Page 55 of It takes a Psychic

“I think so,” Oliver said. “But I didn’t get a good look.”

“Call me overimaginative, but I’ve got to tell you, this inn is getting creepier by the hour.”

His brows rose. “Says the woman who was held prisoner in the Underworld by a bunch of artifact pirates.”

“Yeah, well, between you and me, I may be suffering a little PTSD from that experience. But don’t tell my family, okay? They already think my professional and personal lives are a train wreck.”

“No surprise about the PTSD, given what you’ve been through.”

She cleared her throat. “It wasn’t just the kidnapping. There was also the little accident in the artifacts lab.”

“The one that scared the crap out of your ex?”

“That one.”

“Want to talk about it?” Oliver said, his voice absolutely neutral.

“It was sort of an explosion, but quite small, really.”

“What, exactly, exploded?”

“A little Alien mirror. Harmless. It’s not like I lost control or anything.”

“Anyone hurt?”

“No,” she said firmly. “At least, not seriously. My para-senses were singed a little and so were Matt’s, but we both fully recovered. For the record, I was just really pissed off. I wasn’t trying to kill him.”

“Didn’t think so.”

She raised her brows at that. “What makes you so sure?”

Oliver surprised her with a sharp, dangerous smile. “Because you would have been successful. You aren’t the half-measures type.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t sure how to take that, so she forged ahead. “I cornered him in the lab because I was furious. After I was rescued from the kidnappers, I found out he had been cheating on me with a grad student. That was bad enough.”

“You confronted him in the lab because of the grad student?”

“The reason I got him alone that day was because I had just discovered that he had used some of my work in a paper he had sent to theJournal of Para-Archaeology. He not only stole my research, he didn’t even bother to credit me in the paper.”

“Ah, the ultimate betrayal in the academic world,” Oliver said. “No wonder you were pissed.”

“Really, really pissed.”

“Did he know you could work artifact energy?”

“No. I never told anyone. I’m sure Drayton and Grant, the two people who were kidnapped with me, had their suspicions. We spent a lot of time in close quarters together and we were working around Glass House artifacts, some of which were very hot. But they kept quiet after we were rescued.”

“The three of you had developed a bond in captivity.”

“Yes. It’s not the sort of talent you advertise in the academic world. People worry that you could accidentally get them killed on a dig.”

“I know. I’m in the same line, remember?”

She flushed. This was getting awkward.

“I suppose now that you’re aware of my ability, you’re a little concerned that I might be a hazard,” she said stiffly. “I want to assure you that I—”

She broke off because there was a telltale twitch at the edge of Oliver’s lips. It transformed into a grin and then a raspy chuckle.

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