The Box Omnibus #1 (The Box, The Journal, The Sword) Read Online Free PDF

remember. Every. Tiny. Detail. I glance down at my chest and instantly have to look away to keep myself from squirming. He still kind of reminds me of a spider.
    It’s then I notice we’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s also completely dark. There’s hardly any other traffic on the road and the only thing in sight are trees.
    “Why are we stopping?” I ask, unable to completely hold back the panic in my voice. It’s not like I’m afraid of the dark, but I do usually leave my ballerina nightlight on, just in case.
    “Pit stop.”
    “Why here ?” I look out the window, trying to see through the shadows to find the bears and coyotes and whatever else is out there waiting to eat us. “Can’t you wait for a rest stop? There’s got to be a gas station coming up.”
    “You want to go inside a public place carrying him?” She pulls off her seatbelt before I have a chance to answer, and climbs out the door. “You’d better squat now. I’m not stopping again, and there’s still a couple more hours left at least.”
    It’s not only the darkness keeping me in the car as Cindy clambers down into the ditch. We’re on a main road. Anyone could drive by and see. However, now she’s mentioned it, I can’t help but cross my legs. I groan and climb out of the car to follow Cindy.
    The grass down to the ditch is wet and the slope is steeper than I originally thought. I end up sliding part of the way down on my butt, completely ruining my good jeans. I dust off my backside as much as I can while picking my way past Cindy and into the tree line.
    “What are you doing?” she says. “Just go here.”
    “No way. If I have to go in the woods, at least let me be in the woods and away from perverts driving by.”
    “Fine! But don’t say I didn’t warn you when the axe murderer comes and kills you first.”
    I stare at her with wide eyes as she completely ignores me and climbs back up to the car. “I hate you,” I shout.
    Nothing to it. I can do this. A little bit farther and no one will be able to see a thing. If someone or something tries to attack me, I can fight them off. I’ve been taking Taekwondo for over a year after all. No problem.
    There’s a problem. I can’t go here. Not with someone attached to me.
    “You can set me down, if you would,” Al says as though reading my mind. “I could use some relief myself.”
    I gently unlatch the chain and while using my cell for light, I set the whole thing on a mossy bit of ground. I hope he’s safe in this spot.
    “You’re going to have to talk to me,” I say. “So I won’t lose you.”
    “Of course.” He’s silent for a minute. “I don’t know what to say.”
    “Anything,” I tell him as I step behind a tree. “Tell me about your family. Have any sisters? Are they as awful as mine?”
    “One sister,” he admits, but doesn’t say any more.
    “Oh.”
    I can’t think of anything else to ask and he doesn’t volunteer any information, so I finish up in silence.
    “You done?” I ask.
    “Yes.”
    I sweep the light of my cell over the moss a couple of times before I find him. After a few seconds of struggling with the latch of my necklace while holding my phone in my mouth, I start toward the car.
    “Is magic common where you come from?” I ask both out of curiosity and also to fill the awkward silence.
    “Yes,” he answers simply. “Did you hear something?”
    I start to tell him I hadn’t, when a grinding sound startles me. No, it’s not grinding exactly. It’s more like a whine or growl with a bit of a clucking undertone. And it’s coming from the direction of the car. When I look up, I notice two things at once. There’s an old, beat up red truck parked behind Cindy’s car, and there’s something like a cross between a lion, a snake and a goat pacing and sniffing around the passenger side.
    I think I make a squeaking sound, though it might be a full out scream. Either way, the thing hears me and turns its heads—because one head