Crystal Magic (Clearwater Witches Book 1)

by Madeline Freeman

  “Do you want to leave with her, Sarah?” Crystal casts a cold glare at the people who remain in the room with her. “If any of you want to leave with Jodi, feel free to go now.”

  There’s a tension in the room as each person shifts, considering doing just that. But the seconds tick by, and no one makes a move for the door.

  A look of satisfaction crosses Crystal Taylor’s face as she surveys her friends. She smiles slowly before going to a drawer in her dresser and pulling out an old leather-bound tome and opening it up to a page toward the middle. “Let’s get started.”

  The earlier sense of excitement has faded completely and tension has thickened the air.

  Crystal calls out directions. Shelly puts a large metal bowl in the center of the circle of candles. David and Ryan sprinkle some herbs inside of it, and Millie adds a few chunks of quartz. Crystal Taylor puts the large book down beside the bowl before going to her bed. She picks up her pillow and pulls something from it. My pulse quickens as it dawns on me: This is where she’s hidden the crystal. She unwraps the dark cloth surrounding it and picks it up, caressing its jagged edges with her fingers.

  Shelly crosses the room to Crystal. “Are you sure about this? Maybe Jodi’s got a point.”

  Crystal’s glare is icy. “Are you serious?”

  “Well, maybe. It’s just... She’s right, you know? About not being able to do much magic—not yet. Remember last week when we were practicing the automatic-writing spell and half our papers burst into flames? I’m not saying we shouldn’t try the spell. I’m just saying maybe we need to wait a little. Practice more. Then, when we’re stronger—”

  “You don’t understand—this spell, this is what’s going to make us stronger. You can’t imagine the magical power that’s contained in this crystal. If we do the ritual correctly, we’ll be able to tap into that magic—”

  “You think,” says Millie.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You think that’s what’ll happen. Let’s be honest here, Crystal. That old grimoire of yours isn’t exactly legible and the spell you want us to do isn’t actually in there.”

  Crystal looks as if she’s been slapped. “How do you—”

  “I looked, okay? I looked. I know, that’s against rule number one or whatever, but I was curious. Sue me. You went to the bathroom and I got curious about how you were just now finding this spell. I mean, come on. We all know you’ve read through that whole book a dozen times. So I looked at the page you had it open to and what you want us to do is not what that spell is designed for. The spell in your book is an anchoring spell, not a releasing spell. You have no idea if you’re even doing it right—”

  “It’s the same thing,” Crystal insists, “except instead of leaving the energy in the crystal, we’re releasing it to live in us. But if you’re not, maybe you should leave, like Jodi did.”

  Millie relents. “I’m not saying I want to leave...”

  The flame of the candle nearest to Crystal flickers to life. “I can’t trust you,” she murmurs. Another candle ignites.

  Millie’s eyes go from one candle to the other. My breath catches and I ready myself for action. If things get out of hand—maybe this is what begins the fire. “Crystal, don’t be like that. Your problem lately is you don’t trust any of us. You’re changing, and you don’t even see it.”

  “It’s not me who’s changed. You never used to go through people’s personal belongings and—”

  Millie shakes her head. “Maybe Jodi is right. You know what? I’m leaving too. Good luck, Crystal. If getting more magic makes me more like you... maybe I don’t want more magic.”

  Footfalls recede through the hallway and down the stairs. Crystal looks at the four remaining people in her room. “If you all want to leave, that’s fine. Go. I’ll do it all by myself.”

  I hold my breath, waiting for someone to move.

  A brief eternity passes before Shelly sighs. “Are we doing this or not?”

  Crystal directs the remaining members of the circle to stand equidistant from each other. When they lift their hands toward one another, their fingers close but not touching, I’m reminded forcibly of the way Fox and the others looked while they were doing the spell to send me and Crystal Jamison back here.

  Crystal Taylor bends down, setting the crystal in the metal bowl. She consults the spell in her book before resuming her spot in the circle. “Repeat these words with me: Libera nos vir potens hominis. Effugium tuus vincula.”

  Slowly, the others take up the chant. I glance beside me at Crystal Jamison, but her attention is focused fully on her aunt.

  Through the crack, I see the flames of the candles rise and fall rhythmically. The air feels heavy, electrified.

  A loud snapping noise sounds in the room. A wind rushes past me and I spin around, afraid someone else has come in. The window by the bed is open, but there is no one who could have opened it. The curtains billow, rising as they fill with air. I turn back to look at the circle; the girls’ hair is whipping around their faces. Slowly, the crystal rises from the metal bowl, taking on a luminescent quality as it hovers several feet above the ground. The furniture begins to rattle against the floor.

  Something is happening. I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it’s not good. Whatever Crystal Taylor thinks she is doing, this is not it. An overwhelming force presses against me, like a tangible thing.

  I’m not the only one who senses it. Millie screams and falls to the ground. “Crystal, stop it! Something’s wrong!” She flails on the floor before finally pushing herself back to her feet, only to scramble out of the room. Over the rush of wind, I hear her feet thundering down the stairs.

  If Crystal Taylor notices, she doesn’t show it. The candle flames leap at regular intervals around the group as they continue to chant.

  A picture frame slips off the wall and flies across the room, smashing against the floor inside the circle. Shelly jumps back but then returns to her original location.

  Sarah releases a hoarse cry. “It’s not worth it! I need to get out of here! I need to get home!” Ryan pulls her close to him, leading her out of the room.

  A pulse of energy radiates from the crystal outward, knocking Shelly to the floor. “Crystal!” she screams. From here, I can feel the weight of whatever pushes against her. “We have to stop! Crystal!”

  Crystal opens her eyes, but there’s something different about them. They seem brighter somehow. And when she speaks, it’s no longer her voice. The voice is rougher, more masculine. “You cannot stop the power. The magic is returning, and it will seek atonement for sins. The children of the children will not be spared.”

  David leaves his position in the circle and crouches beside Shelly. Putting his arms around her middle, he pulls her from the floor and the two of them stumble toward the door. My heartbeat is thundering in my ears. It is going to happen any second—I feel it. How are we going to get to the crystal and get out without burning along with Crystal Taylor?

  I begin to pry at the board between the closets. Crystal grabs my hands. “What are you doing?”

  “We have to be ready,” I say, wrenching my hands from her. “It’s going to happen any time now.”

  Hesitation flickers across Crystal’s face for a moment before she grabs hold of the board and helps me pull it off. It’s so loud in the house with the wind rushing and the furniture shaking and items flying around the room that the creak and groan of the wood being torn loose is barely audible, even to me. Crystal Taylor’s eyes are closed again and she doesn’t cease in her chanting. I crawl through the opening into her closet, Crystal close behind me. I can see the luminous quartz hovering just feet from where I crouch. With her eyes closed, Crystal Taylor might not notice if I grab it and run. But I can’t do that; I have to wait until the very last second.

  The crystal begins to glow an ominous green color and spin in midair. Before I have time to wonder what could be causing it, something explodes out of the stone like a wave. It knocks me ba
ckward into Crystal Jamison and for a moment I’m afraid we’re too late and the quartz has been destroyed. My fears are quickly allayed when I see it still pulsing with the green color. Another shockwave emanates from it, but even though it’s stronger than the last one, I’m ready for it this time and barely shift backwards. Crystal Taylor isn’t so lucky. She stumbles back and knocks over a candle, the tall flame of which ignites the quilt on her bed.

  This is it. The fire. It’s now or never.

  I lunge forward, snatching the crystal out of the air. It is warm in the palm of my hand, as if it’s been sitting in the sun all day. A pulse of energy courses through me, much stronger and more intense than the one I experienced when I touched the shard from Crystal Jamison’s necklace. There is magic in it, all right. It’s a deep, thrumming power I’ve never experienced before. But I can’t let myself dwell on it. As soon as it’s in my hand, I start for the door and down the stairs. The front door is unlocked and I run through it, stopping only when I reach the street in front of the house. I bend over, sucking in breath for a moment before straightening and grinning. “Got it.” But Crystal Jamison is nowhere in sight. I look back to the house but don’t see her. Smoke is already pouring out the open windows upstairs. Where could she be? She was right beside me.

  I didn’t check after the second wave of energy to see if Crystal was alright. I was so focused on my task, I didn’t even think about her. A shiver courses through my body. What if she’s knocked out, just like her aunt? I look down at the stone in my hands and back at the house. If I get the crystal but let my friend die, what good is that? I have to go back.

  The flames have already traveled to the front door. I marvel at the speed at which they’re moving. I attempt to see beyond the wall of flames, but there’s no way I can get in through here.

  I have to do something, fast. This fire isn’t going to go unnoticed for long, and I can’t be found here. The back window—maybe I can still get in that way. I take off at a sprint around the side of the house, colliding with something as I turn the corner and falling to the ground.

  Crystal Jamison coughs as she holds her hand out to help me up. “We’ve gotta get out of here.”

  I allow her to pull me to my feet and follow her to the sidewalk in front of the house. She walks quickly, but not so quickly as to draw attention to us. I keep pace with her.

  “What happened?”

  “You ran out so fast,” Crystal says, her voice low. “I tripped when I tried to get out and by the time I got to the front door, there were flames everywhere. So I went out the back.”

  My eyes scan the neighborhood for signs of fire engines or witnesses, but I see nothing out of the ordinary. The sun has long since set and there’s a chill in the air that wasn’t there on our walk to this house. “Now what?”

  “We have to get back to the clearing where we arrived. The spell is still active. All we have to do is get back to where we started and the circle we cast in the future should pull us back there.”

  “Should?” I ask as we turn the corner.

  Crystal doesn’t respond. Our pace is so quick that by the time we get to Main Street, I’m panting. It’s Saturday night so people are out on the town; I try my best to avoid eye contact. All I want is to get back to the present and use the crystal to heal Jodi. We’ve spent so much time here already; I have no idea how much time has passed back in our real life.

  Beside me, Crystal gasps. I glance at her and see she’s rubbing her chest where her necklace usually rests. “It’s gone.”

  For a split second, I wonder if it fell off her somewhere. “It never existed.” I hold the crystal out toward her. “Since this never broke up in the fire, you never turn the shard into a necklace.”

  She reaches for my hand. “Let me hold the crystal.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I just…” She presses her lips together. “I want to see if it feels the same.”

  I hesitate. “You remember my terms for helping you, right? I get to use the crystal first.”

  Her fingers twitch. “I remember. I’ll give it back. Just let me see it.”

  I hand it to her as we cross the bridge over the river. We’re not far from the park now. We pass by the play structure, which is abandoned at this hour, and follow the river toward the clearing.

  Beside me, Crystal slows. I turn, irritated. “Come on. We’ve gotta get back.” But something’s wrong. Her eyes have glazed over and her mouth hangs open. What could be happening to her? Is there some kind of complication from smoke inhalation I don’t know about? Her mouth begins moving soundlessly and I cross to her, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her. Her gaze doesn’t snap back to reality; instead, she starts chanting the same words her aunt was chanting before the fire started. I grab for the crystal and pry it from her fingers, but it won’t come loose. Whatever Crystal Taylor was trying to do, it’s still happening.

  I don’t know how I know it, but I’m positive I can get us back without finding the spot where we arrived. I felt the magic in that crystal. Maybe using it for something other than whatever spell it’s in the middle of will snap Crystal out of this trance. Or maybe it’ll make us both burst into flames. I have no idea, but I have to try. Giving up on pulling the crystal from her hands, I settle for closing my hand over hers. I close my eyes and focus on the power emanating from the crystal. I remember the words Jodi said to me on my first day in Clearwater—that all time exists at once. I imagine the steady stream of time as a river, rushing indomitably forward into the future. In my mind’s eye, I see that stream freeze, making it possible to move from one point to another. I allow the magic within to crystal to rush into me, mixing with the magic building in my core. I need to get back to the present, back to Jodi.

  A bright flash overtakes my vision for an instant before darkness rushes in. As the crushing sensation presses over my body, another wave of energy blasts from the crystal. My body is hurled backward, my fingers slip from Crystal’s hand, and I fall into the void of timelessness.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  I land with a thud on the grass and take in deep, greedy breaths of air. I try to open my eyes, to move, but I can’t. Panic rises in my chest. What’s wrong? What did I do? Are we stuck in some kind of limbo between times?

  Hands seize me by the arms, pulling me upward. At first I think Crystal is helping me to my feet, but the hands are larger than hers, the person stronger. With a mighty effort, I manage to open my eyes. The person in front of me is blurry. I can hear his heavy breathing.

  “Are you alright? I came upon the clearing and there you lay—”

  There’s something odd about the man’s words. Did we go back in time instead of forward? “Where’s... Crystal?” I try to escape the stranger’s grip, but my arms are like lead. “Crystal?”

  There’s a moan from the ground beside me and I manage to throw off the stranger’s hands. I crouch and grope at the grass. The moon is full, providing a decent amount of light, but my vision is still blurry. “Crystal?” My fingers brush her body and I scramble to her side. I rub my eyes and blink a few times before she comes into focus. Her eyes are half closed and her head is moving back and forth. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but she might need help. I curse myself for leaving my cell in the car. I turn to ask the guy who helped me up to call for help, but he’s disappeared. Besides Crystal, there’s no one in sight. What if I did the spell wrong?

  “Help!” I yell. “Fox! Bridget! Help!”

  Crystal’s eyelids flutter and open briefly before closing again. I should be heartened by the fact that she’s attempting to regain consciousness, but I’m terrified. What was that chanting she was doing before we passed through time? Did we even end up when we were supposed to? “Bridget! Zane! Fox!” They said they’d wait for us. What if they didn’t? It’s as dark here as it was in the past; it must be hours since we left. “Griffin!”

  I hear shouts in the distance. Seconds later, Fox and Bridget appear around a cluster of
trees. When they catch sight of us, they take off at a run.

  “What happened? Why aren’t you back where we started?” Bridget kneels beside Crystal, placing her hands on Crystal’s cheeks. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “I don’t know,” I say.

  Fox puts his hands on my shoulders, orienting me so I’m facing him. “Are you okay?” his gray eyes seem full of genuine concern.

  Crystal gives a low moan and sits up so suddenly Bridget jumps back and lets out a yelp. Crystal’s eyes open and she takes in her surroundings.

  “Wow—what happened? How’d we get here? The last thing I remember is holding the crystal and...”

  “The crystal,” I say, scanning for it in her hands. They’re empty. “Where is it?”

  Crystal shakes her head. “I don’t know.”

  I drop to my hands and knees, my hands running over the grass. It has to be here. It has to. We used it to cross back to this time, so it had to come with us. I need that crystal. I need it to save Jodi.

  Something presses against my heart when I think of my aunt. What if I’m too late?

  My fingers brush against something cool and sharp. I pick it up and take off at a run in the direction Fox and Bridget appeared from. That must be the way back to civilization. Shouts follow me, but I ignore them. I pump my legs as fast as I can and run toward the parking lot.

  Every second that ticks by as I drive back to Jodi’s house feels like an eternity. I push the door open and hurry into the house, not bothering to close it behind me. “Jodi! Jodi?” The living room is empty so I go upstairs to her bedroom. I start to panic. Where are Millie, David, and Ryan? They said they would stay here to watch over her. Jodi’s bed is empty and my heart sinks. I’m too late. She must already be gone. Her friends called the cops or the coroner or whoever gets called when someone dies. I’ve failed her.

  “Hello?”

  I jump at the voice that comes from downstairs. It sounded like Jodi, but that can’t be...

  But it is Jodi, standing at the foot of the steps, dirt smeared on her right cheek, pruning shears in her hand as if she plans to use them as a weapon. I rush down the steps and throw my arms around her. “You’re okay!”