Riley's Box

Part 52

By the time the sun rose again, Avidicci and the Sins were already preparing themselves to sneak out of my window, once again, so they could start the next plan.

They were going to stand guard, so that they could attempt to locate the last two shadow spirits. At least, Avidicci was assuming that there were only two more shadow spirits left. He told me that he had a good feeling about it, so I chose to believe him. I knew that he was a Sin, yes, but he was the leader of the group for a good reason and I felt as though I could trust him because of that. 

Invidia gave a flutter of her eyelashes, looking rather glamorous as she moved towards the window, ready to leave. 

"I'll be honest- I didn't really like you that much at first, but you're growing on me," she said, with a small smile. 

"Thank you, Invidia," I replied. 

Invidia inclined her head and then rotated it slightly to look towards Otius, who was still playing away on my portable console. 

The expression on Invidia's face appeared to be temptation to throw a pillow at Otius' head, but he was too far out of reach. 

"Otius!" she called out to him, "You lazy boy. We need to leave." 

He looked up at her then and smiled a soft smile. 

"Alright," he said kindly, through a yawn. "I'm on my way." 

Slowly, Otius placed the console back down on my bedside table and then made his way over to the window to join Invidia. 

Soon after that, it was time for the both of them to leave. 

I could only hope that Otius wouldn't fall asleep on the mission. I had a feleing that wouldn't bode well for him. 

My eyes glanced out of the window for a second, to find that Otius and Invidia had joined Guttur. All three of them started to walk away from the house, which meant one thing and one thing only. 

It was time for me to go to school. 

I wandered downstairs and greeted my parents with a friendly smile on my face, as I walked into the kitchen to grab myself some cinnamon toast. 

My mother then walked into the kitchen to join me. 

"Is everything okay, Riley?" she asked me.

I nodded, with a pleasant smile. 

"Why wouldn't it be, mom?" I returned. 

Please don't let her know, I thought to myself.

"I wanted to talk to you about earlier...I wanted to apologise for being, what I can now only think of as being pushy," she said. "I know you work hard at school. Of course, you do. That makes me very proud. I really am proud of you. I just wanted to let you know that." Once she had finished saying this, a small smile formed on her pink lips. 

"Thank you, mom. You make me so proud too. Where do you think I learnt to work so hard from?" I reminded her. 

My mother's shoulders relaxed then. She seemed pleased that we had this little talk, and I was glad that we had, too. 

"Alright, sweetie. Have a good day at school, today. I think there might be a surprise for you outside," she said. 

This was rather vague, but I nodded. 

A few moments after finishing eating up my slice of toast, I grabbed my bag and headed outside to find that my grandmother's car was parked up. 

Okay, so she couldn't drive that well. 

That didn't matter, right now! 

My grandmother had left the hospital and I had never felt more relieved than the day that I found out the math pop quiz was cancelled! 

I rushed over to the car and my grandmother unlocked the door, so I could sit down in the passenger seat. 

She had a calm expression on her face, as she listened to some new wave music on the radio. 

A couple of seconds later, she turned to me with a kind expression upon her face and reached into her bag to grab me a pack of cookies. 

Have I mentioned that I really love my grandma? I really do. 

I threw my arms around her while they were still free from a seatbelt. 

"I missed you! I'm so glad that you're alright!" I told her. 

As I moved back from the hug, my grandmother smiled. 

I knew that I was going to smell of her flowery perfume now, but it was worth it. 

"Of course, I'm back! Someone has to be here to take care of you. Besides, I'm the only other soul besides your father who knows about the box, right?" she asked me, as she started up the engine of the car. 

I anxiously nibbled at one of the cookies. 

"Well, not exactly," I said. 

Grandma stalled the car. 

Like mother, like son, or something like that...

"I told Jason," I said. 

My grandmother instantly relaxed. She then started to drive on. 

Cue a conversation taking place in which I explained to my grandmother that Jason and I weren't quite in a relationship, but that it was in the works. 

I wouldn't want to gossip with any other woman than my grandma. 

She turned to me and squeezed my hand, once she had parked up outside the school. 

"Good luck, mi nieta," she said. "I know you can do this. You'll save the world." 

My grandmother really was good to have around in a crisis. She was able to make me have more faith in myself than I ever would have thought possible. 

"I'll see you soon, grandma," I said and then got out of the car. 

I turned to wave at her and then wandered towards the front entrance, where Ira was waiting for me. 

My greeting was a smile with slightly widened eyes. I was surprised to see him there.

"Adina's just in the bathroom doing her makeup," he grumbled, as he walked in through the entrance with me. "Don't let her know I told you this, but your makeup is much prettier than hers."