Malevolent (The Puzzle Box Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

there on one foot, heart pounding so hard that my breathing began to rasp. His hands were bare--no claw gloves--so he hadn't come to tear me up. How did he know I had the puzzle box?
    I should have returned it this afternoon. He'd come looking for it, and it was my own dumb fault.
    "Go away!" I screamed in a whisper.
    "Libby, I shall not harm you," he said through the glass. "Do you possess a cedar box with silver scrollwork?"
    Oh, sure he wouldn't harm me. Like how he didn't harm Robert during their 'disagreement'. Man oh man, I should have returned it in daylight ...
    My heart tried to pound itself out of my rib cage. My lungs were starting to close. "If I give it to you, will you go away?"
    "Yes."
    I snatched the box off my dresser and set the rifle against the wall, where I could reach it. Then I eased the window open enough to slide the box through.
    Mal popped the screen out, took the box, then replaced the screen. "Thank you. Might I ask how you came by this?"
    His soft, conversational tone eased some of my panic. I focused on slow, steady breaths, and my throat ached for my inhaler.
    "Robert gave it to me," I whispered. Then I winced. Dumb me, automatically honest. "Were you going to break into my room for it?"
    "I did not know that it was your room." He cradled the box against his chest, as if it were made of solid gold. The blue light showed the look on his face--eyebrows furrowed, lips pressed together. "This is not a good place for this conversation. Would you please come out to the beehives tomorrow? I will explain then."
    "Maybe. Goodbye." I shut the window and grabbed my gun, shivers running down my shoulders and back.
    He climbed across the roof and out of sight. There was a final scrape, and he was gone.
    My heart rate began to subside.
    He'd come for his box, all right. But how did he know where it was? He hadn't known it was my room, or so he said. Maybe the box had a GPS locator in it. Why was it so important? I'd bet it was his whole bank account, liquidated while he was on the road. What if I'd opened it and found wads of cash, and assumed it was from Robert?
    I'd have either thought it was drug money, or counterfeit, knowing Robert.
    Maybe it was Mal's amputated heart, since he was a vampire. But in the darkness and silence, that thought was too creepy to entertain.
    I hurried downstairs as quick as my lungs would allow, and used my inhaler a few times. Once my lungs more or less worked, I crept back to my computer and put my headset back on. Tiffany was whispering, "Libby, where are you? Should I call the cops? I swear if you don't get back on--"
    "It's okay, I'm back."
    "Libby! What happened?"
    I checked my automatic honesty this time. A beekeeper had climbed on our roof at midnight to ask for his puzzle box? It was beyond bizarre. But I had to tell Tiffany something.
    "False alarm. I think it was a possum."
    "On your roof? Oh gross!"
    The lie made me twitch a little. "Yeah, so, want one more game?"
    We played until two AM. Then I went to bed and slept until ten.
    I crawled out of bed, blinking in the bleary gray light that filtered through the fog. Keeping such weird hours made me feel heavy-eyed and hung-over. Had Mal really come to my window last night? It seemed like a fever dream. But the puzzle box was gone.
    I worried about it while I forced down a tiny breakfast, then took a shower. It took a while to blow dry my long hair. If I didn't, it would stay wet all day, especially one spot in the back. It gave me time to ponder the night's events.
    Mal had come to my room last night. Then he wanted to talk to me about it today. If he'd planned to hurt me, he could have done it last night. Vampires were stronger at night, right?
    Morbid curiosity warred with my fear. I could drive out and make sure some other beekeepers were around. I did want to know why he wanted that puzzle box so badly--he wouldn't attack me with other people there.
    I'd take Suki, too. Muggers thought twice if you had a dog with