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

this boss of yours anyway? What does he want with us?”
    “Shut it.”
    He pushes the creature off me and lifts me to my feet with his empty hand. His grip digs into my skin, leaving bruises. Still, the pain he inflicts is nothing compared to the feeling of revulsion left where he touches my skin. He drags us back to the car. With a warning look, he lets go of my arm in order to open the passenger door and flick the seat switch. He moves aside and whistles. The chimera bounds into the back, happy as can be to go for a drive.
    “Oh, no. Dude. So not cool.” Cindy gives the car a despairing look. “There goes the upholstery.”
    “Farah’ll ride with you. Decide not to follow or lose sight of me, and she’ll kill you. Got it?” He sounds bored as he threatens our lives.
    “But does the thing have to destroy my car?” Cindy asks.
    “Move.”
    He grips her arm so hard it turns her skin white and forces her to take a step forward.
    I want to do anything but get into a car with a killer beast, but the guy doesn’t give me much of a choice when he tosses me inside. Cindy wrenches her arm away and climbs into the driver’s seat with a little more dignity. She waits for the truck to pull out and follows him. We drive in complete silence. Other than her music, of course.
    After only a couple of minutes of driving, I notice a noise coming from the back seat that isn’t part of the song. I glance over my shoulder while doing my best not to move fast enough to spook the creature. Its teeth on both heads are bared, and I can tell the sound it makes is a warning.
    “I think it wants you to turn down your music,” I say.
    “Well, it can bite me.” She sounds more pissed than worried, which makes me even more afraid. She’s not taking any of this seriously.
    “Pretty sure that’s the plan,” Al replies.
    Instantly Cindy perks up. “Oh hey, little guy. How you doing’ in there? Still in one piece?”
    “So far.”
    “Don’t worry, this is a minor setback. We’ll be back on track to getting you all normalified in no time.”
    Her smile shows all of her teeth, though I don’t know how she expects Al to see her from his cage.
    “Minor setback?” I force myself not to hyperventilate. “Do you know what’s going on? Who is this guy? What is the thing behind us? Why is someone looking for us?”
    “Chill,” Cindy says. “You’ll give yourself an aneurism. I’m guessing it has something to do with the box. Gran warned me there are people always on the search for magic and if we use any, they’ll come after us.”
    “Oh, well then. I guess everything’s okay.” I attempt to mock her relaxed attitude, but I fail pitifully as my voice cracks.
    “Wow, your sarcasm needs some work, Lou.”
    I glower at her, though the effect is probably lost because I keep glancing back at the creature in case it decides to eat us after all.
    “Did Gran at least tell you who these people might be?”
    Cindy shrugs. “Just ‘bad people.’ You know Gran.”
    “No, apparently I don’t.”
    An unexpected surge of guilt builds in me. It’s not like it’s my fault Gran kept secrets. Still, I can’t help feeling as though there was something more I should have done. Why hadn’t she trusted and confided in me the same way she had Cindy?
    “Wizards,” Al says. “They’re the only ones who can control a chimera this way.”
    “As in old men with white beards and funny hats?” A nervous giggle escapes my lips. “This is all a weird dream, isn’t it? I’m going to wake up in my room and have a good laugh about my crazy nightmare.”
    “Wizards are men who suck the magic out of sorceresses, leaving them in a state worse than death.”
    I look down at my necklace and I can see Cindy is doing the same out of the corner of my eye.
    “Do I detect some firsthand resentment there?” she asks.
    He doesn’t say anything, which I take to be a yes.
    “When you say suck...” I start, but am unable to finish, shuddering