The Crystal 3 by Jones M (best beach reads TXT) 📖

you left. Some might blame themselves for your death, and unsurprisingly, the memories of what you did will stay with you, and you will be doomed to spend eternity with them. But Zane, you can show everyone, especially Emery, that you can be a good guy. You don't have to let the past affect you so much. I talked and helped Emery with her version of what you told me, and now, she has gotten over it. She wants everything to be okay between the two of you. You are making that hard by blaming yourself and relieving the awful past the two of you shared."

I had stopped crying and was staring at my therapist.

"Zane, you love Emery, and I believe she loves you."

"I doubt that."

"The heart does not forget that easily," Charles persisted. "She may still love you. You have to stop regretting the past and focus on your future, the future you would want to share with Emery."

My heart thudded as an image popped into my mind once Charles finished speaking. I saw myself with Emery, smiling with happiness as we kissed. I also saw myself in a wedding venue, seeing the woman I love approaching me in her white gown. My mind went further with a vision of me entering a house and finding Emery on a couch with her protruding stomach.

A family and children.

I never thought I would find myself picturing that. I was suddenly happy. I smiled as I thought of making that future become a reality. I wanted to be the best for Emery, and I wanted her to be completely mine.

What if she doesn't love you back?

My smile immediately turned into a frown. It would be hard if Emery did not share the feelings I had for her, but I would try to accept it. My heart clenched as a thought of Emery with another guy entered my mind. 

If that were to happen, I would have to try to be happy for her. I would try to make the rest of her days filled with joy, laughter and happiness. Emery deserved that and much more.

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Emery's P.O.V

A knock sounded on my door. I walked away from the dining room, heading towards the origin of the sound. I swiftly opened it, surprised to see Ethan and Liam in front of me. They had both worn heavy clothing since it was still winter in Crystalia. The sky was cloudy, and luckily, it was not snowing.

"Hey!" I greeted them with a wavering smile. I was worried that something was wrong.

"Hi, Emmy," Ethan replied. I lost my smile.

"Call me Emery. You'll give everyone the impression that my name is Emma," I said as I moved back, letting Ethan and Liam enter the house.

"So, what brings you guys here?" I asked, walking towards the dining room. Ethan and Liam were following me. They shrugged off their heavy clothing as they took seats around the dining room table. I checked that the heater was running before I went to the fridge that was in the kitchen.

"Need anything?" I questioned.

"We're good," Liam replied. I shrugged my shoulders, taking out the box of mixed fruit juice that was in the refrigerator. I walked around, looking for a glass.

"We wanted to see if you would like to hang out with us," Ethan said, and that made me pause. I furrowed my eyebrows as I turned to face the two.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, Crystalia has changed in the past years. You haven't been here in a long time, and you are considered a guest."

"Are you offering to take me out?" I was still surprised. "No offense, but don't you guys have anything else to do?"

"Erick and Selena are busy with royal stuff. You know with Selena's coronation in a few weeks," Liam said. I nodded my head in remembrance.

Selena was about to become Queen. Elizabeth was retiring, and her ruling title was going to be passed onto Selena. Elizabeth told me she was happy she was retiring because the job was a bit tasking at times. She also warned me not to tell Selena. I wanted to know how tasking a job as a Queen could be because very few people lived in Crystalia. 

We weren't even a thousand!

"Logan is still in school. You know he is the substitute music teacher at the school Zane teaches," Ethan informed, and I nodded again. Zane had told Erick that he had been seeing Charles. He told Erick that he needed a clear head and a break from everyone to help him. Erick spread the news to the rest of us, and we were willing to help wherever we could.

"I miss Zane," Liam suddenly said.

"I miss him too," I said before taking a quick gulp of my juice. "I hope we don't have to stay away from him for so long."

"I don't think we do," Liam stated. "Charles spoke to Erick, and Erick told me that Zane is making progress. Looks like we don't have to keep away from him for so long."

"Really?" I said, with a little bit of too much enthusiasm. Liam and Ethan gave me weird looks.

"What?" I inquired with a furrow of my eyebrows.

"You still have a crush on him, don't you?" Ethan said, making me drop my jaw in shock.

"What? Who told you that?"

"Selena and Ashley, but it's okay. He feels the same for you."

"Ethan, I don't have feelings for him, and he doesn't have feelings for me."

"Keep lying to yourself..." I thought that was what Liam trailed off in a whisper.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said before clearing his throat. "So, are we heading out?"

 

Chapter 16

 

Emery's P.O.V

"So, where are we going?" I decided to break the silence minutes after we had left my house. We were walking towards the right, the direction that was opposite the castle. There were a few scattered leafless trees that had a bit of snow on them. 

I had never been on that side of the area.

"We don't know," Liam said, and that had me suddenly stopping. Liam and Ethan continued walking, and that baffled me.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'? Aren't you the ones who said I needed to be shown around?"

Ethan started laughing, earning a playful glare from Liam.

"Fine. Where do you want to go?" Liam asked. I blinked my eyes in confusion at him.

"I don't know. I'm a guest," I said, making Ethan laugh harder.

"How is that funny?" I questioned Ethan, who replied with more laughter. I shook my head as a smile took over my features.

"There's the city," Liam spoke while pointing at something behind me just as Ethan's laughter started dying down. "There is also the Joshalia forest, and then there is the mountain."

"What mountain?"

"Oh, yeah. I meant to say those mountains," Liam said as he pointed a finger towards the Crystalia mountains. I widened my eyes in shock and disbelief.

"Since when? Isn't it cold enough down here, and isn't that area forbidden?"

"Emery, you destroyed all erboons! That area is free for anyone to pass through without worrying about being snatched from the ground."

Oh, right.

I smiled.

"So I take it you want to go to the mountains?" Liam questioned as he squatted on the ground, placing his hands above the snow. In an instant, the snow was blasted from the ground and sent towards every direction, revealing a round glassy surface that glowed blue on the sides, emitting stardust.

"What is that?" I asked in amazement.

"Well, witches have been working in the past years to revolutionize magic. This is like a flying carpet; the only difference is that we plant our feet on it and use our minds to control it. Currently, we are trying to find ways to talk to the dead."

I blinked my eyes in shock at Liam.

"Okay, but not through evil. We wouldn't want to sell our souls to evil spirits or something."

Crystalia had really advanced in the past years. Not only had it improved urban-wise, but it had also improved on the magic sector.

Ethan copied Liam's previous actions, touching his hands on the ground as he formed his own... whatever. I had no idea of its name.

"What do you call it?" I was curious to know more about it.

"We don't know. It has some complex chemical name, but we call it a flysbee."

"Flysbee?"

"It looks like a Frisbee and it can fly."

Crystalia really needed to work on its naming process. I hoped flysbee had not caught up with everyone. However, I had a feeling that everyone had already accepted the name.

I watched as Ethan and Liam climbed onto their, uhm, flysbees. I was new to it, and so I was frightened of trying to fly on either one of them. They turned to face me.

"Aren't you going to hold onto one of us?" Ethan asked just as he and Liam were brought up by the flysbee. They were soon hovering above me as they stared down at me.

"I think I'll be okay with flying." I did not want to risk falling off of those things. Liam and Ethan didn't falter on the levitated flysbees, and it showed that they had mastered using them.

Ethan and Liam shrugged before they went high and swiftly flew towards the direction of the mountains. I was surprised and annoyed that they had taken off so quickly without giving me a notice. With narrowed eyes, I levitated up in the air and tried to catch up with them.

The air was cold, almost freezing my face. I could hardly breathe it, and I had to teleport and tie a scarf around my nose. I was glad that I had gotten out with my weather gear or else the cold would have been hitting other places.

I looked below me and saw that the trees, bare of any leaves, were passing me in a blur. The ground was covered in snow. I took a peek on my right, spotting with surprise that one of the Crystalia rivers were still flowing.

I managed to catch up to Liam and Ethan. The mountain was slightly larger from where we were but still a bit far, meaning we all had a lot of distance to cover.

Some time passed. The mountain was larger by then, and I realized we were close.

"Aren't you frightened?" Ethan asked me. I had no clue of what he meant. "About flying. How can you be in the air without anything to support you? How are you not afraid of heights?"

I gave out a low chuckle. "Trust me, I was. That was before Josh came into my life and helped me get better control of my life."

"Who's Josh?" Liam asked.

I went to reply, but he stopped me. "Oh! Nevermind."

Thank goodness. It had been years, but I was still sad that the former crystal had to go back to heaven... I think that is what he said. Also, I had been around Josh during the time I wanted to avoid everyone who had betrayed me.

"I do mind. Who is he?" Ethan asked. I went to speak, but Liam beat me to it.

"We haven't met him and we never got a chance. He's the guy who was sent by Elizabeth to bail Emery out of jail."

"What? Oh," Ethan spoke, and there was silence between us. I did not want us to bring up the past, especially since it made things awkward between us.

"So, how do you like it