Blackthorne (The Brotherhood of the Gate Book 1) by Katt Grimm Page A

here?”
    Rhi felt unreasonably calm as she answered. She didn’t turn. “Would you tell me the truth? I dream about you for years, hallucinate an invisible killer and now I’m Peter Pan? I’m going to opt for willful ignorance on this one, if it’s all the same to you, big guy.”
    She drove away into the dark, the frayed rope on the seat beside her.
    »»•««
    In the sanctuary of the warm SUV with her dog, Rhi sat for a moment trembling. There was no mistake. She’d been floating in mid-air. No strings attached. Purge it. The problem with that course of action was the fact she had no problem accepting the events of the morning. She knew floating wasn’t only possible…but something she was capable of herself.
    “Time to practice the womanly art of denial,” she told herself firmly and started the truck. “And you , dog.” She addressed Ellie Mae directly who once again stood at attention in the cargo space of the truck, “You were about as useful as a cat back there.”
    Ellie Mae tossed her head reproachfully at the insult before turning to press her nose against the window to observe the slowly lightening landscape.
    Rhi drove home and found Bobby Wayne waiting on her porch. He informed her that he would like to take her dog on yet another hunting trip. She managed a grin, happy in the knowledge that at least her dog was having a good and normal day as the pair made their way into the woods.
    “Don’t bring home anything you guys catch,” she yelled as they faded from sight.
    Upon opening her door, she decided to she needed to think of something besides Blackthorne. She needed…to get her chores done and to get ready to meet Houston and Pam for a late dinner after her shift ended. She needed to steam her black wool pantsuit for Marie’s funeral. She needed…a shot of blue agave tequila…but would settle for a cup of Earl Grey.
    Later that afternoon, Rhi finally completed the list of chores for the day. It had been easy to bury her mind in cleaning and unpacking after the morning’s events. The stack of books in the box and the papers on her makeshift desk was calling to her. The fascination she felt for the history of her adopted mountain town would be a welcome diversion.
    She sat in the still beauty of the day, reading history and sipping a Yoo-hoo. Rosemary Clooney softly crooned in the background as Rhi examined the second book that had caught her eye in Da Vinci’s Bookstore. The first book in the pile, the Bible with the skull inside the cover, she had squirreled away without a second glance inside. It was safely stowed in a zip lock bag and duct taped inside the safest place at her home. The same something that told her the Bible should make her uncomfortable also informed her that it should be hidden and forgotten.
    The book in her lap was Colorado Treasure , a history of the lost treasures of the state. It seemed that there was a legend about buried treasure in every town and hamlet in the mountains. A heading on page 120, noting that the next chapter would be called The Gates of Hell, caught her eye. Hair rose slightly on the back of her neck as she studied the pages in fascination. The tale was strangely familiar, unlike the rest of the cliché treasure hunter tales that filled the book.
    …During the 1560s, a contingent of Spanish soldier explorers wandered the Southern Rockies, searching for the eternal Spanish narcotic, gold, to mine, smelt, and ship back home to Spain to finance the country’s further exploitation of the New World and various wars in Europe. In what is now assumed to be the Pike’s Peak region, they stumbled upon what appeared to be a well-hidden ancient complex of caves. And much to the explorers’ surprise…the labyrinth was man made. Against the advice of their Indian guide, who claimed the area was under a terrible curse,
    “Aren’t all mysterious caves possibly holding treasure cursed?” Rhi said aloud, smiling as she turned the page.
    …they eagerly