The End of Worlds

Chapter Three

This is book 5 of THE BOX series. If you have not read 2-4 and don't want spoilers, please stop reading now!

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"You know we can't see you when you lie down like that, right?" Sin sounds bored.

"Lou-lou?" Loraine says in her usual sweet voice. What I wouldn't do for a sister as amazing as her. She had her magic stolen from her by her brother's best friend, was in a coma for years, woke up to become the same guy's slave, and she still manages to always be happy and caring. Every time I see her, I just want to give her a big hug. "Are you hurt?"

"What's going on?" Al. He's actually speaking. Just hearing the sound of his voice again calms me. Who cares if Sin is being obnoxious, it's not a new thing for her. Al is speaking to me and everything feels okay once more. "Lou? What's wrong? Where are you? Have you been discovered?"

As nice as it is to hear him talk, it's probably not fair of me to make him worry quite so much, just because I'm a little tired. Standing isn't an option, but maybe I can kneel and still be high enough to both see the fire and be seen by them.

I give it a try, and even manage to pull the blue bag from my shirt to show it to them.

"I'm fine. Sorry."

Sin's still sitting comfortably, but the other two have leaned into their flames, blocking out everything in their rooms except for their faces. The rest of my words catch as I get my first good look at Al in too long. Dark circles envelop his eyes, emphasized by the strange glow of the fire. Two seconds of thinking I'm in trouble wouldn't cause him to look so drained. He must still be having trouble sleeping.

"I got the bag, see?" I show it to them before tucking it back into my shirt. I'm so glad to only have one bag left to hunt down. I know Gran took my magic away so wizards wouldn't be able to rip it from me and leave me in a catatonic state, but in doing so, I feel like she took away bits of who I am. Memories are gone I will probably never get back and each time I open a bag I realize how dulled my senses really were.

I smile at Al, but while Loraine grins back and sighs with relief, he stares while a wash of conflicting emotions move across his face. Maybe if I could see him in real life, I'd be able to get a better sense of what he's thinking. I know something was bothering him before I left, but this seems worse. He nods once, then stands up and walks away. Tristan watches him for a moment, and I'm sure she shows a touch of concern before switching back to her neutral, unreadable look.

"Was there trouble then?" Tristan asks. "You look a little worse for wear."

"Yeah, actually." I focus on Sin who seems to be having a private conversation with whom I can only assume is Dray, unless she's made some insane new friends on her journey. I wouldn't be surprised if she had. "Sin." Her head snaps in my direction at the sound of her name. "You forgot to mention there might be harpies surrounding the bag."

Loraine sucks in her breath while Tristan whistles in appreciation.

Sin dismisses me with a wave of her hand. "The book said nothing about harpies." She pulls Gran's old journal out of her satchel and flips it to the right page. After Sin took over Gran's house, she discovered a bunch of her old journals. This one happens to have a magical map indicating where each of the bags filled with my magic is currently. It also shows pictures of the locations. One eyebrow rises. "Huh, would you look at that. Harpies."