Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Looking over at his mate again, Toman paused for a few seconds. “The taste of the magic has altered slightly, it still works the same.”
Well, that was interesting.
“English has many words that overlap.” Shaking his head, Toman seemed slightly frustrated with that. “The spell cannot always pick the right word.”
Oh.
That made sense too.
“It’s because English is a mix of a lot of different languages.” Kenzie shrugged. “We like taking all the fun stuff from everyone else and we grabbed words too. Food is more fun but someone a long time ago liked the words better.”
Since he wasn’t exactly wrong, heads started slowly bobbing as they processed what he’d meant.
Toman just smiled. “That is something we did not expect. Our world is not made up of large isolated bodies of land, so there is not the expansive of culture as you have here.”
Cocking his head, Toman paused. “Variety of cultures?”
“It makes life fun.” Kenzie smiled wider as he nodded. “But we like learning about new places and I’m really hoping you have new desserts we can learn to make.”
I liked someone who had their priorities straight.
“And they have new stories.” Wren bounced in his chair. “They don’t seem to have romance novels but they’ve got new fairy tales.”
Most of the room didn’t seem to know if smiling at their excitement was appropriate, but they seemed to find it cute.
“That makes up for no new romance novels.” Kenzie couldn’t resist being helpful. “We’ll send some of those through with you. We’re good sharers.”
Boyd and the deputy cocked their heads and I could see them trying to decide how they felt about that suggestion, but unsurprisingly the topic shifted again before anyone could figure out a good response.
“So we’re going to send a group through to what…to get information and do like a cultural exchange?” Florida Man frowned. “We had a high school kid from France come live with us for the school year. It was awkward.”
“For fuck’s sake. Who gave him strange kids to take care of?”
Daddy’s frustrated words filled my head through the bond and I had to try not to react. He wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t the time to burst out into laughter.
Surprisingly, it was one of the Canadians who managed to respond appropriately. “We will expect it to be difficult and will send those who can adapt well and who will not mind being the object of study.”
Every foreigner in the room turned to the Americans.
Great.
Send the attention-whores through the portal.
Wren smiled brightly. “You’re in luck. I don’t mind lots of attention or answering stupid questions.”
Was that a dig at some of our visitors?
Frowns popped up right and left, so I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t figure that out right off the bat.
“I’m going to call for a vote to get this on record.” Daddy’d had enough of a break that he didn’t sound like he wanted to brain them any longer. “Please raise your hand if you agree to send a delegation through the portal to get information and establish communication.”
No one moved for about five seconds and I found myself holding my breath.
Hands.
Everyone raised a hand and I could feel a mix of emotions firing through Pierce. Relief and excitement were two of the primary ones, but they left me wondering what he was thinking. Did Daddy want to go through the portal?
The situation had shifted since we’d first talked about it…significantly so. But did that change how Daddy felt?
I thought I was doing my best to keep my thoughts to myself, but Daddy glanced over at me before squeezing my hand under the table.
“No worries, little mage.”
The strength of his words surprised me and I barely held back a smile.
“Yes, Daddy. No worries.”
We’d figure it out no matter what happened.
“I’d like to know what everyone’s thoughts are on bringing dinosaurs back through the portal.” Florida Man’s serious expression made everyone quickly realize he wasn’t joking. “Repopulating extinct species is a global imperative, you know.”
Okay, maybe there were still a few things to worry about.
Chapter 25
Pierce
“We’re going to end up infested with dinosaurs.” I tried not to sigh, and I didn’t even do it out loud, but Merritt’s giggles filled my mind. “I’m going to have to call the government.”
The giggles didn’t fade but he shrugged. “Well, they didn’t even come when one of the locals somehow ended up stealing an armored truck full of gold bars. Or something like that. So I’m not sure doing a live remake of Jurassic Park is going to get much attention from them.”
He might’ve been right…gold beat disasters any day.
“The fact that the other side of the portal is in such a deserted area is the only reason we haven’t seen something ridiculous come through.” That was not good or as interesting as Kenzie and Florida Man seemed to think. “I can’t decide if insurance would hold us accountable or not…much less the legal system.”