Crystal Heart
Page 28
He skidded to a halt beside me. His dark blue eyes were ablaze with magic. He held his hand out to me. “Quickly, Your Majesty, come with me.”
I wasn’t sure if I could trust this person, but he had just stopped the leprechauns. I took his hand. He pulled me up, and we started to run. He was around my height, with black spiky hair. “It is my understanding that Your Majesty can teleport. I suggest you get yourself to safety,” shouted the stranger.
I searched the area for Matt, but he was nowhere to be seen. “I can’t leave without Matt.”
“There is no one else in the area but you, me. and five leprechauns.”
“No, that doesn’t make sense. There should also be a warlock.” The stranger pushed me aside as something sharp shot through the air. My arm throbbed with pain.
“It is you they want. Get yourself to safety.” He ran toward the regrouped leprechauns, hands ablaze.
“What about you?” I shouted. I may have just met him, but he’d saved me. I couldn’t let him fight alone.
“Don’t worry about me. I am your guardian. I am here to protect you,” he yelled.
A coldness spread through my core. I couldn’t have heard him correctly. What he said wasn’t possible. I already had two guardians—unless something had happened to Matt. He’d disappeared. The stranger had said there were five leprechauns, but I had only seen four. What if the missing leprechaun had taken Matt?
The Heart Crystal heated around my neck as it pulsated with power. I ran toward the leprechauns, firing light blasts at them. I knew my life was in danger, but I didn’t care. I forgot all about the pain in my arm. I sent a giant ray of light energy, knocking the whole group down, destroying a bench and lamppost at the same time. Standing over the skinny guy, with an energy ball in my hand, I screamed at him, “Where’s Matt?” He put his arms up over his body and claimed to have no idea what I was talking about. I fired a ball of light at his chest. “Don’t make me ask again.”
I was too focused on trying to get information out of the skinny leprechaun that I wasn’t paying attention to the others. One of the muscled guys grabbed me by my hair and spun me round. He clutched my neck and started to squeeze. I tried to wiggle free and blasted him with light energy, but he kept squeezing. I gasped for breath. My surroundings started to blur.
A blaze of fire struck the guy in the back, and I fell to the ground as he dropped me. The stranger who claimed to be my guardian had come to my rescue again. He threw a flaming punch at the guy and swept a blaze of fire at him, taking his feet out from under him. The leprechaun fell to the ground with a thud. This time, the stranger picked me up. He put me over his shoulder and ran.
“Your Majesty, I demand that you teleport to safety right now,” he shouted.
“But what about Matt? I need to know where he is.” Tears streamed down my face.
“I do not know what happened to this Matt person you speak of. What I do know is that your life is in danger, and it is my duty to protect you. I cannot do that if you won’t cooperate. Now, you need to teleport.”
I didn’t want to leave without knowing where Matt was, but if I stayed here any longer, I was just going to get myself killed. I shut my eyes and teleported.
We crash-landed in the hallway of my house. I rolled across the floor and hit the bottom of the stairs. I screamed for Greg. He had to be here. He was who I’d thought of when I teleported. I hadn’t expected to come home.
Greg came running out of the living room. He dropped to his knees beside me and cupped my face with his hands. “What happened? You’re ice cold.”
“It doesn’t matter. I need to find Matt.” I tried to get up, only to fall back down. I had managed to hurt my leg without realising it. My heart almost stopped when I saw my dad in the living room doorway, hand on his head, mouth wide open.
Greg shook my shoulders. “Mellissa, what happened? You promised not to leave the house.”
“Greg, we need to find Matt!” I yelled, trying to get up again.
Greg caught me as I fell this time. “You are in no condition to go anywhere.”
“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” said my dad, both hands on his head.
“The leprechauns, they have Matt,” I cried, clutching Greg’s arm. The look on his face did not help my current panic.
“Mellissa, you just appeared out of nowhere, and now you’re going on about leprechauns. We need to get you to the hospital. I’ll go get the car,” Dad said.
“Dad, no,” I shouted. “I don’t need a hospital, just Greg.”
“Your Majesty, where are we?” asked the stranger I’d teleported with, getting up off the ground.
“Who are you?” Greg asked, quickly putting up a barrier between us and the guy who had saved me.
“Master Gregory, I did not realise the queen was bringing us to you,” said the stranger. He dropped down on his knee, bowing to Greg.
“Greg, it’s okay. This guy saved me. I wouldn’t have made it back without him.” I leant my head on his shoulder as everything blurred. “We need to find Matt.”
“I need to heal you. We need to get you somewhere I can examine you better.” He scooped me up in his arms and took me into the living room. “Mr. Hail, can you get some blankets?”
My dad nodded and walked out of the room, seemingly in a daze. Why was no one listening to me? I was fine. It was more important we found Matt.
Greg sat me on the sofa and summoned his medical kit. My rescuer tried to approach, but there was still a barrier around us. Greg narrowed his eyes at him. The stranger went and stood against the wall farthest from us. My dad came back with a pile of blankets. Greg wrapped one around my shoulder. It was soft and fluffy. I hadn’t realised how badly I was shivering.
“I need you to lie down,” Greg said.
With a huff, I stretched across the sofa. Annoyingly, he was right. I needed to be healed. I would be of no use to Matt in my current state. Greg cut into the leg of my jeans. There was a giant slash along my leg. “Sanum quod fit.” Greg’s hands glowed green. He hovered them over my wound, and the skin knit itself back together. My dad’s jaw dropped. I had a lot of explaining to do.
Greg turned to the stranger who had saved me. “All right, then. Who are you, and how do you know who Mellissa and I are?”
“I am Harkura of the Tonoe River water nymph tribe.” The stranger bowed. “Stories of you and the queen have been travelling among the water nymphs for days now. It is an honour to meet you both. I will do my best to protect the queen in my new role as her guardian.”
“What? Mellissa already has two guardians.” Greg examined my broken arm. I grimaced every time he moved it. He pulled the coffee table closer to the sofa, placed my arm on it and got out a bunch of multicoloured stones. He placed five stones under my arm and another five on top of it, whispering another incantation. The stones began to glow.
“All I know is, a few days ago, a light appeared to me and led me here. I knew it was calling me here to protect the queen, to become her guardian,” Harkura explained.
“That’s what Victoria and Matt said happened to them,” I said, sitting up. “How is that possible? We need to find Matt. He is my guardian, not you, and if you’re a water nymph, why aren’t you blue?”
“Mellissa, stay still. Your arm is broken in three places. This may take a while. You need to let the healing stones do their job.”” Greg put his arm out and made me lie back down. “She isn’t blue due to a simple glamour charm, and what makes you think she’s replacing Matt?”
“Because he has fire powers like Matt. He saved me with some crazy fire karate. Also, why are you calling him she?”
“I don’t know. I just assumed Harkura was female, and that is very interesting. You’re a water nymph with fire powers?” Greg asked, turning toward Harkura.
“Yes, I am a bit of an oddity amongst my people,” Harkura replied.
“I am sorry to ask this, but what is your chosen gender?”
“I am sti
ll undecided. I don’t mind which gender you refer to me as.”
I clenched the fist of my good hand. “This doesn’t really matter right now. We have to find Matt,” I said and tried to get up again.
“Lie down. You are in no shape to go anywhere.” Greg forced me to lie back down.
“Why can’t you just do what you did with my leg? That was a lot quicker. I don’t have time for this.”
“That was only a flesh wound. Your arm is broken, and it will take longer to heal.” Greg turned to my dad. “Mr. Hail, could you please contact Victoria and let her know she no longer needs to search for Mellissa?”
My dad shook his head. “Um, yeah. I can do that. I will call her, and then I want an explanation, Mellissa. You will have time while your arm heals, by the sound of it.”
I looked up at the ceiling, wondering what I would tell him. I guess I had no choice but to have the “magic is real” talk now.
Greg poked me in the side. I slapped his hand away. “That hurts you know.”
“Sorry. I was just trying to see if anything else is broken. Luckily, it’s just a bruise, which is easy to heal.”
I put my other arm over my head. “This is ridiculous. Why am I so mashed up, but Harkura doesn’t have a scratch on him?”
“As you put it, he knows crazy fire karate, and you have only just started learning to fight.”
“Sorry I’m not an expert fighter after a couple of lessons.”
“I don’t expect you to be, but you could have teleported yourself to safety sooner. How many times do I need to tell you to think of your safety first?”
“Well, where were you? You left me on my own, and I got a call from Matt. What else was I going to do?”
Greg put his head in his hands as he sat back on the floor. He had some nerve being annoyed at me. He’d just buggered off, and I hadn’t just left for the sake of it. I had gone to make sure my friend was all right—a friend who was also my guardian, so I didn’t see the problem. However, I now had no idea where he was. God knows what those leprechauns had done to Matt.
“I’m sorry.” Greg stroked my cheek. “You’re still freezing.” He placed two more blankets over me.
My dad came back into the room and told us that Victoria was on her way. I guess now was as a good as any to have the talk. He sat in the armchair across from me, and I told him everything. I started at the beginning, telling him how I really met Greg. He wasn’t impressed with how I smuggled him into the house disguised as a rabbit. Considering I was telling him about leprechauns, elves, and warlocks, he took it all pretty well. When I was done, he wouldn’t look me in the eye. He looked up at the ceiling and then out the window while rubbing his face. He sighed and turned to me, leaning his head to the side.
“There is something I need to tell you about your mother,” he said. “You see, your mother had these powers. She could manipulate plant life and shake the earth. Your mother was an elf.”
My jaw dropped. He’d known about my mum being an elf all this time and had said nothing. He’d told me so many stories about her, yet somehow, he had managed to leave that key detail out. I went to sit up again, but Greg grabbed my shoulder to stop me. I clenched my fist. I took a sharp intake of breath and looked at the ceiling. “What—how—I mean, why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“I never thought something like this would happen to you. I had no idea your mother was a descendant of some queen.” My dad put his hand to his head again. “Your mother said something about you not having a strong magical presence as a baby. You never displayed any abilities over plants. I thought maybe you were more human than elf. With your mother not here to tell you herself, I didn’t really know what to say.”
“Well, obviously, I have powers. I don’t know why they took so long to manifest. Although, Greg did say something about my magic signature being off when we met.” My dad and I both turned to Greg. If anyone could explain this to us, it was him.
Greg put his hands up. “I already told you, I don’t know. You are the first human elf I have met. Although, I’m sure you’re not the only one. There is a whole village of them. I’m sure they’re not all purely elfish.”
“There’s a what? So you’re keeping things from me too?”
“It never came up. We can talk about it later.”
“I am sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” Dad said.
I shut my eyes, scared I might cry. “I am also sorry for not telling you that I met a talking rabbit. You have to admit, it sounds crazy.”
It felt like a weight had been lifted. I hadn’t realised how much keeping my magic secret had been weighing on me. Maybe if he’d informed me about my mother’s abilities, I wouldn’t have lied in the first place, but now wasn’t the time to be upset about that. Matt was still missing. I needed to know where he was. These stupid healing stones were taking too long.
I almost fell off the sofa as Victoria burst in, bringing a cold flurry with her. Her fists were clenched, and she was scowling. I hoped she hadn’t knocked the front door down again. She marched past my dad and Harkura, only to run into the barrier Greg still had around the two of us.
“What is with this barrier?” she shouted, hitting it with some ice. “You spineless little changeling. This is all your fault. You never should have trusted her to stay put.” She threw some more ice at the barrier. “I never should have trusted you to keep her safe.” The barrier cracked with her next blast.
“It’s not his fault.” I needed to make this clear before she broke through the barrier and killed Greg. “I’m the one that broke my promise. I went to meet Matt, so I thought it would be all right.”
“Don’t get me started on you,” she shouted, pointing at me. “I don’t know which one of you is stupider. Do you not care about your own safety, and what’s with the water nymph?” She pointed at Harkura while still glaring at Greg. How was it that both of them instantly knew Harkura was a water nymph? If I hadn’t been told, I never would have known.
“Hello, madame,” Harkura said, bowing to Victoria. “I am Harkura of the Tonoe River water nymph tribe. I am Her Majesty’s new guardian. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Harkura put out his hand to shake hers, but she ignored him.
Victoria’s jaw dropped. Her look of anger turned to one of shock. “What do you mean?” She looked at me. “Matt is your other guardian. Something’s wrong. Wait, you said you were meeting Matt?”
“Yes. He rang me not long after Greg left.”
She turned to Greg. “You haven’t told her, have you?”
I looked at Victoria and then Greg. “Haven’t told me what?”
“I was waiting till all your wounds were healed, as you are in no shape to go anywhere,” Greg said.
“Will one of you just tell me what is going on?”
Greg took a deep breath. “Fine. I didn’t really go to view a flat.”
“Yeah, I know that. I’m not a complete idiot. Just because Victoria says I am, doesn’t make it true.”
“Then why did you—” Greg shook his head. “Never mind. I went to find out what Matt was doing. I cast a tracking spell, but it didn’t work.”
“So, he came to me,” Victoria said. “Using my blood, we tracked Matt to the council building in the capital city.”
“How is that possible?” I asked. “There is no way he could make that journey in a day. Are you sure the spell was correct?” If that was where he was, there was no way he could’ve made it to the river to meet me today. They had to have made a mistake.
“The spell was done correctly,” Greg said, “and there is no spell stronger than one cast with blood.”
“It doesn’t make sense.” I sat up, knocking the healing stones off my arm. I winced as pain shot through my arm, but I didn’t care. Greg tried to make me lie back down, but I resisted. “Matt has no reason to be there. If you can use your blood to track Matt, do it again. Show me.”
“Okay, I will do it,” Victoria said. “Greg, do you have that map?”
Victoria pointed at the map. “He is still there. Mellissa, blood magic doesn’t lie.”
I shook my head. “I will believe it when I see it for myself.” I shut my eyes and attempted teleportation to the capital. I screamed as I was rebuffed and fell on my broken arm.
Greg picked me up off the floor and rearranged the stones on my arm. “You can’t teleport that far.”
“Then I’ll do multiple teleports.” He stroked my cheek. I clasped his hand. “Greg, please. I need to know what’s going on.”
“Mellissa, you haven’t healed properly. You’re just going to make your arm worse.”
There was a sharp prick on my arm. A cold shiver shot up my arm, and I suddenly felt light-headed. “What did you do to me?” I grabbed his shirt, trying to pull myself up. Everything was becoming a blur.
“Don’t fight it. It’s just a sedative to help with the pain while you heal.”
I tried to talk, but the words wouldn’t come. How could he do this to me? I’d trusted him. I fell against Greg as I passed out.
Mellissa
Iwas tucked up in bed with no memory of how I’d gotten there. I looked out the window. It was now dark out. The sky was clear, giving me the perfect view of the moon. It shone brightly in the darkness. My body felt stiff as I pushed myself up. I shook my head. I needed to focus. What had I been doing before I’d fallen asleep?
Matt.
Leprechauns had attacked us this morning, and he had disappeared. My legs gave way as I clambered out of bed. My bedroom door flew open.
“You’re awake,” Victoria said. She pulled me to my feet and forced me back on my bed.
“What’s happening? Where’s Matt?”