Page 31 of Bound By Earth (The Nature Hunters Academy 1)

“And what would a cult want with a couple of teenagegirls?”

“Did you just ask that? Teenage girls are the main targets for cults. We’re like prime rib to those whackos. They’ll probably brainwash us, put us in a dungeon, use us as sex slaves, and make us wash the leader’s underwear. May not be too bad, actually. Except for the underwear-washing part. Let’s keep going. It’s not like we’ve got tons of prospects once we graduate from BuffaloHigh.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Tara. “You might have apoint.”

“No, I don’t,” Shelly quickly said. “I have no points. Ignore me when I sound halfway rational. That usually means I have no idea what’s goingon.”

“I have a weird feeling about this. Maybe we should just scrap these stupid questionnaires and call the whole thingoff.”

“Are you kidding me? Did you forget Elias?” Shelly’s eyes grew wide. “Unless you’re thinking of giving Tucker a chance, I don’t really think you can afford to kick Elias to thecurb.”

Tara’s heart leaped up into her throat. No, she had definitely not forgotten Elias. He’d been all she could think about since that morning. Her head snapped up once Shelly’s words had registered. “What do you mean I can’taffordto kick him to thecurb?”

Shelly raised a brow at her. “T, it’s not like hotties are lined up knocking your door down and attempting to cop a feel. Why they aren’t is a mystery to me, considering you got a body that could make a straight nun renounce her faith and her hetero status. Be that as it may, right now, you got tweedle sweet and tweedle ass. If tweedle sweet isn’t going to make the cut, or at least stay in the running, then you can’t throw this opportunity away. Especially since Elias is the first guy to make your girl parts stand up and takenotice.”

“Are you seriously referencing Alice in Wonderland as a part of yourargument?”

Shelly grinned and nodded. “Yep. Clever,right?”

Tara sighed. Once Shelly got something in her head, she was loath to give it up. It is how they became friends, afterall.

“Oh, I know.” Shelly snapped her fingers. “Get your laptop and look them up. We’ll see if they’relegit.”

“Good idea.” Tara pulled her laptop out of her bag. With a couple of keystrokes, she had pulled up a website showing the same logo that was on the front of their aptitude tests. She clicked the “About TGTE” tab. A wall of text appeared, which she read out loud. “Tellus Geological Testing and Extraction is dedicated to improving the quality of human life through the development of new technologies derived from the core elements found within the earth’s crust. Headquartered in Punakha, Bhutan, TGTE has over two hundred offices located throughout the world and operates on everycontinent.”

“Bhutan? Where’s that?” Shellyasked.

Tara shrugged. Shelly raised an eyebrow at her and gestured at the computer.“Oh, my bad,” said Tara, smiling sheepishly. She opened a new tab on the browser and searched for Bhutan. “Hmm, looks like it’s in Asia between Tibet and India. Kind of remote. Seems like a strange place for a bigcompany.”

“Yeah. Go back to TGTE. Does it show a list of officelocations?”

Tara clicked back to the previous page. “Itdoes.”

“And is there one inCharleston?”

“Looks like it,” saidShelly.

“Well, I guess they are legitimate,” said Tara. “Still, something doesn’t feelright.”

“Maybe you’re just scared you’ll end up working side-by-side with Mr. Tall, Dark, Bad, andBritish.”

Tara shook her head. “No, that has nothing to do with it. Why would that scareme?”

“C’mon,” said Shelly. “You melted like butter when he came over to talk to us. You have got itbad.”

Tara sniffed and continued to browse the web page. “Actually, I was thinking of taking Tucker up on a date if he asksagain.”

Shelly’s eyes widened. “What? Was your motor just rusty and meeting Elias got it oiled up for you? Now you’ve decided you can appreciate other good-lookingguys?”

“Something like that,” Tara mumbled as she clicked on the “Meet our team” tab of the website. The very first picture that popped up was Jax’s. “Look,” she said, motioning toward herscreen.

Shelly leaned forward and began to read out loud. “Jax Stone.” She snorted. “Of course, he would have sexy last name to go with his sexy first name. I wonder if that really is a requirement to work there? If so, then I totally have to change my name. Shelly Smith is about as un-sexy as you get. Well, Tara Thompson is pretty lackluster aswell.”

“There is nothing wrong with myname.”

“No, there isn’t, as long as you aren’t trying to work for this super-weird rock company with dudes who have names so hot they make you want to have babies with them on the off chance that it will cause your baby to have a super-sexyname.”

“You could just name the kid whatever you wanted with whatever dude you have the kid with,” Tara pointedout.

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