CHAPTER TWO

“¡Pronto, chibolos! There is no time to waste!” Professor Fauna led them down the hallway at a brisk pace. Elliot and Uchenna had to hurry to keep up, firing questions as they went.

“Where are we going?” Uchenna had a spring in her step.

Elliot followed her, decidedly less enthusiastic. Professor Fauna was the founder of the Unicorn Rescue Society, a secret organization devoted to keeping the world’s mythical creatures safe from danger. Elliot and Uchenna were two of the youngest, and newest, members. They regularly accompanied the professor on his creature-saving missions. Usually, they all almost died. Which was why Elliot was not enthusiastic.

Professor Fauna led the children down two sets of stairs, into the subbasement of the school, and continued striding down a dark hallway, toward a door that used to say JANITORIAL SUPPLIES, but now had a sign taped on it that read, MITO FAUNA, DVM, PHD, EDD, SOCIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT.

In the few months that they’d been members of the Unicorn Rescue Society, Elliot and Uchenna had already missed a great deal of school in order to travel to distant locations to save dragons and chupacabras and—

“JERSEY!” Elliot yelled. A blue blur bolted out of Professor Fauna’s office and slammed into Elliot’s chest. Jersey was a blue Jersey Devil with red wings. He was the first mythical creature that Elliot and Uchenna had ever rescued, and he had adopted them. “Come on, little guy, let the sweater live!” Elliot said as he tried to pull Jersey’s sharp talons off the cable-knit sweater his grandmother had knit for him. “Bubbe will kill me if this unravels. . . .”

While Elliot wrestled with Jersey in the hallway, Professor Fauna was in his office, gathering up armfuls of old papers from his desk. He even unpinned one from the wall, rolled it up, and shoved it under his armpit. Then, arms overflowing with documents and maps, Professor Fauna pulled the door to his office closed behind him with his shoe.

“Come, come!” he said, “¡El avión nos espera!” And, completely blinded by the papers, he made his way down the dark corridor. He walked directly into a large trash can. “¡Palabrota!” he muttered and changed course slightly.

“What is going on?” Uchenna asked Elliot, gesturing at Professor Fauna.

Elliot was still trying to get Jersey off his sweater. “What do you mean?” he said. “He’s taking us on another reckless mission, in violation of school regulations and probably many national and international child protection laws. . . .” Elliot managed to get Jersey to cling to his face instead of his sweater. “What else is new?”

“No. He’s acting even weirder than usual. Professor!” Uchenna called, hurrying after their wiry, wiry-haired mentor. “And what’s with all those papers?”

At the end of the hallway, two steps led to a door marked EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY. DO NOT OPEN. ALARM WILL SOUND. Professor Fauna pushed the door open with his hip. No alarm went off. They emerged into the faculty parking lot.

“Looks like it might rain,” said Uchenna, stopping and looking at the sky, which was heavy with low-hanging clouds.

“Twenty-five percent chance of a massive storm,” Elliot told her. “Up and down the East Coast. It’s been all over the weather reports.”

“Twenty-five percent chance,” said Uchenna. “That’s not too bad.”

Elliot stared up at the clouds. “Twenty-five percent is a lot! It’s the likelihood that a baseball player gets a hit, or that you flip heads in a row two times, or that you step in dog poop in any given year.”

Uchenna shot Elliot a look. “You made that last one up.”

“I did. But it feels right, doesn’t it?”

“¡Vámonos! Time is of the essence!” Professor Fauna called from the Phoenix. His rickety single-propeller plane was parked, as always, between Ms. Vole’s motorcycle and Principal Kowalski’s hatchback. The plane was held together by duct tape and, it seemed, good luck. Climbing into the small cabin always made Elliot feel slightly nauseous, whereas taking off and landing always made him feel violently nauseous—and scared for his life.

Uchenna pulled open one of the doors. Professor Fauna had flung his load of papers onto the Phoenix’s steel floor. Uchenna clambered over them and into her customary seat. Elliot, cursing the day he had joined the Unicorn Rescue Society, climbed in after her, Jersey now clinging to the back of his head. Professor Fauna swung himself in, slammed the door closed behind him, and started the engine. The propeller began to spin.

“Ahora, mis amigos, off we go to Miami!”

“Miami?” Uchenna asked. “Is there a magical creature there?”

“No doubt there are many,” Professor Fauna answered. “But Miami is just a stop where we will be picking up my dear friend Yoenis. Together, we all shall fly into the Caribbean, to the largest and nearest Caribbean island of them all: Cuba!”

Elliot put his head in his hands. “Dios mío,” he sighed.

Professor Fauna turned to him. “Nice use of español, amiguito.” He gunned the engine of the Phoenix and looked up into the heavy clouds. “Now, I recommend that you fasten your seat belts especially well today.”

Elliot groaned.