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

  Chapter Two

  “He’s not real. He’s not real. He’s not real.”

  I glance back over at the table where the tiny man paces back and forth, his eyes always on me. No matter how I say it, I can’t make the words true.

  I can’t stay here. Not with my adrenalin racing through me, telling me to move.

  “I’ve got to go,” I say.

  His eyes widen in alarm and he stops in his tracks.

  “Go? Go where? Why do you have to go?”

  “I’ll be back,” I promise. “I’m going to get Mom. She’ll figure this out.”

  “Great,” I hear him grumble as I leave the room. “She needs her mother’s help.”

  I run down the stairs with no thought in my head other than the need to get away from my bedroom. Reality hits me when I get to the main floor and I’m forced to stop. What am I going to say? How can I possibly explain this to Mom without sounding crazy? Maybe I want to tell her and have her say I’m insane. Then this will all be over. It might take some therapy, but I can live with that.

  “Hello, Lou.”

  I jump and spin in the same motion, my arms automatically moving up to block an incoming punch. My eyes focus on a tall slim man who would almost be attractive if it weren’t for the dead look in his eyes and a more cruel than pleasant smile. I play off my crazy reaction to his greeting by moving my hands up and through my long black hair. He makes no sign of noticing my strange behavior.

  “How are you doing? Still breaking hearts?”

  The anxiety I thought would disappear once I found someone to help only increases as he stares. I have to force my hand to stop shaking. For whatever reason, I feel like I can’t let him see how worked up I am.

  “I’m fine,” I say.

  Mr. Anderson, or Stewart as he prefers to be called, is Mom’s ‘special friend.’ He’s been coming over a lot lately, ever since Mom and I had a talk where I cheerfully told her I was fine with the whole thing. Never mind what I actually wanted to tell her was, “He’s creepy and we should move so he can’t find us.” But he makes Mom happy, which is what matters. It’s weird though, Mom never mentioned he was coming tonight. Usually she gives me a bit of warning.

  “Ah, Lou, there you are.”

  I don’t jump when Mom comes up behind me, but I’m only barely able to stop myself. She puts a hand on my shoulder which feels cool through my shirt.

  She must notice the difference in temperature too because she asks, “Are you well? You’re not getting sick are you?”

  “What? No. I was doing some stretches. Just worked up a bit of a sweat I guess. Hey, is supper done? I’m starving.”

  “Supper is almost done, yes. Would you mind helping me?”

  The expression she makes as we walk back to the kitchen tells me she’s as surprised as I am to find him here. Though, her reaction to his visit is much happier than mine. She keeps fluffing her short, curly hair and adjusting the wide belt around her small waist in nervous excitement.

  I set the “good” dishes Mom hands me, and take my seat. My foot taps nervously on the dark tile floor until the others finally come in. Stewart sits down in his spot at the round table while Mom hurries to serve the food.

  “Where’s Cindy today?” Stewart asks in a tone I can only assume he believes is friendly. “Off on some wild escapade, I suppose.”

  I ignore the crawling feeling running down my spine while he talks and force a smile of my own.

  “I don’t know.”

  I never know unless she’s home, then the shouting between her and Mom is a pretty good indication she’s here.

  Mom sites and gestures for us to start. Part of me wants to be excited about the honey glazed chicken on my plate since it’s my favorite, but all I can think about is the guy on the nightstand upstairs. I need to ask Mom about it. She has to know how to fix this.

  “Mom.” I interrupt the conversation she’s having with Stewart. They both turn and look at me expectantly. “About the box of Gran’s stuff...”

  No. I can’t do it. I can’t reveal how crazy I am, not in front of her boyfriend. I look first at Mom who’s startled by the subject and then at Stewart who stares at me in undisguised interest. Why is he looking at me like that? I thought there was something off about him before, but this is unnerving.

  “I’m going to move it to the other side of the closet so I have some room for my costume when I get it at rehearsal tomorrow.”

  Her expression relaxes as she says, “Of course, sweetie. Whatever you need.”

  My forced smile drops the moment I hear a noise upstairs. At first I think I’m imagining things until Mom grits her teeth and glances up at the ceiling.

  “Cindy must be sneaking in,” Mom says. “That girl has never figured out how to use the front door.”

  “Excuse me.”

  I leap to my feet and rush back up the stairs.

  Cindy sneaking into the house isn’t anything new. Usually I don’t care, even though it’s my window she crawls in through. There’s no simple way up into her room and there’s a huge tree next to mine, so I can understand why she does it. And it’s easier to ignore her than fight every time, especially since she would never stop.

  This time’s different. What will she do if she sees the mini man? Worse, what if she doesn’t see him and throws her purse onto the table, squishing him instantly? I have to move faster.

  My eyes are instantly drawn to my sister’s short, bright red, spiky hair as I burst through the door. Last time I saw her, it was green, so I’m thrown for a couple of seconds. Then I realize her tongue is down some guy’s throat while his hands are all over her.

  I should have known. Cindy would never make so much noise sneaking in on her own.

  Cindy’s guy breaks away from her mouth and gives me an accusing stare. “Ya mind?”

  What does she see in him? It’s not like he’s hot, especially not with the tattoos covering his arms and the big wonking bar through his nose. Mom would hate him instantly, of course. Was there any other type of guy Cindy would bring home?

  “My little sister, Lou,” Cindy says. “Don’t worry about her, she likes to watch.”

  My face goes bright red. I’m only a year younger, and I do not like to watch. I have no interest in watching. In fact, if they weren’t in my room where I’m hiding a miniature man...

  Table. Miniature man. Without thinking, I throw myself forward, placing myself between the couple and the table. The move brings me uncomfortably close to them.

  “I think she wants to do more than watch,” tattoo guy says. He looks me over from head to toe with an appraising smirk. “I’m game if you are, Sin. I’ve never done a cheerleader type before.”

  “Ew.”

  Usually Cindy would react with some rude joke and lead the guy off to her own room, but she doesn’t say a word. She stares at me while reading my face, which I keep down.

  “Hey, Jazz,” she says after a minute. “I’m going to have to cut tonight short.”

  She pats his chest more like she’s shoving him back toward the window than being affectionate.

  He laughs. “Come on Sin, I’ve heard you’re many things, but never a tease.”

  She doesn’t seem bothered by what he’s insinuating, even though she probably should be. I know I would.

  “I’ve got to deal with family stuff. Sorry, man. Next time, all right?” Not waiting until he leaves, she turns back to me and glares. “What are you hiding?”

  I glance over at Jazz who stares at Cindy for a minute while he tries to work out what happened. For a second I’m sure he’s going to be pissed enough to refuse to leave, but finally he snorts, calls her a few names and climbs out the window.

  “Seriously, Lou. What the hell is wrong with you? You look like your head’s about to explode.”

  “It’s nothing. Just go.”

  I grab her shoulder and start to guide her toward the door, but she knocks my hand away.

  “Screw that. What ar
e you hiding? Did you steal something from me? Is that what this is about?”

  She tries to peek around my left side, but the second I lean with her to keep myself in front of the table she dodges to my right and tries to push past me. I manage to stop her from getting by, but I can’t stop her seeing. Since I don’t keep anything on the table the guy can hide behind, there’s no way she doesn’t spot him.

  “Holy hell,” she whispers in awe as her thickly lined eyes widen to almost perfect circles. “It’s a miniature person.”

  I try to shove her towards the door, but she doesn’t budge. If I push hard enough, I can probably move her, but I’m afraid of hurting her. I don’t think she’s ever been to a gym, so I have no doubt I can out muscle her if I tried.

  “It’s not what it looks like. He’s a figurine I found. It’s plastic or something.”

  “You’re a real, miniature person,” she says while completely ignoring me. “How are you here?” Before he has a chance to say anything, she turns on me and jabs a finger into my shoulder. “What did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything. Why does everyone keep blaming me?”

  I’m not used to people assuming I’m the one at fault. Cindy gets in trouble, not me. She has no right to be accusing me of anything.

  Cindy pushes past when I stop fighting her. There’s no point anymore. Besides, she doesn’t seem to be taking it at all like I expected. She seems completely calm, almost excited. It’s as though she anticipated something like this would happen.

  She leans down so her face is even with the table and looks closely at the guy. He follows her every move with one hand resting cautiously on what I now realize is a sword strapped to his hip.

  “This is so crazy. You’re a real live person?”

  “Usually,” he replies much to her delight.

  I haven’t seen her so excited about anything since she got the car.

  “You can talk? So awesome. Where did you come from? What’s your name? How did you get here? Are you always this small? Seriously, Lou, how did you do this? I’ve never seen anything like this. Gran showed me some cool tricks, but never magic. Not like this.”

  It takes me a few seconds to realize that the person who sounds like they’re hyperventilating is actually me. I force myself to take a couple of even breaths before attempting to speak.

  “Gran showed...”

  Too much. Way too much to handle. I don’t know if my legs give out or if I make a move to sit down. Either way, without any conscious thought, I’m suddenly on the floor with my arms wrapped around my knees. Again.

  “Pathetic,” Cindy says with a roll of her eyes. She kneels back down next to the table and leaves me to my frantic rocking. “Do you have a name, or should we give you one?”

  I look up in time to see him turn away from me. A name. Why didn’t I think of asking that? Oh wait, because I want him gone, not to become best friends with him.

  “Aldric,” he says.

  “Riiight,” she laughs. “We’re going to call you Al, kay?” She winks and makes a gun with her fingers.

  “Whatever you prefer.”

  “Ahh.” Cindy groans and falls back dramatically. “Best three words out of a man’s mouth. And with the accent, it’s extra hot. Tell me Al, what brings you here?”

  “I honestly don’t know.” He hurries to add, “But I’m sure it was my fault. And I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry?” Cindy scoffs. “For what?”

  “Anything and everything,” I answer for him. “Yeah, it’s all he says to me too.”

  “Explain exactly what happened.” Cindy moves to sit on my bed so she can see both of us without having to twist.

  “It was the box.” I point at it on my bed. “I accidently opened it and he fell out.”

  She reaches over and grabs the hunk of wood, twisting it around in her hands until it’s upside down. “Gran gave you this? When?”

  “She didn’t. It was with her stuff.”

  “You have some of her things? Why didn’t anyone tell me? I should have been the one to find this.”

  I can’t believe what I’m hearing. She has the nerve to think she has any right to Gran’s possessions after the way she acted? Besides which, why would anyone want something like this to happen to them? Even Cindy can’t be so crazy.

  “The box is magic,” she says. “You see the writing on the bottom? That’s a spell engraved into the wood. I can’t read what it says, but Gran showed me something similar before. She wanted me to be prepared. Just in case, you know.”

  “Just in case of what?” I ask.

  Cindy groans at my idiocy and pointedly looks at Al.

  “All right, let’s say I accept Gran told you about this stuff. So explain. How does it work? How is he here? Does every box have magic and this one happened to do something while I was watching? Should I be worried about an army of mini-men running around on my night stand?”

  I stop rhyming off every question in my head when I notice Cindy’s expression has changed to a familiar look of boredom. I bet she’s not even listening anymore.

  I decide to keep it simple. “How does magic exist? Magic isn’t real.”

  “No, of course not.” She gestures toward the mini-man and shakes her head at me. “There’s no magic here. You really are slow aren’t you? And you don’t have to worry about how it works. Accept it does and let me deal with the rest.”

  “Fine,” I say while waving my hand in a ‘go ahead’ motion. “Fix it, if you know so much.”

  “Can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “Both. Seriously, Lou. Why are you freaking out so much? You can’t tell me this isn’t the most interesting thing to ever happen in your entire life. Look at how cute he is. With his little leather tunic and knee high boots like they wear in pirate movies.”

  “I’m flattered, really,” he says. “And I don’t mean to offend you, but as fun as this is, I would like to go home.”

  “See,” I say while I point at him. “He wants to go home. You should give him what he wants.” She doesn’t say anything. “Cindy, please. I need things to be normal again.”

  She jumps to her feet and takes several steps away from me before spinning around and throwing her arms up in defeat. “And what’s so great about normal, huh?”

  Normal is good. Normal is what everyone strives for. Everyone but Cindy of course. Normal means not sticking out in a crowd for being weird or having a bad reputation or having acted in some stupid way. And most of all, normal means no strange men falling into my lap out of a box.

  I must look pretty desperate, because for the first time in my life, Cindy actually takes pity on me.

  “Fine. Have you tried putting him back in the box?”

  “Of course.” I rub my hands against my head as I pace around the room. If all she can suggest is the obvious, then I’m going to be stuck with this guy forever.

  “Yes! No need to try again. No need to shove me in a box.” Al watches us with a hand permanently attached to his sword. He shifts his weight back and forth between legs while keeping his stance loose and ready to fight.

  The moment he notices I’m watching, he stops and grows rigid. I can’t help but stare back, and as I do, I notice his stance shift until he no longer looks terrified, but curious instead. He’s so tiny, and though I hate to admit Cindy could ever be right, he really is cute.

  “Did you keep him in for long enough?”

  His attention falls from me and he begins his nervous shifting again. His anxiety reminds me of my own and I can’t help feeling frustrated at how useless Cindy’s being.

  “Come on, Cindy. You said Gran...” it feels too weird saying the words, especially when a huge part of me doesn’t believe what I’m saying. “...taught you magic. Do whatever only you can apparently do and fix this.”

  “No, I said she prepared me for stuff like this. She couldn’t teach me magic, because I don’t have magic to use.”

  Something about
her casual attitude makes me even more anxious. How can she be so calm at a time like this?

  “Logically,” I say, though her words are anything but. “There has to be something you can do.”

  She seems to ignore me while continuing to study the mini man. I’m about to say more when she steps back.

  “Fine. But you’re going to have to do everything I say, no matter what Mom would think.” Cindy pokes me hard in the shoulder to make her point.

  I swallow, forcing a lump down my throat and look over at the table. The mini man, Al, glances up at me with a pleading look in his tiny eyes. I swallow again and nod to Cindy.

  Cindy’s grin makes me instantly regret my decision as she says, “Great,” she says. “Let’s go to Gran’s house.”