Chasing Shadows (Saving Galerance, Book 1) by Natalie Reid Read Free Book Online

yell, but stopped himself. “That’s
not what I’m doing,” he said, softer this time.
    “Then what are you doing?”
    “Nothing,” he shook his head. “Just forget it.” He glanced
behind him before admitting, “You’re right. I was too hard on her.” He gulped
and added, “Will you tell her for me?”
    “Why don’t you tell her yourself?”
    Mason was silent as he stared at the ground, scuffing his
boot against the grass of the meadow.
    “Can’t you try to be her friend again?” Logan asked
carefully.
    His brother looked up and was about to respond when something
behind Logan drew his attention. “Malachy’s here,” he announced. “We should get
back to the cave.”
    Logan’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. He knew his
brother was holding something back from him, and he wished he would finally
just come out and say what it was. But, it seemed as if that wasn’t going to
happen tonight.
    Back inside the cave, they found Malachy and two of his
oldest Whispers with him. The two boys were checking the bags that were on the
cave floor while Malachy looked down at them in careful deliberation. Norabel
was also nearby, helping them to place some of the items she dumped out onto
the cave floor back into the bag.
    “Do you have a good idea of who this stuff all belongs to?”
Logan asked, hoping to clear some of the tension away from Mason and Norabel.
    Malachy’s sharp, calculating brown eyes turned to him. He
rubbed a hand over his brown beard, which was graying in places, no doubt due
to the stress of his job.
    “I think we can return everything back to their rightful
owners,” he answered. “I know a family in the north that will be very happy to
see their possessions returned.”
    “Not happy enough,” Mason commented from a darkened corner
of the cave.
    Malachy frowned and nodded. “No, not happy enough. I’m
afraid the father was red-flagged a few months back. The Pax has been bleeding
them dry ever since.”
    “Red-flagged for what?” Archer questioned. He was crouched
by the fire and was smelling a piece of stray charcoal. As he looked to Malachy
for an answer, he crushed the charcoal in his hands and rubbed the dust under
his armpits to act as a kind of natural perfume.
    Malachy eyed him curiously for a moment before clearing his
throat and saying, “They say they found a painting of Lord Rodion hidden in
their house.”
    “That was it?” Logan asked, feeling sorry for this
unfortunate family.
    “From what I’ve gleaned, they’ll red-flag someone for just
about any reason when they’re low on supplies,” Malachy explain. “In fact, I
wouldn’t be surprised if that painting wasn’t planted by the officials raiding
their house.”
    Logan felt his skin crawl upon hearing this news. He knew
the Pax was corrupt, but it never ceased to amaze him how heartless they could
be when enforcing their will.
    Before Malachy could tell them anymore, Mason stepped out from
the shadows of his corner, saying, “Thank you for coming, Malachy. Now you
should get going. Your whispers have a long night ahead of them.”
    Malachy nodded and then motioned for his Whispers to follow
him. As the two boys left, slinging several packs over their shoulders, they
tipped their knuckles to their heads in salute to their Harbinger team. Logan
wished them both good luck and watched solemnly as they left the cave, heading
willfully and eagerly into a dangerous, sleepless night.

Chapter 4
    The morning found Norabel sitting on her bed, staring at a
small, pale brown shell in her hands. The last of the Albatross Seeds she had
managed to smuggle from home. The two halves of the brown shell were tied
together with a delicate piece of string. Carefully undoing it, she opened up
the shell to see the perfect star pattern that had etched itself on the inside
of the shell.
    Closing her eyes, she remembered the day that her
grandfather had told her about this star. She had been so little at the time. As
she walked