Page 25 of Magic Blooms
I shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
Everyone kept expecting me to be afraid, and so far I hadn’t seen any reason why I should be. Granted, a woman had turned up dead earlier that day, but other than proximity and my insistence on solving the case for Lorraine, it had nothing to do with me.
“For one, you’re going to end up as gator bait,” he growled.
“Everyone keeps on warning me of these gators, but I have yet to see one, let alone be attacked by one.”
Joshua threw his head back and let out a sharp laugh. “Of course you don’t see them. Hiding is what they do best.” He strode past me and toward the dock that reached out over the murky brown waters of the swamp.
“Come here,” he commanded.
I obediently followed to the edge of the water but remained with both feet firmly on the shore. While I was confident I could walk back to Fox’s End, swimming was another story entirely.
“Now I want you to look out there and tell me what you see,” Joshua said, putting one strong hand on my shoulder.
I looked out at the mix of water and land. There was no obvious line where one ended and the other began. They seemed to blend seamlessly together.
“I see a swamp. So what?” I said answered matter-of-factly. We had those back home too, mostly amid the lands occupied by the water elementals, though.
“Okay. Wait there, and hold that thought.” Joshua let go of my shoulder and returned to his cabin. A moment later he reemerged, that creaky door announcing his presence. Smirking as he strode past me, he ambled to the end of the dock.
I watched with a silent curiosity as he opened up the large red and white box he’d brought with him, reached inside, and pulled out a giant hunk of meat.
The same second he threw it in the water, the swamp’s surface split open and an enormous scaled head with impossibly large teeth snapped at the air.
Joshua laughed and threw another bit of meat toward where the creature had just appeared.
More and more of its comrades emerged from the depths.
Their greenish armored bodies looked as if they could stand up to just about any threat, while their bright eyes glowed with the knowledge that they were the apex predator around here.
Joshua kept throwing meat to them, and they kept throwing their bodies around, snapping their jaws, clamping shut with great satisfaction when they managed to snag one of the prized morsels.
Was this supposed to scare me? Right now, my biggest concern wasn’t the gators—at least that was my guess as to what they were. Joshua would likely confirm that for me soon. No, my biggest concern was much smaller and far more persistent, too.
Already the gators were retreating back beneath the swamp, but the insects hadn’t given me a single moment to miss them. I slapped at my neck, the small bugs taking full advantage of my distraction to attack.
“All right. I get it,” I spat out, eager for this masculine display to end.
“Do you?” asked Joshua as he kicked the lid to the box shut.
“Just because I can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there.” Though I still wasn’t properly frightened. I noticed the gators hadn’t gone after Joshua or me. It could have been his familiarity with them, or my ability to naturally relate to all organic life.
Perhaps Joshua was similarly gifted. If so, why wouldn’t he just tell me already?
I was fairly certain I could trust him with my identity, but I still wasn’t one-hundred percent sure. Since I didn’t think he needed to know, I didn’t see the need to risk it.
“Now that you know a bit more about the dangers of the swamp, tell me, why did you walk two hours just to see me?” He smirked.
“Well, you hadn’t yet come back to see me, so I figured I’d come find you. Lorraine and Jasmine suspect Art would have finished his examination of Karen Harrison.”
“Karen?”
“The woman from this morning. The unfortunate one. Even though Gerry was the one to suggest it, they do think talking to Art is a good idea, and they want me to because I’m new here and he might talk more to me.”
Joshua let out a snort as he stepped off the dock. “Or because you’re young and pretty.”
I felt a surge of hot blood rush to my cheeks. “You think I’m pretty?” It wasn’t the first time he’d said it, but that small compliment had come on quite unexpectedly, especially after the overdramatic way he’d introduced me to his neighbor gators.
