Free Weavers (The Frost Chronicles) by Kate Avery Ellison

the snow around had crackled with power. I remembered the way the edges had closed around Gabe like a mouth around a morsel of food.
    Where did this gate lead? Where had it taken him? And how in the world were we supposed to find him and the others to bring them back?
    Jonn craned his neck as we drew closer. His eyes played over the gate and the panels that flanked it. He seemed to be searching for something. His fingers brushed the air as he gestured to the left, at one of the walls. “There, please.”
    Adam carried him forward, and Jonn reached out one hand to touch the stone.
    “Here,” he murmured to himself, looking for something. “No...wait. Here.”
    More etchings covered this wall, these ones symbols that made no sense. A figure. A triangle. Something that looked like raindrops.
    Jonn frowned. His eyebrows pulled together in a dark line, and he traced the triangle with his hand. “There should be something here,” he said.
    “Something?” I asked, but he didn’t answer me.
    “A little more to the left, please,” he said.
    Adam stepped farther down the wall, a few paces more past the portal. Jonn gazed up at the vast stretch of gray stone and rusted metal. He muttered under his breath and reached out again. I saw another symbol, a fainter one.
    I watched, astonished, as he pressed his palm against the wall. A panel flipped open, and something tumbled out and bounced on the ground with a clatter. I gasped.
    Adam crouched and set Jonn down on the floor with a groan. He picked up the fallen object and turned it over in his hands—a flat box, tightly sealed. Sunlight glinted off the metal edge and hurt my eyes.
    “What is this?” I asked.
    “Another, final journal. The location was described in the code Da left,” Jonn said. He was breathless. “The location by the gate...the symbols on the wall...this was all left for someone to find.”
    “Us?”
    “Maybe.”
    He took the box from Adam and felt across the top. There was a click, and the top flipped open. He pulled out a sheaf of papers and a folded-up journal, and then he met my eyes with a delighted smile.
    “I think we just found our instructions.”
     
    ~
     
    Jonn muttered to himself under his breath and thumbed through the journal the entire way back to the farm. The journal was badly torn and burned in places, as if it had been carried through a war zone. Whole sections were missing.
    “Will it be of any use to you?” I asked.
    Jonn waved a hand at me that meant yes ...or shut up ...it was hard to tell.
    When we reached the house again, Adam carried Jonn inside while I stabled the animals. When I emerged from the barn, he was waiting for me on the porch of the farmhouse, his hands tucked in his pockets and the wind blowing his hair into his eyes.
    “If what your brother found is what he thinks it is...”
    “We’ll be able to find them,” I finished.
    “Yes.”
    When we reached the door, he touched my elbow. I felt the heat of his fingers through my clothing, and the place where he touched me burned. I dragged my eyes up to meet his.
    “I need to speak with Jonn alone,” he said, giving me a grim and apologetic smile.
    “Oh.” I took a step back and fumbled with my cloak. “Of course.” Confusion swam in my chest, along with a trace of hurt. Weren’t we all in this mission together? But I pushed the emotions away. I was a Thorns agent, not a silly little girl who pouted a kept secret.
    “I’ll be in the barn if you need me,” I said.
    “Thank you.” He went into the house, and I stood on the stoop and stared at the door while the wind teased my hair and blew its chilly breath beneath the edges of my cloak.
    I turned and slogged through the snow to the barn.
     
    ~
     
    Adam found me later. I was brushing the horses with short, firm strokes. The smell of leather and old hay filled my nostrils, but I smelled pine and ice and knew he was behind me before he spoke.
    “Have you finished your business with my brother?” I asked,