The Scyllopod
an excerpt

A flutter of wings from within the dark shadows of the box impressed itself on her vision. Reba looked away quickly, closing here eyes. “Tony, I’m dreaming again! See, it happens, it really does! There’s something wrong with me!”
“No, no, Reba! Look, you’ve got to look! That is exactly why I’m showing you.” Tony reached into the box and lifted out something about the size of a city mailbox. Reba slowly opened her eyes. She gasped.
Crouched low over the grey, shaggy carpet stood a creature beautiful in its strangeness. Its wings were spread wide, catching the feeble glow of the lamp and reflecting a brilliant iridescence. Feathers crowned its head and wings, tapering off in a long, almost reptilian tail. The feathers gave way to a grayish-blue skin around the creature’s eyes and nose and underside. Its eyes looked as if they were made of Egyptian hieroglyphs, so intricate and mysterious were their lashes and shape. The most striking feature, however, was its single foot, spread like a third wing but webbed and without feathers. Tilting her head to one side, Reba could see the zig-zag formation if its one leg. Beneath the wings were two more limbs, like arms, each with a set of five fingers with razor-sharp, hooked talons.
Reba felt her breath coming in hurried rasps. “What is it?” she asked breathlessly. Time seemed to have stopped the minute she laid eyes on the creature and she looked up half surprised to see Tony still there. He was holding his right forefinger to his mouth and Reba noticed with alarm that his sleeve was stained red in a few spots. Tony cursed mildly under his breath. “It’s alright,” he said to Reba. “Serves me right for keeping it locked up in that box for so long.” He looked at the creature with an almost reverent pride.
“It’s a Scyllopod,” he said. “At least, that’s what they decided to call it back at the University. There was a lot of debate over the whole thing. What are you thinking, Reba?” Tony’s eyebrows arched questioningly.
“This is the most beautiful animal I’ve ever seen. You’re sure it’s an animal, Tony?”
“No, I’m not sure. As far as I know, nobody else is sure how to classify it either, and that’s partly why I was chosen to be its caretaker.” Reba could hear the pride in his voice and could hardly feel less excited herself.
“So it’s intelligent, like a human?” she asked, her voice tremulous with emotion.
Tony shrugged, staring at the creature. It was fanning its wings now, and seemed to be scratching a hard to reach spot behind the first bend of its leg with its narrow, dragon-like snout. “Sometimes I’m almost certain it is intelligent. It has such a knowing look in its eyes- you must be able to see it yourself. But then again, so do cats and dogs sometimes.” Reba felt her brother’s perplexity. “It certainly can’t be tame,” she said, looking at her brothers forefinger that was still bleeding slightly. At the same time, however, she couldn’t feel afraid of the creature either. It seemed to be minding its own business, keenly aware of them but choosing to remain distant. It didn’t rush to cower in the corner of the room as Reba would have expected most animals, including some pets, to do.
“No, it isn’t tame,” her brother agreed. “But we can’t call it wild either.” Reba felt an urge to reach out and stroke the creature’s brilliant blue feathers, but something unseen held her back. For some reason, she knew that doing so would be an insult to the creature’s dignity. As if in response to this thought, it caught her eye with a look that Reba might have called reproach. But then again, it was so strange that she couldn’t be sure what it might be thinking, if anything at all.
“Are you going to tell mom and dad?” Reba asked, hesitantly. Though never voiced expressly, Reba felt that relations between her brother and her parents was cool at best, these days.
“No Reba,” her brother said emphatically, looking at her with mild surprise. “Remember? I told you. The only reason they chose me to take care of this thing was because I live in such an out of the way area. The best place for something this remarkable is the University, but they’re afraid that the GSA is going to start getting on their case soon. If that happens, nothing will be safe. The GSA is a corrupt organization. They’re tearing apart this nation vertebrate by vertebrate. Mass migrations, talks of war, weapons disappearing from the military strongholds. There can’t be any other source, and only a few of us have the resources to realize that. If mom and dad knew about this, they might hold out for awhile but something would slip eventually. Mom might be angry that we’re letting such a controversial “problem” into our own house. Dad would probably be as excited as you or I or anyone, but he’s a public man and he wouldn’t understand the need for secrecy. I’m sorry to have to put this on you, Reba, but this has to stay between you and me… and the Scyllopod.” His eyes rested on the creature with the same reverent look that Reba had never seen in her brother’s eyes before. It made him look twice as handsome, she thought with pride.