The Box

Chapter Six

"You got here faster than I expected," trench coat guy says with an uninterested glance at Stewart. "Thought you were conserving your magic."

Stewart gives me a look unlike any I've seen before. I'd felt uncomfortable around him at home, but this was something completely different. One look and I'm terrified. Hadn't I been relieved to see him only seconds ago? It's only when he turns away to talk to our captor I notice Cindy hasn't stopped swearing since he walked through the door.

"...lying prick-face bastard," she says.

"Cindy? What's going on?" I start to twist around to see her, but remember at the last second not to pull at the ropes too much.

"You never were the sharpest, Lou," Stewart says in a dry tone. "Like your idiot mother."

Did he really say that? I stare at him with my mouth hanging open and looking exactly like the idiot he called me.

This can't be happening. After all, it's Stewart. Mom's boyfriend. I must have misheard him.

"Stewart, please," I say.

"Do not speak."

Suddenly he's too close, though I have no idea how he could have moved so fast. His face is only inches from mine, his fingers wrapping around my neck, with his too long nails digging into my skin.

"I should have known it was you since day one, the way you're able to convince everyone around you how innocent and perfect you are." He squeezes my face with one hand, forcing my lips to pucker. "Disgusting."

He releases me and I attempt to wipe the parts of my face he'd touched on my shirt, but I can't get rid of the crawling feeling in my skin.

"But...Mom loves you."

I know I sound pathetic and I'm sure I'm not helping anything since his reaction to my pleading is to tighten his grip until I'm gasping for air.

"Tell me where it is, sorceress, and I may let your family live." His voice crackles with an energy that reminds me of lightning.

"I don't know." My eyes fill with water while my lips refuse to stop quivering. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"The portal. Your grandmother was the guardian and she passed the title to you. Now, where is it?"

His voice is too calm and his cruel smile never wavers. His fingers tighten more as I shake my head and tell him I have no idea what he's talking about.

"Want me to break her legs?" trench coat guy offers.

Stewart's smile widens. "Is that what you want? To never walk or dance again?"

"Please." It's all I can manage.

"Let go of her right now," Cindy says, clearly regaining a bit of courage.

"I have a better idea."

Stewart releases me and steps away to pull something seemingly out of thin air. At first I have no idea what I'm looking at, especially since my eyes are blurred with unshed tears. Slowly the colors and shapes start to fit together until I recognize he holds a blue silk bag, smaller than his fist. It takes a couple more seconds for me to realize it's not the first time I've seen the bag.

"Where did you get that?" I ask.

"It's amazing what your grandmother kept in her house." He casually tosses the bag up and down a few times. "It wasn't hard to find this or figure out exactly what it is."

With Cindy at my back, she's unable to see what I can. "What is it?" she asks. "What's he got?"

"It's nothing," I say to both of them. "It's a bag Gran used to keep some toenail clippings in. Weird, yeah, but I don't see—"