Once Upon a Haunted Moon (The Keeper Saga) by K.R. Thompson Read Free Book Online Page A

saying, “Thanks for playing, but I have to go home now.”
    Tommy snorted, making sure it was well known to all, that he had not enjoyed this play date and had no plans for being around for the next one.
    Adam sent a clear picture to us of what I guessed to be a Deadland, clearly urging us to keep moving, lest Little It show back up with a parent in tow.
    I snorted in amusement. I had lived surrounded by this forest my whole life and hadn’t ever seen any of the magic it held, never a Sasquatch — or even a wolf for that matter, though I had heard them from time to time when the moon was round and full.
    Adam started us off in a run, and we followed him, branches from trees moving magically out of the way, as if they wanted to help speed us along on our journey. After a few moments Adam slowed, and we came up on a winding creek. Standing at the edge, his black mist covered him, and he switched back from his wolf and waited for the rest of us to follow him.
    “Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek, how lovely you are today,” Erik joked, looking up at Adam, “Oh fearless leader, is there a reason you want us to cross the creek the hard way? I could jump this easily if you’d let me stay wolf!”
    Adam gave him a withering look, “The Deadland I want to check first is only a few yards on the other side of that creek. It’s not a good idea to show up as wolves at that particular Deadland after what happened last time.”
    I had actually heard about the last visit to that Deadland. The Keepers had been searching for lost hikers, when Ed had stepped on a branch which had splintered into his paw. He hadn’t healed as quickly as he should have, and the Deadland soaked up his blood, becoming super-charged with magic — and power. So powerful, in fact, that they hadn’t been able to search it any further. Ed had ended up having to go to Adam’s grandfather to counter the magic so that his hand would heal.
    I looked over to Ed; he was flexing his left hand. He seemed to do that a lot. Whether from remembering the Deadland, or because his hand bothered him, I didn’t know. But at that same moment, it hadn’t gone unnoticed by Adam, either.
    “Are you going to be okay when we get over there?” he asked Ed.
    Ed nodded, but the look on his face wasn’t very reassuring.
    Adam’s gold eyes narrowed for a second, but then he nodded, “All right.”
    Tommy and Michael had been busy navigating the driest route across the creek. They had come across a series of flat stones, and were doing an odd sort of hopscotch across the creek.
    “Do you know why it’s called Wolf Creek?” Erik asked me.
    “Is it named after the Keepers?”
    “Well, in a way, I guess. You know how Nikki is our Seer, right?”
    “Yeah.” I stepped on the first flat stone. It wobbled a bit, but I stayed dry. I had heard Nikki had an odd way of being able to see, hear, and feel stuff most people would never be able to do. There was always one Seer for each generation of Keepers and even though Nikki wasn’t part of their tribe, she had somehow ended up with the magic that made her one of them.
    “Well, legend has it that our first Seer, named White Wolf, was met by the first Wolf of our people — the same one who gave us the Wolf Stone — and it was at this very creek, though I’m not sure if it was in the spot we’re at right now, or farther downstream,” he said, as his hands came out to steady himself on the wet rock he stood on, “Anyway, they named it Wolf Creek for the first Wolf. The elders still believe The Wolf comes to this creek, but I’ve never heard of anyone who has actually seen him. But we hear a wolf sometimes, one that isn’t us, but it could be just a ‘normal’ wolf. Personally, I think it’s just a myth, he’d have to be like, I dunno, a thousand years old by now!”
    ***
    The Wolf watched five of the boys jump on the stones to cross the creek. He always watched each generation of them from time to time, as he made sure they were