The Crystal Keepers, An Overseers Novel

by Mary Coffin

Elwyn tried to speak but it only caused her to cough. After a few hacks, she asked, “What are you doing here?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Loki stepped back slightly but kept the rod aimed. She did nothing to disguise her irritation. “Why did you come back here? Wasn’t it enough that you saw the destruction that would be caused by removing the crystal?”

  Elwyn shrugged and stared at the cave floor. Her voice was deeper when she finally spoke. “Have you never craved power, sister? Have you never felt so much passion for something that it consumed your entire being?!?”

  “I don’t expect you to understand this, sister, but if it’s harmful or at the expense of others, no. I have not.”

  Elwyn was silent for a moment. “I suppose I should thank you.” She coughed a few more times. “You did me a favor.”

  Loki stared at her. “Don’t flatter yourself, Elwyn. If I weren’t here, you were going to give it to him, weren’t you?”

  At first, Elwyn didn’t speak. Then a shrewd smile played over her lips and her whole demeanor changed.

  “Yes, I was. And, why not? It would have destroyed him but you did that for me.” She looked down at the dirt again and massaged her neck.

  “It would have destroyed more than just him.”

  Elwyn smirked. “What do I care? He’s gone, nonetheless, and now I can take over the Brethren.” She held her fist over her chest. “I will be the most powerful dark force.”

  Loki sighed. “When did you become such a cold person?”

  “When father taught me to be that way.”

  “Oh, I think you went way beyond anything he taught you.” Loki met her sister’s eyes and realized that Elwyn didn’t know their father was gone. “He’s dead, Elwyn. Father took his life.”

  Elwyn shrugged. “I’m not surprised. He was spineless. Frankly, I don’t know how mother puts up with it.” She looked at Loki. “Or, you for that matter but he was my ticket out of there.”

  “Mother is dead, too.”

  Loki caught the brief look of surprise as it washed over Elwyn’s face and, for a miniscule moment, hoped that there was actually some compassion left in her sister.

  “What happened?” asked Elwyn.

  “She was poisoned by one of your Brethren.”

  Elwyn snickered. “How ironic.”

  Loki felt her face get hot as the anger increased. “It was meant for you, Elwyn. He meant to kill you!!”

  “Well, I’m still here, aren’t I?” spat Elwyn. She looked up to meet Loki’s eyes. “Don’t act all high and mighty on me, sister. Where is the crystal?”

  Loki stared at Elwyn. She knew she couldn’t let her stay in the cave and couldn’t let her go either. Elwyn had breached the cave twice and Loki suspected that she would find her way back again, if given the opportunity. Loki knew there was only one thing to do but why was she hesitating? Perhaps something in the back of her mind questioned whether Elwyn could change.

  Elwyn closed her eyes and her lips began to move. Loki heard her speaking but didn’t understand the words. It was a language she had never heard before. After a moment, the ground began to shake. The cave walls and ceiling sounded like they were rattling.

  Without warning, the fairies that had been covering the crystals with their winged bodies took flight. Golden light instantly filled the space and the big crystal was revealed. Elwyn stared at it as she got to her feet and Loki saw the hunger in her eyes. She grabbed Elwyn’s shoulders and shook her.

  “Stop, Elwyn! Stop it! You can’t take it. If you break it, it will destroy everything and everyone.”

  Elwyn turned on her sister and shoved her hard with a surprising strength. Loki stumbled back and fell, dropping the vanishing rod in the meantime. A deep, foreboding sound filled the cave as a huge cluster of fairies hovered above Elwyn, like a swarm of angry bees. Tiny gold specks rained down on Elwyn but then the specks gathered above her, as though there was an invisible shield protecting her. She continued reciting the chant. The earth trembled, causing pieces of crystal to break away from the walls. It sounded like breaking glass.

  Elwyn stepped over to the amber-colored crystal that throbbed and pulsed with life.

  “Elwyn. No!” cried Loki.

  With her hands in its aura, Elwyn whispered, “How can you not want this raw power?” She turned to look at Loki. “I pity you sister. What is there to life if you aren’t more powerful than others?”

  Elwyn turned back and her hands reached for the crystal. Loki scrambled for the rod, picked it up and pointed it but before she spoke, the rod burned her hand and she dropped it.

  “Aaah.”

  More fairies joined the swarm but the golden specks remained suspended above Elwyn. Elwyn turned for one last look at her sister and Loki noticed that her eyes were black, as if the most sinister force had just found a new host. A mist appeared that quickly took the form of the black panther that she had seen before. It circled Elwyn as its fangs dripped saliva and it let out a throaty growl. Its eyes were deep amber and, inside the cave, they looked like the exact same color of the crystal.

  Loki was afraid that she missed her only opportunity to vaporize her sister. The vanishing rod on the ground was smoking, like it was burning from the inside. Gold specks rained down in a torrent in the fairies’ last effort to save the crystal…and themselves.

  The wild cat continued circling Elwyn, glancing at Loki on its way around as if daring her to move. When it circled back, Loki quickly shook her wrap off her shoulders and gathered it in her hand. The cat came back around and looked her way again. When it turned away from her, she used the wrap to grab the scorched rod.

  She pointed it at the apparition and her sister.

  She shouted. “Abeo!

  Elwyn vanished and the quaking ceased but the cat remained for a moment. It looked at Loki as if it was just registering the shock of what she had done. It didn’t vaporize but slowly faded back into the mist. Then it made a sizzling sound, like cold water poured onto hot ash, and a thin stream of haze trickled upward before it disappeared all together.

  Then Loki noticed a trickle of smoke rising up into her face. Thinking the evil force was coming for her next, she jumped back. Something burned her hand and she dropped her wrap and the vanishing rod. The wrap was smoldering, ready to catch fire. She stomped it out with both feet.

  She stood there, taking in the reality of what nearly happened. She stepped toward the fairies’ crystal and breathed a sigh of relief that it hadn’t been damaged. The swarm of fairies swooped down between her and the crystal, blocking her view of it. She looked at their big eyes in their tiny faces. Their sound was becoming more harmonious, indicating that they were calming down.

  “I’m sorry,” she said to them. “I nearly blew it.”

  While the swarm kept the blockade in front of the crystal, a handful of fairies broke away and flew past Loki. Their pitch changed and she turned toward them. They were signaling for her to follow. They led her to the crystal lined crevice and motioned for her to go outside and she suddenly remembered Waysu’s note, asking for help.

  She held up a finger to the fairies. “Wait.”

  Then she went back to the rod wrapped in her half burnt wrap. The rod that held a crystal on each end was now in two pieces but the crystals were still attached. She picked up both sections, hoping that it still worked and rushed out of the crevice, wondering what she was going to encounter next.

  SIXTY TWO

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