Day Zero (Page 14)

Icon: Paw print.

Unique Arcana Characteristics: Has claws and fangs. Her eyes turn red when she mingles her senses with a creature’s.

Before Flash: High school student and animal trainer, living in the compound of an eccentric billionaire.

Crazycakes’ Crib

Day 0

“I’m dead meat,” I muttered when I smelled blood in the boss’s menagerie. “Just kill me now.” The animals were going nuts!

They’d been acting weird for days, but now they chewed at their enclosures, head-butted the walls of their pens, and dug in a frenzy. Even passive animals fought.

Rabbits in a death match. What the hell?

If they kept this up, we were going to lose stock . Probably had already. The smell of blood made me light-headed.

I yanked my phone out of my jeans pocket and called my dad. His line rang. And rang. Voice mail.

I frowned. He always picked up, because he knew how freaked out I would get if he didn’t.

Four years ago, Mom had deserted us. My first clue? She hadn’t answered when I’d called for a ride home from school. She’d never answered.

I left a message for my dad: “The animals are freaking out for some reason. We’ve got mass injuries, and I need your help. Please come home. Love you.” I texted: HELP! Animals injured. Where r u?

The menagerie was as big as an arena, housing hundreds of creatures. How to calm them all down? I spun in circles. I needed one-on-one time to work my magic. Not one-on-hundreds!

I could medicate some, hose others, but I’d never get to the majority in time.

More blood, more growls, more damage. I spun faster, yelling, “EVERYBODY CHILL THE HELL OUT!”

Quiet. I stilled, gazing around. Animals stared at me from all sides with wide eyes, motionless.

Damn, I was good.

Time to triage this crisis. I popped a crick in my neck on the way to the nearest line of pens. I did spot assessments, but found injuries everywhere.

Maybe the boss wouldn’t notice we were light a few dozen animals. As I combed through the enclosures along the north side, I swallowed with fear at the thought of explaining this to Mr. Deth. He wasn’t cruel or anything, just really intimidating.

Partly because he was rich as all get out (like, Richie Rich), even though he was only in his early twenties.

Partly because he was drop-dead gorgeous. I mean, absolutely to-die-for with his light blond hair, tanned face, and vivid amber eyes.

And partly because he was crazy. . . .

No fatal wounds on the north side! I hurried down the west one. We’d lost one of three bandicoots, and a roo had a broken tail—

I stopped dead in my tracks. The cougars had chewed their cage open! Those four were like freaking velociraptors! Only not as friendly.

So where were they?

I heard a snarl on the south wall of pens and ran like a bat out of hell. “Shit, shit!” I skidded to a halt in front of the wolf habitat.

The two adults had been shredded, their bodies lifeless in the sawdust. They’d died to protect their pups.

The cougars had cornered the three. The pups cowered, whimpering, blood all over them. Ah, God, the little runt was missing an eye.

One cougar had its paw raised for a killing blow.

I didn’t think; I ran into the middle of the clash. The cougar swiped my leg, snarling its fury.

“Oh, you dick! Get out!”

The four swished their tails. They clearly had no intention of giving up their prey. I swallowed with fear.

Then I remembered: I was Lark Inukai. I defanged killers. I found their weaknesses and exploited them ruthlessly.

I focused on the sole female, staring her down. To the males, it’d look like I’d singled her out for attack. I drew my lips back from my teeth, and growled at her.

The three males blinked, tails going still. They wouldn’t want to lose their only babe.

“OUT! NOW!”

They jolted, spinning in midair to beeline back to their cage. “That’s right, assholes!”

Exhaling a breath, I knelt beside the pups. Their own blood matted their fur. They needed a vet to patch them up. Call me, Dad!

“Come here, little guys.” I examined them as best as I could, assessing their wounds. I thought they would live, but muscles had been severed, their skin slashed open. One’s face was clawed up. The runt would be half-blind. “Guess I’ll call you Cyclops, huh?”

My own eyes watered, and I tumbled back on my ass. Two wolves dead on my watch, and three pups injured. The pack had been decimated. Not to mention all the other animals.

The pups licked my bleeding wound, their way of showing care. “I appreciate the gesture, little guys, but I’ll be okay. Come on, let’s get you out of here.” I wanted them away from their dead sire and dam.

I picked up the three and headed toward an empty pen. “Here we go.” I gently set them down, then locked them in, steeling myself when they whimpered in panic. “I’ve gotta check on everybody. I’ll be back soon.”

I hurried past the fourth wall of enclosures. We’d lost more animals, but every other injury could keep for now.

The wolves would get priority. I would clean their wounds and administer a sedative/painkiller. As I headed to the supply room, I pulled my phone out, trying Dad again.

He was going to be so disappointed by all this. He made a habit of underpromising and overdelivering with the boss.

Still no answer? Panic bubbled up. No, no, Dad was just out of a service area. Between towers.

Calm yo tits, Lark. He would never abandon me.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket. Tonight was going to be a long one.

Damn it, how had I ended up in this situation? I’d barely believed it when Dad had sold his practice and taken this job. Granted, his ginormous salary wasn’t exactly chicken feed, but I’d had a life: school, friends, my training business. I’d had to give up everything because of Mr. Deth.