Seal of Solomon (Journeyman Book 2) Read Online Free

sitting with its back toward him. The light from the little bulb above the sink was flickering away as it always did, sending jittery shadows around the room. Joey glanced around, carrying that same sense of unease in his gut.
    Gage had his eyes shut, sitting with his head nestled deep in his palms at the table where all three of them had eaten breakfast less than a week ago. He remembered it so intensely that it could have happened that very morning, the phantom smells of bacon and eggs still in the air. But that was in the unchangeable past and the wood burning stove sat empty in the present, as did the chair Adrienne would normally sit in.
    “Gage…” came Joey’s voice from behind. “Where is Ady?”
    “She’s… gone,” he replied, sniffing. Otherwise he didn’t move.
    “How did it happen?” Joey probed, knowing full well that now was not the best time for interrogations, but his desire to know outweighed his sense of reason.
    “J… I can't right now,” Gage implored.
    “But...”
    “Joey, not right now!”
    What the? How dare you keep this information to yourself? Joey thought inconsiderately, his own feelings cresting. I knew her for much longer than you, you goddamn ass!
    “Gage, fucking tell me!” Joey screamed. It came out much louder than he expected.
    Gage was holding onto his own emotions by a thread and at any point he was poised to snap. That point was now.
    “I LOST HER, OKAY!” he roared. Shooting to his feet, he kicked back his chair and it fell over with a tremendous crash. His fists slammed against the tabletop, the water glass toppling. “I lost her…”
    Joey had never seen Gage so enraged and it was absolutely frightening. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought him possessed. It was all Joey could muster to take the brief yet agonizing walk over to his friend. Slowly, he approached and rested a hand on his shoulder, expecting some form of punch, jerk, or yell in return. When there was no struggle at all, he followed through with the rest of his arm, wrapping it around him.
    Gage turned and Joey could see the glimmer in his eyes and a trail of tears down his cheeks. They didn’t say anymore. There was no need to. They just stood there, hugging out their emotions in the dim light flickering above the sink.
     

     
    THE NEXT MORNING, Gage stood alone on the path adjacent to the lean-to, eyeing up the stacks of firewood stored underneath. They were parched like he still found his throat to be and crawling with insects, mainly fire ants from the mounds that sprung up just on the backside of the structure.
    The sun had barely risen but it was already unseasonably warm and comfortable, so he was dressed only in a pair of gray sweatpants and an older pair of heavy work shoes. He breathed in the country air, looking down to his inked chest. The gashes on his right pec had crusted over and finally seemed to have stopped their bleeding. Moving the amulet and chain out of the way, he traced the wounds with this index and middle fingers, fighting the urge to pick at the fresh scabs that itched relentlessly. The area stung, but he found the pain far less than it had been on his interminably dark drive back.
    He shifted his view back over his shoulder to the Lodge, squinting as the sunlight cascaded through some of the trees. The sight of the cabin, coupled with the fact that Joey was there with him, comforted him greatly. Their long talk into the early hours about what had happened over the last couple days helped grow their bond, bringing them closer together than a month’s worth of missions. Also, as predicted, the protections they had in place over the property lessened the effects the amulet was having on him.
    Yet despite all of this, Gage couldn’t shake the feeling of loneliness. It was ever present, lurking like a tiger stalking prey in tall grass. He had given a part of himself to Adrienne and when she died in his arms, that portion was lost in the abyss that also