Starlight Web (Moonshadow Bay #1) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,35

good for the environment. As long as they stayed outside in their webs, we were fine, but inside? My territory and I didn’t want to share. I wasn’t fond of bugs in general, except for ladybugs. Those I liked and would even pick up on my finger.

Killian pointed to our right. “Well, the hall runs down to the end, I think, though I can’t quite tell if it turns there.”

A row of doors spread out to our right. To our left were the wide bay windows that lined the wall. Over the years, time and kids with rocks had broken a good share of them. Sure enough, most of the windows along this hallway had been broken. I peered out one of the broken panes, cautious because of the shattered glass on the floor. From here, I could see our cars in the front parking lot. There was snow on the hallway floor in places where it had blown in through the broken panes.

As we came to the first door on the right, I swallowed my nerves and yanked open the door.

Nothing. Dead silence. Inside, there was absolutely nothing to indicate what the room had been used for. Every cupboard, counter, and piece of furniture had been taken out, leaving the room completely bare. But even a bare room could have psychic residue.

I walked to the center of the room. Slowly, I closed my eyes and drifted deep into a standing trance. Standing trances were different than sitting trances, because I still had to keep myself anchored enough to not keel over. I couldn’t open my third eye entirely, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. If I opened my psychic senses too wide, there was a chance something could possess me.

I listened. It was as though I was still standing in the room, but it wasn’t quite the same room. I was out on an etheric layer of the room.

As I turned, I began to see cold spots—areas where the psychic energy was stronger. One corner of the room was lit up like a Yule tree. I slowly advanced in that direction. It could be residue—energy that had just fastened onto the area and stagnated. Or there could still be something there.

As I reached the place where the energy was most intense, a sudden flash filled the room and a bolt that looked suspiciously like lightning streaked out of the cold spot, striking me in the chest. The bolt threw me backward against the wall, and I went down, hard.

Chapter Eight

“January! Are you okay?” Killian raced forward as I slammed to the floor, sliding down the wall.

Too stunned to do or say anything, I sat there, waiting for the next attack. My heart was beating as hard as the opening riff of Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks,” a band that my ex had forbidden me to play while he was in the house. Shaking, I groaned as I rolled over, using the wall to steady myself as I tried to stand.

Killian grabbed my elbow and helped me up as I wildly looked around, trying to pinpoint just what had attacked me. “We should get the hell out of here,” he muttered.

I shook my head. “This is my job. I just need to be careful and remain alert. I’m all right—I’m bruised up a bit, but I didn’t break anything.” I swallowed the fear that was rising in my throat. “If you want to leave, please, feel free. I told you, I was born into a family of witches and trained from birth to handle things like this.” That wasn’t necessarily true—my magical training had prepared me to ward against attack, but that hadn’t been a major focus.

Killian shook his head. “I’m not leaving you here alone. I can take care of myself.”

I frowned. “Are you sure? I mean, I know you look like you could win in a fight, but some of these spirits are stronger than you might think.”

He paused, then gave me a half-smile and a shrug. “I’m not human, January. I’m not that fragile.”

I forgot about the attack for a moment and stood there, staring at him. “You’re not human? Then what…you’re not a witch—I’d be able to feel your magical signature if you were.”

“I’m a shifter. Down in California, the community I lived in wasn’t very accepting, so I kept to myself a lot. I’m a wolf shifter,” he added.

I froze. Wolf shifter? “You’re not a gray wolf, are you?” I asked, remembering the