Page 24 of Cleansed By Water (The Nature Hunters Academy 3)

Suddenly her mom was on her feet. “Because itiswhacked,” she yelled. “We thought you had been abducted!”

“I was.”

“We thought some crazy person had taken you and was doing god-knows-what to you.”

“He had, and he was. Osiris counts as a crazy person if that makes you feel a bit better. You weren’t totally off base,” Shelly replied.

“Who the hell is Osiris?” Her mom practically wailed.

“Oh, snap,” Shelly muttered. “If she’s cursing in the presence of people she doesn’t know, shit’s about to hit the fan. We should abort the mission.”

“Osiris is the lord of the underworld,” Ra said calmly. He didn’t seem the least bit fazed that Shelly’s mom was quickly unraveling and might go nuclear at any moment. “To humans, he is the devil, Satan, or Lucifer, if you’d like.”

“You met the devil?” Mrs. Carol asked.

Shelly nodded at her. “But it wasn’t really as big of a deal as one might think. He wasn’t half as bad as the evil bitches I went to school with. Really, he was closer to a fluffy bunny with fangs.”

Ra’s head turned slowly to look at her, and Shelly could feel his displeasure at her description of the underworld god. “Any other descriptions you’d like to add,Mery?”

“Nope,” she said, popping the P. “I think that about covers it. Thanks for asking though.”

He made a grunting sound that Shelly was sure wasn’t a positive response. She’d have to settle his hackles later. At the moment, her attention was focused on her mom, who was beginning to look a little less like her mom and more like a mental patient in a psych hospital.

“Mom?” she asked gently. “How are you holding up?”

Her mom looked at her dad and pressed her hand to her forehead. “Our daughter went to hell and met the devil.”

Her dad nodded, and, to Shelly’s surprise, responded simply, “She did, and she’s here with us now, looking rather healthy. Perhaps, we should focus on that.”

Ten points to daddy-o, Shelly thought with a smile. Her dad had always been the glass-is-half-full kind of guy, and while in the past that had often gotten on Shelly’s last nerve, she was very grateful for it at that moment.

He held out a hand for his wife, and when she took it, he pulled her down onto the love seat next to him. “This is a lot, Shelly,” he said, “but you’ve never been a liar.”

Shelly quirked her brow at him.

He gave her a small smile and added, “An exaggerator? Absolutely, but not a liar. If you tell us that this is what happened to you, then I guess we believe you.”

Shelly bit back the tears threatening to fall again. She was done crying. It was one of her least favorite things to do, and she avoided it at all cost. “Thank you, Dad.”

Shelly looked over at Mrs. Carol. She wasn’t really sure what she expected. Carol had always proven herself to be a rational, reasonable woman. She was blunt but kind and didn’t tell you something just because it was what you wanted to hear.

Tara’s foster mom shifted in the recliner she was seated in, crossed her right leg over her left, then rested her elbow on it as she leaned forward. She looked around the room, seeming to study each of the people present, and finally ended on Tara. “How are you doing?”

Okay, that had not been what she was expecting. Shelly had at least thought Carol would tell them all they were off their rockers or ask if this was just a late April Fools’ joke. “I’m okay,” Tara said. It sounded like a question as if she wasn’t sure.

“Are you hurt?” Carol asked.

Tara shook her head.

“And you’re okay?” she asked Shelly.

“Yes, ma’am. Better than good,” she answered honestly.

“And is everyone here telling the truth?”

“Yes,” Tara said. “I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this.”

Carol nodded. “I know you wouldn’t, and because of that, I believe you. Even though it is hard to do so.” She glanced at Aviur and narrowed her eyes. “I also believe you because there is no way this one is human.”

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