Riley's Box

Part 25

"Otius!" I whisper-yelled. "When I said everyone back into the box, that did include you, you know?" I asked him. 

He shrugged. 

"Let me beat this level," he said. 

I sighed, though I had to admit I was impressed with his ability to learn the controls of the game so quickly! 

"Not now. Parents home. If they see you, well..." I trailed off. 

I wasn't too sure what they would do, exactly, if they saw the sins. 

They would probably admit themselves to a psych ward or believe I just had become part of some weird cosplay club at high school. 

"Look, I say this because I care about you and the sins and your goals. You're not going to be able to get those shadow spirits back, if you're found out by my parents!" I pointed out. 

Otius' eyebrows crinkled together, then, but he nodded. He put down the console and wandered back into the closet. 

Just in time, actually. My parents walked in through my bedroom door, without knocking, right at that very moment.

"Sorry for not knocking- I brought you some medicine," my mom said, as she moved over to me to check the temperature of my forehead. 

"I feel a little better," I lied. 

I had been feeling just fine, first thing in the morning. Now, I wasn't quite sure how I felt exactly. 

"Alright, then," my mom replied, but she didn't seem entirely convinced. 

Even so, she and my father soon left my room. 

I promptly locked my bedroom door and walked into my closet to open the box again. 

The sins came out one by one and Avidicci released a sigh. 

"Thank you for letting us out of there. It's rather cramped," he said. 

"Can't you go back to Hell through there?" I asked. It was the first question that came to mind. 

Avidicci met me with a serious expression. 

"Not until we get all of the shadow spirits back," he said. 

"Do they need to go through the box?" I asked. 

"No. They do not. We simply have to touch them and they will return...catching the spirits is the difficult part." 

I sighed. I had a feeling I was in for a lengthy task and I hadn't even started my history homework, yet. 

My eyebrows knitted together for a moment, as I considered what I was going to do. 

What choice did I have? 

"I'm going to help you get the shadow spirits back," I said. 

Avidicci raised his eyebrows in surprise. 

"You are?" he asked. 

I nodded in answer. 

"I have to. I can't have you guys living here for...well, God knows how long." 

"Sir, she said His name!" Guttur said, as he placed his hands over his ears. 

"Don't be stupid, Guttur," Invidia said, as she elbowed him harshly in the ribs. 

"I don't know how this is happening...but out of the goodness of my own soul, I am going to help your cause," I said. 

The window pushed open of its own accord again, causing a bitter breeze to drift into the closet. 

"Alright. Yay!" Guttur said. "First things first, though, I need a snack." 

Invidia dragged him to her side, by his ear lobe. 

"You need nothing of the sort," she said, with irritation clear in her voice. 

"Do you all trust me?" I asked them, then. 

Avidicci smiled at me with, what I believed to be, warmth behind his gaze. 

"I think the question is not whether we trust you, but whether you can trust us," he said. 

Did I? 

I didn't have time to think about this! I just needed to get their task completed! 

I needed to get it completed quickly, too, before my entire world shattered around me. 

"I do," I managed to say. "My question is..." I trailed off. 

"Yes?" Adina asked, then, as she tilted her head to the side, causing her long red locks to flow over her shoulder. 

"If you don't get the shadow spirits back, what will happen?" I asked. 

They all gasped, then. Well, all apart from Invidia and Avidicci. 

"If that happens, it will be very grave indeed," Avidicci said. 

"The spirits will destroy the entire planet and overrun it," Invidia said. "Right now, there's only a few of them- so their powers are limited. The more of them that there are- the stronger they get. You've probably already seen one." 

I felt as though a lightbulb had suddenly come alive inside of my head, then. 

"I have," I said. 

Avidicci's eyes widened slightly. 

"You have?" he asked me. 

"I have indeed," I said. "So has my friend, April." 

At that response, Avidicci's eyebrows snapped together. 

"Oh, this is bad. This is very bad indeed," he said. 

He then turned back towards the other sins and spoke to them. 

"There's more of them than we thought," he said. "We need to get started on finding them. Soon," he said. "They won't be far. We tend to materialise where we are needed," he explained, as he returned his attention to me. "Which is why we came through this box, and not one of the others." 

I gave an understanding nod, in response to that. 

Well, I was as understanding as I could possibly be. 

"I can't wait to leave! Human men and women are so...wonderful," Adina said. 

Invidia pinched the bridge of her nose again. 

I couldn't blame her. 

"How are we going to leave without being spotted by your parents, though?" Guttur asked, then. 

It was a good question. 

I glanced around the closet for some kind of answer and eventually found one. The window.

"We'll sneak out of the window," I said. 

"But...it's a large drop. We could make it but-" Guttur cut off. 

"I'll catch you," Prida said, as she stepped forward. 

"You can touch me?" I asked, "You're not, like, transparent?" I continued. 

Invidia rolled her eyes, before she spoke again. "I think you're getting us confused with ghosts," she said. "Now, can we please get moving?" she asked.