The Box Omnibus #1 (The Box, The Journal, The Sword) (36 page)

My eyes snap open sometime in the early morning and it takes me a minute to figure out what’s going on. My
dreams were full of running. I’d been chased by Al and attacked by other faceless wizards. It’s difficult to remember which thoughts are memories and which are merely from the dream.

Once I recognize the back seat of the car, everything becomes a little more
real. Gran’s house has been taken. The portal is under wizard control. And we’ve had to spend the night in the car because there’s nowhere else safe to go.

I check on Sin and Rose in the front and confirm they’re still fast asleep before stretching out once again in the back. I’m not sure which would be worse, sleeping in a sitting position, even a reclined one like they are in the front, or curled up in a space much too small like I am in the back. Since they’re managing to stay asleep, I’m going to have to say I got the worst deal.

Water and food would be great right now. Once Sin wakes up, I’ll have to convince her we can make it in and out of a shop without being tracked down and killed. After all, we can’t stay in here forever. We might be able to use a drive-thru for food, but washrooms will be a little more difficult without leaving the car.

It shouldn’t be too long before the others wake. The sun’s already started to rise and there are no blinds to keep it from falling directly into all of our eyes once it’s up.

A harsh knock on the window startles me out of the half-sleep state I’ve fallen into, but it’s nothing compared to the reaction Sin has. She jumps out of her seat and scrambles away from the window, her hand clutched around Rose’s arm for protection. Hilarious if we weren’t running for our lives.

It takes me a second to register what the dark blue uniform of the woman
outside means. Cop. A police officer is knocking on the window, telling us to open up.

“Sin.” My voice comes out as a hiss
. “Open the window.”

“Not a chance,” she says.

She climbs back into her seat and buckles up. To make matters worse, she actually goes to turn the car on. As though she’s going to drive away. Just like that.

Her eye
s lock on something in the rearview mirror and a string of curses follow.

Rose and I turn around at the same moment
to see what has upset her and find a car with flashing lights parked directly behind us, blocking our path.

“Open the door,” the officer says. “Do it now.”

“This is ridiculous,” I say. “Do as she says. You’re only making things worse.”

Sin shakes her head. “Worse? What would be worse is going out there right now. We need a way out of here. Maybe I can slam the car hard enough to push past.”

The thought of Sin hitting a police car, on purpose no less, is enough to make me sick. I can’t let her do something so stupid. How much jail time would she be given? Would we all receive?

I force my door open and jump out of the car.

“Lou!” Whatever else she has to say to me is cut off by a second cop.

“Up against the car and hands behind your head,” he says. “Do it. Do it now.”

When I try to turn to explain how we haven’t done anything wrong, I see the gun pointed at my head and freeze. It’s not until I’m being slammed against the car with my arms wrenched behind me I remember I have a voice.

“What’s going on?
” I ask. “What have we done wrong?”

“Out of the car.” A second gun is drawn at Sin. “I will shoot.”

I can’t hear Sin swear, but I can definitely sense it. I’m pretty sure if we make it out of this, she’s going to kill me. But how was I supposed to know? If you can’t trust the police, who can you trust?

“Are you arresting us?” I’m roughly pulled from the car and shoved toward the police vehicle. “What for? What did we do?”

“We have rights,” Sin says. “You can’t treat us like this.”

She’s cuffed as roughly as I was and we’re both forced into the back of the police car. My legs are squished against the divider between the front and back seats, making the whole experience
a little bit worse.

For a minute I’m sure they’ve forgotten about Rose as one of the
officers jumps into the driver’s seat. But my hope doesn’t last as she’s pulled from the car, cuffed, and thrown in back beside me.

As we pull out of the empty lot we’d spent the night in, Sin continues to yell about our rights and how they
have no legal cause to treat us like this. They don’t respond. It’s impressive how little they seem to care about what she’s saying. She might as well be completely silent.

Rose leans into me in order to be able to
be heard over Sin’s shouts. “Can you get us out?” she asks. “Use your magic on the shackles?”

I
have been avoiding using magic since escaping the house. Using magic gives Victor something to track since he and Rilla would be able to sense any little traces I leave behind. But this situation is probably big enough to risk leaving a bit of a trail. They’d be able to find us soon enough if we’re trapped in a jail cell either way.

I press my magic into the metal cuffs to break the lock and release my hands. Or, at least that’s what I try to do. When I try to push my magic
inside the metal, it doesn’t budge. I try again. Nothing.

Maybe it’s the
fact the cuffs were factory made. I’ve always had a tough time mixing technology and magic. If I try on something else, maybe I’ll have better luck.

I attempt to push a bit of magic into the seat to burn a small hole, just to see
if I can. Nothing. I try forcing the magic through my leg and out my foot, but again, my power doesn’t budge from its place deep inside of me. I might as well have been trying to move a train with my bare hands.

“Something’s wrong,” I say to the others.

“Trying to use your magic?” the female cop asks. “Don’t bother. Those cuffs were made special for your lot. No sorceress can break free. Trust me, we’ve seen enough of them try.”

Sin shuts up as soon as the woman says magic and the three of us stare at the back of the cops
’ heads in shocked silence. There’s only one way anyone from this world would know about magic. If they were told by people from Al’s world. And there’s only one group of people I know of who would have figured out a way to block a sorceress’ power. Wizards.

These police officers must be
working for The Sword.

There
has to be a way for me to get back control of my magic. The spell trapping my power can’t be unbreakable. After all, you can break down anything if you know how it works, and I know how magic works. Mostly.

I close my eyes to try and get a better sense of my own power.
Deep inside me it sits like a pool of water. Branches rise from the bowl like streams with no concept of gravity to wind their way out into every corner of my being. I’ve always thought of it like this when I’ve tried to focus on it in the past. This time when I look into myself, it’s as though all of the branches have been trimmed away, leaving nothing but the source. Its usual waves and ripples are completely still.

Normally
all I have to do to draw a thread of magic from the source is to think about it happening, and then it happens. Depending on what I want to do, I may need thicker or thinner threads. If I can’t take enough magic from the source to complete what I have in mind, I can’t do the spell. Once I started to think of my magic like this, it became much easier for me to manipulate my magic.

The problem is, whatever they’ve done to me, whenever I try to reach into the
source, I come out with nothing. I can feel my magic. It’s still within me. I just can’t get a hold of it.

Sin’s elbow meets with my ribs and I snap out of my meditation to see what she wants.
We’re at a police station. I have never spent much time worrying about where in town the police are stationed, and instead felt secure in the knowledge they were out there somewhere. Now it feels vitally important to know where we’re about to be held.

From the look of the surrounding buildings, we’re somewhere near the heart of the town. Not a street I recognize, but I haven’t spent a whole lot of time wandering around getting to know the town yet. Hopefully Sin will better know where we are and what way we should run if we somehow manage to escape.

The car pulls to a stop and the cops jump out to go talk to another officer who appears to be waiting for them.

“You just had to get out of the car,” Sin says
the moment we’re alone. “Didn’t you?”

“Arguing is pointless,” I say.
“We need a plan.”

I look out every window, trying to figure out what might be the best way to run
once we’re let out of the car, but everywhere I look there are fifteen foot wire fences. None of us would be able to climb them normally, but with our arms bound behind our backs, trying to get over them is hopeless.

We could
steal the car. But again it’s hard to drive with our hands behind our backs. Plus, no magic and no keys means there’s no way to start the engine.

“I had a plan,” Sin says. “Stay in the car. Someone comes, we drive away. It was a good plan. It would have be
en a perfect one if someone hadn’t gotten out of the car.”

“I get it
.” She is starting to get on my last nerve. Not a hard thing to do right now. Being trapped in the tiny back seat of a police car without access to my magic while a wizard and sorceress chase us down has put me a little on edge. “I was stupid. I trusted the wrong people. Now are you going to help or just continue to bitch at me?”

“They’re coming back,” Rose says.

Seconds later both doors swing open and Rose and Sin are yanked out from either side of me. I don’t have time to do anything more than stare as the third officer leans in through the open door, smiles, and smashes me in the head with the butt of his gun.

My head is a huge pile of sore as I regain consciousness. I wish I could at least rub my scalp, but my hands are still locked behind my back. A bit of magic or an entire bottle of Tylenol would do wonders right about now.

At least the room I’m in is dim. And tiny. I sit up on the bed I
woke up on and look around. Wall. Sink. Another wall. Toilet. And bars. Yup. I’m in jail.

I’ve watched hundreds of shows and movies about people being put in jail and every time I’ve been happy
not to be those people. And now here I am. The worst part is no one will ever know I’m here. It’s not like they’re going to give me a phone call so I can get Mom’s help.

Poor Mom. At least she isn’t expecting me home any time soon. She won’t worry about me for a while yet, though I’m sure she’ll start wondering when I don’t call after a couple of days. I wonder what sort of l
ie she’ll be told when she calls the cops to report I’m missing. Will they tell her I’m not worth looking for? I’ve probably run off?

No. I can’t think
this way. I’m not going to be here forever, and I’m certainly not going to let them kill me. And if they believe they can hand me to some wizard to suck out my magic, well they can think again. I’m going to find a way out, with or without my magic.

First, I need to figure out if Rose and Sin are close by.

“Sin.” I don’t speak too loud, afraid of drawing attention from any guards around. “Sin, are you there?”

A scuffle in what I guess is another cell behind me
lets me know I’m not alone. A moment later I hear, “Lou? Is that you? It’s Rose.”

Disappointment washes over me
, though I quickly wipe it away. It might not be my sister, but if Al trusts her, so will I.

“Do you know where Sin is?” I ask. “Is she al
l right? Are you?”

“She’s behind the wall on the other side of my room,” she says. “And I’m fine.
How about you?”

From a couple of cells down I can hear
Sin shout. So much for not making a fuss.

“Lou!” Sin is loud enough I could hear her if m
y cell was in the next building over. “Are you okay? If you aren’t I swear I’m going to kill you. This is your fault you know.”

“They left my cuffs on,” I s
ay to Rose rather than shout to Sin. “They’re somehow blocking my magic. I can’t figure out any way to get around it. Any other ideas how we can get out of here?”

“I don’t suppose you can use your magic again yet,” Sin says. “Because it would be great if you could get us out of here. I’ve avoided jail this long. I’d really rather not be here now.”

“So no to having an idea then,” I say to Rose.

I can hear her sigh through the wall. “Give me fabric and a needle and I’ll make you a dress in a day. Not very helpful for times like this.” She shuffles a bit, moving to another position, and her voice becomes a
touch quieter. “I should never have left home. What made me think I could help Aldric? He barely recognizes me most of the time.”

Part of me wants to tell her she’s right. She should never have come to my world and she should leave Al to me. After all, without magic, she can never understand Al the way I do.

“It’s not your fault,” I say instead. “It’s the magic he’s been using. It’s like a poison, slowly eating away at his mind and leaving only a shadow of what he used to be.”

If only I could somehow shed some light onto the shadow. Shove the poison back. However, with the amount of magic he has now, trying to battle it all would take every drop of magic I have, and there would be no guarantee I’d
make a dent into the corruption. More likely any sort of cleansing spell I tried to put on him would be wiped away before it ever reached the core of his magic. Without destroying the root of the problem, the spell would be useless. Worse, dark magic might somehow taint my magic in the process. Then we’d both be lost.

“He recognized you,” she says. She’s trying to hide it by keeping her voice strong, but I know there are tears in her eyes by the pitch of her voice. “He hasn’t seen you in
almost two years and he not only knew who you were, he stopped himself from hurting you.”

As much as I want to feel pity for her, the thought of Al being able to keep his memories of me safe while everything else in his mind is destroyed is too
sweet. I lean back and enjoy the swell of heat spreading from my chest to every other part of my body.

“Is there a way to fix him?” Rose asks. “Can you give him back his mind?”

The warmth cools in an instant, as though I’ve been sprayed by icy water. “I don’t know,” I answer truthfully. “If it is possible, I promise I will do everything I can to help him.”

“I know.” She sn
iffs, and I try to pretend I don’t hear anything. I wouldn’t want her to know I was crying if our roles were reversed. “You two are connected. I don’t get it. After all, you barely know each other. But I know you’ll help him, just as he’s been watching over you.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Sin asks way too loud. “Why won’t you answer me?”

I can’t help but laugh. The whole situation is insane. It’s either laugh at Sin’s ridiculousness, or start bawling with Rose.

“We’re saying how annoying these handcuffs are,” I say just as loud as Sin. “I think I’d prefer having my magic ripped out of me th
an continue being this uncomfortable. At least then I wouldn’t know I’d become completely useless.”

“Oh, my dear girl.” Even without
access to my magic, I know whoever is talking is wizard. No one else could sound so slimy. “That can be arranged.”

I jump to my feet and press my face against the bars, hoping I’ll somehow
be able to see the speaker. He sounded like he’d been uncomfortably close to Sin. I swear, if he so much as touches her, I will find a way out of these binds and tear off his head. A couple of cops holding guns stare back at me from across the large open space in front of the cells. Everything else, including whoever spoke, remains out of sight.

“Kill
the witch and the other one,” the wizard says. “Leave the sorceress to me.”

“Better not.” My breath catches at the sound of the new voice. Al. He’s here. “Unless you want to be in the same trouble as I am.”

“She’s a witch,” the unknown wizard says. “Killing her would be doing everyone a great favor.”

“Look again,” Al says.

There’s a pause followed by an amused snort. “How is it possible? Victor would never allow someone like her to become a wizard.”

They must be mistaken. Or they’re talking about someone else. My sister is not a wizard. She’s a witch, sure, but there’s a difference between the two. Maybe not much of one, but she’s definitely not a wizard. She would have
told me if something as big as becoming a wizard happened.

“How do you think Victor discovered the portals?” Al sounds bored by the whole exchange. Like he doesn’t actually care if my sister is killed, he’s simply reporting what he knows so the other wizard can make an informed decision. “She gave him
a map with all of the locations.”

“What?” I push myself against the bars a little harder, but I still can’t see anything. “You did what?”

Silence. There’s only one reason why Sin would ever stay quiet. If she is overwhelmed with guilt. It doesn’t happen often.

I feel my stomach rise to my throat, and if I’d eaten anything today, I’m sure it would be tossed all over the floor. How could my
own sister betray our world? Betray me.

“It was you?” I say. “You’re the reason they found Gran’s house? You’re the reason more wizards have started showing up in this world?”

“It was my fault,” Rose says. “She did it to save me.”

The voices move a little closer, but I’m no longer trying to see them. My own sister. How could she do this? And worse, how could she keep it from me?

“This one I recognize,” the wizard says with an amused tone. “Don’t you, Loraine?”

Instantly I snap out of my thoughts.
Loraine, Al’s sister is here? Of course she is. It makes sense now why he’s acting the way he is. He hasn’t succumbed to the poison inside of him. This is all an act. He’s trying to help his sister.

“Fitzroy?” Rose says. “Loraine. How are you…
Aldric? What’s going on?”

Al walks past Rose’s cell and stops in front of mine. He stands completely silent
while Fitzroy laughs with glee about the whole situation. Or at least I’m assuming that’s why he’s laughing. Or he’s recently sniffed a bit too much laughing gas.

I want to call to
Al, beg him to give me some sign he’s still behind those dark, lifeless eyes. But I don’t say anything. If he is in there, drawing attention to the fact will only ruin whatever he’s trying to accomplish. And if he isn’t…

No.
He has to be in there.

Fitzroy stand
s beside Al and flicks his head back and forth to look at the two of us in turn. “You know her too, I suppose?”

“We’ve met.” Al’s lips curl into a cruel smile. “Haven’t we
, Lou?”

“You stay the hell away from her,” Sin says
, though no one’s listening to her.

“You should have seen her when we first met.”
Al chuckles. The sound causes my skin to crawl as it did on the roof. “So ignorant. So stupid. It was the most enticing thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Why didn’t you take her?”
Fitzroy asks

“She wasn’t ready yet.” Al’s head cocks as he continues to stare, and I realize it’s not me he’s looking at. He’s staring through me, at the magic trapped
inside. “Now she is.”

It isn’t him talking. Not the real him. And yet no matter how many times I tell myself
this, I can’t stop the panic from racing through every vein in my body.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to taste her.”

Al lifts a hand and the door grinds open. I stumble back from him, trying to get out of reach of both him and his magic. Invisible hands wrap around me and drag me toward him and all of the way out of the cell. The hands disappear the moment I’m within arm’s length of Al.

“Victor wouldn’t be happy if I l
et you have her,” Fitzroy says in a chastising manner. “After all, he has plans for her.”

“I couldn’t care less what Victor has planned,” Al says. His finger brushes against my skin, tracing the curves of my face from temple to chin. It doesn’t seem possible his face can look so cruel while his touch is so gentle. “She’s mine. I found her first.”

Fitzroy grabs Al’s arm and for a moment I’m sure I’m about to get caught in the middle of a wizard battle. Without magic to protect myself, I don’t like my odds of survival.

But then Fitzroy releases Al’s arm and takes a step back. “
Uncuff her,” he says.

“But sir,” the officer who clubbed me in the head earlier says, “What about our orders? We’re supposed to keep her here until Victor’s arrival.”

“I am in charge here,” Fitzroy says. “And I said release her. Must I find someone else to do your job? Because trust me, I can easily find a replacement. You, on the other hand, will not find it so easy to survive the firing process.”

“No sir,” the officer says
, his voice cracking a little on ‘sir.’ “I understand, sir.”

As
the officer goes behind me, keys jingling as he searches for the right one for my cuffs, Al’s hand cups my chin and forces me to meet his gaze. I try to pull my head away, but his grip is firm. If he thinks I’ll let him take my magic without a fight, he doesn’t know me nearly as well as I thought he did. The moment my magic is no longer blocked; I’m throwing everything I have at him and everyone else in this room. I’ll have Sin and Rose out of here in ten seconds.

I
lock eyes with him, determined to show him I’m not afraid. Instantly my determination and anger disintegrates. It’s him. Completely him. The cruel darkness has faded from his eyes and all I can see is the guy who once fell out of a box and changed my life forever.

Through his eyes, it’s as though I can see inside his mind and read his thoughts. He might as well be speaking directly to my
head.

How much do you trust me?
ask his eyes.

I answer,
With my life.

His eyelids close in a slow blink.
Wrong answer.

When he’s looking at me again, I allow the edge of my lips to twitch upward.
Probably. Doesn’t change how I feel.

The
handcuffs lift from my wrists and the magic whirls inside of me, ready to go. All I need to do is tell it what I want.

As he closes the space between us, the air around me begins to buzz, cancelling out everything outside of the two of us. I know the others are there, somewhere in the background. A small part of my mind can hear Sin shouting at Al to stop, but none of it matters. My entire focus is on Al.

I’m not sure what he has planned, but he must think he can control how much he takes. I can’t imagine he’d be telling me to trust him. I’ll have to do what I can to help my Al stay in control. If I fill him with my untainted magic, I might be able burn away some of the corruption. It will give him the chance he needs to regain full control over himself.