Malevolent (The Puzzle Box Series Book 1) Read Free

the kitchen. "Libby, don't be like that. I just came to see you, honest."
    I snatched my inhaler out of the fridge and breathed a burst of it. It hit my lungs with a burst of cold, like peppermint. I exhaled slowly, and the synthetic adrenaline raced into my bloodstream. Air trickled into my lungs again.
    Mom was sitting at the bar with a cup of coffee and a cookbook. She watched my inhaler antics, and her eyebrows grew pointed. She jerked her head at Robert. I nodded and concentrated on breathing.
    Mom covered for me. "You're here awfully early, Robert."
    "Yes ma'am," said Robert, pulling off his coat and draping it over a chair. "I'm interviewing for a job in an hour, and I need some moral support."
    I filled the kettle and put it on the stove, then I had to sit at the bar and catch my breath. "If you get this job, you can't quit after a month, like last time."
    "I told you, they laid me off. It was only seasonal." Robert laughed, flashing even white teeth. He picked up one of Mom's cooking magazines and flipped through it. "Mrs. Stockton, when can you make more of these chocolate cookies?"
    Mom shrugged.
    I gritted my teeth and avoided looking at either of them. Back when school started, having a popular boyfriend was a matter of prestige. But then I got sick, and his charisma and energy sapped my tiny amount of strength. He was like an expensive pair of jeans that had shrunk in the wash--useless, but hard to give up.
    Suki padded around the kitchen, growling.
    "Why doesn't your dog like me?"
    I glanced at her. "Sure she likes you. Why don't you pet her and see how she demonstrates her affection?"
    He smirked at me. "No thanks."
    Mom mixed a cup of cider and passed it to me, then removed Suki to the back yard.
    I sipped the cider. Delicious apple-cinnamon warmth streamed down my throat, and my stomach didn't cramp, for once.
    "I'm not going to be very good company. My new meds make me really sick." Translation: get lost, bozo.
    Robert didn't take the hint. He opened our fridge and dug around inside. I rolled my eyes at my mom as she returned, and she did the same. The instant I felt better, he and I were splitsville.
    Robert emerged from the fridge with a soda. "Why were you outside, anyway? It's forty measly degrees."
    "I drove out to see the bees." I didn't mention Malevolent. Robert got jealous when I talked to other guys.
    Robert snorted and opened the soda. Apparently bees were beneath his notice.
    Mom looked at the clock above the kitchen table. "You'd better go, Rob. You'll have to drive slow in this fog."
    He shrugged. "It doesn't bother me, but you're probably right." He shot me a grin. "Bye, Libby. I'll swing by this afternoon to see how you're doing."
    I grumbled inside and faked a smile. I couldn't bring myself to wish him good luck.
    He let himself out the front door. Mom and I snarled at each other in exasperation.
    "I want to get well so I can dump him. I just don't have the energy for the fight right now."
    "I wish you'd hurry up," Mom said. "He was in here begging twenty bucks for gas."
    I rolled my eyes and sipped my cider. Embarrassment curled through my insides--the kind of mortification that makes you want to barf. "Did you give it to him?"
    She sighed and nodded.
    "Mom, you're an enabler."
    Male voices shouted outside. We looked up. Mom said, "What in the world?"
    Living on a farm with hired laborers, fights happen sometimes. I shrugged and sipped my cider. "Maybe somebody keyed Robert's stupid Hummer."
    "Oh, don't say that," Mom said. "It's not the car's fault that it has an idiot for a driver."
    Glass shattered. Mom and I exchanged a horrified look. The fight was getting serious. She dashed for the front door, and I hobbled after her.
     
     

Mal
     
    Befriend many. Serve some. Trust few. Love none.
    That is my life's creed. It had served me well over the years, keeping always at the forefront of my mind my damned state, and how I was cut off from other human beings, happiness, and God,