Page 48 of Boxed In

Chapter 7

“Close your eyes,” the man beside Olivia advised as he tightened his hold on her hand.

She gulped. She was cold. But Luke must be colder, since his ruined shirt was back in the cave.

She clung to him with every shred of strength she possessed. She hated being frightened, but this was so beyond her experience that she had no reference point.

As they stood on the high plateau, she felt a change in the texture of the air. It was thicker and less pure. Then a car horn blasted somewhere nearby.

Her eyes blinked open, and she saw they were back in the Hanovers’ house.

“We’re home!” she whispered. “Thank God.”

He turned to look at her. “You thought we couldn’t return to your own time?”

“I didn’t know. I don’t have any experience with . . . time travel.” She turned her questioning gaze toward him. “How did we do that?”

“The Moon Priests lent me some of their . . . I guess you’d call it magic.”

“Magic. Right.”

“We will not speak of that again,” he clipped out, and she knew that discussion was finished. “We must focus on my primary mission—returning the box to the Moon Priests.”

“How come I never heard of them before today?”

He turned his free hand palm up. “They don’t go around advertising their presence.”

“You’re sure they still exist in my time? You’re sure you haven’t taken possession of a box you can’t return?”

“Yes!”

“How do you know?”

“I feel the vibrations of their presence.”

He said it very casually, and she looked down at the toes of her shoes, then found her gaze traveling to his naked chest.

He saw her studying him and said. “I should get dressed.”

“Your friends won’t mind?”

“We’re running a tab.”

He led Olivia up the stairs, down the hall past a home office, and into one of the bedrooms where he began opening drawers. When he found a pile of tee shirts, he took a black one out, running his fingers over the soft fabric before putting it on.

“Maybe I should change shirts, too,” she murmured, turning to the closet and taking out an apricot colored blouse. “You’re sure it’s okay to use this?”

“Yes.” Ginny will understand, when I tell her we were being chased by psychotic killers.”

She made a strangled sound, then stepped into the bathroom to take off her ruined shirt and drop it in the trash can before pulling on the tee shirt.

Through the door Luke said, “You don’t believe in . . . vibrations?”

She opened the door. “Not usually. That’s New Age stuff.”

“New Age! It is very old, actually.” He regarded her thoughtfully. “The world is more than the things you can know through your five senses. It is a mistake not to include the invisible world in your . . . . calculations.”

“Um hum,” she answered. Then keeping her gaze on him, she said, “This is a conversation I never would have expected to have with Luke. Where is he?”

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