Read Written in Stone for Free Online Page B

was closer now and Harlan slowed the boat until it was barely coasting forward.
     Olivia could see the mouth of the creek opening up before them. It resembled a wide
     river now, but she knew enough about the waterways of the North Carolina coast to
     predict that the shallow banks would draw close together without warning and then
     continue to narrow until even the diminutive Whaler would be unable to progress any
     farther.
    Once Harlan had set his craft on a course favoring the right side of the creek, he
     pushed his faded baseball cap back on his head and scratched his brow. “Less and less,”
     he said, answering Olivia’s question. “And they all look the same. Full of fear and
     hope and a little desperation. Sometimes she has answers. Sometimes not.”
    “Do I seem desperate?” She kept her tone light, but there was a hint of hesitation
     in her voice.
    Harlan’s gaze took in the thick underbrush of the salt marsh and the cypress trees
     rising in the distance. “Everybody is at one point or another. That’s when folks seem
     to need Munin most.”
    His reply silenced Olivia and she felt less confident as the open water dropped away
     behind them. The land seemed to be gathering them close, squeezing the small craft
     deeper into a world ruled by insects and birds. It didn’t take long for the noises
     of these creatures to overpower the sound of the boat’s motor. Haviland barked once
     as a blue heron took flight from the creek’s edge. Otherwise, he was quiet, as if
     sensing that they were heading toward a strange and possibly hostile destination.
    Eventually, the water became tinged with eddies of mud, and Harlan tilted the motor
     toward the boat deck and coasted toward the left bank. He waited until the bow nearly
     kissed a slope of grass-speckled dirt and then jumped to the shore. A wood gatepost
     had been set into the ground and he secured the Whaler’s line to it using a figure-eight
     knot and then offered Olivia his hand.
    She hopped onto the ground, feeling ungainly in her high waders. Haviland leapt with
     more grace beside her and immediately began to track an interesting scent in a clump
     of tall grass. The air was dense with the sawing of cicadas and the buzz of flies
     and mosquitoes, and the ground was teeming with armies of ants and beetles.
    Harlan shouldered a heavy canvas bag and then grabbed a walking stick from inside
     the boat and made a final adjustment to his baseball cap. “We’ll follow the creek
     for a spell and then turn inland.”
    Olivia fell into step behind him, her eyes on his walking stick. It had been hand
     carved and featured a rattlesnake winding along the shaft. The head formed the stick’s
     handle and Harlan’s fingers fell over a black marble eye, leaving the other to stare
     at the outside of his right thigh.
    “Did you carve that?” she asked over the din of the insects.
    He didn’t turn around to answer. “No, I don’t have the knack for it. I bought this
     from a Lumbee Indian who sells his carvings to raise money for his lodge.”
    “Is he local? I thought most of the Lumbee tribe lived in Robeson County.”
    “They do, but they migrated from this neck of the woods once ages back. I went to
     one of their powwows a few years back, but I won’t have to travel if I want to go
     this year. They’re having a big one in the forest in two weeks.” He darted a quick
     glance at her over his shoulder. “You should go. They sell all kinds of crafts and
     there’s storytelling and dances too.”
    Olivia had no intention of going, but out of politeness asked Harlan when the event
     would take place.
    “Two Saturdays from now. There’s some food festival going on at the same time. It’ll
     be a real circus around here.”
    Olivia knew about the Coastal Carolina Food Festival. “My brother signed up to run
     a food tent on Saturday. He thinks it’ll bring our restaurant lots of new business.”
    Harlan shrugged. “There’ll be a crowd,