The Crystal Dragon Series Collection

by Katie Cherry

  “Well, what?” Nathan asks, casually continuing to eat his lunch.

  She looks confused. “Well… that sounded to me like a challenge. …Are you going to turn down a challenge?”

  He struggles to keep from laughing as he slowly replies. “Haven’t you challenged me enough already? …Do you really want me to take your crown, oh Princess of Fitness?” he asks sarcastically. Angela’s mouth falls open in shock, followed by her friends. Nathan stills the chuckles wanting to burst from him and smiles kindly at Angela instead. “If you really want to challenge me and lose your title of being the best, then so be it.” His eyes lock onto hers. “I would rather just be friends and not have everything be a competition; although that’s fine now and again. Can’t we just have fun doing things together rather than trying to be better than the other?”

  Angela’s mouth opens and closes a few times before she regains her composure. “Y… yes, of course!” she finally manages to say.

  The bell rings. Smiling, Nathan stands and heads toward the door, calling back over his shoulder, “See you on the bus, Angela!” He laughs as he hears the girls erupt into conversation again as soon as he’s almost out of sight. All of them but Angela, that is. He can feel the weight of her stare on him as he leaves, studying him. Trying not to feel nervous, he hurries to his next class.

  *****

  On his way to the bus after school, Nathan keeps a sharp eye out for Jake and his friends. He quickly spots them heading towards him, but rather than try and run, he stops and waits for them. Might as well confront them now, he reasons. He realizes that may not be the best idea when he sees the look on Jake’s face. He stands in front of Nathan, a wild look in his eyes, as his friends surround Nathan. Nathan tries to keep calm, although he feels like an animal in a hunter’s trap, staring down the barrel of a gun. He swallows dryly. “…Can I help you gentlemen?” he asks politely, hoping to avoid a conflict.

  Jake’s face reddens and his hands clench into fists. “I told you… to stay away from her!” he finally spits out. The circle around Nathan gets a little tighter. He starts to sweat nervously. “Last warning,” Jake continues, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Stay away from her. …That is, if you ever want to be able to walk again.”

  “I… uh…” Nathan hesitates, cowering back. He couldn’t use any of his Gifts, not in public. He then remembers how strong Crystal was, even without her Gifts, and suddenly his fear vanishes. Straightening, he continues, “No. I won’t stay away from Angela unless she asks me to. She can hang out with whomever she wants to! And if that person is me, then deal with it!” he declares with growing confidence, glaring back at Jake.

  The first fist flies at Nathan too quickly for him to avoid. The punch lands squarely on his nose, breaking it. Blood instantly gushes from it. He quickly recovers, however, and delivers a nasty blow directly to the bully’s right eye. Just as he feared, as soon as he does, Jake’s friends join in the fight.

  He had no chance.

  *****

  “Oh my- Nathan!!” Angela shrieks, covering her mouth as tears fill her eyes. She turns her head away as he carefully sits down beside her with a wince.

  “Surely I’m not that bad,” he jokes. He knows he must look awful- he sure felt terrible. One of his eyes was swelling shut, his face and the front of his shirt were still covered in blood, and his jaw, gut, arms, wrist, and legs are hurt. Heck, everything hurt.

  “What… what happened?!” she exclaims, managing to look at him again. “Was it Jake? And his friends?” He quickly fills her in, skipping the details of his severe beating. Her eyes fill with tears again. One escapes and races down her cheek. He instinctively reaches up and softly wipes it away. “I’m so sorry, Nathan…”

  “Why? It wasn’t your…”

  “Yes, it is my fault. Jake is… my… ex. I guess he’s just out for revenge or something. …I’m so sorry. You should have- I should have heeded his warning. You would be better off staying away from me,” she says as another tear runs down her face. She shifts her gaze to her knees, unable to look him in the eye.

  He frowns and lifts her head with his good hand and looks into her pretty eyes with his one good eye. “Angela, I don’t care what Jake says- or does- to me. I don’t want to stay away from you. …But I will if you really want me to go. Just say the word, and I’ll be out of your hair,” he assures her.

  Two more tears escape her eyes. She looks down at her hands. After a couple of minutes, she whispers, “No… I don’t want you to leave.” He smiles. “But,” she adds, “I really hate seeing you so beat up.”

  “Well then it’s a good thing I thought to bring this,” he remarks, holding up a vial about the size of his pinky finger.

  She looks at it with mild confusion. “What’s that?”

  “It’s medicine from Tanguay. It heals injuries, like your medi-bot… but it’s more potent,” he explains, then dumps it down his throat. He gasps as it spreads like wildfire throughout his body, burning and cleansing. His wrist snaps back into place, his eye’s swelling goes down, and his nose, jaw, and everything else gets fixed. Except one of his legs. He frowns. “I guess I didn’t bring enough,” he says as she looks at him worriedly. “It ran out before it could fix my left leg.”

  The bus pulls up to Angela’s stop. She looks at him with a worried frown. “…Can you walk?”

  He stands, grimacing. “I made it to the bus after being beaten up, and I’m better now. I should be able to make it,” he points out, walking carefully down the stairs out of the bus.

  “Take care now,” T calls. Nathan looks back at the old bus driver and just shakes his head. He’s not in the mood to try and figure him out. He turns to Angela.

  “So… Where’s your house?” he asks.

  “It’s just a little way down the street,” she replies, pointing to a cute, old-fashioned house about five doors down from where they’re standing. The house, a warm chocolate brown on the outside, is very inviting. They start walking toward it as the bus pulls away, but they don’t get far before Nathan starts to limp. The limp gets more and more pronounced as they continue on. Angela finally speaks up.

  “…Do you need some help?” she asks. He shakes his head stubbornly, sweat shining on his face. His hands are shaking and his knees wobble with each step. She moves closer to Nathan and slides his arm around her shoulders anyway. He doesn’t complain and leans on her a bit for support. They go the rest of the way together, but Nathan still barely makes it.

  Immediately after entering through the front door, he collapses onto one of the couches- careful not to let the bloody parts of his clothes touch it. Although it should wash off of the leather pretty easily, he does his best to be courteous to the Doves’ home. Angela runs to find her parents, promising to return quickly. He waits patiently on the couch, trying to get his breathing back under control. It slows almost back down to normal, along with his heartbeat. He relaxes and finally notices the inside of her house.

  Although a little old-fashioned, it’s a beautiful and loving home. The walls, unlike most he had seen, weren’t electronic. Rather than having a screen on the wall, it was solid and unmoving. The room seemed quiet with the warm golden color on the walls with no movement or sound coming from them. It was still. The room was clean and tidy, yet still also had the happy, loving feeling of a home about it. The window behind him is open a little. A cooling, peaceful breeze plays with the hair on the back of his neck.

  He’s examining a shelf full of awards that Angela had won when she and her parents burst into the room. The dad takes one look at him and runs to grab their medi-bot while the mom grabs a washcloth and quickly wets it. She starts to gently clean the blood off of his face while Angela sits down next to him. Angela looks a lot like her mom, whose green eyes are soft with concern as she cleans him up, her short blonde hair falling into her face. She absent-mindedly brushes it back behind her ear. “Angela told us all about it,” she informs him while she works. “We’re so impressed with you! You kn
ow, Walter did something like that for me once…”

  “Now don’t go making me sound like a hero,” the dad laughs as he enters the room, medi-bot in hand. “I’m not nearly as impressive as you try and make it sound.” He hands the little robot to Nathan. “Here you are, son. Fix yourself right up.”

  Nathan smiles in return. “Yes, sir.” The little robot zooms to his left leg and starts working. Nathan sighs a bit with relief as the pain in his leg diminishes and disappears. Angela and her family also smile and relax.

  “You probably want to shower now don’t you, son?” Angela’s father, Walter, says, accepting the medi-bot when Nathan hands it back to him.

  “Yes, sir,” he replies, standing. Angela stands up with him.

  The dad smiles. “Please, call me Walter.”

  “Okay, Walter,” he grins.

  “Meet me out back when you’re done,” Angela instructs.

  “Alright.”

  Walter leads the way out of the front room, which is joined to the kitchen. The black tile gleams under his shoes as he enters the kitchen, which is a little larger than the front room. The sunlight streams through the large glass doors, reflecting off of the black marble countertops and shining through the glass coffee table. He notices how the bright flowers on the small table lighten the atmosphere. The walls are painted the same light color as Angela’s hair, reminding him of honey. Angela opens the sliding glass door and steps outside, her mom following. The soft breeze brings Nathan back to alertness. He notices Walter watching him and smiling.

  “Uh… I… like your house,” he says lamely, trying to play off the awkwardness of him staring at the house so obviously.

  Walter’s smile widens. “Do you, now? I like it too. I’m thrilled Ramona didn’t listen to me when I told her I wanted a high-tech house like everyone else. This feels so much more…”

  “Peaceful and warm?” Nathan suggests.

  “Yes! Just what a home should feel like. It certainly doesn’t need to be overly complicated and distracting.”

  “I agree, sir… Walter,” Nathan corrects himself.

  Walter laughs and turns, waving for him to follow. “Come on and get cleaned up,” he says as he starts up the stairs. “I’m sure you’ll want a nice hot shower after such a long day.”

  Nathan’s relieved to see that their shower is old fashioned as well. It doesn’t say a word to him when he turns it on. He relaxes and stands in the cascading hot water for a couple of minutes before moving to scrub off all the dried blood and sweat coating his body. He gets out of the shower to find his clothes folded on the white marble counter, already cleaned and dried. They must have a launder-bot too, he figures as he pulls the clothes back on.

  Once he’s done, he walks into the hallway and doesn’t see anyone, so he heads back to the kitchen to join Angela outside. He pauses just outside the door and closes his eyes, enjoying the last of the fading warmth of summer. A small smile creeps onto his lips as he feels the warm, gentle breeze play with his damp hair. He opens his eyes to see Angela staring at him. He meets her eyes and grins. She blushes and looks away from him, clearing her throat, obviously embarrassed to be caught staring at him. “So… um… do you feel better?” she asks, mumbling a little and staring at the ground to avoid eye contact.

  He smiles. “Yep, pretty much as good as new.”

  “…Good,” she replies. She bites her lip and takes a deep breath, letting her shoulders relax. She suddenly looks up at him, no longer looking embarrassed. “So, what do you want to do?” she asks, gesturing to all the things around them. He shrugs and glances around her spacious backyard and finds a trampoline, a large pool, and a ping-pong table. He’s standing on the back porch, which has a grill and a few tables in the shade.

  Angela’s mom walks over and hands him a glass of ice-cold lemonade. “I figured you would be thirsty,” she explains with a kind smile.

  “Thank you,” he says, taking a sip. At first the lemonade is sweet, but then he can taste the familiar tang of lemon. He smiles. “This is delicious, Mrs. Dove.”

  “Oh please dear, call me Ramona!”

  “Okay. Thanks, Ramona.”

  “No problem, dear!” she beams, heading over to sit by Walter in the shade. He quickly gulps down the rest of the lemonade and sets the empty glass down on the nearest table. He glances up to see Angela watching him again, biting her bottom lip. She blushes again as she sees him watching her in return. She shakes her head and murmurs something to herself before looking back up at him with a smile.

  “So, what do you want to do?” she repeats.

  “Well… I didn’t bring my swimming suit,” he laughs. “So swimming is out…”

  “That’s okay,” Angela interrupts. “We have something that might fit you…” she stops for a moment, sorrow crossing over her gaze. “…So you could try those on if you want.”

  Nathan hesitates, wondering about the reluctance and buried sadness in her voice. Finally, he just smiles and accepts her offer. She smiles back and heads back inside to grab them. After she returns, he accepts the swimming trunks from her and quickly changes into them in the bathroom. When he gets back, he sees that she isn’t there yet. Smiling mischievously, he dives into the water then settles to the bottom, calmly breathing the water while he waits for Angela to emerge.

  Angela walks out of the door, but doesn’t see Nathan yet. He’ll probably be out soon, she figures, heading toward the water. She lowers herself in gently, continuing to face the door, expecting Nathan to emerge any minute. Nathan, moving slowly, breaches the surface of the water behind her. He grins to himself in anticipation.

  “Ahh!” she cries out as he grabs her waist. Her hands fly up to her face and she closes her eyes as he dunks her under the water. He gently helps her regain her footing and stand back up. Eyes still clenched shut, she laughs, wiping water out of her eyes before opening them. “Hey!” she exclaims, trying to sound angry. Nathan grins, knowing she wasn’t mad by her laughter. “That’s not very nice!” she continues, smiling despite herself.

  “Sure it is,” he replies, winking at her. She blushes a little before diving into the water, sitting at the bottom of the pool and looking up at him. He grins and joins her, slowly breathing water through his nose so she wouldn’t be able to tell that he can breathe underwater, thanks to the small device he had acquired in Zilferia. This thought causes another small pang to his heart. He missed Zilferia and all his friends there- especially Crystal. At that, Nathan heads back up to the surface, wanting to clear his head. Angela follows, breathing hard after breaking the surface of the water.

  “I… win,” she pants, grinning. Nathan nods distractedly, but she notices. “What’s wrong?” she asks. He hesitates, then just shakes his head and smiles at her.

  “Nothing,” he replies before grabbing her again and falling backward into the water, pulling her with him.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  A Cry for Help

  “Crystal? …Crystal! Crystal Dragon! Are you okay? Talk to me! Say something!” The worried tone carried in the voice helps rouse me. I groan and open my eyes, confused about where I am. It looks like the school… but why would I be just outside the school building- especially laying on the ground?

  “What…” I start to ask, then stop as a sudden rush of pain hits me. My body, bruised and bloody, reminds me of what just happened and I struggle not to cry. I close my eyes and lose consciousness once again.

  *****

  This time I wake up slowly and gradually. The pain is still there, but it’s diminished enough that it doesn’t hurt to breathe anymore. I take a shaky breath and open my eyes. It’s dark and I can’t see anything until my eyes adjust, so I wait patiently. I slowly sit up, realizing that I was lying down on a small pile of blankets- a homemade bed.

  Where am I? How did I get here? What happened after I passed out? Who healed me? The questions threaten to overwhelm me, so I stop asking them until I can find someone who can tell me what I need to know.

>   Grimacing, I lurch to my feet, swaying unsteadily. I lean against a wall and wait for my head to stop spinning. That’s when I notice a familiar smell. I breathe in a little deeper. I was right- the smell of dust and rotting wood permeated the air. I knew where I was, but I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be there again.

  “Crystal! You’re up!” A light flashes on, temporarily blinding me so I can’t make out the figure coming towards me. But I don’t need a light to know to whom that voice belonged.

  “Vlad,” I sigh, relaxing and sitting back down on the blankets. “What are you doing here?” I ask. Funny how this is where I met him the first time as well… I suppose it’s only fitting that we meet again in the same dusty old theater.

  “What, no ‘I missed you, Vlad,’ or ‘Welcome back,’ or ‘I’m so glad to see you here, Vlad!’? I’m disappointed,” he says, winking at me. I choke back a laugh, knowing it will hurt since I’m not fully healed from my recent beating. I smile instead.

  “Good to see you, Vlad. Sorry if I’m not more enthusiastic- I’ve just been a little distracted lately,” I remark with a touch of sarcasm. “Plus, you don’t exactly come bringing happy news very often, now do you?”

  He laughs. “Okay, you’ve got me there. However, you should still be glad to see me- I just saved you from being hauled off back to Patrick!”

  I look at him, a little confused. “You did? But… how…”

  “How did I know you were in trouble? I didn’t know before I got here and found out you weren’t at home. How did I get there so fast? Well, I find flying to be an excellent way of getting around quickly,” he winks, referring to his shapeshifting abilities. “How did I manage to rescue you from that Hunter in disguise? I’ve been fighting for a while, my dear. And his form was quite sloppy, might I add.”

  I start to laugh, then quickly stop, grimacing. After a second, I smile up at him again. “You always know what I’m going to ask,” I say.