I ignore the crawling feeling running down my spine while he talks and force a smile of my own.
“I don’t know.”
I never know unless she’s home, then the shouting between her and Mom is a pretty good indication she’s here.
Mom sites and gestures for us to start. Part of me wants to be excited about the honey glazed chicken on my plate since it’s my favorite, but all I can think about is the guy on the nightstand upstairs. I need to ask Mom about it. She has to know how to fix this.
“Mom.” I interrupt the conversation she’s having with Stewart. They both turn and look at me expectantly. “About the box of Gran’s stuff...”
No. I can’t do it. I can’t reveal how crazy I am, not in front of her boyfriend. I look first at Mom who’s startled by the subject and then at Stewart who stares at me in undisguised interest. Why is he looking at me like that? I thought there was something off about him before, but this is unnerving.
“I’m going to move it to the other side of the closet so I have some room for my costume when I get it at rehearsal tomorrow.”
Her expression relaxes as she says, “Of course, sweetie. Whatever you need.”
My forced smile drops the moment I hear a noise upstairs. At first I think I’m imagining things until Mom grits her teeth and glances up at the ceiling.
“Cindy must be sneaking in,” Mom says. “That girl has never figured out how to use the front door.”
“Excuse me.”
I leap to my feet and rush back up the stairs.
Cindy sneaking into the house isn’t anything new. Usually I don’t care, even though it’s my window she crawls in through. There’s no simple way up into her room and there’s a huge tree next to mine, so I can understand why she does it. And it’s easier to ignore her than fight every time, especially since she would never stop.
This time’s different. What will she do if she sees the mini man? Worse, what if she doesn’t see him and throws her purse onto the table, squishing him instantly? I have to move faster.
My eyes are instantly drawn to my sister’s short, bright red, spiky hair as I burst through the door. Last time I saw her, it was green, so I’m thrown for a couple of seconds. Then I realize her tongue is down some guy’s throat while his hands are all over her.
I should have known. Cindy would never make so much noise sneaking in on her own.
Cindy’s guy breaks away from her mouth and gives me an accusing stare. “Ya mind?”
What does she see in him? It’s not like he’s hot, especially not with the tattoos covering his arms and the big wonking bar through his nose. Mom would hate him instantly, of course. Was there any other type of guy Cindy would bring home?
“My little sister, Lou,” Cindy says. “Don’t worry about her, she likes to watch.”
My face goes bright red. I’m only a year younger, and I do not like to watch. I have no interest in watching. In fact, if they weren’t in my room where I’m hiding a miniature man...
Table. Miniature man. Without thinking, I throw myself forward, placing myself between the couple and the table. The move brings me uncomfortably close to them.
“I think she wants to do more than watch,” tattoo guy says. He looks me over from head to toe with an appraising smirk. “I’m game if you are, Sin. I’ve never done a cheerleader type before.”
“Ew.”
Usually Cindy would react with some rude joke and lead the guy off to her own room, but she doesn’t say a word. She stares at me while reading my face, which I keep down.
“Hey, Jazz,” she says after a minute. “I’m going to have to cut tonight short.”
She pats his chest more like she’s shoving him back toward the window than being affectionate.
He laughs. “Come on Sin, I’ve heard you’re many things, but never a tease.”
She doesn’t seem bothered by what he’s insinuating, even though she probably should be. I know I would.
“I’ve got to deal with family stuff. Sorry, man. Next time, all right?” Not waiting until he leaves, she turns back to me and glares. “What are you hiding?”
I glance over at Jazz who stares at Cindy for a minute while he tries to work out what happened. For a second I’m sure he’s going to be pissed enough to refuse to leave, but finally he snorts, calls her a few names and climbs out the window.
“Seriously, Lou. What the hell is wrong with you? You look like your head’s about to explode.”
“It’s nothing. Just go.”
I grab her shoulder and start to guide her toward the door, but she knocks my hand away.
“Screw that. What are you hiding? Did you steal something from me? Is that what this is about?”
She tries to peek around my left side, but the second I lean with her to keep myself in front of the table she dodges to my right and tries to push past me. I manage to stop her from getting by, but I can’t stop her seeing. Since I don’t keep anything on the table the guy can hide behind, there’s no way she doesn’t spot him.
“Holy hell,” she whispers in awe as her thickly lined eyes widen to almost perfect circles. “It’s a miniature person.”
I try to shove her towards the door, but she doesn’t budge. If I push hard enough, I can probably move her, but I’m afraid of hurting her. I don’t think she’s ever been to a gym, so I have no doubt I can out muscle her if I tried.
“It’s not what it looks like. He’s a figurine I found. It’s plastic or something.”
“You’re a real, miniature person,” she says while completely ignoring me. “How are you here?” Before he has a chance to say anything, she turns on me and jabs a finger into my shoulder. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. Why does everyone keep blaming me?”
I’m not used to people assuming I’m the one at fault. Cindy gets in trouble, not me. She has no right to be accusing me of anything.
Cindy pushes past when I stop fighting her. There’s no point anymore. Besides, she doesn’t seem to be taking it at all like I expected. She seems completely calm, almost excited. It’s as though she anticipated something like this would happen.
She leans down so her face is even with the table and looks closely at the guy. He follows her every move with one hand resting cautiously on what I now realize is a sword strapped to his hip.
“This is so crazy. You’re a real live person?”
“Usually,” he replies much to her delight.
I haven’t seen her so excited about anything since she got the car.
“You can talk? So awesome. Where did you come from? What’s your name? How did you get here? Are you always this small? Seriously, Lou, how did you do this? I’ve never seen anything like this. Gran showed me some cool tricks, but never magic. Not like this.”
It takes me a few seconds to realize that the person who sounds like they’re hyperventilating is actually me. I force myself to take a couple of even breaths before attempting to speak.
“Gran showed...”
Too much. Way too much to handle. I don’t know if my legs give out or if I make a move to sit down. Either way, without any conscious thought, I’m suddenly on the floor with my arms wrapped around my knees. Again.
“Pathetic,” Cindy says with a roll of her eyes. She kneels back down next to the table and leaves me to my frantic rocking. “Do you have a name, or should we give you one?”
I look up in time to see him turn away from me. A name. Why didn’t I think of asking that? Oh wait, because I want him gone, not to become best friends with him.
“Aldric,” he says.
“Riiight,” she laughs. “We’re going to call you Al, kay?” She winks and makes a gun with her fingers.
“Whatever you prefer.”
“Ahh.” Cindy groans and falls back dramatically. “Best three words out of a man’s mouth. And with the accent, it’s extra hot. Tell me Al, what brings you here?”
“I honestly don’t know.” He hurries to add, “But I’
m sure it was my fault. And I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” Cindy scoffs. “For what?”
“Anything and everything,” I answer for him. “Yeah, it’s all he says to me too.”
“Explain exactly what happened.” Cindy moves to sit on my bed so she can see both of us without having to twist.
“It was the box.” I point at it on my bed. “I accidently opened it and he fell out.”
She reaches over and grabs the hunk of wood, twisting it around in her hands until it’s upside down. “Gran gave you this? When?”
“She didn’t. It was with her stuff.”
“You have some of her things? Why didn’t anyone tell me? I should have been the one to find this.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. She has the nerve to think she has any right to Gran’s possessions after the way she acted? Besides which, why would anyone want something like this to happen to them? Even Cindy can’t be so crazy.
“The box is magic,” she says. “You see the writing on the bottom? That’s a spell engraved into the wood. I can’t read what it says, but Gran showed me something similar before. She wanted me to be prepared. Just in case, you know.”
“Just in case of what?” I ask.
Cindy groans at my idiocy and pointedly looks at Al.
“All right, let’s say I accept Gran told you about this stuff. So explain. How does it work? How is he here? Does every box have magic and this one happened to do something while I was watching? Should I be worried about an army of mini-men running around on my night stand?”
I stop rhyming off every question in my head when I notice Cindy’s expression has changed to a familiar look of boredom. I bet she’s not even listening anymore.
I decide to keep it simple. “How does magic exist? Magic isn’t real.”
“No, of course not.” She gestures toward the mini-man and shakes her head at me. “There’s no magic here. You really are slow aren’t you? And you don’t have to worry about how it works. Accept it does and let me deal with the rest.”
“Fine,” I say while waving my hand in a ‘go ahead’ motion. “Fix it, if you know so much.”
“Can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both. Seriously, Lou. Why are you freaking out so much? You can’t tell me this isn’t the most interesting thing to ever happen in your entire life. Look at how cute he is. With his little leather tunic and knee high boots like they wear in pirate movies.”
“I’m flattered, really,” he says. “And I don’t mean to offend you, but as fun as this is, I would like to go home.”
“See,” I say while I point at him. “He wants to go home. You should give him what he wants.” She doesn’t say anything. “Cindy, please. I need things to be normal again.”
She jumps to her feet and takes several steps away from me before spinning around and throwing her arms up in defeat. “And what’s so great about normal, huh?”
Normal is good. Normal is what everyone strives for. Everyone but Cindy of course. Normal means not sticking out in a crowd for being weird or having a bad reputation or having acted in some stupid way. And most of all, normal means no strange men falling into my lap out of a box.
I must look pretty desperate, because for the first time in my life, Cindy actually takes pity on me.
“Fine. Have you tried putting him back in the box?”
“Of course.” I rub my hands against my head as I pace around the room. If all she can suggest is the obvious, then I’m going to be stuck with this guy forever.
“Yes! No need to try again. No need to shove me in a box.” Al watches us with a hand permanently attached to his sword. He shifts his weight back and forth between legs while keeping his stance loose and ready to fight.
The moment he notices I’m watching, he stops and grows rigid. I can’t help but stare back, and as I do, I notice his stance shift until he no longer looks terrified, but curious instead. He’s so tiny, and though I hate to admit Cindy could ever be right, he really is cute.
“Did you keep him in for long enough?”
His attention falls from me and he begins his nervous shifting again. His anxiety reminds me of my own and I can’t help feeling frustrated at how useless Cindy’s being.
“Come on, Cindy. You said Gran...” it feels too weird saying the words, especially when a huge part of me doesn’t believe what I’m saying. “...taught you magic. Do whatever only you can apparently do and fix this.”
“No, I said she prepared me for stuff like this. She couldn’t teach me magic, because I don’t have magic to use.”
Something about her casual attitude makes me even more anxious. How can she be so calm at a time like this?
“Logically,” I say, though her words are anything but. “There has to be something you can do.”
She seems to ignore me while continuing to study the mini man. I’m about to say more when she steps back.
“Fine. But you’re going to have to do everything I say, no matter what Mom would think.” Cindy pokes me hard in the shoulder to make her point.
I swallow, forcing a lump down my throat and look over at the table. The mini man, Al, glances up at me with a pleading look in his tiny eyes. I swallow again and nod to Cindy.
Cindy’s grin makes me instantly regret my decision as she says, “Great,” she says. “Let’s go to Gran’s house.”
* * *
Chapter Three
“What?” My brain is moving too slowly, especially for Cindy who’s already hurrying around the room grabbing stuff, examining it, and tossing it onto the bed. “What? No! Cindy, Gran’s house? Are you serious? It’s a six-hour drive. Six hours. I thought you could fix this. Why do we need to go to Gran’s?”
“You agreed. Do as I say or else you’re stuck with Al forever.”
My mouth hangs open as I watch her dig through each of my drawers only to slam them shut and move on to the next. If she’s trying to pack my stuff for the trip, she’s doing a terrible job. Not like it matters because I’m not going. There’s no way.
Yet, if I don’t trust her, I’ll have to deal with the guy on my own.
Gran’s house. Mom is not going to be happy. I highly doubt she’ll let us go. Besides which, I have a rehearsal tomorrow at 7 a.m. and I cannot miss it. Not if I want to keep the lead in the show in two weeks.
Except of course Cindy won’t care if Mom lets us leave. I can already tell, she’s not even going to ask. If I want her help, I can't even protest.
Cindy tries to shut the top drawer on my desk and it gets stuck as it always does. Instead of shifting it carefully until it slides in, she shoves it with all her strength, forcing it in at a bit of an angle. I cringe at the resulting cracking sound and jump into her path before she destroys anything else.
“Maybe if you tell me what you’re looking for, I can find it for you.”
She shoves past me. “I don’t know.”
“How can you not know what you’re looking for?”
I follow her as she makes a full circle around of my room.
“I don’t know specifically.”
I place myself in front of her again and this time I don’t let her push past. She makes a sound more like a growl than a sigh and steps back.
“I’m looking for something we can fit Al in. It’s not like we can shove him in a pocket after all.”
“Why not?” I ask while considering his size. He’s certainly small enough.
“He’d get crushed,” she says with another roll of her eyes. She has a knack for making me feel like an idiot.
Her gaze must have landed on something useful, because instantly her sneer turns into smile. She reaches around me and grabs one of my lipsticks. She tosses the actual lipstick back onto the dresser after pulling off the top.
“You don’t expect me to get inside, do you?” Al asks.
“Think you can?” She moves closer to him so he can better see inside the cover. I still don’t completely understand ho
w she thinks she’s helping. What I do know she’s removed the top from my favorite lipstick and it’s going to get all dried out and filthy if she doesn’t put it back soon.
“It’d be tight. Uncomfortable for sure.” He looks the container over and his frown deepens. “I doubt I can sit in there.”
I can hear the refusal in his voice, but obviously Cindy can’t. Or else she doesn’t care. She’s already headed across the room focused on one of the paintings on my wall.
“We’ll let you out as often as we can, promise,” she says with only half her attention on what she’s saying.
Cindy pulls the painting down and sets it on the floor. Before I can tell her to stop, she yanks the hanger nail out of the wall, dusting it off on her pant leg.
Too late I realize what she’s doing. She twists the nail into the plastic lipstick lid and manages to create a hole, rendering it completely useless as an actual cover. I clench my teeth together, but stay quiet. There’s no point shouting at her now, the damage is already done. Not that shouting ever works with Cindy anyway. She always manages to be louder, which means ‘instant win’ in her mind.
Cindy blows away the dust, checking her handiwork before rifling through my jewelry box and pulling out one of my necklaces. She opens the clasp and lets the tiny pink heart slip off the chain and clatter onto the dresser. The chain easily goes through the hole in the lid, leaving it to hang upside-down so the open end points up.
She holds the container against the table and gives the mini-man a look clearly indicating he should get inside. Now.
He leans further away and says, “I’d...rather not.”
“Well, I’d rather not squish you.”
“You two truly are sisters, aren’t you?” he says.
He makes a face, but after a single drawn out exhale, he walks over to the lid Cindy’s holding. When he’s lifting his foot to step inside, her hand slips a barely noticeable amount on the table, and I suck in a gasp. I take a step forward to help the little guy before he falls to his death, but his balance is admirable as he steadies himself. In an instant is safely within the container.
The Man in the Box Page 2
