The Box Omnibus #1 (The Box, The Journal, The Sword) (38 page)

Teleporting is bigger magic than I’ve ever managed to perform. The amount of power required to move a person from one place to another is more than I have on my best days.

Al managed to move both of us while injured after having spent a bunch of magic protecting us from Fitzroy and his men. I knew he had a lot of
power, but this is far beyond anything I could have imagined.

I focus on our surroundings rather than on him. I don’t want him to see how frightened I am about what he
’s accomplished. We’re in an old building of some sort. The paint has faded beyond any recognizable color and the plaster walls are cracked and crumbling. The air is thick with a musty smell combined with something sharper and more assaulting to my nose. Peroxide perhaps.

An old bed with a thin stained mattress folded over top of a rusted frame
with broken wheels sits in the corner of the room. It looks like it might have been a hospital bed at one time, though now it looks more like garbage. He must have brought us to the closed hospital on Hurt Street. Half way across town.

But that’s too far. How are we supposed to help Sin and Rose escape if we’re nowhere near them?

“What about Sin?” I put too much pressure on his still sensitive wound causing him to suck in air through his teeth. “And Rose. We can’t leave them there.”

He closes his eyes and appears to focus on taking long breaths.

“Give me a moment,” he says.

His magic is less loud than it
was when we were at the station. There’s more of a tune to it now, though the notes still don’t sound quite right. Maybe they’re sharp or flat. I don’t know enough about music to be able to tell the difference.

The sound swells and then cuts off
suddenly. The silence afterward is deafening.

“Well,” Sin says. “That was unpleasant.”

They’re both still cuffed and their clothes and hair look ruffled beyond anything I could imagine occurring naturally by being in jail without access to their hands. The teleport must have been rougher on them than it was on Al and me.

“
Aldric.” Rose runs the few feet to drop to Al’s side. Her hands are still cuffed behind her back or else I’m sure she’d start stroking his chest and shoulder around his wound. “You’re injured. What happened? Are you all right? What can I do?”

“I’m fine, Rose.” His lips curl up a little
, but his eyes remain closed. “I just need some rest.”

Rose turns to me with a question posed on her open lips. I know what’s going
on inside her head because it’s going on in mine as well. How badly hurt is he really? Is there anything more to be done to help him, or at least make him comfortable? And most importantly, did my magic have the effect it seems? Is he back to being his old self?

“Way to follow my plan,” Sin says.

I shrug. “Things got complicated.”

When I
work up the nerve to look at her, I realize she’s giving me an expression she almost never shows. She actually appears to be proud of me. I never thought her opinion mattered much, but with her grinning at me like a fool, I feel good. Like I’ve finally done something right. What, I’m not sure. But it doesn’t matter, because my big sister’s proud of me.

I make a face at her.

“The teleporting must have cost Al most of his magic,” I say in order to avoid an awkward moment with my sister. “And even with the new bag open I’m close to drained myself.”

I sit back on my heels and feel Al’s hand tighten around mine, making sure I don’t go far. Warmth spreads
up my arm to cause my entire body to heat to an embarrassing level. And then I notice Rose’s gaze fixed on our locked hands.

I regret my kneejerk reaction to pull my hand free the second I do it. He doesn’t try to stop me. I can only hope he understands to some degree I’m just trying to save Rose from being hurt
, even though I’m sure she would never do the same for me.

Knowing
him, it’s more likely he assumes I don’t want to be near him because I don’t trust him.

“Any chance of getting these handcuffs off?” Sin twists around and stuffs her hands in my face. “My shoulders are starting to
ache from having them like this.”

When I raise my hand to touch the cuffs and attempt to use whatever’s left of my magic to help, I remember
everything I found out earlier and stop.

“Is it true you’re a wizard?” I ask.

She sighs. “Crap. I’d hoped you’d forgotten.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I move to the far side of the room in order to put some
space between myself and the others. “You’ve been keeping everything from me. Why?”

“It was better if you didn’t know.” Sin almost sounds ashamed. Almost. “Safer.”

“I could have helped.” I look from one person to another. None of them will meet my eye. “Do none of you think I could have handled knowing what was going on? I’m not a kid anymore. And I have the ability to do things none of you can do. Even you, Al.”

Silence.

“I’m your sister.” My eyes burn and I know I’m on the edge of crying. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I screwed up.”
Sin looks like she’s as close to tears as me. “I shouldn’t have gone to the other world, but I thought I was helping.” He laugh is loaded with self-loathing. “And that’s not even true. I went because I wanted to go on an adventure. And then everything went wrong, and the only people I ended up helping were Rilla and Victor. Though I guess Rilla didn’t exactly get the best deal either what with being controlled by Victor now.”

“You could have told me,” I say.

“And let you know I’m as big a screw up as you’ve always thought? Yeah, great.” She rolls her eyes. “I thought if I didn’t give you the bag or let you know about Al and Rose or the portals or any of it, I’d be able to forget it happened and move on.”

I stare at her, not able to think of anything to say. There’s only one response to what she’s told me. I walk over and punch her in the arm, hard enough I’m sure it will leave a bruise.

Her face twists in fury and pain. “What the hell?”

“You are an idiot.” I punch her again, lighter this time, though in the same spot so I know it hurts almost as bad. “I don’t think you’re a screw up. Why do you think I came to visit for the summer? I’ve been trying so hard to
be more like you. To act first and not let my worries about what might happen slow me down. No matter what trouble you’ve gotten into for being so compulsive, part of me has always been jealous. You’re Sin. You can do anything. While I’m left at home with Mom wishing I could have half the adventures and experiences you have.”

“But it’s because of me The Sword has the map to the portals.” She seems baffled by my rant. “They took Gran’s house because of me.”

“And we’ll get it back. Together,” I say. “Because that’s what we’re supposed to do. Work together to fix each other’s screw ups. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not perfect either.”

“You really aren’t.” As soon as the words are out she makes an apologetic face.

I grin. “Oh, shut up.” And I punch her arm one last time for good measure. “I should have told you about Al after Stewart died. How he’d absorbed the magic and become a full wizard.”

Her eyes light up. “Hey, yeah. You lied to me too. You’re no better than me,
so there.”

“This is where you’re supposed to say ‘I’m sorry, too,’” I say. “Not be a jerk.”

“Force of habit,” she says. “Sorry.”

I’m not sure if the sorry is meant for her latest comment or a more general apology for everything she’s done. I’m going to take it as the latter. I have a feeling she’s not going to say anything more either way.

“So sweet,” Rose says, quiet enough I wonder if she means for us to hear her. “A family full of liars. What a wonderful thing to bring people together.”

“We both have been keeping secrets,” I say
to my sister. “How about we agree to start telling the truth from now on? No more lies. No more hiding the truth. Because if there’s any chance we can fix things, we’re going to have to work together.”

Sin is silent for a moment and
her nose begins to crinkle as though she’s smelled something disgusting.

“We aren’t going to have to hug this out, are we?” she
asks.

I
move toward her and she makes a point of pulling a face and cringing away from me. But I don’t go for the hug. I think that would be too much for either of us right now. Instead, I touch the handcuffs and call up my power to break the lock. Her handcuffs seem fairly normal with no magic dampening spell I can sense. I hum a couple of notes and the lock easily snaps and they fall to the floor with a clatter.

By the time I
break the lock on Rose’s cuffs, I feel about ready to pass out. Not even noon yet and I’m ready to go back to bed. Or to bed for the first time, since I didn’t actually sleep much last night.

Before I can rest, there’s one more thing I need to be sure of.

I slump on the floor next to Al and poke his ribs with a finger. It takes him a second, but he eventually opens his eyes. When he sees me cautiously leaning over him, his face lights up in a smile and his eyes begin to dance.

“Hi,” he says.

I try to not let my inner giddiness show at seeing him be less crazy, and remain guarded, at least on the outside.

“Is it you?” I ask.

His eyes close, but his smile doesn’t fade. “Mostly,” he says. “I still have a hole in my shoulder, and the darkness is inside me, waiting for a chance to grab control again, but mostly I’m me. Whatever you did was effective.”

“You did something?” Rose asks.

I wish she wasn’t here. I’d feel much less conflicted with what I’m about to do if she wasn’t watching.

“When I took her magic, it somehow cleared away most the darkness in my mind,” Al says. “It feels like I’ve been trapped inside my own head for ages.” His eyes open again and this time when he looks at me, he’s more s
erious than I’ve ever seen him. Though the twinkle’s there to let me know the darkness, as he called it, hasn’t taken over again. “Thank you.”

His hand is inches from mine
, as though he wants to touch me but is too afraid I’ll pull away again. I wrap my fingers around it and concentrate on the way his skin feels. I’d rather be touching his face or better yet, chest, but I can feel Sin and Rose both watching me. Besides, I’m not entirely sure Al and I are there yet. We’ve only kissed once, and it was more out of necessity than romance. Though I’m sure I’m not the only one who felt something between us during the kiss.

“Any time,” I say.

He sucks in a breath as though to say something more and then stops. I watch as his expression shifts into an understanding of what I’m saying. What I’m really saying. And then he smiles and my stomach turns into a knot of nerves and excitement.

When I lean down to brush my nose against his, my hair falls over
both of our faces. He raises his free hand to brush it away.

A door slams somewhere behind us
, but I don’t pay any attention to it. I’m too focused on Al’s suddenly pained expression.

“Sorry,” he says in a strained voice. “Forgot about my shoulder for a minute there.”

He chuckles and brings our clasped hands up to his mouth. The light touch of his lips to my knuckles is enough to make my already tired mind spin. No longer strong enough to continue sitting, I sink to the floor next to Al with a sigh.

I can feel sleep taking me, but before it does, I manage to take a lazy look around the room. No wizards. Good. Not
like I’d be able to do anything if there were. No Rose either. Not as good. I hope something hasn’t happened to her.

When I see Sin frown at me before leaving the room through a door that slams shut behind her, I realize Rose must have left
as well. She saw Al and me together and it was too much for her. I know I wouldn’t have been able to deal with it if our roles were reversed.

As nice a feeling as lying with Al pressed against my side is, I can’t help but frown. I wish I knew what to do so no one got hurt.

Sleep takes me before I can worry about it anymore.

Al is still asleep when I wake and no one else is in sight. I sneak out the door as quietly as I can in search of Sin and, if possible, some food and water.

I check a few dust and rubble filled
rooms before I find one with Sin and Rose. When I go inside, Rose walks out without a word to either of us. I suppose it could have been more awkward. She could have stayed.

Sin sits in a
circle she must have made with the debris from a nearby crumbled wall. Bits of magic sparkle throughout the rubble making me think she must have laced the entire thing with her dust.

Oh
, hey, I can see magic again. I take a moment to look inside myself and check for my power. It’s a relief to feel and see it again, though there isn’t much to be found. I’m not running on empty any more, but I wouldn’t want to have to face even a single wizard with the power I’ve got right now.

I return my focus to Sin and notice she’s deep in meditation. I take a seat a little way back from her circle so I won’t inadvertently bother her
, and wait for her to open her eyes. I don’t have to wait long.

“Have a nice nap with Al?”

She winks. I blush.

“What are you doing?” I ask in an attempt to change the subject. “The circle’s a bit much for regular meditation, isn’t it?”

She stands and spends a few seconds rotating her shoulders and stretching her neck. Her feet stay firmly inside at all times.

“I’m trying to find Farah and
Nyx,” she says. “I’m worried about them. I wouldn’t trust Rilla or Victor not to hurt them on their own. Those two working together is scary enough. Them against my babies is chilling. The circle is to help amplify my power. I can’t reach them though. I’m not sure if they’re too far away or if they’re…”

She stops, her face droops into a frown
, making her look tired and old. As usual, she manages to erase her expression in seconds and goes back to stretching her arms and back as though nothing happened.

“Most likely
Rilla’s got them trapped,” Sin says. “They’re creatures too valuable to destroy for no reason.”

“
Rilla?” Watching Sin stretch makes me feel tight and uncomfortable. Remaining seated, I do a few of my regular leg and back stretches. “Wouldn’t it be Victor making the decisions?”

Sin drops to the floor again and sits cross-legged, despite her skirt.
At least she could try to be a bit modest. I know I’m having a hard time with my skirt as well, but I’m trying. I wish I’d had time to change out of the dress I went clubbing in before all of this happened. Now I’ve thought about it, I’ll be spending all of my time worrying about how short it is and how much I’m showing. There are more important things to think about.

“There’s something strange about the whole thing,” Sin says.
“I don’t trust Rilla’s as much of a victim in all of this as she’d like us to think.”

The door opens and Al pokes his head in. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“Come in,” Sin says.

She remains cross-legged and completely unfazed by the fact Al and Rose can now both see her underwear. On the other hand, the minute I realize Al is coming into the room, I shift to a much more modest position. Getting up is still going to be difficult. I’ll have to time it right so he’s not looking when I stand.

Rose follows close behind Al. When he sits next to me, she finds a seat as far from the both of us as she can get while still being in the same room.

“Good
,” Sin says. “Now we’re all awake we can figure out what we’re going to do next. Specifically what are we going to eat?”

At the mention of food, my stomach growls loud enough to echo in the mostly empty
space.

“Exactly.” Sin nods at me. “
Now the problem we have to deal with is the cops have our faces. And there have been a lot of people dying from extensive sword wounds within the city lately. Since they haven’t found a killer yet, it’s likely they’re going to put our identities out there as suspects. True, we were sort of involved. Some of us more than others. But what this means is there are going to be a lot of people out looking for us. Cops, wizards, as well as the general public if our pictures are given to the media.”

“What do you suggest?” Al asks.

“Time travel?” Sin says completely straight-faced. “Go back and keep you from scattering bodies across the city. Or at least go back to before the cops caught up to us and convinced Lou to jump out of the safety of my car.”

“I said I’m sorry,” I say. “What more do you want?”

“I want to be enjoying some delicious greasy drive-thru, which I would be doing right about now if you hadn’t gotten out of the car.”

“I’ll go,” Rose says.

We all turn to stare at her in unison.

“The Sword doesn’t have any interest in me since I
’m not a wizard or a sorceress,” she says. “I doubt they’re looking for me at all. I’m fairly forgettable, after all.” She looks directly at Al for the last part.

“No,” Al says. “Absolutely not. You aren’t going out there alone. You shouldn’t be involved in this at all. You should be home with your family. Oh.” His eyes expand
from fear. “Your family. They’re going to kill me.”

The hard expression Rose has been wearing slips away and she shakes her head. “None of this is your fault
,” she says. “I followed you. I thought I could help, but I should have stayed home.”

“You did help.” Al leans toward her
, though she’s way too far for him to reach. “Having you with me reminded me every day of who I was. You were my anchor. Without you, the darkness would have completely taken over long ago.”

Jealously drags its claws through me
with a mix of anger, hate and sadness. How could she be his anchor? I thought after this morning there was a connection between us. After all, she might have been with him all along, but I was the one who saved him.

And then I notice the tear sliding down her cheek.

“Don’t,” she says. “Don’t say those things to me. You have no idea…”

She jumps to her feet and spins around to hide her face. Al starts to move as though to go toward her
, but I grab his hand and squeeze. His perplexed look makes me feel all the worse for Rose. I shake my head to tell him going to her now will only make things worse.

“I can do this,” Rose says once she’s regained control over
her voice to keep it from shuddering. “I’ll go out, find us some food and be back before sunset. No one will catch me because no one will be looking for me. It’s the best plan.”

As Al opens his mouth to protest, Sin interrupts. “I agree,” she says. “Rose is the best person. And I’m going to go with her.”

“Are you insane?” I say. “You can’t go out there. They’ll track you down and kill you. Did you not notice they shot Al?”

“Like Rose said,
” Sin says. “It’s not us they’re after. They’re after the two of you. I can disguise us so we don’t look like any pictures they might have. You two, on the other hand, aren’t as easy to disguise since it’s your magic they’ll be looking for, not just your faces.”

Al shifts his weight until he’s leaning away from me. “You plan on leaving us? Alone? Do you think that’s safe?”

“I trust you’re enough of a gentleman not to do anything without permission.” Sin winks as I feel my entire head, neck and chest heat up.

‘Not what I meant,” Al says in a slightly huskier tone th
an his usual voice. “In control of my magic or not, I’m still a wizard. It might be better to have someone around to make sure I don’t slip.”

Sin walks over to pat Al on
his good shoulder. “I trust you to be able to control yourself for an hour or so.” She nods at Rose and the two of them head toward the door. “Besides,” she says, “If anything happens, I’ll just hunt you down and kill you. No biggy.”

Al and I sit in silence as we listen to the two sets of footsteps fade away. I'm not entirely sure how they plan to
leave the building since it’s supposed to be completely locked up, but then again, it's Sin. She'll find a way.

"So," I say. But I can't think of anything to follow with other than silence.

He's gone entirely rigid, as though he's using all of his concentration not to move a single muscle in his body.

I need something safe to talk about. Something
to help him relax.

"You know she's in love with you, right?" That was not what I meant to say.

Al chokes back a laugh.

"Sin?" He
says. "I think you're mistaken."

"Not my sister," I say. Why I can't shut up, I'm not sure. "Rose."

His amusement doesn't fade as he waves a dismissive hand at the idea. He truly doesn't know. Now I’m starting to worry he might not have any idea how I feel either.

"Rose and I grew up together," he says. "She's practically my sister."

"Well, she doesn't think of you as her brother." From the way he's reacting, maybe it's a good thing I keep blurting things out. He needs to know. Doesn't make me feel any less uncomfortable, however. "I don't think she ever thought of you as a relative."

His smile slips away. I can tell from the way his focus s
hifts past me he must be thinking through what I’ve told him. I give him a minute.

“Bugger,” he says.

“Yup.”

“Son of a chimera.”

“Is that really a saying in your world?”

He stands up and begins to pace as I strain my neck to watch. I shouldn’t feel so pleased. I really shouldn’t. But for my own sake, I’m incredibly happy. I don’t know what I would have done if he
’d jumped up with a huge smile and run after her. Even thinking about it makes me feel sick.

“How could I not have noticed?” He absently rubs his injured shoulder. “She must think I’m an idiot. You all must.”

I shrug and mutter, “I think it’s kind of adorable.”

He glances sidelong at me, the corner of his lips turning up. But after a quick head shake he frowns and points at me. “You are not helping. Now tell me how I’m supposed to deal with this.”

“How am I supposed to know?” I put my hands up in a defensive position. “I’ve never dealt with anything like this before.”

“Of course you have. Look at you. You must have broken hundreds of hearts.” He closes his mouth and makes the perfect ‘I just said that, didn’t I?’ face.

“What about you?” My face is burning, but I don’t stop. It’s too much fun to see him look so flustered. “Haven’t you dealt with all sorts of unwanted attention?”

“I went to a school for guys,” he says. “Some of the others would sneak into town to meet girls, but I never did.
And then I was home and the only person who would talk to me was Rose. And then I was crazy. I haven’t exactly spent a lot of time around girls. I don’t have a clue how to deal with them.

I stand up
, careful to pull my skirt down, and slowly saunter over to him. “You have no idea?” Without thinking, and without giving myself time to question what I’m doing, I reach out and stroke his uninjured shoulder with two fingers. “Not a clue what to do with a girl?”

A flash in his eyes tells me he’s not as oblivious as he claims.

“Most girls aren’t obvious with their feelings,” he says.

He touches my bare
arm with the slightest amount of pressure, tickling my skin and causing a shiver to run down my spine.

“And is obvious bad?”

I lift my hand to stroke along his chin line from his ear all of the way down to his throat. His skin is rough with stubble, causing the most wonderful sensation on my fingertips.

“Definitely not.” His voice has
gone husky and the lust in his eyes causes parts of my body to turn to liquid heat. “I like obvious.”

H
e leans toward me, his hand barely touching my chin to lift it toward him. I close my eyes and hold my breath, letting the excitement pulse through me in agonizing and delightful waves.

Then nothing.

His breath brushes my face and I know he’s still there, but he makes no move to close the gap between us. Not willing to wait, I move to meet him and I’m rewarded with a low moan, but no kiss.

“You
r magic has grown back quite a bit already.” His voice is ragged with emotion and heavy breathing. I once again try to close the gap between us and this time I’m met by his fingers over my mouth. “Lou,” he says with such feeling I find my stomach tingling with desire. “Don’t. Please.”

“But I want to,” I say, his fingers tickling my lips with each word.

Another groan, this time it turns into a laugh. “You’re not making this easy for me.”

“I wasn’t trying to.”

I slip my fingers against his collarbone and under his shirt.

“I don’t want to take your magic,” he says.

“Then don’t.”

I give up trying to kiss his mouth and settle for
his neck, starting at his Adams-apple and moving down. His fingers push through my hair and for a moment he grips the back of my head as though to hold me closer.