The Portal 00 - Legacy of the Witch

as I could
while shaking from my head to my toes. Scuffing my sock feet over the thick
carpet, I got back to the desk, and reached out for the lamp. I needed to shut
it off before they saw it and realized I was up here and—
    Click! said the lamp.
    I cringed at the noise, and then I heard them whispering loudly
to each other as they came up the stairs, summoned by my stupid, stupid, stupid noise. What had I gotten myself into?
    I looked around wildly, but it was too far to the closet, and
they were coming down the hall now. I could see their flashlight beams coming
closer. With nowhere else to go, I ducked low and scrambled underneath the desk,
though even the sound of my jeans on the carpet seemed louder than gunfire.
    The desk was solid in front, so I was hidden. I hoped.
    The two thugs came into the office.
    “I know I heard something,” said one.
    “Who the hell cares? Let’s just find the thing and get out of
here.”
    They moved to the closet, opened it and rifled around in there,
not being nearly as careful as I had been when I’d searched it myself earlier.
Then one of them came over to the desk, swiping everything to the floor as I
curled up even tighter, making myself as small as possible. He circled around to
the back of the desk—my side of the desk!—and bent to yank open one drawer, then
another.
    “Hey, ass-wipe, it’s too big to be in a desk drawer.”
    “Yeah, well, maybe there’s a clue in here.”
    “A clue? Who’re you, Magnum, P.I.?”
    “Come on over here and I’ll show you a—” He looked at me then,
just happened to shift his head the right way and met my eyes under the desk,
just like that. Bam. I was discovered.
    “Well, well, well. What’ve we got here?”
    He aimed the flashlight beam in my eyes, blinding me. “Come on,
little thing. Come on out of there now.”
    I tried to swallow, but my throat was too dry. I crawled out
from under the desk, and he grabbed my arm and pulled me upright.
    The other one stopped what he was doing and stared at me. “We
were told the sarge lived alone.”
    I opened my mouth once or twice, but no words came out.
    “So who are you, then? You a burglar, too?”
    I shook my head.
    “You mute?”
    “N-no. J-j-just scared.”
    “You’re gonna be more than scared if you don’t start talking,
little lady. Who are you and what’re you doin’ here?”
    “I…w-work here.”
    “You work here.” He looked me up and down, then looked at his
partner. “She works here.”
    “Yeah, I’ll bet she does.”
    “Well, that’s good, that’s good. Maybe you can help us out.
We’re looking for a box. Looks like an old treasure chest, only smaller. You
seen anything like that around here?”
    I lowered my eyes, shook my head.
    “Interesting. Interesting, huh, Joe?”
    “The way she couldn’t look you in the eye when you asked her
that? Yeah, very.”
    “I know a liar when I see one, lady. You’ve seen that chest
we’re looking for. When and where?”
    I shook my head again. “You’re crazy. I don’t know what you’re
talking abou—”
    He hit me with the flashlight, though it felt more like a
baseball bat. Caught me right across the jaw, snapping my head back hard. My
knees buckled under me, and I crashed to the floor, butt first. But the guy had
me by the blouse, pulling me right up onto my feet again. “When and where have
you seen that box?” He buried his hand in my hair, twisting it cruelly and
pulling hard, bending my head to the side.
    And still I said nothing.
    “I don’t know, Joe, she ain’t talking, even though I belted
her. Whaddya think?”
    “Belt her again.”
    He lifted the flashlight and brought it down again. I cringed,
ducked, got tangled on the desk chair, would have fallen if he hadn’t had me by
the hair.
    But the blow never landed, and he just let go, because
something sailed through the darkness and clocked him right between the eyes. He
dropped like a sack of feed, and so did I. When I looked, the other one was
being jerked, flipped and nailed to the floor.
    Then the man I had come here to rob was kneeling beside me.
“Are you okay?”
    Just like before. Just like after he pulled me out of the
river. Those same eyes. That same face, only older now.
    How can this be…?
    “I think…they’re getting away,” I managed, though my mind was
spinning, and not just with fear and pain.
    The two thugs were on their feet and running for their lives.
He went after them, but I knew they got away when I heard a