Seth’s muscles tensed and his jaw set. “I think it would be better if we didn’t. Besides, you’re fine now. No one’s going to hurt you as long as I’m around.”
Something in his words gave Natti reason to want to believe him, to trust him. Yet her nerves wouldn’t get over what just happened. Was she truly safe?
Seth helped her to her feet. Her knee complained, yet the pain had diminished enough that she could easily ignore it. When Natti glanced back at the spot where she fell, a black shadow in the grass caught her attention. She knelt down and picked up what seemed to be a medium-sized stuffed jackal with an elaborate, golden collar. Anubis, she realized, recognizing the jackal from pictures her grandmother showed her of King Tut’s treasures. The ancient Egyptian god of the underworld.
She smiled. “I think you lost something.”
“Oh.” Seth’s expression lightened, and his cheeks burned a little. “I was over at the Dagger Toss when you ran by.”
Natti raised her brow, a little twinge of fear knotting her stomach. “Dagger Toss!”
“Yeah.” He snickered, smiling with a hint of pride. Natti offered the jackal back to him, but he held up his hand in refusal. “No, you keep it.”
Natti hesitated. Was he serious? The weight on her chest lightened from the unexpected gift. She needed something comforting right now. Something to hold on to. Wrapping her arms around the stuffy, she cradled it close to her heart. Seth’s beguiling smile appeared as he took in the moment in silence.
“You want to head back?” he finally asked.
Natti eyed the fair, her fear taking hold again. She clung onto the Anubis. “Not really. I . . . I probably should be heading home anyway.”
“Oh. That’s . . . That’s too bad.” Seth shifted nervously. “I know a café nearby, and I was wondering if you would like to join me for a cup of coffee—?”
Natti’s cell rang, cutting Seth’s invitation short. She took it from her pocket and looked at the text message.
“Wanda,” she said. “She’s wondering where I am.”
“Oh.” Seth looked at the ground with disappointment.
Natti paused, studying his reaction and thinking over her options. She fidgeted for a moment, and then finally sent a text back to Wanda, telling her she had left, and she would see her on Monday. Closing her phone, she turned to Seth.
“I would love a cup of coffee.”
Seth grinned. “Great! It’s not far. We can just jump the fence over there and walk. Come on.”
They left the humming machinery behind and crossed the clearing. Seth turned to her, his eyes wandering over her face and figure. “You look very beautiful, by the way.”
Natti blushed, unable to respond.
“So, the Haunted Pyramid?”
“Yeah, Kevin and Jen apparently love it. I couldn’t bring myself to go inside.”
Seth frowned. “You really didn’t miss much. Just a bunch of guys in costumes jumping out of sarcophaguses.”
“Yeah . . . This will probably seem kind of silly, but I actually thought if I went inside that pyramid, I would have never come back out. Now, I wonder if it would have been safer.”
Seth took her hand and squeezed it. “You made the right decision. Anything can happen, even in a small town like this. And I don’t want you to disappear too.”
That relaxing tingling sensation trickled throughout her body again. It was so different from the other sensation Seth made her feel—that intense, fiery touch that excited her nerves. Not really thinking about it, Natti leaned against Seth’s arm, drawn to the force. “I just think I’m a little on edge. As much fun as this festival is, dead Pharaohs and ancient temples still kind of creep me out.”
“Then it’s fortunate the café has nothing to do with anything like that.”
They approached the four foot iron fence, and Seth easily jumped up and over it. He then offered Natti a hand. Natti smiled, for the first time that night feeling comfortable. She took his hand and climbed over. When she landed on the concrete, he pointed to a little sign hidden in the shadows.
“It’s right over there.”
Seth opened the door to the empty café and let Natti slip inside. It was a small, run-down place with old, daisy-yellow wallpaper, which was begging to be pulled down with all its peeling corners and stains. The metal tables and chairs were dull from years of use, and the booth seats were torn and tattered. There was a long bar with stools by the cashier counter and cracked pastry case. Leaning by the espresso machine was the only employee in sight, a young woman whose nose was stuck in a romance novel. She finally glanced up from its pages when the bell rang overhead.