Free Gaia's Secret by Barbara Kloss Page A

no
possible way of finding him. Not one clue where he could’ve gone.
Even if I knew, how in this world would I get there?
    Quick patter echoed from somewhere. There was
a blur of movement and then a large mass of grey fur lunged at me.
Its paws landed on my chest, shoving me against the wall, and
lavished my neck and chin with dog drool.
    “Egan!” Thad’s voice reverberated down the
hall.
    Egan dropped his paws. His tail whipped
behind him as he paced at my feet with his tongue lolling out of
his mouth. The grey streaked his silky fur like the shadows in
drifting snow and his eyes were like two shards of blue ice. He
looked like winter on four legs, assuming winter also had a long
and slobbery pink tongue.
    “Sorry about that.” Thad chuckled as he
strolled into the room. “Egan gets excited with company. Especially
pretty girls.”
    My cheeks warmed as I reached over and
scratched Egan’s soft neck. He nuzzled his wet nose into my palm.
“What kind of dog is he?”
    Egan licked my fingers, careful not to leave
any piece of skin dry.
    “Akita. And an ornery one at that.” Thad
stuck out his hand before me. “I’m Thad.”
    There was a childlike vigor to him that I
liked. Maybe I could trust him to help me.
    “Daria.” I shook his hand with the one not
dripping with dog drool.
    “Your cloak?”
    “That’s alright. It’s keeping me warm.”
    A drop of water fell from my cloak and slid
down my back. I shivered.
    “Right.” Thad grinned. “Hand it over. I’ll
get you something dry.”
    He held his hand open in expectation. I
sloughed off my damp cloak and handed it to him. He took it away,
and I noticed the room for the first time.
    The walls were made of stone and dark wooden
beams, the view beyond the windows smeared from rainwater. A fire
crackled and blazed in the corner, the warmth slowly seeping into
my skin. Candles sat in sconces upon the walls; their light
diffused in golden halos leaving no space left to darkness. This
place was comforting. And even though I wasn’t sure what was
happening, I felt safe here, like these walls would protect me at
all costs from the unknown world beyond them.
    Thad grabbed a wool blanket off the couch,
and threw it at me. I managed to catch it as it fell to the
floor.
    “Make yourself at home, Daria .” There
was something knowing to his smile that matched the intelligence in
his eyes.
    He started to walk out of the room and halted
mid-stride. Egan crouched at the door, growling with a spine of
hair standing on end. Thad’s brow furrowed as he strained to look
out the smeared window. I couldn’t see a thing, but his eyes
narrowed in concentration and I felt a surge of his anxiety.
    “Oh, hellfire,” Thad said beneath his breath.
“Alex!”
    Alex rushed into the room. His eyes fixed on
the window, then me. He rushed to a corner in the room, lifted the
edge of a rug, and loosened a floorboard beneath it. “Get my
parents,” he said over his shoulder. Thad didn’t need to be told
twice, and Egan stayed crouched at the door, snarling.
    Alex lifted a square panel of wood attached
by a hinge. Beneath it was a dark hole.
    He looked at me, his features tight.
    “What’s out there?” I asked.
    He motioned for me to join him. “We have to
hide you.”
    Cicero and Sonya appeared. “They’re here?”
Cicero asked.
    “Almost,” Alex said.
    Sonya glanced at me. “I’ll hide with
her.”
    Alex shook his head. “You all have to hide.
If they know you and Dad are here, we’ll have a much greater
problem on our hands.”
    Something about his voice took away my urge
to argue.
    Sonya and Cicero exchanged a glance, and I
watched as Cicero lowered himself into the black hole, followed by
a soft thud .
    “Hurry!” Thad was at the window.
    Sonya dropped in after her husband, and I
crouched at the ledge to follow them when Alex grabbed my arm.
    There was an intensity in his eyes that held
me still. His rigid mask was gone, all defenses stripped away, and
what lay