Page 29 of Zachary

“Sure, but I’m probably right. So… the humans shouldn’t be making up all these fake gods. They should be worshiping the asteroid.”

We all stop to think about that one.

“It might be a hard sell,” Zoe says finally. “They like to pretend their gods can talk to them. A big hunk of space rock can’t do that.”

Cam blows a raspberry. “Humans are weird.”

“That’s the truth,” Zoe agrees. “How would it have been for dragons, Ronan? If you’d started visiting here and the planet was populated by dinosaurs?”

Cam sits up suddenly. “Diddragons and elves visit here when the planet was populated by dinosaurs?”

Garrett inhales so sharply, he chokes on a popcorn kernel. “Please,” he wheezes, “please! The history… please!”

I shake my head. “Sorry. I don’t know exactly when the elves opened the first portal to here, but the modern species had already evolved. They discovered a few other planets that were compatible with our bodies’ needs, but none of them had species with higher intelligence, so nobody bothered with them again.”

Garrett subsides, his eyes still watering. “It was too good to be true,” he rasps. Zoe hands him his drink, and I take a second to be grateful they asked something I actually know the answer to. The version of history I was taught growing up differed a lot from reality, and I still find myself learning things that aren’t what I thought they were.

Yawning, Cam lies back down. “Zoe, can I sleep here tonight? I don’t even need a bed. This floor is fine.”

Zoe shrugs. “Sure. But you know, one of the benefits of dating a demon is that if you call him, he’ll come and teleport you home. Knowing Micah, you wouldn’t even need to stand. He’d just scoop you up and bam—next thing, you’d be in your bed.”

Cam flips a hand. “True, but I’m teaching him a lesson.”

“Oooh,” Garrett and Zoe say together, and I find myself leaning forward.

“This, I want you to tell me,” Garrett insists. “What did he do?”

“We were talking about Zac’s ski resort.” Cam pauses. “Well,Iwas talking about Zac’s ski resort. I just don’t get why suddenly it’s been shelved and nobody wants to discuss it. It’s a great idea, right? And I was trying to get Micah to agree to talk to Zac about it, and he went all stone-faced and said,” he lowers his voice in mockery of his boyfriend, “Leave it alone, Cam. It’s not up for discussion.”

Zoe gasps. “He didnot.”

I purse my lips. “Um.” Should I say anything? I’m afraid to ruin things, but if he was comfortable discussing it in front of me, he probably won’t mind. And friends give opinions, right? “Idon’t know much about your relationship, but that doesn’t seem like the way Micah talks to you?”

“It’s not,” they all three say in unison.

“MicahadoresCam,” Zoe adds. “It’s almost sickening, sometimes. I’ve never heard about him saying no to something Cam wants, especially something so harmless.” She pauses. “What ski resort, though? This is the first I’ve heard of it, and I love to ski. I mean, snow, yeah?”

“It was an idea Zac had,” Garrett says slowly. His brow is furrowed. “What, a few weeks ago? A month? I think I heard about it around the time Ronan arrived.”

Cam nods. “Yep. He was looking at papers and working some plans out when Micah and I went to get him to teleport everyone to the cave.”

“It was a good idea.” Garrett still seems thoughtful. “It needed more research, but… You know, now I think of it, Asher shut me down the last time I mentioned it to him. And last week at dinner, when you brought it up, Zac got all weird.”

“What did he say?” I ask, my heartbeat picking up slightly. Maybe this ski resort is another way I can connect with Zac. Things between us this week have been… okay. Almost good. Today was good. Maybe if I show him I can support his project, he and I can start to be friends. Not that I know anything about skiing. But I can learn, right? I didn’t know anything about dragons, either, until five years ago.

“He said it would be good for the village, and it sounded like he’s still invested, but he also said it’s shelved.”

“And then Damaris had her tantrum,” Cam adds, rolling his eyes again, “and the subject got changed.”

From the corner of my eye, I notice Garrett stiffening slightly, and I realize with a little shock that Damaris’s tantrum was probably about me. The whole incident with the surveillance devices and what Zac said to me.

“Damaris had a tantrum?” Zoe shudders. “Please don’t ever invite me to Sunday dinner, then. I get freaked out by her when she’s in a good mood.”

“It does seem odd that Zac would still want the resort but nobody’s willing to talk about it,” I interrupt, partly to steer the conversation away from Damaris’s tantrum and partly because I’m now extremely intrigued by this ski resort. “Could there maybe have been a problem with the plans themselves?”

Cam rolls onto his side and props his head on his hand. “I didn’t see very much of them,” he admits, “and I wouldn’t know how to recognize a problem if I did, unless it was something mechanical.”

“I didn’t see the plans at all, just heard them spoken about,” Garrett adds.

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