The Man in the Box (The Box book 1) Read online

  Chapter Thirteen

  There’s a screech from above and we all look up. It’s impossible to see much through the tree branches, but the griffin and wizard are definitely there. After a few breathless minutes the animal screeches again, this time further away. It’s passing by. For now.

  My eyes slide down from the branches and over to Rose. She nods and without a word we both stand. I hesitate before picking Lou up, not because I don’t want to carry her. In fact I can’t help feeling a little thrill from the thought of holding her. What bothers me is I have to toss her over my shoulder rather than cradle her in my arms as she deserves.

  When I’m sure the griffin has flown far enough away we won’t be heard, I ask, “What do they want from me?”

  “I was hoping you’d know,” Rose says.

  “Did you talk to them? Has anyone?” Rose makes a face clearly showing what she thinks of the idea. I nod. “No, of course not. But then why do you think it’s me they’re after?”

  “Because,” she says, “they arrived only hours after you disappeared.”

  “And everyone assumes I brought them here.” I exhale deeply and glance back where we’d last seen the wizard. It isn’t surprising everyone suspected me, not after what happened with my sister. Still, it would be nice if Rose didn’t agree with them. “So why are you helping? Why were you at the house when they’re out searching? Shouldn’t you be home?”

  “I figured it was the best place to start looking for you.” She turns back, eyes alight. It’s the same look she always gives me, like being with me is some sort of adventure.

  She wasn’t wrong about the house either. When we were kids we used to spend a lot of time exploring the area. It wasn’t very different than the rest of the houses in the village, other than no one ever lived there, but I was drawn to it day after day, and I’d dragged Rose along on more than her share of visits.

  It must have been the magic attracting me. I never understood the draw when I was a child, and I’d never gone back once I was trained to sense power.

  “Don’t suppose you’re going to explain where you’ve been.” Rose glances back at me, first at whatever dark expression I must be wearing, and then at Lou as I draped her back over my shoulder. “Course not. You never do.”

  At least she doesn’t push for an answer. I know my parents aren’t going to be so easy on me. I’m sure as soon as I walk through the front door, another girl over my shoulder, things are going to become very difficult.

  “Where are we going?” Cindy demands. “Where are you taking us?”

  I snap out of my thoughts and pay more attention to our surroundings. Rose has taken the lead and I let her without asking her where she going. As I glance around, I know I was right to trust her.

  “My parents’ house,” I say. “It’s that one over—“

  My hand drops before I finish pointing at the house. The griffin has circled round the village, much faster than any of us expected. Or maybe the rider caught sight of us earlier and is swinging around to head us off. Either way, beast and master are coming straight for us, and it’s too late to hide.

  I only have enough time for two words before they’re on us. “Don’t speak.”

  It’s more a warning for Cindy since Rose doesn’t need any reminders. I can only hope she’ll listen, though I have my doubts she can keep her mouth shut long enough.

  “You there,” the wizard calls while hovering a few feet above us. “What are you doing?”

  He’s in full battle gear, wearing the familiar reds and blacks of the Sword. The griffin is covered entirely with similar colors, leaving nearly none of its features visible. However, its front talons and back claws are highlighted by the armor in order to make them appear more frightening.

  I step forward and hold myself as tall and relaxed as I can while still holding Lou. I know I should drop her and make a show about not caring what happens to her, but I can’t bring myself to let go. At least with her in my arms I have some ability to protect her.

  I add a bit of disdain to my manner in hopes it will cover my odd actions.

  “I’m doing my job,” I say. “And you?”

  His eyebrows raise and he takes a better look at all of us, his gaze resting on Lou longer than the others. I stop myself shifting her out of his line of sight, especially when the corners of his lips curl up into a cruel smile.

  “You don’t seem to be doing it very well,” he says. “Your sorceress has been drained and not by you.”

  “Stolen from me.” I practically spit the words. “Put a lot of time into this one, convincing her we were friends, all to have my reward taken by someone else.”

  I force myself not to look at Cindy, though I wish I could send her some sort of message to let her know I’m only saying what he needs to hear.

  “You should be quicker next time.” He brushes a bit of dirt off his uniform as though his own cleanliness is more interesting to him than Lou’s life. “Trust me; it doesn’t take as much effort to trick one of them as the others would have you believe. Especially not the young ones.”

  Cindy grunts, less than I expect from her, but it also brings more attention to her than I was hoping. His focus shifts to her as the griffin makes a strange snarling noise, unlike the ones it made during the search. From the flash in the wizard’s eye I’m betting the sound means they’ve discovered something.

  “You keep strange company,” he says. “A wizard with his pet witch?”

  I don’t answer. Instead I scowl at him and let him come to his own conclusions.

  “What power are you hiding, little girl?”

  Cindy takes a step forward and balls her hand into a fist. “I’ll ‘little girl’ you right up the—“

  “I hoped to have taken my power by now,” I say over her. “I’d have used it long ago to shut her up.”

  This time I do face Cindy and we exchange a few angry looks before she turns away.

  “I could do it for you,” he offers.

  Not what I’m expecting. Magic is precious, and no wizard is willing to use theirs for someone else’s benefit, not without gaining something in return. He must want me to owe him. I have to think fast.

  I don’t bother hiding my surprise, any wizard would have the same reaction, but I try to look pleased as well. “Generous offer.” I pretend to think it over and then shake my head regretfully. “No, better not. I’ll need her to talk during the experiments.”

  “Experiments?” His full attention is finally on me.

  “Like I said, I spent a lot of time on this girl, and damned if I’ll let it go to waste.” I shrug her higher on my shoulder in a way that’s supposed to seem uncaring and aloof. “I’ll use it to figure out what I can about her kind. Who knows, maybe I’ll be the one to find an untapped power source within the shells.”

  I hope I give the appearance of greed combined with a bit of youthful whimsy while not looking as ridiculous as I feel.

  “Waste of time.” He dismisses the idea instantly of course. Everyone knows there’s nothing left in a sorceress once her powers have been drained, but he doesn’t bother trying to convince me to stop. Instead, his attention goes back to Cindy. “I suppose the witch’s been helping with some ‘magic.’”

  I laugh with him at the word. “As much as her kind can manage. Like I said, I thought I’d have my own power by this point.”

  He studies us for a while longer, his eyes never bothering to glance over at Rose after his initial inspection determined her unimportant.

  “There was magic done in this area yesterday. Know anything about it?”

  From the way his attention has already shifted from us, I realize he’s guessed what I’m going to say.

  “This one did something,” I say, bouncing Lou for emphasis. “Never did figure out what it was. It’s what brought the other wizard. I should have seen him coming. But sorry to say, you’re too late. He’s gone. Along with my power.”

  He nods and I have to force myself not
to exhale in relief. Not yet. Not until he’s gone. He had been close enough to not only feel the magic which sent me to Lou’s world, but also reach to the village to check it out within a few hours. I doubt it’s coincidence he was nearby before. He probably won’t go far now.

  “We’re done here,” he announces. “Waste little time with your experiments. Your full strength is needed amongst your people.”

  “And when my experiments are successful,” I say with all of the arrogance of a newly graduated wizard, “every one of you will understand not a second of the time I spent here was a waste.”

  He laughs at my arrogance and makes the motions of a mock bow as best he can while mounted. Still laughing, he kicks the griffin forward, but before he’s too far away, he calls over his shoulder, “Better luck next time.”

  When he’s gone I let out a deep sigh more like a growl. I never felt comfortable talking to fully realized wizards before, but since I’d grown up surrounded by so many, I hardly gave it a second thought. It was a part of life. Only when I watched Loraine’s magic be ripped from her was I able to see the truth about why I’d felt so uncomfortable. They are unnatural, like sewing a piece of bark to cloth. Forcing another person’s magic to work as your own is possible, but it’s an unstable combination.

  I take the lead for the rest of the short walk to my house, since Rose isn’t moving quite fast enough. I’m pretty sure I’ve convinced the wizard to go back to whatever he was doing before he came to our village, but I still want to get inside as soon as we can. It’s too exposed out here and I need to get Lou somewhere safe. She deserves at least some protection and comfort.

  “Why’d he think I’d help you?” Cindy asks. “He was so easy to convince. But it can’t be common, witches helping wizards I mean.”

  “You’d be surprised.”

  I sneer at the memory of the women at the University who would happily answer every demand from the instructors, no matter how disgusting or life threatening. The wizards had thought of them on the same level as the animals used throughout the University. The idea that anyone would choose to give up their freedom for the hope of more power makes me ill.

  Cindy is even more disturbed than I. “What the hell do you mean?”

  “Witches, wizards we’re all the same.” I pick up my pace in a vain attempt to run from the topic.

  “I’m nothing like you,” she says.

  Despite my need to get indoors, I stop and turn to meet her gaze directly. “Did you never think, not once while you were binding your sister’s magic, you never thought ‘I could have this? I could keep this magic for myself. It’s being wasted on her anyway.’” I see it there, in her eye, a little spark and then a wave of guilt telling me I have it right.

  “Because you see, witches, wizards, it doesn’t matter, we’re all the same. The only difference is your Gran whispered in your ear your whole life, ‘No, it’s not yours to take.’”

  “And you?” Her voice is quiet and I can tell she’s suspicious of what my answer might be. “What was whispered in your ear?”

  “’Do it.’” Her eyes widen, though I’m not sure if the words bother her or my lack of hesitation. “’Take it all.’”

  I turn away, moving toward the house again, and so I don’t have to look into Cindy’s frightened face anymore. I know I’m capable of frightening people. There’s a reason the villagers avoid me, but to see Cindy give me the same look is disturbing.

  “Fine,” she practically chokes on the word. Clearly she doesn’t want to believe what she’s about to say. “Let’s pretend I accept witches and wizards are...” She doesn’t finish. I don’t blame her. “It doesn’t explain why he’d think I’d work with you.”

  “Witches have the capability of taking magic, but they don’t know how. Wizards keep the secret to themselves. Sometimes witches work for wizards in hopes of learning.”

  “But it can’t be too difficult. He just sucked it out.”

  “We’re trained from the age of eight, and released at eighteen.” An image flashes through my mind of the group of us lined up, eager to don our new red and gold robes. The excitement had been catching, though even then I was uninterested in the prestige of being a wizard of the powerful group known only as The Sword. “Ten years. Think there might be a chance I’d know a bit more about magic than someone who dabbles in her room when her mother’s not looking?”

  I expect her to growl something at me, curse me up and down for being so blunt, but instead she turns thoughtful.

  “Ten years?” she says. “What the hell do they teach for ten years?”

  Blurry images of endless drills and repetition of phrases, combined with painful and humiliating punishments if we were ever wrong, pass though my mind before I can push them aside. I’d gone to a lot of trouble to forget as much of the events at the University as possible and I wasn’t about to allow detailed memories of the events now. Not for Cindy.

  “A state of mind.”

  Rose opens the door to the house and I walk through, mentally preparing myself for the inevitable meeting with my parents. If I give them half a chance they’ll spend the rest of the day lecturing me or asking questions I have no answer to. Worse will be if they refuse to keep Lou safe. I can’t let them have a chance to keep her out.

  When Ma hears us come into the house, she steps around the corner from the kitchen, obviously not expecting to find all of us walking through the door. Her long blond hair is in a loose braid down her back and her dark green dress dirtier than usual from her day’s work.

  “Aldric?” She looks from one of us to the other. “What is this?” I can tell she’s ready to say more, but I don’t give her the chance.

  I nod toward each of the sisters in turn. “Cindy. Lou.”

  “Who?” she asks.

  Cindy groans. “Oh, don’t start. Yes, my mother named us after a children’s book character. No, I don’t think it’s cute. And my name is Sin, got it? Sin.”

  Cindy’s—Sin’s—little outburst is enough to distract my mother as I make my way to the bedroom at the back of the house. It’s the smallest room, with barely enough space for a single bed and a desk.

  “Get the covers.” I don’t have to look to know Rose is still right beside me and ready to help however she can.

  She hurries to the bedside and pulls the blankets down before moving out of the way for me. Carefully, so I don’t bump her head against the wall, I slip Lou off my shoulder and onto the bed. When I’m sure she’s as comfortable as I can make her, I pull the sheets up to her chin and stare into her open, blank eyes.

  I want to apologize. I want to tell her how I’m going to make everything all better. I want to say something to her, but I suddenly become acutely aware Rose is watching me.

  Before standing up, I brush my hand over Lou’s eyelids, closing them, although such gestures don’t really matter. A quirk of those who have their magic stolen from them is that their eyes will open again eventually, even blink all on their own. It’s like the body keeps on going, but there’s nothing inside.

  I take a few minutes to stretch my shoulders and neck. A year ago I would have no problem carrying her so far. They trained the potential wizards for worse situations. The fact I’m so stiff and sore is one more reminder of how soft I let myself become. I’ve been enjoying the comforts of home and forgot I’m supposed to be part of the war. But here, in my parents’ house, it has been so easy to forget.

  “You put her in your bed,” Rose says, surprising me out of my darker thoughts.

  I look down at Lou tucked under the covers and allow myself to enjoy the thrill of her being in my bed for only a second before plastering a look of innocence on my face for Rose’s benefit. “And?”

  “I never thought—” she stops herself and gives Lou another long look. “Why?”

  My shoulders rise and fall in a casual shrug. “Where else was I going to put her? Loraine’s bed is in use and I’m sure my parents wouldn’t be happy if I put her in theirs.�
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  A twinge of guilt hits me as she accepts the half-truth. But even her trust in me doesn’t stop her from asking, “Is that the only reason?”

  “What other reason would there be?” I widen my eyes a little more as though I actually have no idea. I can’t let her know how pleased I really am. Even Rose wouldn’t be able to understand my fixation.

  She doesn’t get a chance to answer as Cindy-Sin and Ma come into the room, suddenly making the already tight space feel like a cage.

  Ma stares at Lou for a minute, all of her feelings hidden behind her stony face, as usual. When she turns to me, it’s quite clear what she’s thinking, and she is not pleased.

  “What have you done?”