Page 78 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

He shook his head as he laughed. “You know that sounds ridiculous, right?”

She shrugged. “I’d rather sound ridiculous and be right than sound sane and be wrong.”

Ra shifted and then said, “Tell me more.”

“What do you mean? Tell you more what?”

“Your thoughts. Your mind is fascinating,” he said.

“And you’re easily entertained. You don’t watch TV very often, do you?” she asked.

“I don’t have much time for TV.”

She sighed. “I’ve had too much time for TV. Actually, it’s not that I’ve had too much time, it’s that I didn’t do anything better with my time.

“As I was laying there stuck in my body burning up like dried brush I realized how pointless my life has been. I mean, look at you.” Shelly poked him in the chest. “You’re out there saving damsels and fighting demons. And what am I doing? Telling my mom I’ll do the dishes as soon as I finish binge-watching fifteen hours of my favorite show. Pathetic.” She shook her head and, once again, felt the disgust she’d experienced as she’d been burning.

“You aren’t pathetic. You’re eighteen, Shelly,” Ra said. “You aren’t supposed to be fighting demons.”

“I beg to differ. If that were the case, then I wouldn’t have met you, in hell of all places. I’m totally meant to be a demon huntress.”

This brought a loud laugh from him, which caused her to grin from ear to ear. “A demon huntress?”

“Yep,” she said, popping the “p” loudly. “I’m going to be like Van Helsing was to vampires. Kicking butt and taking names.”

“Maybe we should get out of the underworld and you could get some proper training before you start your demon-killing spree?”

Shelly rolled her eyes. “I suppose that would be a good idea. My hand-to-hand combat skills are a little rusty, and my magic is downright medieval.”

“Is that so? It’s been so long since you’ve used your magic that it’s stuck in the middle ages?”

“Exactly.”

“What kind of magic do you possess?” His eyes still had a faint orange glow, but they also held humor in them. He was having fun with her, and Shelly loved it.

“Oh you know, the run-of-the-mill everyday magic,” she said, waving her hand nonchalantly.

“Can you give me an example?”

“Sure. Totally. Absolutely.” She paused for a moment and scrunched up her face. “Okay, for instance, I could use the spellAlahomackiusto create a hole.”

“Is that twoHarry Potterspells put together? And why would you want to create a hole?” Ra asked. She could see he was trying very hard not to laugh.

“No. It’s totally original. And thewhyis quite obvious, I would have thought. People need holes all the time. A hole for a tree. A hole for the time capsule someone is no doubt putting together at this very moment.”

“Right,” he said and nodded as she looked pointedly at him.

“And a hole for a dead body that someone needs to bury. See! Lots of holes. Holes for everyone.”

Ra burst into laughter. He apparently gave up the battle to hold it in when she declared “holes for everyone.”’ Shelly slapped her hand over her face.Gah, I’m a dork.Who the hell makes up a spell about creating holes? Me.She mentally raised her hand.I do. I’m all over that like flies on manure.

“Any other spells?” he asked through his laughter.

“I got tons, but I can’t tell you all of them. There has to be some mystery in a relationship, or things get boring.”

“I have a feeling things are never boring with you, Shelly,” he said as he reached up and ran a finger across her cheek.

She felt her face heat with her blush and had to look away. His intense gaze was enough to make her want to use her hole spell so she could conjure one up and fall into it. Tara was going to laugh her butt off when Shelly told her about her word vomit.

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