'Welcome to Alternia: the most magical and spectacular place in the world'.
That's what was written on the sign. The message, painted in bright phosphorous colors, was responsible for attracting the attention of children of all ages, who ran excitedly to the entrance of the zoo dragging their parents and caregivers with them.
The only difference was that you were not a child
Your name is (y/n), you are (years) years old, and you have always dreamed about working with animals.
You had never been a little girl like the others; You never enjoyed pretending to be a singer or designing dresses for your little barbie dolls. No: you wanted to be a veterinarian.
It's something... hard to explain. You had always had a very special relationship with animals; from your first pet, a tiny cinnamon kitten you rescued from the streets on a rainy day (and which you would later decide to name Coco), to the last of your dogs, a long-haired Yorkshire named Mia, you've always felt a special connection with each and every one of them...
"So... I guess you're the new employee, right?"
Without warning, you were surprised by a deep male voice. You quickly turned around, only to meet the look of a boy your age. He had curly chocolate hair and tiny freckles all over his face, along with bright green eyes.
"Ehh… Y-Yes! I'm the new v-veterinarian. M-my name (y/n)" you clumsily stuttered as you nervously offered your hand to the guy in the zoo uniform.
He smiled and burst into laughter as he shook your hand tightly.
"Why are you so nervous? My name is Jeremy Wilson, I'm in charge of feeding the animals. Come here: I'll show you the place."
You followed quickly Jeremy through the entrance, until you came to a small building with a 'staff only' sign on the door. Then he stopped and pulled a key from his back pocket, with which he opened the door. Judging by the appearance, the place must have been a kind of entrance of a warehouse for the employees; the floor was made of old black wood and there were lockers covering almost completely the other 3 walls of the room, many with visible dust accumulating both inside and outside of them.
"As far as I know the zoo has never had so many employees to need to use all the lockers" he said as he opened one of the old unlocked ones and blew the accumulated dust inside "even so, they insist on leaving them all... it's not exactly a 'bad thing', and so we have an additional space in case someone needs to keep more things than usual". Jeremy picked up some carefully folded clothes from inside and handed them to you.
You looked at them curiously: there were a couple of light blue suits with the zoo white logo on the chest, and a pair of white cloth and plastic gloves.
"There are two pairs of clothes in case you need to change them and a single pair of gloves" he told you. "You have to put on your uniform before entering any work area inside the zoo and change to your normal clothes before you leave. There are some changing rooms there" he added, pointing to a corridor on the left.
You obediently nodded and headed to the right path, soon finding the girls' changing room (which did not seem to have been used for a long time) where you could change into the uniform. Luckily Jeremy seemed to have an eye for clothing sizes, because it fit you perfectly.
You folded your clothes carefully and walked back to where you had left the young employee.
"Oh, there you are" he gave you a kind smile. His gaze went down to your clothes and he indicated one of the gray lockers at the end of a corner.
"You can leave your things there, this one also has an open padlock inside. It's a special locker that is used in case one of the employees forgets to bring his own."
You smiled gratefully and carefully put your clothes folded in the locker, before closing it and following Jeremy to the next location. This one looked like a surveillance room with multiple cameras and electronic devices that recorded the different parts and areas of the zoo.
"From here we watch the animals" he pointed to a large keyboard on a small desk near some of the cameras, "we can turn on or off the surveillance cameras, close the cages and even send electric shocks if the situation requires it."
The shocks seemed an excessive measure of security in your opinion, but who were you to talk? After all, you had not even seen the zoo's animals (despite all the stories you had to hear from your new neighbors when they found out you were going to work here).
Suddenly one of the doors of the room opened, letting in what appeared to be another employee. He had straight, black hair, and he looked extremely tired and bored. In his hands he had a large cup of coffee.
"Hey Nick! How are you? How is Amelia? "Jeremy greeted the stranger effusively, who decided to ignore him and sit down on the chair in front of the cameras, while continuing to drink his coffee.
Jeremy's smile dropped, but as he realized you were watching he pretended that everything was fine.
"He's Nick," he said with a slightly forced smile, which made you frown "he's... silent. But he's really nice, right Nick? "
Nick gave a grunt in response, and you pretended to smile to not make the situation more uncomfortable.
Eventually Jeremy and you left the room and continued your tour of several zoo areas. When you two finally reached the end of the hall he stopped and his voice took on a slightly more serious tone.
"This" he said, pointing to the reinforced door, "is the door that leads to the section of the cages. It is very important that you pay attention to the instructions and do not separate from me at any time, do you understand?"
You nodded and he inserted a card through a grey slot. The door made some mechanical sounds before returning the card and unlocking itself with a thud.
Slowly you followed Jeremy into the new place. It was a huge hallway-shaped room; the roof was made of transparent glass, and to the sides there were several cages separated by high fences, each one with its respective door with a electronic padlock.
"Have you ever heard about trolls?"
You blinked, surprised by the boy's sudden question, before shaking your head. He scratched the back of his neck nervously.
"Yeah... not many people do it" he murmured. "They are one of our main attractions, I thought you probably heard about them... you know, because of the vet job and all that."
You shook your head again.
"I just moved recently, and I was recommended to work here for the good reputation of the place... but I really think I've never seen... trolls?" You explained, hesitating while saying the last word.
Jeremy laughed softly.
"It's okay, not many people have actually seen them: that's why they are such a popular attraction here... Although they are pretty good at hiding and are not usually very sociable (or friendly), but you end up getting used to them" he said calmly, "even I have been able to see some of them closely over the years".
Jeremy looked at his watch, checking the time.
"Well, it seems like it's lunchtime" he said with a kind smile on his face "Are you coming?"
You nodded slowly and gave one last look at the huge cages... you were starting to have a strange feeling... as if something was close... very close...
You shook the weird thoughts out of your head and headed down the hallway with Jeremy, a small smile breaking through your face.
Maybe this work was good after all.
...
The pair of young trolls watched silently, hidden in a small corner inside one of the cages.
"who ii2 2he?" the young yellow-blood male asked, his wings fell back suspiciously.
The female raised her head and slowly sniffed the air.
"SH3 DO NOT SM3LL 4S 4NYON3 1 KNOW"
His companion frowned as he watched as the young human left the area of the cages.
"ii do not tru2t her."