She turned off the engine. The silence was terrifying. Then she stepped out of the car, walked up to the weeping serpent, and placed her palm on its foggy snout. “It’s okay to be lost,” she said. “But you don’t have to block the way.”
Miro hopped onto her shoulder. “You didn’t drive them back. You drove them home.”
“Good to know NOW!” Elena yanked the handbrake. The Civic spun 180 degrees, and the Caleidoscorpio, dizzy, curled into a confused, glittering ball. Miro scooped it up with a tiny net that unfolded from his collar. “One down. Fourteen to go.” Animales Fantasticos Drive
“Shut up!” she yelled, and turned on the radio. Static roared. The birds dissolved into a pile of loose cables and forgotten gossip.
She hit the gas.
Elena smiled. Her Civic had grown butterfly wings made of stained glass. She revved the engine one last time.
Then the big one appeared. A Llorona de las Nieblas —a fog-like serpent with a woman’s face and weeping eyes. Its tears froze into tiny black comets as it coiled across the road, blocking the exit portal. She turned off the engine
“I’m not a thief,” Elena said, gripping the wheel. “I’m a driver. And this is a drive-through, not a prison.”