The Keeper: Alexa LeGardien Read Online Free PDF Page A

Thanks.”
    She approached the lock with the key and stopped midway again. “If this is something bad, or worse . . .”
    Matt stopped her before she had a chance to back out again. “If this is from your mom or your dad, it can only be good. I know that’s why you’re hesitating. If it’s really from your parents, it’s probably some family heirloom or something like that.”
    Alexa collected her thoughts before she spoke again. “Okay. You’re totally right. I don’t know why I’m fretting. I’ve broken a bunch of people’s noses and stabbed another with a fork and I’m scared of opening a box?”
    “Attagirl, but you probably shouldn’t say that out loud again.” He jokingly warned her.
    She flashed him a smile of confidence this time. “It’s just a box. It’s probably just filled with old pictures of my parents.”
    You know that’s not true , she heard her inner thought scream. “I can’t. I can’t do it.” Alexa handed Matt the key. “You’re my best friend, do the honours.”
    “Uh . . .”
    “ S’il vous plaît ?” She quickly added and batted her eyebrows before he could refuse.
    He slowly collected the key from her right palm. “I love it when you speak French to me. Okay, but if this ends up being some sort of a Pandora’s Box and I die, I just want you to know” —she waited for him to complete his sentence— “don’t you dare scratch a hair on my Mustang.”
    “Hey! I thought that was ours .” She playfully punched him before remembering the severity of the situation. “Don’t worry, I will keep it safe.”
    Without a second thought, he lodged the key in place and was just about to rotate it when Alexa quickly grabbed his arm and stopped him.
    “What’s it this time?”
    She let him go almost immediately. “Nothing. It’s nothing. Let’s do this.”
    After a while, Matt still stayed there, struggling with the key.
    “What’s wrong? I said we should do it.”
    “I’m trying, but the key isn’t working.”
    “What? It’s meant to work. That was what Watson dude said, right?” Alexa watched him jiggle it once more around the hole to no avail. “But I was so sure . . .” she mumbled under her breath.
    “Did you say something?”
    “No, give it to me.”
    “Okay, but I’m telling you, it doesn’t open. That short dude’s a fraud.”
    She took the key from his hand. “They prefer to be called little people,” she said absent-mindedly. Her attention was on what came next after the box would finally be opened. She inserted it into the keyhole on the box. From her left, she could see Matt’s lips move. He was definitely saying something but she felt so far away, like she wasn’t really there anymore. She faced the box and turned the key.
    “Alexa!” Matt snapped her out the trance.
    She looked at him without glancing back at the box. “It’s open.” Right after making that statement, everything around her felt loopy. Alexa felt her body drop.
    Matt rushed to grab her body before it hit the ground. “Alex!” He called out her name and shook her, vigorously hoping to get some kind of response, but none came.

PART 2

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    “A LEXA,” Matt called out to her. “She’s waking up,” he said for everyone else to hear.
    Alexa could barely see. She felt out of it, a little bit tipsy. She saw Matt turn to talk to someone else. Where was she? Who was he talking to?
    Through her heavy eyelids, she saw a blurry Matt hold out three fingers in front of her face. “How many fingers am I holding up?” She barely heard him ask.
    She was dazed and confused not blind. “I don’t know. Ten?” She lightly joked or at least tried to. Seriously, where the hell was she? She lightly laughed and felt a sharp pain in her head, resembling a migraine, so she quickly stopped herself from any further movement.
    Everything around her slowly stopped spinning and she spotted the other people in the room before she spoke. The nameless doorman, Mr. Henderson, and Leeman, who