Riley's Box

Part 27

Whit's eyes sparkled with curiosity again. 

I sensed another unavoidable question. 

"So, what are you doing outside, now?" he asked. "Did you want to come and find the shadow people with us?" 

I was working on it. 

"Uh..." I trailed off. I really needed to stop saying that. "I'm getting some fresh air. I thought that it might clear my head and wow! I already feel a lot better," I said with a friendly smile. "I better get going now, really! I'll see you two at school tomorrow," I said. 

They nodded in agreement and allowed me to finally leave with the Sins. 

"I'm sorry about that," I whispered to Invidia, when I had made sure that nobody else, who would have thought that I was talking to myself, was around.

"Whatever. Devil, I want your shoes," she said, as she glanced down at them. 

"Dia. Now is not the time," Adina said to her.

Invidia sighed and then turned her attention away from me. 

As we carried on, Adina came to walk beside me. 

"Don't worry about Invidia. She tends to be envious of most people," she explained. 

I gave an understanding inclination of my head, as I quickened my pace to try to catch up with Avidicci and the others. 

The only one that was lagging behind was Otis, but as he was the King of Sloth, I supposed that much could be expected.

"I'm sure that we'll be able to find a shadow spirit soon! Especially if your friends say that they have seen one!" Adina said. 

Yes, they had said that they had seen one but I wasn't about to put too much faith in them.

Furthermore, even if they had seen one, that didn't give us much of a clue as to where the shadow spirits had got to! 

"So, who was the guy earlier?" she asked me, in a quieter voice, as we walked past the local park. "Do you like him?"

"Wait- Whit? We're just friends. Besides, you know April, the girl he was with? I'm pretty sure that she likes him, or he likes her. I'm not sure," I said. 

Adina tilted her head to the side and fluttered her lashes. 

"Hm. Such a shame," she said. "Plenty of men, and women, in the sea! I don't know what you fancy." 

"Guys," I said. 

"Ah, well that's alright," she said. 

I held a hand out to pause her, for a moment. 

"No. I mean guys," I said. 

They all turned to look at me. 

"What's that over there?" I asked, as I pointed to a nearby being that looked very much like the shadow spirits that I had seen before!

"What's what over- After that shadow spirit!" Avidicci said and then raced in the shadow spirit's direction. 

We chased it down the road but eventually we ran out of energy. The spirit had got away, on this occasion. 

"We'll need to be more prepared next time. Invidia- do you have your net?" Avidicci asked, turning to her. 

"Always," Invidia said with a smile. 

He then turned his attention to Adina. 

"Adina...do you have your fire?" he asked her. 

"Yep!" Adina said enthusiastically. 

After that, Avidicci turned around to each of the Sins to check that they had their weapons. 

Invidia had a net; Adina had fire; Otis had a dagger; Prida had a staff; Guttur had a war-hammer; Ira had a gun and grenades and Avidicci had a poisoned sword. 

They were all appropriate colours for the Sins, too, so it was clear which one was which. 

We continued on down the street with a little more determination to catch a shadow spirit the next time we saw them. 

We walked and walked and walked until I found Jason waiting outside his house.

"Jason?" I asked quickly and then promptly cleared my throat. "What are you doing here?" 

"This is my house. I think it would be more appropriate for me to ask you that question, and don't lie to me, Riley," he said. "My parents let my mom know you were sick, so it was probably best for me to not come over today. Now, I find you out of school. What's happened? Did you suddenly turn sixteen and decide school wasn't for you anymore?" he asked me. 

The Sins glanced at me with sympathetic expressions. 

Well, all apart from Invidia, who was glaring at Jason. Adina, who was smiling at him, also wasn't paying much attention to anything else. 

'No, Jason's just a friend' was what I felt like saying to her. 

"Of course not, Jason! I just felt ill but now I feel a bit better. So, I thought I would take a walk," I said. 

He nodded but I could tell, from his slightly darkened eyes, that he remained unconvinced.

"I don't think you even remember what I told you the other day, do you? About what's going on with my dad? I could really use someone around right now who at least tries to understand me, but you weren't there, Riley," he said. His expression became crestfallen. The light in his eyes faded with his disappointment. 

"Jason, I-" I tried to apologise but he held a hand up to stop me. 

"It's fine. I can tell you've been busy lately, stressed about school. I think we all are, so I get it. It would just be nice if you told me what was going on, once in a while," he said.

He then turned and walked into his house and I felt my hand clench into a fist at my side. 

I wished that I could tell Jason what was going on! However, I knew that I couldn't. He might think that I was insane. He would probably think I was more insane than I currently felt I was, anyway.

Releasing a sigh, I followed as the Sins started to lead the way away from Jason's home. 

Time felt as though it was going by at one-hundred miles per hour, when I considered how much had happened in a single day. 

I soon exhaled and continued following the others, trying to not think too much about Jason, as I walked on.