Silver at Midnight: A Paranormal Romance Urban Fantasy (The Keepers of Knowledge Series Book 5) by Bridgette O'Hare (best large ereader .TXT) 📕

the Kanna Tribe parchment. But the word-by-word or phrase level translation was only part of the process. Next was the more complex part—conveying the meaning as accurately as possible.

Before I began this final stage, my eyes needed a rest, my lungs needed some air, and I needed caffeine. It was time for a short break. And since I remembered seeing a sign for an employee break room on the second floor, I was certain I’d at least find some coffee.

I found myself subconsciously counting the steps as I wound around the spiral staircase to the second floor below. Twenty-one. It was more than I expected, but I suppose when you have extra high ceilings, the usual twelve to thirteen steps wouldn’t get the job done. Yes, I did have a subconscious habit of counting steps as I walked them. It was a handy piece of information in the dark. There were thirteen at the cottage.

A voice echoed faintly down the hallway of the second floor. I began moving toward it since a sign also indicated the break room was in that direction. As I moved closer, the voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on who it was. I stopped dead in my tracks a few feet from the source when I heard the words “Kanna Stone.” In the matter of a few seconds, while listening intently from outside the cracked door, I processed a mental list of people who knew we were on the hunt for the artifact.

He was trying to keep the volume low, but the acoustics of the old building carried more than one might have thought. Definitely more than he thought.

“They have pinpointed a location for the Stone,” he offered in a hushed tone. He was on the phone. I waited and listened, still trying to place where I had heard the voice before.

“No. No one suspects anything.” He paused. “I’ll learn what I can. We’ll need to move swiftly though.” Another pause while he listened to whoever was on the other end of the call. “Very well. I’ll keep you posted.”

It was obvious the call was ending, and I didn’t want to get caught eavesdropping. I did, however, want to see who else had a mark on the Kanna Stone. Especially when I suspected they weren’t on the same team. Scratch that. I knew he wasn’t on the same team. You don’t have a clandestine conversation if you’re on the up and up, and I needed to know who the enemy was.

I crept down the hall to the first open door I came to and slipped inside, hiding to the left of the door so I could get a look at who I was dealing with. Only, they didn’t walk by. I waited a solid three minutes, definitely long enough. When no one showed, I edged to the brink of the doorway and peeked around to make sure the way was clear in both directions. When I was certain, I eased into the hall and headed toward the break room again as if it were my first time. When I reached the doorway where I had stopped short before, the door was wide open, the light was off, and the room was empty. I didn’t stop just in case someone happened to be watching. I didn’t want to seem suspicious. But I did glance in, as I did for the next open door, and the next until I reached the break room at the end.

I entered the lit room and went straight for the coffee maker. But my mind was spinning. There were no other exit doors at this end of the hall, only the one just before where I had been hiding. So, there was no way of slipping out without being seen. He would have had to walk past me. The mystery voice had managed to disappear into thin air.

As I reviewed it all, I stirred creamer into my coffee.

“There you are!” Cian stated from the doorway causing me to nearly knock my coffee over.

“Geesh! Don’t sneak up on me like that,” I sputtered and grabbed a napkin to clean up the spillage.

He chuckled as he walked toward me. “My apologies. I didn’t think ya were so jumpy.”

I exhaled. “I’m not, normally.”

“And now isn’t normal why?” He stepped up beside me and brushed a strand of hair out of my face, studying me thoroughly. “What’s wrong, lass? Somethin’ has ya on edge. Besides the Darek situation,” he added with a wink.

I held up a finger in a “hold please” manner and took a long sip of the calming nectar. “You’re not wrong. Darek being here is a contributing factor. But there’s something else,” I began. And I went on to explain what I’d overheard in the hall and how I had secretly waited, but no one passed by. Then I gave a detailed account of how, after waiting and being certain no one could have slipped past me, the mystery person was nowhere to be found.

“Hmm.” It was all he said.

“That’s it? Hmm?”

“Well, I’m not sure what to make of it. We are going to have to be sure we keep our inner circle tight.”

“I need to find out who Uncle Lach might have told when he left the archive room. Because I didn’t even leave the room until I came down here for coffee. That might help up narrow down who I overheard. Still not sure how they got past me though.”

“That is an enigma.”

“Had he told you what we’d found and where he was going?” I asked.

“Aye. He called to let me know he was heading to meet with Nira. Said he’d let me know what he learned. That was over an hour ago. Haven’t heard back from him yet. Are you finished with your translation?”

“Not quite. I completed the naïve translation. Now I have to go back over it and clarify the intended message. As I’m sure you know, there can sometimes be several English options that