Page 2 of That’s My Orc, Tusk Off

Brovish’s eyes widened. “I have to go.” He spun away from me and bolted down the other hallway, calling out over his shoulder. “Traig will be here soon to orient you.” He entered a room near the end, slamming the door behind him.

The scurrying stopped.

I stood in the entryway, tote bag in hand, wondering if this was normal or if I’d arrived on a particularly exciting day.

But I wasn’t the type to stand around waiting.

The reception desk looked sturdy and had been built at a scale slightly too tall for me, but I’d dealt with worse. I set my bag down, pulled out the chair, and took stock. A relatively new desktop computer. A corded phone. And a small stack of forms weighted down with a rock. File cabinets stood behind the desk, and a bulletin board covered in photos hung on the wall to my right. I studied the creatures and people, mostly humans, holding or standing beside animals that came from the orc kingdom. Adoption photos.

This place was amazing, and I was so excited to get started. Real orc creatures, brought to the surface to heal from injuries and be adopted by humans. What could be more fun than that?

I opened the top drawer of the left file cabinet. The folders inside had been labeled, color-coded, and organized according to a system that wasn’t like anything I’d seen before.

I closed the drawer and opened the second. The third.

Intake-Medical-Crossref.

Behavioral-Subspecies-A.

Intake-Behavioral-Cross-Ref-Subspecies-D.

The last folder had a small notation in the corner: See Also: Intake-General-Misc-Temp-B (Drawer 4).

I crouched, squinting at a folder that seemed to reference three other folders in two other drawers, possibly another filing cabinet, and maybe a dimension I hadn’t traveled to yet. I was trying to decode the logic when someone spoke behind me.

“You’re early.”

I straightened fast. Turned. Looked up. And kept looking up.

An orc taller and broader than Brovish stood nearby, scowling at me like I’d rearranged his entire life without permission.

He had dark green skin. Hair tied back in a knot at the base of his skull. And eyes the color of ink, studying me. I had the urge to check if I had something on my face.

He held a tablet against his chest.

My brain registered two things. First, that he was undeniably hot in a way that made me want to apologize for noticing. Second, he’d already decided something about me, and I had no idea what it might be.

“I’m on time, actually,” I said, and smiled. “You must be Traig.”

“Yes, Traig. Operations.”

I extended my hand. “I’m Willa Enford, your new office manager and chaos wrangler.”

He blinked at my hand and took it.

The handshake didn’t last long before he released my hand and stepped back, his eyes flicking to the open file drawer behind me.

“I’ll be orienting you to your new job,” he said. He pinched his lips together, his tusks sliding over his upper lip. “How about a tour first?”

“Sure.”

The facility was bigger than it looked from the outside. He walked me through the hallways, gesturing to the medical bay, break room, supply room, and conference room.

“Creatures are housed in the outdoor enclosures unless they require medical attention or observation inside,” he said, pausing at a window that looked out over the grounds behind the building. Fencing, pastures, and scattered pens with creatures moving around inside. “The perimeter fence is ten feet tall and reinforced mesh.”

I nodded, taking it in.

He led me back to the entryway and gestured to my chair. “Please sit.”