“Well I, and all her friends who know her and love her and don’t want to see her get gouged by someone like you, call her Finnie,” Claudia returned. The nostril quiver, I thought, was a good touch. “Her name, is Seoafin,” Valentine cut in haughtily, her green eyes sliding elegantly to me, “that is far more chic then…” her lips turned down and one nostril quivered delicately, “Finnie.”

“Okay,” Claudia stated, “say you do this. She reeked of money even more than me and I was loaded.Īnd, incidentally, she was, I’d learned from a variety of reliable sources, an extremely powerful witch. She had major class from her perfectly coiffed head to her killer Jimmy Choo clad toes. She had a kickass place in the French Quarter. Her descent, she declared, was pure Creole, in other words, her people were there before our people were there (her people being the Europeans and when she explained this to us during our first meeting with her a couple of days ago, after, of course, corresponding with her for months to set up this gig, it was she who added the emphasis). Her hair was a dark, shining auburn, real as far as I could tell. “I can assure you,” Valentine put in smoothly, “she will.” “You are nuts if you…” she leaned forward again, her eyes darting with more than a little obvious distrust at Valentine before coming back to me, “think you’re going to a parallel universe.” “I get it sweetheart, you think I’m nuts.” “Finnie!” Claudia snapped and I looked back at my friend. Valentine’s eyelids lowered a little, like a cat who was coasting to sleep. And it wasn’t my fault no matter what anyone says.”

And that time you nearly got stampeded by elephants when you were on safari –” And I’ll throw in treasure hunting with that guy who thought he was the Indiana Jones of this generation but who was, I will remind you,” she leaned in, “not. I cut her off, saying through a smile, “I didn’t swim with sharks, they just crashed the party.”Ĭlaudia’s eyes got squinty. “Crazier than when you bungee jumped, crazier than when you jumped from a plane, crazier than when you swam with the sharks, crazier –” “This is crazy,” she went on then elaborated. “Finnie,” my friend Claudia hissed from my side and I looked from Valentine to Claudia to see Claudia looked pale and alarmed. “You are sure?” Valentine asked in her soft, throaty, sing-song New Orleans accented voice.

Wildest Dreams by Kristen Ashley