Hoarfrost (Whyborne & Griffin Book 6) Read Online Free PDF Page A

yes. After the fight with Stanford, and the ketoi…” I shook my
head. “Everyone else pretends they didn’t see anything. I’m not a sorcerer, and
there weren’t really inhuman monsters from the depths holding them hostage.
They all know, but they act as if they don’t.”
    A
librarian stepped out from the stacks, spotted us, and hurriedly gave way. “Widdershins,”
he said as I passed. As if it were my name, or a title.
    “But
here you’re practically royalty.” Christine grinned. “You should rally them to
your banner at the next budget meeting.”
    “It isn’t
funny,” I muttered.
    “Oh, I’m
not laughing. Just planning to invoke your name any time I need something found
quickly.” She rubbed her hands together. “Or—even better—we could
tell them to hide any books or journals Bradley needs!”
    “Christine,
please!”
    “Hmm,
you’re right, he probably doesn’t read.”
    We
settled into a nook in the southwestern arm of the labyrinth. Soon enough, Mr.
Quinn and two librarians appeared, carrying the books and journals we’d
requested. He seemed inclined to hover, so I said, “Thank you. That will be
all.”
    “Of
course.” Looking disappointed, he retreated. Christine and I exchanged a
glance, then went to work.
    Ordinarily,
I would have resigned myself to a long day of pouring through dusty tomes, as
Bradley put it. But with a few hours to contemplate where I might have
previously seen such symbols, I was able to narrow down the search considerably.
    “Here,”
I said, keeping my voice low lest I draw the ire of the librarians.
    Christine
looked up from the journal before her. “What have you found?”
    “This is
one of the Latin translations of the Pnakotic Manuscripts. What language the
translation was made from, and how accurate it might be, is highly
questionable.” I pushed the heavy book across the table to her. Its iron latch
scraped on the wood, and I winced at the sound. “Supposedly this image is a
sketch of one of the original scroll fragments. See the writing on it?”
    “It
certainly looks similar,” she agreed. “And it matches the Eltdown Shards. They
could still be a hoax…”
    “Unlikely.”
I peered at the etching in the journal in front of her. “The Pnakotic
Manuscripts aren’t really the sort of thing most people would know about. This
is one of the few extant copies—a forger would have had to go to great
lengths, when it would have been easier just to make something up.”
    Excitement
gleamed in her eyes. “Then it’s real. This stele in Alaska is somehow connected
to pottery fragments found in England.”
    “So it
would seem.”
    She
looked up sharply. “You don’t sound very excited. What do these manuscripts of
yours say?”
    “To stay
away.” I bent over the thick pages, inscribed by some unknown hand centuries
ago. “It’s impossible to tell how much of this was part of the original
scrolls, and how much inserted by the later translator. But it speaks of
magically sealing away certain places in order to keep the umbrae in
check.”
    “Umbrae?”
She frowned. “Shadows? What the devil does that mean?”
    I shook
my head. “I don’t know. From the context, I’m guessing some sort of dangerous
creature, but it’s impossible to say. Whoever wrote the Pnakotic Manuscripts
sealed these umbrae away in various places across the earth, never to be
disturbed. There is a strong warning against approaching any of these places,
especially on ‘the night of greatest darkness’ when the seals are at
their weakest.”
    “The
winter solstice?” she guessed.
    “Yes.
And Jack said he’s planning to look for more artifacts this winter.” I met her gaze.
“If this manuscript is right and there is some sort of horror associated with
these sites…Griffin’s brother is in terrible danger.”

Chapter 5
     
    Griffin
    Even
though I felt ill at the news Whyborne had delivered over dinner, I raised my
glass of wine. “A toast,” I said. “To the