She turns around and points to my face. “You have the mark.”
I gasp and pull back slightly as my eyes go wide.Have I been walking around with a smudge on my face all day?“What mark?”
“This one,” she says, gently touching my right cheek below my eye. The spot where I have a starburst looking mole. It was the mole that my mother always started with when she sang me to sleep as a kid.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, shaking my head, “but that’s just a mole.”
“To the naked eye, yes.” She points to the corner of hers. “But to me, it’s more—it glows. It’s one of my powers.” She gives me a wink. “Come on, let me give you a small tour before I let you loose.”
Okay then.
As we walk around, Taffy explains what they do here. Apparently the place is run by volunteers mostly. She’s the only veterinarian they have here at Purgatory Prep. There isn’t much of a need for them, so to keep up her skills, she asked the council to make a sanctuary to help the wildlife. Evidently it’s a big hit since there are plenty of animals recovering at the center. Some I recognize, like a baby Tasmanian devil, a hedgehog, a fennec fox, and a unicorn, which I might have squealed over.
My lips are sealed.
In the water tanks there are a couple of puggles, a baby kraken, and something that looked like a baby hippo but with scales and wings.
We finish the tour as she brings me to the inner clinic where she has three orphaned babies. It’s a restricted area, so she swipes us in and we walk into a sterile room that looks like a bigger version of a vet’s office.
These must be the babies Dr. Steinbeck mentioned.
“These little guys came in the other night. Someone found them barely moving. The most obvious ailment was dehydration, so I put them on IV fluids and did my initial check. It’s about time to take them off, wanna help?” Taffy asks but doesn’t wait for an answer as she washes her hands and dons some gloves.
Three babies of different species all found together? I wonder what happened to their parents.
I thought she would never ask. “Sure,” I reply and quickly follow suit as I get prepped to deal with the little ones.
I join Taffy, pausing as I take in the three little creatures I’ve never seen before.
“What are they?” I ask as I help prep the saline to flush out the IV and unwrap their limbs.
“Oh, this one is a baby Wolf Hawk, and he looks to be about three months old,” she informs me, and I take a closer look at the sleeping bird? Wolf? His coloring and wings are like a Red-tail hawk, but his tail and legs are furry just like a wolf. He has markings along his face that make him look like a hawk, and I immediately fall in love with the little guy.
Swoon.
I watch as he stirs and see how his one hind leg doesn’t curl as far as the other and I just get a hunch. “Have you seen him walk, or is he too small to do that yet?” I wonder as I watch him.
“No, I haven’t seen him move much yet, though he is old enough to walk,” she says, removing his IV and throwing away the tubing. I reach for his leg and gently slide my fingers along it from his hips to his paw and stop when he flinches in his sleep.
“I—” Letting go of his leg gently, I shake my head and look up, finding Taffy smiling at me encouragingly.
“No, go ahead. I told you before that your mother was right. You have an affinity. Did you often know what was wrong with the animals that you cared for?”
“Yeah, but I thought that was just a fluke, making good guesses from practicing, or my mother just agreeing with me to save my pride,” I admit, wondering what was real because so much of my life was a lie it turns out.
“Tell me. I have no reason to lie to you,” she coaxes me and I realize she’s right.
“I think he has a break or a sprain,” I say, pointing to the offending leg.
“Okay, let’s look.” She grabs out a small hand held device and goes over how to use it as she takes a 3D picture of his leg. Sure enough, there is a small fracture of his femur. “Good catch,” she beams at me. “Do you mind removing the IVs and checking the others while I get a cast ready for this little guy? I would really appreciate it.”
Feeling lighter by helping the little Wolf Hawk, I gladly move to the next creature. Noticing for the first time, there are labels on the panel advising about the animals. Each one states what was done for treatment, or what they suspected was their reason for being here and their species, with sex and age listed.
How did I miss those?
The next one is labeled: Moon Dust Wolf. Female. Est. Age: 5 months old. Ailment: Dehydration. Treatment: Fluids & Rest.
This wolf reminds me of a zebra but with blues and blacks. Moving her head off her paw, I notice black swirls along her snout and tiny horns coming out of her head like a ram. She also has white and light pink markings around her eyes that make me wonder if they glow in the dark. She’s about the size of a full grown Maine Coon cat, and her tail is twice as long as her body.Aww.I don’t pick up any hunches or whatever it is from her, so I quickly remove her tubing and clean her leg.
