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

wrap around my form.

“Let go of me!” I had shouted before the person turned me to have my head placed on their chest. For a moment, I thought it was Erick.

“Ssh. Don’t cry,” Zane said while petting my hair. I froze for a moment with my eyes wide in shock.

“I am not crying,” I said through his shirt, but it sounded muffled. I accidentally sniffed on him, momentarily turning my attention away from what we were talking about.

What is that smell? It’s so addictive.

I came to realize that I was sniffing on his shirt for some time. I worried, thinking that he knew what I did.

“There, there. Let it all out,” Zane said, making me feel confused. Maybe the sniffing on his shirt meant that I was crying on his shoulder.

I allowed myself to retract from the hug. Zane stared at me with his brown orbs, momentarily capturing my attention.

Snap out of it, Emery!

“Look, Emery. We don’t know how it feels like going through what we put you through. We accept that we were major assholes to you, maybe even the biggest on earth. If I could, I would have gone to the past and stop our past selves from ever inflicting harm on you. Emery, all we know to do is to keep apologizing for the shit we did. We also know that our apologies will not make up for what we did. I just want to ask you to please have faith in us. The guys and I are not who we were in high school. At least get to know the current us: the real us.”

I stood there momentarily dazed by his words. I found myself slowly nodding my head in agreement. Zane gave me a lot to think about. Also, I just wanted the progression of an awkward moment after awkward moment to end. 

It was so not my afternoon.

“Okay,” I replied, earning a small smile from him.

Erick, my ex-bullies and I stared at each other awkwardly.

Liam cleared his throat before saying "So... um, we have a meeting with our manager in a few minutes. Do you mind--"

"It's okay, Liam," I cut him off. "You can leave."

"Bye, Emery," he and his friends said before quickly teleporting from the room.

“I can’t believe you didn’t do anything. Some kind of friend you are,” I complained to Erick as I made my way towards my room. Erick sighed, quickly walking to catch up with me.

“I’m sorry, Emery,” Erick apologized. “I didn’t know I was supposed to yell at them when they were apologizing to you.”

Oh, no. Just like Selena, I was losing him to the boys. They had some charm around them. What was it? Their ‘changed’ personalities, their music or their British accents?

Was Erick becoming gay?

My eyes widened for a moment, worried that the prince had heard my thoughts. He did not do anything, and he showed no sign that he heard what I thought. I relaxed under his gaze, earning a questioning look from him.

“Have you been listening to their music?” I asked. Just like that, the curious look disappeared.

“Yes,” he replied before squinting his eyebrows. “I love it. Why?”

“No reason,” I replied with a shrug, even though my thoughts were the exact opposite. 

I was definitely losing him to the boys.

“Emery, I want to go with you,” he said suddenly, making me wonder what he was talking about. I had no plans of going anywhere except to Eva’s castle. 

My mind instantly clicked on what he meant. Then I shook my head in disapproval.

“No, Erick. The quest is dangerous enough as it is.”

“That’s why I have to go with you,” he persisted. “Also, I’m the future ruler of the city. It wouldn’t help if I looked fearful. If I did this with you, the witches would feel safe with me as their next king.”

I rolled my eyes at his ridiculous notion.

“No one thinks of you as a coward. See, in things related to fiction and also history, the ruler always sends spies or assassins to deal with the problem. The king is always involved in a war,” I countered, emphasizing on the war. “Besides, I wouldn’t want your mother to worry.”

The Queen, just like my mom, was a worrier. It had something to do with Erick’s first encounter with an erwich. He was ten at that time, and the evil erwiches were targeting him and Justin. They wanted the city vulnerable and without a new ruler. Luckily, the both of them survived the attacks and taught the erwiches not to mess with them. However, that did not ease their mother’s worry.

“What are you saying, Emery?” he asked as we turned to enter my room. “She is already worried about your safety.”

“She is, but I wouldn’t want to make her worry more about yours,” I tried to reason with him.

“Even though you’re right, I want to go.”

“Erick—"

“No, Emery,” he interrupted me. “I will go whether you like it or not.”

“Go where?” my mother asked as she entered the room. She was still in her work attire with her red-orange dress reaching past her knees. Her face looked tired, and her hair was a mess.

“I want to join her in finding whoever brought the erboons to Crystalia,” Erick announced to my mother. She remained quiet as she thought about it.

“Okay,” my mother said, much to my shock.

“What?”

“Emery, you should know that he is the Queen’s son. He’ll be the future ruler of this kingdom in a few years’ time. He is also an adult, and you must respect his decision.”

I grumbled under my breath as the Prince smirked at me in victory. I rolled my eyes at him.

“I’m coming, too,” my mother added. “I’ll just ask for a three-day leave, and we can be done with this.” My eyes went wide as fear gripped my heart.

“No, mother. No, no, no. It’s bad enough I’ll have to look after him,” I said, motioning a finger at Erick who frowned in reply. “I don’t want to worry about you too.”

“I am an adult, Emery. And I’m your mother. I’m going with you, and you cannot change my mind.”

“But—“ I went to protest, but she cut me off.

“I love you, Emery. I worry about you all the time. I worry about your safety, especially now that you are a crystal. I want to be there to protect you.”

“You do know that I can protect myself, don’t you? Besides, I’m a crystal! I am more powerful than, no offense, you and the erwiches.”

“It is that kind of mentality that may lead you to your doom. You’re a crystal, but that does not mean you cannot be killed,” my mother stated. “You’ll need people to watch your back. I’m going with you, Emery.”

With that, she left the room, leaving no room for any further discussion.

“What just happened?” I asked.

“Your mother decided to go with you and me to Eva’s castle,” Erick replied. I went to speak, ready for another conversation against him joining me on the journey to Eva’s castle.

“No, Emery. It has already been decided,” he said with a raise of a hand, interrupting me from saying what I wanted to say.

“I want to join too,” a voice with a British accent sounded through the room. We all turned to face the source, only to realize that it was Ethan and Liam, with Ethan being the one who spoke.

“No. You are not going with us,” I announced, making the two frown.

"By the way, didn't you say you had a meeting with your manager?" I asked Liam, and he soon looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“This should be interesting,” Erick said as he moved from the door to let the two enter. I eyed him with a bored look. He just shrugged with nonchalance.

“The manager will be arriving a few hours late. Anyway, why don't you want us to join you on your quest?” Liam asked.

“It’s dangerous, that’s why!” I stated with a tone that meant to say my answer was obvious.

“Danger is my middle name,” Ethan joked, but I did not laugh.

“Guys, it’s nice that you want to help, but this is not a Disney movie where the good guys enjoy an adventure and face a villain who, most of the times, is humorous. This is real life. You do know that where we’re going is infested with erboons and erwiches, right?”

“Yes. We still want to help,” Ethan answered.

“You may also die and never return,” I countered.

“We’re still going,” Liam persisted.

Why was everyone so stubborn?

“Alright, fine! But you all need to be here by 5:50 in the morning. We’ll be leaving at six, okay?” I said. They nodded with smiles before leaving the room.

“If it helps, I could aid in looking after the two,” Erick suggested with a sideways smile. I rolled my eyes at him with a smile.

“Let’s go eat. I’m hungry, and I might get a headache from dealing with anyone else who will say they want to join us in our journey,” Erick chuckled as we both exited the room.

CHAPTER 16

Emery's P.O.V

 

Dream

There was nothing but darkness in front of me. It lasted for a while, and then suddenly, the scene changed. I found myself facing the castle entrance in Crystalia. The day seemed to be calm, and the sky was a weird mixture of day and night. There was no one around. I was met by an eery silence that did nothing to calm my nerves.

"Emery," a voice whispered. It was loud, and it seemed to come from every corner. I turned around, looking for whoever called me.

"Hello?" I asked cautiously.

A figure began to form as golden stardust collected itself, revealing a woman. It was the same woman who interrupted the teleporting process when Selena and I brought the Ordinary Brothers to Crystalia.

"Do you remember me?" she asked with the same voice that echoed all around. I nodded my head.

"Penelope?" she nodded in confirmation. She levitated from the ground as she approached me. My eyes widened, afraid of what she was going to do.

"No need to be scared. I am a regular witch, and I have been sent here to inform you about something."

"I'm sorry," I began, "but I don't trust you. I also don't know much about you."

"I understand. To answer your statement, I was born around the same time that Eva was born. We were cousins," she said, completely blowing my mind. 

Eva had relatives?

"What happened to you?"

"She stabbed me in the back. That's what happened," she said with an angry expression.

"Anyway, let's not dwell on the woes of the past. Today is a big day for you and the rest of the witches," she said, making me frown as I tried to understand what she said. I soon recalled I was to go with some witches to Eva's castle.

Penelope looked sad at first, but she shook her head to dismiss the emotion. 

I wondered what that was about.

"I need you to listen to me. Now that you're a crystal, your life will be in danger from this point," she said.

I already knew that. It did not seem like news to me at all.

"Wait. What do you mean 'from this point'?"

"Your future will have tests and difficulties ahead, but please trust me. Things will be better afterward."

Then just like that, she disappeared.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What are you talking about? What mess? What do you mean by my life will get harder?"

I was met by silence just as darkness encroached from all corners of the land.

"Penelope!"

I gasped as I rose up into a sitting position on my bed. The alarm clock next to my bed decided a second later to ring with its annoying beep. The memory of the dream replayed in my mind with some of it slowly disintegrating. 

I hated it when that happened. 

I snoozed the alarm off then observed the time, finding out that it was five in the morning. I took a look outside, and I noticed that the sun had not yet risen up. The stars were slowly losing their intensity as the day sky started to make its appearance. There were clouds, but at the time, they appeared gray.

I started getting ready for the day. On the previous night, the ones who would go to the erwich lair with me were