Crystal Heart

by Whitney Morris

  “The shelter was full?”

  I nodded, wishing he’d believe me—not that I would believe what just came out of my mouth.

  He pointed at Greg. “If that thing becomes a problem, I will happily drive out of town to the next shelter.”

  I picked up Greg and petted him on my lap. “I’m sure Flopsey here won’t be a problem. I’m pretty sure he has an owner and won’t be here long.”

  My dad’s shoulders sagged. “Very well. It’s your responsibility.” He walked out, shutting my door behind him.

  Greg hopped off my lap. “Why did you call me Flopsey?”

  I shrugged. “It’s a rabbit name.”

  “What’s wrong with using my actual name?”

  “Greg’s a person name.”

  “Fine.” He rolled his shoulders. “Can we go back to our earlier conversation?”

  I got up and sat in the window seat. “It’s all right. I’ve heard enough about magic for today.”

  “You said you would hear me out.”

  “That was before.”

  “Before what?”

  “Before those things appeared.” I waved my arms around. “Before I somehow magicked us home. Before I believed this might all be real.”

  “I’m sorry.” His rabbit ears drooped. “I know this is a lot to take in. I wish there was another way, but you’re the only one that can stop the darkness.”

  “How?”

  “By using the Heart Crystal to recast the sealing spell. Your magic is Freya’s magic.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t have magic? At least not that sort of magic.” He really wasn’t getting it. I wasn’t this magical person he was looking for. Magic was definitely real. That much was true. I also may have somehow got us back here but I was sure this heir he was looking for would have better powers than magic running away. I wasn’t who he wanted me to be, nor could I ever be.

  Greg threw his little rabbit arms in the air. “You teleported us back here, using light magic. The exact sort of magic of the royals. What more proof do you need?”

  “I don’t know.” I folded my arms and tilted my head upward, looking at him from the corner of my eye. “Maybe me pulling something off when you’re not around. It’s obvious you have powers. How do I know it wasn’t you that teleported and you’re not just tricking me into believing it was me?”

  “I did not get us back here.” He pointed at me. It was weird seeing human emotions on the face of a rabbit. “You did that with your elf magic.”

  “You’re saying I’m some sort of human elf.”

  “Human elf.” He chuckled to himself. “I guess that’s what you are, because your dad is definitely human. What about your mum? Does she have powers?”

  “I wouldn’t know.”

  “Why not? You had to get your elf blood from somewhere. Maybe if I talk to her, she can use the crystal instead of you. Then the burden doesn’t have to be yours.”

  “My mum’s dead. I was two when it happened. All I know about her is what my dad has told me, and he’s never mentioned her having powers.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  I hugged a cushion to my chest. “How could you?”

  He looked at the floor and his long ears flopped. “My mum died when I was seven. One day she was there, the next she was gone. It’s been me and my father ever since.”

  Our eyes met across the room. My own pain reflected in his eyes. There was an unspoken understanding of how it felt to lose someone so important. He looked away first.

  His bunny ears perked up as if realising something. “Your mother was Maggie.”

  “Yes, how did you—”

  “I will leave you for now. Give you some time to think.”

  “Where will you go?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I always find somewhere.” He hopped toward the door.

  “Stay.”

  “What did you say?”

  Why was he making me repeat myself? This was already hard enough as it was. Admitting I didn’t want to be alone tonight was one thing, saying I felt safer with him and his magic about was pure humiliation. I dug my nails into the cushion I was holding. “Don’t go. Stay. If those things come back, I would feel better knowing I’m not alone.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “What about your dad?”

  I shrugged. “You’re a rabbit that the shelter had no space for. I hope that form is comfortable.”

  Gregory

  Greg lay uncomfortably, looking up at the ceiling. Mellissa had thrown a cushion and a towel in a box, calling it a bed. It was nothing like a bed. He had spent the last few hours twisting and turning, trying to get comfortable with no luck. Sleeping in that abandoned warehouse had been more comfortable than this, even with its draft. It didn’t help that Greg had never liked sleeping in animal form. Whenever he got close to drifting off, the Heart Crystal would hum, snapping him awake. It would’ve been so much easier if the girl would’ve just taken the crystal. He had to be patient; she was coming around. After what happened today, he couldn’t blame her for being hesitant. But surely she had to believe him now. She had teleported—a very rare power—and since their return to the house, her magical aura had skyrocketed. The glimmer of magic he’d originally sensed in her was now the strongest aura he’d come across. This was what Mrs. Street had meant about Mellissa not knowing who she was keeping her safe. There was no telling what she would be capable of doing if she tried.

  The Heart Crystal hummed again. “Would you be quiet,” he snapped. The crystal hummed once again. It wanted to be with Mellissa, but he couldn’t force her to accept it. Greg sighed and hopped out of the box-bed. He shifted back to human form and splashed some water from the sink on his face. Mellissa had relegated him to the bathroom attached to her room. She claimed that since he wasn’t really a rabbit, it would be weird staying in the same room, and she didn’t want him watching her sleep. Why she thought he would watch her sleep was beyond him. If he had his way, he would be sleeping himself. He would be back home in the comforts of his own house.

  Greg peeked through a crack in the door. It was quiet except for the occasional snore. He tiptoed into the room and placed the crystal on a chest of drawers. It was better off as near to Mellissa as possible. Quietly, he opened the bedroom window and shifted into a bird. He flew out and onto the roof. He shifted back and sat on the roof, taking in the landscape. The night sky was clear, the moon just a sliver up high. A gentle breeze lifted Greg’s fringe off his forehead. There were no lights on in any of the houses. No one would see him up here at this time of night. He sat cross-legged on the roof and summoned his communis, reaching out to Samson. It rang out, so he tried again. It was late. Samson was likely asleep, as he should be. Just as Greg thought to give up, Samson’s voice came from the device. “What time do you call this? Some of us have work in the morning,” he said with a crackly voice.

  “You said to call you if I needed anything,” Greg said.

  “Yeah, at a normal hour. Well, now that you’ve woke me up, what’s the problem?”

  “Do you know if there are any reports on the movements of the darkness?”

  “There probably are, but I’m not ranked high enough to see them. Your father—”

  “I can’t talk to him about this.”

  “Fine. Well, I can tell you it hasn’t spread to Novosvillas, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “How can that be?” Greg rubbed his chin. Novosvillas was between here and the capital. If those shadow monsters had come after Mellissa, surely the darkness had to have spread well past Novosvillas.

  “I don’t know,” Samson said. “It has taken fifty years for the problem to get as bad as it is. I think it will take longer than six months for the evil king to break out.”

  “We were attacked today. Shadows in some sort of humanoid form came after Mellissa.”

  “As in the new keeper?” There was a hint of panic in his voice. “Where is she now?
”

  “I left her asleep inside.”

  “Gregory, when I said to charm her, I didn’t mean like that.”

  “What—no—I didn’t mean like that. I’m on watch in case those things come back. Someone has to protect her.”

  “Isn’t that why the keepers have guardians?”

  “Well, she still won’t take the Heart from me, so no call has been sent out to bring her two guardians.”

  “A stubborn one, is she?”

  “Yes, but I don’t know.” Greg put his head in his hand. Yes, she was infuriatingly stubborn, but there was more to it. She was frightened, and why shouldn’t she be? A few days ago, she thought she was a normal human girl. Then he came along and ruined that for her. “She’s scared. I probably haven’t done the best job of introducing her to magic.”

  “Wait, did you just admit to being bad at something?”

  “Very funny. I need to protect her until she can protect herself, which will be never if she won’t accept the Heart Crystal. I don’t know what to do, Samson.”

  “Neither do I. I’m sorry. I know that’s not the answer you wanted. We can’t force our will on people. You just have to keep talking to her and hope you get through. Or you could call your father.”

  “I am not calling him.”

  “Very well. I’ll see if I can find anything out about the darkness, but there isn’t much else I can do for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Night, Greg. You should get some sleep.”

  The communis stopped glowing as it deactivated. He should get some sleep, but it wasn’t that simple. He had too much on his mind, and trying to sleep in rabbit form was hard. He couldn’t stretch out the way he liked, and his floppy ears got in the way. Greg lay back on the roof, looking up at the sky. At the end of the day, Mellissa was just a girl. Magic had threatened her life, but it had also saved her. He could show her just how wonderful magic could be. He could make her want to learn to use her powers.

  Greg woke to the sun blaring down on him. He had drifted off. It turned out the roof was a lot more comfortable than a cushion in a box. The streets were still pretty quiet. Hopefully no one had seen him up here. He turned into a bird and flew back through Mellissa’s window. Luckily, it was still open. She was sat at her desk drawing something. He shifted back again.

  “Morning.”

  She jumped, dropping her pencil. “Where the hell have you been? I thought you said you would stay.”

  He picked up the fallen pencil and held it out to her. “I was up on the roof.”

  She looked at the pencil like it was a stick of poison. “The roof? What if someone saw you?”

  “I couldn’t sleep, so I went to get some fresh air and dozed off.” He placed the pencil on her desk and glanced at her sketchbook. It was a drawing of the tree outside her window. “That’s pretty good.”

  She slammed the book shut. “Don’t you look at that.”

  “You have to show your sketches to someone. Art is one of your subjects at school, after all.”

  “How do you know that?”

  He pushed a cushion over and sat in the window seat. “Mrs. Street told me.”

  “Mrs. Street as in Catherine Street, Matt’s mum?”

  “Yep. She’s also the reason I knew you would be at the library.”

  “Oh, so you magicked her into helping you stalk me?” She put her hand on her forehead and the other on her hip. “It just occurred to me that I invited my stalker in.”

  “I am not a stalker, and I didn’t use magic on Mrs. Street. She helped me because she knows who you really are.”

  “Her son has been my best friend since, like, forever. Of course she knows who I am.”

  “Who you really are. You know what? Forget it. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Seriously?” She grabbed his arm and tugged him up. “Don’t sit by the window. Someone might see you.”

  “Of course.” He bowed to her. “We wouldn’t want the future elf queen to be seen with a commoner like me.”

  The sound of her laugh warmed his heart. It sounded genuine, not like the fake laughter he was used to from his so-called friends who liked his father’s position more than him. She waved her hand at him, from head to toe. “If one of us is a commoner, it’s me, Mr. I-sound-like-I-belong-at Buckingham-Palace.”

  “I have never heard of this palace.”

  “But you’ve heard of my best friend’s mum, who you claim you didn’t use your powers on. You also managed to somehow guess my mother was called Maggie and expect me not to think you’re a stalker.”

  She sat in the spot she’d just made him move from. He swung the desk chair around to face her and sat down. “I can see why you may think this.” He placed his hand over his heart. “I promise you, I did not use any magic during my encounter with Mrs. Street, but she threatened me with hers.”

  “Mrs. Street doesn’t have magic,” snapped Mellissa.

  “Yes, she does. She’s a warlock, and so is your friend. You have been drawn to magic your whole life without realising it.”

  “No, no. Just no. The Streets are not warlocks. I am not drawn to magic.”

  “It’s what drew you to me.”

  Her cheeks turned red. “I was not drawn to you.”

  He crossed one leg over the other and leant back, swinging the chair. “If it makes you feel better, you were likely more enticed by the Heart Crystal.”

  “I’ve had enough of you.” She was across the room in a flash, tugging at his arm. “You can leave now.”

  “What, why? I thought you would want to know more about your warlock friend.”

  “Well, I don’t, because Matt is not a warlock, and Mrs. Street did not threaten you with magic.” She put all her weight into trying to pull him out of the chair. He didn’t budge, which seemed to anger her.

  “Are you seriously kicking me out again? You still haven’t let me explain things to you properly yet.”

  She threw her arms in the air. “I don’t want to hear it.”

  “And what if the shadows return?”

  Mellissa took a sharp intake of breath as the colour drained from her face. Greg ran his hand through his hair. A moment ago, he made her laugh, and now she was kicking him out. He had thoroughly messed up another opportunity with her. At this rate, she would never accept the Heart Crystal. She just didn’t seem to like him. Maybe if she didn’t associate the Heart with him, she might take it. He put his hands up in front of his chest to signal surrender. “Fine. I will go, but keep the Heart near you.” He pointed at the crystal, still where he left it the night before. “If you activate it, it will protect you.”

  “If I keep the shiny rock, you’ll leave me alone?” He nodded. Her eyes narrowed. “Deal.”

  Greg shifted into a bird and flew out the window. He wouldn’t go too far, just in case she got herself into trouble, but for now, there wasn’t much else he could do. He just had to hope she would activate the crystal of her own accord.

  Mellissa

  We run through the forest hand in hand. I’m light-headed and giddy. He turns back and smiles, making my heart flutter. He pulls me through a bush, and I gasp. Water gushes downstream and meanders through the trees. Sunlight glistens on the water’s surface.

  “What do you think?” he asks.

  “It’s beautiful,” I reply, feeling like I may explode from happiness.

  He holds his hand out to me. “Let’s go for a swim.”

  I bite my lip and look at my feet. “I can’t swim.”

  A hand gently takes hold of my chin and pushes my face up. Two beautiful grey eyes look down at me. “I’ll teach you,” he says.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re scared of a little water.”

  My face heats. “It’s hardly a little water.”

  He interlaces his fingers with mine. “How about we just sit on the edge and dip our feet in?”

  I nod, letting him lead me t
o the water’s edge. We slip our shoes off and sit down. I pull my dress up to my knees and dip my feet in. It’s freezing. I jump as something touches my foot and shuffle back. Laughter sounds beside me. I punch him playfully. “It’s not funny.”

  “It’s only an eritque arcus.”

  “A what?” I ask

  “A rainbow fish, Freya.”

  The bell rang for lunch, shocking me awake. I grabbed my stuff and walked out of the classroom, hoping no one noticed I’d fallen asleep in class. After yesterday’s craziness, I was exhausted. I approached my locker. Matt leant against it, flicking through his phone. I couldn’t help thinking about what Greg had said. Could Matt really be a warlock? That was crazy; of course he wasn’t. We had been best friends since we were little. I would know if he had magic. Greg had made a lot of wild claims since I’d met him. He was wrong about Matt and his family, just like he was wrong about me. Matt looked up from his phone and waved. I realised I’d stopped walking and hurried over to him.

  “You didn’t get any better offers for lunch then?” I asked.

  “Hey, when have I ever ditched you to hang out with someone else?”

  “True, you always drag me along with you, and I end up sitting there feeling awkward while you’re drooled over.”

  “Well, I need you around to bail me out if things go south. Being drooled over is not as great as you think.”

  We both laughed. He had come up with a bunch of hand signals to alert me to distress. So far, I hadn’t had to rescue him. I threw my books in my locker, and we headed to the common room. As we walked, Matt kept looking at me.

  “What? Have I got something on my face?” I asked.

  “No.” He scratched the back of his neck. “It’s just, there’s something different about you.”

  “Different how?”

  Matt leant toward me, narrowing his eyes. “Your aura’s changed.”

  I frowned. “My aura?”