Chapter 35- Whispers In The Wind

“What do you mean my father will be cremated?” Crystal folded her arms and stared into her mother’s eyes. Her eyes narrowed with hate as she waited for her answer. Crystal knew her mean girl face irritated her mother, which only made her use it more. She lifted the corner of her lips which only added to her look of scorn.
“He has no right to be buried. After the shame he has brought to our family,” the way Jeannette spoke, the tone of her voice was nothing but casual as if her father was nothing to her but a stranger that had scorned them. She knew her mother was cold hearted, but she wasn’t prepared for the coolness she held to the man she once claimed to love.
Death was never pretty. People hurt and grieved in different ways. However, Crystal could tell with the heat in her mother’s eyes, that she held no sadness, no emotions whatsoever for the death of her father. All he was to her was another pawn in her fight for power. Her mother’s sole existence was a game of chess, and the members of the coven were just pieces she could move and knock of the board at will. Her eyes had opened to what her mother really was. Cold and vindictive, her sole purpose was power and fear that she installed in others. It was a game of control.
Crystal felt the hot sting of tears burn her eyes, but she kept them in. She wouldn’t show any weakness in front of her mother. It was what she was taught to do, show no emotion and something she had gotton good at. Everyone wore masks at times. It hid what they felt inside, Crystal’s mask just happened to be a permanent feature.
“If we don’t burry him, then his soul will be trapped between the living and the dead,” Crystal gritted her teeth as she spoke. Holding back the words she really wanted to use in that moment.
Reining in her anger when her heart was already broken was taking more effort than she liked. It would have been easy to just lash out.
Throw a fit and cause a screaming match. Yet she knew that wasn’t the answer and would not resolve anything. It would only make Jeannette worse and it was the last thing she wanted.
“Yes dear, he has no right to move on to better things,” Crystal stormed away as pain ripped through her soul. It felt like her entire world had crumbled. It wasn’t just her father’s death, but the lies and secrets. They had broken her.
“He has no right,” if her mother said that one more time she would do something she regretted like blasting her with her powers. Or would she regret it? Shaking the evil thoughts out of her head she took a deep breath. Who made her the leader of the coven? She was cold with a heart of steel. Whoever that person was Crystal wanted to give them a piece of her mind. She wanted to lash out and scream. Stamp her feet, and show the world she was hurting.
Her father had committed suicide. The note he had left was vague, yet Crystal still read between the lines. He couldn’t deal with her mother and her ways any longer.
He was bound to her with no way out. The whole way of the witches was wrong in Crystal’s eyes. Divorce wasn’t an option. You had to remain loyal and supportive of your chosen match. No matter how you really felt. All to make sure that their lines of magic remained strong. Who cared if they became human, with no magic running through their veins? At least they would be normal and happy.
Crystal couldn’t deny that she felt some resentment towards her Dad. He had left her alone to deal with the wicked witch of a mother.
How could he do that to her? Didn’t he know she still needed him?
Still she wouldn’t allow her father to be burnt to a crisp. She would do whatever it took to make sure that he crossed over to where he belonged.
He deserved better. Better than what life had thrown his way and the woman he had been forced to marry.
She couldn’t stand the thought of him being trapped for eternity. Life wasn’t fair. She knew that, but yet family was much worse. The people you were supposed to love and trust more than anyone else was the people that Crystal held at arm’s length. There was no trust. Love was just a myth when it came to Jeannette Hudson. When you’re born, you grow to love the ones that are supposed to protect and care for you. Yet Jeannette had never been that woman.
One day she would confront Jeannette. Demand answers from the lies she had spun, the web of deceit that was eating away at her thoughts. She had learned many home truths about the witches and Jeannette’s plans while she was stuck in Athens. Things that needed to be addressed and answers provided. However she needed to take care of her father first.
A part of her was scared. What if there was more to the lies? Would she be able to handle the truth? In her heart she felt that Levi had not told her everything. He had held back a vital piece of the puzzle.
She thought about asking Levi for help, and then thought better of the idea. She hadn’t seen him in over a week since they returned from Athens. A shiver ran down her back from the thought of the place. It wasn’t somewhere she ever wanted to find herself again. It was what nightmares were made of.
Ruby would help her. She was sure of it. Ruby was kind, and had always been there for Crystal in the past. She was the one sister she could rely on and her only friend. Even so, Crystal still held back, afraid that Ruby would rat her out to her mother. After all she had learned that the only person she can trust is herself. Everyone else just lets her down in the end.
Crystal left the house and made her way through the Starlight coven community until, she reached Ruby’s home. The community was all she had ever known. She hated the place. The people within the coven and everything they did and stood for. She wanted the life she had seen in movies. Where all she had to be worried about was the most popular girl in school, she wanted to go to parties, the movies and just hang out. But that wasn’t the life of a daughter of the leader. It wasn’t the way of the witches. Instead she would be a wife with a flock of children, and nothing more. Her job was to bring more pure blood witches into the world. She didn’t understand it. Levi wasn’t a witch anymore, but a wolf. What effect would that have on their off spring? Would they be both? Or would they be born with one or the other? That was her problem, she over thought everything and put doubts in her mind.
Greg’s car was in the driveway and Crystal pulled a face at the black sleek vehicle. He wasn’t her favourite person in the world. Obnoxious and a complete jerk, is how she saw him. Yet her mother thought the sun shined out of his butt. She was blind if she thought Greg was worthy of Ruby. He was nothing but a slime ball. He disgusted her in every way. Perhaps it was her protectiveness of Ruby that caused the hate. Everyone else seemed to love the man and hung on his every word. Or perhaps she saw right through him to the true person he was.
Knocking on the door she took a step back and folded her arms. She knew Greg would be the one to answer.
His curiosity was what Crystal hated the most. His nose was always in someone else’s business. He was one of those people that would add his own words to stories, she was sure he carried an invisible wooden spoon. He loved to stir up trouble then blame someone else. Yet he disappeared and it was others that were left with the mess he had created.
Greg opened the door wearing black jeans and a white t-shirt. His brown hair was a little overgrown and his eyes showed the displeasure of seeing Crystal on his doorstep. He wasn’t what she would call handsome. He was average looking with charming words, his father was one of the elders so he thought he was better than everyone else.
Waving her hand and sending a little power towards him she pushed the door open wider knocking Greg backwards. He stumbled before he quickly caught his balance. Crystal had to stifle a giggle at the surprise on his face. He scowled at her and she smiled back.
Even though she hated the coven she loved her magic. It was a part of her. The way it felt as it simmered to the surface. It was an electric feeling that made her feel alive. But if giving up her magic meant that she would be normal, she would without a second thought. It wasn’t worth her unhappiness.
“Good afternoon, Greg. Ruby home?” she asked in an overly cheery voice, just to get on his nerves as she wiped her feet on the door mat.
“Come in Crystal,” he answered sarcastically.
Crystal gave him a smile and padded down the hall. She found Ruby at the kitchen table drinking tea and flicking through a magazine. Greg marched into the kitchen, and she envisioned his ears twitching with the prospect of gossip and almost giggled. He leaned against the counter with his arms folded, eying Crystal suspiciously. Yet Crystal saw the hopeful look in his eyes. He loved rumours. He was a male version of a gossip queen.
Crystal took in Ruby’s appearance. She still looked elegant with her long blond hair which shined like silk, and her baggy jeans and white top. Yet there was something different about her. Crystal couldn’t put her finger on it. Her eyes showed tiredness. The dark circles giving away Ruby’s lack of sleep. She had always been put together and looked the part of a princess. But that day she looked like she was falling apart. It wasn’t the way she was dressed, more the feeling Crystal had.