He narrowed his gaze at the water. “I’m afraid you’re cursed, all right. I witnessed a ritual. Definitely a group I’m not familiar with. Is there any reason someone might be angry with you? I saw a jungle-like setting. The people looked Northern European, with light hair, skin, and eyes, but wearing brown wool clothing, and they seemed hot and sweaty, like their clothes were out of place.”
“Mallory… Did you go on safari recently?” Dante asked.
Horror replaced confusion in her brain. “I didn’t, but maybe my father did. He’s in South America, building a huge resort right on the banks of the Amazon River.”
“That’s where your parents are? That’s why you didn’t want them to know about any of this?” Dante asked.
“Yes. This deal is my father’s baby. He wants to offer Amazon adventures to people with lots of money who want to pretend they’re roughing it, and then when it’s all over, they’ll go back to his five-star hotel. Of course, there will be plenty of spouses who want nothing to do with hacking their way through a jungle, or whatever, and will gladly wait at the resort and spa.”
“He must’ve pissed off someone,” Kurt said.
“There could be activists in the rain forest that my father’s cutting down. As if the place hasn’t been ruined enough.” Mallory sighed.
“Can you break the curse?” Dante asked.
Kurt scratched his head. “I don’t know. If I knew what sort of curse they put on her, I could definitely undo it. As it is, I’m just flying blind.”
“Would it help if you knew the weird things that were happening to her?”
Mallory bolted upright. “That’s kind of personal.”
Kurt looked from Dante to Mallory and back. “It might help, but I don’t want to make the lady uncomfortable.”
Mallory felt silly for overreacting. It wasn’t as if she was bleeding green during her periods. “I’m sorry. Of course. I’ll tell you. It’s just going to sound crazy.”
Kurt laughed. “I married a vampire. Crazy is my middle name.”
Dante didn’t blink. Surely, he couldn’t believe in vampires…Oh crap.The back of her neck prickled. Were vampires real too? She suddenly felt light-headed.
One crisis at a time, Mallory.
She tried to take slow, easy breaths and calm the hell down. “Okay. Here goes. I see dead people. And I turn into a spider monkey sometimes. It started about two months ago, I think.”
Kurt didn’t seem at all shocked. He just nodded and said, “Turning into a spider monkey makes sense if a South American jungle is the origin of the curse. That’s their habitat. Dead people? That could be from anyone anywhere, but I get the sense that there’s only one curse, and it’s only from this group. The two symptoms must be related.”
“So what do monkeys and dead people have to do with one another?” Dante asked.
Kurt shrugged. “I wish I knew. At least I know more now than I did five minutes ago. I think I can try a general curse-breaking, and hopefully it will work—at least partially.”
“Hopefully?” Dante repeated.
“If I knew more, I could be sure. All I can guarantee is I’ll do my best.”
“Of course,” Mallory said. “I’m so grateful for your help. I hope you know that.”
Kurt laughed. “Your money is gratitude enough.”
Mallory hadn’t realized there was money involved. She felt like a doofus. Of course there was money involved! Who did this out of the goodness of their heart? Had Dante offered to pay him? How much did this kind of service cost? She leaned in closer to Dante and whispered, “How much does he charge?”
“Your firstborn,” Kurt said, deadpan. A moment later he laughed, hard.
Mallory must have been holding her breath, because it came out in a whoosh.
“Jesus, Kurt,” Dante said. “Way to freak out a young lady.”
“Sorry. I couldn’t resist teasing her. And don’t worry about the money, Mallory. Dante told me you lost your job.”
Maybe Dante had wrangled a discount. Or perhaps the wizarddidhave a big heart—along with a weird sense of humor.
