Riley's Box

Part 69

Shortly after our run-in with Jason's father, my mother left the house with my father to check on Jason and I. 

"Are you two alright? What happened?" she asked. 

"We're fine, mom," I said with a reassuring smile. 

Jason gave a small nod of his head. 

"My dad showed up but...he's gone again. I should have expected as much," he said. 

I could see the pain in his gaze and I wished that he didn't have to deal with an abusive nightmare as a father. 

At least it would appear that he wouldn't have to deal with his father again for a while, now. His dad was going back to jail, which meant that Jason and his mother could live in peace, even if it was only for a little while. 

"Come in, come in," my mother said, as she led the way back into the house. 

When we were back inside, my mother went to make us all some coffee. 

In the meantime, my father turned his attention to the both of us. 

"Are you sure you're alright? Riles?" he asked me. 

"I'm okay, dad," I told him with a calm tone of voice. 

I had to admit that seeing Jason's father had shaken me up a little bit, but he was gone now. I didn't need to worry about him, for a while. 

"Jason?" my dad asked. 

"I'm all good, Mr. Ruby," Jason replied, to put my father's mind at rest. 

I wasn't sure if Jason was really doing okay; it would have been understandable for him to have been more than a little shaken up after seeing his dad again. Nevertheless, I was going to do whatever I could to make sure that he felt better. 

Thus, when the two of us had returned upstairs to my room again, I wound my arms tightly around him. 

"You okay?" I asked him. 

He moved back slightly in the hug so that he could lock eyes with me. 

"I'm okay," he managed to say. "You okay?" he asked me. 

"Better now," I said with a warm smile.  

Jason's gaze trailed down to my lips for a couple of moments, allowing for his dark eyelashes to cast shadows under his gorgeous eyes. 

I felt as though his gaze was holding me in place. 

It seemed as though a million thoughts were racing through Jason's mind, but before he could tell me about any of them, someone cleared their throat from behind me. 

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Invidia asked, as she wandered into the room and sat down, with one of my books, on the bed. 

Jason pulled away from me and released a gentle cough. "No," he said but it sounded like it painted him a little to say it. 

I couldn't blame him. 

Invidia had most definitely interrupted something and the smug smile on her face told me that she knew it, too. 

Nevertheless, I couldn't kick her out, so I took Jason's hand in mine and led the two of us back downstairs and out into the garden. 

The peaceful breeze was comforting; it allowed for the frightening moments that had taken place moments ago to fade a little from my mind. 

Jason and I went to sit down on the soft green grass. 

"Talk to me," Jason's voice said softly. 

My eyes flitted over to him and I gave him a lopsided smile. 

"What do you want me to talk to you about?" I asked him. 

"Anything. Tell me more about what you know about the Sins," he said, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. 

I felt my smile grow. 

Jason was usually the expert in most things. The Sins were something that I could feel knowledgeable about, and I loved that. 

"Alright," I agreed. 

His eyes brightened slightly then, in his anticipation for me to answer his request. 

"So, the beings of Heaven and Hell can use magic. Nether magic requires some props to work. For example, the box. That's how the Sins got here in the first place. They've been able to come to Earth via these boxes for millenniums, now. The Pandora crisis occurred when she opened her box and in doing so released a load of shadow spirits into the world. This doesn't always happen, but unfortunately in her case it did. That made people fear the boxes, so they destroyed most of them. One way or another, my grandmother managed to get her hands on the one I currently own. She's been the Sins' safe keeper for a while now, but now that I'm getting older, it's time for me to take over from her." 

Jason's eyes widened a little, as he absorbed all of this new information. He then gave a nod of his head, for me to continue. 

"It's now my responsibility to make sure that we can get the shadow spirits back to hell, and I intend to do that. I can't let the Sins down. I know it sounds more than a little crazy but they're my friends, Jase," I said with full sincerity in my voice. "I'd do anything to help them. The alternative...well, I don't even want to think about it." 

He reached out to me so that he could give my hand a reassuring squeeze. 

"Don't think about it, Riles. It's not going to happen, I promise you. We're going to work out where this last shadow spirit is, send them back and things are going to get back to normal, or at least as normal as they could ever be," he said with slight humour in his gaze. 

"Things have never really been normal for us, have they?" I asked him. 

"You could say that one again," Jason replied. 

Although I was terrified, Jason managed to make me feel as though everything really was going to turn out alright in the end. He had always been especially good at that. 

"Now, as far as I'm aware, magic can be combined to increase in strength. That means that if the Sins are all able to work together, they'll be able to take down the shadow spirit much faster."