Page 26 of Breaking the Bloodstone Curse
The minute Brax entered the large, walk-in closet, he heard something suspicious. It sounded like a nibbling or gnawing sound and it was coming from the very back of the closet, down near one of the many shoe racks.
Brax pushed the rack aside, careless of the shoes that fell off, and went searching for the source of the sound. A moment later, he gave a bark of surprised laughter.
“So that’s where you went!”
“What is it? Is everything all right?” Behind him, Serenai sounded worried.
“Everything’s fine,” Brax reassured her. “I just found Cheeky, that’s all. Come look.”
She knelt beside him in the rather cramped space and a smile broke over her lovely face.
“Oh, I’m so glad you didn’t lose him! But what’s he doing?”
Cheeky appeared to be trying to get into one of the baseboards. He was gnawing and scratching at it industriously, almost as though he was trying to pry it up to get at something beneath it.
But no—it wasn’t a baseboard, Brax realized.
“Look,” he said. “I think he’s found some kind of secret compartment. Move, little guy—let me try,” he added, scooping the little animal up in one hand. “Here, will you hold him?” he asked Serenai.
“Of course I will. Hey, little guy!” she cooed, cuddling the little animal to her cheek. “Your fur is so soft!”
With Cheeky out of the way, Brax was able to pry open the compartment. Inside, he found a wide, flat box about as big as his two hands put together. It was made of some kind of fragrant wood that gave off a sweet, resinous smell. No wonder Cheeky had been trying to get to it—the wood probably smelled like a sweet treat to him, Brax thought.
“Look at this,” he said to Serenai, who was still busy cuddling Cheeky. “Do you think your mother hid it here?”
“I don’t know. Take it out and let’s see what’s in the box.” She looked over his shoulder in interest as Brax brought the flat, rectangular box out. The sweet wood it was made of was painted with black lacquer and polished to a high gloss—he could see his face in it when he pulled it out and wiped the thin layer of dust off.
“Let’s bring it out in the light to open it,” he suggested. At the moment, they were still crouched down in a pile of shoes with racks of clothes hanging over their heads.
“Okay.” Serenai nodded and they extricated themselves from the closet and went to sit on the bed in her mother’s old bedroom.
As soon as they were settled, Brax pried open the lid and let out a low gasp.
Inside the box, lying on black velvet, was a golden necklace set with hundreds of precious stones. At first he thought they were some kind of rubies but he couldn’t be sure—they were such a deep red they were almost black and they seemed to shine in a strange way that was almost hypnotic.
“Oh my…it’s beautiful!” he heard Serenai murmur. “I can’t seem to stop looking at the stones.”
“Same here,” Brax told her. “I thought they were rubies at first but now…I’m not sure.”
He reached out to touch the necklace but Serenai put a hand on his arm.
“Don’t!” she said urgently. “I have a bad feeling about it.”
“A bad feeling about wha—?” he started to ask, but just then Cheeky—who had been sitting on Serenia’s shoulder—started a high-pitched chittering that sounded almost like an alarm.
“What the fuck?” Brax exclaimed, startled. “What is it, boy? What’s wrong?” he demanded, looking at the little creature, who was standing up on his hind legs and chittering at the top of his lungs.
“Oh no—look!” Serenai’s voice sounded so frightened that Brax immediately looked where she was pointing.
In the darkest corner of the room he saw it again—the thing with the red eyes. This time he could see more of its body—if it could be called that. It seemed to be made of shadows that flowed in and out of shapes. Before his eyes could quite settle on what it was, it became something else.
“You fucker!” he growled and, shoving the box off his lap, he started up from the bed. But before he could get anywhere near the thing, the glowing eyes vanished.
“Come on—let’s get out of this room!” Serenai was already up and tugging at his arm.
Brax scooped the box with the necklace off the bed and they hurried out of her mother’s room, slamming the door behind them.
“It’s haunted in there—it must be!” Serenai exclaimed. Her eyes were wide with fright and her arms were pebbled with chill-bumps, Brax saw.
