Chapter 63- Whispers In The Wind

“Awe!” Crystal screeched as she was tossed onto a grass banking. The giant crouched; leaning on one knee he studied her. Crystal scrambled back until her back was pressed up against a tree trunk. The giant tilted his head from side to side. The lone eye on his forehead was freaking her out. It wasn’t natural. Then again nothing in that world was natural.
Clearing her throat, she tried to push the fear from her brain, and try to think of the right words to use. She had to tread carful.
“What do you want with me!” she yelled up and the Giant’s mouth turned into a grin. The excitement in his eyes froze Crystal and her following words.
“A friend!” the giant bellowed, and the earth shook causing Crystal to grab onto the tree trunk.
He wanted a friend. Did Giants eat their friends? Was it another word for food? She scrambled through her memories of mythical creatures.
“If we are to be friends, could you please whisper?” she shouted. The Giants head moved backwards and forwards frantically then his large hand plucked her from the floor. She found herself dangling in front of his face. She gulped; she was like a lone Malteser to the Giant. One bite and she would be gone.
“Friends,” the giant whispered, and her hair whipped around her head.
“Friends,” she replied, with a smile that she was sure came across more as a grimace. Friends with a Giant. She had defiantly lost her mind. The hit at the back of her head was to blame.
“Peter,” he said and taking the hint Crystal gave him her name. Peter gently placed her on his shoulder, and she sat down letting her legs dangle.
“Peter, friends help each other,” she began.
“We friends,” he cut her off and sat on the grass.
“Yes, we are. Could you please take me to some water I really need a drink,” she asked shyly scared that she would make the Giant change his mind and eat her.
“Yes,” he was on his feet and Crystal dug her nails into the white t-shirt that Peter wore. The speed in which he moved made her lightheaded. The trees whizzed by her at a rapid pace. Everything she had learned about Giants was wrong. They weren’t slow at all.
Seconds later he placed her at the side of a river, and she used her hands to scoop up the water. Her parched lips and mouth felt better as the cool liquid gave them moisture.
She leaned back and gazed up at the stars, her newfound friend did the same. She was exhausted and every muscle in her body burned. Her ankle still throbbed a little and all she wanted was her own bed.
***
The look of surprise and horror on her mother’s face filled her with a satisfied rush. She had taken everything away from her. Just like Jeanette had done to Ruby. She had watched her kingdom crumble while Ruby had watched her life be shattered. Revenge left a sweet taste in her mouth and a desire for more.
She smiled at her handy work, the screams, and cries for help. She had showed the entire coven she wasn’t the sweet push over Ruby anymore. She would make them all pay. Every last one of them that had played a part in her misery would pay the price.
She didn’t feel guilt, or ashamed of the woman she had become. She felt free, like a weight had been lifted and she was floating on air. No wonder Crystal had always rebelled, it felt good.
Ruby tossed one last fire ball at the community and exited the gate. She had destroyed the place that had destroyed her. It couldn’t hurt anyone again.
“Ruby!” she paused outside the last thing that was left untouched, the one thing she hadn’t burned to a crisp. The iron gates that shut the coven off from the world, sirens were now piercing the air. Jeanette stopped a few feet away.
“Why?” she asked, in defeat.
“What am I to you?” Ruby asked her, was she just another member of the coven that she could bully or family? She knew the answer.
“My daughter,”
“Wrong. I am nothing but another piece of the puzzle in your stupid game to climb the ladder,”
“Ruby that’s not true. I may have not shown it. But you, and your sisters are my world,” Jeanette took a tentative step forward. Ruby let out a manic laugh which haltered her step.
“No, the coven the community was the world to you. Now that is gone. Just like father. You destroyed me. You have destroyed all of your daughters,”
“Ruby?”
“Don’t. Just don’t tell me you’re sorry,” Ruby turned away, looking at her mother now, she looked lost. Her heart flooded with pity and allowed guilt to seep in. She had turned into her mother. She hated that feeling of guilt. Anger flared in her veins again.
***
Jeanette watched Ruby leave. The sweet and innocent young woman she had given birth too and raised had changed overnight. She wasn’t Ruby. She wasn’t her daughter.
She turned back to the community that was nothing but ash and rubble. Fireman was outing the last of the flames, but there was nothing they could do about the homes and lives that had been lost.
“Tut, Tut,” Jeanette didn’t need to look at who was tutting at her. She already knew.
“What do you want?” she demanded.
“Your new husband is waiting for you. Tick, Tock,”
“Now is not a suitable time,” she snapped at Damon.
“Now or never, I have left it a few days. By the way I do not take it well when I am warned off by a lower being” he replied in a warning. Seth had said he would deal with him. Sighing she wanted to kick herself.
“I said not now,” she spat the words slowly as if she was talking to someone hard of hearing.
“Very well,” when she turned in the direction of the voice he was gone. She knew she had missed her chance and her future of the leader and gone with the smoke along with Damon. In one night, she had lost everything.
The key to Athens, her home and community, the status of leader and her daughter Ruby. Sighing she made her way through the smoke and destruction.
With every step she took anger raised its ugly head, it consumed every fiber of her being and her body shook. At the top of her lungs she screamed, she put in all of her frustration and inner feelings as she let out the ear-piercing sound. Her soul cried out for everything she had lost.
All her hope and dreams had faded in front of her eyes.