Chapter 85- Into The Thorns

It was time to say goodbye to yet another one of her family members. Levi had assured her that they could trust the couple before them, with their pale complexion and pure blond hair. She didn’t want to hand him over to the strangers. He was just an innocent boy. Is one mistake was being born into the Hudson family. Kissing him softly on the forehead she handed the woman the child. It took all her inner strength to let go. To put her faith and trust into someone else when all anyone had ever done was let her down.
What other choice did she have? She couldn’t protect him. She couldn’t protect herself. Tears stung her eyes, as she watched his tiny feet kick into the air.
“What’s his name?” The woman asked her gently.
“Isaac,” Crystal said then pressed her lips together trying to hold her tears back, one escaped and she felt it run down her cheek and onto her chin. Her chance to be the doting Aunt was being taken away. It was for his own safety, and she knew that. She was being selfish, even though she knew it was for the best, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
“We will let you know when we arrive at our destination,” the men nodded to Levi. Crystal couldn’t take her eyes off Isaac. She craved his image into her mind. She would never forget him.
“Thanks, keep him safe at all costs. A lot is at stake,”
“We are aware of the dangers if the child becomes in the wrong hands,” the woman replied.
They both turned and left. Crystal stared after them until they vanished from view. Just like that he was gone. Just a baby, who the world wanted to hurt.
“Let’s go,” she spun around and faced Perl.
“Where?” she asked.
“Arden house,”
“Crystal, right now?”
“Yes, move it,” she ordered. She had lost too much, and it was about time she gained.
“Keep an eye on Ruby,” she said to Levi as they left. Levi nodded with his eyebrows raised and mouth slightly open. Crystal didn’t wait to see what he had to say. She didn’t care, all she wanted was a family, a real family and the only way she was going to do that was by making it happen.
“Just think about it first, how are we to deal with adult toddlers while dealing with everything else?”
“They have suffered long enough. I won’t allow it to go on another second,” her whole body was alight with determination. She’d had enough. Why her? out of all the witches, was she the one with the weight of the world on her shoulders? It was a question that she had been asking herself for a while. One in which she would never gain an answer too.
Crystal drove Levi’s car to the institute and then marched right up to the desk which the same old sour faced woman sat behind. She gave Crystal a smug look.
“Visiting hours are closed,” the woman said, and Crystal was in no mood for her. With a flick of her hand the woman fell asleep. Smiling, “You don’t look so smug now do you?” she asked the sleeping woman whose head lolled to the side.
“How’d you do that?” Perl asked. I just get a feeling sometimes and go with it. First time I have done that,” she said with pride. Who needed spells? She was getting a hang of the whole out of this world powers thing. From then on, she would use them to her full potential. She, nor anyone she loved would fall a victim again.
Crystal took the woman’s card key and used it to open the door. They walked down the narrow halls until they reached the room that belonged to their sisters. Using the card, they entered. Taking in a deep breath, Crystal looked on in horror. They all stared into space, not blinking and not moving. It was sad and caused Crystal to feel more hate against the woman that had brought them into the world just to use them as weapons.
“This isn’t a life,” she said with sadness to Perl.
“This is all they’ve known,”
“Then where gonna change that,” Crystal moved further into the windowless room and examined their prison. It was bare, and bleak, just like the girls that occupied the room.
“What do we do?” she asked.
“A spell. But I have to warn you. It may not work,” it didn’t matter if the spell worked or not, all that mattered is that they tired, and she would keep on trying until she freed them from her mother’s clutches. Even in death she was still destroying her children. Crystal wanted to break every tie to that woman.
She followed Perl’s lead and sat crossed legged on the floor. Holding hands, she waited for further instructions.
“Magic Forces everywhere, we call upon thee, the magic from both sides. Matriarchs of the Hudson line, help us to reverse the dark magic that was cast on these sisters that caused a great divine. Troubled blood with sleeps unease, please remove the cause of this disease,”
Crystal jumped to her feet as thirteen of her sisters fell crashing to the floor, while two of them looked around in a daze. She felt a pressure in her heart, like someone was squeezing her insides. Bending over she took deep breaths until the pressure eased.
“What the hell?” she yelled and raced to the ones on the floor, when she had recovered. She checked for their pulse and found nothing on the first three.
“There is dead. Have been for a long time now. The curse we were under was what was keeping their bodies alive, but their souls have been trapped between two worlds for years now,” Emerald said in a slow and calm voice.
“What happened?” Perl asked while Crystal stared in disbelief.
“Mother drained their magic. Without magic in our veins, we no longer can live. Magic is a part of us, just like our blood. It keeps us alive,” Opal replied, and Crystal couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Out of eighteen of them only four remained. Thirteen killed by their mother and one had gone to the dark side. Everything came down to Jeannette in one way or another.
“You are not acting like a toddler,” Crystal stated.
“Of course not. We may have been trapped inside our own body and mind. But we have still grown just as you have,” Emerald smiled.
“Let’s just get out of this place. It gives me the creeps,” Crystal shuddered for added effect. There was nothing she could do for the others.
Looking back one more time she felt emptiness inside her. She would never really know the ones that had fallen. But she would keep them in her heart and thoughts. A burial would be the next on her list. They needed to move on and find peace. It was all she could offer them.
When they returned to the motel room, Levi was out cold, and Ruby was gone.
“How?” she mumbled to no one in particular. The spell had stated that she wouldn’t wake until morning light.
“She is stronger now that she is a demon. Your spell wasn’t powerful enough. She is now just a ticking time bomb,” Crystal scowled at Perl and chose to ignore her comment. Instead, she shook Levi awake who grunted putting his hand to the back of his head. He was slumped against the wall.
“You idiot,” she slapped him on the arm and plopped down beside him.
“She tricked me. I thought she was sleeping the next thing…” sighing he rubbed his head.
“Only two,” he asked looking at Opal and Emerald.
“Yeah, the others didn’t make it,” she blow air out of her nose then, stood and offered him her hand.
“Let’s just go home,” Crystal said, she felt like a failure. It was her fault the two worlds had become one. Her magic that was the problem, her mother’s doing. The word home left her feeling empty inside. She didn’t even have one of those anymore, another thing destroyed by family. What was family? Many say it is one’s security. People who love and care about one another, even though the darkest of times. Sadly, that wasn’t what Crystal’s family was about.
With no home, and her world falling apart, Crystal had never felt as lost and alone. She glanced at Levi who gave her a small smile. She smiled back; she knew it was one filled with sadness. He wanted her love, but how could she give him something she had never had, something she didn’t know how to give? Crystal could tell that he cared about her, in her heart she had fallen for him, she just didn’t know how to show it. Then there was the voice at the back of her mind, telling her that everyone that gets close to her falls into the dark pit.
Perhaps it was for the best if she walked away. Levi was a good man and all she would do was bring his darkness out. It was all she had ever done. The doubts she had in her mind mixed with her confusion and problems. It was a mix that threatened to send her insane.
Climbing into the car she pressed her head against the window. Levi patted her leg, and she sighed as the vehicle came to life and began to roll down the street. “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.” A voice echoed in her mind. It was a voice that gave her hope. God knew that is what she needed. A sign that would tell her, in the end everything would work out.