Free Refracted (The Celadon Circle Book 2) by Nicole Storey

and lifted the lid of a cast iron pot on the stove. The entire kitchen filled with the heavenly aroma of their uncle’s famous chili.
    “I could eat the ass end of a rhino,” he said.
    “Well, before you go on safari, how about a dip in the watering hole?” Quinn waved his hand in front of his face. “You smell worse than a Skunk Ape and you’re starting to attract flies.”
    Nathan flipped him off and headed for the stairs, coffee in hand.
    Quinn smiled. It felt good to have Nathan back on even ground. He remembered the weeks leading up to the night before. His brother had good days and bad days, but the bad ones kept multiplying. He and Uncle Case should have done something before but Nathan rarely needed help – or so it seemed.
    Maybe there were times he needed me and I was too busy being a selfish prick to notice. Too busy running away from my own fears and pretending I didn’t care. 
    Quinn brought a hand down over his face. He was trying, he really was. He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to allow anyone all the way into his heart. He was too good at barring the way once they got a foot in the door.
    After Nathan showered and wolfed down two bowls of chili (Quinn didn’t think he chewed at all, just swallowed it by heaping spoonfuls), Casen showed him The Book, as they had taken to calling the strange tome of anthologies, definitions, spells, and instructions.
    “This is incredible.”
    Nathan slowly turned pages. Some were written in English, some in Latin, some in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Several chapters contained nothing but symbols that wavered on the yellowed pages before being replaced by others.
    “What do you make of it, son?”
    Case’s eyes twinkled in the dim light of the old fixture hanging precariously from the kitchen ceiling. Ancient lore of any kind always excited him.
    Nathan chewed on a hangnail and frowned. “As far as I can tell, the references are biblical – even the spells and symbols.”
    Quinn sputtered, nearly choking on his beer. “Excuse me? Biblical spells? Isn’t that taboo or something? If those religious coots started chanting and throwing chicken blood, I’d think their robes would burst into flames.”
    “There are different kinds of spells, Quinn.”
    Nathan pointed to some lines on the page he studied. The words looked like a bunch of slanted T’s and dots to Quinn.
    “This one here uses stones, dirt from the Holy Land, and the feather of a dove.” His finger trailed down the paper as he read to himself. “Every spell has ingredients based in nature, the elements, or animals, but only bits of their fur, feathers, or bones. The animals must have perished from natural causes and the bones exposed by decomposition.”
    “In other words, you can’t take a rifle and blow Bambi away for the use of a rib.”
    “Not hardly.”
    Case got up and paced. “Nathan, you ever heard of a book like this?”
    He shook his head. “No, but I’ve never researched anything like it, either.”
    “You might want to give it some thought. In the meantime, when we aren’t studying The Book, it stays locked in the safe in my room.” He grabbed a bowl and filled it with chili. “Something tells me it’s mighty important.”
    Quinn had no doubt the book was important. What bothered him was the way it magically appeared on their bookcase. An intruder could never have breached their security – unless it was an angel.
    “I think we need to research wards to keep angels out of the house.”
    Nathan and Casen looked at him like he’d just announced his plan to become a monk.
    “It makes sense,” Quinn continues. “That book didn’t grow legs and walk into our study, someone put it there. A human would never make it through the front door and a demon would have been stuck in a Devil’s trap until we dealt with it. That only leaves one suspect.”
    Quinn could almost see the gears turning in Nathan’s head. His brother knew he was right. When they’d returned from