Snippet #2719964

The office was pretty quiet as usual, with the only sound being the muffled footsteps of Cedric scurrying around the room next door, and the rumbling of the kettle.

Connor heaped several spoonfuls of instant coffee into a mug, and as soon as the water boiled, poured it in and downed the drink in one gulp. The sleep deprived manager slumped into a chair and stared at a screen for a few minutes.

Cedric came running in, some sort of box under one arm and several files in hand. He slapped them hastily in a tray, before making his way to the door-

“Stop. Put whatever that thing is down.” Cedric turned around and grinned awkwardly in response.

“It’s fine, it’s just something I found in the attic-“

“Yeah, I thought so-“

"And I was wondering what it does-“

“It’ll probably explode. The last magic object you found dissolved a hole in the floor, the one before that made a wormhole directly between here and the inside of the chimera enclosure, and the one before that froze the whole room solid. Dude, just put it back.”

“Pfft, it’s not dangerous, look.” He pulled the object out of the box. It was a black orb with golden skull ornaments emitting a dubious purple aura. Some kind of nightmarish chanting was emanating from it.

“See? Nothing dodgy about it at all.”

A small bird perched outside the window was singing. The eye sockets on one of the skulls lit up and a jet of otherworldly energy shot out, vaporising it instantly.

“O…K. I see your point.” Cedric said slowly, placing the orb very carefully in its box. He must have put it in the wrong way because something pressed down on it, and there was a clicking noise. The purple aura intensified and the whole zoo was flooded with ghostly wailing sounds for about 3 seconds. Everyone, including all the staff members, guests and even the monsters would hear this. He slammed the lid on and shoved it behind the monitor and in front of Connor, who looked as if someone had thrown their used gym shorts in his face. Several of the staff members had come running.

“Itsfineeverythingsfine.” Cedric lied very badly.