Crystal Heart

by Whitney Morris

  “Greg, is everything all right?”

  “Yes, fine—well, not really. Three leprechauns tried to abduct Mellissa.”

  “What? Is she all right?” There was worry in her voice.

  “Yes, Victoria turned them all to ice.”

  “She must be very strong to take on three high-level magic users on her own. Especially considering the brute strength of leprechauns.”

  “That’s the thing—they weren’t high-level magic users. They shouldn’t have been able to cross the veil.”

  “This is very disturbing news. I thought you and the keeper would be safe in the human world. Maybe you should all come back here where I can assign guards to you.”

  “No!” exclaimed Mellissa.

  “Lady Mellissa?” Lady Gabrielle sounded surprised.

  “I’m sorry,” Mellissa said, “but I can’t leave my dad, and this is my home.”

  “I understand, but your safety is what concerns me.”

  “Victoria is perfectly capable of keeping me safe.”

  “This is a one-off incident at the moment,” Greg said. “We need more information before making decisions, like how they got here and who sent them. For now, I will cast some protection spells around the house, and Mellissa is always with one of her guardians when out.”

  “Very well,” Lady Gabrielle replied. “I will look into this matter myself. Do not go anywhere alone. Watch each other’s backs.”

  “Yes, Lady Gabrielle.” Greg ended the call and sent the device back upstairs. Hopefully, Lady Gabrielle would be able to get answers for them. This attack made no sense. Greg clenched his fist. If he hadn’t lost Mellissa in that club, they never would’ve got their hands on her. If he was a better teacher, she would’ve been able to better defend herself.

  Victoria got up. “Right, I will go grab some stuff from home and let my parents know I’m staying here.”

  “What? No,” Mellissa said. “It’s Christmas tomorrow. You should be with your family.”

  “This is important.” Victoria sighed. “They will understand.”

  Mellissa took Victoria’s hand. “I would feel terrible if you missed Christmas with your family. I’ll be fine with the protection spells Greg is putting up.”

  Victoria pushed her fringe to the side. “Fine, but if there is any danger, you teleport without hesitating.”

  Mellissa nodded.

  The front door banged shut. “Mellissa,” Mr. Hail yelled. “Sorry I’m so late, but I brought Chinese.”

  He walked into the kitchen, briefcase in one hand and a white carrier bag in the other. The smell of sweet sauce wafted across the room. Mellissa got up and took the white bag from him and placed it on the kitchen counter.

  He put his briefcase down. “Hello, Victoria. I didn’t realise you would be here. Where’s your brother?”

  Mellissa slammed a pile of plates down on the kitchen counter, making them all jump.

  “He caught a tummy bug,” Victoria said.

  “Oh, I hope he feels better soon. Will you be staying for a late dinner?”

  “I was just going. I’ll see you guys later. Mellissa, remember what I said.”

  Mellissa didn’t look away from the plates she was tightly gripping. Greg got up from the table. “I’ll walk you out.” Greg followed Victoria out of the house. “Will you help me with the protection spells before you go? The extra power will strengthen the spell.”

  “Wouldn’t Mellissa’s power be better to strengthen the spell?”

  “I don’t want her magical aura anywhere near this. It’s very distinctive, and I don’t want them tracking her.”

  “Makes sense. Let’s get this over with then.”

  The two of them made their way around the house, chanting five different protection spells. The combination of their magic made for a strong spell. The magic was even better than when he worked with Samson. Hopefully, it would be enough to keep any unwanted visitors out. He waved as Victoria left and went back inside. Mellissa and her dad were already at the table eating. There was a plate of food left for him. Mr. Hail tried to make conversation, but Mellissa only gave one-word answers. They spent the rest of the evening in awkward silence.

  When Greg finally went up to bed, he found himself lying awake, staring at the ceiling. He kept going over the evening’s events in his head and what would have happened if Victoria hadn’t intervened when she did. They would have taken Mellissa, and it would have been all his fault for not training her properly. He had to get back on track with her lessons. More importantly, he needed to teach her how to effectively defend herself. He needed to be stricter and stop letting her procrastinate. Maybe he should re-enlist the Streets. Victoria was a trained fighter, and she had a way of making Mellissa stay on track. Greg sighed, putting his arm over his head. He had been such an idiot. Maybe his father had been right—he was letting his relationship with Mellissa affect his judgement.

  The door creaked open. “Greg,” whispered Mellissa.

  He sat up. “What’s wrong?” He heard the door click shut. She didn’t say anything. He could just about see her silhouette in the dark by the door. “Mellissa?”

  “I—I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Neither could I.”

  “It’s just, I can’t get what happened out of my head. I’m such an idiot.” She was talking fast. “And I’m sorry. I should take training more seriously. If I listened more, I wouldn’t be so useless, and I wouldn’t constantly have to be saved.”

  Greg marched across the room and pulled her into his arms. “You are not useless, and you have nothing to be sorry for.”

  She laid her head on his chest and dug her fingers into his back. “But if you and Victoria hadn’t been there—”

  “But we were. If I hadn’t lost you on the dance floor—”

  She looked up at him. Her eyes shimmered in the dark. “But that wasn’t your fault.”

  “And none of what happened was yours.” They stood in silence for a moment. Greg could feel Mellissa’s heart beating against him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he shivered. He never wanted to let her go.

  Mellissa put her hand on his chest and stepped back. “Greg, tell me about council procedures and regulations.”

  “Why would you want me to tell you that?”

  “Because neither of us can sleep, and it’s so boring. I’m sure it will send us both off in no time.”

  Greg awoke nice and early as always. It was still dark out. Everything was silent except for the tiny snores of Mellissa. She had been right. Once he started talking protocol, it hadn’t taken long for her to drift off. Greg rolled onto his side. She looked so peaceful. His arm had gone numb where she rested on it. He gently tugged it from under her and shook it until the feeling returned. He could have lain like that for hours, but he needed to get her back to her own room. Gently shaking her shoulder, he whispered her name.

  She rolled away from him. “Go away, Greg. I’m not training till the sun’s up.” What happened to her saying she should have listened to him more?

  He tried again. “Mellissa, you need to go back to your room. I’m pretty sure you’re breaking your dad’s rules.”

  She turned to look at him. “What?” She rubbed her eyes and pushed herself up on her elbows. Her eyes widened. “Oh crap. What time is it?”

  Greg picked his watch up off the bedside table. “Five.”

  “Seriously, is that it?” She lay back down. If she didn’t care, then neither did he. Greg went to lie back down when she shot up, pushing his shoulder. “Oh my God! It’s Christmas!”

  She ran out of the room. Greg heard a few doors bang, then Mr. Hail yell, “Mellissa, aren’t you getting too old for this?”

  “Never,” Mellissa shouted.

  Greg got up and almost collided with Mellissa as she ran back into his room. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room. Mr. Hail was in his bedroom doorway shaking his head. Mellissa led him to the kitchen. She handed him bars of chocolate
and milk and pulled out a bunch of pans, placing them on the stove.

  “What are you doing?” Greg asked.

  “Making the ultimate hot chocolate.” Mellissa ran about the kitchen, pulling items from cupboards and the fridge. Mr. Hail walked in, and Mellissa handed him a load of stuff. “My dad makes the best pancakes. You’re gonna love ’em.”

  Mr. Hail began mixing some stuff in a bowl, and Mellissa took the chocolate from Greg and broke it up, placing it in a glass bowl sat on top of a pan of simmering water.

  Greg leant over her. “Now what are you doing?”

  She pushed him toward the table. “You know what? You just sit down as we don’t want breakfast burnt.”

  “I burnt one batch of cookies.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Stay away from the cooking.”

  Greg did as he was told. After a while, the smell of melted chocolate filled the kitchen. Once Mellissa was done, Mr. Hail took over use of the stove. He put a pan on the stove, and it began to sizzle. Mellissa skipped over and handed Greg a mug of hot chocolate. He took a sip. It was sickly sweet. He could see why she liked it.

  After eating a massive pile of pancakes, they retired to the living room, where they exchanged gifts. Mellissa seemed overjoyed with a pair of earrings her dad gave her. Greg didn’t get what the point was. Surely you didn’t need some winter celebration to give gifts to those you cared about. And although breakfast had been nice, he didn’t understand its significance either. Maybe he would never understand human customs, but he could at least appreciate that they were important to them. Mellissa sat next to him and handed him a box.

  “What’s this?”

  “A present.”

  “But I didn’t get you anything.”

  She rolled her eyes. “That’s not how this works. It’s nothing special—just a notebook and a pen so you can see how us normal people write. Besides, I’m pretty sure you already got me a quill and this chain.” She pulled the Heart Crystal out from under her top.

  Mr. Hail arched his eyebrow. “I wondered where that necklace came from.”

  Mellissa jumped up. “Here, Dad. Open your other present.” She handed him a box.

  He gave her a suspicious look but didn’t question her further. Greg turned his gift over and opened it. It was a notebook and a pen. Like she said, it was nothing special, but it put a smile on his face. Christmas was weird.

  Mellissa

  I scream as I’m grabbed from behind. My arms are pulled together. They think that means I can’t summon light, but they are wrong. I surround myself in light. My attacker yells and backs away. I spin around, throwing my arm out, shooting vines and binding my attacker. I stand over him. He is a young leprechaun.

  “Who are you?” I demand.

  He spits at me. “I do not answer to you.”

  “Freya.” Ivan comes running to me, followed by a group of guards. He clasps my shoulders. “Are you all right? Why didn’t you call for help?”

  “I am fine. I have things under control.”

  The guards surround the boy. “What shall we do with him?” asks one of the guards.

  “Take him to the dungeons. I will question him later,” replies Ivan.

  “The time of the elves is coming to an end,” yells the boy as he is dragged away.

  A darkness falls over Ivan’s face as he grips his sword at his side. I place my hand on his arm. “Ivan, he is just a boy.”

  “A boy that tried to kill you.”

  “But failed.”

  “Freya, as your guardian, I insist you call for help the instant danger arises.”

  “I thought the point of your crazy training was so I didn’t have to.”

  “It is. It’s just—” His shoulders droop as he looks at the ground.

  I take his hand. “I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself. Believe in me and your training.”

  He squeezes my hand and nods.

  I was rudely awoken by a very annoying rabbit bouncing on my bed. Light shimmered through the gap in my curtain. At least he’d waited for sunrise, but I wasn’t getting up. Rolling over, I kicked him off. “Go away.”

  My cover was pulled off, sending a cold blast over my skin. Greg had hold of it, back in human form. “We need to train.”

  I grabbed the other end of my quilt and pulled. “How dare you? That was pure evil.” I fell backward as he let go.

  “Seriously, Mellissa, have you forgotten what happened only a couple of days ago?”

  A shiver ran through my body. I had not forgotten. How could I? “No.”

  “Good, then get dressed and meet me downstairs so we can go to the Streets.”

  He walked out, leaving me on my bed with my quilt piled on top of me. Throwing my quilt to the side, I got up. I went to the bathroom and got in the shower. Even with the hot water running over me, I felt a cold chill. There was a darkness. Maybe it was just my fear of the leprechauns playing tricks on my mind. Lady Gabrielle was looking into the movements of the leprechauns, but we hadn’t heard anything from her. I needed to be better prepared if they tried to kidnap me again. At least they wanted me alive—for now, anyway.

  I got out of the shower and dressed in comfy leggings and an oversized T-shirt—an outfit I didn’t mind getting ruined by magic. When I entered the kitchen, Greg handed me a bowl of cereal and a glass of juice. “Eat up.”

  I downed the juice and sat at the table, eating my cereal. “Do we have to go to the Streets’? It’s cold out.”

  “You can teleport, Mellissa.”

  “Right. What about my dad?”

  “I’m pretty sure I heard him leave for work already.”

  Of course, the only time my dad got off this time of year was Christmas Day. This wasn’t what was really bothering me anyway. I didn’t want to run into Matt. I wasn’t ready for the excuses he had for why he’d ditched me the other day.

  “Why don’t you want to go to the Streets’? Victoria will be waiting for us.”

  Victoria, not Matt. “No reason,” I said, putting my empty bowl in the sink. I took his hand. “Shall we go?” He nodded, and I teleported directly to the training hall.

  “It’s about time you got here,” Victoria said. She threw a staff at me, grabbed another and twirled it around. “The aim of the game is to stay standing.”

  “What, no warm-up?”

  “This is the warm-up.” She ran at me. I yelled, running in the opposite direction. She caught me in no time and swung her staff at my legs, knocking me flat on my face. Greg helped me up. “Don’t help her. She didn’t even try,” yelled Victoria.

  Greg shrugged. “At least she didn’t stand still.”

  “I would hardly call that progress.”

  “Well, we should train her for a few hours, then you can play again.”

  “Fine.” She snatched the staff off me and placed them back on the stand. She pulled a lever, and the ground shook. Targets rose up from the floor.

  “Target practice. I’ll demonstrate.” She curled her fingers, and an ice cloud appeared around her hand. Throwing her arms out, she took out the first row of targets with a quick succession of ice shards. Greg pressed a button, and the next row moved forward. “Your turn.” She stepped to the side and pushed me into place. I could do this. Focusing on the burning ball of power inside me, I formed a ball of light in my hand. I threw it at a target and completely missed, hitting the back wall. I tried again with the same result. It took me six goes to brush the side of a target.

  “Wow, your aim sucks,” said Victoria. She took my arm. “You need to be more confident in your movements. Also, don’t look at the target. Look just past it.” She demonstrated how amazing she was at this again, then stepped aside for me to try. We kept going until I finally hit all the targets. I may not have knocked all the targets clean off their stands like Victoria, but I had hit them.

  “Next, we will work on your barriers,” Greg said. “We know you can cast the spell, but remember, you can trap people in
side barriers as well as protect yourself with them.” I nodded. “Your task is to make it from one end of the hall to the other without getting hit. I’ll demonstrate.” He went and stood at the far end of the hall. “Victoria, try and hit me.”

  A devilish grin appeared on her face. “There will be no try. Three, two, one.” Victoria fired off a reel of ice blasts. Greg ran, and I lost sight of him in the mist of ice. Victoria stamped her foot, and the mist cleared. Greg didn’t have a shred of ice on him.

  “Your turn,” he said.

  “I didn’t exactly see what you did because of the mist,” I said.

  “Get to the other side of the wall before I turn you into an icicle,” Victoria snapped.

  “Fine.” I shuffled to the start point.

  “Three, two, one.”

  I ran, and Victoria fired at me. I threw up a barrier. The ice hit, and it shattered. More ice flew at me, and I was knocked to the ground. I groaned at the pain. Victoria pointed at the start point. I pushed myself up, and we started over. She counted down again, and I ran. I made it halfway across before she knocked me over again. We did the drill over and over, but I never made it any farther than halfway.

  I lay on the floor, looking up at the high ceiling. Victoria had just knocked me down again. My whole body ached. I was sure I had bruises all over. Greg sat beside me. “Time for a break. Victoria has gone upstairs to get some food.”

  “How did you do it?”

  He smiled. “I put a barrier around her. Of course, she broke out, but it bought me time to form a more solid barrier to protect myself.” I sat up, staring at him, open-mouthed. “I did tell you barriers could be used to trap others.”

  That’s true, but I hadn’t seen his demonstration properly because of the mist. They had done that on purpose. At least, Victoria had. “You two are such cheaters.”