Page 43 of Midlife Shifter Unexpected

“Ooh la la,” Jane said with a wink. “Of course, you have. For now, you found your own wolfy.”

“I have,” Matheus said, reaching over and giving me a great big hug.

“We’re burning daylight, people,” Mae said, motioning everyone to the door. “We might want to get a head start on getting that grave open before the sun sets.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” I asked. “Open the grave before the sun sets. You do have some level of comprehension about how wrong that sounds, right? Like most people don’t go open up graves at sunset.”

“We’re trying to open it before sunset,” Mae said. “So that we cannot get attacked in the dark by whatever creepy thing is in there.”

“You make it sound so delightful,” I said. “Makes me want to just run out and join your coven.”

“You don’t get an option on joining or not joining,” Mae said. “I mean, you could shirk your responsibilities for sure, but you are definitely a part of the solution here. The whole point is that we want to help, and we are not some damsels in distress, sitting on the sidelines waiting for the big buff guys to come along and rip open the grave.”

“Well, do you have a better solution?” Matheus asked.

“Did you ever think about using magic?” Hilda asked.

Matheus and Branson exchanged a look. Clearly, they had not.

“We have heightened capabilities,” Matheus said. “We don’t have magic skills like you guys.”

“Well, I suggest you step back and let the ladies do the work,” Hilda said, leading the way outside.

It didn’t take us long to get down to the cemetery. We took the back pathway that led to the side gate that was Hilda’s gate. Each member of the coven had their own gate. I was told they could each only open their own gate to help protect us and let us know that if any of the gates were breached. It would be the responsibility of that coven member. There were five gates in all. As a new coven member, I would not be getting a gate. There was something else that Mae had explained to do with the pendant, but I didn’t really quite understand it. The coven was there to protect the cemetery and then the pendant was the super protector. I did know there were dead bodies turning up and nobody here had a clue as to who was doing it.

We walked through the cemetery, along the weeds and overgrown pathways until we reached the back cliff. The cemetery, strangely enough, wasn’t built on particularly solid ground, but the soft earth wasn’t enough to cause all the holes that had been formed. The crypts were carved into the cliff stone. Inside the rock was where the tombs had been carved. I could only imagine by magic. I had heard they carved tombs like this in Egypt, but why they needed them here I had no idea.

“Look at the symbols on the door,” Trina pointed out. “Those are the binding symbols that keep the door closed. There will be something on whatever is inside to keep it docile, maybe even asleep. But it is not dead.”

“Is there a chance that your family imprisoned someone wrongfully?” Anita asked.

Mae looked over at her. “Considering I’m just getting to know my family and their heritage; I have no idea. I sure as hell hope we’re not the bad guys, because if the good guys are killing people to get them out of our prison, I’d hate to think about what we are doing to keep them there.”

“We’re not the bad guys.” Hilda waved her hand dismissively in the air. “We’re not good guys, we're not bad guys, we're just guys that have one job to do and that’s to protect the cemetery and keep everything around it clear and clean.”

“No one ever explained to me why that was,” I said.

“Well, demigods rule this area and for whatever reason, they want to protect it. Only the Hayes knows why.” Trina nodded toward Mae.

“Can’t tell you,” Mae shrugged, not even apologetic in the slightest, “but the protection of the world requires it. At least the protection of the demigod world.”

“How do we do this?” Anita asked as we stood outside of the crypt. The strange symbols were carved all over it.

“They look like they’re bleeding,” I said, moving closer to the grave.

“Don’t,” Hilda shouted, but it was too late. A blast hit me as I approached the crypt. It lifted me into the air, knocking the wind out of me as it threw me to the ground.

Chapter 31

The blast was loud and forceful. It took a moment for the ringing in my ears to stop and for me to get my bearings again. Matheus lifted me to my feet and asked me if I was okay. I stared at him, feeling mostly dazed and confused.

“What was that?” I heard Anita ask.

“It’s a protective spell,” Trina said, “but what I don’t understand is how anyone is getting their magic inside our cemetery. It’s not possible to do that.”

“They aren’t coming from outside of the cemetery,” Hilda said. “Whatever’s in there must be awake, or at least its energy has been tapped. Beings inside of the cemetery are protected and guarded and held in place, but it doesn’t mean that their magic is capable of being used. It would appear this creature is trapped by the cave and perhaps his magic has been muted. Whatever sacrifices the killer on the outside is doing, it is working to wake this one up.”

“We cannot have the cemetery breached, not from the inside and not from the outside,” Mae said insistently.

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