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his thoughts and reassured him of the positive direction
     his life was really going.

3
    L ester Davis, Wildlife Keeper of Tortoises at the Bronx Zoo, could feel the nervous sweat from his armpits roll down his sides.
     The day he’d hoped would never come was upon him. The day he would have to give account to his superiors of Jeremy’s very
     strange behavior. Jeremy, the young Galapagos Island tortoise, who up until two and a half years ago, had been completely
     normal.
    Brian Kormoski, President of Wildlife at the zoo and Chairman of the American Zoological Alliance, massaged his trimmed goatee
     as he gazed through the thick glass of an isolated cage. In front of the glass was a sign that read:
    GALAPAGOS GIANT TORTOISE
Geochelone Elephantopus
    The Galapagos Tortoise is the largest living tortoise. It can weigh over 700 pounds and measure over 6 feet from head to tail.
     It is a very slow-moving animal, moving only 0.16 miles per hour. The giant tortoise leads a generally peaceful, lazy life.
    Spending most of his time at meetings and benefit dinners, Kormoski wore a suit and tie and trailered a rump more accustomed
     to an office chair than a walk around the park. His presence in the Reptile House was extremely rare. In fact, Zookeeper Davis
     could not remember ever seeing him in there. But when a growing conflict over what proper action should be taken on an “insane”
     Galapagos Island tortoise reached his ears, Kormoski had decided his next meeting would be with all parties involved, including
     the tortoise.
    Kormoski took off his thick wire-rimmed glasses, cleaned them with a white handkerchief, and slid them back into the worn
     grooves in front of his ears. “How odd,” he said to the two people he had called there to meet with him. “That son of a gun
     seems to be staring at me.”
    “That’s because he
is
staring at you, sir,” answered Susan Cocchiola, the zoo’s chief veterinarian. Cocchiola was the best in her field as far
     as the zoo was concerned. She stood with clipboard in hand, tall and trim with short, wavy red hair, reading glasses draped
     over her white overcoat. Her normally pleasant demeanor was masked by her now serious countenance. Where the well-being of
     her animals was concerned, she was known to be pure business.
    Kormoski moved a few steps aside and the tortoise’s glare followed him.
    “Why do you suppose he’s looking at me?” he asked. “It’s a little eerie.”
    “I don’t know,” Cocchiola replied dryly.
    Lester Davis said nothing but figured the demon in the tortoise knew Kormoski had the authority to have Jeremy shipped out
     of the zoo, where the animal’s demise might be more likely. Buck had warned Davis to guard the tortoise with his life because
     if it ever died, the vengeful demon would escape and surely repay anyone who’d had anything to do with its captivity. At the
     time, saving thenext three or four generations from the likes of Krogan seemed to Lester Davis the only right thing to do. And keeping a tortoise
     healthy in the Bronx Zoo would be an easy task—or so he’d thought. But as soon as Buck had returned Jeremy to the zoo, Davis
     knew there were going to be complications. The tortoise had changed—more than he had ever dreamed possible.
    “Okay, besides the fact Jeremy likes to stare at fat guys in suits, what exactly do you see as the problem here, Susan?” Kormoski
     demanded, his chin held high.
    Cocchiola sighed. “Problems, sir. For one, the tortoise no longer acts like a tortoise. It can’t even be kept with the other
     tortoises. That’s why we have it isolated.”
    “What does it do when it’s with the other tortoises?”
    “It attacks… quickly. And not just tortoises. Jeremy attacks anything it sees, including us.”
    “Hmm. And when you say quickly—”
    “I mean in every sense of the word, sir,” she interrupted. “Not only does it attack immediately, but it scurries to do it.
     I’ve never seen a giant