Page 8 of Signs and Wonders

Travis laughed. “Actually, yes. Even more so if they used magic to ‘nudge’ you into a sale. All magical items have limitations, but these are powerful enough to give your common sense a chance to override his charisma, without any harmful effects to you.”

“Thank you.” Seth clasped the chain around Evan’s neck and stood still for Evan to do the same for him.

They chatted for a while about some of Travis and Brent’s recent hunts and traded news they had heard from other hunters.

“Can you stay for dinner?” Travis asked. “It’s spaghetti tonight, and you don’t want to miss our homemade sauce.”

“I can vouch for the sauce,” Brent said. “And don’t worry about mouths to feed—he makes enough for an army.”

“If you don’t have anywhere better to be, it’s game night. We always have a good time,” Travis added.

Seth and Evan exchanged a look, and Seth nodded. “Sure. Except you have to let us help serve or clean up to earn our dinner.”

“Deal,” Travis replied with a broad smile.

The meal was as good as promised, homemade and filling. Seth and Evan took turns on the serving line and helped with clean-up. Game night took a page from speed dating, with classic board games set up at different tables and players switching after one session.

“I haven’t played some of those games since I was a kid,” Evan admitted when the evening finally came to an end. “My brothers were cutthroat. This was more fun.”

They thanked Travis and Brent and headed back to the RV, more tired than usual thanks to the pills to treat their sore muscles. The campground had a hot tub that ran year-round, and by the time Seth and Evan soaked for a while they agreed that the damage from the fight at the old hospital was definitely getting better.

“Matt wanted us to take one more day slow,” Evan remarked as they got ready for bed. “I have some ideas.”

“Are any of them sexy?” Seth teased.

“Only if you’re good.”

“Babe, I’m always good,” Seth couldn’t resist the comeback.

Sleepy from the medication and the hot tub, they made out slow and easy, not in a hurry to take things further, and fell asleep tangled together.

* * *

“Matt saidwe should keep things low-key today,” Evan reminded Seth over coffee the next morning. “He told me to switch off walking and sitting to keep from getting stiff, but that ‘ambling’ would help work out the tightness. So…let’s go look at dinosaur skeletons.”

They stopped for breakfast at a nearby diner, then headed back into Pittsburgh.

“The Carnegie Museum of Natural History,” Evan announced when they reached the big stone Victorian building. “There’s an art museum in the other wing and a huge conservatory next door. Plus a café. Just what the medic ordered.”

They marveled at the massive dinosaur skeletons that had been reconstructed to loom over visitors.

“I’m glad we don’t have to hunt those,” Evan said. “Modern cryptids are a lot smaller.”

True to Evan’s word, the museum was perfect for trading off sitting and walking. Evan liked the gem exhibit, while Seth couldn’t help geeking out over the Egyptian display and the many taxidermied animals. The café’s sandwiches, coffee, and sugar cookies were better than Seth expected, and he enjoyed the rare chance to breathe and indulge in an unhurried recovery day.

“Did you go to museums as a kid?” Evan asked Seth as they wandered through the sculpture court in the adjacent art museum.

“On school trips and once in a while on vacation,” Seth replied, unable to keep from gawking at the gigantic archways and statues.

“Mom and Dad liked museums,” Evan said wistfully, “because they were educational. We usually got something at the gift shop if we were good. I’ve always wanted to go to some of the really big ones, like the Met in New York or the Field Museum in Chicago.”

“Put it on the bucket list for when we’re done.” Seth gave Evan’s hand a surreptitious squeeze. “We can go anywhere you want when this is all over.”

We just have to make it out alive.

They meandered through the art exhibits, and Seth felt an unusual sense of peace settle over him as they quietly debated what they saw in the different paintings, sometimes with hilariously different interpretations. Their RV didn’t have much room for knickknacks, but Evan couldn’t resist an apron with Munsch’s “The Scream” as a souvenir.

Phipps Conservatory didn’t disappoint. Its huge glass greenhouses seemed like something out of a Victorian movie, filled with tropical palms, fragrant flowers, and hundreds of orchids. Seth stole a kiss behind a giant fern frond, surprised at how romantic the setting was.

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