Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Most of it was familiar from research I’d already done, but I liked hearing his voice and something about his tone made it come more alive than it had when the stories had just been words on a page. “You’re going to have to tell me if I’m wrong, but from what you’ve described, I think we’re coming up on an area that has the right environment.”
His words were very neutral as he veered us off the marked trail and led us deeper into the woods, but something about the way he kept glancing back at me made me question it. “They have good natural camouflage, right? That’s what you said.”
Well, that was the best explanation I had.
“Yes.” I’d practiced looking innocent in the mirror, so I hoped it helped. “A lot of insects have specialized camouflage.”
I wasn’t lying about that, so I was hoping that made the whole situation more believable but Fraser rolled his eyes. “Alright.”
Shoot.
Thankfully he didn’t make me explain what kind of camouflage they had but that was kind of telling too. He should’ve had more questions about my disappearing beetles. He had lots of questions and liked talking, so not at least poking at the story a bit was troubling.
Was I actually going to have to explain that I was pretty sure the beetles I’d found could teleport?
Chapter 10
Fraser
Under any other circumstances it wouldn’t have been suspicious at all. I’d taken other scientists out and had gotten very good at keeping myself mentally occupied while they studied trees and mushrooms or even listened for birds.
But with Paxton, it was suspicious.
His explanations were entirely too vague and he was trying way too hard to look innocent when he spouted off his nonsense.
They were just well-camouflaged?
That was it.
His description didn’t get any better when he started carefully searching the area I’d picked either. But it got downright weird when he strapped on a GoPro and made sure it was recording everything he did.
Because the bugs were fast at camouflaging themselves.
Oh, this had shenanigans written all over it.
I wasn’t sure who’d done it or what the fuck they’d done to the bugs, but the ridiculous answers were shouting mage nonsense was afoot. Paxton didn’t seem to understand that, though. His responses said he’d realized something was weird, but he wasn’t ready to explain just how weird it was.
Not that I blamed him.
If I was human and thought bugs were disappearing or doing weird shit, I wouldn’t want to admit it either. Humans had a history of locking up people they thought were seeing things, and Paxton would be especially worried about what would happen considering his job.
Yeah, that explanation wouldn’t go over well in most human circles.
Thankfully, my circles didn’t contain a lot of humans, but I was still going to have to figure out what was going on and who needed to know about it. Because there was definitely an it, and judging by Paxton’s excited inhale, he’d caught it on camera.
Fucking dragons above.
Boyd was going to have a cow.
“That’s fascinating.” The awe in Paxton’s voice made me want to curse, but I waited quietly in an area he’d already combed through and watched his face light up with wonder at whatever he’d seen. “They just…it just…”
Once he finally remembered he wasn’t alone, he blinked a few times and peeked over at me. “They have such good camouflage. You found the perfect place. Thank you.”
I was clearly the best guide he’d ever had but that was because I knew which parts of the mountains were closer to moron mages with impulse control issues. “You’re welcome, and I’m glad I could help.”
Because something had clearly gotten out of hand.
Who’d decided we needed disappearing bugs?
There had to be a completely stupid and utterly logical explanation for it, but I couldn’t come up with any. Whatever mage had done this would have a great story and think they were completely justified. They were always right. But this was going to make the council nuts.
Oh.
Paxton had found them other places and they’d been mentioned on the internet.
They’d already spread.
Fuck.
Reminding myself that the silver lining in all the crazy was that it’d brought my mate to me and he was the one who’d found them, I actually felt better as he kept sucking in his breath and then sighing in disappointment as the damned things disappeared.
“There has to be a nest somewhere.” Paxton was back to talking to himself within a few minutes, so I stayed quiet and watched as he crawled on the ground and peeked under all the dead wood. “Just because they disappear doesn’t mean they don’t have a home. Everything has a home, even crazy old men who talk about marriage after a first date.”
Oh.
Yep, that would’ve done it.
I wouldn’t have gone back to the bakery either if I hadn’t known what was going on.