Page 35 of Knotted By the Triad

I stared at the wall. There was no doorway. No opening. Nothing but old wood stretching from one side of the warehouse to the other. Yet a nine-foot stone creature had just disappeared in here. Zian started forward.

“Wait,” I called out.

He stopped. The buzzing continued. I moved closer without touching the wall. At first, I saw nothing unusual. Then the moonlight drifted across the boards and revealed the faintest ripple.

Magic.

I bent, picked up a broken piece of wood from the floor, and tossed it toward the wall. The wood struck the boards and dropped to the floor. I stared at it for a moment, then remembered the flash of blue I'd seen when the golem disappeared through the wall.

“Daemin, go outside and get a few pieces of those blue shards that fell from the golems. Don't touch them with your bare hands.”

Daemin didn't waste time asking why. He turned and rushed out of the warehouse.

Zian moved closer to me, studying the faint ripple. “You think that's the key to following wherever that golem went?”

“It's worth a try.”

A few minutes later, Daemin returned carrying several blue fragments bundled inside a piece of cloth. With my gloved hand, I took one of the shards. I tossed it toward the ripple. The blue shard disappeared.

For a second, none of us spoke. Then I reached into the cloth and took another fragment. Closing my gloved hand around the shard, I walked toward the wall.

“Stay behind me,” I told my pack brothers.

Daemin snorted as he handed Zian a shard. “Why do you get to go first?”

“Because I'm older.”

“By three months.”

“Still older.”

Before he could argue, I stepped through the wall. Cold tingled across my skin for an instant before I emerged on the other side. The concealed room was larger than I'd expected. Shelves lined two of the walls, but unlike the abandoned warehouse outside, everything in here was organized and clean.

Wooden boxes held stacks of documents. Several weapons rested against one wall beside the same type of wooden chest the smugglers had carried outside. Sealed containers were stacked in one corner, while two heavy chests sat beneath a narrow table covered with papers.

There were also objects I didn't recognize, including several pieces of stone etched with symbols similar to the markings we'd seen on the golems. The final golem stood in the center of the room.

It charged toward me. I jumped aside as its fist slammed into one of the shelves. Wood splintered, sending boxes and papers crashing to the floor. Zian and Daemin came through the barrier behind me.

“Watch what you hit!” I shouted. “We need whatever's in here intact.”

The golem swung at Zian. He ducked while Daemin went low, slicing behind the creature's knee. Zian’s dagger found a gap between two sections of stone. The golem stumbled.

I went for its chest. My blade struck the glowing symbol before the creature knocked me back. Zian attacked from the opposite side, striking the same spot. Blue light flashed. A crack appeared.

“Again!” I roared.

Daemin darted in and drove his dagger into the damaged symbol. The golem staggered, giving me the opening I needed. I gripped my sword with both hands and lunged, aiming for the blue symbol. The marking shattered.

“Move!” I yelled.

All three of us backed away as cracks raced across its body. A second later, the final golem collapsed into a heap of stone. For several moments, the only sound in the room was our breathing.

Then Daemin looked around. “What the hell is this place?”

That was exactly what I intended to find out. I approached the nearest shelf. Now that the threat was gone, I could examine the room more carefully. The documents weren't arranged randomly.

They'd been sorted into labeled wooden boxes. I recognized shipping records among them, along with folded authorizations bearing clan markings. My jaw tightened.