Free Shadow Rising by Yasmine Galenorn Page A

stop that—I do not need a bright blue nose, thank you very much!”
    As we gathered around the table where the grid of quartz crystals sat, forming the alarm for when our land’s wards were breached, Camille and Morio examined the pattern, sorting through the energy coming off the grid.
    “Not Demonkin.” She glanced up at Shade. “Can you tell me if it’s what I think it is?”
    He held his hands out to the crystals. A crackle charged the kitchen as a faint bolt of purple lightning jolted from his skin to the smooth crystals. Jerking his head up, he nodded.
    “Ghosts. But why would ghosts set off the wards? Spirits walk the world all the time.” He bit one side of his lip.
    “These aren’t Casper’s kin. Ghosts won’t set off the wards unless they’re baleful. These aren’t run-of-the-mill spirits—they’re out to hurt us.” She paled. “How are we going to find them? I can ferret out Demonkin energy, but…”
    “I’ll be the bird dog.” Shade turned to the door. “Assign posts. Morio, you’d better stay here. You can deal with Netherworld creatures better than anybody except me. Who else is coming outside?”
    “Me.” I stepped forward. “Camille, you stay with Morio. Trillian, you stay with Camille and Morio to protect the household. Iris, I know you’re pregnant, but get your spells prepared, just in case. Hanna, I want you to take Marion, Douglas, and Bruce in the parlor and stay there. Keep thedoor to the living room open, and take Maggie with you. Delilah, you come with us…Smoky, Vanzir, Roz, you’re also with us.”
    And so we split off.
    Delilah had Lysanthra, her dagger. Roz had his arsenal, and Vanzir was armed as well. Shade, Smoky, and I all were weapons in our own right. We headed out the kitchen door to the backyard.
    The rain had started—a light drizzle, and mist drifted along the ground. Wind ruffled through the tops of the trees, setting up a ghostly susurration that whispered through the yard.
    Our three-story Victorian, with basement, was on five acres in the outskirts of the Belles-Faire district that lies north of Seattle. We weren’t exactly out in the country—there isn’t really an “out in the country” in this area for miles—but we were as rural as we could get for being in Seattle. Our five acres buttressed up against Birchwater Pond, and beyond that lay a patch of wetlands no one could develop. We’d talked about buying up the wetlands to ensure they wouldn’t come to risk, but we hadn’t quite reached a decision.
    The outer reaches of our backyard were overgrown and wild. We let it go, for the most part, because we found the energy revitalizing, and the overgrowth encouraged strangers to stay away.
    As we looked around the part of the lawn we actually kept mowed and clear for the vegetable garden, I motioned for Shade to take the front. I couldn’t sense ghosts until they made themselves known to me. Some minor Demonkin I could suss out, but the spirits of the Netherworld? Not so much.
    Shade held out his arms, palms forward, and closed his eyes. He began to slowly turn in a circle, one step at a time. A faint cloud of shadow began to emanate from his body as he moved, tendrils of smoke, wisps coiling out from him. The shadows began to form into winged creatures, no bigger than a canary, that went flying out from him. There was still so much about the half dragon, half Stradolan—shadow walker—that we didn’t understand. And like all dragons, he wasn’t about to give up his secrets easily.
    Delilah crossed to stand beside me, crossing her arms. “This scares the hell out of me,” she said, as quietly as she could. “I don’t want to think about ghosts again.”
    “Me either.” Our last encounter with ghosts had left Morio almost dead and all of us shaken to the core. An entire area of Seattle had been inundated by hungry ghosts, and though we hadn’t licked them, I’d thought we had the problem somewhat under control. But with the