Page 2 (1/1)

Nope It didn’t do any good

"Anyway," John continued, "froer to stadom He’s already made several visits to different packs and I have no doubt that sooner or later he’ll make his way to us whether ish it or not" He watched et it out of the hilst we can still maintain some control over the situation"

I snorted "Whatever," and quickly changed the subject back to the wichtlein’s stone Bureaucratic protocol ht demand that we had to inform our Lords and Masters about it, but I was curious as to whether ‘large-scale death and destruction’ was really going to happen, or if it was just scare- "How seriously should I take this rock?"

John’s expression was suddenly completely humourless "As to that, I’d say as seriously as possible The ways and actions of the otherworld are rarely without good reason" He held the little black stone between his finger and thu it inside his shirt pocket and buttoning it over

I frowned If John was treating the situation that gravely then it definitely merited my more earnest attention "I’ll stay here and scout the area, see what I can find"

"Are you arers taped to ood"

"Okay, then I need you back at the keep by sunrise though or I’ll send Anton out looking for you"

I threw John an evil look Anton and I were not exactlyup his broad ri, turned towards the keep

I watched his retreating back for athat I hadn’t thought to ask him about the rumours he’d heard that hadthe dirt in a few places that looked as if they ht have been disturbed, I wondered if they were related to the stone It had certainly h to attract anyone’s attention froe itself was at least ten kilometres fro in the first place and been of the loud variety I shrugged and continued looking carefully around me Despite h, or any traces of anything else I paused for ato use my Spidey senses but clearly I was either no superhero or there was nothing to be found However, ht, which was dark despite the afternoon sunshine, and contained dense undergrowth that could be hiding all s Hopefully not actual spiders

I forced h and sniffed the air It was heavy and h the tangle of creepers and trees, it see alive, or even undead, but there was so I squinted, trying to make out what it was, but couldn’t work it out froh the orse bushes to find out then This would have been easier if I’d been wearing jeans instead of erly stepped past the first cluhtly as the sharp thorns scored the skin onthis was going to be worth it By the tih bushes, beads of blood were forotten used to theJohn, wichtleins and the world in general under my breath, I looked up and realised that what I’d spotted was a length of black cloth Odd I checked around it, in case it was a trap of so on its own froed it a few ti backwards into the gorse when it came free

"Shit!" I swore loudly and even looked around to make sure that no-one had seen my fall I wouldn’t have put it past soh atin pain as the thorns pulled away from skin, I forced myself up and looked atwith a skein of silver thread running through each side It was unlikely that a Cornish local had left this behind, given its thorny location and heavy feel I raised it toas the unmistakable stench of death hit my nostrils Definitely not a local then Unlikely to be a packa practical joke either – their sensitive sense of set close to theotherworldly about it

I searched around again for any other signs of anything but cans of a trail to be seen I certainly wasn’t a tracker of John’s standards but I was fairly competent despite ; in fact it was as if the cloth had just dropped draht cryptically Still, perhaps John ht on it After all, for all I kneichtleins were just keen fashionistas along with casually dropping o up, I realised that the afternoon was beginning to turn into dusk, with the blue sky darkening over just a tinge I glanced back at the gorse, the only way out, and sighed Better get going, I figured I didn’t think I’d be wearing any pretty skirts at any time in my near future after this Well, to be fair, I didn’t actually own any skirts, or dresses, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t want the choice to wear theh a et back through the thorny bushes and return to the clearing I had another quick look around, just in case I’dto avoid touching it with my bare skin, I put the black cloth over ht-hearted feeling I’d had earlier that day during my run had completely dissipated The potential Brethren visit notwithstanding, John was clearly taking this whole omen very seriously I made a mental note to check the keep’s library later for any infor up so useful on the Othernet too

I wasn’t far fro buddy, bounced up to ht and his smile matched his sunny appearance "Hey Red! Where have you been all day? And what is that awful sain?"

"Out for a run, then I helped John do so in the forest I found this onreek was co over closer and inhaling deeply, before recoiling away frouy who’d fart under the duvet then be couess, you were down a rabid rabbit hole and cas Bunny?"

Clearly, one without co hiured that if John hadn’t mentioned it to the others yet then it was probably notlike that," I said dised and grinned,an easy arm across rey castle like building Even after living here for years, I still felt a little thrill whenever I saw it loo towards me Cornwall’s history was steeped in Celtic myths and rumour had it that our keep was built on the ruin of a centuries old Celtic castle It certainly wasn’t a fairy tale castle with turrets and steeples, but its solid squatness was both welcoate at its entrance bore hts and incursions from the past, either froone by, or fro ilass s hinted at its lack of ht, was Julia’s little herb garden which she used to grow any manner of weeds hich to feed her various concoctions, whilst in front lay a long drive covered in pale pink shale which had the unnerving habit of julea, however, it was my home and I loved it

Julia was just inside the door e entered, pinning sorey hair, slightly older than John and a whole lot scarier She’d lived with the Cornwall pack for her entire life and treated everyone as if they were naughty children She fixed me with a death stare "Mackenzie S It shtly touched the cloth on htly at the shudder its touch gave me "I need to show it to John," I protested

"I don’t care It is not entering this building and defiling our living space Besides, John has already gone out" She sniffed delicately and continued to glare at an to back out

To be fair to her, despite the keep’s vaguelyappearance outside and shabby interior within, it ell-kept with a see suspected that she hired brownies to clean it at nights, but had never been able to catch any of them to prove it Tom almost ran up the stairs out of her hilst I flounced outside and headed for an unused shed beside the north face of the keep, tying it securely to a post inside before sto for me in the hall

"When will he back?" What I really wanted to knohether he’d called he Brethren yet and if they were really cooogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">