Shit. Shit. Shit. That wasn’t a good sign. “Get out,” I hissed, trying my best to pull the magic back towards me at the same time. That had to work. I should be able to control my own box, right?
“What?” Zavier asked.
“Get out of the room,” I added, almost shouting. “Now!”
Much to my annoyance, he didn’t move at all.
Doing the only thing I could think of, I grabbed the lid of the box and attempted to slam it shut. Except it didn’t want to. It was almost as if the box itself was fighting against me.
Of course it was. It was enchanted to trap the miseries of the world, and it thought Zavier was one of them. Well, that wasn’t happening on my watch.
Summoning all the strength I could, I bore down on the lid. I grunted at the exertion, a bead of sweat running down my face. Please, please, please gods, let me shut the box.
With one final push, it gave way with the satisfying click of the latch as the box finally shut.
“Yes!” I shouted, before turning to Zavier to see if he believed me now.
Instead I found him lying unconscious on the floor.
“Shit.”
Chapter Fifteen
No matter what I did, Zavier wouldn’t come around, and the panic was beginning to set in for a whole different reason than being discovered.
The door swung open with a crash, and a somewhat irate Ashton stormed in. “Why haven’t you been answering the phone?” he demanded.
Okay, then. It seemed Zavier had been out cold even longer than I thought. “Ashton,” I whimpered.
“What happened?” Ashton asked, running a hand along my back as he kneeled down next to me. The motion was more soothing than I liked to admit.
“Erm…” I looked between the two men, panicking ever so slightly.
Ashton looked genuinely concerned for his friend, while Zavier lay on the floor completely unconscious. He’d been that way since I closed my box. At first, I’d been worried, but he was breathing, and his heartbeat was steady.
Even so, it’d been an hour and he hadn’t come around yet. Maybe this was what happened when someone lost their soul.
Ashton sighed. “We need to leave soon have you tried splashing water on his face?”
I shook my head. “Want me to go get some?”
“Yes. Bathroom’s over there” He pointed towards a door I hadn’t noticed before.
I rose from where I crouched next to Zavier and made my way over, sneakily scooping my box off the desk as I went. I hoped there was somewhere to stash it in the bathroom, so I didn’t need to cart it around with me.
As I attempted to hide it in plain sight, I slipped into the room and gasped. It was so much bigger than I expected. There was a shower in here and everything. I’d have to remember that just in case Zavier brought me to his office again. Maybe I could make it up to him with a sexy shower.
Mmmm. Water running down Zavier’s skin and over mine as he…No, Pandora. Now is not the time for daydreaming.Even if I did have centuries of expert experience with nothing but daydreaming.
I looked around again, searching for the perfect spot in which to stash a small box. The cabinet seemed like too obvious a choice. Anyone looking for anything would look in there, and the last thing I wanted was someone accidentally stumbling across it and opening it.
Annoyingly, there don’t seem to be many other options. Not unless I stuck it on top of the cistern, which was higher than eye height. Better there than out in plain sight, I guessed.
Slipping off my heels, I stepped onto the toilet and balanced myself on the lid. This wasn’t exactly my idea of fun, but it was a necessity. I had to stretch upward in order to reach, but I managed to slip the box on top. Unless someone came to fix the plumbing, no one would be able to find it until I came back for it.
Hopefully.
Unless it decided to make its little reappearance again.
