Midsummer Monsters by Theophilus Monroe

Author:Theophilus Monroe [Theophilus Monroe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theophilus Monroe
Published: 2024-06-21T00:00:00+00:00

9. I'm the Map

When we pulled up to the DDA headquarters, Sloane killed the engine of her Dodge Charger and turned to me. “Hey, grab a map out of the glove box.”

I tilted my head. “Don’t tell me you just got here from 1995. I’ve had enough of this trans-dimensional time-bending craziness to last a lifetime.”

“Grab my flip-phone while you’re at it.”

I tilted my head. “What?”

“I’m joking.” Sloane deadpanned. “Just grab a map. I have an idea.”

I popped open the glove compartment and was greeted by a small museum of folded-up maps. “You running a cartography business on the side?” I teased, rifling through the maps. All of them identical, so I grabbed the one on top. I handed it over, still puzzled why anyone would need so many paper maps this side of the millennium.

Once we got inside, Sloane spread the map out on the table in our makeshift command center. She smoothed out the creases with practiced efficiency. Meanwhile, Emilie and Merlin were at desks on the opposite side of the room, still taking calls on more monster sightings.

“Yes, ma’am, I understand a giant lizard in your backyard isn’t normal.” Emilie’s voice was strained. “But it’s sitting there, doing nothing at all. Nothing for us to investigate. Sounds more like an issue for animal control.”

“I understand that woolly mammoths are supposed to be extinct,” Merlin said to the person he was talking to. “If it’s not hurting anyone, it’s not our highest priority—. No, ma’am. Ma’am, I— No, Snuffleupagus won’t eat your dog. Probably.”

Merlin was handling the phone calls better than I expected. So long as he wasn’t blowing people off and was taking good notes, I saw no reason to interfere.

“Alright, what’s the plan?” I turned back to Sloane. She was already marking spots on the map with a thick red permanent marker.

“First, we chart every reported sighting.” She didn’t look up, her fingers tracing lines between dots. “Then we see if there’s any pattern.”

“So we can trace their movements backwards? Find out where they came from?” I leaned over the map to get a better look at her handiwork.

“Exactly,” Sloane said, finally meeting my eyes. “But don’t jump to conclusions too fast. If we force a pattern, we assume to be correct on these creatures’ movements—“ she paused, tapping the marker against her chin, “we might miss another pattern that makes more sense.”

“Got it.” I appreciated Sloane’s methodical approach. It was why we paid her the big bucks. “Let’s start with any sightings of the Questing Beast. We need to get Percival and Ned back in the fold.”

“Alright.” Sloane began by writing ‘QB’ in Forest Park. “That’s where we first saw it early this morning.”

“Looks right to me.”

Sloane scrolled through her phone, pulling up data she’d compiled from the city’s 911 call logs. She marked another location not too far from the first.

“Another sighting here. Reported to 911 about an hour later.”

“Didn’t go far,” I said. “That’s only a couple of blocks away from the park.”

“But it gives us a trajectory,” Sloane said.

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