The Crystal 3 by Jones M (uplifting books for women .txt) 📕

he was a psychopath with powers, and the smile he was giving us did not alter that fact.

"What's wrong with him?" Liam asked in confusion. "He's not doing anything. He's just--"

Liam's words were cut off because we were all sent flying towards different directions. We were all caught by surprise. Before I could teleport, my back made contact with the grassy ground. My back seemed to be dragged against it for a few seconds.

Who was that guy? And why did he seem to have so much power?

It was hard to move due to the pain in my back, and I had a feeling that my clothes were torn. I wanted nothing but to lie there and recover. However, we had an unknown witch to deal with. 

In spite of the pain, I quickly got up and rushed towards the orange-haired guy.

I made sure he couldn't see me before I started sending fireball after fireball towards him. Each sent him moving back, and weirdly, none was touching his skin or clothes. They just hit a foot before him before spreading around him and quickly disappearing. I was befuddled, and I had to stop for a moment to know why. When I found out the reason, I was pissed.

He had an invisible shield around him.

"I got him!" Liam said just as plant roots started to grow from the ground and encircle the guy. They wrapped around his legs and were just about to go for his waist when they were immediately burned without the guy moving.

I frowned.

"Emery," the guy spoke slowly with that creepy smile of his. It was the first time he had spoken to us. "You've had your fun. Let's go home."

"Home?" Emery spat out the word. I turned to face her, noticing a glare plastered on her face. "That place was not home for me, and I'll be damned if I go back there!"

The guy shrugged, and I knew that was not good.

"I tried to warn you."

I was suddenly thrown back. Again.

"Zane!" everyone screamed out to me.

Third Person's P.O.V

"Who is this witch?" Eva asked no one in particular as she observed her magic mirror. She just caught the moment where Zane was pushed with quite a force. She watched as he continued flying through the forest, luckily missing trees until he landed in the river with a huge splash.

"He seems to be much more powerful than Emery."

Eva had witnessed the extent of Emery's powers when she had turned evil. She was scared about it, and she knew she had to get rid of her. 

As she watched what was happening in the mirror, a sudden thought came to mind. 

Maybe the new villain could do the job for her, and for once, complete it. Maybe she could also coerce the villain into helping her with her plans. And with the way things were going, that could actually happen.

Eva smirked, turning to face the mirror again.

Harry's P.O.V

"How do we kill him?" I asked everyone as we surrounded the new villain. The man seemed to be impenetrable, and nothing we were throwing at him was bringing him down. I looked around, noticing that the guards were not even coming to our aid.

What the actual--?

Oh, yeah. Erick told the guards to protect the people in the city while the rest of us dealt with the crazy guy. 

At the moment, I didn't think the plan was a good one.

"I'm thinking," Selena replied to my question, throwing a fireball at the guy. It just perished on impact, barely doing any damage to the clothes or skin.

"Guys! There is this enchanted knife I found in his layer," Emery suddenly said, throwing the knife to Selena. She caught it and held it high, ready to attack.

"Why the hell haven't you even told us you had it?" Logan yelled in exasperation, but we didn't dwell too much on it.

The man in front of us frowned.

"Emery, that is not nice. That was our secret. I thought I could trust you," the man said before shrugging. "Guess I'll have to make you pay for it."

Selena went to stab the knife into the guy's chest when he threw her back with his powers.

"Selena!" I called after her, moving quickly towards her form. She had hit the ground before she passed out, and the enchanted knife that she had been holding was feet away from her. I quickly went towards it, only to be forcefully flipped on my own feet. 

I made a sound of shock before quickly teleporting myself onto the stable ground. I reached for the knife and turned to face the man.

Emery was levitating, kicking the guy with her feet. The man growled and quickly held onto Emery's feet. She began to struggle against his hold.

"Let me go!" Emery yelled as she struggled to free her feet from the man's grasp. That was my opportunity to attack.

I went to stab him, but I was once again thrown back by his powers. 

It was seriously getting on my nerves.

The man spun for a couple of seconds before throwing Emery like she was a stone.

He was busy watching Emery with a smirk, and that was my time to move. I teleported to the guy, fearing he would throw me back again, before plunging the knife into his back. The guy had screeched before he remained still. 

His form quickly turned into stone, and it broke down into a heap of cement.

My ears perked up at the sound of something hitting a hard object with a loud thud. No one had seemed to throw anything. In fact, Emery—

Emery!

"Emery!" Zane shouted, confirming my thoughts. We all ran towards the direction Emery was thrown.

My heart was beating as worry pooled in my heart; usually, I would be calm, but something did not feel right.

We all rushed towards Emery, only to come to a stop at the front of the castle. Emery's form was on the ground with some blood oozing out of her form. She was frighteningly still with her leg bent, and a large crack had been formed on the wall behind her. She had hit a spot a few feet from the castle's entrance with the guards having surrounded her form. One was ordering a few before they all moved as we approached Emery's form.

"Emery," Zane spoke out as he knelt beside her at the same time that Selena and Erick did. They placed their hands on her and tried to heal her. The rest of us stood and watched in anticipation.

There were some stuff I wanted to say to Emery. Maybe I could befriend her again and—

"It's not working," Erick said after a while, interrupting my thoughts. I was confused for a while, but I instantly understood what he meant. That was when a feeling of dread took over my form.  

No, she couldn't-- I stopped myself from finishing the thought.

Erick and Selena continued trying to heal Emery. Some seconds had passed, and still, nothing was happening. I felt my heart thud at that moment.

I took another look at Emery's form. Blood had begun to pool from her head, and her eyes were wide. I looked at them, noticing that her irises had lost their color.

Erick and Selena tried to use their magic again, but nothing was working. Then it finally sunk in.

"No, no, no..." Selena trailed off as she continued using her powers. Her voice had sounded teary, and I felt the world stop at that moment.

Was Emery... dead?

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it had actually happened. 

I was in a state of shock. I couldn't hear anything for a while as I watched Zane scream out in disbelief and loss. He also knelt beside Emery and tried to heal her himself, but nothing worked. There was no movement from Emery, and the blood kept on flowing from her head.

"EMERY!" Zane's loud yell brought the sound back to my surroundings. He had currently wrapped his arms around Emery's form as he cried on her shoulder. A hand was in her hair, not caring about the blood that was oozing from her head. Emery's eyes stared at nothing as Zane's body shook with hers as a result of the sounds of his cries and yells. I looked at Emery, hoping that some kind of miracle would happen, that her eyes would brighten up again. But my hope wasn't answered.

I couldn't believe it.

Erick went to pry Zane off of Emery's corpse.

"NO!" he yelled as he glared at Erick.

"Zane..." Erick trailed off, looking for the right words to say. "You have to let go."

Zane looked forwards at nothing as he shook his head. "She can't be dead," he whispered, and Selena broke down at that moment. Ethan wrapped his arms around her as she cried on his shoulder.

Erick's eyes welled up with tears just as my vision seemed to be losing focus. I blinked, noticing that something was flowing from my eyes.

Tears.

I was silently crying.

It took a while to get Zane's hold off of Emery. The guards who were near helped in carrying her while the rest of us followed, crying as we shook our heads in shock and disbelief.

Out of all the things that could have happened, no one expected Emery's death. How could it have happened?

I thought it wasn't real. I thought it was a nightmare.

As I stared at Emery's form being carried on a gurney, there was no denying it. It wasn't a nightmare. Everything around me was real, and there was no way of changing what had happened.

 

 

Chapter 06

Days later

Third Person's P.O.V

It was noon. The afternoon sky was covered with white-gray clouds. The wind blew at a low speed, and the weather seemed to go with Crystalia's state of mourning. Outside the castle were gathered a group of witches, all wearing black, that had come to mourn the loss of the crystal.

An area outside the castle had also been occupied by many white plastic chairs and a brown wooden stage. On the stage was a microphone supported by a stand, along with a few people tending to the flower pots kept around the stage. Some of the witches had sat on the chairs, all waiting for the funeral service to begin. 

Moreover, there was an open golden-brown casket that revealed Emery's corpse.

At the entrance of the castle were Logan, Ethan, Harry, Liam and Zane. They had worn a variety of gray and black tuxedos. 

"I can't believe this has happened," Logan said before he started sobbing. The rest of his bandmates were saddened and mostly in shock by the recent events. It was like that for the few days that had passed. They barely ate, and most of their time was spent in their rooms as they cried.

"It happened so soon," Zane said to himself.

"We have to go, guys," Ethan said without emotion, trying to be brave for them. The rest nodded as they walked past the castle doors.

A couple of minutes later, the four were approaching the reception. Liam was momentarily mesmerized by the sight that met his eyes. Flowers of different colors were arranged in the form of a path that led to the stage. They were also hanging above him with the use of magic. For a moment, it felt like a wedding, but it was the opposite.

Zane and his bandmates still could not believe it. It was really