Chapter 36- Whispers In The Wind

“Hay Crystal, want some tea?” Ruby asked rising to switch the kettle on, her voice was sweet and soft, like always and Crystal shook of her thoughts. Her mind needed to give up and have a rest. Analysing everything and everyone.
“Sure,” Crystal took a seat and pulled the magazine towards her that Ruby had been reading.
“How to give the person you love a good send off,” the first page read. It was a book about planning a funeral. Something their father wasn’t allowed to have.
“Got anywhere better to be Greg?” Crystal asked him not looking up.
“No,” he responded.
“Fine. So, Ruby I missed my period and…”
“I will be at the Shack,” Greg said, and Crystal grinned as she heard him walk down the hall and out the front door. Worked every time. Mention woman problems and he ran like a little boy. He would go in the Shack and start off some crazy rumour about her over a pint of beer. Crystal didn’t care. She was used to the insane stories that were spread about her.
Within the Starlight coven she was the target. Jokes and cruel words were tossed her way on a daily basis; she had just learned to rise above them. What else could she do?
Ruby snickered as she placed a scolding cup of tea in front of Crystal.
“So, what’s up,” Ruby asked her.
“I need your help,”
“Okay, what with?” Ruby sounded unsure. Crystal didn’t blame her, after all Crystal was a rule breaker. She had a bad reputation within the coven. Even she doubted herself at times. This time she was nervous, what she wanted to do went against every rule she had been taught.
“I need you to help me steal dad’s body and….”
“Crystal, do you know how much trouble we will be in? Sometimes I think you’re crazy,” Ruby looked down. Her hands were locked together, and Crystal could see the pressure she was applying has they turned white.
“Of course, I will take full responsibility. We can’t let mum burn him Ruby,”
“I know. I will help you,” Her words were just above a whisper. Crystal could tell she was afraid. Betraying Jeannette wasn’t something Ruby ever did. Infact it wasn’t something anyone did within the coven. The consequences were dire. Death or exile. Crystal would happily take exile. She didn’t want to die; she still hadn’t lived.
“Really?” Crystal asked with surprise. It hadn’t taken as much convincing has; she had first thought it would.
“Yes, I can’t, and I won’t stand back while our father becomes stuck between the living and dead. No matter what he has done, he doesn’t deserve to be trapped like that,”
Crystal jumped up and wrapped her arms around Ruby. “I knew I could count on you,”
Ruby patted her hand. “Always.” she whispered, and Crystal kissed her head. Ruby was the only one out of all her seventeen sisters she could count on. She was the one that had given her the motherly love she craved as she grew up. She was kind and had a heart of gold. She would help anyone in need even those who had wronged her in the past. Crystal had always wanted to be like Ruby. However, no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t be a sweet little girl and keep her mouth shut. Ruby had the patience of a saint.
“We need to find where they are keeping his body,” Ruby said after a moment of silence.
“I am pretty sure it will be in the basement of the Great Hall,” Crystal was positive that would be where Jeannette would have had him sent. In the coldest and dampest place that no one ever ventures. Why would she put him in the cathedral for people to pay their respects? When she planned on destroying his soul, is very being?
“Sometimes you amaze me,” Crystal let out a small laugh at Ruby’s words.
“But there’s one thing,” Ruby sighed, and Crystal waited for Ruby to explain.
“We need to block our mind from Perl. If she sees what we are about to do then…”
“Ruby, how do you think I get away with the stuff I do? Perl can’t get in my mind. I closed the door,” Crystal winked.
“You did what?”
“Close your eyes. Think of a corridor of doors and one of those doors, Perl is on the other side. Find that door, close it and lock it. She won’t be able to enter your mind,”
“Thanks Crystal,”
“No problem sis.”
Arm in arm they both walked to the Great Hall which was located at the centre of the community. The streets were deserted and eerily quiet.
“Where is everyone?” Ruby asked. Crystal shrugged as they continued their walk. The only sound they could hear was that of their footsteps which only spiked Crystal’s nerves.

As they walked through the doors both of them paused. The hall was overcrowded with the entire coven seated and listening to their mother who stood behind a podium. A few small children played at the back of the room, while their mothers listened with half ears.
Jeannette looked every bit the part, with her black dress trousers and white shirt. Her hair was piled on the top of her head in a neat bun. Her face was cold and uncaring, her eyes like a steel knife. They bored into the members of the coven.
It was a look that always made Crystal feel on edge. One that she often thought was pure evil.
“I guess we didn’t get the memo,” Crystal whispered to Ruby who had her eyes locked on their mothers. She could see the hate and anger. It reflected of Ruby in waves. It explained why she was so willing to help. But what had their mother done to conjure the heated look in Ruby’s eyes.
Crystal gulped.
She had never seen Ruby mad. She had always been the sweet sensitive one. The one with all the advice, words of wisdom.
Ruby never had a bad word to say about anyone. The look in her eyes scared Crystal. More than she liked to admit. Ruby was a ticking time bomb. That much was clear. The hate and anger, swirled in her eyes. A look that installed fear into Crystal, she herself knew what it was like holding her feelings in. They had a way of exploding.
“Henry Hudson will be cremated tomorrow night. In death he will pay for his sins,” Jeanette announced.
“We as a community, as a strong family of witches follow the rules provided for us by our ancestors. Those rules keep the magic running in our veins strong. It keeps us alive. To disobey those rules is an insult not only to the coven but our ancestors,” Jeanette rattled on, and Crystal scoffed at her words.
“I will go check the basement,” Crystal whispered as they both made their way to two empty seats.
“No, if you leave, they will know something is up. I will go and check it out. Meet me in an hour by the old oak tree,” Ruby said, and Crystal nodded. She was right. Everyone would suspect that Crystal was up too something if she left. After all she was always in some kind of trouble.
Crystal carried on walking to the empty seats while Ruby turned away and exited the double doors. As she sat down her mother’s eyes locked onto hers and Crystal gave her a scornful look. It was clear that neither she nor Ruby was invited to the meeting. It had gotton to her that they had both shown up. Jeannette paused as she let it sink in that her daughter was now sitting in the crowd. She watched as her gaze travelled to that of Greg. Crystal smiled; she had ruined her mother’s plan.
“Let the death and punishment of my husband serve as a warning. An example to you all,” Jeanette yelled, and the community cheered. His death wasn’t a warning; it was his last cry for help in a world that didn’t care about one’s feelings.
“He took his own life. He was a coward. One that couldn’t face what is to come with the rest of us,” Jeanette’s eyes roamed the room and Crystal shivered at her cold stare.
“He lied, the oath in which he had taken he betrayed. Given up the fight.”
She was making him out to be something he wasn’t, and Crystal gritted her teeth together and clenched her hands into fists. She could feel the burning of anger mixed with her powers. She wanted to blast her mother to the otherworld. Let the creatures of Athens have her. She was the one that had caused the problems. She had driven her father to his death. She may not have poured the poison down his throat, but she was the one that had driven him to do so.
“He abandoned us at our time of need. A coward who abandoned all his morals, those very morals we are all taught. Henry will never be spoken of again in this coven. I am ashamed to say I was married to the man. For that I apologise to you all,” Crystal couldn’t sit back and listen to her mother’s words any longer. Her father was a good man. No matter what he had done, everyone made mistakes. Some, just more dire than others. If she had just listened in the first place, then maybe, just maybe things would have been different.
Why couldn’t they just be a normal family? Share stories around the dinner table and take family vacations.
Yet that wasn’t her mother’s style and never would be.
“My father is not the only man in this community to sin. Isn’t that right Greg?” Crystal stood and bellowed over the noise. Everyone became silent. She walked into the aisle and down to the front of the hall until she was facing everyone.