Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1)

by Billie Jo Hanlin

  The three strings of lightning lifted her higher and higher into the air until she was hanging at least fifty feet above the ground. There was a burst of light from Blue that traveled down the strings into the Towers and a moment later the shield around the planet flared bright enough to see with the naked eye.

  Jayden heard the soft crying of Blue’s mother and the murmured soothing words of the father but he could not take his eyes off the chrystal holding his beloved. Idris came to stand with him.

  “This is what she was afraid of,” he said softly echoing Jayden’s thoughts. “I should not have brought her here.”

  “We did not have a choice. She would have insisted on doing what she could to save Shillidon,” Jayden said in a voice taunt with grief.

  The King heard every word and walked up to put a hand on each of their shoulders. He gave a light squeeze, “My daughter sounds like she turned into a very interesting and remarkable woman.”

  “She is the most remarkable woman you will ever meet sir,” Jayden said.

  It was then that he remembered Leo. He had such a close connection with Blue that he must be going nuts in the ship. With all that had happened Jayden had completely forgotten him. He scrambled in his pocket for the remote to the ship and released the doors. It was the best he could do right now. Leo would have to find Blue on his own. The ship was parked only a couple miles away and Jayden knew he would find his way here.

  Sure enough it was only a few minutes before Leo burst into the clearing scaring the King and Queen. Their guards already on high alert almost shot him before Idris and Jayden could stop them even though Jayden had warned them he was coming.

  The King took one look at the huge white tiger and his jaw dropped, “This is the companion you said was coming.”

  Leo stalked towards him snarling.

  “Do not shoot him whatever you do. Blue would never forgive you. Make sure your guards do not shoot him either,” Idris said.

  “Who is Blue?” the King asked curiously.

  “Aaliyah. Only she does not use the name Aaliyah. She did not remember her name so she used the one the scientists gave her,” Jayden told him.

  “What is he talking about? What scientists? Just what has my little girl gone through?” Idris’s father demanded.

  Jayden ignored him. His mind fully occupied with worry for Blue. Leo came to stand next to him and whimpered.

  “I know boy. She is up there and we cannot get to her but she will come back to us soon. You will see. She is not gone. She will be fine.” If he repeated her mantra often enough maybe he could make it be true.

  Jos came running out of the tower holding a device that was a little bigger than his hand.

  “I found the bomb but there is no way to disarm it. It is going to blow in less than three minutes.”

  He ran to the air vehicle and programed it to fly up into the air as far as it could get in the two and a half minutes left. He dropped the bomb inside and backed up. The air car rose straight up into the air and got about four hundred yards before exploding high above their heads. The percussion was felt by all of them as debris rained down.

  Jos looked around and saw Idris, his parents and several guards from the palace. “When did you get here?” he asked surprised to see them all. “Where is Blue?” he said going over to check on Sparks who was still sitting against the base of the tower. He noticed that Leo was here but not Blue. Sparks pointed to the giant blue chrystal floating high above them.

  “What happened? Man, I missed all the good stuff,” Jos exclaimed.

  Jayden replayed in his mind the laser bolts of lightning hitting Blue’s fragile body. Watched her jerk with each blow and fall to her knees. Saw the lightning bolts hit her again and again. He could not even work up the energy to get angry.

  “You did not miss any good stuff, it was all bad.” he said in a weary voice heavy with despair.

  They may have saved Shillidon but at what cost to him and Leo he thought as they stood together under the chrystal cocoon holding their world.

  Chrystal Bones Billie Jo Hanlin

  Chapter 34

  Jayden was sitting on the ground, leaning against the Chrystal Tower with Leo lying next to him. They were both looking up to the chrystal holding the most important person in their lives. It had been three months, five days and sixteen hours since Blue had disappeared into the chrystal chrysalis. He and Leo waited patiently every day for her to emerge. He knew to the marrow of his bones that she was alive. He would accept nothing else. He talked to her hoping that somehow she could hear him and would come back to him and Leo.

  The hours following ‘The Event’ as it had come to be called across the planet were busy. The first order of business had been to deal with the Ragillian threat. Once it became clear the duel plots of the attempted assassination of the King and Queen and the bombing of the tower had failed the Ragillians tried to break the shield with wave after wave of energy fire, laser fire and old fashion projectile weapons not seen in hundreds of years.

  Five Shillidon ships had died with all hands aboard, defending their world. It did not take long before it became clear to everyone that the Ragillians were not going to get through the shield to bombard the planet. The King had ordered all remaining ships to retreat until the reinforcements had arrived the next day.

  Haldairian ships had arrived by the dozens followed closely by the rest of Shillidon’s fleet. The battle raged for hours lighting up the night sky. The people of Shillidon gathered in the streets to watch the fireworks. There was no rejoicing, no happy shouts when the sky lit with explosion after explosion. With no way to know who was winning tensions ran high among the people. Many of whom had friends and family in those ships fighting so hard for them.

  The control room had been silent as the battle played out on the view screens. The King and Queen had watched and mourned as ship after ship was destroyed. So many good men and women were dying while they were safe behind the shield. When it was over, blacked hunks of metal littered the space around Shillidon but with the Haldairian’s help they had managed to defeat the Ragillians.

  The enemy had amassed one hundred and three ships. Less than forty had been able to flee. The cost had been steep with twelve Shillidon ships and eight Haldairian ships being completely destroyed, with many others suffering severe damage.

  It would take time to recover from the loss of not only the ships but the personnel aboard them. Over ten thousand men and women dead in a battle that had been a long time in coming. It could and should have been worse. If not for the reinforced shield around the planet tens of thousands of people would now be dead.

  Jayden and the rest of his team had watched along side everyone in the control room, unable to join in the battle because it would be too big a risk to lower the shield so one ship could join the fight. Leo had refused to leave the spot where Blue was encased in the chrystal. He just stared into the sky at her. Jayden had not wanted to leave her but he did not have the option of staying right then.

  As the highest ranking officer of Haldairia on site and a member of one of the seven ruling families, he had duties he needed to take care of and was in constant contact with the ships now under his command. Running a battle in space from the ground was not an ideal situation and he left most of the decisions up to the Commander of the fleet. It was a nerve racking ordeal and a part of his mind was always with Blue.

  The King had assigned several of his personal guards to stay at the site to protect his daughter and wife. Her mother had refused to leave just like Leo and was at the site constantly. A temporary camp had been set up for them and the guards.

  Janteel was a sweet woman with a spine of pure titanium and a stubborn will as strong as her daughter’s. Her daughter had been returned to her only to be claimed by the planet before she could do more than get a glimpse of her and she was not leaving until Aaliyah came out of that chrystal. Neither her husband nor son had been able to convince her to go to rest. Truth be told they hadn�
�t tried too hard. They too were there as much as they could be.

  Balik, the slimy little worm, had been arrested and was sitting in a cell awaiting his fate. He continued to proclaim his innocence to anyone who would listen. The guards tuned him out. As far as they were concerned he was a traitor and they refused to acknowledge his existence beyond serving meals to him. No one believed him. The evidence was too strong proving his guilt.

  Idris and Vihan had caught him redhanded as he opened the secret entrance into the palace. They had followed him as he led the assassin to the bedroom door of the sleeping King and Queen.

  Idris had sent Dro to his parents while he and Vihan had waited for Balik to incriminate himself enough that he would not be able to wiggle out of the charges. At the door to the bedroom Balik handed the assassin an energy gun then opened the door. The only thing the assassin had shot after stepping into the room had been jumbled up bed coverings hastily made up to resemble two sleeping bodies in the dark.

  A hand shot out of the dark, took a strong grip and twisted the assassin’s arm until he had dropped the weapon and a fist had landed on his jaw. Knocking him out before he could do anything to defend himself. Idris and Vihan blocked Balik’s retreat and placed him under arrest for treason. He tried to bluster his way out of it but no one was buying anything he was selling.

  Everything had been recorded. He was going to face death right along with the assassin. His mother was throwing temper tantrums, demanding that her son be released immediately. According to her Idris had set Balik up because he knew that her son would make a better King than Idris would.

  It was all nonsense and everyone knew it but it was going to have to go through the courts. When that happened there was going to be no way to keep Balik’s father’s actions from the people. There would be some fallout from that coverup but the King felt that it would die down soon enough.

  Shillidon’s people were in shock. First they had been informed of the Ragillian threat and told to expect the worst. Then the strange storm had effected the whole planet and a strange chrystal appeared in the sky. Then there was the battle in space where many had lost loved ones. Then they were told of a plot to kill their beloved King and Queen by none other than one of the princes.

  And then they were told of the princess’s miraculous survival and return to them. There was no longer any viable reason to keep that a secret. When they learned it was she who was encased in the chrystal hanging above their heads they went into shock. The news casts could hardly keep up and there were so many speculations that the King and Queen had been forced to give an interview to explain the situation.

  The last straw had been learning that there was no way to lower the shield. It was locked in place. No one could get on or off the planet. Scientists were trying to get it down in order to help those wounded in the battle.

  The visitors who had been stranded during the blockade were demanding that something be done. They wanted to go home. The King and Idris were kept busy dealing with all of it.

  Jayden ignored it all once the battle was over and it became clear that there was nothing more he could do. Most of the Haldairian ships had been sent home. A few that remained undamaged chose to stay with the Shillidon fleet and watch over the planet below.

  Jayden spent his days at the tower with both Leo and Blue’s mother. Leo had taken a strong liking to Janteel and was often at her side. She was the only one who could coax him to eat. At first she had been leery of the big white tiger but seeing his devotion to her daughter she soon came to love him.

  She peppered Jayden, Idris and the rest of the guys with questions about Blue until they had no more answers to her questions. Then she started over again and had them tell her everything all over again. None of them mentioned Blue’s torture at the hands of the human scientists but she was not a stupid woman and she knew something terrible had happened to her daughter.

  People made trips to the tower in constant streams. Some out of curiosity, some out of hope. Most brought flowers to lay at the base of the perimeter the guards had established. The news was broadcasted far and wide and a live feed of the spinning chrystal had been set up to run continuously. The whole planet was waiting with bated breath to see what was going to happen next.

  Chrystal Bones Billie Jo Hanlin

  Chapter 35

  Blue became aware of the whispering first. She was cocooned in a warm soft bed and didn’t want to wake up. If she woke up the pain would come back and she was in no hurry for that. The whispers would not shut up though and she eventually opened her eyes and looked around.

  Her breath caught when she saw nothing but an ice blue chrystal wall surrounding her. Oh crap, she thought in disgust, I have become a living chrystal. She started to struggle when the whispers penetrated the panic starting to build. “Come to us. Fly with us,” they said seductively.

  She stilled and strained to listen, then she understood. She left her body behind and flew in her spirit form out the top of the enclosure, following the whispers. She was joined by several women who looked like ghosts to her.

  This was the first time she had ever encountered others like her. Others who could fly in this form. No bodies to hold them back. They were not like the ribbons of pure energy and emotion she met in the anomaly. No, these women were the Chrystal Women who had come before her.

  She followed them flying first over the planet, then into space. Through the shield that might as well not even be there for all the ease she passed through it. She saw the battlefield. The blackened hulls of destroyed ships littered the space around her. She felt a distant sadness at the deaths as she passed them but nothing could interfere with this feeling of freedom. The absolute joy of flying with others like her.

  She saw wonders of color and strange lands with even stranger creatures as they dipped to explore anything that caught their attention. She flew through solid earth into the cores of planets and through space flares. She witnessed the stunning birth of a star and the death of a sun.

  In this form she could go anywhere she wanted, explore anything. She thought of Jayden and his dragon and the women led her to Haldairia.

  She danced with the dragons of his world and gave a laugh of pure joy as one raced through the sky with her. Haldairia was beautiful and stark. The ground was a deep copper color and spirals of rock reached high into the sky. Dragons were everywhere and they knew she was here with them. The cities were not laid out neatly. Instead they blended in with the landscape. Meshing form and function perfectly with the land. The setting sun bled colors of rich reds and blues onto the land.

  Haldairia didn’t have an ocean but it did have rivers and lakes dotted all over the place. She dove into a deep lake with the one dragon who stayed with her when the others had flown off. They dove deep and came out into a cave that sparkled with light.

  Veins of gold and silver made the place shine brightly even with no other light. There were sapphires, rubies and diamonds in neat piles. It was true Dragons really did hoard shiny things. Without being told she knew this dragon had wanted to show her his special place. She embraced him and they flew back out.

  He showed her the baby dragons playing in a field watched over by an older female dragon whose colors were fading. She played with them and knew they were his children. For just an instant she wished she had her body so she could pet them. She left the dragon behind reluctantly when the women called to her. It was time to go. They led her back to Shillidon. To the Chrystal Bone yard.

  She landed and her ghostly image walked among the dead and dying chrystals. Her heart bled from the waste. The oldest of the women walked beside her. “They do not understand and it is always too late for us to tell them when we die that they need to return the dead chrystals to the sacred cave to be reborn. This is the longest that Shillidon has gone without a living chrystal woman to tell them.”

  “Why couldn’t you tell them?” Blue asked.

  “We did not gain this form until we died. It was our blood and
life force that fed the planet. The knowledge of the sacred cave was lost through history. You are the only one to be able to walk among us in spirit form while your body is still alive.”

  Blue snorted, “Yeah, encased in a chrystal cocoon.” She touched her throat and felt the chrystal embedded there even in this ghostly form.

  “You will be able to break free if you choose to,” the ghostly woman said calmly. “You have a tough choice to make. Stay with us or go back to your body and the pain it brings you.”

  “What happens to Shilllidon if I chose to stay with you?” Blue asked after several long minutes.

  “Shillidon will survive. Your blood is feeding the planet what it needs right now. It is renewing the chrystals that still have life in them.” She paused and then reluctantly added, “It can not produce new chrystals with out these,” she made a sweeping gesture with her hands, “being returned to the cave to be absorbed and reborn.”

  Blue swept her gaze over the bones of dead chrystals. They were not what most people would call bones but to her that’s exactly what they were. Bones of a dying planet.

  The childish part of her wanted to rail at an unfair fate that had tied her to the planet but she could not. Nothing in her life so far had ever been fair and yet everything in her life had brought her to this moment, this decision. Which really wasn’t a decision at all.

  She could not please herself and let these chrystals stay here or keep the planet from thriving if it was in her power to heal it and it was. She would go back and do what she had to.

  There was also Jayden and Leo to consider. She had dragged Leo with her across the universe. She wouldn’t abandon him on Earth and she wouldn’t abandon him now.

  Jayden had brought so many new things into her life. He had shown her what it was to love and be loved. To be accepted for all her quirks and faults. He had brought her out of her shell, made it possible to live life instead of hiding from it. He brought laughter and tears and he could make her angrier than anyone ever had. He had brought her a brother and men who were like brothers. He wasn’t perfect and that made him perfect for her.