Malevolent (The Puzzle Box Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

right in the book's center. One of King David's rants leaped out at me.
    What, what would have become of me had I not believed that I would see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living!
    It was like a shot of adrenaline to my heart. I wasn't going to die--I would get well! There was God's private message to me, right there. I had to hold on and not give up.
    There were all kinds of stories about people with terminal cancer, who fought it and lived for years. And this wasn't even cancer--just a fungal infection. I could beat it if I kept fighting.
    Even with fresh hope, it was a while before I summoned the strength to get up and use the bathroom. My body was heavy and tired, but I was sick of sleeping. Maybe I'd get on my computer and--Wait a minute. I halted beside my dresser. A strange wooden box sat there with a note on top of it.
    I picked up both and climbed back in bed. The note was Robert's annoyingly perfect handwriting.
    "Sorry you're asleep, babe. Here's a present to keep you busy. It's a puzzle box. If you can open it, there's a surprise inside. Love, Robert."
    He had come in my room while I'd been asleep?
    It's amazing how quickly rage cuts through self-pity. I forgot I was dying, forgot my verse, forgot everything but how much I hated Robert. I found the strength to throw the puzzle box at the wall. Then I crumpled the note and threw it, too.
    He'd come in my room, probably leered at my sleeping body, then wrote that note. The box probably housed that ring he'd been talking about lately. It made my vision turn red around the edges.
    What a stupid way to give me an engagement ring, and only stupid Robert would think of something so stupid. I punched my pillow, and began mentally drafting my Dear John letter.
    Dear Robert, Today I realized I just don't feel that way about you...
    I fumed for a long time, and the sunbeam on my wall slanted longer and more orange. Finally boredom set in. There's only so long a girl can stew on a topic before she does something about it.
    I'd have to break up with him now. Things had gone far enough, and no way was I going to keep enabling Robert for the rest of his stupid life. It'd have to be a spectacular breakup, too.
    If I opened that puzzle box, I could throw it and its contents at Robert's head. Maybe hide a video camera, then post the results on the Internet. Comedy gold.
    I retrieved the box from the floor and examined it. It was about the size of a shoe box, made of polished wood with inlaid silver scrollwork. It smelled clean, like pine or cedar.
    There were no buttons, but some interesting seams ran across it. I pushed, pulled and shook it, to no avail. Then I tried twisting the top. Part of it rotated ninety degrees. The box became an L shape.
    It exposed a new pattern in the scrollwork, and the corner of a piece of paper. It looked as if it had once been attached to the L part, but had slipped inside the box's workings. I picked at it with my fingernails, but I couldn't reach it. I even opened my knife and tried to ease the paper out with the blade, but it was stuck tight.
    It was probably another note from Robert, anyway. I growled and set the box down.
    But the idea that I couldn't reach the paper was an itch in my mind, like a scab I was trying not to pick.
    I was fooling with the box when Dad knocked on my open door.
    I smiled up at him. "Come in."
    He sat on the edge of my bed and smoothed back my hair. "How do you feel?"
    "Same old."
    My dad is tall and thin, and strong as a backhoe. He'd been growing a funny Amish beard along his jawline.
    I touched it. "Next you'll be giving up zippers and electricity."
    He smiled. "Your mother's trying to take me off white sugar, but that's as far as it goes. Tell me about this fight Robert was in."
    "Oh, one of the new beekeepers attacked him. Smashed his car's side window."
    "Any idea why?"
    "He claimed they were brothers."
    "Hmm." Dad rubbed his beard. "Did Robert contradict it?"
    "No, he just took off."
    Dad sat with his