Circle of Nine: Circle of Nine Trilogy 1 Read Online Free PDF

deeply asleep. Inside the tiny bedroom he watched the cords that emanated from the sleeping girl. What world was she travelling to tonight? he wondered.
    His paws scraped the wooden floor of the bedroom as he moved slowly toward the oblivious girl. His breath came noticeably faster. Closer, closer. Now he could see the dark shadows under her eyes. Her face was eerily blue in the moonlit room. Her Protector stood forward, startling him, holding a blue amulet toward the Stag Man. He recoiled in shock. The Protector’s energy was so much more powerful on Earth! Regretfully, he backed slowly from the bedroom. With the Protector so close he would not be able to reach Emma tonight. Then again, if he couldn’t, neither could the Solumbi. If the Protector was this close to her tonight then the Solumbi had to be near.
    The Stag Man’s coat gleamed silver-gold as he began the invocation. Hecate would only hold the moon for him for a short space of time. He had to prepare. There was a lot of work to accomplish on the Blue Planet tonight.
    He crept warily into the garden, all of his senses alert, listening. He had tarried too long in the land of humans. The enchantment was wearing thin. His dark-blue nostrils sniffed the air, his huge, dark eyes looked up at the house where Emma slept. He knew it was futile to attempt to re-enter the house. The Protector was too close to her. He glanced around warily, ready to flee at any second. There was danger here. He could sense it. The air was heavy with the familiar odour of the angels. So they had crossed! The moon transmuted his white hide to silver as he basked in her light. He had no choice. He had to leave the Blue Planet quickly and call Emma to Eronth. If she remained here, she would die. At least in his world she would have the protection of the Crone. The Bluite Protector would be futile against the combined strength of many Azephim.
    A Solumbi who had been crouched in the shadows suddenly darted at him. He reared. Fire flew from his hooves, and in a flash of silver and gold stars he dematerialised. Cheated, the Solumbi growled with disappointment. It was hungry and needed to feed.

CHAPTER SIX
    A fter a week of settling into my new home, I had established a routine of sorts. I would rise early, enjoy the luxury of breakfast outside, and then spend the morning working on my paintings. The afternoons and evenings found me cleaning, and also organising my aunt’s possessions. Or I would stroll into the village, exploring the numerous antique shops and art galleries, trying to summon the nerve to enquire about putting my artwork in for sale, and funking it every time. I had lost my confidence with my last disastrous exhibition in Sydney. I was slowly becoming used to being the focus of attention wherever I went, and thankfully, my shining, my gift of being able to read people’s minds, appeared to be lying dormant.
    I enjoyed the cleaning side of my new life. It felt as if I was cleansing the house of energies that were lingering, energies that if left could begin to affect my thoughts. I needed to make the house mine, and one thing I had discovered about my aunt was that she wasn’t overly familiar with the scrubbing brush.
    I bundled up most of Johanna’s books and clothes and left them out with the recycling. Going through her art, letters and photographs was a mammoth task, but I felt I needed to at least try to piece together the puzzle of who Johanna had been, and hopefully find out why her life had ended in that monstrous, unspeakable manner.
    She had kept many journals over the years, often a jumbled combination of sketchpads and writings. Mainly they were unemotional entries describing her current work in progress, but one day I found a cryptic entry in her spidery, copperplate handwriting.
    *
    27 October 1964. Full moon in Scorpio. Leura, Blue Mountains, New South Wales.
    I grew fire for you, Khartyn. Fire that rose in my body. Fire that rushed along my spine, brushing my