Unicorn Vet by Zoe Chant

Author:Zoe Chant [Chant, Zoe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-12T16:00:00+00:00

Everly started to give it a wide berth, but Angel grinned. "This is it. We want to make sure no one looking for the bathroom opens it by accident.”

With a flourish, he opened the door. “Ta-da!”

It was a spacious room with sorts of cages and enclosures, from lizard habitats to aviaries to aquariums. Angel deposited Nightcrawler into a small chicken coop, and watched her until she strutted off and began to peck at her food dish.

Most of the cages were empty. Seeing her glance at an uninhabited terrarium with lush tropical plants, Angel said, “We never know what might come through. We even have a barn for large magical animals, but nothing’s in it now.”

“How large is large?” Everly asked.

“The portal’s not that big,” said Waylon. “Nothing bigger than a horse could fit through it.”

“So no dragons.” Everly wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.

“Oh, we get dragons,” said Raelynn, her eyes gleaming. “Just not adult ones. Teenage dragons are about the size of a horse.”

“Amazing,” Everly breathed. “Every time I think I’ve gotten used to what you have here, it hits me again how amazing it is.”

“Me too,” said Angel. “Every day.”

Raelynn pointed to a terrarium. “Look at this! I call it the Toad Mahal. Like the Taj Mahal. But for toads.”

The ground and logs were brown with patches of green moss, and the toads were also mottled brown and green. They would have blended in and been hard to see, but each toad had a gleaming jewel embedded in its forehead, sparkling with ruby or emerald or diamond or sapphire light.

“Gem toads,” said Angel. “They’re not hurt or sick, just lost. The portal isn’t always open, so we’re keeping them for their own safety till it opens again and we can return them.”

A gem toad with a faceted aquamarine in its forehead gazed at Everly placidly with startlingly beautiful eyes of brown and gold. Then she realized it wasn’t looking at her, but at an earthworm that was between them. The toad bent forward, snapped it up, and used its long fingers to stuff the rest of it into its wide mouth, like a person without silverware eating a very long noodle.

Angel opened the next cage for her, so she could pet the long-haired guinea pig with delicate moth wings and antennae. It snuffled at her, and Angel produced a piece of carrot for her to feed to it.

“Also lost,” he explained. “It goes back when the toads go back.” Leading her to the next inhabited cage, he said, “This little merhorse was hurt, though. He needed sixteen very small stitches. We’re keeping him till he’s all healed up.”

Enchanted, Everly gazed at the aquarium/terrarium containing a merhorse the size of a hamster. His wet coat was blue-green, as were the shimmering scales of the fish tail that he had instead of hind legs. He was lying on the tiny beach, munching on a strand of seaweed, and flicked his tail nervously when she approached. She quickly moved on so she didn’t scare him into abandoning its meal.

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