Free The Summoning (Custodes Noctis) by Muffy Morrigan

him. “I don’t trust the GPS in this thing, not since it got me lost that one time.”
    “You weren’t on the road.”
    “It should have found a road for me,” Flash insisted. “Paper also doesn’t need a battery. More to the point in this case, if he is headed over east, that thing shows a lot of roads he might use, so maybe if he tells us, we can get an idea of where we need to be.”
    “Good idea.”
    “I know.” Flash grinned.
    Galen opened the map and looked at the lines snaking across it, the colors looking like veins and arteries. Smaller roads were tiny pencil gray lines leading off the brightly colored main roads. He ran his finger along the I-90, trying to see if he could sense his brother through the paper. Scrying had never been something he’d been able to do, but this was different. It was more remote sensing. There was no bounce, nothing to indicate where his brother was, so he let that go and instead just let his eyes roam over the map. For some reason they were drawn, again and again, to a spot on the east side of the Columbia River. There was a tiny gray road that ended abruptly against a mountain. He could see the change in altitude on the map. He glanced up to see where they were, then down at the map and his eyes focused on that spot again.
    Hunch? Wishful thinking? He closed his eyes, concentrating, reaching out for his brother. He brushed against the dark shadow and tried to skirt it. Had their bond been what it once was, this wouldn’t be a problem—maybe—but now finding his way without any help from Rob was almost impossible. Still, he was getting close, he caught the first whisper of his brother—then sensed the trap.
    “ You will not stop this.” The words screamed in his head and suddenly his blood felt like it was boiling, his flesh was searing off and a knife, serrated and horrible was tearing through his mind. He desperately scrambled away, aware of someone screaming, but all he could think about was getting away. There was an explosion of pain in his shoulder, he reached out with the healing and shut everything down, protecting himself from the attack.
    “I did stop!” Flash snapped as Galen slowly became aware again. A cool cloth brushed against his face and the ground was hard under his back.
    “ Not fast enough,” Dera chided.
    “Were you expecting him to jump out the fucking door?”
    “ No, not really.”
    “Yeah, well, so there.”
    “Flash?” Galen asked, opening his eyes. He was on the side of the road, looking up at a huge tree.
    “Welcome back.” Flash leaned back. “Don’t you know jumping out of moving vehicles is not a very good idea?”
    “I did what?” Galen cautiously sat up, making sure nothing was broken. In those last seconds when he’d thrown up the healing as a shield, he must have blocked his body from harm—that, or healed it while he was unconscious, either way all he felt was bruised and a little tired.
    “You screamed and jumped out of the car. Lucky for you, Dera figured out something was up and told me to slow down so I wasn’t going ninety when you opened the door.”
    “You shouldn’t go ninety anyway,” Galen said as he stood up, pausing to let a wave of unexpected dizziness pass. He smiled at the raven. “Thank you.”
    “ It attacked you, why?”
    “Yeah, that’s a good question, why?” Flash asked, opening the door and waiting for Galen to get in. He made a show of activating the child proof lock before closing the door. Dera flew in the driver’s door, perched on the seat and fixed Galen with a steely look. “Well?” Flash growled.
    “I was trying to reach Rob,” Galen said. Somehow that didn’t feel right. That wasn’t the reason.
    “And it didn’t want you messing with him?” Flash pulled back on the road, floored it and crossed back into the fast lane, dodging slow-moving semis the whole way.
    “I’m not sure.” He was about to say more when his phone rang. “Rob?”
    “Are you okay? I couldn’t