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She spilled the scarabs onto the desk Several scurried across my hand, sharp pinpricks like tiny claws on , I pulled back, and they moved to form a picture
Dottie waited until I’d recovered before continuing, her voice both sad and thoughtful "There is deception here and a deep, crippling loss Endings and beginnings, if you are willing to be open to the and not lose faith in yourself Do not let the inevitable betrayals keep you fro those worthy of trust, but beware the ss"
She fell silent, her head drooping onto her chest I rushed around the desk to check her Her pulse was fine, her breathing steady, but her skin had taken on a grayish tinge I turned to call for help and saw Ron and Bubba standing awestruck in the doorway Apparently they’d seen the light show and wanted to knoas going on Following their gaze, I watched as the scarabs scurried back into the carved wooden box Well, that was
Bubba took Dottie to the ER to be checked out I couldn’t go Hospitals are a bad place for people who crave blood So far, lunch was holding, but I couldn’t guarantee it beyond a few hours She ake and acerbic, swearing she was fine, just tired, but we all wanted to ht I made Bubba promise they’d call me to let ivenshow made me want to lock the Wadjeti back in the safe and never take it out again Definitely creepy
Still, a proone to a lot of trouble to get the expert from UCLA So I slathered on more sunscreen, pulled on my new jacket and black straw fedora, armed myself to the teeth, and drove off toexperts on the preternatural Here’s hoping they didn’t give me more bad news
8
"You should be dead It is that si at, this mark has been here since you were a very small child There is no possible way you could have survived through puberty" Dr Sloan was a dessicated little man with freckled brown skin What hair he had stuck out in a hite ring around his age-spotted scalp and his heavy graying brows bristled over the top of Coke-bottle glasses that e for his face He was holdingat it with absolute absorption through a jeweler’s loupe The rest of us , of course, I left my palm behind
The three of us were crowded into Warren’s office Despite his status within the university and the field, El Jefe had a very small and ordinary office space Warren had chosen the L-shaped workstation with a round table and four chairs in the far corner fro talls, filled partially with research books but partially with odd collectibles such as an actual shrunken head and a voodoo doll that (thank heavens) didn’t reseinal movie posters of The Birds, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Curse of the Werewolf The ugly eggplant-colored industrial-grade carpet had been covered by a Persian rug thick enough to sink into It picked up the colors of the stained-glasshanging from a pair of chains in front of the ordinaryThe decorating scheme was certainly eclectic, but somehoorked And it was very definitely Warren
El Jefe is one of ot that rare combination of brains, coe is nicely rounded out with better-than-average looks All of which he’d passed on to Kevin and Eht htly over thesensation "Thisaside the fact that there simply aren’t that many of those, the divine just don’t do curses like this, certainly not on a child That’s nature, but it appears to be the re illusion But the curse itself? A de a death would cause " I felt a little surge of ic as he tested the mark "No Definitely divine" He shook his head as if to clear it, then looked up at lasses wistful "I don’t suppose you’d let me--"
"Study it further?" I ended the sentence for him It wasn’t hard He was an academic, and to hiht have sympathy for ht noas the thrill of discovery and the potential for publishable papers "Publish or perish," as the saying goes Sure, he was being insensitive, but social skills aren’t the forte of a lot of professors I kneasn’t personal, but that didn’t make me feel all that ave ed to contain both wheedling greed and, finally, a little real sympathy "You ic"
"And yet I’m here You just said that it was put on me in childhood"
"I know" He sounded exasperated "It obviously was I can tell by the way it’s affected your life line" He turnedat places where the mark intersected the lines palmistry buffs use to analyze your life "And it has completely altered your career path" He frowned, his eyebroiggling like caterpillars above the glasses "Did your family ever take you to the Vatican? Get you blessed by the Pope?"
"No Why?"
"Well, a ran’s a true believer," I suggested
He h I really needabout?" Warren interrupted I noticed that he’d opened the laptop on his desk and was discreetly taking notes
Sloan didn’t look up froods froyptian?" I made it a question
"Why do you ask?" Sloan’s voice was sharp and he met my eyes
"The "