Uninvited: A Paranormal Urban Fantasy Novel (The Dark Skies Trilogy Book Two) Read Online Free Page B

than piqued. “Recently?”
    “I haven’t hiked that way for a couple of months. It’d be easy to miss because it’s pretty much covered up by dirt and shrubs,” Chad explains. “But it's there. And it’s not barricaded.“
    “Have you tried to open it?” Simmons asks.
    “With all those hazardous-radiation signs posted everywhere?” Chad knits his brow. “No way.”
    “Not to mention all the creepy stories about people disappearing out there,” Ruby adds. “And sightings of some crazy lizard-man thing.”
    “The lizard-man?” I ask,
    “There have been rumors and wives-tales about a tall lizard creature out in the foothills for years,” Fitz states. “It’s likely it’s Draconians. Probable, even. But right now, we need to know if Chad thinks he can get us to this hidden back door?”
    Chad nods. “I’m pretty sure I can.”
    “Our intel says that the hand-off will happen at midnight,” Simmons says. “So we need to get moving.”
    After consulting a detailed map of the area, Chad outlines the route. It’s past 11 p.m. by the time our group piles into two army-issue Humvees.
    Chad directs us past a scattering of farms and ranches until we're winding through an empty maze of rough, twisting mountain roads. We drive east, deeper into the pitch black canyon.
    Ruby points to a lit yellow sign warning us about radioactivity and says, “Guess we're headed the right way.”
    After we pass another half a dozen warning signs within about two miles, I whisper to Ruby. “Someone really doesn’t want people wandering around out here.”
    Chad pipes up. ”There should be a small parking area just beyond that turn.” Chad directs the caravan through a narrow canyon road that opens up to a flat mesa. “But from here, we’re going to have to hike the rest of the way in.”
    “I think leaving militarized Humvees in the parking lot might be a little too much of a giveaway,” Fitz says, directing the vehicles to pull off into the shrubby brush where we’re less likely to be noticed.
    We all disembark in the darkness. Fitz and his team suit up, complete with futuristic alien guns. I see Chad and Ruby eyeing the weapons, but neither asks about them. They’ve both seen enough lately to know better.
    Skirting along the edge of the dimly lit parking area, it becomes painfully clear that the only way into the canyon is to hike down a dangerously steep, twisting path.
    Fighting our way through the darkness, while trying to remain quiet, our group makes it to the floor of the canyon.
    It’s quiet. Like, weirdly quiet. I clutch BrightSky a little tighter at my side.
    In the blue moonlight, Chad points toward the general area where he believes the entrance is located.
    Fitz sends O’Malley and Simmons ahead to do a little recon. As they disappear into the shadows, a ripple of fear goes through me. We can’t blow this. If we do, I’ll never see my uncle again.
    “Well, the kid’s right,” Simmons says upon her return. “The door is there. Must be some sort of maintenance entrance.”
    “And it’s unlocked," O’Malley adds. “By the amount of debris and spider webs, it appears as if no one’s been out here in a while.”
    Our group quietly marches in a line toward the back entrance to the abandoned facility. And by "facility" I basically mean a big metal door built into the side of the mountain.
    After we pass the third radiation warning sign, Fitz looks worried. "How high are the levels?"
    “I’m getting something.” Tanaka studies the readings on a high-tech radiation meter. “The Geiger counter is giving me a minimal reading right here. But we've got a good wind blowing, and we're at the farthest end of the facility. Let's see if the levels stay low once we get inside."
    "Everyone has to agree to enter at their own risk," Fitz announces. “Even though the radiation reading is low here, this place could be contaminated with dangerously high radioactive levels at any point.”
    "Then I should be the