Free Shadow Silence by Yasmine Galenorn Page A

that you had run off and joined a secret government organization and that you would come back for me one day when you were allowed. I’m sorry that I never got to meet you in life, but at least I know that you didn’t run away. That you would never have run away.”
    The wolf gave me a nod and settled down on his haunches to watch. At that moment, Agent H meandered over and stared at the spirit. Then, with an audible sigh, the cat turned and wandered away. That made me laugh. I finally returned to the tub and began taking things out.
    There were the requisite pictures—a laughing young man dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. In one he was standing by a pickup truck that I recognized from Ivy’s driveway. In another he and my mother were snuggling on a porch swing. I set the pictures aside. The tub also contained a couple of medals and trophies. Apparently Avery had been extremely good at chess, so much so that he had won several statewide matches. Ivy had also included a few of his favorite books, and a few assorted trinkets from his room. In a shoebox, she had bubble wrapped a wood carving. It was of a wolf, carved from cedar. It still smelled of the wood, and as I ran my handover the smooth and polished surface, I realized that Avery had made this. It had his energy all over it, in every stroke, in every chiseled feature.
    â€œIt’s beautiful. You did such beautiful work.” I skirted the wolf spirit to place the carving on the kitchen windowsill where I could see it every time I walked by. I returned to the tub and put everything else back inside until I could take care of it, then replaced the lid and set the tub aside. As I turned, the wolf spirit bobbed his head again and vanished.
    *   *   *
    T hat night, I dressed for warmth—given the concert we were going to was outside—fed the cats, and headed over to Bryan’s. Bryan was my next-door neighbor, as well as being my guardian and my lover. His estate was large; the brick building could easily have been called a small mansion. When I was growing up the building was empty, but Bryan had moved in during the time I was gone. He had made friends with Grandma Lila, and while he had never told her, he was actually waiting for me to return.
    The Morrígan had come to him when he was in Ireland, to tell him that he was to be the guardian of the spirit shaman in Whisper Hollow. From that moment on, every move he made was with the expectation of one day guarding the person who turned out to be me.
    When I first returned Whisper Hollow, the backyard had been overgrown—unusual for my grandmother to allow to happen. Over the past month I had taken the gardens in hand, pruning them back and weeding them, culling out the dead plants until they were in check, and now the garden waited for spring to arrive again. The stone fence dividing Bryan’s property from my own was falling apart in some areas, and a stone gate at the far front corner of the backyard provided access between the two yards. I left the patio light on as I trudged along the trail that we had created from my back door to the gate.
    Bryan’s house stood three stories tall, reminding me more of a school than a house, although I knew it had been built around one hundred years ago by a business mogul who had wanted to get away from the big city. While I had never been inside before I returned home to Whisper Hollow, by now I knew the layout well. The house had a basement with a wine cellar and a workout room. The basement also had a second kitchen, which had originally been for the servants. Three other rooms had been bedrooms, but Bryan had opened them all up into one great entertainment space.
    The main floor with a chef’s kitchen, formal dining room, a living room, and two parlors, as well as a bath served most of his needs. He had turned one of the parlors into an office, and the other into a secondary office and library.
    It’d taken me