Compounding Traumas (Artemis University #6) - Erin R Flynn Page 0,30
been working with me once a week through the summer, and I practiced more than that, so it was easy to switch gears into what I knew.
It was a good hour before I needed to stop and by then, I’d worked out more than enough of what was in my head. I’d also come to a few decisions, including taking better care of myself like Izzy had said.
The whole summer had been work and studying and more stress. No fun. Okay, that wasn’t fair, as we’d had a lot of fun eating all over Japan and at the pool… But none of that typical college kid fun. And given how ridiculously bad my last attempt went to have college kid fun, I needed a redo. Something simpler.
Something Izzy and I would enjoy. It actually had me smiling as I arrived back to our room.
“We’re going out tonight,” I announced as I walked inside.
She frowned. “Where?”
“A nightclub. We’re going dancing.”
She shook her head. “No, we’re not going to the supe clubs. That’s just—”
“One, I didn’t know there were supe clubs, so I need the info on that. Two, I meant human a one. I’ve got a fake ID, and we can get you one with magic.” It was my turn to shake my head. “We’ll be safe. Mel will come with. We’ll take Zack and Ray and act like they’re our boyfriends or something. No one will notice if we slip into a busy human nightclub and onto the dance floor.”
She worried her lower lip and I knew I had her. “I have always wanted to go. I could ask a woman to dance if it was a human one.”
“Sure you could!” I agreed, excited now. “We go to New York and no one will care. I’ve had women ask me to dance and everyone’s mostly cool, so people are polite if it’s not their thing. We don’t even have to go long.”
That broke the rest of her resolve. “Yeah, like an hour. Yeah, we can do that. We’ll be safe. We’ve been super safe.”
“Exactly.”
We were plotting as we unpacked when Mel swung by. At first she was against it, but then I suggested inviting a few of her cousins, assuring her we wouldn’t stay long.
“Mel, I’ve been in lots of dangerous situations where I was being pursued and someone hot on my ass and still handled it fine. Even the Underground won’t blast into a human nightclub on a report someone saw me. And what are the chances someone really sees me?”
She snorted. “With your luck? High, but I know if you can’t ever fly, you run. Fine, I’ll see who can come for an hour or two, no more. We do it safe.”
“Always.” It wasn’t hard to agree with that, given there were a lot of threats against me, and they were real.
After that, it was a rush to unpack, unload when Marshall arrived, coordinate, and get ready. Marshall and Sean opted to go with and pretend to be the dates of a few of Mel’s cousins. Part of me wondered if that pretending was for me, as I was pretty sure Sean had a huge thing for Avril.
But it wasn’t my business.
I ended up picking out a super sexy black dress that was one of the co-op’s possible designs. It was a short slant skirt that barely covered my ass cheek on the right and went down to past my knees on the left. The top wrapped around my neck and had a lot cut out almost to my belly button and on the back. Normally I wouldn’t think of it given I had big breasts… But there was a rune for that.
Yeah, really.
It was like a magical bra, but not everyone could pull off the rune, so I understood why witches still bought bras. However, it was nothing for a few hours.
Izzy demanded to do my hair and makeup since we were going all out. I really liked the dress, so she also took some promo shots for the co-op once I had put on strappy high heels as well. Even I had to admit I looked smoking, the fat braid she had done with my hair that had curls falling out all over the place pushed me over the edge for sure.
And the guys seemed to agree from the way they were cursing under their breaths, as if the only possible problem tonight would be the Underground.