Guardians Inc.:Thundersword (Guardians Incorporated #2) by Julian Rosado-Machain Page B

resting his chin on his hand and his arm on the desk. “They are animal-like, but kind of human-like too. They can talk. Most of them, except, like, the snakes and dolphins, have hands and can walk upright. Some are magical, I mean extra magical, and can use Magic like, you know, you. So, they do Magic, and they don't need to eat, but they can eat if they want to. They are connected to their animals; they even call them their ‘anchors.’ Like there's three or four species of gorillas, but there's only one type of gorilla faun and the anchors are important, because if all their anchors die, the Fauns die too. And some of them don't like humans and some of them do, and we have some organizations and treaties with them, and we created National parks for them and…” He opened his eyes. Elise's face had turned from boring to bewildered, so he closed them again and began to slide toward the desk until his arms cradled his head. “So, like, Chief Husseha is a faun, and he likes us and...I like him too. He's cool, and he gave me a golden chain that I keep in my room and…” he braved, opening just one eye.
          Bewilderment was becoming anger.
          He shut the eye again and decided to give her something more educated. “They have this council, and some have had fights among each other, like wars, that we've stopped. And some of them helped us during World War II against the Warmaster, while others helped him, and…” he opened his eye just a tiny bit.
          Definitely anger.
          He straightened up and shook his head. “I did read the things you gave me, I swear,” he told her. “I'm just really tired.”
          “I'm tired too,” she said, and he immediately recognized the incoming sign of one of the lectures she was so fond of giving out, especially to Tony, and he braced himself. “But we are going to one of their most sacred sites and meeting with Faun elders, and you must know all about them by heart before then.”
          “Well, test me then,” he challenged. “Give me a quiz, and if I ace it we'll move on.”
          She crossed her arms. At least he had turned anger into consternation, maybe even amusement.
          “Go ahead,” he crossed his arms in turn, daring her to ask him questions about Fauns.
          “You're setting conditions?” she reclined back. “You're becoming just like Tony.”
          “I am just tired,” he scoffed, then reclined back in his chair, mimicking her. “I think I'm ready.”
          She glared at him, and he mocked her with the same glare and pursed lip.
          “You’re not taking this seriously.” She began to text on her wristpadd.
          “I’ve met Chief Husseha,” he said. The Chief had been the first faun he had officially met as a Cypher. The white-tailed deer faun was the leader of the Hassa Clan and had worked closely with Guardians Inc. for many years. The Chief had helped design and build Central Park and under it created Hussahassalin, the dwelling place of his people. Thomas counted Chief Husseha as a personal friend, since Thomas saved his sons by decoding the Oracle sign that had kept them in trance for many days. The golden chain the Chief had given him as a gift held a special place in his room; it symbolized the first time he had used his Cypher powers. He paused for a second, then added almost as an afterthought, “And I've also met Babcor down in Maintenance.”
          Babcor was a capybara faun who was in charge of maintaining the back gardens of the Mansion and also had a thing for cars. The first time Thomas had met him, the rodent faun was sitting in front of his car with a magazine, imagining just how the car looked under the soft tarp Grandpa always covered it with. Thankfully, Thomas had already grown used to seeing and expecting strange things as a member of Guardians Inc. or he would have laughed at the sight of the huge rodent, maybe