A Poodle in the Pond

Tuesday- 12:15 PM

The office was just three stalls missing the partitions. A draft blew through and Cassandra shivered as the middle aged woman pulled out a pen and paper from underneath a stack of empty take out containers. The entire office space made Cassandra want to run back to the clean sleek town car that was strictly for her use. Cassandra really had no business talking to a person like Peggy O Malley, she was just the hired help. The wealthy liked to keep a mage around. If you said you had a mage at your disposal it was like flashing the ultimate class card. Only the wealthiest had access to mages. 

The mage standing in front of her was mostly useless but Cassandra was desperate. She had wanted Mr. Fluffy from the moment she saw him. He'd cost her parents a small fortune. Enough money that the breeder said she was going to disappear into the mountains of West Virginia. Like who wants to live in West Virginia?

"Hello, Cassandra? Can you tell me exactly what happened?" Peggy snapped her fingers in Cassandra's face. Cassandra leaned back as Peggy leaned towards her. The woman had no sense of personal space.

"Hello Peggy, this is Lydia, how may I be of assistance?" A metallic voice droned from one of several speakers.

"Not now Lydia. I'm fine. Just entertaining." Peggy growled at the speaker.

"As you wish, remember I'm just a snap away." The metallic voice said with what sounded like a hint of laughter.

Peggy looked at Cassandra and Cassandra looked at Peggy.

"Right, well I got home last night from the club."

"You are old enough to club? How old are you?" Peggy said as she jotted something down on a piece of paper. This woman was a dinosaur. Cassandra rolled her eyes and picked a piece of lint off of her pants.

"I'm 18 and yes, I am old enough to go clubbing. Totally not relevant to finding my dog but whatever." Cassandra tapped on her wrist and the holo display appeared above her wrist.

"Photos of Mr.Fluffy." The display flipped and a 3D image of a multi colored dog appeared. It was large for a Poodle and looked almost like a statue. The dog laid down and the image faded.

"Right, so how long did you have Mr. Fluffy? Why is he named Mr.Fluffy?" Peggy looked at Cassandra's wrist and then back at her paper. Peggy humphed and wrote something down. Peggy continued "That dog doesn't look to be of Terran origins, is he from the world above?" Peggy shuddered as she thought of those from the clouds. They were mysterious winged creatures. Definitely not beings Peggy wanted to deal with. 

"He is part Anakos and part Terran. The breeder said the sire of Mr. Fluffy just appeared one day. Look, I don't know why this has to do anything about why my dog is missing. Oh, and Mr. Fluffy said he wanted to be called that." Cassandra answered and glared at Peggy. Peggy took a step back and snapped her mouth shut. Cassandra tilted her head and looked at the gray flecked brown hair and the woman's stained clothes. 

"He spoke to you? Do you have animal mage relatives? This could get really ugly." Peggy said as she wrote something else in her notes.

"Why are you writing things down? Can't you have your A.I. Assistant gather all of the information for you? Cassandra asked as another gust of cold air blew through the barn.

"Have you had gusts of air chasing you all day today?" Peggy asked as she took another step back.

"Yes, but it's just because of the fall." Cassandra said. Peggy shook her head and motioned for Cassandra to follow her outside.

"Look, I have all of the information I need. Go home, I will get the dog back to you by this evening." Peggy shoved Cassandra into the town car and closed the door before Cassandra could ask anymore questions. 

"Home" Cassandra said as she looked at the window. She gasped as she thought she saw her dog running beside the car but she blinked and he was gone.