AllFreeNovel
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The wind picked up, making me shiver. I really wished I was wearing more than a flimsy cardigan and capris. We didn’t have any extra items with us since we didn’t have time to return to our hotel. We were all wearing two-day-old clothes. Wait a minute…Leo and I were wearing the same clothes. Vance was not.
“Hey, don’t suppose you’d want to give me something a little warmer to wear, would you?” I asked Vance.
He appraised my body. The heat coming off of him was hard to miss. “What’d you have in mind?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Certainly something that covers more than you’re imagining.”
He laughed. “Jeans and a sweater good?”
The temperature was mild, low-sixties or so. “Yeah, that works.”
He closed his fist to conjure some fairy dust and released it over my head. “Done.”
One blink later and I had a new outfit. I was now wearing a thin black pullover sweater with a pair of skinny jeans, and black knee high boots. Okay, so the sweater was much tighter than I would have preferred, but overall, he’d done pretty well.
I smiled. “Much better. Thank you.” My anxiety started to rise again as I watched the witches work their magic. “Do you really think we’ll be okay in Faerie?”
He nodded. “I do, Karli. I know you’re skeptical because you have no other frame of reference, but these really are good people.” He cast a sideways glance at Leo. “Well, I’m sure they won’t be quite so welcoming to him, but you and I will be fine.”
Leo growled. “Watch it, Detective.”
“Be careful with that temper, Vampire. We wouldn’t want you to poison yourself,” Vance admonished.
Leo’s fangs extended. “We’re not in Faerie yet.”
Michaela looked back in disapproval. Apparently their argument was breaking her concentration.
“Knock it off, you two!” I whisper shouted.
Leo retracted his fangs. “My apologies, love.”
“My apologies, love,” Vance mocked.
I smacked Vance’s chest with the back of my hand. “Omigod, are you five? Quit antagonizing him!”
“What can I say? He brings out the worst in me.”
“Likewise,” Leo muttered.
Out of nowhere, a single bolt of lightning crashed into the center of the circle. The fine hairs on my arms stood straight up from the static in the air. “That wasn’t a regular bolt of lightning, was it?”
A cloud of smoke had formed over the hill, creating a thick fog. We watched carefully, waiting for it to dissipate.
Vance shook his head from left to right. “I’d say definitely not. Look.”
The mound was still present, almost forty feet high and easily three hundred feet in diameter, but it was no longer a big pile of dirt. A wall of round, medium-sized stones formed a circle around the earth. In the center, a doorway was formed using three huge boulders. Great power was emanating from it; I don’t know how I hadn’t sensed that before the veil was removed. This thing was massive and mystical and I was completely in awe.
“Holy shit.”
Michaela motioned for us to come closer. On the ground, a continuous stretch of oval slabs formed a fence around the perimeter. As we came nearer, I could see that several of them were decorated with large geometric designs. Were those symbols of protection, I wondered. Above the doorway, flat rocks were stacked about three feet high on each side forming an almost perfect rectangle with the large piece of wood that was balanced over them.
Michaela held her arms open wide. “Welcome to Gheata do na Anamacha.”
“‘Welcome to what?” I asked.
“The Gateway for the Souls,” she replied. “This is the ancient Fae temple once used for burials. The portal is located inside.”
“This is the place that becomes visible on Winter Solstice?”
