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

how could he have done that to me? Why did he betray me like that? I thought as a therapist, he would have known how much I didn't want to be near them.

Zane... he found out what I felt for him, what I still felt for him. I did not even know what had compelled me to confess my feelings for him. Maybe it was because I wanted him to hurt, but I was the one who ended up getting hurt. His reaction to my confession just broke my heart. He did not say anything about it, making it loudly known he did not love me.

Love?

I shuddered at the thought. It couldn't be love. It had to be something like a small crush.

Right?

At the beginning, I was certain that it was love. Maybe I was wrong.

By the way, why was I still dwelling on him If he didn't love me, well then good! It would just make our situation more messed up. 

I decided to tune out my thoughts as I closed my eyes. Immediately, sleep took over.

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"Emery," a gentle feminine voice called out to me. I hummed, signaling to the person that they were disturbing me.

"Emery," the voice persisted.

"Emery." I turned on the bed, facing away from the source of the voice.

"EMERY!" I shot up from the bed, fully awake. I looked around my currently-darkened room, searching for whoever was calling me.

Then I noticed a floating figure in the dark. My eyes widened in recognition.

"Penelope?" I called out in disbelief. 

The figure approached me, her form giving out a little light that illuminated some objects on her path. Penelope's floating form came to a stop beside my bed. She looked just as she did the first time I saw her. However, what had me disturbed was that one of her eyes was missing. 

I could even see the skin in the socket and that made me visibly flinch. 

Whereas I was peeved by that, she seemed to be okay with it. She stared at me with a smile, not caring about my reaction to her missing eye.

"Hello, Emery," she said. Before I could reply, her smile dropped. She seemed to remain quiet for a few too many seconds.

"Penelope?" I called out to her just as she started to respond. She gave out a sigh of relief, and I was confused as hell.

"Emery, we need to leave," she said, reaching out for my hand and dragging me off the bed. It was weird to see her when I was awake.

"What?"

"Now," she said, still dragging me across the linoleum floor.

"Penelope, stop!" I yelled at her with a glare, snatching my hand away from her hold. She sighed.

"I haven't seen you in a long time. What is going on? Where have you been, and don't even get me started with your eye."

Penelope sighed again.

"Look. We don't have much time. I need to take you out of here. Once we reach a safe place, I can answer whatever questions you want to be answered, okay?"

Penelope's expression looked worried. I had no option but to agree. The door to my ward was unlocked, and she was leading us down a dimly-lit hallway.

"Be quiet," Penelope said, guiding us through the hallway. I looked around, finally familiarizing myself with the view outside my ward. 

For a hospital hallway, it felt like a hotel.

Penelope and I slowly descended down a case of stairs. There were two doors; one led to what looked like a waiting room, and the other was closed.

"Wait here," Penelope said, going through a closed door. I took that opportunity to plaster myself against a wall, moving slowly towards the area with the open door. I looked around, finally realizing it was indeed a waiting room. There seemed to be a woman who was busy on the phone. She had sat behind a large desk.

"...yes, Margaret. I told her that if she wanted to keep her man, she needs to lose some weight."

My face scrunched up in disgust.

"Emery," Penelope whispered. I turned to her, realizing that she had unlocked the other door. I looked around, checking for other people. There was no one but the secretary, and so I walked past the unlocked door. What I was staring at was some kind of small hallway that had an open door.

"Come on!" Penelope yelled. I slowly walked with her until we reached the other door. I was met by the beautiful sight of street lamps that illuminated the area.

"We need to run," Penelope advised. I nodded in agreement, following her orders. I ran through the open area, not paying any attention to the possibility of a night guard or the beautiful park we passed through. We suddenly came to a stop at a wall. I observed it, noticing it was way past my height.

"Emery, now would be a good time to use your powers."

I wanted to slap myself on the face. I couldn't believe I had forgotten about them! Apparently, staying a year in a magic-blocked area does that to people.

I used my powers to teleport away from the area. Seconds later, I found myself staring at a couple of trees. In my mind, I had pictured the open space near the castle of Crystalia. 

Maybe my powers had not worked.

I looked around. It was still night, and there was a large moon that provided light around where I was.

"There you are," Penelope said, appearing out of nowhere. "At least we are far away from that wretched place they kept you in. We still have to keep going--"

"Penelope, what the heck is going on?" I cut her off with a worried look. She remained silent for a moment, going rigid just like she did in my ward. Seconds later, she seemed to respond.

"Okay, I'll tell you. Eva is alive."

I seemed to remain quiet once she uttered those words. For a moment, I believed I had heard my own words. 

"I'm sorry, what?"

"She figured out that I was talking to you, and so she had me kidnapped--"

"Wait, wait, wait. That's impossible! I killed her," I emphasized.

Penelope shook her head. "You didn't."

"But--"

"Emery, have you ever wondered how easy it was for you to kill her? I mean, not meaning to bring this up, but she killed your father and the king. And your father was a crystal."

Penelope had stunned me into silence once again. She was right. Thinking about it, it seemed too easy for me to get rid of Eva! So...

Eva was alive? 

A feeling of dread took over my form. What had she been doing? How the hell had no one noticed she was alive? If she was alive, what the hell was she planning to do? 

It all seemed weird. I still could not wrap my mind around Penelope's words.

"So, what you are trying to tell me is that she has been alive all this time?"

Penelope nodded.

"That's not all, Emery. She has been carrying out her plans in secret."

"WHAT?" I yelled, and Penelope motioned for me to keep quiet.

"Look. We need to find a place for you to hide. I know Erick will send his guards to look for you once he notices you are gone. Once we are in a safe place, I can tell you what she has been doing."

I had no option but to agree. Penelope grabbed my hand, and we teleported out of there.

 

Chapter 04

 Five months later

Zane's P.O.V

"...The Ordinary Brothers!"

The guys and I were about to have an interview. The person who had just spoked was the interviewer, and that had been our cue to go to the stage.

"Go that way," a member of the crew directed us through an open area that was partially blocked by a wooden wall. As we made our way to the stage, the sound of applause echoing through the building got louder. 

Once we made it to the stage, I noticed there was an audience in front of us. Most of them had bright smiles, and they whistled as their eyes focused on us. Above them were cameras and a few lights that were hanging on some kind of black metal bars, all aiming towards my bandmates and me. Moreover, the word Ellen was seen almost everywhere in the area, written in a wonderful blue font.

The guys and I made our way towards a large couch. Beside it on a leather seat sat our interviewer, Ellen, and she greeted us with a grin. She was a blonde, beautiful woman with pale skin and a couple of freckles that made her look like a fun person.

The applause died down once we had settled on the couch. Ellen began talking to us about our music career. The boys and I announced that we were having a tour in Europe that would begin in the month of January, a couple of months from then.

Then the interviewer went towards personal questions. She asked us who we were dating. Liam and Logan were the only ones who were seriously dating. The crowd whistled when they noticed that Ethan, Harry and I were still single. Then Ellen asked us if we had contacted Emery after the drama surrounding Bianca's arrest.

"We haven't heard from her," Harry replied. Ellen just nodded, not pushing the subject. We played a game with her, and it was fun. We also performed on the show.

"Okay. That's all the time we have. Thank you for coming!" Ellen announced, signaling the show's end as the audience applauded.

My bandmates and I had gone backstage after we had performed. Once the show had ended, we started leaving. We met with our bodyguards, and they encircled around us, leading us through a throng of fans that had surrounded our tour bus.

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It was hours later when my bandmates and I had teleported to Crystalia. We met up with Erick, Justin, Selena and the Queen in the main study room. 

"Hey guys," Ethan greeted them. It had been months since we saw them. Selena had cut her hair so that it reached her shoulders and Justin had gotten tattoos. Erick seemed to have grown taller.

"Any news about Emery?" Liam asked as we entered the room.

"None," Erick replied with a furrow of his eyebrows. "I don't get it. Where could she be?"

"More importantly, how did she escape?" I stated.

It had been five months ever since Emery had left Crystalia. Everyone had been baffled but mostly saddened by her sudden disappearance. Erick had people investigate on how she could have escaped, but no one came with a believable explanation. Most of the reasons that were told were deemed impossible. For instance, the institution was magic-free, and it was ruled out that Emery escaped with the help of magic.

Apart from worrying about Emery, the boys and I had been dealing with questions about Emery and Bianca. It was hard to come up with a lie that could not paint Harry and me in a worse picture than we already were in, especially after the incident where we abused Emery. 

It got out of hand when some people had attacked Harry and me in public. It had forced Erick to wipe out the memories of the events of our last concert; he only wiped out the part about Harry and me, not daring to change the fact of Bianca still being in jail.

"Okay. We have to leave it," Erick said, bringing my attention back to my surroundings.

"What?" the rest of