The Box Omnibus #1 (The Box, The Journal, The Sword) (26 page)

Rose’s fingers dig into my arm, forcing me to stay back.

“What did I say?” she says. “It’s not safe. Besides, it’s almost over now.”

“How do you know?” I grab Farah’s mane with my free hand both for
comfort and to keep her from reaching toward the bird with her eager teeth and tongue. “The poor thing is obviously in pain, and you want to stand here and watch. Have a heart.”

“See the smoke.” She points to a tendril of smoke rising from the bird. No wonder it felt so hot. “That’s how I can tell. Now be quiet and watch.”

Before I can say anything about how we should try to cool it down, the tendril explodes into a flame as tall as either of us. Too fast for me to do anything more than gawk, the bird’s entire body is engulfed in the fire and burns until there’s nothing left but ash.

I expect Farah to
grow bored once the bird is dead, but she’s as eager as ever to mess with the pile of ash. Chimeras are sick creatures.

“Amazing.” Rose breathes out a long sigh and grins. “Do you know how rare a sighting is? Let alone witnessing a death.
Researchers have dedicated their lives to having one glimpse of a phoenix, and you found one your first day in this world. Incredible.”

Farah pulls harder
towards the ash as I stare at Rose. “Phoenix?” I must have heard wrong. Or she called the bird the wrong name. “You’re kidding.”

“It should have been in a nest.” She drops her head back and examines the branches of the few trees around us. “Maybe it
was too weak and fell out. Or something attacked it before it’s time. Farah can’t climb trees, can she?”

“Phoenix?” I know I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this is a world of magic where anything can happen, but a bird that kills itself by bursting into flames is weird even for me. “Wait, but then shouldn’t it come back to life?”

As I ask the question, a tiny silver beak pokes through the top of the pile of ash. We watch it struggle with open mouths, and in Farah’s case a salivating tongue, as it manages to wiggle awkwardly out of the ash and topple head over adorable little talons, down the pile, to plop onto its butt in the singed grass.

Rose and I both
say “Awwww,” while Farah’s stomach groans in protest at being kept away from a tasty meal.

“Can we keep it?” I ask.

All of the admiration Rose showed the little guy disappears as she gives me a horrified look. “No. Absolutely not.”

“We can’t leave it here,” I say. “If Farah doesn’t eat it, the next creature to come by certainly will. Besides, look at it. It’s so adorable and tiny. What trouble could this little guy cause?”

I lean over and scoop the phoenix up to carefully cup it in my hands. It’s warmer than a normal animal, but no longer uncomfortably so. When the nestling opens its beak to chomp down on my thumb, I show it off to Rose, expecting another “aww.”

“It thinks my thumb is food,” I say in case she doesn’t understand how it’s being adorable.

“Maybe you are food to it,” Rose says. “Do you know what phoenixes eat? Because I don’t. In all of the books I’ve read, no one has mentioned what they eat, because no one knows. Do you want to know why no one knows? Because you don’t go around picking up wild creatures. Even baby ones can be dangerous.”

“I can probably make a nest out of the straw
on the cart.” I’m already walking back to camp. No way I’m letting Rose’s worries convince me to leave the little baby behind. “I’m sure I can find something for it to eat. It’s still a bird after all, so it probably wants things like bugs and worms. Maybe some berries, or meat.”

“
Go ahead. Ignore me,” Rose says while trailing behind. “But don’t expect any help when this all goes wrong.”

When we reach the camp site, Paul rises from the pit where he’s been manning the fire, glances at me, then at the bird. His eyebrows raise, and his
gaze shifts to Rose.

“Don’t look at me.” She throws her hands up in defense. “I told her to leave it alone.”

“It’s fine, see?” 

I grab a handful of
straw and pat it into a circle on the ground near the fire, but not close enough for a spark to light it on fire. When I’m satisfied by the shape, I let the bird slide out of my hand and on top of its new nest. It wiggles and tries to climb off, but after a couple of seconds of coaxing it to stay, it settles and almost instantly falls asleep.

“No one told me I’d be moving an entire
circus,” Paul mutters to the fire.

At least he d
oesn’t argue with me. Though I don’t have any doubt I’d win, it’s always easier when people agree to doing what I want without any effort on my part.

After distracting Farah with some meat left over from what Paul cooks for the rest of us, I take a seat next to the nest and open up Gran’s journal. My first real entry. With the day I’ve had, it’s going to be a good one.
 

Writing everything down reminds me of how much trouble I’m in. I’d almost forgotten during the excitement of the phoenix, but
now that I know she’s safe, the pounding in my head has become more painful than ever. 

Maybe there’s something about the spell
Rilla cast on me in the book. I’ve gone through it already and never noticed anything about mind control, but I also hadn’t been specifically searching for this sort of spell.

With only the light from the fire, I go through every page long after the others fall asleep. The only times I lift my eyes are when
Nyx, as I’ve named the phoenix, wakes and demands a bit of the meat Rose gave me for him and when I remember to finish off my own overly cool dinner Rose had set down for me some time ago.

Nothing. There’s not one passage about controlling people in the entire book. There’s not even anything about helping with headaches. Maybe if I had her entire library I’d be able to figure something out, but I don’t have time to go back home to
check.

I flip the page over and come to the image of the stone city. The dragon is back, and this time he appears to be awake
. The sky is the same inky black as here, but the lights from the buildings illuminate the underbelly and neck of the dragon, giving it the illusion of glowing. Its nose is pointed to the sky as though it’s able to peer past the clouds and see the stars. Even though I’m only looking at an image in a book, I can sense sadness from the creature and it makes my heart ache.

Farah butts her lion head against my side while her large and dangerous goat teeth slink for the journal.
 

“Monster,” I say, though I can’t help laughing. “Trying to distract me with cuddles, are you? We’ll see
how well you’re able to eat my book when you’re getting belly rubs.”

I attack her with scratches and she lolls onto her side to give me more space to rub while h
er goat head licks my entire face with one swipe of her slimy, overheated tongue. I suppose I should be happy she didn’t decide to show her affection in the form of a blast of fire to the head.

“So sweet of you.”

I wipe the slobber off with my sleeve and am glad she doesn’t follow up with any more helpful cleaning. One last glance at the dragon and I close the book for the night. I’ll check again in the morning. Between the inconsistent light of the fire and the stress I’m feeling from today, there’s a good chance I might have missed something. 

Being careful not to bump the little
Nyx too much, I gather both him and the pile of straw and move them both into a corner at the back of the cart. Only after he’s settled back to sleep do I dare to lie down next to him and close my eyes. Farah jumps on the cart as well and snuggles in against my back. Today may have been stressful, but I can’t think of a better way to fall asleep.

A sudden drop
followed by a thud wakes me. It takes me a minute to figure out I’m not in my own bed, and another to remember the smell burning my nose is indeed horse manure.

I rub my itchy eyes until the blurring clears before checking my surroundings. Farah’s tail is visible for a few seconds as she
scurries behind the cart before taking off after something only she can see a few yards away. Nyx is still in his nest, though he’s wide awake and seems to be enjoying the sensation of the cart jerking along the road if the upbeat song he’s singing is any indication.

Which raises an interesting question, “What’s going on?”

Rose turns around in her seat to smile at me. “You’re awake. Took you long enough.”

Her expression shifts and her hand goes to her mouth. She spins around to face the road and bends over, clutching her stomach. I hope she leans far out of the cart if she’s going to puke. No way am I starting my day with
that on my clothes.

“Rose said you were up late last night,” Paul says
while she struggles to regain some control over her stomach. “She wanted to give you some extra time to sleep so we started without you. There should be some food for you back there if your pets haven’t eaten it all.”

After eating the crusty bread and suspicious
looking cheese—shouldn’t cheese be refrigerated?—I open up Gran’s journal and start going through it more carefully than last night.

I only
make it part way through before my growing headache and frustration overwhelms me. There’s nothing more in this bloody book than there was before. I know more about spells to protect a house from fire and floods and what have you than I ever cared to know, but nothing on breaking other peoples’ spells. Or about what to do when you find a baby phoenix. Should I be feeding it something special? So far it’s eaten everything I’ve offered it, but should I be worried about it consuming certain vitamins?

Nyx
stares directly at me, but he doesn’t squawk or show any signs of discomfort. He seems content to sit in his little nest and watch.

As much as I’d love to spend my time thinking about him, I need to start worrying about the bigger picture. I have a scroll with the location of all the portals to my world on it, and if I don’t figure out some way to end the spell on me, I’ll soon be handing it over to a wizard I know nothing about.

“Have either of you heard of the wizard Victor?” 

I’m timid to say his name out loud. I have no idea what will set
off the magic in my brain, but I guess I’m being vague enough not to make the pain any worse.

“The head
master of the University?” Rose says. “Of course. Everyone’s heard of him.”

“Most of us try not to know much about him.” Paul glances at Rose who doesn’t take her gaze off the horizon. “Wizards aren’t interested in us normal people after all, and they never appreciate it when we meddle in their affairs.”

I have the feeling he’s no longer talking about Victor. Instead it’s Al he’s describing. Rose doesn’t take the bait, either because she’s too worried about becoming sick, or she doesn’t have a good enough argument against him.

“Victor took over as the headmaster of the University about ten years ago
after an unfortunate accident took the life of the previous headmaster.” Rose sounds like she’s reciting a passage from a book. “He’s considered one of the world’s most powerful wizards and most think of him as the unofficial leader of The Sword.”

“How do you know all of this?” I ask.

Rose ducks her head and I can see tell from the side of her face she’s turning a bright shade of pink.

“I read a lot.”

I pull a face. “You mean there’s an entire book about one wizard? Sounds like dull reading to me.”

“It’s only a section of a book,” Rose says, “and it’s fascinating.”

“Rose has spent a great deal of time researching everything there is about magic and the wizard community.” Paul sounds like he’s not sure if he should be proud or upset. “Over the past few months, it’s gotten worse. I’ve had to go to some shady people to find the books she’s asked for lately. There probably isn’t a wizard around who knows as much as our Rose by now.”

“I like to be informed,” she says.

“So long as the information has something to do with
him
.” Paul makes no attempt to lower his voice or hide his bitterness.

Poor guy. Al’s not around and he’s still able to win the battle for Rose. But maybe if
Paul laid off on trying to guilt her so much, he’d have a better chance. His childish sulking is driving
me
into Al’s arms, and I have zero interest in the guy.

Rose tries to shift the attention back to me. “Does this have anything to do with what
Rilla did to you?”

I open my mouth to say ‘yes’ but the moment I do, the pain in my head increases so much, I can’t say the one simple word. I swear, if I ever
have a chance, I’m smashing Rilla’s head into a brick wall. It’s the only way she’ll have a vague understanding of what she’s putting me through.

“Can’t...
tell.” I manage to say between groans of pain.

Even though
it’ll make her sick, Rose twists around in her seat to face me. I peek through my fingers at her while huddled with my knees up to my chin and my hands clutching my face.

“What is it?” Rose asks. “What has she done to you?”

I know she’s trying to help, but she’s only making things worse. The more I think about Rilla and the spell, the more pain I end up feeling.

When
I’m sure I can’t deal with any more pain, a furry head bumps into my chest while the tongue of Farah’s other head slobbers all over my face. For a second, I’m so disgusted I forget all about the spell. The pain doesn’t go away completely, but at least my vision isn’t as blurry. Farah’s lion’s head remains against my chest, demanding for me to rub it while her goat one remains inches from my face, threatening me with another licking if I start to think about the spell again.

I scratch each of her ears in turn and force myself to
focus on the feel of her fur.

“Sin?” Rose says. “Are you all right?”

“No,” I admit. “But I’ll survive.”

I hear retching and I know Rose has been forced to turn around again. It’s for the better. If she’s too sick to talk, she won’t be able to ask anything else, and I’ll be able to spend the rest of the trip concentrating on Farah. A short song to my right reminds me Farah’
s not the only one here with me. I reach over and gently stroke Nyx’s grey head. What few feathers he has have yet to turn the brilliant crimson and gold they were before the rebirth. He meets my finger and happily helps guide me to the best spot to rub.

I
f only they could somehow use their powers of adorableness to break the spell. Too bad they can’t, and I’m running out of time to do it on my own.