The Goddess Crystal

Chapter 7: Control

I run down the path, avoiding the base, before heading towards home. Home. It seems like such a strange word right now.

Silly me; I thought it was wherever Skye was.

The Hospital is deserted; not a trace of human life permeates the streets surrounding it. The sight of the woods behind the building—where both Skye and I got shot—makes the glass shards dig deeper and my stomach heaves.

I'm able to stumble up the hill to the house, still broken and damaged from before, before I collapse near some bushes, a complete crying mess. Bile rises in my throat and I gag. I must look drunk to anyone unfortunate enough to walk by.

"Jillian?"

The familiar voice makes me jump.

"Jillian? Is that you?"

That can't be Skye; he doesn't call me Jillian. No one does, besides my parents and...

"L-Leith?"

The bushes rustle beside me, and I picture him kneeling next to me. I catch myself imagining his face looking concerned.

"Yes, it's me."

I look up, and the look of faint disgust on his face is proof enough as to what I look like right now. A mess.

"What are you doing here?"

A stab of memories punctures my thoughts and I nearly choke. "You...you were right, Leith!"

A smug look crosses his features, but it disappears in confusion. The shard he wears burns purple, lighting both of our faces. "What am I right about?"

"About Skye! You were right, you were completely and utterly right!"

He settles next to me, the crystal turning gold and flickering with black. "I told you so."

He did, so why didn't I listen? "I know."

"And you didn't listen, did you?"

I drop my head in my hands, chest numb and hurting at the same time. My face and eyes sting. "I know. I should've, though."

"Where is that thief now?"

The mere mention of Skye sends me into a crying fit. "How the hell am I supposed to know? I ran and left him back at the Goddess Pond."

Leith eyes are happy. Oddly, it seems wrong as the shard burns a brighter gold. "Hmm."

I shouldn't have expected much more than that. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you. He's such a jerk!"

Leith snorts. "Hardly. He used you," he says, and I wince. "He used you, Jillian, and I'm not sure what else."

"I know."

He gets up, and the crystal returns to a flickering orange. "I have to go, Jillian, or they'll be worried."

"Wait, what? 'They'?" I ask, getting up after him and latching into his arm. Is he really leaving me out here alone? "Don't leave me. Please!"

I the light of the flickering shard, it almost looks like he seems...amused, but that must be a trick of the light. "Really, Jillian, I must leave."

I hug his neck, stretching up to do so, hoping he won't leave. He can't. Tears spill over. Not again. "Don't. Please."

Leith considers it, before putting an arm around my waist, smiling almost smugly. "I'll take you with me, if you want to stay with me so much."

"Yes! Thanks so much! I don't know if I want to be alone right now..." I say, biting my lip nervously. Maybe I shouldn't...But the ice returns, forcing a new round of tears to my eyes.

"Tell me, what did Skye do exactly? It's quite intriguing, actually," he says, pulling me along, sounding sympathetic.

"I-I don't exactly want to talk about it, Leith..."

He sends me a sidelong glance. "You're going to have to tell me, since they're going to ask what happened, Jillian."

I sigh brokenly. "Well, Skye's father, Blackthorn, wanted him to help him get my parents. By going through—" I choke on my words and my knees give way. Leith doesn't catch me and I end up on the ground, bawling. "D-Do I really need to tell y-you?"

He helps me as I get to my feet shakily. "Yes, you do."

"He had to go through me. He used me; I think he even made me fall in love with his, just so he could a bit of information!"

"Are you in love with him?"

My head tells me that I should despise him. That I should be completely consumed with bitter hate. But it's my heart that says, "Yes, I think I am."

The constant pressure of his arm, the warmth of his leather jacket, falls away. "You are?" Leith's shard turns green, orange, but, mostly, purple.

"Yes, I am, but I don't know why..."

Leith stares at me for a few seconds, eyes narrowed, before leading the way down a path that I know leads out of the City and into the mountains. "This way."

"The mountains? Where are we going?"

The wind is my only answer, so I take after him, my breaths coming in hiccups. "Leith! Where are we going?" I follow the glow of the shard, biting my lip, and run smack into him.

"Welcome to the base of the Gems."

The ominous building is short compared to most others, but something about it makes me wonder. "'The Gems'?"

Leith looks over at me, and in the light of the shard, he smiles. I swear his red eyes glow, shielded by his onyx hair. "Haven't you heard? There's a band of rogue warriors who are dedicated to returning someone who supports the Shade Law to office. I am one of those soldiers." His hand flashes to his side, landing on the handle of a handgun resting in its holster. "As I've said, Jillian, welcome."

Usually, this is where I'd skip ahead to tell you the rest of what happened, cutting out any possibly boring parts. Not this time.

I have to jog to follow Leith as he starts to walk towards the two soldiers guarding the entrance, since his height gives him the advantage. "Wait, you're part of them? But your mother—"

Pain explodes in my arm and I find myself on my back with Leith leaning over me, crystal shard pendant dangling over my chest. His face twists in grief and anger, the light turning orange and forget-me-not blue. "Don't talk about Mother like you knew her!"

I scramble backwards, eyes wide and tears momentarily forgotten. "Leith? What—" I cut myself off when he turns and walk away, stopping in front of a guard almost nonchalantly.

What...? I get to my feet slowly, gasping at the pain in my shoulder. What's he do, dislocate it? When my arm feels loose, I grimace and think, maybe. But I wouldn't be able to move, much less walk, because of the pain from a dislocated shoulder. Then I lift my sleeve and see the already darkening skin. Badly bruised, then.

Heavy, dark boots stop in the dirt in my field of vision. Leith. "Come on, they're letting you in." He grabs me by the arm and I swear, because he's holding me by my bad arm, right on the bruise. I try pulling free and only succeed in hurting myself even more. A headache flares behind my eyebrow.

"Could you please let me go? I'm not a damn dog!"

He faces me, a small smile3 on his lips, and tilts my chin up. "Of course you aren't a dog. Did that thief treat you like one?"

Pain stabs my chest and Leith wipes a tear from my cheek I didn't know I shed. "N-No, of course not." I look down as the light turns gold, voice quiet. "I'd rather not talk about it anymore..."

Leith shifts his grasp to my forearm, which is better, I guess. "Okay, we won't. Come on, let's go."

I don't look up as we walk past the guards, but I feel their gazes on me. Broken whispers follow us into the light-filled hall.

Leith finds me a private room. It must have been hard. I notice I don't hear anything from the Goddess here—not a giggle or sigh.

My first night here is pretty okay, I guess, considering.

The next morning, I find Leith after asking around and avoiding the looks sent my way. The pain has subsided, replaced with numbness.

But my arm still hurts.

Leith's outside, in what they call the Crystal Gardens. It connects to a rough patch of road that leads to the dig site. I stop near the entrance to the Gardens, stunned by the spectacle in front of me.

Leith kneels next to a small dog, a stray by the looks of its torn ear. It's grinning that famous doggy smile, leaning into his hand as he scratches its head.

Leith's smirking to himself, and the crystal leaches of color. My eyes widen as it floats away from his chest and hovers loosely in front of his throat.

The dog freezes, growling, and Leith takes his hand back slowly, still smiling smugly. The dog stays in its leaning position, snarling, almost feral. Leith moves his hand slightly to the right and the dog stumbles with it, eyes blank. It's panting like the heat's getting to it.

That is, if there was any heat to begin with, in the slightly chilly spring air.

Leith mutters something I can't hear and the dog barks abruptly, shaking. He laughs.

My mouth tastes bitter as I walk up to him quickly, hoping to stop him. "Leith, what are you doing to that poor dog?"

He looks up at me, and the crystal and dog fall down, the former floating slowly back to his chest and the latter landing with a sickeningly hollow thud. "Oh, nothing, Jillian." He looks down at the dog, patting it on its side, which heaves with painful breaths. "Just working with my Goddess Gem."

I place my hands on my hips as he stands up, dusting his palms. "On a dog? On a living, breathing thing?"

He shrugs, nudging the dog with the toe of his boot. It whimpers. "Of course; no one I asked was willing to a test subject, so I had to get something, right?"

"You asked people if you could control them?"

Leith looks at me, shrugging again and smiling like he's talking to an idiot. "Of course. It would be rude if I did without their permission, wouldn't it?"

"Well, yes, it would, but—"

"So there's nothing to worry about, okay?"

Fog spread in my brain, thick as moss, mopping up thought. "S...sure."

He smiles, walking away and patting me on the shoulder. "Good."

The second he leaves, the dog scrambles to its feet, glances nervously at me, and takes off. The fog dissipates and I realize something.

The crystal went clear when he talked to me.

Tempest Bound: Bad writing is bad. I miss Skye already; he was so fun to write. He really was. Opinion's on Leith's...personality?

Harvest Dragon, you're glimpsing at what I did to poor Leith. Just a small peek into what he's turned into and what part he plays in the story. T^T I'm sorry, but this is how he acts now...