Read Online The Collector Book One: Mana Leak by Daniel I Russell - Free Book Online Page B

house reeked of wet hair, fresh urine and cat food that combined to form a dank, fishy smell.
    “So you live with your grandmother?” said Jake. “She ain’t here, is she?”
    “No, she’ll be a while yet. Besides, we won’t be long. I was in the middle of something when you knocked.”
    Smithy led them down the hall and into a chintzy lounge. Jake stifled a laugh at the flowery wallpaper and embroidered pillow cushions. Adam, on the other hand, proved not so polite.
    “Oh man,” he cried. “Look at this shit!”
    “Tell me about it,” muttered Smithy, not stopping. He carried on through the lounge into a small dining room. The cat smell thickened due to a couple of litter trays sitting on the carpet along the far wall. Smithy strode through a door on the right. The brothers obediently followed.
    Smithy’s bedroom was a complete contrast to the rest of the house. The walls were sombre, dark tones of blue and covered in posters, showing various bands with long hair and tattoos. A double bed, with a silver frame and twisted black sheets, occupied most of the space in the small room. In the corner sat a computer on a desk with a high-backed leather chair before it. Smithy walked straight to it and sat down.
    Jake wrinkled his nose. Considering the size of the room, and the amount of time that Smithy must spend in here, his smell must have saturated the very walls.
    “That Cold Steel: Alien Raiders?” he asked, looking over at the computer screen.
    Smithy grunted and continued his game. The room filled with the noise of explosions and gunfire.
    “That’s brand new, ain’t it?” said Adam.
    “A-ha,” Smithy replied, eyes never leaving the screen.
    Adam perched himself on the edge of the bed.
    “It a copy?” pressed Jake.
    “No. Bought it from a shop.”
    A couple of cyborg alien warriors fell foul of Smithy’s plasma cannon. The reflections lit up the lenses of his glasses.
    “You bought it? How the hell could you afford that?”
    “I’ve had quite few people here on business this week. Word gets around quick, especially over something of this quality.”
    Jake ran his tongue over his dry lips. He’d picked up the unmistakable smell of weed lingering in the room, underneath the dank eau de Smithy .
    “Done that well, huh?”
    Smithy nodded, his attention still fixed on the screen.
    “Well, come on!” said Adam. “Where is it? We didn’t come all the way over here to watch you play on that.”
    Smithy frowned. “It’s in a shoebox under the bed, right underneath you.”
    Adam immediately bent over, reaching between his legs below the bed.
    Smithy turned from the screen for a couple of seconds. “You’re going to have to go in deeper than that.”
    Adam shot his twin a grimace.
    “You heard the man.” Jake smiled. “Get searching.”
    Adam huffed, stood from the bed and crawled on the floor on his hands and knees. He lifted a corner of duvet draped over the bed, folded it over and looking underneath.
    “I can’t see it.”
    “It’s under there,” replied Smithy, staring at the computer screen.
    Adam outstretched his arm and reached underneath the bed, in up to his shoulder.
    Jake checked his watch. The time approached nine o’clock.
    This is cutting into my smoking time!
    “Get a move on, Adam.”
    “I’m looking, fuckface. Give me a minute.”
    “Nice to see you two are getting on as well as ever,” Smithy commented, a sarcastic smile spreading on his face.
    “Screw you,” said Adam from the floor. “I’ve almost got it…There’s some books, a few T-shirts… Damn it! You don’t have a torch, do you?”
    “No.”
    “Damn it,” he repeated under his breath.
    Jake guessed that all sorts lay under the freak’s bed: rotten food, used tissues, body parts…
    “Smithy?” said Adam.
    “Yeah?”
    “You don’t have anything…you know…weird under here, do you?”
    Smithy paused the game and swivelled the leather chair around to face Adam. He tucked his long, greasy hair