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ARIZONA
Why did the pig break up with her boyfriend?
Because he was a boar.
* * *
Rez sighed. “I see you have many more questions. Go ahead and ask them, Ari.”
I jumped right in. “But what does this mean for me? You’re not going to tell me I have to save the world? Or hide from bad guys? Or any other of the insane cliché romance tropes which I totally love to read, but don’t want to live, right?”
Rez’s brow raised, his expression amused and more than slightly confused. “The priestess did not tell me of a mission to save the world. Tsufnu was devastated that magic would dwindle to near extinction, and she wanted you to experience the joy she felt when using magic. She also hoped that through you and your children, magic might be reestablished on earth again—”
“Through my children?” My words came out in a squeak. “Slow your roll! I need some time to get used to the whole Fairy Grandmother dropping hot dudes off at my house for me to ‘experience magic,’ before I even consider the possibility of having kids!”
I didn’t have a problem with children, per se. But I also spent way too many hours at the museum surrounded by ill-behaved kids, and I didn’t have a particular interest in coming home to kids too, even if they were mine… and had Rez’s gentle eyes, or Zon’s inky dark hair. I shook my head, trying to clear the adorable image from my mind.
“Not to mention we need a house with a yard if we are going to have kids. There wouldn’t be hardly enough room for us in this cramped apartment, let alone if we added kids!” I put a hand over my chest, trying to calm the frantic pounding of my heart.
Rez’s gaze traveled the room, and he nodded in agreement. “With the others, we’ll definitely need more room.”
“Others? What do you mean ‘others?’” I asked, trepidation worming its way through me.
“Your other gifts from the priestess,” Rez stated matter-of-factly.
“Yeah. That’s you two, right?” I motioned between Zon and Rez.
Rez laughed. “No, of course not. We are not your only gifts. Your grandmother wanted to spoil you. There will be others. We just have to find them.”
“Find them?” I yelped.
Where was I supposed to find more ancient dudes? In another museum? What if I accidentally blew that one up too?
Did I look like an adventurous treasure hunter? Nope. I was a city girl, not the find-hidden-temples-in-the-jungle type of girl.
And I certainly didn’t go around looking for dead people I could raise to add to my—what would that be called? A harem? No, a harem was for a man with a bunch of women. What would the opposite of that be? Maybe a reverse harem? I almost snickered.
“Plus, who in their right mind goes around trying to wake up dead people?” I shivered at the mental image that gave me.
“You will be drawn to them, Ari. There is no need to worry. Now that your magic has been activated, in time, you will find them.”
I’d had enough talk about waking up dead dudes, even if they might be as sexy as Zon and Rez. Time to move on to another question that had been running through my mind.
“How exactly did my magic get activated in the first place? Did I say a combination of words? Or was it the part where I nearly died? I bet it had something to do with the drug in that vase, though. Didn’t it?” I swallowed hard. “I still feel like I have dirt coating the back of my throat.”
Rez leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Tell me what happened yesterday.”
“It was simple. I had just finished cleaning, and I saw something sparkly. I picked it up, and when I wiped my hand on the vase, it blew a cloud of dirt in my face. It went in my mouth, nose, and eyes. I couldn’t breathe and could barely see. While I was coughing and spluttering, I tripped. That’s when I fell into the crate filled with various random fossils.”
“That was all?” Rez prompted.
“Well, not exactly. When I fell into the bones, one must have cut my arm because I was bleeding. There was a beautiful light. I thought I was dying!” I laughed, trying to play off how scary the whole situation had been.
“Your blood mixed with the dust?” Rez confirmed.
“Yeah, I guess it would have. The dust was everywhere.”
Rez thought for a moment. “Hmm. That might be the answer. I know that your blood was the ingredient needed to activate the spell’s magic. The vase was prepared by your grandmother, and the dust held the ashes from that spell. Tsufnu made sure the vase would find you at the right time in your life and help your magic to activate… and Zonkut and me to awaken.”
