The Summoning (Custodes Noctis) by Muffy Morrigan Read Free Book Online

was fond of saying.
    “Yeah. There was a little problem, when I called Dad to help, and he tried to get here , he couldn’t. Whatever is messing with you is also blocking him from getting to us. The First Emrys couldn’t even come through. I tried. I was desperate enough to try the formal ritual of Calling, and they still couldn’t get here. Whatever we are dealing with can stop that.”
    “ Which is a very bad thing,” Dera said softly.
    “ Very,” Dor agreed. “We are concerned.”
    “I’m not concerned, I’m terrified,” Galen said firmly. “I’ve done my best to cast something stronger around our home, but honestly, I don’t think it’s enough.”
    “No,” Rob said hesitantly. “I guess I don’t get to go to Becci’s?”
    “You don’t get to leave the apartment. Not until we know what this thing is. Flash is coming over to play shopkeeper.”
    “ We’ll help!” Dera chuckled.
    “Help destroy his car?” Rob asked, taking the hint and trying to dispel the tension in the room.
    Rob could tell Galen was worried to the point of frantic, and he rarely got that way. One of the things he admired most about his brother was the focus that he brought into any situation. It wasn’t really calm, though it might read that way to some people, it was more an intense focus. People often made the mistake that the soft-spoken shopkeeper and guitarist was not a fighter. It was a mistake they only made once. Galen’s abilities were remarkable, and since Rob had lost his Gifts and their bond had become muted, they had worked on their fighting technique until they were smoother than many more seasoned Keepers. Rob tried to bring his Gift to bear—sometimes he could get a glimmer from it—and just for a moment he could see the dark wash of worry bordering on fear around Galen. The bond hummed, for an instant that reassuring comfort was there. Rob caught the edges of the exhaustion from his brother—the effort it took to keep even the small spark of the bond alive.
    “ Come to me.” The words were suddenly there, blotting out everything else. Rob could still see Galen sitting across the table, but it was like he was seeing him through a dirty window or curtain. The landscape of his dream was slowly filling up the waking world. “Come to me.”
    “Rob!” Galen said, getting up.
    A sharp nip on his neck brought Rob back to the apartment. He blinked and turned to look accusingly at Dor. “Did you bite me?”
    “ No.”
    “So that’s not blood I feel running down my neck?”
    Galen had disappeared, he was back with a towel and bandages. “It’s nothing serious,’” he said, swiping it with alcohol. “It shut down the bond, I couldn’t reach you at all.”
    “But I…” Rob began.
    “Yeah, as soon as you forced your Gift, it was there, I felt it right before it shut me out.”
    “What was it?” Rob asked, watching his brother’s face. “Galen?”
    “It felt like death.”
    “That’s how my dreams were at first. Last night I tried to guide it, and for the first time, I saw more, a landscape, a path. I could see with my Gift there.”
    “Are you sure it was your Gift?”
    “It felt like it.” Rob sighed and got up. Galen tensed and both ravens rustled their wings. “Coffee. I am just getting coffee. Then I am going to walk over there,” he pointed at the table by the bookshelves, “and I am going to see if I can find out anything more.”
    “Hey!” The downstairs door banged open. “I’m here!” Flash stomped up the stairs and looked into the room. “I stopped by the stand. Becci said no one had been by this morning. She was worried.”
    “Rob’s grounded,” Galen said, smiling.
    “Huh.” Flash carried a paper cup to Rob and handed it to him. “What’d you do?”
    “He tried to fly down the stairs.”
    “He what? You what?” Flash looked from Galen to Rob. “Right. So, things are worse than I thought. Okay. Right. Here’s your mocha. I’ll go open the shop. No flying down