The Crystal 2 by Jones M (reading cloud ebooks .txt) 📕

Selena gulped, thinking about what was happening. Was Emery playing games with her or was she truly evil?

"What happened?" Selena asked with wide eyes. Emery shrugged.

"You will find out soon enough, Selena. But first, I need to take care of something."

The tone that Emery used to say those words scared Selena.

"You don't look good, Emery. I'm going to get help," Selena announced, turning to the exit of the door. 

Selena was actually scared, and so she was trying to get away. However, a force had grabbed her before she could make a fifth step. Before she could react, Selena was thrown to the wall beside her. The impact had her losing consciousness before she fell to the ground.

"No, you will not," Emery said with a fake smile as she slowly walked away from the scene. She exited the room, leaving the suite's door open as she began thinking of how to exact her revenge on everyone who had wronged her.

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Liam's P.O.V

The morning had come too quickly, and everyone was not ecstatic to get up.

The meeting that we had on the previous night had ended at 1:00 AM. It had taken hours, and towards the end, everyone was exhausted. Harry and Zane were absent because they were tending to Bianca. They had no idea how lucky they were.

"Have you guys seen Selena?" I asked everyone in the hotel suite. My bandmates and I had a planned concert in the afternoon, and she was to partake in it. 

Selena had not been in her room when had all woken up, and so I assumed that she was with Justin. An hour passed and she had not yet returned. We were left wondering whether she slept in at Justin's or not.

"I haven't seen her," Logan said as he wandered around the room while texting on his phone.

I sighed.

"Harry! Zane! Are you up yet?" I shouted. There came no reply from either of the two.

"Damn it! What is taking everyone so long?"

"Liam, relax," Logan said. "You know the guys know that we have a concert this afternoon. You don't have to remind them every now and then."

"Guys!" Ethan yelled as he burst into the room with wide eyes. "I have bad news. It's Selena."

"What?" Logan and I questioned at the same time.

"What is it?" I inquired.

"I don't know how, but she was found passed out in Emery's room this morning."

"What?" I asked.

"That's not even the worst part," Ethan added, and I worried about what he planned to say. "Emery's room... it's a crime scene. The police are investigating it right now."

"Ethan, I don't understand. What are you trying to tell us?" Logan questioned.

Ethan sighed before saying, "Some minutes ago, I had gone to see Emery. The entry had been blocked by yellow police tapes with the words 'DO NOT CROSS'."

Ethan remained quiet for a while before adding: "The police tried to stop me from entering, but it was too late. Guys, it's awful. There are traces of blood on the walls, and there is this huge drying puddle of it on the floor! There was also a broken glass table that also had blood--"

"What?" Logan exclaimed in disbelief.

Ethan suddenly started crying, and I went to hug him. It was a bad idea to do so because more tears poured from his eyes.

I thought again over what Ethan had said, and I felt horrible.

"Is she--" I went to ask, cutting myself off before I could finish the sentence.

"That's the thing," Ethan spoke once he was calm enough to continue speaking. "I don't know. Nobody knows."

"Ethan, what are you saying?" Logan was puzzled.

"She's not in her room."

"WHAT?" Zane exclaimed. The three of us turned to face him, noticing that he was with Harry. They had come from showering and changing their clothes.

"Guys, Emery might be dead," I told them. Harry and Zane's eyes widened in shock.

"Her body was not found," Ethan continued.

"Could she have left?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. I don't think did because her stuff is still there," Ethan answered Harry before he sobbed again. "Guys, she could be dead by now. Someone must have taken her body and probably buried it somewhere. Maybe they even cremated it."

I almost puked after Ethan finished speaking, and I had not even had breakfast yet.

"Good morning, guys," Bianca made her unwanted appearance as she greeted us with a smile. Ethan stopped crying suddenly, and he turned his glare to Bianca.

"YOU BITCH!" he had yelled before he went to her and slapped her hard on the cheek.

"Ethan!" Zane yelled as he went after him. Ethan went to deliver another hit on Bianca, but Zane placed himself between him and his girlfriend.

"You murderer! YOU KILLED HER!" Ethan continued yelling as he still struggled away from Zane's hold.

"Ethan..." a teary-eyed Bianca started as she cradled her cheek. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Oh, shut up!" Logan yelled. "Your days of bullshitting us are over. We know who you truly are."

"Guys, stop this!" Harry yelled as he went to stand beside Bianca. 

"Harry, how can you stand next to her? This bitch is a criminal!" Ethan shouted, his glare still fixated on Bianca.

"Ethan!" Zane yelled at the blonde-haired bandmate with a glare.

"Oh, what Zane? Are you going to hit me? Open your damn eyes and see the truth!"

"Ethan, calm down!" I decided to step in, grasping onto Ethan's shoulders.

"But Liam--"

"Ethan, we have a concert in a few hours." 

Ethan stared at me in disbelief.

"How can you be thinking of a freaking concert when this bitch could have killed Emery?"

"Ethan, I'm warning you to watch what you say in front of my girlfriend," Zane threatened.

"You stupid asshole!" Ethan yelled in anger, moving to go after him.

"It's not worth it, Ethan!" Logan joined in on trying to calm him. "Liam is right. We need to think about the concert."

Ethan stared at Logan in shock.

"But..." Ethan trailed off.

"I know," I told him. "But think about it. Think of all the drama we could get because of this! Do you really want this bitch to manipulate you and frame you just like she did to Emery?"

"You bitch!" Ethan yelled again at Bianca. "You fucking whore! I hope the police catch up to your crimes and get you arrested for all the crimes you have done."

With that, he stormed off the suite. Logan and I shared a look before we faced Harry, Zane and Bianca. 

"Let's go, Liam," Logan said, and I followed him as we exited the suite.

Third Person's P.O.V

"I'm sorry about the guys," Zane apologized as he turned to face Bianca. "And don't worry about the police. I will be with you until this whole thing blows over."

"We will be there for you," Harry said. Bianca stared at the two boys in front of her, and she wondered how stupid they could be.

"I'm glad you guys are with me. It means a lot that you believe in me," Bianca said with a fake smile. Zane didn't see through it as he smiled at her before placing a peck on her forehead.

"So, will you be at the concert?" Zane asked Bianca with raised eyebrows. "I can understand if you choose not to go--"

"I will be there," Bianca assured Zane.

"Okay, then. Let's go," Harry said. The three of them began their departure from the hotel.

As Bianca checked out of the hotel with Harry and Zane, she pondered over the video she had recorded. 

Bianca smirked as she thought of exposing the video during the boys' concert. Zane would be extremely hurt by her betrayal, but she didn't care. She also didn't care about how many people would see the video and how Zane and Harry's reputations and careers would be ruined. What mattered to her was getting out of the police's radar before they could catch up to her.

She also hoped that Emery was dead. If she wasn't, which seemed unlikely to her, then her plan would not work.

Erick's P.O.V

"Something's wrong," my mother told me as she burst into the main study room, interrupting a talk I was having with Crystalia's advisors.

"You may leave," I told them. They bowed their heads before they began walking out of the room, closing the door behind them.

"What do you mean?" I asked my mother in confusion.

"I don't know what it is," she replied as she tapped her head with her finger. "I just know that something is wrong. I can feel it in the air."

"Mother, maybe you are being paranoid," I said. "It might not even be a big issue. Maybe it's erwich withdrawals."

My mother rolled her eyes at me.  

'Erwich withdrawals' was a term someone in Crystalia had developed a day after the celebrations of the death of erwiches. Some witches had been recently waking up from vivid nightmares about the dreaded evil beings. The word had been spreading around, and it had grown popular.

"Maybe you're right," the Queen said. I walked towards her with a smile before I hugged her.

"Things are okay," I told her. "We have nothing to worry about."

The door busted open, revealing my wide-eyed brother.

"Erick!" Justin yelled. "We have a problem."

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Ethan's P.O.V

"... life goes on."

Screams filled the cloudy afternoon air once the song had ended.

My bandmates and I were on stage with our microphones. Our fans were in front of us, screaming and yelling their hearts out at us. Those who couldn't see us had the option of looking at the large screen that was behind us.

The guys and I had just sung three songs so far, and we were just getting started. 

Unfortunately, Selena could not perform. No one had received any word after she was found in Emery's suite and taken to the hospital for treatment. The guys and I were worried about her, but our management urged us to sing without her. There was the promise of visiting her once the concert ended.

My mind was also focused on Emery; I was worried about her. I wished the concert would end quickly, but then, it had just started.

It felt like one of those times you needed something to happen, but then it would take its time to do so. Just like when someone misplaces their phone in their own house.

"Hello, Los Angeles!" Logan shouted through the microphone, earning shouts from our fans. I looked down, noticing that some of our admirers were reaching out their hands towards us. I walked forwards as I stretched my hands out, letting the fans touch them.

"OMG! Ethan touched my hand!" was one of the reactions I heard from the girls. I grinned, shaking my head as I walked back to stand next to my bandmates.

Then a tune began to play. 

"I've tried playing it cool..." Liam had begun the song, earning more screams from our fans.

"...I can't ever be bra-ave, cause you make my heart race."

"Shot me out of --" 

Harry's part of the song was interrupted by a high-pitched sound that his microphone made. The background music of the song also stopped playing, and we were all left to wonder what was happening. We stared at each other with our eyebrows narrowed, but that was not going to answer us.

My friends and I turned to look behind us, staring at the people in charge of the sound. They were on the problem, and they were trying to fix it. 

The fans in front were murmuring, no doubt also wondering what had happened.

"What's going on?" Harry asked me, and I motioned with my shoulders that I had no idea.

"How sweet," Emery's voice sounded through the speakers. It sounded loud, and I was surprised when I heard it. The guys and I were soon turning our heads, searching frantically for Emery, only to spot her approaching us from my right.

I was perplexed when I noticed she was okay. But then, she looked unusually pale from where I was standing. What also surprised me was the smirk on her face.

Either way, I was glad that she was alive. But then, I wanted to know what had happened. 

If it wasn't her blood that was in her suite, then whose was it? 

"Emery--" I went to speak to her, noticing that the microphone I was holding was placed near