This is a short story I wrote earlier in the year, and I figured I would post it to see what people thought. I hope you enjoy the first part.
Anna Hunter - The Galway Gobbler Mystery
Part 1 - The Briefing
It was close to midnight when Anna finally arrived at the Zoology building on campus. The building itself was beyond ugly – not at all like some of the ornate buildings that existed throughout the rest of Aberdeen University. This one had an ominous, functional feel to it. The walls were grey, sapping colour from the surroundings. Anna pushed a bell on the front door and waited. She could see her breath in front of her, a sure sign that it was cold. A buzzer rang, and she pushed the door open.
Once inside she was greeted by what looked like a miniature museum. Various skeletons stared at her as she passed them. She stared up at something labelled as an Indian elephant. Huge eye sockets glowered back. Proceeding up a spiralling staircase, she arrived at Professor Byrne’s office. In many ways his office looked much more like a library, with various tomes littering the walls. Among the books were plaques with certificates of various types, along with lots of other weird, intriguing objects, none of which Anna knew anything about.
He was sat at his desk, scribbling some notes on an elaborate looking parchment. A small, almost finished, glass of red wine was just to the side of the paper, along with a small, green, circular coffee cup.
‘Anna, great to see you,’ said the Professor, leaning back in his chair and smiling. Picking up the wine glass, he swirled the remnants around, before sipping it, all the time watching Anna.
‘You too Professor,’ said Anna, plonking herself down in one of the rounded leather armchairs on the opposite side of the desk. She pushed both of her hands down in to the worn armrest, and glanced at the Professor. The black beard adorning his face was even more overgrown than usual. Clearly he had little time at the moment to deal with it, although Anna suspected it was always a low priority for him.
‘Henry should be here soon. Are you ready for the briefing?’
That was a good question. Was she? Ever since arriving at university her world had been thrown upside down. First she had been attacked by something she hadn’t even known existed. Then she had been exposed to this world, hidden below the surface that she, nor the vast majority of the world, knew about. The Professor had told her about the many things, what some people might call monsters that roam the world unseen. Of course, on the whole the term monster was misleading. Most of the creatures were harmless, in fact, in the vast majority of cases they were friendly. There were always exceptions to the rules, of course.
The Professor was part of a society that monitored and investigated them. Anna supposed she was part of it now too. For centuries these mystical creatures had been known to it. When the ancient universities around Britain were set up, a small group was posted to each one, to ensure the safety of the surrounding population, but also to investigate these beings. Professor Byrne had recognised within Anna a special ability to tame these very creatures. This had come to the fore the most when she had an encounter with one - a hound. Her singing voice had calmed it, to the point where it became friendly. It was for this reason the Professor had asked her to join the society.
Standing up, he started to wander the room, scratching at his beard as he circulated. ‘As you know Anna, the main function of the society today, other than the monitoring work we do, is to investigate reports of new creatures around the world. Each outpost is routinely doled out one of these missions. When I reported up the chain that we had brought you on board, there was much interest in your talents, oh yes. It has been a while since anyone has seen a tamer, and so all of a sudden we have been bumped up from the bottom of the list, to the top. What this means is we’re going from checking for Redcaps around Scotland to international investigations. We’ve always been a small team here, myself, Doctor McDonald and Henry, but now we’re going to be called on much more frequently.’
‘Professor…’ interrupted Anna, twisting her curly red hair around one of her fingers.
‘Yes?’
‘I was just wondering,’ she said, fidgeting with her hands, ‘would it not be better to wait for the others? They might wonder why you are briefing only me.’
‘The briefing is yet to come,’ said Professor Byrne, sitting down again in his chair. ‘This is merely the pre-briefing. Doctor McDonald and Henry are well aware of what is ahead of us. I just wanted to give you a bit of a heads up.’
Before Anna could say anything, someone knocked on, and opened, the door to the office. It was Doctor McDonald and Henry.
‘Ah, just on time,’ exclaimed Professor Byrne, jumping up out of his chair.
‘Hello Roger,’ said Doctor McDonald, as he purposefully strode in to the room, before seating himself in the second leather chair. Anna never heard anyone call Professor Byrne by his first name except Doctor McDonald. Just like Professor Byrne, he continued to live up to the cliché of a university academic, with his immaculate tweed jacket, checkered shirt and brown tie. Just behind him was Henry Pence, a third year student at the university. He was studying physical education, and it showed in his frame. Broad shoulders tapered down to slightly slimmer hips. Henry wasn’t built like a bodybuilder, but Professor Byrne had assured Anna that he was exceptionally strong and athletic. In fact, his unusual prowess in this area was what had brought him to the society, that and the fact both of his parents were members.
‘Great to see you again Anna,’ said Henry, perching himself on a table to the side, grinning at her.
‘Likewise Henry,’ she said. It was hard not to like Henry. He was full of energy, and had an infectious personality. Anna had always thought she was easy going, until she had met him.
‘Alright,’ said Professor Byrne, reaching under his desk. ‘I just need to…somewhere…’ He strained as he reached for something. Anna heard a click. Behind the Professors desk, two bookcases whizzed open, revealing a huge screen behind. At an agonisingly slow pace, the screen moved forward out of the bookcase. After what seemed like an eternity, it stopped, switching itself on to display a map of the world.