Read Online The Box Omnibus #1 (The Box, The Journal, The Sword) by Christina G. Gaudet - Free Book Online Page A

over my shoulder just in case.
    “Jesus Christ!” Cindy shouts while grabbing the wheel to put us back onto our half of the road. “Stop before you kill us.”
    “They’re coming.” I tighten my hands around the steering wheel to stop from shaking. It doesn’t help. “I know they’re coming and they’re going to find us and then the animal is going to eat us and...” gasp “I can’t...” gasp “do this.”
    “In and out. If you need to puke, do it out the window.” She even goes so far as to reach over and wind my window down. “I am not cleaning that shit up.”
    I put my hand over my mouth and hold it there. I hadn’t thought about throwing up, but now my stomach feels like the entire contents of the past week want out.
    “Think about something else,” she says.
    But I can’t. All I can think about is the fire and the creature and being tied up and was there a red truck behind us?
    Cindy catches the wheel again. “I know! You could put all of your concentration into DRIVING. Seriously, Lou. I thought you got your permit. Can’t you at least stay on the pavement?”
    “No, this is good,” Al says. “Don’t do anything predictable. It’ll make it harder for them to figure out what your next move is.”
    Cindy shifts the wheel a bit more. “Not helping, Mini-Al.”
    “Do we have a next move?” I ask.
    “It would help if we live long enough to get to a next move. Lou!” She slams her foot down as though she’s trying to stomp on the brake. “There was a car in that lane.”
    I’m shaking so badly and my hands are so sweaty I can hardly keep them on the wheel. I don’t know how Cindy expects me to drive any better under these circumstances. Plus this car sucks. I don’t know why I ever wanted it for myself. Mom’s car is way easier to drive. Or at least it was the two times she let me take it the six blocks to the grocery store with her in the passenger seat.
    “Good work with the rope s,” Cindy says after I’m able to steady the vehicle, more or less. “I still have no idea how you got us out of them, but it was a pretty sweet move.”
    “I didn’t do it,” I say. “I thought you must have.”
    “I was talking to Al. You keep your eyes on the road.”
    There’s a little hesitation before Al replies with a shy, “Nice work with the dust. I’ve never seen it used before in such a way.”
    “You’re the one who told me what to do,” Cindy reminds him. “And do you see how good I’m being at not asking how you know so much about magic?”
    Al remains quiet for a second, which is way longer than I can take right now.
    “We nearly died, and there’s all this crazy stuff happening and you guys are treating it all like it is some game.” I use my hand as a puppet while imitating them. “‘Oh, good work.’ ‘Yeah, you too. High five.’ ‘Hey, why don’t we go out for pizza now to celebrate?’ ‘Sounds great, because whatever happened is so five minutes ago.’”
    “I could go for some pizza right now,” Cindy says. “I don’t like pizza, but I’m so starved I’d happily eat at the greasiest diner.”
    “CINDY!” I slam my hand on the wheel and without meaning to, my foot smashes down too, pushing the old car up to an alarming speed before I hit the brake a little too hard and jerk us back to something more manageable. “What is going on?” I demand.
    Neither of the other two says anything for a few seconds.
    “Jeez, relax, Lou.” She rolls her neck to work out the kinks from my erratic driving. “And you know I go by Sin now.”
    “Cindy!”
    “Fine, fine. But I don’t know much more than you.”
    “Don’t give me that.” I reach over and smack her shoulder. Not hard enough to actually hurt her, but hopefully it’s enough to convince her to stop stalling. “What was with the dust?”
    “It isn’t anything special.” The pride in her voice says something else entirely. “It’s a combination of a few different things. Ground together they can