The Crystal by Jones M (the chimp paradox .txt) 📕

and joined the crowd of screaming fans.

Then it became annoying within seconds.

Everyone turned their heads, searching for the source of his voice. He was at the front of the hotel with his buddies. I also noticed four bodyguards beside them.

"Everyone, please form a line. The meet-and-greet is about to begin soon," one of the bodyguards said through a microphone. I was at the back with Selena and Rachel. We all groaned, but for different reasons. Selena and our ex-colleague couldn't wait to see the boys whereas I couldn't wait to be done with it.

"That's it. I'm out," I said, intending to go out of the line. Once I turned, I noticed another horde of OBers behind me. That's what the Ordinary Brothers' fans were called, right? 

I had two options: stay with the girls or struggle through the many people stationed next to the hotel. I had a feeling the options would both take a lot of time. I couldn't teleport because there were ordinary human beings beside me.

This is totally not my day.

"I can't wait to meet Logan Webb!" I heard a girl shout beside me. I winced, slightly moving away from her. "It will be like a fairytale. He will see me; we'll get married and live happily ever after."

Of course, because that's how real life works.

I received an unexpected shove from Selena. She gave me a look while shaking her head. It took me a moment to figure out why she did that. 

I couldn't believe she heard my sarcastic thought!

"This line is taking forever," another girl said in a whine. "I can't wait to plant my lips over Harry. He is so hot."

I facepalmed. Then I rolled my eyes while I mentally worried about the future of girls like her.

I did not know what to think. Maybe the girl was just saying stuff for the sake of bragging, but if she were truly planning on doing what she wanted to do, then good luck to her.

Ah! Entertainment! I get to see people make fools of themselves.

After about ten minutes, the line was in order. Selena was behind Rachel and I was behind them. She and Selena were the ones with stuff that needed to be signed. I decided to go through my phone and play games.

An hour later, the line had barely moved. I had to give it to the Ordinary Brothers. The band had many dedicated fans. I also worried about the energy and patience the five had to muster to deal with all of them.

I got bored with the game I was playing. I needed to do something while the line was still moving. Sometimes I wished I was in two places at once.

No sooner had I thought of the last sentence than I found myself outside the castle in Crystalia.

What? Oh no.

I looked around, feeling a pit of dread form in my stomach. 

I did not just teleport in front of many people, did I?

What had I done?

CHAPTER 13

Emery’s P.O.V

I spent the next five minutes pacing in front of the castle. I was worried about Selena and how every fan of the Ordinary Brothers would react after seeing me teleport. My first thought was to go back to the hotel. But then, I was afraid of being spotted again, so that was not a good idea.

Maybe my cousin was saying that she either didn’t know me or that she didn’t know that I could do that. Maybe she too had teleported to safety. Speaking of which, why wasn’t she calling me? Was she kidnapped? Was she taken by the police or something and they decided to take her phone? Were she and Rachel being experimented like lab rats?

Okay, that couldn’t have happened in five minutes.

I could not have messed up as badly as I did then. I took out my phone and dialed Selena’s number.

Selena’s P.O.V

I was excited as I stood in line with Rachel and Emery, waiting for the Ordinary Brothers to sign my stuff. On the previous night, the band came to me and told me what Emery had told them. She wanted the tickets in exchange for helping them come to terms with being witches. 

Was I that bad of a tour guide? Did neither I nor the guards who were with them on tour explain the whole concept of being witches? It took some time, but I soon understood Emery wanted the tickets specifically for Rachel. I also understood that the boys wanted to spend time with Emery.

I planned to go with Emery and Rachel to the meet-and-greet whether my cousin liked it or not. I believed Emery still saw the boys as the bullies they were to her in high school. I planned to help her get over the past, even though it would be hard. If she planned to stay away from them, she wouldn’t move on from it. She needed to see her ex-bullies as they currently were: caring, loveable people and not mean, abusive jerks.

Suddenly, my phone rang. The only people who had my cell number were my ex-boss, Emery’s mother, the Queen, Justin, Emery, Rachel and Erick. I was with Rachel, so it left anyone from Crystalia. Justin was on tour on that day, so the call was important.

I took my phone out of my pocket to inspect the caller ID.

Emery.

My eyes shot up. Then I felt confused. I looked behind me. Emery stood still, blinking, and not even holding her phone. I swiftly turned from her and inspected the caller. It still showed Emery. I looked at Emery again. She was still there, and she was not even holding her phone. Maybe she was using her powers to prank-call me?

With a knowing smirk, I answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Selena? Oh, thank God! You’re still alive. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where are you?”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“What are you talking about?” I inquired. “I’m still at the meet-and-greet with Rachel and you,” I emphasized. “How are you doing this? Are you using your powers to prank-call me?”

“What? No! I’m in Crystalia, and what do you mean ‘I’m with you?’”

I took a deep breath. My head had begun to ache. It was bad enough I had to deal with the presence of OBers around me. It would have been easier if I was at a concert. But a freaking meet-and-greet? It was taking longer than Emery took in cleaning our house in New York.

“You can’t be in Crystalia,” I opposed. “You’re here with Rachel and me. How can you be there?”

“I don’t know,” Emery replied, “but I know I’m here.”

It had to be a prank.

“Emery, if this is payback for making you come to the meet-and-greet, then I’m sorry. I will tell you first before forcing you to come along to these events.”

A shout of frustration was heard on the other line.

“I. Am. In. Crystalia,” Emery punctuated the sentence, talking to me as if I was a toddler.

“No. You’re. Not,” I said back.

“Hold on,” she said before ending the call. It was confusing. How could Emery be at two places at once? Then a minute later, the phone rang. I took it out of my pocket and answered “Hello?”

“It’s called astral projection,” the Queen replied, taking me by surprise. “It’s one of the powers that a crystal can have. Only a few are lucky to even get it.”

Then she decided to greet me, “Hello, Selena.”

I was silent for a moment. By then, I knew it was not a prank. For Emery to have to call the Queen, it had to be true.

“Hello,” I said before looking around. I was surrounded by people. “Your Majesty,” I whispered.

“Could you teleport with the version of Emery that is with you?” she asked through the phone.

“Emery didn’t tell you where we were when she astral projected?” I asked, feeling confused.

I heard people talking on the other line.

“Now she has,” the Queen replied. “Give me a moment. I know how the powers work.” With that, the call ended.

“Hey! Move your asses!” some girls shouted at me. I looked at the front to notice that Rachel had moved a couple of feet in front of me. I turned behind to face Emery. She was behind me, still as a statue, and holding up the line.

Crap. What to do, what to do…

I stretched my left hand behind and grasped onto Emery’s. I hoped whatever I planned would work. I closed my eyelids, channeling my power of telekinesis.

Slowly, I felt Emery’s form lift a bit high off the ground. I looked back to make sure she wasn’t too high. I released a sigh of relief, seeing that she was centimeters above the ground, unnoticeably floating like an inflated balloon. Holding her hand, I walked towards the front where Rachel was standing.

Come on, Emery! I can’t stay like those for a long time.

“Whoa!” I heard Emery shout as she lost her footing, collapsing on my back. As a reaction, I fell onto Rachel. Luckily, she stood still, but we both winced when we collided.

“Emery!” Rachel said as she turned to give my cousin a glare. Emery seemed confused at first. I nudged my elbow to her stomach. She winced, but it looked like she was sorry for causing the problem.

“Sorry,” she apologized. Rachel nodded before turning to face the front of the line.

“What happened?” I asked her.

“It was scary,” Emery said. “I just found myself wishing that I was anywhere but here, and I found myself in…” Emery trailed off, waiting for me to confirm that I knew what she was saying. I nodded. She couldn’t particularly say Crystalia because she was afraid of secret government agencies knowing about witches and hunting them.

“Then I spent some time talking with Erick’s mom before I came here. I don’t know how I will be able to control this power,” Emery said with an uncertain shake of her head.

“You’ll figure it out,” I said before directing my attention to my surroundings. The line was still long with people walking towards the front of the hotel.

“Why is this taking so long?” Rachel complained in front of me. I did not reply, not knowing what to say.

The minutes seemed to pass slowly as the line kept moving. I kept looking around my surroundings. I felt so bored, and the sun was merciless towards everyone in the line. It seemed like we were in a sauna, and the presence of people around me was not helping.

“Attention everyone!” one of the bodyguards announced. “The boys are taking a lunch break.” Everyone groaned, including Emery.

“They’ll be back in thirty minutes.”

That brought a problem. Everyone was hungry. If possible, they could go and take a few bites to eat then return. However, everyone was afraid of losing their spots on the line. Like stubborn ducks, we all remained.

“I want to go home,” Emery whined behind me, earning a look from Rachel.

“You can’t go!” she said. “We’re close to getting to them, Emery. It will take something like,” she paused to look at the people in front of her, “fifty people to make it to them.”

I facepalmed, starting to regret ever taking those damn tickets to the meet-and-greet. Why did I even attend this? I could have just asked them to sign my stuff when we were in Crystalia. 

Oh yes! I made the mistake of telling Rachel that I had them and she insisted on seeing them before they went back to Europe.

I mentally slapped myself.

I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned to face my cousin.

“Seeing that we’ll be here longer than expected, we should revisit the plans of going to Eva’s castle.”

My eyes widened, looking around if anyone else was heard what we were saying.

“Oh relax,” Emery told me. “They will think we’re talking about a game or something.”

“Why are we talking about it? Shouldn’t you be having this conversation with the Queen, Erick and the guards in Crystalia?”

She thought about it, and she shrugged.

“I don’t care. I’m bored, tired, hungry, and I’m starting to regret ever coming here. Why did I let you drag me to this?”

“Because you know I love you?” I saidd teasingly, leaning towards her dropping the subject.

“Yeah yeah yeah,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Anyway, back to the topic. So I’ll walk out of the castle and head towards the mountains.”

“Or you could just fly,” I offered.

“I’ll be going with the guards.”

Oh. I forgot about that.

“We’ll head into the forest then we’ll go through a clearing in the mountains. We might rest there and continue towards Eva’s castle.”

“How about driving towards the mountains? It’s the 21st Century, not 456 AD.”

We continued with the conversation until the line resumed. 

Wow. Thirty minutes happened to have passed by quick.

“Guys, I have an idea,” Emery said. “We could ask the girl behind me to