Pandora's Box: Maenads (Book 2)

Pack Mentality

Pandora sits on her bed, her eyes focused on the open closet. In particular, she's watching the dormant Box on the floor of her closet. She takes a deep breath, unsure of what to do.

"Everything okay?" asks Uni from the doorway to her daughter's room.

It makes Pandora look toward her mother for a moment before going back to The Box. She runs a hand through her hair and takes another deep breath.

"Yeah, I'm good." Pandora half-heartedly insists.

"Because that's pretty convincing." Uni jokes as she moves further into her daughter's room, seeing what Pandora is looking at, "What's wrong?"

"It's just... the last time I carried that around with me, things didn't exactly go well." a nervous Pandora declares.

"I remember." says Uni with an uncertain tone.

"I'm still really sorry about that." apologizes Pandora.

"You learned your lesson didn't you?" asks Uni.

"Yeah, that's kinda why I'm worried." suggests Pandora.

"And the fact that you're worried reassures me that you won't make the same mistake twice. You understand the consequences of what you're doing now." Uni insists.

"I hope you're right because... Sarah's progressing. She's started using the Maenad's abilities to her advantage." explains Pandora.

"Then you better have The Box on you for when she transitions. If you leave it too late, the spirit could manifest and that's not going to be good for anyone." Uni says.

"Just about bad are we talking?" asks Pandora.

"The last time a Maenad got out? It sparked the Salem Witch Trials. Why? What does Sarah want?"

"World domination?" Pandora responds.

"Yeah, I'm thinking you might want to stop that. With the way people talk today online, if a Maenad got lose?"

"It's not going to end well." Pandora says as she gets up from her bed and walks over to her closet, kneeling down in front of The Box and reaching for it.

After hesitating for a few moments, she picks it up.

"See? That wasn't so bad was it?" asks Uni in the way only a mother can.

"No, but when I woke up from that dream, it really screwed with me." Pandora says.

"It didn't screw with you Dora. That would imply that it has intention or desire, when it doesn't. The Box is no more alive then a fork or your smartphone that you love so much. It just uses a different type of system, reacting to external stimuli." elaborates Uni as she makes her way over and sits on the bed.

"The magical kind?" asks Pandora as she tentatively makes her way back over to her mother and her bed.

"Usually, but not always. The point is, you don't have to be afraid of it. Just be careful and think things through and you'll be fine." insists Uni.

The teenager with a destiny's grip slowly gets more firm then she fully grabs it with both hands.

* * *

Pandora walks up to her locker and opens it. She opens up her bag and pulls out The Box, looking at it as suddenly a dark red with black strands of a glow starts in it. Then it shifts and glows yellow, before becoming an orange color.