The Flame Game (Magical Romantic Comedies #12) - R.J. Blain Page 0,75
want to spend your money that way, Bailey. It’s your money. But if we end up with a gorgon who lives with us for a while because she has no hive, I don’t want to hear any whining.”
“She become second mom for our whelps until we find her hive,” I countered. “She be like house sitter. Live-in maid gorgon! Oh, oh, she can be a live-in nanny. We have many gorgon whelps needing a gorgon nanny to help care for them. We have many pets, need extra hands. Then we ent-ter-tain gor-gon males who be good hus-band for her. We be guardians for her until she fly from nest to new hive. Like a grown child we feed and care for.”
My husband laughed. “All right. If you want to try that, and she can be saved, we’ll take responsibility for her. And whelps around are good for gorgon women, so that’ll help ease her transition. We have no idea how long she’s been a statue.”
“Or why she made statue.” I sighed, lurched to my hooves, and shook the snow out of my coat. “Sad for gor-gon. We give her hugs and pur-pose.”
“Just be aware there will be a lot of gorgon males coming to interview her if we do this, and you can’t tell them all no because you’re picky. She does get to decide which hive to make her home.”
“But can we beat the males?”
“That’s not how it works.”
“That sad. Beating gorgon males fun. Gorgon males durable.”
“I see your wife’s reputation of causing trouble with gorgons is not unfounded,” Alan said.
“Don’t worry about it. She loves gorgons. She’s even forgiven my idiot cousin, although she’ll probably give him a hard time for all eternity because she finds it amusing.”
I did, and I bobbed my head to accept responsibility for my general inability to handle life like a normal adult. “We help gorgon first?”
Alan tapped on the screen of his phone and held it to his ear. “I have spoken to Mr. and Mrs. Chief Quinn about the situation, and it seems there is a gorgon female who may still be alive but is critically injured. They have offered to pay the bills for angelic intervention if it is possible to save her, and they have offered to take responsibility for her until she can be placed with a hive.” Alan spent several long minutes listening. “All right. I’ll handle the rest of the situation here. One of the victims has been identified by Mr. Chief Quinn, and it will close a rather old and complicated case. We will need a full FBI team for this. It’s definitely a crime scene, and there are a lot of people in need of assistance. Bring a lot of clothing, blankets, and perhaps a bus.”
“Maybe two buses,” I said. “Many statues.”
“Ah. Mrs. Chief Quinn suggests two buses, as there are a lot of victims. That may allow them to have space if needed. Send three just to be sure. I’d rather have three quarter-filled buses than create additional problems for the victims. Send some nurses and ambulances in case they’re needed. I’m going to begin my walk around while the practitioners seal the building so we can make sure the victims can be removed before we purify the zone.” Alan hung up. “We’ve already gained authorization for the use of napalm as needed, and we have the tanker if we have to make the high-intensity grade. We do ask you attempt to limit how badly you become intoxicated on it, Mrs. Chief Quinn, especially with the number of victims we have to work with.”
“Should not need much nay-palm. Site old, only one source contained dust so far. Should be okay. One cup bribe for good behavior nice?”
My husband chuckled. “You’ll do just about anything for napalm, won’t you?”
“So good! No blame me.”
“And on that note, I’ll go get the meters.” Alan left, heading for one of the vans parked behind our rental.
“Think angel save gor-gon?”
“Well, I think even if the angel can’t, we know if there was a way, we would have. You’ll go to bed knowing you did your best.”
“What we do with gor-gon if she live?”
“That’s easy. I’ll call in someone to teleport her to my grandfather and our whelps, and they’ll integrate her with his hive. She looks too young to be a candidate for his hive, so he’ll be a good temporary guardian while we put an end to Audrey’s schemes.”