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

Zane's house.

With a gulp, I pressed the doorbell. Just as I pressed it, the door began opening.

Oh no.

To my surprise, it wasn't Zane. It was an elderly woman. She had black hair with light streaks of gray.

"Emery?" the woman greeted in disbelief. My eyes widened in shock.

"Do I know you?" I questioned.

"Yes! I'm Zane's mother."

My eyes widened.

Zane's mother...

My mind drifted back to the time thirteen years ago when I was on tour with the Ordinary Brothers. Around that time, bitchy Bianca had joined us. There was a time she paid a bodyguard to block me from entering the boys' hotel suite. After I forcefully teleported myself inside, a woman had come to visit Zane. She and I talked and...

"Oh!" I commented, having remembered her. "Trisha!"

My eyes had widened before I closed my mouth with a hand. Trisha rolled her eyes at the reaction.

"You can still call me Trisha," she said.

"But...how?" I was surprised. I thought she was human. How could she be in Crystalia?

"Do come in, Emery," she said as she went back to the house. I followed her, closing the door behind me.

"If you are looking for Zane, he's not in," Mrs. Marsh said. I momentarily stopped walking, a frown etched on my face. We then made our way towards Zane's dining room.

"No offense, but how are you here?" I asked Trisha once we were seated.

"I'm a witch," she replied as if it was obvious. "Emery, do you remember the first conversation we had?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, not sure about my memory.

"I told you I had a bad feeling about Bianca. Emery, I'm an empath."

My mouth widened in the form of an 'O'.

"Wait. If you were a witch then..."

"I wasn't a witch by then. I was still human. Or I believed I was."

"What?" I was confused.

"I was born a witch, but most of my powers had been taken away. I was only left with empathy."

"Who took your powers?"

"Eva," Trisha replied in an instant. "That happened about thirty years ago. She also took away the memory of her taking my powers."

I was still in shock as I stared at Trisha.

"I know you are in shock. I too was in shock, perhaps more shocked than you."

"How did you know you're a witch?" I questioned.

"When you brought down Eva, you weakened her. That was enough to destroy whatever evil her powers had done. Unfortunately, it couldn't bring back the dead."

I wondered who Trisha meant as she stared into the distance with a sorrowful look. She then physically shrugged her shoulders as she turned her attention to me.

"So, what brings you to my son's house?"

That question was bound to be asked. Hearing it out loud reminded me of my intentions, but I wasn't sure about telling Trisha about them.

"I was, umm... looking for him to talk about something private."

Trisha eyed me for a second.

"Okay. I get that you don't want to talk about whatever it is you don't want to talk..."

I quickly thought of telling her. Trisha seemed like a wise woman, being older than me. She looked like the type who could keep a secret. More importantly, she was Zane's mother. Maybe she could help me with my plans.

"I'm in love with your son," I spoke.

Mrs. Marsh stared at me in shock, but it slowly transformed into a smile.

"Really?" she asked. I was surprised by her reaction.

"That is what I wanted to talk to him about. I'm not sure--"

"He loves you back," Trisha interrupted.

"You can't be sure about that."

"I'm his mother, Emery. When the two of you were in high school, you have no idea of the times I heard him moaning your name in his sleep when I entered his room to pick up his laundry."

I held in a laugh with my hand as I tried to fight off the blush that was threatening to appear on my cheeks.

"I'm also an empath, remember? Do you even recall what I told you years ago?"

"Trisha--" I said with an uneasy smile.

"I told you that my son had born a crush on you since you were both in high school," she interrupted,

I did not want to talk about it.

"Trisha--"

"I know the history the two of you share, but in an extremely weird way, he was trying to show his love for you. He thought he ruined his chances, and so he started dating that bitch, Bianca."

I hated the memory of the said bitch, especially the things she had put me through. Thank goodness she was rotting away in jail.

Mrs. Marsh gained a faraway look.

"I hated her ever since Zane brought her to my house. He wanted me to get to know her. I did, but I ended up disliking her more whenever she opened her mouth. I thought something was wrong with me, but then I realized I was right. I also knew the bitch was stealing from my son."

My eyes widened in shock.

"She took his silver watch when she was at my home. That thing was expensive. About four hundred euros. I told Zane, but he believed that I was trying to drive a wedge between them."

I was silent for a while. I raised my head to face her, ready to ask a question that had been on the tip of my tongue, but she beat me to the answer.

"I was confused at first, but I later realized you were innocent. I'm sorry, Emery. I am so sorry for the hell my son and his friends had put you through."

I didn't want to remember the past. Even though I had gotten over it, the memory was strong enough to make me tear up.

"I tried to tell him that you were right about Bianca, but he didn't listen. I knew it would kill him when he figured out how wrong he was about you. And it almost did."

I hiccupped a sob, quickly wiping away the tears that had started to form. I was saddened by what had happened to me, but I was also sorrowful over Zane. We could have avoided all that mess. If only...

"You had my son and Harry arrested for the awful things they did to you."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"One cannot easily wipe away the memory of a witch," Trisha answered with a small smile as she stared at me. "I also know what you did to him and his friends. I want you to know I am not mad. I know you were under the influence of Eva's potion. They deserved whatever you did to them. And now, I'm glad you both found a way to let go of the past."

The chair squeaked, and I heard Mrs. Marsh's footsteps as she made her way towards me. She stopped beside me, wrapping her arms around me in a hug. The sobs were ceasing, and Trisha decided to rub my back in comfort.

"He loves you, Emery. He just feels he doesn't deserve you at times. He is truly sorry for what he did to you."

"I know," I whispered, referring to her last statement as I started calming down from my tearing episode.

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After the unexpected emotional talk, Trisha and I spent hours talking about other things. I found out the rest of Zane's family was also in Crystalia. We talked about them and Trisha convinced me to make plans of visiting them. We talked about how I had been doing in the past years, and we chatted about other stuff that came to mind.

It was, however, time for Trisha to go. She waved me goodbye, making me promise to visit her and her family. She also reminded me with confidence that Zane certainly had feelings for me before she left.

I stayed at Zane's house for a while as I waited for him to arrive. I raided his fridge and prepared myself a little snack to eat as lunch, reminding myself to tell Zane about restocking his foodstuffs. I could even go grocery shopping for him if he wanted on another time. 

An hour had passed, and it looked like Zane wasn't coming. It was past noon by then, and I had been waiting for quite a long time after Trisha had left.

I suddenly felt like an idiot. What if he was avoiding me? Was it the intense emotions I had felt for him the last time he visited me?

Maybe he was still in school.

Oh crap. Why did I forget the school?

I made a quick exit out of Zane's home, locking the door behind me. Then I proceeded to make my way towards Zane's school.

When I had arrived, the students were in the process of leaving the premises. I waited for a while for the departing students to reduce in number before I made my way towards the building.

I passed hallways and classrooms, trying to recall the path to Zane's class. After a minute of walking around, I came to a stop in front of an open classroom. I entered it, looking around and realizing it looked familiar.

It was Zane's class.

I sighed in relief as I turned to face his desk, noticing I wasn't alone. There was a girl who was standing in front of the desk, watching me with a frown.

Okay...

"Hi! Have you seen your teacher?" I asked as politely as I could. The girl had worn an outfit that seemed to expose the lower half of her torso and her long tanned legs. 

She gave me some kind of inspection, letting her eyes run up and down my form.

"Who are you?" she questioned. I narrowed my eyebrows in confusion. 

"Emery. I'm a friend of Zane's. And who are you?" I knew she was a student, but I wanted to find out her name.

"None of your business," the girl replied, making the smile on my face immediately drop.

Oh my—

"Look. I noticed how you were staring at my teacher on the other day. I know you like him, probably even want to keep him for yourself. You should back away from Zane. He's mine!"

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. That girl had no idea of how many insults I could fire at her.

"Umm, you are a teenager. Zane is practically a decade older than you. You're like a baby to him! How can he be yours?"

"He will be mine. And if I have to get rid of a bitch on my way, then so be it."

I blinked quickly without replying for a moment.

"Did you just call me a bitch?" I questioned with a low voice, not even focusing on the threat she made. "Listen here you ugly, flat-chested, small-boobed, definitely-doesn't-know-how-to dress--"

The girl cut me off with a slap. Obviously to my face.

My head had turned on impact as a stinging sensation began on my cheek. I was quickly infuriated as I turned to face the bitch with rage.

I raised my hand and quickly slapped the bitch. It was a hard slap, and she yelped in pain.

"Bitch, I've gone through worse shit than the insults you have probably been saying about me with your friends," I slapped the girl again, making her cry out. "You have no idea of the shit-storm I can unravel on you. Next time think twice before insulting someone twice your age," I commented. The girl did not reply. In fact, her shoulders shook as she sobbed harder.

What the hell?

I instantly felt something wasn't right.

I turned around, noticing that Zane was looking at the two of us.

At that moment, I felt the blood drain from my face.

Oh crap. Not again.

I knew how it looked like, and I knew that I had made a mess of things. Zane had caught me slapping a student of his, and by the glare etched on his face, I knew he was angry.

He was silent for a moment as his eyes jumped between me and the bitch.

"Emery," he spoke my name in a scary calm voice, and chills ran up and down my spine. "I need you to back out of the class."

"Zane--"

"Back out," he ground out, and I quickly shut up. I moved towards the exit, feeling tears threaten to sting my eyes.

I couldn't believe it. That