Page 35 of Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra)

He stood in front of a large cabinet, which was all scraped up on one side. “What’cha up to, squirt?”

Henry pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Magic. I’m going to make somebodydisappear.” He said “disappear” in a low, whispery voice. Like he would do real magic. “My grandpa gave me his old disappearing box. Will you help me?”

“Sure. What do you want me to do?”

“Get in the box.”

My throat constricted, making it difficult to breathe. Dark circles appeared at the edge of my vision. “I don’t know if I ...”

“Please, Genesis.”

I swallowed hard, trying to reopen my airway. If it had been anybody else, I would have refused and walked off. But I’d never been able to say no to Henry. I had been his babysitter since he was two years old. His parents had died in a car crash, and like me, he had been shipped off to Frog Hollow to live with his grandparents.

“Can you keep a secret?’ He was adorably serious, which helped my panic abate a little.

I was the world’s greatest at keeping secrets. “Yes.”

“It’s super easy. You step in, I close the box, and the secret is you pull the latch here.” He used his magic wand to point it out, hidden in the top right corner. “The back will open, and then I’ll open it up to show everyone that you disappeared.”

He gave me the same face Laddie did when he wanted bacon. I was powerless to resist. It would be a few seconds. I could do it for a few seconds.

“Okay.” I nodded, realizing that my lips had gone numb. “Okay.”

I could do this. To help Henry. And maybe to prove to myself that confined spaces weren’t as bad as I thought they were.

“Step in!” he directed, waving his arms widely. “Watch closely, everyone, as I make Genesisdisappear!”

Bracing myself, I stepped into the box. “Don’t go out the back until I say abracadabra,” he whispered. I nodded, unable to speak. It was tolerable until he shut the door behind me. I clutched my hands together, closing my eyes as my stomach churned. I counted out loud. I’d give him until twenty, and then I was leaving no matter what he said.

I reached up to find the latch, keeping my fingers on it while I counted. My heart beat ridiculously fast as my dinner threatened to make a return visit.

“One, two, three,” I counted as Henry went through his prepared speech. Sweat formed at my hairline, spilling down my forehead. It was stuffy. Why was it so stuffy?

“Abracadabra!” he called out loudly. Finally.

I pulled hard on the latch, but nothing happened. I pulled again, pushing at the back of the box. Still nothing.

My tongue swelled up in my mouth, making it so I couldn’t breathe. My chest hurt and felt unbearably tight. I would not freak out and terrify Henry and half of the kids in the town. I would not get hysterical and start screaming.

Why had I agreed to this? I kept tugging at the latch, willing it to work. Praying that this time it would make the door spring open. Hot tears spilled down my cheeks, and I banged on the door as gently as I could manage. “I’m stuck, Henry.”

There was a sound outside, as if Henry was trying to open the front of the cabinet. “I can’t get it open.”

The box shook as he tried his best, and I sat down on the floor, curling myself up into a ball. I rocked back and forth, trying to stave off a full-blown panic attack.

“Go get help,” I told him in the calmest voice that I could manage. Pretty soon I wouldn’t be able to think at all because I was about to suffocate and die.

“Okay,” he replied, but suddenly the front of the box was flung open.

And there stood Rafe.

Chapter 11

Light, cold air, and relief flooded in as Rafe reached in to pick me up. I put my arms around his neck, resting my head on his shoulder as he carried me to the back of the auditorium. I should have protested, but I felt too weak.

He sat me down in one of the seats. He knelt in front of me, rubbing my arms up and down. “You’re okay. Everything’s okay. You’re okay.” He just kept repeating himself as my tears dried up and my breathing started to return to normal.

Henry approached, his eyes big. “Is Genesis all right?”

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