Free Sinister: A Paranormal Fantasy (Sinisters Book 1) by Colleen Fleshman Page B

Anna turned to Matt, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
    “He wants us to break into Caracalla's office! Just like I said!” she exclaimed. “He wouldn’t've told us those details if he didn’t.”
    Matt frowned. He had been thinking about Luke's earlier words, but now that Anna pointed it out, his last message had been oddly specific. He wouldn't have told them the address if he didn't want them to go, or let them know what hours he kept. He really didn't want to do something illegal, but he also didn't want Anna to think he was scared. Stalling for time, he asked, “Are you sure you want to take orders from the devil?”
    “No,” Anna said cheerfully. “But what's life without a little uncertainty? Besides, how else are we going to get to the bottom of this? We can’t just walk up and ask Caracalla what he’s doing.” She waggled her eyebrows and said in a sing-song tone, "You know you want to."
    Matt knew no such thing. In fact, he was fairly certain he didn't want to. He was also pretty sure Anna wouldn't be impressed by a guy who was too scared to do something illegal when trying to save the world. He sighed.
    “Fine,” he said. “Just remember that when we get arrested, I don’t think the police are going to accept ‘the devil told us to’ as a good reason. When should we go?”
    A gust of wind whipped Anna's hair into her face, and she impatiently shoved it aside. “Tonight. Luke said we don’t have much time.”
    “Sure, might as well get it over with. That way my parents have all weekend to bail me out.” He shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, hunching against the wind.
    “Oh, come on, Matt, it’ll be fun. And we won’t get arrested. If we get caught, we’ll just say we were playing a prank. They’re not going to arrest two teenagers for doing something stupid or everyone’d be locked up.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “You have a strange definition of fun. How are we going to get in?”
    Anna shrugged nonchalantly. “That'll be easy. My cousin works for a locksmith. He can get into pretty much anything.”
    This didn’t surprise him nearly as much as it would have coming from anyone else. “You just happen to have a cousin who can pick locks? And you want to bring him along? I don’t know which part is worse. Do you want to invite your parents, too?” So much for sounding cool about the idea. He couldn't seem to stop the sarcasm from flowing out of his mouth, rejecting every idea Anna had, but this—mission—went against everything he'd been taught. Still, he needed to shut up before Anna realized what a coward he was. His heart was pounding nervously just thinking about it.
    “You have a better idea?”
    He tugged his top lip between his teeth, trying to think of another way to get in. At last he gave a muffled, “No.”
    “It’s settled then,” Anna said. It sounded to Matt as though she were suppressing a smile. “Let’s go.”
    Ϯ
    Matt paced restlessly in front of his window, watching for headlights to appear at the end of his street. Despite Anna’s eagerness, Matt had convinced her they needed to go home and show their parents they were safe for the night before they engaged in burglary. It had given him the chance to do a little research on breaking in, and also to work himself into a complete panic.
    “Turn the lights on so it looks like you belong,” he muttered under his breath. “Wear a uniform because people will only remember your uniform and not your face.” The bits of information he’d managed to glean during his internet research were helpful, but keeping everything straight was proving to be difficult when every other thought was worry about his parent’s reaction if he showed up with a police officer in a few hours. He’d read that twelve percent of burglaries are solved, which was way too high for his liking. He wondered if colleges would frown on a felon applying for admission.
    Remembering something else he’d read, he dove into his closet,