Christopher Golden - The Veil 01 - The Myth Hunters Read Online Free PDF

I don’t know, gloves or something. A minute. Just one minute. I’ll be right back, I swear.”
     
     
Those frozen breaths came shallower, but Frost’s eyes opened, still glowing ice blue, and he nodded. “Go. Quickly. I place my trust in you. What are you called?”
     
     
“Oliver,” he said quickly. “Oliver Bascombe.”
     
     
“Make haste, Oliver. Time is short. As long as I remain herein, you are in danger as well.”
     
     
Not liking the sound of that at all, Oliver backed away from Frost, blowing on his frozen hands, then rubbing them together. No way, he thought. But the feeling was coming back into his hands, and with it, the pain. There could be no doubt that this was real. Which meant that this danger, this Falconer, Frost was talking about must be real as well.
     
     
Oliver opened the door carefully and stepped out into the hall. It was dark save for a lamp in a corner just outside the dining room and the soft orange glow of Christmas lights in the windows. He shut the door behind him, then rushed along the hall with as much stealth as he could manage. The house was silent save for the loud tick of a grandfather clock as he entered the main foyer.
     
     
Oliver allowed himself a tiny sigh of relief and cautiously opened the door to the large coat closet built in beneath the grand staircase. It took him a moment to find a pair of thick ski gloves and a wool scarf striped red, blue, and yellow.
     
     
“Hello? Oliver, is that you?”
     
     
Like a thief caught in the act he dropped the gloves and scarf and backed out of the closet. Collette stood at the top of the stairs, clad in red cotton pajamas that made her look younger than ever.
     
     
“Hey,” she said with a sleepy smile. “What are you doing down there?”
     
     
“Nothing,” he replied, perhaps too quickly. From her vantage point, at least, she would not have been able to see exactly what he had been up to in the closet. “Just trying to find this old leather coat I haven’t seen around in a while.”
     
     
“At this hour?” Collette said doubtfully. Even in the dim light he could see her smile. “You’re not trying to find your Christmas presents, are you? I thought you’d outgrown that pursuit in the eighth grade.”
     
     
A nervous laugh bubbled out of him. “Well, twelfth grade, maybe. But no, just remembered it had been a long time since I’d seen the coat. And I couldn’t sleep, so—”
     
     
“It’s natural to be nervous. I have sleeping pills if you want one.”
     
     
“I’ll be all right, but thanks.”
     
     
For a long moment Collette only stood there. She was his older sister and knew him well enough to sense that there was more going on than he was prepared to reveal. Oliver could not imagine what she was thinking, but eventually she stretched and yawned and the moment had passed.
     
     
“All right. I just wanted to say good night. Don’t stay up too late. Julianna might take it personally if you fall asleep at the altar.”
     
     
Oliver chuckled softly. “I’m going to have a glass of milk, maybe some graham crackers, and then I’ll be up.”
     
     
“You and graham crackers,” Collette replied, and then shuddered comically. “Good night.”
     
     
“Night, sis.”
     
     
Collette paused a moment, then glanced down one last time. “Ollie. If you really feel like . . . like you’re going to be put in some kind of prison . . . you have to remember that no one’s making you go. And if you decide not to, you know I’ll back you up. No matter what.”
     
     
He smiled. “Thanks, Col. Thank you. I love you. Go to bed.”
     
     
She nodded once, then disappeared in the darkened hall at the top of the stairs. Oliver waited a full minute to be certain she was gone. At last he bent to retrieve the fallen gloves and scarf and snatched a thick green winter coat off a plastic hanger. Quickly he drew on the jacket and gloves and wrapped the scarf around his neck.
     
     
Even