Moonlit Feathers Read Online Free PDF Page A

waved my hand toward the couch for him, while I claimed the armchair. It was best to keep a little bit of space between us. I wasn't exactly sure how much he could see when I sat in his jacket. I should've just gone off to my bedroom to change, but the sooner he left, the sooner I'd regain my space.
    I grabbed a notepad and a pen from the end table, which I kept there for business calls. I always like to be prepared when I need to remember information. My memory’s pretty solid, but I've gotten things mixed up before, and I don’t ever want to repeat that experience.
    "So, Cody, tell me why you're here." I held the pen over the paper and looked up at him expectantly.
    His frown had deepened, and he looked from me to his hands. "To the point, I guess. You probably get a lot of people needing your help, but this is different. I'm not trying to get rich or find some kind of archaic curiosity." He let out a breath then took in another. "You know the tornadoes that ripped through in April, right?"
    I nodded, not sure where he was going with this.
    "My family lost the house we’ve lived in for many generations." He shook his head and ran his hands through his blond hair, keeping his head bowed like that for a moment. "We had many irreplaceable Native American artifacts, one of which had magical properties." He raised his gaze to mine when he said it, as if expecting scorn or disapproval.
    I gave neither, since I knew magic existed. He didn't need to try to convince me about that. I'd dealt with the consequences of someone playing with it before. "Go on."
    He dropped his gaze to the pink, white, and grey Southwestern-style rug on the floor beneath the coffee table for a moment. "When the house was destroyed, we dug through the wreckage, and we were able to find most of our belongings, except my family's sacred talisman. We looked for it everywhere, and when we didn’t find it, we assumed it hadn’t survived." Letting out a long sigh, he frowned up at me. "It seems like we were wrong."
    My heart clenched in my chest, and warning bells rang out in my head. No... No way could I take this on. Not when I'd lost Ezra in my last search for a magical artifact. This wasn't a good fit for me anymore. If he needed to find some buried treasure, or wanted me to search through some catacombs in Italy, I was his girl.
    This? No, I didn't want to rip that scab off.

Chapter Six
     
    Cody
    Something akin to panic flashed through the lady treasure hunter's eyes at the mention of the talisman. I'd heard from my archeology professor who used her services that she handled things like this, so I wasn't sure why she looked so worried. Maybe she knew more than I did. Regardless, the whole encounter had started off on the wrong foot.
    "It's out there," I continued. "I saw proof of it last night in the forest."
    "Proof?" She cocked her head at me like a bird, all while scribbling in her notepad. My coyote leaned forward, not keen on having to explain ourselves.
    "Yeah, I—" Her cell phone rang, cutting me off, and I sat back on the couch, trying to remain patient. My coyote saw the woods outside and paced in my chest, ready to run free again. The red duffel bag I used to carry clothes was tucked behind a tree out of sight. We'd cut through the forest to come here, but it was never enough for him. College had made us more restless than usual. Or maybe it was the magic. Power hummed quietly beneath my feet, spreading out from the ley-line, and the coyote reacted each time it waxed and waned. I pondered that while she took the call, doing my best not to listen in.
    "Morgana, I'm glad you picked up. There's something you should—" Apparently, my curious coyote didn't mind snooping, not that I was surprised by that after the library fiasco. But his inquisitive nature had been helpful finding out about the talisman, so I couldn't be too hard on him. After all, it was in his nature to snoop and be aware of his surroundings. On the other hand, she deserved her