A Path of Oak and Ash Read Online Free PDF Page A

drug to make him see things.  Sure would have explained the warm feeling and everything else he'd been through.
    "What if I don't want to go?  I could still run to the police..."
    "If you go to your authorities you will be charged for these crimes, they will take you in and deliver you unto those who assaulted you.  You will then be killed and it will not be a pleasant death."
    "That's what you say."  Carrick snapped.
    "It is what will happen child.”  With a curse, Erik turned toward the bird by the window.
    “Arcedes, if my nephew goes near the door you have my permission to peck his eyes out."  The mammoth creature let out a quick caw in response, extending her wingspan once while staring at the boy.  "Nothing personal Carrick." 
    Erik walked over to the bed by the door and stretched out on top of the sheets, crossing his feet at his ankles while folding his hands over his chest.
    Despite his desire to run from the room, Carrick sulked over to the empty bed and pulled back the comforter.  Arcedes was still staring at him long after his head hit the pillow.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    4
     
     
    When Carrick opened his eyes he fully intended to be in his own room, recovering from a horrible nightmare.
    He was sorely disappointed.
    Laying on the lush hotel bed, he felt both an ache in his muscles and the curious softness of the sheets.  In his nose was not the musty scent of his poorly ventilated room but the aroma of bacon, eggs and brewed coffee.
    His stomach rumbled on its own accord.
    “Figured you’d be hungry.”  Erik was seated at the small table, eating off of one of two room service trays.  Fighting the initial impulse to run, scream and get as far away from him as possible, Carrick sat up with a deliberate slowness.  Testing his muscles, taking a deep breath to see his lungs had improved.  Air flowed in without pain and exhaled with but a small sting.
    “Today we leave the city and head for home.   Our flight leaves at ten so we needn't dally.” Erik commented over the metallic ting of his fork against the plate.
    Obliged to biological demands, Carrick made use of the opulent marbled bathroom.  Taking a moment to absorb the view outside the window of the suite on his way back into the main space.  The tall buildings and lush park grounds beneath them could only be one place.   This was New York City. The greenery beneath him was Central Park. Wow. 
    It really was breathtaking.  A view that made him feel small and insignificant yet also privileged to look upon its wonder.  In his lifetime he never thought he would be in such a place, staring out over the magnificent buildings of one of the worlds most renowned cities from what was clearly a five star hotel.  This place had to cost well over a thousand dollars a night if not more.  The last time his mother took him on a vacation they'd stayed at a budget inn, thirty five dollars a night. 
    Returning to the main room, he slowly approached the small table covered with food.  “Where are we going?”  Carrick asked, taking a seat across from the man who claimed to be his uncle. 
    A brief thought concerning the safety of breakfast flashed through his mind, would it be possible that this man had drugged the meal or otherwise tampered with it?  In the end though the call of the food was too tempting. Carrick dug in quickly, shoveling eggs into his mouth without much thought to chewing.
    “The shore of Iona.  Off the coast of what you call Scotland.”
    “Never heard of it.”  More eggs.  Some orange juice.  More bacon.
    Erik smirked, lifting the lid off of another serving tray that had concealed a short stack of pancakes.   “It is the last gate left in this plane, a union of the land, sea and sky on sacred ground.”
    “There were others?”
    “Before Atlantis fell, yes.”
    Carrick swallowed wrong, causing himself to go into a coughing fit.   Feeling rather embarrassed he took a deep swig of orange juice.  “The