Riley's Box

Part 57

Considering a huge, hideous storm had broken out mere hours ago, the climate soon started to become much more temperate again. 

I decided to turn my attention away from my surroundings and back towards how we were going to find the next shadow spirit. 

After a moment, I had a plan. 

"The forest was empty...that doesn't mean that the beach is going to be," I thought out loud. 

Jason murmured in agreement and we got into his car with Otius sat in the back, still playing away on my console. 

He was so concentrated on the game that it was sort of adorable. 

The drive to the beach took a few hours at most, and for the most part it was a peaceful journey, but as soon as we had exited the car, we found that the weather was now so much worse. 

I pulled my coat more tightly around me. 

The sky was filled with moody, purple clouds and the rain had started again. 

We ran from the car across the pale sands towards some of the Sins, who appeared to be engaging in a battle with a dark figure-  one of the shadow spirits. 

Adina was using her flames on the creature, but she was growing anxious when they didn't appear to be weakening him very much at all. 

 As we got a little closer, I saw that the shadow spirit appeared to have become more solid- like a person. A man. Well, almost. He wasn't entirely human, after all. 

His eyes were red and he was wearing an evil sneer. 

"Do you really think you're going to send me back there?" he asked. 

Oh. So, he could speak. That was an interesting development, as much as it was a terrifying one. 

The creature reminded me of something that my grandmother had told me about before, actually. 

A long while ago, she had read me a story in a meadow and she had mentioned dark beings from Hell coming to earth in it. These were the dark beings. That hadn't only been a story. 

"I'll kill you, Queen," he said, "Before I could ever go back to Hell." 

That was not going to happen. 

At that moment, I reached down to the ground to pick up a pebble and chucked it at him. It landed right in the middle of his forehead, causing him to stumble back in bewilderment. It also distracted him from attacking Adina. 

Adina rushed to my side, while Avidicci took this moment of distraction to stab the sword through the shadow spirit. 

His body then dissipated, sending him back to the shadow realm. 

Once I got to Adina, I found that she was breathing hard. 

"Thank you for helping me," she said. 

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Avidicci asked, as he rushed to her side. 

Up above us, a clearer sky started to form. 

Adina managed to give a nod of her head, but she had a hand clutched to her stomach where I could imagine the shadow spirit had attacked her moments prior. 

"I'm sure I'll be okay! Hey, we got another one of them. That means that there's only one left," she said. 

The atmosphere around us seemed to grow a little warmer, then, reflecting the fact that we were now a little safer. 

"With only one left, their powers will weaken. However, we have one problem. We don't have a clue where we're going to look for it," Avidicci said. 

"I have a feeling I know," Jason said, "But let's go back home first." 

The others nodded in agreement. 

Guttur grabbed an ice cream from the ice cream van. 

Well, I paid for it and gave it to him. He was refusing to leave the beach unless I got him one! Such a glutton...

I supposed that you would expect as much from the King of Gluttony, though. 

"Alright...I'm thinking," Jason said, as we sat back down in his car and he started to drive the both of us back to my house. 

"That's dangerous," I said. 

Jason scoffed, as he pulled into my driveway. 

The two of us got out of the car and walked inside my house. 

I was instantly comforted by how warm it was, but this comfort only lasted so long before I noticed something. 

Once we walked in through the front door and were greeted by the serious expression of a very annoyed looking  Rebecca Ruby. 

"Where on Earth did you go? In the middle of a..." she cut off, when she realised that the storm had calmed down a little. "Alright, so the weather isn't that bad now, but the sky is dark! You've been gone for hours! I'm wise enough to know that it doesn't take a couple of hours to go for a walk, so where did you go?" she asked again. 

Not the beach. 

"We went on an impromptu road trip," I said, "Grabbed some snacks; did some studying..." 

My mother exhaled in relief and wrapped her arms around me. 

I could see Jason looking at me, while she hugged me. He had an expression of admiration on his face, but I really didn't feel good lying to my mom. 

Hopefully, I wouldn't have to hide much from her for much longer. That wasn't to say that I was going to explain the whole shadow spirits and Sins situation to her. I knew that I couldn't, but I would be glad for my life to get back to normal or, well, as normal as it could get.

"Thank goodness you're both safe!" she said and then kissed my forehead. 

"I can look after myself, mom, sometimes. I'm okay," I said. "And Jason is always there. We look out for each other," I said, as I went to stand beside him to take his hand in mine again. 

My mother glanced down at our interlocked hands and then back up to me.

"Alright. Of course, you are," she said with a warm smile. "I'm glad you have each other." 

So was I.