
Jasmine’s eyes widened as the front door opened a crack.With a snap of his fingers, Mal shut the door and locked it.The would-be customer outside pushed repeatedly, but it didn’t budge.
“We’re closed!”he shouted, running toward Jasmine, who remained on the counter.“Is it still up there?”
She nodded to where a long, scaly tail hung down from the top of the shelf.“Cockatrices actually can’t fly very high, but once they get up there, they don’t want to come down.”
“I see.I should be able to get it.”The shelf was only a foot taller than him, so he easily reached up, grasped the tail and pulled the cockatrice down, ignoring its angry squawks.
