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

shrugged my shoulders, having no idea.

"Emery!" the Queen called out to me. I watched as Ashley tensed in surprise. I turned to face Elizabeth as she approached us.

She had a smile on her face as she enveloped me in a hug. I reluctantly hugged her back.

I was doubtful about how she truly felt about me, especially after what I had recently pulled in the castle.

"It is so good to finally see you again. How have you been?" she asked, and I winced. The memories of being in jail were a painful reminder of what I went through.

"Ooh, forget I asked. Let me show you to your new home."

New home? 

Oh, one of my demands.

Ashley and I quietly followed the Queen as she led us straight away from the castle. I looked at my sides, noticing the vast field of grass around me. There were also a couple of scattered trees. I also spotted some of the buildings in Crystalia. Everything looked the same as if I had not been missing for seven months.

"You are all very quiet," the Queen commented. I sighed.

"How do you expect us to act, knowing that your son controlled my powers when I was in jail?" I questioned.

The Queen stopped walking. Ashley and I also stopped.

Let's get done with the subject already.

Elizabeth turned to face us with a sad glance.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you, Emery."

"I know that," I replied. "I just want to know if you're on Erick's side or mine."

"I'm on yours," she answered without wasting a second. I blinked in shock.

"I heard about you being in jail. Then I was told about you attempting to murder Niam in a car accident..."

I didn't even bother to correct her on the name.

"I thought that was normal. I mean, he and those boys made your first high school a living hell. I would have gladly bailed you out and wiped out the accident from your records. But to hear that you faked an attempted murder just to get rid of Zane's girlfriend... I knew something was up. So that immediately canceled everything I heard you supposedly did."

My eyes brimmed with tears.

"You believe me?"

"Of course I do! You are family to me. I've watched you grow up in the castle, and I know you are not who the media portrays you to be."

I had never felt so relieved in my life. There was another person who still liked me.

"So, why is everyone thinking I'm evil?"

"I don't know," she replied. "I asked them about it, but they all mentioned the arrest and the attempted murder."

Elizabeth's eyebrows furrowed in suspicion.

"I have a feeling they are hiding something, but I don't know what."

"Oh, your house!" she suddenly screamed, changing to another subject. "Is this area okay?"

I looked around, observing that I couldn't see the castle from where I was. There were hardly any houses in my surroundings. There were mostly green grass and a couple of trees that made it look like I was in the outdoors.

"It's perfect," I replied.

"Okay. So now, I need you to stand back. I'm about to materialize the house on this spot right now."

Ashley and I backed away. The Queen closed her eyes as she chanted a spell. The ground below us shook, urging Ashley and me to back away again.

Then we watched in surprise as a house appeared in front of us. It slowly materialized from yellow stardust, making groaning noises as it was being formed. Once it was done, I stared in wonder.

"It's beautiful!" I commented. The house was simple and gray.

 

"Thank you," I told the Queen.

"Don't thank me yet," she said. "Wait until you see what's inside."

Surprisingly, the house had everything I needed and everything I doubted I needed. The Queen led Ashley and me on a tour around the house. It had two bedrooms, a kitchen, a large dining room, a bathroom, and unexpectedly, a small study room.

Then the Queen left minutes later to run some errands while Ashley and I stayed inside the house. It had wonderful white French doors with large windows that offered a great view of both Crystalia's grasslands and the mountains. I could even see the sun rise and set whenever I wanted to. 

Even though I was in a place where I was hated by everyone, I had a feeling that things were going to be okay for me.

***********************************************************************************

One week later

Zane's P.O.V

"Liam, duck!" I yelled in warning as a fireball hurtled towards him. Liam had heard, avoiding the damage the fireball did to the furniture behind him by ducking on the floor.

Six days ago, erwiches had started attacking my bandmates and me. It did not help that every one of us was preparing to go back on our tour. It that had been ongoing in Australia, and it had to be postponed ever since Liam had gotten into an accident. He had suffered from a couple of broken ribs, swelling on his sides, a concussion and a broken leg.

It took him months to recover.

His family... yeah... they hated Emery. Even my own mother showed signs of dislike towards her and started a liking towards Bianca.

Well, at least something good had come out of Liam's accident.

Now that Liam was better and discharged from the hospital, the tour was set to resume in a matter of days. However, that seemed to be impossible because erwiches were coming towards us!

"Foolish witches," the male erwich said as another followed close behind. "You cannot kill us. We will destroy you!"

With that, he sent another fireball that was directed towards me. My eyes had widened before I extended my arms, stopping the fireball from coming towards me with my telekinesis powers. In an instant, I aimed it towards the erwich who had spoken. It missed him, landing on his partner. The erwich screamed before combusting into smoke. 

The remaining erwich was angered. He turned to face me before clenching his fist. I soon felt a horrible sensation like I was stuck between two walls that were crushing my form. The erwich suddenly screamed before combusting into flames. The hold he had on me immediately disappeared. I turned to face whoever it was that saved me, noticing that it was Ethan.

"That's it!" Ethan yelled. "I am getting tired of these erwiches always attacking us. We need to seek help from Erick."

"But how will he help?" Liam asked with raised eyebrows. "He too has the same problem, and it does not help that the rest of the witches are also facing attacks."

"I don't know! Maybe he has something like a spell to protect us or something."

"That's a great idea!" I said. "Should we get the rest of the boys?"

"They went to Crystalia," Ethan replied. "They too had an erwich attack when they were outside. I was with them, and I was coming to tell you where we were heading when I saw the erwiches attacking you."

Ethan had grown strong in character. I expected him to have nightmares of seeing dead bodies again, but he didn't. He was getting used to the erwiches attacking. 

That was both a good and a bad thing for us.

"What are you waiting for?" Liam said. "Let's go!"

The three of us teleported to Crystalia.

"There you guys are!" Logan shouted in exasperation as he approached us. Behind him was Harry.

"We thought the erwiches had killed you."

"They obviously didn't," Liam replied with a smile. "So, have you seen Erick?"

"No," Harry responded. "We have been here waiting for you."

"Okay, let's go."

Then we walked towards the entrance of the castle.

"Erick!" Liam shouted at the king when we spotted him in the castle hallways. Erick turned to face us, and he smiled.

"Guys! I am surprised you've come here!" Erick replied as he came towards us.

In the past seven months, my bandmates and I had bonded with the king and become friends. We were like his group of trustees or something, but I wouldn't lie if I said it felt good.

We spent a couple of minutes catching up on our lives before we mentioned the issue that brought us to Crystalia.

"As you know, our tour is set to resume in two days," Ethan spoke, going straight to the point. "But there is a problem that needs to be dealt with. Erwiches."

Erick's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"Erwiches have been attacking us non-stop for the past week. We thought it was usual at first, but then we realized they were targeting us."

"Erick!" a woman's voice shouted in the hall, interrupting Ethan from saying more. We all turned to face the person, discovering it was Selena. I was happy to see her, but I dialed it down when I saw her state.

Her lipstick was smudged, her hair was roughened up, and her clothes looked crumpled.

"Were you with Justin?" Logan asked with a curious expression, voicing out what I was thinking.

"No. This was the work of erwiches," she replied. "They have been coming at me for the past week--"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Harry interrupted with puzzlement. "You too?"

"What do you mean 'you too'? Wait. You too?" Selena's expression took one of shock.

"Okay!" Erick shouted. "So the six of you have been having erwich attacks for the past week, right?"

We all nodded, still shocked.

"It does not make sense. Come, we need to talk in the study room."

We all followed Erick into the area where we usually convened. Once we were there, he locked the doors behind him and turned to face us.

"This erwich problem has become a huge pain in the butt," he commented. "It's so weird. Why would erwiches attack you guys?"

"We too have no idea," Harry said. Then there was silence in the room.

"I have heard no reports about erwich attacks in the last seven days. I thought that they were tired, but apparently, they were coming at you."

"Is it because we have a connection with you?" Selena asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Probably," Erick replied.

"Okay, so you guys may need guards at your side."

"What?" Selena asked. "That would raise questions! I mean, the boys already had guards when they were on their tour last year."

"They could act as friends of them."

"Really?" Ethan said with raised eyebrows. "Erick, we are very popular nowadays, and the paparazzi are always hot on our tail. They would ask the guards questions, and they wouldn't even know what to say in front of them. No offense, though."

"None taken," Erick replied. "What's wrong with saying they're your friends?"

"Umm, gay relationships?" Logan stated with raised eyebrows. "It's weird enough that some of our fans are writing weird fanfictions of some of us being in love with each other. Or worse, having an orgy."

Erick gave Logan a shocked look while the rest of us shuddered.

"Imagine what would happen if they think we are somehow involved with them. Our fans would think the guards are our escorts or something."

Erick furrowed his eyebrows. "Really?"

We all nodded. "It's how messed up their assumptions could get."

"Alright. So the guards are out of the picture."

We all remained silent as we thought of other solutions.

"Is there nothing that can be done?" Erick asked after a while.

"Well, we can all be on one tour," Logan said, and Selena nodded. "But we'll be too busy with our careers to deal with erwiches attacking us. I can imagine waking up early, getting ready for the tour, performing for hours and having an attack before we go to bed. That does not seem like a great plan."

Erick thought in silence for a few seconds.

"I have an idea, but I doubt you will like it," he said hesitantly. He remained quiet before adding, "Have Emery join you on tour."

There was pin-drop silence after Erick spoke, and we were all going through a mixture of emotions.

They were mostly disbelief and anger.

"What?"

"The hell?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"No way!"

"Are you out of your mind?"

We all said at the same time.

"Hey!" Erick shouted, stopping us from shouting. "That is the only proposition I have for you."

I sighed, rubbing a hand over my forehead.

I did not want to be near Emery, especially after what she had done to Liam. I was afraid she would try to kill all of