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"J, can you think of anything that we have that sohed "Nah There’s nothing that I ken of We dinna have onything locked away because it’s too valuable to be seen by others"

I paused Actually we did In John’s office there was that ically sealed drawer that I’d been unable to open It was just possible that there was so inside there that Iabartu was after I couldn’t think of any reason for why John would have wanted to keep anything hidden away from the rest of the pack, so whatever was in there must be iet into that drawer Unfortunately I’d not seen Alex since I returned and he would surely bethe ht not be best the idea But silver could work I needed to get soh the portal so I reckoned that there was no ti up the door, I shouted down to Johannes to try closing it The heavy oak slaht up with ain I could prove that I’d been busy

"I need to take care of a few things, J," I said to him as I climbed back down the ladder

"Aye, lass," he nodded, "you do tha’ ‘n’ uessing who that ‘fecker’ was At least someone still had faith in me

I had toto the keep I was pretty sure that if I was caught shirking the orders that Corrigan had given me, then they’d throw my sorry ass down the disused well at the back of the keep and wipe their hands of , however, I had to find Julia

As I was confident that she’d have been taken to her own room, where she could be made the most comfortable, I headed back inside the keep but avoided the reat hall was a small door that led to a staircase that had been used by servants in tione past I reckoned that the Brethren wouldn’t know about it yet – and even if they did, they’d have no cause to use it Despitethe way, Ito be as silent as I possible could When I reached the third floor, where Julia’s room was located, I carefully pushed open the door just a chink and peered through

I could just make out her roo froan and the doctor e hard, I waited till they had headed to the un to descend before I an seeainst the wall and heldthat it wasn’tso like a thief in ently closing the door behind me Her pale broken body lay on the bed, unconscious I didn’t have much time before someone returned to check on her, but I had to do this I knelt down beside her prone form and placed my hand on her arm Her skin felt clah me

"It’s all my fault, Julia," I whispered "The wichtlein said so I don’t knohy or how, but it is And if," htly, "if I could have been here when you called then I could have saved you" I gulped in air and tried to sn the tears "I’ll ht Just stay strong until I return" I smoothed a strand of hair away from her brow and slowly stood up This wasto do what I should have fro back

After leaving the third floor, I sneaked up to the south garret where the silver weapons were kept,the way The door was kept locked, sierous silver was to shifters, but everyone knehere the key was I reached up onto the dusty sill of the door fra and I ed to unlock it quickly

Inside, the little room was spartan but clean I pulled a bow off the wall and tested its string It twanged with a pleasing tautness so I slung it round my shoulder, then opened up a battered chest and pulled out the silver tipped arrows There would be a limit to how et out of the keep without any of the Brethren spotting ht and stuffed theth of the arroere such that it looked like it contained weapons As long as no-one asked h, I’d probably be okay Next I unhooked a small dirk froht It was perfectly balanced and would suit ht and easy to carry so even if I found th of tih ainst h even the toughest hide Excellent

My next stop was the dor any further Some otherworld creatures, shifters included, could s myself away too easily And I was pretty sure that I still had some of Julia’s yarrow ointment to slather on too

I headed back down the narrow stairs and alht into Staines as I rounded the corridor Shit He scowled at me and then wrinkled his nose Damnit, as the last time I’d put on the scented lotion? I couldn’t reo His eyes narrowed suspiciously at me, so I headed hi in that town And blood too Makes me feel unclean The trouble is that we only have a li that the girls will have already used it all up" I was vaguely aware that I was babbling "I don’t suppose you have that problehtly demented in the head Which was fine Then he strode off without saying a word and IAnother one of Julia’s favourite sayings I winced at the thought of her and quickly picked upto avoid any of the pack, because I didn’t want to blurt out my plan to them, in case they tried to stop me or, worse, tried to join ed my clothes, slapped on some lotion and then carefully cleaned and bound the biteto have latched on so quickly, I thought idly He’dof course that the Brethren didn’t vanish him away first I supposed I’d never knohich way he’d decide to jump

Once I was safely dehumanized, I went out in search of Alex I didn’t knohich room Julia would have put hi all the guest rooms on the floor above However there were a few spare rooms on my dorm’s floor, such as the one that Toht, swinging open a few doors as I went All the rooms were bare and unslept in apart fro north As the door squeaked open and I peered around, I noticed there were a few bags dumped on the floor by theand some odd chalk e runes, the equivalent of a teenager’s Stay The Hell Out sign I reached intoand pulled out a scrap of paper and a pencil and scribbled hi him to come and find me, either in the office or outside the keep, as a ency Hopefully he’d come back soon and read it In the ers crossed that the silver dirk would be able to break through John’san old war filo, where the British spy in enemy territory had coed and knehere you were going and what you were doing to evade capture, I strode out of the dor toand was still working on Corrigan’s ‘repair the keep’ orders I needn’t have worried I passed a few pack members, and a few Brethren too, but they were all lost in their own thoughts and own grief and paid host of a s down the stairs, but didn’t say anything It had seemed that everyone had forced themselves to bounce back quickly after John, but with the threat ofevents of just a couple of hours ago, it felt as if the will and the spirit of the keep had been stripped away The feeling was al for her life And it also gavewith my plan

I had a couple of ready made excuses prepared in an, was inside the office, but I was in luck and it was empty Someone had already started to tidy up some of the devastation that the invaders had caused, but whoever it was had left a few tidy piles of papers and then disappeared It suited me perfectly I carefully twisted the knob on the door to John’s study and stepped inside, flicking on the light switch

It was exactly the sa into his conored the machine this time around, however and bent down to the bottom drawer of the old desk There was a tiny brass keyhole fashioned into the wood, where I guessed the source of theeven fro to keep out and stay away Sorry, not this tier towards it, experimentally, and felt the cold burn of the barrier I drew back quickly and tried the sides, knocking the lower edges of the wood that encased all the drawers The buzz of the as there too, although a bit fainter I tried reaching underneath, to the bottoain I met painful resistance Then I pulled out the drawer above, co down It was a pitch black well of nothingness