Page 116 of Found in Obscurity

“How can we do that when it won’t let us?” Kit asked, bashing a fist and foot against the barrier uselessly.

“Just like in the library,” Lorin said, grasping his hand to keep him from hurting himself. He recalled what he had managed to read up about his calling so far. “I’m guiding you both. I’m letting you know where it is and where to go. The pathfinder spell will let you through with me here.”

Kit twined their fingers and Lorin’s long nails pressed reassuringly into the back of Kit’s hand. Kit offered his other hand to the shifter, who stared at it dubiously.

“You can trust us,” Kit said.

The shifter took another moment before sighing and taking his hand. “My name is Ellis by the way. Just in case this goes wrong.”

Lorin licked his dry lips, the implication clear.If this goes wrong and I don’t make it, at least you’ll have my name.

“Kit. And my mate, Lorin,” Kit said quietly.

Ellis nodded, jaw tense.

Without wasting any more time, Lorin stepped forward and through the spot that wouldn’t allow Kit to pass before. To Lorin, it felt as normal as breathing, but he could see Kit and the other shifter shuddering slightly as they crossed the border.

The magic allowed them through, but that didn’t mean it was gone. Lorin didn’t have the key to drop the protection spell entirely like he had—unknowingly, at first—done for his own room in the library.

The coven knew where it was, however, to be using it to hide the shifters. The spell had to have been attuned to them by the pathfinder this belonged to, and if they could come and go as they pleased at any moment…

It made Lorin spiral.

Were all of the members of the coven at the structures the elders were surrounding? Or were there more of them stationed around the woods, waiting for trespassers? Was Lorin blind to the danger lurking in the shadows? Was he putting Kit at risk and walking them into the serpent’s mouth?

His head was spinning with questions as they pressed forward. He kept Kit close, his eyes darting around wildly as they approached the center of the clearing, right in the middle of the barrier.

Their steps sounded hollow, despite the ground beneath their feet looking firm and sturdy. There was an echo that made Lorin suspect there was something underground. He looked around, more focused, more intent, searching for any clue that would allow them to find the other shifters. An entrance. Anything.

Kit and Ellis were both jittery next to him as they too searched the area. Their human ears were twitching as they sniffed the air, the expressions on their faces changing rapidly the longer they were there.

They ended up shifting, Kit’s sleek and fluffy fox form familiar, but Ellis’s scruffy coyote form a new sight. They wove through the undergrowth and thin layer of snow, their movements growing more agitated as precious time ticked by.

Lorin continued looking for any pathfinder markers, searching in the dirt and snow for a seam, a handle, or a pulse of magic.

Eventually Kit shifted back and yanked his clothes on roughly.

“You okay?” Lorin asked.

Kit’s features were agitated, his hoarse voice breaking on the words, “I can hear them. I can hear their pain and smell their fear. I just don’t know where they are.”

Lorin frowned, glancing around again, seemingly fruitlessly. And then he spotted a pile of rocks that just lookedoffto him. It shouldn’t have. There were dozens of them scattered around in similar piles.

He walked over, bending down to take a closer look.

This close, he could feel the low aura of magic on the pile. Separate from the magic surrounding the clearing, but masked by it from far away. Still pathfinder in nature, but layered over.

He extended his finger and pushed the largest rock on top of the pile. He sent it cascading down, the sound of it rolling and echoing around the clearing.

It was followed by a metallic sound.

Scraping.

Screeching.

Rattling.

It was deafening. It made them close their eyes against the violence of it. It felt like it lasted forever, like the sound was coming from within them it was so deafening.