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

girl off my form and took her out. All the while, she was smirking, seeing she accomplished something that no one ever did.

The head injury, apart from a much-needed lunch break, was another reason that enforced the thirty-minute break in the afternoon. I had not bled, thank heavens, but I got an inconspicuous bump on my head.

On the bright side, I realized that girls fancied me.

I returned my focus to my surroundings, staring at the view of the city through the tinted windows.

Emery's P.O.V

It was around ten in the morning. I had just gotten ready for the task ahead of me: the journey to Eva's castle. I stuffed two bags: one with food for two days and one with weapons and clothes. I even stuffed a couple of small arms in my shoes, just in case.

To be honest, I did not know what to expect. It was the first time that I was doing something related to going to war, but with a few people or so. It seemed like I was on a quest like the Lord of the Rings, but with no loss on the heroes' part.

I trotted around the castle, searching for the Queen. It seemed so unprofessional that she wasn't able to be found. In fact, where were the guards I was supposed to go to Eva's castle with?

It took me ten minutes to find her in the study room. That should have been my first guess. She was staring out of a window. When she heard footsteps, she turned and saw me.

"Good morning, Emery!" the Queen said with a smile. I gave her a confused expression. It seemed like she did not know what was planned for the day. She observed my form, and she looked suspicious.

"You aren't going to Eva's castle. Well, today, that is," the Queen went straight to the point, making me shocked. Her look of suspicion eased away with astonishment. I was surprised that she knew what I was thinking, but that went away the moment I understood her words.

"What?" I asked in bafflement.

"Your mother didn't tell you?" she asked with furrowed eyebrows. "We had a problem coming up with two volunteers yesterday. Apparently, most of the guards are afraid of even going to a place with the name 'Eva'."

Damn it!

"Why are they even working for you?" I asked, astonished by the irony. The Queen shrugged her shoulders. I dropped the bags I had on the floor. 

I couldn't believe I walked around with them for ten freaking minutes!

"Look on the bright side! You get an extra day break away from the responsibilities of a crystal. By the way, shouldn't you be planning for college?"

"I had," I said. "I've gone through registration forms, and I've dealt with the scholarships. Now I just have to wait until the end of the month before I leave."

There was silence in the room.

"You're growing up so fast, Emery," the Queen suddenly said.

The words she said quickly dawned on me. She was right. Selena and I had been talking about college, but the both of us never took time to fully comprehend what college meant to us. We were growing up, and soon, we would be out in the world. I felt a bit scared of what the future had in store for me.

"It seems like you were just a little girl yesterday. And now, you're all grown up," Elizabeth said as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Don't cry, Aunty. If you cry then I'll cry," I said with my vision blurring. I rarely referred to the Queen as my aunt even though we were not related. In a way, she was my mother's sister. She usually insisted I call her the Queen or Elizabeth because she didn't want to feel like she was getting old.

Even though she apparently was.

She sniffed as she tried to control her tears. I brought my hands to my eyes to wipe the tears that threatened to come out.

"Okay," she said before extending her arms. I ran towards her and hugged her. She hugged me back before releasing herself from me.

"Wow! That was quite emotional for a morning talk," she said as she wiped the tears that had left her eyes. "Well, I have some duties to attend to. Enjoy the day, Emery," she said before turning to leave. I went towards the opposite direction to my room after grabbing the bags I dropped on the floor.

Once I was in it, I placed the luggage on the bed. I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair, walking back and forth in the room.

I had nothing to do. The plans for going to Eva's castle were already done. I could go practice my fighting skills, but that seemed boring and tiring. It was important to save my strength when I would face the erwiches and the dreaded erboons.

I looked towards the window and faced the mountains. They made our surroundings look more beautiful with their tops covered in snow. However, what worried me was behind the raised rocky grounds.

Then an idea popped into my head. I could fly past the mountains and to Eva's castle to see what it had. Despite the possibility of being seen, captured, or worse, killed, it was important to know what I was up against.

I stared at the window and noticed that I couldn't even fit through it. Then I remembered the balconies. They were located on the top floor of every tower. Some were used by the guards, especially those of the front, while others were used by people in the castle and Crystalia.

I exited the room and rushed through the hallways, looking for a route to the castle top. The bad thing about the structure of the building was that it was easy for anyone to get lost. One had to get used to it in order to have the rooms mapped in their mind.

I soon found myself on the open upper floor of the castle. There were no guards around, which made me wonder what they were doing. That thought quickly went away when I turned towards the view of the mountains. 

I backed away a few feet, silently breathing. It was important for me to be in control before I unleashed my levitation powers. In an instant, I was running towards the balcony.

"Emery, no!" someone shouted mid-run. It took me off guard as I ran towards the edge of the bricked banister. Fear gripped my heart as the possibility of falling to my death appeared to my conscience. Before I could jump, someone's arms wrapped around my form. Then the person started backing off with me caged in their hold.

Once we were away from the balcony, the person let me go. I turned to face them, only to be surprised.

"Ethan?" I asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

He was currently staring at me with a concerned look, and he was not alone. Behind him were his bandmates. They too had similar expressions like Ethan but with looks of anger.

"What were you doing?" Zane asked as he approached me with an angry look. I went to say something, but he cut me off.

"I can't believe you were going to jump! What is it that will make you—" he blew up in front of me, making me lean a bit back from him.

"Zane?" Liam asked with a calm expression, cutting the angry bandmate off.

"Yes?"

"Let me handle this."

Zane had maintained his look of fury before Liam came to me. Once he was close, he gave me a worried expression.

"Hello, Emery. Is there something wrong?" he asked.

I was confused ever since Ethan saved me from my possible death. The events that were following were not helping the situation.

"What?" I asked. Liam sighed.

"Look. I'm sorry about what we did to you in the past. Maybe it's our presence that still reminds you about our former selves. We are changed, Emery. We plan to prove it to you. What we did shouldn't make you want to throw your life away," he said, leaving me more confused than ever.

Then I replayed the events in my head.

I tried to jump off the balcony and fly. Ethan stopped me, Zane got in my face, and now Liam is speaking about the past and advising me not to throw my life away because of it.

Then it instantly clicked. I was left speechless. That was until what was happening fully reached my brain. I was furious.

"Excuse me?" I asked with an edge to my voice. Liam's eyes widened with an unexpectant look on his face.

"It's okay, Emery. Know that we want to help in any way we can," Liam continued, adding fuel to my fury.

I went to speak, but an idea came to my mind. With a roll of my eyes, I levitated off the ground.

The guys looked at me with a mixture of amazement and shock.

"You can fly?" Harry asked. I rolled my eyes again and I landed on the floor.

"Yes, I can fly," I said. Then my eyebrows furrowed.

"You didn't know?"

"No," Logan replied. I gave him a look of disbelief.

"I was at your last concert! I was literally in the air fighting with an erboon, above your concert."

Logan had blinked before his mouth formed an 'o' shape. He turned to look somewhere else, probably feeling how the conversation turned awkward.

"So you weren't going to kill yourself?" Zane asked with a look of unease.

I narrowed my eyelids before I moved my head in acceptance of his words.

"I mean, seriously Liam?" I asked as I turned to the bandmate. "Even if I were going to commit suicide, it wouldn't be because of the past we shared."

"Emery, we're—" Logan said, but I cut him off.

"Yeah, save it," I said as I stomped around them, looking for the route I used to reach the top floor. I was so mad at them, I couldn't even remember why I planned to fly.

Then I stopped in the middle of another hallway. Was I being irrational?

No, Emery. You have the right to be angry. I mean, suicide?

I was still seething over what had happened. I needed to focus on something else. Maybe reading a book would help.

Selena's P.O.V

I was walking through one of the hallways in the castle. I had just come from my bedroom where I talked to Justin through the phone. We were catching up with our lives. He was on tour in the US, and I was in Crystalia, preparing to go to college.

I wasn't sure of what I wanted. I agreed to go to Harvard because I was sure of what I wanted to pursue career-wise, but I had been thinking about it and went against it.

I was screwed, wasn't I? I mean, what kind of person waits about four months after making a decision on courses while in high school then decides to change them three weeks before joining said college?

However, I told myself to try the course I chose. Maybe I would end up liking it. Medicine can't be hard, can it?

I momentarily forgot where I was going when I spotted Emery walking towards the opposite direction. She seemed unapproachable.

"Hi, Em--" I cut myself off once I saw her expression. She was angry, and she passed me by without even a 'hi!' 

Strange, I thought.

I continued walking, only to come across the members of the Ordinary Brothers. They all looked like they were in a marathon. 

Sometimes the castle did that to people.

"Hey, guys!" I greeted them with a smile.

"Hey, Selena! Have you seen Emery?" Liam asked with a look of unease. My eyes jumped across all of them, and I noticed they were avoiding my gaze.

"What did you do?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

He relayed to me what happened about a minute ago.

"WHAT?" I exploded, making the boys flinch.

"We're sorry. We didn't notice that she could fly," Ethan apologized.

"Guys, do you remember your first erwich incident you encountered? In the Starbucks café in New York?" they nodded their heads.

"When she flew towards one of the erwiches..." I trailed off, waiting for them to catch what I was saying. When it dawned on them, they felt displeased with themselves.

"So, not only have you managed to forget she is a crystal, but you also managed to piss her off as well?" I asked with a sarcastic smile.

"We wanted to apologize," Liam said, making me squint my eyebrows.

"Seriously? If there is one thing I had learned when I was around Emery, it's that you should not be quick to make assumptions. Small ones don't matter, but this is a big one. Why would you tell her that she wanted to commit suicide because of you?"

"We wanted to help her face her problems," Ethan said. I sighed.

"I swear most of what you talk about with her includes your past and apologies," I muttered to myself.

"Next time, do not assume. Ask her first. Always ask her first. In the mean time, give her time to cool down. She might come around. Just don't go after her now. You'll regret it. Trust me, Justin did," I advised them.

The boys gave me a look of confusion.

"You do not want to know."

They nodded their heads with uncertainty on accepting what I just said.

"So, what are you doing in Crystalia?" I said, trying to change the subject.

"Well, we came up with a new song. We wanted Emery and you to hear it."

"You did?" I said, feeling giddy. Then that was replaced by guilt. There I was,