Page 36 of Blind Luck

The landscape grew more interesting as we flew slowly over a series of small canyons interspersed with rock formations that didn’t look entirely natural. I wished we had time to land, to hop out and explore.

“What is this place?” I asked Sin.

“Nobody’s quite sure. Some kind of ancient ceremonial ground, probably.”

“Maybe they tossed human sacrifices into the canyons?” Rusty suggested. “The way Mayans used to in the cenotes?”

“There are better ways to hide a body in the desert.” Sin laughed softly. “But hey, take a look if you want to.”

She dropped into a low hover, mere feet above one of the canyons, and we gawked out the windows on either side. Okay, it wasn’t that interesting, just gloomy down there in the shadows. Sin moved the helicopter forward, following the crack, and I wondered how hard it was to fly a helicopter. Pretty hard, I figured. And expensive, and I couldn’t even pass my driving test, so I’d have to get used to passengerhood. Did these folks need another house-elf? No, I’d never leave Kai and Ari and— Wait. Something white and fluffy hopped around in the shadows at the bottom of the crack, and I pressed my nose against the glass to get a better look.

“No skeletons down there, just a rabbit,” I said.

“A rabbit? In the canyon?”

“I swear I saw one.”

“They’re usually well camouflaged.”

“It was white.”

“There are no white rabbits in the desert here. They’re all a sandy brown.”

“Well, I’m sure I saw one. What else out here is white and fluffy?”

“Nothing.”

“I saw it too,” Rusty put in. “I don’t know if it was fluffy, but it was definitely white.”

Thank you.At least now, I didn’t sound like a crackpot. My husband used to make me doubt myself all the time.

Are you sure you didn’t open the window? Maybe you just forgot?

I never said I wanted chicken for dinner.

All that nonsense about the Prophet you heard at the feed store, it’s not real.

Until I found the strength to leave, evenIthought I was out of my mind.

“I’ll make another pass,” Sin said.

“Go on, then. I’m not a liar.”

And this time, she had to admit I wasn’t a fool either.

“Well, I’ll be damned. What the hell is that?”

“A rabbit, like I already said. My father used to breed them for dinner.”

“Ugh.”

“You don’t like rabbit stew?”

“I’m vegetarian.”

“Wait, what are you doing?” The helicopter was dropping even lower.

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m landing.”