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

A compass was pulled from a clip on his backpack and he began walking. Doppelgänger Cian waited for me to follow Kage then trailed behind me.

We trudged through thick undergrowth choked with brambles. Stiff branches sprawled from smaller trees that made it difficult to maneuver through a narrow and barely visible path that twisted deeper into the forest. I listened intently for . . . well, anything. Wanting to hear the sound of something that might offer some hope. Instead, only the ominous echoes of trees creaked in the wind, almost whispering as the swayed. Fallen branches crunched beneath our feet. There were no birds chirping. No scurry of small woodland creatures. Only the faint hum of a distant waterfall offered any solace.

The sound of running water soon joined the subtle symphony and grew louder as the trees grew thinner. We finessed our way through a sliver of thick underbrush and came out in a clearing. The moment I stepped from the forest into the opening, a stream of energy washed through me as though I had moved through a veil of some kind. With a slight side-glance, I tried to gauge if my traveling companions had noticed the change in atmosphere. My guess was no. Kage could have easily masked his reaction if he’d noticed, but Doppelgänger Cian was another story. I’d have made a sizable bet that he couldn’t hide his reaction to something so powerful and unexpected. The lack of reaction didn’t mean Kage hadn’t noticed. But if he had, and he wasn’t hurrying to slap the shackles back on me, then he wasn’t as smart as I had come to think. Regardless, Fae magic coursed through me once more—not at full strength, but it was there. And it might be enough.

Kage stopped a few steps into the clearing and knelt down to get something from the backpack. I zoned in on the contents—what I could see—as he rummaged. Aside from the journals, all I could truly be certain of was an engraved wooden box and a dagger-shaped object wrapped carefully in a heavy, wool material. The dagger-shaped object could have been a cross, depending on what artifact Kage needed to accomplish what he’d set out for—acquisition of the Kanna Stone. To my surprise, he pulled neither of those from the backpack.

From the bottom, he extracted a small item wrapped in silver velvet. He pushed it into the pocket of his canvas tactical jacket, closed the pack, and returned to a standing position. My curiosity got the better of me . . . again. Another of those nine lives gone, but who’s counting.

“What’s that?” I blurted out.

Doppelgänger Cian smirked. I think I amused him.

“If you must know, the Lunar Ruins are protected. This item will allow us entry without facing the possibility of physical harm.”

So, he did know about that. And he came prepared. Again, smarter than I thought. “I see.” More playing dumb on my part. “And . . . where exactly is this entrance?” The only thing as far as I could see was a waterfall and the small river it fed into.

“We enter through the waterfall,” Kage explained.

“Yeah, I’m not dressed for swimming, Kage.”

“I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that. See that stone slab over there?” He pointed to the edge of the river just at the base of the waterfall.

“Aye,” I replied.

“That’s where we place our gift.”

“Hmph. So, the Wolf deities can be bribed. Good t’ know.” I scoffed almost silently, but not silently enough.

Kage glared at me. “It’s a gesture of good will. But . . . we shall see.”

“And if they don’t accept?” I asked.

“Then we’ll have to do it the hard way.” Kage began walking toward the stone slab.

I began to wonder if I’d been brought along for more than translating. My imagination could easily see the stone slab as a place for a gift . . . or a sacrifice. I wasn’t liking my active imagination at the moment. I raised an eyebrow at Doppelgänger Cian and his shoulders rose and fell in a short action. He motioned his hand for me to go ahead, and I felt slightly stronger as I took a cautious step forward.

Twenty-Seven

The walk across the clearing felt longer than the hike through the woods. Maybe because the moment we crossed into the ruins, my time to make something happen was growing short. Maybe because the closer we got to that slab, the more it looked like a sacrificial alter. Granted, sacrifices were more of a Witch thing than a Wolf thing. Did I mention I hate my imagination sometimes?

As we approached, I noted the sequence of moon cycle symbols chiseled into the slab along with a series of unusual glyphs I’d never seen before. If I’d had my phone, I would have taken a photo so I could look it up later. If I had a later, of course. I wasn’t naïve enough to think my chances of walking away from this weren’t still slim.

Kage reached into his pocket and brought out the object wrapped in silver velvet. I watched intently, more than a little curious as to what was hidden inside. He placed it gently on the stone slab and unfolded the material, laying it out smoothly, revealing a small glass ball. Fine, it was probably made of crystal, but how cliché would that be? Besides, this didn’t appear to be an ordinary crystal ball. Coils of magic swirled within, materializing in silver and iridescent twists and curls. It was mesmerizing. Almost hypnotizing. I shook my head to loosen its hold on me and looked away. Never had I seen anything like it.

“What is that?” I whispered to Kage.

“A Moon Orb. Only eight exist,” he replied as he took a step back from the stone slab.

“And what exactly do they do?”

“Protection, in various forms. They have been said to hypnotize your enemy or create light in the darkness. Some stories have said a Moon Orb can heal or restore,”