Chapter 65- Whispers In The Wind

With his large meaty hand, the Giant plucked him from the ground and opened his mouth wide. Levi dangled above his lips when he heard a voice, he thought he would never hear again.
“Peter! No!” Levi craned his head to see Crystal with one hand on her hip and her slender finger pointing at the Giant.
“Put him down. We do not eat friends,” she said in a tone laced with authority, it was a tone that a mother would use to scold her child. The Giant she had called Peter tossed him on the ground. He hit the solid floor with a bang and rolled a few times, pain raked his body. Just as he was about to stand the Giant flopped back down which sent Levi crashing to the ground once more.
Crystal’s hand appeared in front of him, and he gripped it as if it was his lifeline. Maybe that is what she was. His heart rushed with warmth and a tingle ran from his palm and then up his arm. As soon as he got to his feet, he pulled her into a hug burying his head into her wild hair.
When he pulled back, he removed small wood chippings from her hair.
“You look like you have been dragged through a bush,” he joked.
“Watch it,” she warned pointing her finger at him.
“How did you get here,” her voice softened and the hope and something else he couldn’t quite place lit up her green eyes.
“I don’t know I just touched the tree, and I was here,” he whispered. It still felt unreal. He shouldn’t have been able to open the vortex. He had tried before when he had been first banished to no avail. So why did it work now?
“Levi!” he heard Margon.
“I better get back to chopping wood,” Crystal said in a dismal voice.
“Get the Giant to do it,” Levi said as he made his way to the old woman who had helped him through many tough times.
As soon as the door closed behind them Levi saw the terror in her eyes. It was the first time he had ever seen her scared.
“She has been marked Levi,” she said in a whisper.
“I know,” he couldn’t meet her eyes.
“Demons are puppets of hell. To stop Teke then she must scare her with the goodness of her heart,” Margon began to ramble.
“Would she have already seen that by now?” Levi asked.
“Levi, she fed Enchilada to the demon. That wasn’t an act of goodness,”
“Then how?” he asked, searching Margon’s eyes for clues.
“Only Crystal can find a way,” he sighed, he was afraid that Margon wouldn’t reveal anything useful.
The door thrust open, and Crystal bounded in dropping most of the wood she was carrying onto the floor.
“You can clean that up,” Margon called after her as she placed the logs by the fireplace and marched by them to pick up the logs she had dropped.
Levi turned away from her to hide his smile. Margon really was something else.
“Come,” she beaconed him and he followed her into the small kitchen taking a seat at the table. Margon was a woman who had to feed any visitors that came to her home. He wasn’t complaining, and his stomach growled with the prospect of food. However, when he was a child, she would fill him with food and then comment on his weight gain, even though she was the one who wouldn’t hear of the word no. She was one of a kind and had always been there for him.
He dipped the spoon into the stew and grinned.
“Unicorn broth, one of my favorites, Thanks Margon,”
“Unicorn?” Crystal was in the kitchen doorway her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open.
“Yes,” he said slowly debating whether to keep his mouth shut or not.
“I ate unicorn?” she asked looking at Margon who gave her a smile.
“Really good protein,” Margon replied.
“You people are unbelievable,” she muttered exiting the kitchen and mumbling a few words under her breath. “My grandmother has wings and eats unicorns. No one would believe me. It is insane,” Levi chocked on his food as he tried to hold in his laughter which resulted in a snort.
“That girl has grit,” Margon said shaking her head with a proud smile.
“You can say that again,” Levi replied.
“It is time she knows the story of how her mother became the woman that she has,” Margon said with her gaze fixed firmly on Levi.
“Good luck with that,” he said as he finished the last of his food.
“No boy I shall wish you luck,”
“Me?”
“Yes, you?” she pointed at him and then whacked him with a tea towel.
“Why me?” he asked.
“She trusts you,” Margon looked out of the window with a faraway look. Levi sighed.
“Fine,” he muttered and got up. He closed and opened his eyes before he entered the living room where Crystal was curled up on the over worn couch.
“Crystal, do you want to take a walk?” he asked her.
“Like I want to walk any more than I already have. I have been walking for days, my feet are just blisters. I’ll be lucky to find my toes through the swelling,” she returned her gaze to the dancing flames of the fire.
“Crystal?”
“Fine,” she groaned and stood.