The Crystal by Jones M (ready to read books .TXT) 📖

The erwiches that were around laughed as she turned to face the assaulter with a glare. 

The erwich ignored the look and walked around the pot in his own thoughts. In an instant, his head turned to the female erwich.

"I tried my best," the female erwich spoke.

"You failed, but that doesn't matter. We need one ingredient so that this spell will work."

The erwich continued walking around the pot until he suddenly stopped.

"Do not attack them."

The female erwich looked shocked, but then the one near the pot resumed what he was saying.

"Let them think that this is over. If we let them know what we are planning, they will do everything they can to stop us. We can't have that, especially since we are very close to getting her out. Do you understand?"

The female erwich nodded with a smirk before teleporting away from the scene.

CHAPTER 06

Emery's P.O.V

A week had passed ever since the queen made the decision for all witches to stay in Crystalia. We had a small meeting to make the announcement and to help settle the witches who only had homes on earth. Selena, my mother and I were allowed to stay in the castle since we were close to the royal family. 

To make things better, I got a break from my ex-bullies.

But then, aren't they also witches?

Selena had mentioned to the Queen that the Ordinary Brothers was a boy band of witches, and so they had to stay in Crystalia. I was angry when my cousin said that. 

I knew I was being irrational, but I didn't care. I was still mad at them. They were witches, and so they could protect themselves.

Unfortunately for my cousin, I stated that the boys couldn't leave earth because they were rising in popularity. Their absence would be suspicious and would cause many people, including their fans and the paparazzi, to search for them. That had the queen thinking, and she selected some of her guards to act like their friends on tour so that they could carry out the job of protecting them while teaching them how to fend for themselves.

The guys didn't face any erwich attack. That brought a frown to my face.

I shook my head to focus on my surroundings. I was in one of the castle chambers. It had a small window, and the ancient brick walls were present. It was designed to be a training room, having archery weapons, guns, swords and knives hanging on three walls in the room.

Ever since the incident caused by my ex-bullies that landed me in the hospital, I realized I needed to learn how to protect myself. In case my powers failed to work again, I needed something else for defense. That's when I started fighting and weaponry lessons in Crystalia. I started a few weeks after I was released from the hospital. In a matter of a year, I had mastered most of the lessons. However, if I wanted to keep them in memory, I had to practice.  

There was a white target board with a red dot on the middle. I reached for a knife that I had in one of my pockets before flinging it towards the dot. It hit it, bringing a smile to my face.

My ears perked as I heard footsteps approaching me. I doubted the person wanted me to hear them approaching, and so that was not a good sign. I quickly reached for another knife and turned to face the person while throwing it at them.

The knife missed and delved into the wall, right next to someone's head. It was Zane.

His eyes were wide in horror as he stood still. 

My eyes narrowed in annoyance. 

I stretched my arm, trying to summon the knife back to me. It wiggled on the wall it hit before flying and landing onto my hand.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I stuffed the knife in one of my pockets before turning to the one stuck on the target.

"Hello to you too," Zane said as he began approaching me. I thrust the knife at him with a glare, warning him off. He stopped walking.

I then took a short moment to observe his form. Zane had worn a white cotton shirt with a pair of black denim jeans and black shoes. He looked dressed up for something.  

"Look, Emery. I'm sorry about the way I treated you in the past. Even though you always ended up beaten or injured, is it possible that we could start over? Maybe as friends?"

I was silent as I gave him a blank stare. It didn't take me long to form an answer.

"Nope," I replied as I turned to exit the chamber. Zane's hand reached out and held my arm, stopping me from moving away from him. I flinched as the memories of my bullying flooded my mind. 

"Do not look touch me!" I yelled at him, forcing my arm off his hold. Zane directed his gaze at the floor before looking at me with guilt in his eyes. Anger flooded through my veins like a waterfall.

With a shake of my head, I turned to exit the chamber. 

I was still angry with him and the rest of his friends. Just because they were celebrities didn't mean they could talk to me as if we were friends, and it didn't mean that I was going to accept their apology anytime soon. 

I soon heard footsteps approaching. There was no doubt that it was Zane following me. With an irritated groan, I turned to face him.

"Emery, I wanted to talk to you--"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" I cut Zane off. "You come to me, acting as if everything is okay between us. News flash, Zane: it's not. Do you have any idea what you and your friends put me through? You made high school a living hell for me! I had—" I cut myself off. Call it a matter of pride, but I didn't want him to know the effects of their bullying. He and the rest would feel a sick form of pride if they found out.

"I had to go through a lot to feel like myself again. Do you seriously expect me to be like: you are sorry?  You didn't mean to abuse me in high school? Great! Let's be friends, and possibly I may fall for one of you!"

"Why would you fall for one of us?" Zane asked with a confused expression.

"It doesn't matter!" I yelled. Zane sighed.

"Emery--"

"Do you remember what you guys last did to me? I almost died! It proved to me that you and your friends are incapable of feeling any remorse! You just care about yourselves you narcissistic—"

"That isn't true," Zane cut me off. "We care about other people. That's why we looked for you in the first place! The guys and I feel bad about what we did. We can't change the past, but we can learn from it. For goodness sake, Emery! What can we do to prove that we are very sorry for what we did?" he spoke with his eyes filling up with tears.

For a moment, I considered what he said. In that moment, I was shocked by the emotions displayed on Zane's face. He looked emotionally torn. 

Maybe Zane was truly sorry about what he did. But seriously, was an apology ever enough for everyone?

"Will money help? I heard from Selena that you are going to Princeton after summer ends."

I stared at him with a blank emotion. The anger returned, threatening to expose itself on the surface. Instead, I took a deep breath before walking away from him.

"Emery!" Zane called out as he continued chasing after me.

The asshat was being bothersome. I needed to get away from him before I did one of the awful things I was picturing in my mind. 

How could he think that of me? He didn't know me well enough to know that I wasn't a gold digger! Money was not going to solve the rift between us.

"Emery!" Zane called out again. Angry tears clouded my vision, blocking me from seeing the cream walls of the hallway as I heard approaching footsteps. 

At that moment, the anger shifted towards me as I thought of the horrible things I went through. I was a witch for crying out loud! I had the powers and option to stop the bullying at any time. I would have avoided the emotional and physical trauma that I had faced.

But you didn't , my brain taunted me. I pushed the thought away. 

I didn't watch where I was going, and so I bumped into someone.

"Honey, are you okay?" it was my mother. She reached her hands out to hold my shoulders. 

"Why are you crying?" she asked, but I didn't have it in me to answer her.

"Emery!" Zane shouted as he ran towards me. He stopped once he reached us. I felt my mother tense before she let me go and faced him. I didn't need to see her to know that she was angry with him.

After I had told my mother of my bullies, she was angry and she swore to hurt them if she even met them. I think she mentioned killing them or something... I didn't know, but what I knew was Zane needed to get away from me before my mother turned him into a fried chicken.

"What are you doing here?" she seethed. I turned to face Zane. 

"Look. I'm sorry. I was just trying to talk to her." Zane then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"How does this involve you?" 

"I am her mother," as soon as my mom said those words, Zane's expression contorted into one of fear. 

As much as I would have loved it if my mother stabbed him or burnt him with a fireball— I mean turned him into a toad or a stone statue —I didn't want to deal with the aftermath. I hated my ex-bullies, but I didn't hate them enough to want them dead; it would cause a lot of unnecessary drama. I just wanted them light-years away from me.

"Mom, let's go—" I said in hopes of dropping the conversation, but she was having none of it. Instead, she approached Zane and backhanded him. Hard.

My mouth dropped in the shape of an 'O' as the sound of the slap rang through the hallway. The slap was hard enough to have Zane's head turn to a side. I even thought I heard a snap of a bone. At the moment, I was glad my mother slapped Zane.

"I know who you are. I would have turned you into a turkey and baked you for dinner, but I'm not that kind of person. I don't want you around my daughter ever again. Is that clear?" my mom demanded.

Zane nodded in reply with his eyes widened in fear.

We walked past him as he stood rooted to the spot. I guessed he was recovering from the slap that he received.

"Which one is he?" my mother asked when we stopped a few feet out of earshot. I had told my mother of the situation involving the boys and me. After she found out they too were witches, she was angry. I was glad I wasn't the only one.

"Zane," I replied. Her eyes widened before an angry look appeared on her face again. She went to head back to Zane, and it was my turn to widen my eyes. I reached for one of her arms and stopped her before she could go do something bad to him.

"What is he doing here?" she stopped trying to head towards Zane. She sighed before turning to face me.

"Emery, I am worried. How are you handling all this?" she asked with a concerned look. 

"Don't worry, mom. They don't affect me like they used to in high school," I said with a smile. That didn't ease the worry off her face.

"If they come after me, I will stab them in the heart," that statement made her sigh in relief. Sometimes I was afraid of my own mother. She could be kind and cool, but she could also be dangerous.

"Okay. Now come, Emery," she said as we resumed our walk. "We have a lot to do today."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Like what?" she stopped when I asked her the question. She looked at me in disbelief.

"Have you forgotten that tonight the universe selects the next crystal?" My mouth dropped in shock. 

I completely forgot!

The night would be exactly less than a decade after the previous crystal had passed away. If that were to happen, everyone would have to wait for around five years for