Page 30 of Bound By Earth (The Nature Hunters Academy 1)

Tara readied herself for what was coming. “Okay, here we go. Let me have it. Why are you acampfire?”

“Because I like s'mores so much,duh.”

Tara narrowed her eyes. “S’mores?”

“Yep.”

“And that’sall?”

“What, did you think I was going to make some sexual joke about campfires? C’mon. You don’t give me enoughcredit.”

Tara raised her eyebrows and nodded. “Okay, then.” She took a sip of her hot chocolate and read the nextquestion.

“Oh, and because I love having big logs put intome.”

Tara coughed, causing hot chocolate to spew out of her pursed lips and fly halfway across the room. “Thank you so much for that mental image,” she said, retrieving a paper towel and wiping up the expelled drink. “I knew it was too good to be true. I knew you couldn’t just make one comment without sexualizingit.”

“Where would be the fun inthat?”

“Right. No fun at all,” said Tara. “What was Ithinking?”

“You weren’t. Anyway, what’d you put on thatquestion?”

“Mountain,” answeredTara.

“Hmm, yeah I can see that. You certainly have an impressive pair of twinpeaks.”

“Can you please not stare directly at them when you talk about myboobs?”

“Sorry, sometimes they mesmerize me.” Shelly bounced her eyebrows up and down, causing Tara tolaugh.

Tara cleared her throat. “Okay, then, moving on. Next question. ‘How long can you hold your breathunderwater?’”

“Seriously, why would they need to knowthat?”

Tara shrugged. “Maybe some of the rocks they harvest are underwater orsomething.”

“I guess. But couldn’t they just use scuba gear or snorkel stuff?” Both girls shrugged as they scribbled down theiranswers.

“Next question,” said Tara. “‘Have you ever burned yourself?’ ‘On a scale of one to ten, how badly did it hurt?’ ‘Did some part of you actually enjoy the pain?’ Okay, that’s too strange. Why in the world would they need to know that? I mean, my answer would be no, because of the whole ‘can’t be hurt thing,’ but I can’t exactly put thatdown.”

“First off, that was three questions, not one. Second, I have no idea,” said Shelly. “I’m starting to think this whole thing is a bitweird.”

“I’llsay.”

“Who’s ever heard of a technology company that doesn’t require its employees to have college degrees?” continuedShelly.

“Yeah, I still think that’s a little bit hard to believe,” saidTara.

“Wait, you don’t think this is all a hoax do you? Like maybe this company isn’t evenreal?”

“Um, what would be the point exactly? Just to make us waste our time filling out some ridiculousquestionnaire?”

“No, maybe TGT-whatever is actually a front for some secretorganization.”

Tara frowned. “Like the CIA orsomething?”

“No, no, no. It’s probably a weird cult or the illuminati orsomething.”

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