Inspired by Frost (Crystal Frost Book 3)

by Alicia Rades

  You’re crazy.

  You’re crazy.

  You’re crazy.

  Can I really blame her for saying that, though? I thought the same thing when I learned about my abilities.

  But the one thing that really ripped me apart was the thought that I’d failed. Sage wasn’t going to talk to me again, so how was I supposed to save her?

  I didn’t know how long I stayed there, but I eventually calmed down enough, swallowed my pride, and crawled out from beneath the bridge. I wanted nothing more than to fall into Robin’s arms and tell him what happened, about how I’d failed. He’d surely have something to say that would lift my spirits.

  Luckily by the time I got back, the band was already packing up their equipment. The moment Robin saw my face, he ran toward me. “Where have you been, Crystal?”

  Tears pricked at my eyes again.

  “And where is Sage?”

  “She left a while ago.” I wrapped my arms around Robin’s muscular frame for comfort. “I couldn’t do it, Robin.” My voice cracked. “I failed. I can’t save her.”

  “Crystal,” he said, pushing my hair out of my eyes to look into them. “What are you talking about? What happened?”

  I took a deep breath and finally composed myself. My voice came out surprisingly even given the circumstances. “I told her like you said I should. I told her I was psychic. Robin, she called me crazy and said she didn’t believe me.”

  He pulled me into a deeper hug. “I’m sorry I encouraged you to tell her. So, she knows she’s going to die, then? Or at least that you think she is?”

  I ran the conversation back through my head and realized I’d never mentioned that. “Actually, no. I told her about her sister and that I saw her.” I paused for a moment. “I get where she’s coming from, but I just—I wish it would have gone better.”

  Even as I said it, I wasn’t sure how much I did understand where Sage was coming from. After all, I hadn’t been through what she had. Sure, I’d lost my dad, but there was always someone there to support me 100 percent. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the overwhelming amount of support I had in my life had clouded my judgement. Everyone I had told about my abilities had accepted them, but with the pain of rejection coursing through my veins now, I finally understood—if only slightly—why my mother insisted I be careful about who I tell.

  “Maybe I took it too far,” I admitted to Robin.

  He didn’t say anything. He just took my hand and led me back to the vehicles next to the pavilion. At the same time, Emma was already making her way toward us.

  “Crystal, are you okay?” she asked once we met up. She rested a hand on my shoulder for comfort. “It didn’t go well, huh?”

  All I could do was shake my head. We reached the vehicles, and I leaned against the band’s van for support.

  “Sage didn’t believe her,” Robin explained in a low voice.

  Emma opened her mouth like she was going to speak, but then she closed it. I figured she was ready to gloat about being right until she noticed how much it was really bothering me.

  Derek showed up next to Emma a second later and placed his arm around her shoulder. “What’s wrong?” he whispered to Robin, who promptly explained the situation.

  I kept my gaze locked on a pebble in the parking lot. Sage’s words played over and over in my head, and for several long minutes, it was the only thing I could focus on. Even my vision blurred as symphonies of You’re crazy played through my mind. Next to me, I was sure my friends were discussing Sage, but I didn’t process anything they said.

  “Crystal.” The sound of my name pulled me back into focus. I looked up to meet Emma’s gaze. “So, how about that date?”

  I forced a half smile. Would that solve anything? Was it fair to enjoy myself when I still didn’t know how Sage was going to die? It felt like in the last hour I’d just taken ten steps backward. I didn’t respond, but my thoughts were clearly written all over my face like normal.

  “You realize you don’t need her to believe you in order to save her, right?” Derek pointed out.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Robin was the one to explain. “Just keep using your abilities, and then be there when it’s going to happen.”

  I blinked a few times, absorbing this idea. “Robin, she’s supposed to die on my mom’s wedding day.” I didn’t know why I felt the need to point this out. On one level, I felt like I couldn’t abandon my mom. On another, I knew I wouldn’t abandon Sage when her life depended on me.

  “You’re right,” I said after a long silence. “I don’t need her to believe me. I just have to figure out what’s going to happen, and then I’ll know how to stop it. At least I know when. I still need to know where and how.”

  Robin smiled at me encouragingly. “That’s what I like to hear,” he said, leaning in and kissing the top of my head. “Remember we’ll always be here to help. We’re all concerned about Sage, but unlike you, we believe in your abilities.”

  I smiled back at him. He was right. Maybe I didn’t need Sage to believe in me, but as long as my friends believed in me and I was just as confident, anything was possible.

  “Like Robin said, we’re all just as worried about Sage as you are.” Somehow I doubted that, but Emma continued. “We’re going to help you save her, but I think you need to take your mind off Sage for a few hours.” Emma sounded strangely like my mom.

  Taking my mind off Sage wasn’t easy, especially because it felt like I’d just pulled a knife out of my heart, but when I snuggled into Robin’s arms in the back seat of Emma’s car, I found the task much easier. I was grateful for all the psychic practice I’d done in the last few months in learning how to control my thoughts and body. It allowed me to put Sage out of my head the way my mom told me I needed to do.

  “So, do we know what we’re doing?” Emma asked as she pulled out of the parking lot.

  “Well, we all just ate,” Derek pointed out, “so I’m not hungry or anything.”

  “Crystal,” Robin asked, “what do you want to do?”

  “Hmm . . .” I thought. “Something fun?”

  “Well, duh,” Emma said from the front seat.

  “A movie?” Derek suggested.

  Robin crinkled his nose. “I don’t know of anything good out right now. We could go bowling or something like that.”

  Emma weaved through the city streets. “Well, I’m going to just keep driving around until someone tells me what to do.”

  Everyone fell silent for a minute as we all pondered ideas. “What about something like laser tag? Or maybe paintball?” I suggested.

  Emma drew in an excited breath. “That sounds like a lot of fun! Is there a place like that around here?”

  “Yeah.” Robin resituated himself closer to Emma to give her directions.

  We drove past the city limits and out to a secluded paintball arena. There was a forest on one side and the familiar flat cornfield of southern Minnesota on the other. The arena itself was spread across an enormous field and dotted with inflatable bunkers. Before I knew it, I was suited up, an employee was handing me equipment, and we were being ushered into the arena. We were up against what must have been a 12-year-old’s birthday party.

  “This is a game of elimination,” the employee explained to us. “Each team will start at their respective bases. From there, you’re free to roam the arena. Once you’ve been hit, you’ll go to the elimination zone,” the guy gestured to a section off the field, “and wait for the next round to start. Everybody good?”

  When no one had anything to say, we entered the field and took our bases. When the employee announced it, the game was on. I stood there like a fool, trying to take in my surroundings. Emma and Derek were already gone, and our enemies had scattered.

  “Crystal,” Robin said in a low voice, “what are you waiting for?”

  I scanned the area again and immediately spotted one of the boys aiming his gun straight for my chest a few bunkers
away.

  “Run,” Robin shouted, pulling me after him. He never was one for physical activity because of his leg, but he managed to react quickly enough to dodge the kid’s paintballs.

  The paintball flew past me as I dove for cover behind a second bunker. I couldn’t help but laugh in relief.

  “What’s so funny?” Robin asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “It’s all about strategy. Follow me.”

  Robin stayed low as he peeked around the corner. I could hear the boys running around the arena and yelling at each other. One was barking orders while the others laughed in exhilaration.

  “This should be easy.” I grinned mischievously. It was only a minute into the fight, and I was already starting to relax. It was easier to put Sage out of my mind when I could channel my feelings in a game of war.

  “I hear one coming,” Robin whispered. “Are you ready?”

  I nodded.

  On his signal, Robin and I jumped from behind our wall of safety.

  Pop, pop, pop.

  Each of Robin’s paintballs hit the boy square in the chest. One of mine managed to catch him in the leg.

  The boy fell to his knees and dropped his gun. “I’ve been shot!” he exclaimed dramatically as he clutched his chest and fell to the ground. In a struggling whisper, he managed to say, “Tell my mother I love her.”

  Robin and I exchanged a glance. Was the kid just taking this thing too seriously, or did we actually hurt him?

  “Dude,” Robin said, standing above him. “Are you okay?”

  The kid opened one eye. In one swift motion, he grabbed his gun, sprung up from the ground, and shot Robin twice in the shoulder.

  “I’m fine, sucker,” the kid shouted before running away.

  I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

  Robin rolled his eyes at me. “Okay, I’m not falling for that one again.” Then he turned to yell at the kid. “That doesn’t count. You were already eliminated!”

  “Awe, but it was funny,” I laughed.

  “Keep laughing and you’re getting one of these,” he wiggled his gun, “straight to the chest.”

  I shut my mouth immediately but couldn’t hide my smile.

  “Come on. Let’s go kick some butt.” Robin took my arm again and led me behind another inflatable bunker. He put his finger to his face to tell me to be quiet.

  At the same moment, I heard footsteps behind me. I whirled around and brought my gun to my shoulder but relaxed when I realized it was just Derek. He was already covered in blotches of paint.

  “You look dead,” I joked.

  “Ha ha,” Derek said sarcastically as he continued on his way to the elimination zone. “Let me know how it feels once you’ve been eliminated.”

  Robin peeked around the side of the bunker to get a good look while I crouched down low, waiting for him to tell me what to do. After what seemed like several minutes, he cocked his finger at me, and I followed behind him. We quickly shuffled across the field and ducked behind another bunker.

  I spotted movement from one of the other team members and fixed my eye on the bunker I thought I saw him dive behind. The next thing I knew, the kid emerged from his hiding spot and began racing straight toward me. I fired a few shots, but they all exploded helplessly in the grass around the kid’s feet.

  “Run.” I pushed at Robin, and we both took off.

  He positioned himself behind a smaller bunker and shot at the boy to cover me while I headed for my own hiding spot. I’d always been a fit person, but as I closed the distance to my target bunker, my breathing quickened and became shallow, like my lungs were closing up.

  Suddenly, the scene shifted around me. The green of the grass faded into the pale gray of concrete, and the bunkers surrounding me transformed into tall buildings. People milled around me, but I pushed through the busy crowd, never slowing. My mind completely detached from the paintball arena. All I knew on this busy street—one I didn’t even recognize—was that if I didn’t keep running, something bad was going to happen to me. I glanced behind me to make sure I wasn’t being followed, but I didn’t see anyone. Still, I sprinted forward to save myself, dodging people the entire way.

  I rounded a corner and finally emerged from the crowd. With a free stretch down the secluded street, I sprinted as fast as I could. It felt like I’d never run so fast in my life the way my legs protested and burned. I took a huge gulp of air, but it felt like a weight was crushing down on my lungs. I couldn’t stop now. I spotted an area of trees and ran for cover.

  A moment later, I found myself back in my paintball gear complete with a gun in my hand, but the arena was gone. I removed my helmet and looked around frantically. What had just happened? Trees surrounded me in a thick forest, but through them, I caught a glimpse of the blue and red bunkers.

  Leaves crunched next to me, and I immediately brought my gun up to my shoulder. I recognized the figure making its way toward me.

  “Robin?” I asked, lowering my weapon. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, slowing his pace until he was standing right next to me. “You just took off, but you were running so fast, I couldn’t catch up. Are you okay?”

  The look on my face must have answered his question because in the next moment, he dropped his gun and pulled me into his arms.

  “Crystal, what’s wrong?”

  I blinked a few times to hold back the tears. “I have no idea. I—I think I just had a vision. I was being chased.”

  “Well, you were being chased,” Robin told me, although there was a hint of sympathy to his voice. “That kid was chasing you down, and then you left the boundaries of the arena, so I came after you.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t mean it like that, Robin. I wasn’t . . . here. I was in the city somewhere, but I didn’t recognize it.”

  “Do you think it has to do with Sage?”

  That hadn’t even occurred to me. “What? I—I don’t know. Why do you think that?”

  “Because your visions always mean something. If not about Sage, then what?”

  I remained silent in his arms for what seemed like several minutes while digesting this and playing the vision back through my head. Maybe if I could talk with Sage again, I could figure out what it meant, but would she talk to me?

  “Maybe it’s, like, a metaphor,” I suggested. “Like, Sage is trying to run away from something, but I mean, I already knew that. She’s clearly trying to escape the memory of her family’s death, and she says she wants to get out of the city once she graduates. But the thing is that she probably won’t talk to me again.”

  “Maybe I could try talking to her.”

  I hugged Robin tighter. “Would you? I mean, I just don’t want her to see me as a freak. She doesn’t have to believe me, but I still feel like I need to be around her to protect her.”

  Robin pushed my hair out of my face. “I’ll try to get her to come around.” Then he took my hand. “Come on. Let’s get back to the arena, and we can turn our stuff in.”

  When we made it back, Emma and Derek were both splattered with paint. Since the kid shot Robin in the shoulder, I was the only one paint-free.

  “Crystal, what’s wrong?” Emma asked immediately.

  “I’ll tell you about it in the car. Can we just go?”

  As we rode home, I realized that my mom was right. Taking the time to relax did help me with my abilities, but I still didn’t know what the vision meant. That sent a nervous shutter throughout my body.

  16

  On Sunday, I spent my time helping my mom with last-minute wedding plans in hopes of taking my mind off Sage again so I’d see something worthwhile, but it didn’t get me anywhere. Mom, Sophie, Diane, and I sat around the kitchen table putting together the centerpieces for the wedding.

  “Sophie? Diane?” They both looked up at me expectantly. “Have either of you two seen anything about Sage?” I kept my gaze on the ribbon I was measuring out. />
  Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Sophie set down her centerpiece. “I’m sorry, Crystal, but I haven’t seen anything except what I felt that first day.”

  “I’ve been trying, too,” Diane said, “but there’s nothing.”

  “And Teddy doesn’t have any more insight?” I asked, although I knew he would have told me if he did.

  My mom shook her head.

  “Maybe we could postpone the wedding,” I joked with a nervous laugh. Would that even work? Melissa said Sage would die when I wore the dress. If we postponed it, all that would do was postpone Sage’s death, and by that point, I may still not have any more answers. My heart sank at the joke. “I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry. But maybe we could hire her a body guard.” I suggested half-seriously. “Or talk to the police.”

  My mom shook her head again. “What would we say? ‘Officer, my daughter and I are psychic, and we need you to protect a girl we know because her dead sister told us to.’”

  I knew how silly it sounded. If we lived in a world of logic, there’d be no real reason to worry about her. No one would believe us if we told them she was in danger.

  “Sweetie.” Sophie inched closer to me, and I raised my head to meet her gaze. “Being psychic is a lot harder than how Hollywood portrays it. With things like this, it’s usually a one-girl mission, which is a shame, and rarely will you be able to control anything you see. But you should know that if you have any questions, we are always here to answer them.”

  “Okay.” I set my project down. “I don’t understand why I can control some things and not others. Like, if I want to find lost keys, I can do it like that.” I snapped my fingers. “If I want to feel someone’s emotions, I can usually do it just by touching them. I can even tell when it’s going to rain. But things like seeing the past and the future, or even ghosts, is totally out of my control. Is there any way to control it?”

  “Crystal,” my mom said, “remember that you’ve only been at this for a few months. I mean, we’re all surprised at how far you’ve come in such a short amount of time.” They all exchanged a glance in agreement. “But it will take you years to be remotely close to controlling things like that. Finding things doesn’t take a lot of energy, but looking into the past and the future is harder.”