“Mate…?” Chloe murmured in confusion, only half taking in the rest of Kira’s words. She wasn’t quite sure what Kirahad meant by that. Maybe she was originally from Australia or something? Though she didn’t sound like it.
“Oh!” Kira said suddenly, her mouth opening in the universal expression forwhoops, I just messed up big time.
Her eyes were fixed over Chloe’s shoulder in Ethan’s direction, and Chloe spun around just in time to see Ethan shaking his head wildly.
Chloe’s eyes narrowed, even as Kira started babbling something behind her about ‘mate’ just being what she called her boyfriend, and it didn’t have any special meaning.
Ethan’s eyes were wide, his cheeks turning ever so slightly pink.
You’ve got some explaining to do, mister,Chloe tried to psychically message him, glaring as hard as she could.Don’t think you’re going to wiggle out of this one by batting those outrageously long eyelashes at me.
Understood,Ethan seemed to say back, though he mostly looked like he wanted to just leave the room and never come back.
It was kind of cute, to be honest, seeing him so flustered. He was always so put-together and, well, kind ofsnootythat it was fun to witness him get shaken up.
She wasn’t even particularly annoyed – he’d already told her a lot of astonishingly unbelievable things, so it wasn’t like he’d been super secretive or anything. But then again, what was it about the word ‘mate’ that was so special that he couldn’t even tell her?
In any case, she was going to have to have words later with both Ethan and Kira about what terrible actors they were. They’d certainly succeeded in raising her suspicions, that was for sure!
“So, about this gorge,” Chloe said, deciding to be merciful and bring the conversation back to the main topic. “Whereshould we fly up to? Remembering that geography was my worst subject at school.”
“This is the safest spot,” Kira said, indicating an area a little further north on the map. “There’s a small clearing where you can land.”
Ethan nodded. “My pegasus has a good sense for these things. Now that it’s seen the map, it’ll know exactly where to go.”
Chloe shivered a little at the thought of riding the magnificent pegasus.
It suddenly hit her – they were talking aboutflyingout there. She hadn’t quite taken it in before.
They were going toflyinto the mountains?
Chloe looked dubiously at Kira. She’d said she’d been flown out there – by a dragon, no less – and she still seemed to have all of her limbs. Maybe the dragon had used its claws to carry her in a little basket or something.
“Well, consider this as us officially giving you notice that we’re heading up to the gorge,” Ethan said, folding up the map and slipping it into his pocket. “We’ll be back by dark – I have no desire to stay up on a cold mountain with no camping gear.”
Chloe was glad to hear that, at least. She wasn’t averse to the idea of going camping – and certainly not to the idea of going camping with Ethan – but they were woefully underprepared, even with the backpack full of supplies that Kira had said she would provide them. And she had to open her clinic up soon!
But maybe some other time, if Ethan is amenable…
Kira nodded. “I’ll be working here until six, so make sure you drop by on your way out to let me know. Or at least give me a call – the number’s on the map. If I haven’t heard from you by then, I’ll call my friend Kieran and he’ll come looking, since Caleb is off hunting down rare movies again. Kieran’s a griffin, by the way.”
“Ah, the B&B-owning griffin,” Chloe said. She thought she was getting pretty good at taking these things in her stride.
Kira laughed. “There are enough shifters in this town that they could definitely find you if you got lost, but it might draw some attention from the other locals if they all went looking at once! We’re getting quite the collection going.”
Counting off on her fingers, she continued, “Let’s see. We’ve got a dragon, a unicorn, a hellhound, a griffin, a chimera…”
“A chimera?” Ethan exclaimed, looking the closest to being ruffled that Chloe had seen yet.
“Oh, don’t worry, he’s a sweetheart,” Kira said offhandedly. “And now, we have a pegasus.” She gave Ethan a look that Chloe would have normally described assly, but she wasn’t sure that Kira was the type – she seemed too straightforward for that. “For now, anyway. Unless you’re planning on staying longer…?”
Okay,nowEthan was the most ruffled Chloe had ever seen him. He looked downright uncomfortable.
“Let’s just find this necklace, rather than making plans,” he said gruffly, straightening up from where he was leaning over the table.
Interesting. Is he not as married to his job as he likes to appear?Chloe thought, trying to quell the sudden flutter in her stomach.Probably not, though. Probably he’s just trying to be polite about not reminding me that he’ll be leaving the moment he’s solved his ghost problem.
Ethan nodded curtly to Kira. “Thank you for your assistance – it’s been very much appreciated.”
