Matt walked beside Fallyn, concerned. As badass as his tactical genie wizard friend was, she was utterly unresponsive. In a hyper-focused trance, she crossed the Central Park green. Then she slowed in front of an old willow.

Its roots clawed along the ground, sheltered by drooping branches. She approached the trunk, cocked her head, and then removed a glowing purple book. It materialized from a laser line of light as she drew her hand back from the bark.

“I don’t know how I knew,” she whispered. Then she said more loudly, “Warning.” The blinding light flashed.

“Agh!” Matt squinted hard and shielded his eyes. She did technically warn him, but that wasn’t much better. “Shall we?” Matt said, blinking.

With a nod, Fallyn fell into stride beside him. Kurtis and Val were waiting in the middle of the field. Val seemed to be talking to her pigeon, but too quietly to hear. The thing bobbed its head and pecked at the ground. Kurtis stayed out of its way.

“Another book,” Matt said, thumbing at Fallyn as they approached.

“Yeah, we saw the…” Kurtis made a whooshing sound and gestured an explosion with his mitts.

Fallyn smiled.

“Come on Mr. Bird!” Val said, marching ahead. Then she glanced over her shoulder and added, “You guys too!”

The giant pigeon seemed to trip over its feet before getting going. Val led them to the end of the field, exiting to the paved path beside a tree with an oddly thick tan trunk. It was like a giant pudgy broccoli—if someone got the proportions wrong and hardened the stalk. Fallyn approached the broccoli tree and withdrew another book.

Matt didn’t wait for her warning to turn away; he closed and shielded his eyes.

“I’m done,” she said. “Oh, come on. It’s not that bad.”

Matt turned back slowly and opened one eye.

She gave him a dark look.

“Over there.” Val pointed ahead and to the right.

Their shoes crunched softly, grinding bits of loose gravel against the asphalt. Matt still had no clue where they were going—there was just the path, lots of grass and trees—but he followed Val. She was the one with a map marker. They had to be getting close. She was almost skipping in her blue flight suit and tiara; the oversized pigeon wobbled at her feet.

Perhaps ten minutes later, Matt finally spotted a red roofline peeking through the trees. And, sure enough, they were heading towards it. The pavement branched right, and Val confidently led them down it. They passed a huge illustrated giraffe cutout, staked into the ground beside a tree. Then the entrance came into full view, topped by that same red roof. A sign with green letters and two pandas adorned it, reading ‘SAN DIEGO ZOO.’

The group walked up to the ticket booth and paused. A zoo did kind of make sense. Matt peered through the plexiglass. The booth was empty. So, he pushed his way through the turnstile; it clicked twice, then once more. He was surprised Val hadn’t just run in ahead.

He looked back and found out why: the bird was backing away. Was it scared of the noise or something else? Val had arms outstretched, trying to encourage it.

“Come on Mr. Bird,” she said gently. “You know you wanna come here. Who’s a pretty birdie?”

Val pounced on the pigeon and scooped it up. Then she ran toward the turnstile, feathers flying. The pigeon hissed and jutted out legs and wings. She emerged on the other side and then dropped the bird to the ground. It made that almost-gobble sound, lifted its left wing, and started preening.

“There,” she said.

Stupid, fucking bird, Matt thought, but didn’t dare comment.

He joined Fallyn in front of a tall map placard, which stood in the middle of the paved area. Ahead, a winding path branched in three. Beside the sign stood a cutout of a cartoon deer, similar to the giraffe from outside.

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From the map, Matt gathered that the zoo was a big rectangle, split into three pie slice areas beyond the entrance area they were in. The area to the left was labeled with an icon showing grass, straight ahead was represented by an icon for waves, and the righthand area’s icon contained trees—maybe a forest.

“I’m guessing straight?” Matt said to Fallyn.

She nodded, and then they turned to look at Val.

Her pigeon was walking repeatedly into the booth wall.

“No!” Val cried trying to pick it up.

“I think she got a defective one,” Kurtis said quietly, approaching Fallyn and Matt.

“Bad birdie,” Val said, halfheartedly. “This way.” She managed to pick up the bird and carried it towards her friends. “I’ll get a better one.” She frowned.

“The water stuff is straight ahead,” Matt offered. “If Willy’s still a whale.”

“I dunno.” Val shrugged. “Worth a try.” She set the bird down and started walking.

A few minutes later, the water theme had taken over. The pavement was painted blue and cement walls rose at their sides, decorated with happy otters, fish, and seagulls. Matt paused at a yellow door on their right. It had an ordinary round silver doorknob and was labeled ‘Welcome’ in black vinyl letters that arced around a silhouette of a killer whale.

Val scooped up Mr. Bird and went for the handle, pigeon struggling. Its legs and wings punched out as she pressed it between her arm and body. She pulled the door open with her free hand and marched through, dumping the mess of feathers on the other side.

“Willy!” Val cried, dashing ahead.

Matt followed her into the building. It was like a hockey rink, except the ice area was filled with water. Empty stands ringed the warehouse. A killer whale floated inside the huge open-topped glass tank.

“Now what?” Kurtis moved up to stand beside Matt.

Matt shook his head and continued to watch Val.

“Can you talk?” Val pressed her hands against the glass.

The black and white creature moved to the surface and sprayed a mist from its blowhole.

“I guess that’s no,” she muttered. “What do we do, Mr. Bird? Mr. Bird?”

The pigeon had wandered over to the cement step up to the stands and was busy walking into the vertical surface.

“What about that?” Fallyn said, pointing to a gray door about 20 feet away. It was labeled ‘Control Room’ in black vinyl lettering.

Val looked at her pigeon and sighed. “Okay, little guy, keep playing with the step. I’ll be back soon.”

The group followed Val into the Control Room. It wasn’t much bigger than a closet and contained an intimidating machine. It gave off a low hum that filled their ears as soon as they opened the door. When they had all scooted inside, it closed with a quiet click.

Fallyn walked up to the machine, inspecting the panel full of illuminated buttons.

Maybe she can figure it out?

Fallyn reached up and, instead of pressing any buttons, withdrew a glowing purple book. “Warning,” Fallyn said, half a second before the blinding flash.

“Agh,” Matt hissed. “How many more of those do you have?”

“Sorry.”

Kurtis swished his tail.

Val lowered her hand from her eyes. She’d been inspecting a large red lever. It was set in an upward position, and it had a red waxy tag hanging off it. “Hm,” she said, letting go of the label. “Says ‘emergency release.’” She pulled down the lever.

The building shook.

Matt was in the office again, mugs and cleaning supplies tumbling, Brenda on the floor…

Then a screeching scrape sounded from outside of the room.

What did she do?

Matt was glad the noise was muffled. It continued for half a minute and then ended with a thud. What were they going to find outside of the room?

“I think it’s done,” Kurtis said quietly, ears flared.

They waited for Val to proceed. She just stared at them.

Matt stared back. Eventually, he broke and said, “Uh, you want to go see what you did?”

“You can go first.” She shrugged.

“You pulled the lever,” Matt insisted.

“Where’s the chivalry, Mr. Knight?” Val demanded.

“You pulled the lever, m’lady?”

“Fine,” Val huffed and reached for the knob.

On the other side of the door, sunlight was streaming. The warehouse roof had opened to blue sky. The clouds had cleared. The sun was blazing.

Water was lapping high against the glass, sloshing over its sides. It slopped down on the cement near the pigeon. The killer whale was doing something—turning the tank into a wave pool. It misted a spray as it surfaced, and then it lowered itself to the bottom, fluidly moving its massive body and fins. The waves continued to get larger.

“Did I make him happy or mad?” Val asked in a panicked tone.

The pigeon darted away from a splash and then ran into the yellow door.

Then the slick black beast rose from the water in one giant heft. Waves rebounded against the interior of the glass. Water beaded off of the whale, as it hovered impossibly. Its giant eye blinked. The black and white beast seemed to move in slow motion, drifting higher and higher, as water dribbled down. It rose out of the ceiling. Then it backed up with a beep like a reversing truck and then shot forward with the speed of a jet. It was gone.

What the fuck was that?

“Guess I made him happy?” Val said.

Kurtis spread his hands and Fallyn continued to watch the sky. Val’s pigeon was still walking into the door.

“Quest complete!” Val announced.

Matt and Fallyn shared a look over the bird.

Val strode forward and scooped up the struggling ball of feathers. She opened the door and led the way out. Matt followed, holding the door for Fallyn and Kurtis.

Instead of turning left towards the entrance, Val was already headed off right. The bird waddled behind her.

“Isn’t it this way?” Matt asked with a side-nod.

“I just wanna…” Val trailed off as she reached the next yellow door, this time along the left wall and about fifteen feet ahead. She grinned wide, pulling on the silver knob.

With the door opened towards him, Matt could read the black vinyl lettering. It said ‘Welcome’ in a curve above the silhouette of a beaver.