Page 25 of Here Be Dragons

Desmon nodded in recognition. “Yes, Valeria Elm the Educated Nymph. Quite an oxymoron. It was a shame how the magical colleges treated her.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Valeria went to school right here in Darlington. The university was willing to take her money as a student but laughed in her face when she tried to get a job there. All the magical universities did, simply because of what she was. She had to masquerade as a human and get a job at a university where no one knew what she was.”

“That’s horrible! I never knew.”

“I am sorry to say that humans are not the only ones who can be prejudiced. This was decades ago, though, and I like to think that things have changed for the better.”

“I hope so. She was the one who sent me the job posting for the Darlington Museum.” I looked down at the fragment of pottery in my hands. “She was also the first person to really take my visions seriously. I almost didn’t tell her about them. But I think she had a suspicion anyway.”

“I’m curious. Have you felt anything from any of the items in my home?”

“If you’re asking if I could feel all your previous sexual escapades when we passed by your bed on the way to that amazing bathroom, no.” And a good thing, too; I wasn’t sure I wanted to feel Desmon getting it on with some other woman. I didn’t understand this jealous feeling I was getting.

I’d meant it as a joke, but Desmon took it very seriously. “You wouldn’t, because it has never experienced any. You are the first female to have been anywhere near it.”

And there was that giddy, fluttery feeling again! How was I supposed to keep my heart safe when Desmon kept saying shit like that? Did I even dare believe him? Desmon didn’t come off as the lying type, but everything just felt way too good to be true. And now I was thinking about what things we could do on his bed.

To distract myself from the line of thought, which could so easily lead to me being bent over my boss’s home office desk, I ran through all the other things of his I’d touched.

“I saw a forest when I touched the filing cabinet in your office. And now that I think of it, I got an aerial view of the city when I touched your pants, the pair I got coffee on.” I frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense, but that’s how it is a lot of times. It’s not always even an image—sometimes, it’s a sound or just a feeling. In fact, I used to call them feelings myself until Dr. Elm started calling them visions. Half the time, I’m not even sure if I’m getting the vibe from the item or if it’s just some random thought that popped into my head at the right time. Like, why the heck would your pants give me an aerial view of the city? Honestly, I just try to block them out most of the time now.”

It had been fun telling Dr. Elm all the things the items told me and finally having someone believe me and take me seriously. But none of the information had actually ended up being of any value from an academic standpoint, so what was the point, really?

“My pants have been spelled to stay with me when I shift. They have flown over Darlington with me in my dragon form many times. “

“In that case, that makes a lot of sense. But still, while this little talent has provided many hours of entertainment for Dr. Elm and I, it isn’t very useful. Like, now that I know the little detail about your pants, I see exactly why I got those images, but if I didn’t know that information already, I’d never guess it. Like the key: I’m sure once I see what it opens, everything will makesense, but from one little tug, there’s no way to figure out what it’s for.”

“What if I told you that I already know what this key opens, and that I have it in my possession? Would that help?”

“Can I touch it?”

“You can.”

I ordered myself to stay calm. I didn’t want to raise his hopes unrealistically, but the idea of actually using my talent to solve a mystery, a talent that up until this point had been pretty much useless, was pretty exciting.

“We can head to the museum after it closes, and you can touch the statue. See if you get anything,”

“Don’t get too excited, I can’t make any promises.”

“Speaking of promises, you promised me a lunch date today. You must be hungry. It’s well past lunch now.”

I looked up at the clock. It was almost one.

“Shoot,” I said. “My tour!” Even as I said that, I realized that I didn’t have any work-appropriate clothes now.

“Janice can take care of that. The volunteers came early from the university.”

“I’ll need to pick up some more work clothes before I do any more tours anyhow. I don’t own much black stuff.”

“I noticed. Your wardrobe is very…colorful.”

“It’s called dopamine dressing.” Black might make me look slimmer, but colors made me happy, and I’d decided long ago that the latter was way more important.

“I will take you shopping after our lunch.”

Usually, I didn’t feel comfortable letting a guy buy me things, but he did burn my clothes to ashes, so I’d let it slide this time.

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