Jack Templar and the Lord of the Werewolves (Book #4 of the Templar Chronicles) by Jeff Gunhus Read Free Book Online Page A

complementing the other, stretching out for an impossible length. Then, the sisters let the note slowly dissolve into the night air until it was gone.
    No one moved at first, so taken with the music. Finally, someone clapped, and the rest of the group followed suit. But it was a reserved response. Not because the performance wasn’t brilliant – it was – but because we’d all felt the same way. This was a personal song for the two sisters, but it was a song for the new Black Guard as well. Built upon the foundation of terrible sadness was a defiance that would never end.
    “They all feel it,” Aquinas whispered to me. “The war is coming.”
    “They’re ready to fight,” I said, not quite believing it.
    “Maybe. Are you?” Aquinas asked.
    I looked at my friends sitting by the fire, laughing with the others, enjoying a well-deserved break. I knew it would be pointless to try to get them to stay here and let me go alone on this next part of my journey. Not only that, but I knew now that I needed them and couldn’t do this thing without their help.
    I looked over to Aquinas and saw her searching my face for the real answer. It was impossible to lie to her, so I just told her the truth.
    “I’m scared. I’m scared that my friends might get killed. I’m scared I might be killed. I’m scared that I’ll fail and Ren Lucre will win and I’ll let everyone down, including my dad and now Eva too.” I took a deep steadying breath. “But to answer your question, yeah, I’m ready to fight. I swore to do my duty, come what may, and that’s exactly what I plan to do.”
    It sounded good at the time, brave even. But the truth was that I had no idea how we could win this fight. The odds were stacked against us, our enemy had every advantage, and we’d lost Eva, our best fighter. I didn’t know whether we would ever get to all the Creach lords, let alone find the Lord of the Werewolves, but I knew we had to try.
    Sometimes trying is all you can do.
    I just wasn’t sure if it was going to be enough this time.

Chapter 7
    I was right. There was no discussion about whether the guys were going to join me or not on this next leg of our journey. I tried to push on T-Rex a little, arguing that Bocho could really use the help at the house. He laughed and told me he was coming whether I wanted him to or not.
    So were Will, T-Rex, and Daniel. But yours truly had stitched together Xavier’s wound from the pincher crab. While I’m pretty good with a sword, it turns out I’m not so hot with little needles, and the wound needed a little tender loving care from the people in the infirmary. He was disappointed, but I could tell he was looking forward to tinkering in Aquinas’s new lab to create some new inventions. He promised a new explosive tip for a crossbow bolt that could take care of the vilest Creach out there.
    Xavier also knew there were going to be two stages to our next adventure. One to find the location of Kaeden, the Lord of the Werewolves, and a second to track down the Creach Lord and capture the Jerusalem Stone he kept. Xavier made me promise to contact him somehow so he could join up with us on the second part of our adventure. I appreciated how sure he sounded that there would be a stage two. As the train whisked through the countryside, I wished I felt the same confidence.
    It was the first time we’d embarked on a quest without Eva. I shuddered thinking of the last time we’d all seen her. Against Aquinas’s wishes, we stopped by the barn where Eva was imprisoned to say goodbye and give her spirits a little boost.
    The others had not been in the barn yet, so they didn’t know what to expect. When we entered, Eva was crouched in the corner of her cell, arms wrapped around herself in a self-comforting hug. She rocked back and forth, muttering like a crazy person. When she finally noticed us, she hissed at us like a cat and pushed herself farther back from us.
    “It’s okay, Eva,” I said. “It’s just