Foreword

The Crystal II

 

BY OHMYJONES

 

 

Hi! The second book is here! Enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE

 

One week later

 

Third person's P.O.V

The former Queen of Crystalia burst through the entrance of the main study room in the castle. A couple of guards stationed around the hallway she walked through stared in curiosity before quickly regaining their emotionless expressions.

"Erick!" the woman's voice boomed in the room. Her son was perched up on a seat with a table in front of him, reading a book about Crystalia's history. When he heard his mother's voice, he turned to face her.

"Yes, mother?" he replied with raised eyebrows.

Elizabeth growled, her hair whipping past her as she strode into the room towards her son.

Once she was near Erick, she asked: "What did you do?"

The Prince already knew what his mother was talking about. He sighed, closing the book and placing it on the table as he turned his form to fully face his mother.

"It was necessary," he replied. "She tried to kill Liam. You know, that guy from the Ordinary Brothers."

"This is crazy!" his mother boomed again. "Why is it that I am hearing of this now?"

Elizabeth was worried about Emery's well-being. About a minute ago, she had heard about her being in jail in Australia. She wanted her out, but she first planned to talk to her son. Seeing that he knew about the issue made her more furious than she already was.

"It's because I knew you would act like this," replied Erick. "You believe that Emery is a nice girl, but you don't know the truth. She has been lying to us!"

Elizabeth raised a hand, halting her son from speaking more.

"And you believe all that?" she questioned with an angry expression. "You believe that Emery slapped a girl... okay, that I can believe. Let me rephrase that. You believe that she faked her own attempted murder and tried to kill Liam just because she wants revenge on her bullies?"

The Prince did not reply, the silence an answer to the Queen.

"She is not like that!" she defended Emery. "Will you do anything to solve this issue?"

The Prince remained silent.

"Fine, ignore me. But I am going to see her," the Queen turned to exit the room when her son spoke.

"No, you aren't," Erick deadpanned. Elizabeth stopped in her tracks. She had reached the door when the Prince spoke.

"What did you just say to me?" she asked, the fury barely hidden in her voice. "I am your mother! I raised you, and you have no right to control what I do!"

"Yes, I do," Erick deadpanned again. "I am now the King of Crystalia, and I can do what I seem fit to protect us!" he said with a serious expression.

"Guards!" he called out to those protecting the castle.

Instantly, a couple of the castle guards came to the room.

"This is outrageous, Erick!"

"Keep an eye on my mother and follow her wherever she goes," the king said, ignoring his mother. "Make sure she does not communicate with the crystal."

"Yes, your Majesty," the guards replied. Elizabeth's eyes shone in the lighting of the room, showing the presence of tears threatening to pour from her eyes.

"Erick, I beg you not to do this. It's Emery. You've grown up with her, and we all consider her as part of our family! Please reconsider."

The king ignored his mother, pretending to read the book he had placed on the table.

"Fine. Continue ignoring me. I still don't believe all this crap I've been hearing about Emery."

"Mother--" Erick started, but the Queen cut him off.

"I pray for your sake that you are right, my son. I hope that you are completely sure of what you are doing. If you aren't, you will come to regret this," with that, Erick's mother sighed, leaving the room with a couple of guards behind her.

Erick would be lying if he said that his mother's words did not disturb him. He had been sure that Emery was the one who was at fault, but then, he did not feel certain about that.

His mother's words made him rethink about what he had done to Emery.

 

Emery's P.O.V

 

The sound of a toilet flushing awakened me from my nightmare. I turned, seeing a woman in an orange jumpsuit who had finished shitting in the toilet near us. There was a putrid stench from the mess she had left.

In front of me was the door to my cell. Around me were gray brick walls that had dirt on them. I was in a twin bunk bed where I lay on the bottom one.

The nightmare I just had was of me being arrested and having no one coming to save me. It was then that I recalled it wasn't a nightmare; it was my new reality.

It had been a week ever since I was arrested. I had to agree it was the saddest week of my life. When I was taken into the prison station, I had been imprisoned immediately.

There wasn't even a talk about a court hearing!

Within hours after arrival, I had my mugshots captured as I was crying while pleading innocence. Of course, no one listened to me.

They must have gone through that a lot to be immune from my cries.

After that, my fingerprints were dipped in ink and pressed onto a folder as I was registered in the Australian prison.

Yes, Australian. Just in case people forgot where I was.

I was then told to change into a pair of baggy orange clothes. It consisted of an orange T-shirt and a pair of orange trousers; the typical prison garments I only saw on TV. Then I was escorted to my prison cell.

I recalled my first time passing through that place. It stunk of sweat and feces.

One would think that a women's prison will be like a clean motel, but I was mistaken.

I had stopped crying by then, scared of the women who looked at me as I was being escorted into a cell. Some even looked with lustful stares! I prayed I wouldn't be stuck with them.

Then I recalled I had no choice in the matter.

I recalled the police officers telling me I was sentenced to life imprisonment. Then I cried again.

In a somewhat lucky-unlucky way, I was stationed in a cell with a bald woman who had scary tattoos on her arms. She looked to be in her thirties. The lucky part was that I did not have to worry about being raped by her.

The unlucky part... let's just say she was a huge fan of the Ordinary Brothers. She had a stolen radio and a couple of their posters, and she even heard about what had happened to Liam. In fact, when I walked into the prison cell, the announcer at some station mentioned my name. I gulped, fearing that she knew who I was, but she didn't.

I thought I was lucky, but my new prison mate came to find out on the next day.

That was how my awful week began.

Sure, I could complain about the horrible food, but I didn't mind it. I was too stunned by the events that had led me being in prison. What made things worse was that every person in the prison station found out who I was and were angry with me. They knew the boys; most of them were their fans.

To recall in pure disgust, I had heard some say they wouldn't mind sleeping with them. I also remembered them asking me why I would try to kill a music prodigy.

Then that was quickly followed by a beating I would never forget.

I could have decided to fight for myself, which I did.

Worst mistake ever.

Many of the women knew how to fight, and one could imagine what followed.

To summarize because I would hate to delve into the memory second by second, there was hair pulling, kicking, and a lot of punching.

Seriously.

I recalled the awful swellings on my stomach, the awful pain I experienced when my head was bashed against hard surfaces time and time again, and the insults hurled at me. I even learned new ones and added them to my own personal dictionary.

Bitch.

Cunt.

Pussy.

Asshole.

Slut.

You name them.

And what the hell did I do? What would one do when they found themselves in such a situation?

Well, I did the only reasonable solution.

I accepted them.

I accepted everything the women did to me. It was no use struggling with them because they would do worse things to me. I allowed their beatings. I allowed their insults, and I began believing I deserved them. The beatings were so bad, I even wondered why I hadn't died yet.

I wanted to. I really wanted to. I wanted my pain to go away. My pride was lost, I had no friends, and I had nothing left to live for.

And so, that was where I found myself, lying on my bunk bed while thinking about killing myself. It would have been so easy. I wouldn't have had purple eyes, a broken nose, broken wrists, cuts and bruises on my body.

The worst part was I couldn't even use my magic! I tried when the beatings started, and that was when I knew.

My powers were deactivated.

It was ironic. I was a crystal, and yet the rulers of Crystalia had the power to control my magic.

At first, I had believed it was my emotions getting the better of me again. When I tried after the beatings, I knew for sure I couldn't use my powers.

Why would they do that? Did they even know what happened to a person in prison? Did they even know that everyone had to fend for themselves and be ready for anyone to attack?

Did they hate me that much to do that?

Then something clicked in my brain. I replayed the memories of the last two months. They all revolved around Bianca, sure, but those who were with me should have known that she was bad. Why didn't they see that? And why were they quick to place the blame on me? In fact, why did Bianca hate me? Why did she go through so much trouble to have me hated? Why didn't Selena, Justin and Erick visit me? Why didn't the Queen visit me? Why didn't they come to bail me out?

I thought they knew me. I thought I was family to them. I thought...

I thought wrong.

I was suddenly tired. I was so tired of all the repeated moments of sadness. Pitying myself, crying, blaming myself and accepting everything the inmates did to me... I was tired.

What did I do wrong? Was I not that likeable? Did they hate me?

All those questions that led me to believe I was the problem...

I was so fucking tired.

And so, at the moment, I stopped crying. There had been an emotion that was trying to push through. I had been holding it back for the whole week, and I realized it was stupid of me to do so.

I let the emotion take control of me, and I allowed myself to be angry.

I replayed the events that had happened that led me to be without anyone. Instead of crying, I got so angry.

I was angry with everyone I knew. No one had listened to me. No one was there for me when I needed them.

No one cared enough to even visit me in prison!

My brows furrowed as I stared angrily at the bunk bed above me.

They freaking put me here!

They believed everything the awful bitch had said about me. They didn't believe any word that came out of my lips.

Why?

Maybe it was because they didn't love me. Maybe it was because they didn't want me around.

Maybe it was because they used you. They didn't care about you Emery. They never loved you.

The thought came once again in my mind, but I hesitated in believing it.

Those people who claim to love you betrayed you.

If possible, my anger grew hot to the temperatures of a volcano.

I was angry and I wanted to cry for being so stupid!

I didn't deserve prison. I had done nothing wrong.

To hell with what everyone said. To hell with what the evidence and what the media said!

I was done with all the bull crap. I was done with letting everyone get to me.

They didn't freaking care!

If they thought I was going to let them walk over me again, they thought wrong.

I needed to get out. I was not going to stay in a cell for the rest of my life.

But how would I get out?

I closed my eyes as I thought of what to do. It took me a while, but the solution came to me.

I slowly stood up from the bed, walking towards the wall in front of me. I

My sight shook, and I realized it was because my body was shaking with anger.

Everyone believed I was bad, an evil person, yet I was still a Crystalian. I knew for a fact that as a crystal, I was important to them. If they ever needed me, I had a gut-wrenching feeling that they would just temporarily pull me out of prison for their own gain before putting me back.

Not going to happen.

I was going to leave them. I was going to be a lone witch and decide my own destiny.

Fuck what the books of Crystalia said about a crystal. I did not sign up to become a mat. I was going to disappear, have everyone's minds jumbled up about my whereabouts.

I bet the erwiches would love that.

Let them deal with their problems themselves. They should learn not to mess with me.

I felt my lips pull to form a satisfied smirk. My mind was made up. I felt certain that every witch was told about the allegedly bad crystal, and I knew they wanted nothing to do with her.

Well, they were going to get their wish. Only, it would have some consequences.

I closed my eyes and chanted a spell I had accidentally found years ago. I told myself to forget it, but it stuck in my head.

Oh, the beauty of reverse psychology...

I felt the wind blow around me, whipping my hair sideways. I felt a part of me split, like a quarter of me, but with no pain. The ground shook below me, and I thought I heard screams from every corner of the prison. I took a peek between my eyelids, noticing that the ground was truly shaking. The prison lights were also flickering on and off.

Wow. There was an earthquake just because I was leaving Crystalia!

After a short while, the earthquake stopped.

I turned, meeting eye-to-eye with the person on the bunk bed. Her brown eyes were widened in fear.

I extended my arm, summoning a fireball on my palm. It appeared, and when I summoned it away, it vanished.

I smiled as I watched the woman get more scared than ever.

I was going to enjoy this.

I went to throw a fireball at her, but then I stopped. I realized she had her own hell in the prison to deal with.

Killing her would just be giving her an out.

However, she knew I was a witch. Well, she could keep that secret. I knew that if she told someone, they wouldn't believe her.

She had no evidence.

I chanted a spell that made the woman fall asleep instantly. I lay back on my own bed with a satisfied smile.

On the next day, I would get out of prison by my own means. Besides, it wouldn't be hard since I got my powers back.

Erick better hope I wouldn't expose witches in the process.

***********************************************************************************************

"Hey, you!" a woman's voice shouted before a tapping sound filled the cell. "Someone's bailed you out!"

My eyes opened, staring at a policewoman who had a long gun on her left arm. I had no doubt she was the one who had woken me.

I got out of the bunk bed and stared at the guard. She opened the cell door before coming inside to observe the other prisoner. Noticing she was still sleeping, the guard turned to face me.

"Let's go."

With that, I followed her out of the prison cell.

I was surprised someone had come to bail me out.

Took them long enough.

I wondered what had made them do that. I had a feeling it was Erick and his mother. Maybe they knew about me becoming a lone witch, and they wanted to push me into reclaiming my identity as a Crystalian. If it was them, I would gladly teleport away and resume my life elsewhere.

The guard and I passed through the prison hallway where I saw the other women who beat me up. I smirked at them while they glared at me.

"You'll be back, honey," someone said as I followed the guard.

No way. No freaking way.

The guard led me to a place where I could change my clothes. I wore the ones I had when I came to the prison. When I was done, I was led towards the exit of the prison, having a calm expression on my face when I was truly furious.

Who I saw was not who I expected. Instead of seeing Erick and his posse, I faced two serious people.

One of them was a man. He had black hair and brown eyes. He had a cream complexion, and he had worn a black shirt with a pair of blue jeans. The other one was a girl. She had blonde hair, lightly tanned skin and gray eyes. Then I realized they looked familiar...

"Do I know you?" I asked the both of them. They faced each other before facing me with a knowing smirk.

"Hi, I'm Ashley," the girl replied. The name seemed familiar, and I wondered why.

Then it clicked.

"I remember you!" I said with a shocked expression. "You were there with me... in that concert in Scotland!"

The girl nodded with a smile.

"And I'm Josh," the man greeted me with an extended hand. I extended mine and shook his in greeting. He too looked familiar. I recognized his face from Crystalia's history books, but it seemed impossible...

"I'm the third crystal," he explained. My eyes widened in disbelief.

So that's where I knew him from!

"But, how are you even here?" after a while, I managed to ask him. He shrugged in reply.

"Usually, there is a crystal to help the newly-selected one in discovering their special powers. However, since the previous one passed away, I was chosen."

Oh, my dad.

I frowned at the memory of him because I missed him. Then something came to mind.

"Who chose you? And why did they send you?" I questioned. "No offence, but couldn't they have sent my father instead of you?"

"The first two crystals sent me here. They believed that bringing your dad would rekindle old memories and relations. It would cause you great sadness because he would only be here for a short time, just like I am."

I frowned at his words before looking down at the ground. Then I looked back up at him.

"So, you're to be some kind of coach to me?" I asked.

"What?" he asked in puzzlement.

"Try to use simple words," Ashley advised. "He doesn't know how much things have changed in this era."

My mouth formed an 'O' in understanding.

"I will be your mentor," Josh said. "I will teach you things that you have not discovered about your potential. I will guide you on how to use your powers for your benefit and for the witches."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"Leaving Crystalia does not mean that you have no responsibility for the welfare of the witches," he answered, shocking me that he knew I chanted the spell to separate me from that wretched place.

"It also concerns the humans. Emery, I do understand your current predicament," he spoke as he stared at me, "and I do know that you are innocent."

A smile tugged on my lips. I turned to face Ashley, and she too nodded her head in agreement.

"Your lessons start immediately," Josh continued. "We need to leave for a secluded area designated to us by the Queen."

I turned to face him with shocked eyes.

"The Queen?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied, and he gave me a grim face before he continued.

"She would have come here immediately after you were taken into this awful place. However, she was not informed by her son, the new king."

Oh. I missed Erick's inauguration. But that did not matter. He was a huge ass to me.

"She came to find out days later, and when she tried to come for you, he forbade it."

"WHAT?" I boomed out in question. Erick could do that?

What was I saying? Of course, he could do that! He was king!

I was very angry with him for another reason at the moment.

"Ashley and I had been looking for you for the past month, but we didn't know you were in a... hospital?" he said in a question, turning to face Ashley who nodded in confirmation.

"Why didn't you tell me when we were in Scotland?" I asked the girl.

"You looked like you were having fun. Besides, your mom had just passed away. We weren't going to ambush you with this information in an instant," she explained, and I understood.

"Just saying. You could have saved me a lot of misery," I commented, and she gave me a bored look.

"Look, I'm sorry. It wouldn't have mattered anyway because I was still grieving for my mother."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Ashley and Josh said at the same time. I just nodded, willing to push the memories of my mother to the back of my mind.

"Okay, so it is obvious that Erick does not want me around Crystalia anymore and that he banned his mother from seeing me. What are we going to do next?" I asked with a calm expression, even though it was eating at my insides.

"We are to leave for our secret location now."

I nodded, following them until I remembered something.

"Wait!" they had turned to leave when I shouted at them. "Could we go to my apartment to get a few things?"

***********************************************************************************************

'APARTMENT AVAILABLE FOR RENT'

Those were the words I came across to when I arrived at my former New York home. I tried to open the door, but then I realized that the door was locked.

No, no, no... please no...

My heart was beating fast as I melted the door knob with a fireball and forcefully moved past it. I came to a stop when I saw how my former home looked like.

It was all empty. Nothing was left.

I recognized the place where the oven was. I would sometimes cook with my mom while we told stories about how our days went.

"This does not look good," Ashley commented.

I kept moving through the apartment. I was met with a lot of empty spaces.

There was nothing. There was literally nothing.

I came to stop in the kitchen. Ashley and Josh were confused as they looked at me.

A silent cry escaped my lips as I collapsed on the floor before sobs racked my form.

Everything was gone...

"Emery!" I heard the conjoined shouts of Josh and Ashley as they approached my form. They enveloped me in a hug as I cried.

They took everything away.

There was nothing left of my mother. Nothing!

I cried harder, realizing that the only thing left of my mom was her corpse in a grave, and that was in Crystalia, where I was undoubtedly banned from entering again.

I continued crying.

Who rented out the apartment?

It was after a short while of crying that I recalled Selena and I were the only ones who lived in the apartment.

It became clear who had rented out the apartment.

I was angered by that. Add that to the other reasons I was angry, and that could cause an explosion strong enough to wipe out an entire city.

My secret stash...

I moved to get out of the enveloped hug. Ashley and Josh were confused about this, and so they retracted from the hug. I quickly levitated to the ceiling.

I felt Ashley's and Josh's eyes on me, no doubt wondering what I was doing.

One of the advantages of levitation was the ability to reach the ceiling. I had created an easy-to-cover hole where I would hide important things.

That included documents.

I went to the hidden hole and took out a large brown envelope.

Levitating back to the floor, I opened the envelope and took out one of the documents.

"What is this?" Josh asked as he stared at it.

"My new credit card," I explained, earning a look of confusion from him.

"Credit card?"

After my mother's passing, there was the issue regarding her life insurance and savings. She deposited them in my account with a note explaining that I was in charge of them and that I could share with Selena.

I emphasize on the word could.

That bitch wasn't getting any, especially after what she had done to me and the house.

Also, she was starting a career in music. That career paid more money than the amount my mother had left me.

"Let's go," I told Ashley and Josh, wiping the drying tears away. There were more threatening to come out, but I forced them back.

While leaving the house, I took a look at my empty apartment one last time.

If I ever saw Selena again, she better hope I wouldn't beat her up for selling the apartment.

 

 

CHAPTER TWO

Third Person's P.O.V

 

It was night in Crystalia, and the sky brought a dim lighting that barely illuminated the objects that were around the castle. 

It had been hours after the talk that Elizabeth had with her son. Erick was still in his seat, his mind not moving on from what his mother had said. He was also saddened because his mother was angry with him.

Why should I doubt my actions? The dreams were specific!

It took him a while to conclude the issue with Emery. Erick decided his mother was wrong. He was standing firm with the dream, and he was not going to allow other people to sway him from being certain.

Then suddenly, an earthquake interrupted his thoughts. There was a groaning sound in the room that was accompanied by rattling from the shelves. Erick lost his footing, falling and landing on his front. 

He grunted on impact as he turned to look at his table. The book he had been was vibrating. It was maneuvering towards the edge of the table, threatening to fall.

Erick went down under his table and took a squatting position, waiting for the tremors to subside. They lasted a few seconds, and when they ceased, he crouched away from the table.

Once he stood up, he heard footsteps approaching.

"Did you feel that?" it was Justin who asked, and he had entered with a frightened Selena.

Erick took a short moment to stare at Selena before bringing his attention to his brother.

"Yes," he replied. Justin and Erick's mother graced them with her presence as she entered the main study room.

"Your Majesty," Selena greeted her, but Elizabeth ignored her. She was angry with her and her sons for what they did to Emery. Selena frowned at the lack of response from her.

"Your Majesty?" Selena said.

"Don't even bother," Erick replied. "She knows what happened with Emery, and she is angry with us for doing what we did."

Selena frowned, moving away from the Queen and towards Justin.

"Anyway, what could have caused the earthquake?" Selena asked.

The Queen stared expectantly at them, waiting to see if they would figure out the issue.

"Maybe the erwiches did this," Selena suggested. In the background, the Queen rolled her eyes.

"It wasn't the erwiches," Justin said. "It couldn't be. This only happened when they were trying to revive Eva, and as far as we know, Eva is dead."

"Yes, but what could it have been?"

They all remained quiet, thinking about the issue, while the Queen stood silently, watching them with an exasperated expression. She decided to give them a minute.

Two minutes had passed, and they were still pondering. Elizabeth slapped her forehead, the sound making everyone in the room turn to face her.

"You people can be such idiots at times," she said with a bored look. "What else do you think could have caused the earthquake?"

They all remained quiet. The Queen became frustrated. Then a look of horror dawned on Selena's face.

"That was what I was looking for!" Elizabeth shouted while pointing at Selena before swiftly leaving the room.

"What is it?" Justin asked Selena with a worried expression.

"A witch has left us."

The words had everyone in the room tensing. 

A witch stripping off their identity as a Crystalian was a huge deal. They were known to bring earthquakes everywhere, especially since they would be also stripping off their powers and becoming human. 

Witches never wanted to become human; they feared vulnerability, and they were content with their lives. The fact that a witch had rid themselves of their identity worried the King.

"Do we know who could have left us?" Erick asked.

"Your Majesty," a guard called out to Erick as he rushed into the room. "The witches in the land have gathered outside the castle to seek your word on what has occurred."

"I'll be right outside," Erick replied. The guard bowed before leaving the room.

"We have a problem right now. Justin, I need you to find any news about a recent earthquake on earth."

"Sure!" Erick's brother said before leaving the room.

"I may need your presence with me when I address the people," Erick spoke to Selena.

"Why?" she asked with furrowed eyebrows.

Erick smiled, choosing not to answer her question. He still had feelings for her.

Selena did not know this.

The two of them exited the castle, finding a crowd of people standing near the entrance. The newly-installed lights had been switched on to illuminate their surroundings, and Erick could tell that almost all the witches had come to the castle.

The people were speaking to each other, no doubt gossiping and wondering what had truly happened in Crystalia.

"Fellow Crystalians!" the King shouted, having every eye focused on him and every mouth shut.

"You do not need to worry. We have confirmation that it was not an erwich attack."

As if on cue, everyone sighed in relief.

"However, a witch has left us."

That spiked up mumblings among the fellow witches.

"We are working on discovering who it is."

"Erick!" Justin screamed. He appeared beside his brother in a matter of seconds. By the look he had on his face, Erick knew that the information his brother had was not good.

"There was a recent earthquake in Australia," he whispered to him.

Erick tensed as a reaction. He wasn't sure if there were any other witches apart from Emery in the continent. He knew he had to deal with the problem before it got out of hand.

"We are still gathering the information. We'll keep you informed!" Erick shouted to the people before swiftly going to the castle. The crowd shouted their questions, but he ignored them. His brother and Selena followed him, curious about what he was planning to do. Once they were in the main study room, he closed the door behind them.

"It was Emery," Erick replied. Everyone in the room looked shocked. "She was the one who stripped off her identity as one of us."

"That's impossible!" denied Selena. "There must have been some other witch--"

"The earthquake was mostly felt at a prison station," Justin cut her off.

Selena remained quiet for a while, not knowing what to say.

"We should go see her," Selena said.

"Are you kidding me?" asked Justin with raised eyebrows. "We placed her in jail, and you want to go see her?"

"We should," Erick said. "We need to bring her back to us. As far as we know, everyone does not know what happened to the crystal. We need to be certain about the presence of other witches in that prison. If word got out that Emery left us, every witch will panic."

"I can't believe I forgot about this," Selena said with furrowed eyebrows. "We need to get her out of there."

"Why?" Justin questioned.

"Well, we are witches, and we live for 200 years..." 

Erick's form tensed. Witches could live for two hundred years, and they took longer to look like they were forty. 

"We could give her the next year, and then we could bail her out and bring her in one of the dungeons," Justin suggested. Erick visible relaxed, seeing the minor problem solved.

"Justin, do you hear yourself?" Selena stated. "She's a crystal... maybe she still is. I don't know. I have no doubt that she did this because we placed her in a cell. Now you want to take her out of the one she is currently in and place her here?"

"She doesn't have her powers," Justin replied.

"Seriously? Babe, have you forgotten that this has adverse effects on crystals?"

"What are you talking about?" Erick inquired.

"She may have stripped off her identity as a Crystalian, but she may still have her powers."

Erick swore.

" And if you try to pull off what you're thinking, don't you think she wouldn't hesitate to kill you?"

"She wouldn't," Erick stated.

"Dude, may I remind you again that she stripped off her identity as a Crystalian? You have no power over her. Crystalia no longer has power over her. She is free to do whatever she wants."

This is not good, Erick thought.

"Okay. We may have to go visit her."

"We'll do it tomorrow," Selena stated.

"Why not now?" her boyfriend asked.

"It's night. I doubt anyone will be allowed to visit a prisoner at night."

Selena made sense. Erick and Justin were forced to agree with her, and so they planned to visit Emery in her cell on the following day.

***********************************************************************************************

"She's not in," a guard replied, chewing her gum while typing on her computer.

"What do you mean she's not in?" asked Erick in a shout. He was with Justin and Selena. They were in the prison building, requesting to see Emery when they were told of the news.

The guard was unfazed by Erick's shout, still typing on her computer. She, on purpose, chewed her gum for a few seconds before speaking.

"You are asking to see Emery Davis, right?" 

Erick, Justin, and Selena nodded.

"She's not in," the guard repeated.

"What happened to her?" Selena asked.

"She got bailed out a few hours ago."

"By who?" Justin asked.

The guard sighed, pausing her typing to face the three.

"I don't know. Some cutie with black hair and a blonde girl with him. Besides, I'm not supposed to be giving you any information."

Then unexpectedly, three erwiches teleported into the prison station. The guard shot up from her seat, frightened by the presence of the three evil beings. She stood up with a gun, pointing it at the erwiches.

"Police! Put your hands up!"

One of the erwiches, a girl, rolled her eyes. With a flick of her wrist, the guard was sent flying to a wall beside her. She soon fell in her seat, instantly blacking out.

Selena, Erick and Justin were watching all this with shocked expressions.

"We have been waiting for you, your Majesty," one of the erwiches, a boy, laughed. The other one, also a boy, laughed as well.

"What do you want?" Erick asked with a calm voice, but he was scared. He had hardly ever left Crystalia when he was a child. Since he was the new king, his life was in danger from being attacked by erwiches. He didn't think they would dare attack him in public.

Turned out he was wrong.

"Revenge," that was all he said before throwing a fireball at him. Erick moved away from it. The ball of fire hit the woman's desk, blowing it up into pieces. A few flames appeared as the destroyed furniture began to burn.

The girl removed a whip with blades on it that resembled an animal's vertebrae. She targeted the whip towards Justin. It hit his arm, slightly digging on the skin as she dragged it back. Justin cried out, seeing blood ooze from the cut.

"That's it!" Selena screamed before throwing a fireball of her own. It hit the girl before she screamed and combusted into small flames. That left the two erwiches.

They ran towards Selena. With widened eyes, Justin used telekinesis to throw the erwiches to the wall beside them. They collided with it with a thud. Erick joined in, using his powers to hold them still.

"How dare you attack us in the presence of humans?" he asked with a furious expression. The erwiches looked at each other before laughing.

Justin tightened his telekinetic hold, making them groan in pain from the squeeze.

"We had heard about the crystal leaving poor little Crystalia," one of them mocked while the other laughed. Erick's form tensed with paranoia.

If they knew that the crystal left, then the witches would know.

"Now that she's gone, we can do whatever we want without her stopping us."

Oh no.

"No, you can't," Erick said. The two erwiches just laughed at him.

"And who is going to stop us? You three?" one of the erwiches asked. In an instant, the telekinetic hold was broken. It sent Justin, Selena and Erick flying to the back of the room. 

"You see, we couldn't do anything with the crystal being at your side. Now that she's not around, we can do this," the other erwich said as he grabbed onto Erick's hand. The erwich immediately dug out a knife and stabbed Erick on his palm.

Erick screamed in agony, kicking the erwich away from him. It groaned, releasing the hold on Erick's palm.

He ducked to the ground, swiping his foot under the erwich. The erwich lost his footing, falling on his back. Before Erick could kill it, the erwich gave him a look of defeat, promising return, before disappearing.

Erick looked at his brother and Selena, also noticing that the other remaining erwich disappeared.

"Oh no," Selena started freaking out. "They know! They know Emery left us."

"Babe, relax," Justin tried to calm Selena down.

"Relax?" she asked with a raise in her voice. "The erwiches know the crystal is not on our side anymore. For certain, they will be attacking us until we all perish. They might as well have declared war right now!"

The words Selena spoke brought a chill into Erick's form. At that moment, he regretted not arriving at the prison sooner. 

***********************************************************************************************

Seven months later

Erick was stressed out. 

In the seven months that had passed, the population of Crystalia had decreased by a hundred. More erwich attacks had kept coming, some more brutal than the others. 

Many were lost; people mourned for the loss of their loved ones. As a result, the witches were angry. They asked where the crystal was, and the king told them he had no idea. 

Erick had his guards search for the crystal, but it seemed like she had disappeared off the face of the earth. Many people assumed that she was ignorant of their cries for help; they thought she didn't care. The erwich problem coupled with the reputation Emery had gained on earth made her the most hated person in Crystalia. 

Erick too was not pleased with having no idea of her location.

Where was she?

"Your Majesty," a guard appeared in Erick's room. Erick had his hands in his hair, thinking over what to do with the persistent erwich attacks. They had grown more brutal in the past seven months, and there was no way of dealing with the issue.

Unless he considered war.

"Yes," Erick stumbled from his seat to stand up.

"We found her."

Erick's eyebrows furrowed, but then they relaxed when he realized who they were talking about. He never thought he could feel relief and fear from such words.

***********************************************************************************************

Emery's P.O.V

 

"Concentrate, Emery!" Josh yelled at me from a distance. 

I was high in the air, high enough to feel the clouds. The ground below me looked so far.

 Actually, there was no ground. 

It was just the ocean. 

I was freaking out over what Josh was telling me to do.

The last seven months were filled with lessons. Josh had been teaching me and helping me with my powers. He had also been helping me improve my fighting skills.

At the moment, it was my official last lesson as a crystal. Josh was aiding me in using something that was vital in the face of danger.

My mind.

Some days ago, Josh had chanted a spell to visualize dangerous scenarios. 

I had done four so far. It was hard on the first two, especially since they involved crowds of people and animals. The other two had to do with falling from the sky and to the ground.

I had only passed on the last falling test. Josh had to save me on the former one.

So, in the fifth scenario, we weren't on land.

Josh and I were levitating above a large expanse of water. We were far apart from each other, and that explains why he was shouting at me.

I thought that my fears of falling would have ended, but my emotions proved me wrong. 

It was ironic because if I would fall, I would just be landing on water.

Josh advised that I needed to be creative to defend myself in case I was attacked. I had no idea what he planned at the current time.

My eyes widened when I saw a fireball hurtling towards me. The sounds of the rustling water were drowned out by the roaring sphere of fire as it flew towards me. I levitated high in the air, trying to avoid it, but I saw it coming at me. 

I flew higher to the sky, increasing the distance between me and the ocean. I looked down, seeing the fireball still coming at me.

Crap! If I keep this up, I will end up in space.

In a panic, I swiftly turned to my left. The fireball followed.

Still not knowing what to do, I flew towards the ocean. Like a missile, the fireball still followed.

That was new. I had got to ask Josh to teach me how to do that.

"Concentrate, Emery!" I heard Josh yell once again. My gaze was fixed on the ocean, and it was then that an idea came to mind.

I didn't need to turn to know that the fireball was still following me. I took a deep breath and held it in. 

Seconds later, I felt the difference in my atmosphere. I opened my eyes, seeing a couple of fish swimming away from me after I dived in the sea. 

I soon hear a splash and fizzing sound. I turned, seeing the fireball having hit the waters and quickly extinguishing.

With a smirk, I flew out of the sea.

***********************************************************************************************

"You have learned well, Emery," Josh said as we walked towards the house. 

It was a mansion on a beach that showed a wonderful view of the ocean. The mansion had been my home for the last seven months.

  

"Thank you, Josh. I wouldn't have done it without you," I replied, facing him with a smile. 

It was the truth. He had been more than a teacher; he had been a friend of mine. He not only helped me learn more about my powers in the past few months, but he also aided in shaping up my personality.

"Emery, as you know, that was the last part of your training," he said, and I nodded in sadness. "You have mastered all you need to know about being a crystal, and now, you are ready to face whatever dangers will be thrown your way."

We had stopped walking towards the house to have the conversation.

"You also know that I will soon be leaving."

I sighed in sadness, looking at the ground. In the months that had passed, I had grown fond of Josh, even though he was serious and emotionless in teaching me how to be a crystal.

"Why do you always ruin the moment with serious talk?" I asked with a serious expression.

He let out a laugh.

"Guys!" Ashley screamed as she ran towards us. Josh and I turned to face her.

"We have a problem."

Not the words I was expecting to hear.

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

Emery's P.O.V

 

Ashley took a couple of seconds to tell me the bad news.

"WHAT?" I boomed out in anger.

"The king told me that erwiches have been attacking witches a lot and that he needs your help in solving the problem," Ashley explained, trying to calm me down by rubbing my shoulders.

It wasn't working.

I was sad about Josh leaving soon when Ashley had told me the news. Although it was also worrisome to hear witches were being attacked, I felt glad that Erick needed me. 

I knew it hurt his ego to ask for my help.

Unfortunately for him, the events of the past nine months were still fresh in my mind.

"Well then, you can tell the King that he can kiss my ass!" I yelled, storming towards the direction of the mansion.

"Emery!" Ashley yelled after me, but I ignored her. I passed the spacious living room with brown wooden floors and climbed the stairs, heading towards my bedroom. I locked the door behind me before I sat on the floor.

My mind went back to the events that had me imprisoned for a week. The anger I had been trying not to feel returned as I also replayed the news Ashley had told me. The erwich issue did not change what I felt about Erick and the rest.

I hated them.

In fact, I never wanted to see them again. They were just a trigger for the awful memories that I wanted to forget.

No matter how hard I tried, my eyes betrayed me as my vision began to get cloudy. I silently cried, lifting my knees to my chest and placing my head on them.

Even though it had been seven months, I still recalled the awful things that happened to me when I was on tour with the Ordinary Brothers. I was still affected by them. But then, they didn't affect me as much as what had happened in Australia.

Things went downhill for me so fast and so unexpectedly.

I was arrested. My ex-bullies, Selena, Justin and Erick had me locked up for crap I didn't do. What was worse was I realized later that they planned to let me rot in jail.

They didn't even come to see me. They didn't listen to a word I said, and that made me also realize they had made up their minds about me. They stopped caring about me, and it still hurt.

It felt like a knife being repeatedly stabbed in my heart.

Also, Josh had been having private talks with the previous ruler of Crystalia. I had found out that every witch hated me because I wasn't around to help them with the erwich problem.

In my defense, I was discovering my full potential as a crystal. It wouldn't have helped if I died in one of the attacks. To add to that, there were effects of me being arrested and having most of Earth's population find out about it. 

In fact, it had been the biggest scandal ever known.

During the past seven months, when I would stumble upon E! News on TV, I would see hateful tweets about me. I thought they had stopped, but apparently, they were getting worse.

I rarely checked my Twitter account, and when I did, I realized someone was using my account to post mean things about the Ordinary Brothers.

Even though I was happy with the insults placed about the band, I was mostly mad that someone had hacked into my account. My anger increased when the fans of the Ordinary Brothers – OBers – replied with their own insults targeted towards me.

They were the majority of my Twitter notifications. I instantly realized that someone wanted me hated by everyone. I already knew who it was, and I was secretly planning on how to pay them back.

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts.

"Emery," Ashley called out. I sighed, getting up from the floor to open the door. I opened it enough to see her face.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a concerned glance.

"No," I said, opening the door wider to allow Ashley in. I walked towards my queen-sized bed, plonking on it as I stared at the blue ceiling. Then I heard Ashley move to my right, landing on the bed beside me.

"It can't be that bad," she said.

"They think I faked my own attempted murder just to get rid of Bianca," I deadpanned.

"Okay, so they're a bunch of a-holes," Ashley said, and I laughed. Then when I stopped laughing, there was a moment of silence.

I had earlier read the news article released on the day I was arrested. Bianca had told the press that I hated her and wanted her gone. She said I attempted to kill Liam and tried to make it look like she did it. She even told them that I hated the boys with a passion.

Not only was I hated, but I was also seen as a crazy and psychotic bitch.

However, Bianca was right about one thing. I hated the Ordinary Brothers. They were the ones who had added fuel to the mess I was currently enduring in the first place.

In particular, I hated Zane.

If only they had listened...

The sad thing was that I couldn't escape the scandal. I went to Princeton to deal with my eligibility of joining their college, but I, however, got the news that I couldn't join college because of my, and I quote, criminal record. I didn't even bother checking into another college because I knew without a doubt that they would repeat what Princeton had told me. 

If I couldn't go to college, I wouldn't be able to pursue a career in law. Which job could I apply for without a college degree>

"You know," Ashley said as she sat on the bed to face me, "this is your chance to prove them wrong. Show them that you aren't who they think you are."

The words Ashley spoke made me uneasy.

"I don't think I can," I replied.

"What? Emery, I've seen how you've acted ever since you got out of prison. They made your life miserable, and they even had you constrained in this house!"

The OBers tended to approach me whenever I was in public places. There was one time that I went to buy groceries, and a group of girls was all over me, calling me every cuss word they knew. Some even threatened to kill me. So I ran out of the grocery store with them chasing me. I had to teleport for them not to catch me, and when I was in a secluded place, I cried my eyes out. I told Ashley about it, and she was very sympathetic. I stuck indoors from then.

"Aren't you angry over what they did to you?" she asked with a look of disbelief. "They blamed you for things you didn't do! Should I remind you of what had happened? Bianca turned the boys against you and tried to murder you! She sent two men to rape you, and you were lucky you got away with minor injuries. The bitch hacked into your account and posted cuss words about the Ordinary Brothers, making everyone think it was you, and she blamed you for trying to kill Liam with a car, leading up to you going to jail. For a week.

You even got bruised and battered in prison, and that was before Josh and I found out where you were. After that, you couldn't go back to your normal life. You're attacked by people who think they know you, and you can't even join a decent college anymore. Tell me, Emery! Don't you just want to get your revenge on them?"

"Of course I want revenge!" I shouted in anger, having Ashley's eyes widen in shock. "I want my life back. I did nothing to deserve this kind of treatment from everyone. I want them to pay for what they did to me!"

No matter how much I yelled, it did not quell the anger and sadness in my heart. I knew Ashley was right. 

There I was, barely living a normal life when those who I presumed were my friends were enjoying theirs. They were enjoying their lives, touring the world and pursuing their careers whereas I could not pursue mine.

My mind kept thinking all the things I had gone through. Within seconds, I felt my control snap.

I had had enough. I was going to get my revenge, and I would make sure no one would take advantage of me ever again.

I was going to prove to everyone that Bianca was an evil bitch, and I would be excited to see her go to prison.

That bitch was going to go down.

 

***********************************************************************************************

Third Person's P.O.V

Erick strolled around the castle, anxious about the arrival of Emery. He had just gotten word on that afternoon that she was coming. He was in the large room that led to the castle's front exit. In the room with him were Selena, Justin, and his mother.

"Why are you pacing?" Justin asked with a frown. "Calm down! It's just--"

His words were cut off when the castle doors opened suddenly, slamming on the walls with a loud sound. Everyone turned and their eyes widened when they noticed who it was.

Emery.

She did not look like she did seven months ago. Her hair was cut to her shoulders, dyed black and curly. Her usual bright skin looked a bit pale. Her eyes were beautified by black eyeliner and mascara. The color of her irises had changed from their usual brown to a weird cyan. She had worn a black T-shirt with a pair of dark blue jeans. The black heels she had worn gave her more height, and that was what she wanted so she could face her enemies nearly eye-to-eye.

Josh and Ashley were beside Emery, but no one paid attention to them. Everyone was silent as the three walked towards the king. The guards who were stationed around the castle watched as Emery and the people with her walked through the castle hallways.

Then the three were a few feet away from the King and his family. Emery was staring at Erick with a glare that did not sit well with him.

"You interrupted my movie time. This better be good," she spoke, interrupting the silence that had fallen in the room when she entered.

"Emery," Selena called out to her cousin with an expressionless gaze. Emery did not look at her, making sure to ignore everyone else in the room.

"Where have you been?" Erick asked with a glare. Emery just stared at him, unfazed. "We have been looking for you for the past seven months, and we didn't find you!"

"That was because, your Majesty, I was learning more about my powers," Emery answered with a calm expression.

That shut the new king's mouth.

"So," Emery said, looking around the castle. "What is this I hear about erwiches attacking Crystalians?"

"You mean our kind?" Justin corrected.

"Crystalians," Emery emphasized, not meeting his glance. She refused to be recognized as one of their kind, especially after what they did to her.

"It began seven months ago," Erick spoke, and Emery smirked. Erick saw it, and his eyes widened in shock. He felt fear grip his heart. 

Had his dreams become a reality?

"Did you send them?" he asked.

It dawned on Emery that everyone who had betrayed her thought she had become evil. It confused and hurt her.

Didn't they know who she was? Didn't they remember the girl they grew up with?

No, they don't.

Emery decided to push those negative thoughts away, noticing the sudden silence in the room. Emery stared at the King for a while before letting out a smile.

"No," she replied. "As I said, I was busy learning about my powers. Besides, if I were to send them, don't you think you would have been dead by now?"

The king tensed, and Emery enjoyed it.

"Emery," Elizabeth called out to her. She turned to face her, her expression changed into a glad smile.

"Aunt!" Emery went to approach her, but the guards around the Queen surrounded her. Emery stopped in her tracks with the Queen staring at the guards in anger.

"Really, Erick?" the crystal asked.

"It's your Majesty. I presumed you know all about respect," Erick said.

"You all lost my respect when you sent me to jail," Emery stated as a fact.

"You deserved it," Selena added.

"Did I?" Emery turned to face her cousin with a chilling smile. "Did I really? You guys didn't even listen to me. I told you once, and I will tell you again: I didn't do it."

"Bullshit!" Justin commented. Emery turned to face him with a glare so fierce, it was enough to melt ice in seconds. 

"Oh, and you know what happened Mr Too-busy-with-musical-tours? You think you know everything that had happened to me?"

"Emery..." Ashley trailed off. Emery sighed.

"You're right, Ashley," she said before facing Erick.

"Look, you called me to talk about your welfare. I do not want to cause more trouble than you believe I have. Let's be mature, unlike some people, and talk about this."

"We need your help," Erick stated, following his former friend's words.

"Sure," Emery replied, "I'll be glad to help, but there are conditions that must be met."

"What?" Erick asked with a raised eyebrow, shocked. He could not believe Emery had the audacity to demand things from him. He was a king, and he was going to show who was the boss.

"You heard me correctly, your assholeness. If you want me to help you with the erwich problem, I will need something from you."

Erick ignored the insult.

"As far as I'm concerned, you are not in the position to make a bargain with me. You are a criminal, and like all criminals, you are supposed to be in prison. You are in our lands now, Emery, and we will see to it that you pay for your crimes. Guards!"

"Erick!" Selena and Elizabeth shouted at the same time in disbelief.

Emery stood still while the guards slowly approached her.

"You are right, Erick. Yes, you are king. And yes, I am a criminal. To all of you, I am a criminal. But, you have forgotten something."

In an instant, Emery raised two fingers on each hand, stopping the guards from approaching her. She widened her arms, having the guards thrown to the walls beside her. She raised her arms, the guards remaining stuck three feet from the floor on the wall. Then she lowered her arms to her sides, her powers not letting go of the hold they had on the guards.

"I have the power, not you," Emery emphasized. "Will you accept my conditions?"

"No," Erick replied almost immediately. He felt it was all an act and that he could win her over.

"Fine! I wanted to play along," Emery said with a fake sweet smile. She cracked her knuckles. In an instant, the floor above them had been ripped off the building. Screams soon pierced the air.

As a result of the rip, cracks appeared on the walls near the empty ceiling. The afternoon sky was in view, illuminating the items in the room.

 Erick watched in disbelief and horror at what he saw.  

"Put it back! There are people up there!" Erick screamed.

"Like I said, will you listen to my conditions?" Emery asked again.

Erick thought that Emery was putting on a show. She couldn't possibly do something as awful as killing the people on the floors above him... could she?

"No," Erick said, but more hesitantly. Emery quickly made the top of the castle disappear.

"Emery!" Selena called out her cousin's name, clutching her fingers tightly on Justin's right arm. Her boyfriend was too stunned by what was happening to even move.

"Just say yes. I could do a lot much worse," Emery said, summoning a blue fireball from her hands before throwing it upwards. It went high in the sky, hitting the invisible magic barrier above them with a thunderous noise.

In an instant, the dome was broken. It showed a bright flicker of yellow stardust before dematerializing in the form of huge glass shards.

"Aw, did I just destroy the dome?" Emery said with a fake pouty expression.

"What did you do?" Erick asked, trying to be calm, but fear seeped through his voice. It was as if some parts of his dream had been made into a reality.

The shards had been slowed down, approaching in a way that every witch in Crystalia had time to see what was happening and react to it. There were loud screams from every corner of the city.

Emery smirked.

"My conditions. Will you listen to them now?"

Erick hated not being in power. He looked up again, noticing that the floor above him was missing and that there were huge glass shards slowly falling over Crystalia.

"Tick tock. You know what?" Emery placed a hand over her ear as she pretended to listen intently. "I think I hear the erboons coming. But will they make it in time to kill the witches before the glass shards do the job?"

"Alright! I'll do what you want!" Erick relented.

Emery smiled. With a snap of a finger, the glass shards moved in a rewinding motion, fitting in place to reform the invisible magical dome. A yellow flicker of stardust reappeared, signaling the shards were fitted in place. Then the floor above her reappeared.

"See? Was that so hard?" asked Emery. Erick stared at her in fear.

"Now, here is what I want. I want a house in Crystalia with a great view of the mountains, far away from this castle."

"D-done," Erick answered, his voice shaking.

"I would also want to visit my mother's grave."

"Done as well," Erick replied again without hesitation.

"One last thing," Emery said, turning to face Selena.

"Why did you rent out the apartment in New York?"

There was a moment of silence. Erick went to answer, but then he remembered the question was not directed to him.

"I don't know what--"

"Bullcrap, Selena," Emery cut her cousin off, using her powers to swiftly bring Selena towards her. Her cousin widened her eyes in shock when she was brought closer to Emery.

Justin went towards his girlfriend.

"No, Justin," Emery warned. "Don't do anything stupid or I will snap her in two." 

Erick's brother reluctantly stopped his approach.

"Don't waste my time, Selena," Emery yelled at her cousin. "I have better things to do than to see your asshat faces. Do I need to turn you into a freaking toad to get my answers?"

Selena's heart thudded in fear.

"You wouldn't dare--" she was cut off when Emery turned her into a toad with a flick of a wrist.

"Selena!" Justin and Erick called out with shocked voices.

With a roll of her eyes, Emery revived her cousin to her human form.

"Why are you so hesitant in answering such a simple question? Do you want me to turn you into a toad again and dissect you? You saw what I did with the castle and the dome. Trust me, I am not to be played with right now."

"I sold them!" Selena replied in a shout. The hold on her immediately vanished.

"That's better," Emery said with a fake sweet smile. "I would say I am very disappointed that you did that. Note that I will never forgive you for this, Selena."

Selena's heart was beating so fast as she stared at her cousin in shock.

"Also," Emery said before swiftly delivering a slap on her cousin's cheek. Selena's head turned to the side, giving Emery the other cheek so that she could slap it too. 

Selena's head turned again. Emery then delivered two punches on her face before kicking her. The force of the kick was so strong that it sent Selena flying backward. Justin went to catch her. He broke her fall when her back hit her front and they were sent to the ground.

"Erick," Emery called out, having the king face her with a frightened expression. "My terms. If you fail to meet them, dome goes bye-bye."

With that, Emery turned to leave the castle. She left with Ashley and Josh, and they looked just as shocked as everyone else in the room. Once the castle doors closed, the hold on the guards also disappeared.

Selena coughed out blood before saying "What. The. Fuck?"

"OMG. What did we do?" Justin asked, bringing his hands to his hair.

"We did nothing," Erick tried to reassure them.

"Nothing? Erick, you do realize that the way Emery is behaving right now is bad for us," Selena commented as she continued to cough out blood. Erick still did not get it.

"Do you want me to spell it out for you, bro?" Justin asked with raised eyebrows. "Your nightmare? Now a reality."

Erick still didn't get it. It took him some seconds before his eyes widened in horror.

"No, no, no," Erick repeated. He shook his head, not wanting to believe it. All that time, he wanted to secure the witches from the crystal becoming evil. Having seen Emery after seven months made him rethink his choices. 

Could it be that he and his friends were the ones who would turn Emery evil?

Could it be that they had already turned her evil?

***********************************************************************************************

In her castle away from Crystalia, Eva had watched the events unfold with a smile.

"Tevix! Our crystal is back!" she shouted, turning away from her magic mirror. "We are closer to getting what we want. Are you ready for phase two?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Tevix replied with a smirk. 

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR

 

Third Person's P.O.V

"Your Majesty, are you certain about all this?" Tevix asked as he approached Eva on one of her castle balconies. "The crystal has been trained, and she is more powerful than ever."

"So?" Eva asked, staring at the setting sun. "The crystal would be useless to me if she didn't know how to control her powers."

The evil witch's henchman was confused.

"You do realize that she could kill you, right?" Tevix asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She wouldn't," Eva replied as she turned to face Tevix. "I did not interfere with her training for a reason. Besides, the only person she would destroy is herself."

"What?" Tevix asked with a confused glance.

"Oh, come on, Tevix! You of all people should know that there are two different endings I have planned for the crystal."

Tevix remained silent, thinking about what his queen said. It took him a short while to understand what she meant, and his expression changed into shock.

"Your Majesty..." he trailed off. "You can't possibly be thinking about--"

"Yes, I am," Eva cut him off, confirming his thoughts. "And with Emery's current behavior, it is very possible. But I need to push her for my plan to work. Have the erwiches no longer attack the rest of the witches. Have them attack those who angered the crystal."

"Yes, your Majesty. And may I say, I am very impressed with how you're thinking. Even I wouldn't have come up with a plan so devious."

"Thank you, Tevix," Eva smiled. "For now, we'll just wait and see. By the looks of things, it wouldn't take long for us to rule the world."

*********************************************************************************

Emery's P.O.V

"Wow!" Ashley exclaimed. I revealed a smile of my own, shocked but extremely happy.

Ashley, Josh and I had just come out of the castle after meeting with the new king of Crystalia. It honestly felt good to push Erick's buttons, especially after what he and the rest had done to me.

"Did you see the look on Erick's face? No, the look on all of their faces? They were shocked!"

I loved the looks I had received when I ripped off the castle. More so, I liked the ones I received when I destroyed the magical dome of Crystalia before reverting things to the way they were.

"That was what I was aiming for. And may I say, Ashley, thank you for the acting lessons."

In the past seven months, one of the things Josh said I needed to know was how to control my facial expressions. Emotions can be a hindrance for plans to be carried out, and so I signed up for free acting classes from Ashley.

"You're welcome," my friend replied with a smile. "Although I think you went too far with beating your own cousin."

I just smirked at Ashley. She had no idea how much my cousin had angered me. In fact, Selena was lucky I didn't continue beating her.

How could she just rent out the apartment when it was the last thing left of my mother? In fact, where had she taken all the stuff that was in the house?

"So," Josh spoke as he turned to face me. "It is time for me to leave."

Just like that, the mood changed. We stopped a few feet away from the castle entrance as I stared at Josh in confusion. Then it clicked.

It was time.

He had fulfilled his purpose. I was a full crystal. I knew all about my powers, and just like he told me seven months ago, he had to leave.

"No, you can't leave. I need you!" I said in a near-shout.

"But Emery, I have taught you all the things you needed to know. You have done well. But like I said before, I have to go. My time here is up."

I slouched my shoulders in sadness. In the past seven months, I had grown fond of Josh. I considered him a friend. Hearing that he had to leave brought a sense of loss in me.

"Do you have to leave now?" I asked him. He frowned as he stared at me.

"Unfortunately, yes."

I enveloped him in a hug. He seemed shocked at first, but then he wrapped his arms around my form.

I was going to miss him.

He retracted to hug Ashley. Josh then turned his attention back to me.

"Use what I have taught you in defeating the erwiches. I know you will be a good person and a good crystal, most probably the best one in our history. And Ashley," he turned to face my new friend, "You have been a good friend to me. I hope you'll maintain your personality because it brings happiness to people. I will miss the two of you. May your fates be filled with happiness."

Then Josh closed his eyes and chanted a spell.

 

Ashley and I watched as his body disintegrated into yellow stardust. Suddenly, a gust of wind revolved around us, taking Josh's stardust form up in the air until it disappeared.

"I am going to miss him," I stated.

"Me too," Ashley said.

We stayed quiet for a while.

"So, what are we going to do?" Ashley asked with raised eyebrows. I shrugged my shoulders, having no idea.

"Emery!" the Queen called out to me. I watched as Ashley tensed in surprise. I turned to face Elizabeth as she approached us.

She had a smile on her face as she enveloped me in a hug. I reluctantly hugged her back.

I was doubtful about how she truly felt about me, especially after what I had recently pulled in the castle.

"It is so good to finally see you again. How have you been?" she asked, and I winced. The memories of being in jail were a painful reminder of what I went through.

"Ooh, forget I asked. Let me show you to your new home."

New home? 

Oh, one of my demands.

Ashley and I quietly followed the Queen as she led us straight away from the castle. I looked at my sides, noticing the vast field of grass around me. There were also a couple of scattered trees. I also spotted some of the buildings in Crystalia. Everything looked the same as if I had not been missing for seven months.

"You are all very quiet," the Queen commented. I sighed.

"How do you expect us to act, knowing that your son controlled my powers when I was in jail?" I questioned.

The Queen stopped walking. Ashley and I also stopped.

Let's get done with the subject already.

Elizabeth turned to face us with a sad glance.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you, Emery."

"I know that," I replied. "I just want to know if you're on Erick's side or mine."

"I'm on yours," she answered without wasting a second. I blinked in shock.

"I heard about you being in jail. Then I was told about you attempting to murder Niam in a car accident..."

I didn't even bother to correct her on the name.

"I thought that was normal. I mean, he and those boys made your first high school a living hell. I would have gladly bailed you out and wiped out the accident from your records. But to hear that you faked an attempted murder just to get rid of Zane's girlfriend... I knew something was up. So that immediately canceled everything I heard you supposedly did."

My eyes brimmed with tears.

"You believe me?"

"Of course I do! You are family to me. I've watched you grow up in the castle, and I know you are not who the media portrays you to be."

I had never felt so relieved in my life. There was another person who still liked me.

"So, why is everyone thinking I'm evil?"

"I don't know," she replied. "I asked them about it, but they all mentioned the arrest and the attempted murder."

Elizabeth's eyebrows furrowed in suspicion.

"I have a feeling they are hiding something, but I don't know what."

"Oh, your house!" she suddenly screamed, changing to another subject. "Is this area okay?"

I looked around, observing that I couldn't see the castle from where I was. There were hardly any houses in my surroundings. There were mostly green grass and a couple of trees that made it look like I was in the outdoors.

"It's perfect," I replied.

"Okay. So now, I need you to stand back. I'm about to materialize the house on this spot right now."

Ashley and I backed away. The Queen closed her eyes as she chanted a spell. The ground below us shook, urging Ashley and me to back away again.

Then we watched in surprise as a house appeared in front of us. It slowly materialized from yellow stardust, making groaning noises as it was being formed. Once it was done, I stared in wonder.

"It's beautiful!" I commented. The house was simple and gray.

 

"Thank you," I told the Queen.

"Don't thank me yet," she said. "Wait until you see what's inside."

Surprisingly, the house had everything I needed and everything I doubted I needed. The Queen led Ashley and me on a tour around the house. It had two bedrooms, a kitchen, a large dining room, a bathroom, and unexpectedly, a small study room.

Then the Queen left minutes later to run some errands while Ashley and I stayed inside the house. It had wonderful white French doors with large windows that offered a great view of both Crystalia's grasslands and the mountains. I could even see the sun rise and set whenever I wanted to. 

Even though I was in a place where I was hated by everyone, I had a feeling that things were going to be okay for me.

***********************************************************************************

One week later

Zane's P.O.V

"Liam, duck!" I yelled in warning as a fireball hurtled towards him. Liam had heard, avoiding the damage the fireball did to the furniture behind him by ducking on the floor.

Six days ago, erwiches had started attacking my bandmates and me. It did not help that every one of us was preparing to go back on our tour. It that had been ongoing in Australia, and it had to be postponed ever since Liam had gotten into an accident. He had suffered from a couple of broken ribs, swelling on his sides, a concussion and a broken leg.

It took him months to recover.

His family... yeah... they hated Emery. Even my own mother showed signs of dislike towards her and started a liking towards Bianca.

Well, at least something good had come out of Liam's accident.

Now that Liam was better and discharged from the hospital, the tour was set to resume in a matter of days. However, that seemed to be impossible because erwiches were coming towards us!

"Foolish witches," the male erwich said as another followed close behind. "You cannot kill us. We will destroy you!"

With that, he sent another fireball that was directed towards me. My eyes had widened before I extended my arms, stopping the fireball from coming towards me with my telekinesis powers. In an instant, I aimed it towards the erwich who had spoken. It missed him, landing on his partner. The erwich screamed before combusting into smoke. 

The remaining erwich was angered. He turned to face me before clenching his fist. I soon felt a horrible sensation like I was stuck between two walls that were crushing my form. The erwich suddenly screamed before combusting into flames. The hold he had on me immediately disappeared. I turned to face whoever it was that saved me, noticing that it was Ethan.

"That's it!" Ethan yelled. "I am getting tired of these erwiches always attacking us. We need to seek help from Erick."

"But how will he help?" Liam asked with raised eyebrows. "He too has the same problem, and it does not help that the rest of the witches are also facing attacks."

"I don't know! Maybe he has something like a spell to protect us or something."

"That's a great idea!" I said. "Should we get the rest of the boys?"

"They went to Crystalia," Ethan replied. "They too had an erwich attack when they were outside. I was with them, and I was coming to tell you where we were heading when I saw the erwiches attacking you."

Ethan had grown strong in character. I expected him to have nightmares of seeing dead bodies again, but he didn't. He was getting used to the erwiches attacking. 

That was both a good and a bad thing for us.

"What are you waiting for?" Liam said. "Let's go!"

The three of us teleported to Crystalia.

"There you guys are!" Logan shouted in exasperation as he approached us. Behind him was Harry.

"We thought the erwiches had killed you."

"They obviously didn't," Liam replied with a smile. "So, have you seen Erick?"

"No," Harry responded. "We have been here waiting for you."

"Okay, let's go."

Then we walked towards the entrance of the castle.

"Erick!" Liam shouted at the king when we spotted him in the castle hallways. Erick turned to face us, and he smiled.

"Guys! I am surprised you've come here!" Erick replied as he came towards us.

In the past seven months, my bandmates and I had bonded with the king and become friends. We were like his group of trustees or something, but I wouldn't lie if I said it felt good.

We spent a couple of minutes catching up on our lives before we mentioned the issue that brought us to Crystalia.

"As you know, our tour is set to resume in two days," Ethan spoke, going straight to the point. "But there is a problem that needs to be dealt with. Erwiches."

Erick's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"Erwiches have been attacking us non-stop for the past week. We thought it was usual at first, but then we realized they were targeting us."

"Erick!" a woman's voice shouted in the hall, interrupting Ethan from saying more. We all turned to face the person, discovering it was Selena. I was happy to see her, but I dialed it down when I saw her state.

Her lipstick was smudged, her hair was roughened up, and her clothes looked crumpled.

"Were you with Justin?" Logan asked with a curious expression, voicing out what I was thinking.

"No. This was the work of erwiches," she replied. "They have been coming at me for the past week--"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Harry interrupted with puzzlement. "You too?"

"What do you mean 'you too'? Wait. You too?" Selena's expression took one of shock.

"Okay!" Erick shouted. "So the six of you have been having erwich attacks for the past week, right?"

We all nodded, still shocked.

"It does not make sense. Come, we need to talk in the study room."

We all followed Erick into the area where we usually convened. Once we were there, he locked the doors behind him and turned to face us.

"This erwich problem has become a huge pain in the butt," he commented. "It's so weird. Why would erwiches attack you guys?"

"We too have no idea," Harry said. Then there was silence in the room.

"I have heard no reports about erwich attacks in the last seven days. I thought that they were tired, but apparently, they were coming at you."

"Is it because we have a connection with you?" Selena asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Probably," Erick replied.

"Okay, so you guys may need guards at your side."

"What?" Selena asked. "That would raise questions! I mean, the boys already had guards when they were on their tour last year."

"They could act as friends of them."

"Really?" Ethan said with raised eyebrows. "Erick, we are very popular nowadays, and the paparazzi are always hot on our tail. They would ask the guards questions, and they wouldn't even know what to say in front of them. No offense, though."

"None taken," Erick replied. "What's wrong with saying they're your friends?"

"Umm, gay relationships?" Logan stated with raised eyebrows. "It's weird enough that some of our fans are writing weird fanfictions of some of us being in love with each other. Or worse, having an orgy."

Erick gave Logan a shocked look while the rest of us shuddered.

"Imagine what would happen if they think we are somehow involved with them. Our fans would think the guards are our escorts or something."

Erick furrowed his eyebrows. "Really?"

We all nodded. "It's how messed up their assumptions could get."

"Alright. So the guards are out of the picture."

We all remained silent as we thought of other solutions.

"Is there nothing that can be done?" Erick asked after a while.

"Well, we can all be on one tour," Logan said, and Selena nodded. "But we'll be too busy with our careers to deal with erwiches attacking us. I can imagine waking up early, getting ready for the tour, performing for hours and having an attack before we go to bed. That does not seem like a great plan."

Erick thought in silence for a few seconds.

"I have an idea, but I doubt you will like it," he said hesitantly. He remained quiet before adding, "Have Emery join you on tour."

There was pin-drop silence after Erick spoke, and we were all going through a mixture of emotions.

They were mostly disbelief and anger.

"What?"

"The hell?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"No way!"

"Are you out of your mind?"

We all said at the same time.

"Hey!" Erick shouted, stopping us from shouting. "That is the only proposition I have for you."

I sighed, rubbing a hand over my forehead.

I did not want to be near Emery, especially after what she had done to Liam. I was afraid she would try to kill all of us after we had exposed her evil self to the world.

"Are you joking? I would rather have a group of erwiches attack me than be near that bitch," Harry commented, and I nodded in agreement.

"Look. I have no other idea. Emery could join you and serve as your secret bodyguard for a while. She may hate all of us, but I doubt she will try to pull off anything when you guys are on tour. Chances are that she will maintain any conversations you may have with her as short as possible. Also, don't anger her. Selena did that, and you know what happened."

Poor Selena. Even though she had been beaten, I was glad that she alive. But seeing that we may all have to consider involving her in the tour...

"Guys, do you agree to this?" Erick asked.

"Fine," Selena replied, earning shocked looks from the rest of us.

"What?" she asked with furrowed eyebrows. "Guys, we have no other option. It's either her or facing erwiches ourselves when we are busy with work."

As much as I hated to admit it, Selena was right. We needed Emery more than ever. I just hoped she wouldn't cause trouble for us.

***********************************************************************************************

Third person's P.O.V

The King had gone to talk to Emery. They were outside her house, talking about what he had discussed with Selena and the Ordinary Brothers.

"No," Emery replied without a single thought.

"What?" Erick asked in disbelief.

"You heard me. Are you even serious? I went through hell because of them, and you are expecting me to just bow my head and say yes like a bitch in heat?"

Erick was silently revolted by the words Emery spoke.

"Emery, please--"

"No, your Majesty," Emery replied. "I refuse to do that."

"Emery!" Ashley got out of the house, interrupting the ongoing conversation.

"Your Majesty," Ashley bowed before Erick, earning a roll of the eyes from Emery.

"Could I speak to her for a moment?" Ashley said with a fake smile towards Erick. Emery was confused. Before she could speak, Ashley forcefully took her into the house. The king stood outside the house for about five minutes before Emery got out.

"Fine. I will do it."

The king was surprised. He actually did not expect Emery to go through with his requests. He had a feeling Ashley convinced her to do so, and he was glad the blonde girl was around.

"Conditions?" Erick did not want a repeat of the previous week.

"A new expensive laptop... you know what? No more conditions. I already have everything I need. When am I expected to be there?"

"We'll send a guard to tell you and help you with the rest of the details tomorrow," Erick replied.

"Okay. Bye bye now," Emery said as she turned to head towards her home. Erick remained outside the house after Emery had closed the door behind her, pondering over what had just happened in the past seconds.

He was still surprised that Emery had accepted his request. Other than that, he hoped that nothing bad would happen on Selena and the boys' tour. 

Soon, he turned to head for his castle.

 

 

CHAPTER FIVE

Logan's P.O.V

The tour had resumed after the few days that followed. It had even continued in the United States on the previous day. The only change was that Selena would be joining us.

It had been unexpectedly easy. Selena had a talk with our manager about merging her tour with ours. Simon found it to be an excellent idea for more publicity, and so he allowed it. 

After another day of performing in front of our fans, the guys, Selena and I booked a stay at a hotel in New York. The night was quickly approaching. Since we weren't busy with tour stuff, everyone was excited and worried at the same time. 

Our excitement was brought on by the fact that we were scheduled to perform in Canada on the next day. However, we were also worried about erwiches attacking, and Emery.

She was supposed to be there on the previous day, but she hadn't come. Everyone had a mixture of emotions, both angry and relieved that she had not arrived. Erick had told us that she would be there, but it would be bad on Emery's part if she didn't show up. She was expected to be the one dealing with any erwich attacks that we would face on tour. 

She wasn't around, and that left us all worrying about erwiches.

"Logan!" Liam called out to me. The guys and I were in the dining room area of the large hotel suite we had booked, including the lovely Bianca. She was still Zane's girlfriend. She had been with us ever since Liam was in the accident. She was caring and supportive during that hard time, and I saw Zane love her even more.

"Yes?" I asked Liam, approaching him at the island in the room. 

"You do know that we are going to another city for our tour tomorrow, don't you?" Liam asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"Then why haven't you packed yet?"

My eyes widened. I then turned away from Liam, going to do what I had forgotten when a knock sounded at the door. For a moment, I believed everyone was not in the room.

I looked around the room, noticing that everyone was there, even Selena.

So who could it be?

I walked towards the door, expecting it to be Trevor or one of our bodyguards. Once I opened the door, I tensed.

It was Emery.

A mixture of emotions swirled through me. What I mostly felt at the moment was shock. 

Everyone was expecting Emery not to show up because she didn't when the tour had commenced. Seeing that she had come...

"Emery!" I shouted her name in an attempt to act sweet towards her, silently signaling to everyone in the room that she was the one at the door. I felt everyone behind me tense and move about.

Emery looked different. Apart from her dyed black curly hair, what stood out were her irises. Instead of the usual brown, they looked ocean-blue.

I felt nerved just looking at her. 

"Don't even bother with the pleasantries. I would say it is good to see you again, Logan, but I would be lying. If you may," she said, motioning for me to move out of the way. I did, giving her space to enter the room. 

I turned my attention to the people behind me, seeing that everyone was tense as they looked at Emery.

"Hi guys!" Emery greeted with a smile, getting no response.

"Bianca," she addressed Zane's girlfriend whose reply was a glare.

"Great! Now that we've caught up with our lives," Emery said with sarcasm, "I would like to ask for a favor from you guys."

"Emery..." Selena trailed off with a warning. Emery rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Relax. I'm just asking all of us to be civil. I wouldn't want us to disagree on... umm, a number of things during this tour. If I'm correct, I'll be with you guys for the month, and then I'll be out of your hair. Let us all try to not cause any drama towards each other. Also, I would like to get your tour info and be told about changes within the subject."

"I could email you a list," Liam said, and Emery nodded with a smile.

I looked at Liam in shock.

The way he had spoken to Emery was calm and sincere. Out of all the responses I expected from him, that was not one of them. It was as if he had forgotten Emery had knocked him with a car.

"See? No trouble. Now, if you'll excuse me--"

"Where are you going?"

Emery went to leave the suite when I called out to her. She looked at me as if I had grown another head.

"To my suite, silly!" then she laughed.

"Oh. You thought I..." she trailed off. "Oh no. 

No.

No, no, no, no, no, no...

No.

No way am I going to share a hotel suite with you guys."

"But you're supposed to be with us nearby," Ethan pointed out with a frown.

"Don't worry, Ethan. I booked the suite next door. The only thing that will be separating us is the wall," Emery said. "Good night! By the way, I heard there was a tour bus involved. Am I wrong?"

"No, there is," Liam answered. Emery turned to look at the floor. She muttered 'Damn it!' before turning to face us with a fake smile.

"Okay. You'll just email me that too. Have a good night!" with that, Emery left the room, leaving most of us shocked by her sudden arrival.

"Okay, so she came," Selena stated the obvious.

"What the hell is that bitch doing here?" Bianca shouted at all of us with a raged expression.

I wanted to hit myself on the head at the moment.

The guys, Selena and I had forgotten about Bianca when we all made the decision of Emery joining us on tour. I had no idea of what either of us would tell her.

"She is here to make an apology," Harry lied, and Bianca could see through it.

"What?" she asked with raised eyebrows. "Okay, tell me if I am wrong. But didn't she try to kill Liam seven months ago? And didn't she try to make me look bad in front of you guys?"

"She is here for publicity," I explained. It was an obvious lie, but Bianca didn't know that.

"Oh! Okay," with that, Bianca dropped the subject and headed towards one of the rooms in the suite. We all sighed in relief.

Her quick dismissal of the subject surprised me.

"Thanks, Logan," Zane said, and I shrugged.

"If you guys don't mind, I have an email to type," Liam said as he walked towards his room in the suite.

"Isn't anyone else worried that Emery might kill us in our sleep?" Ethan asked, and the rest of us tensed in fear.

 

Emery's P.O.V

Just like I told the boys, I had booked a suite right next to theirs. It was smaller, but it was spacious for me.

I dragged my two suitcases inside, grumbling about how I was back with the people who had ruined my life.

I closed the door behind me, moving towards the dining room of the suite. It was quiet.

I felt lonely all of a sudden.

I tried not to think too much about it as I recalled the talk I had with Ashley before I accepted Erick's request. I obviously didn't want to go on tour again with the boys because of all the crap I had gone through on my first one.

Ashley ignored that reason when I told her, mentioning the bitch who ruined my life. 

That was all I needed to say yes to go on tour with the boys again. 

Selena would be joining us, and I had no idea of what to feel about that. It didn't matter because I was planning to execute my revenge on Bianca. For that to work, I had to be secretive and shorten any talk I would have with everyone. If possible, I could just ignore them altogether.

I chose to change my clothes before ordering room service. Afterward, I went to bed.

***********************************************************************************************

My phone's alarm annoyed me as it rang loudly with that irritating tone I had set. I turned it off as I got up before preparing myself for the day. I went through my morning routine within an hour.

I looked at my phone, checking the email Liam had sent me hours ago. On that day, we were supposed to get a flight to Toronto, Canada. Despite the events that had brought me there, I was kind of excited to go see the country. 

Liam's email stated that we were to leave at eight in the morning. I checked my phone, noticing the time was 7:30 AM.

Oh shit.

I used my powers to summon a breakfast meal for myself before digging in. I knew I would waste time if I had ordered room service.

Twenty minutes later, I was exciting my suite and checking out of the hotel. I looked around, noticing that the boys, Selena, and the bitch had not yet gotten out.

I frowned, sitting on one of the couches in the lobby as I waited for them. A few minutes later, the sound of a couple of rushing feet sounded through the hotel lobby. I turned just in time to see the guys running in the hallway with a couple of their bags.

Took them long enough.

I leisurely got up while perusing through my phone, following the direction that everyone was taking. I came to a stop outside the hotel with the boys who were standing. They had noticed me, and I had noticed how they tensed in my presence.

I chose to ignore them as I turned my head turned sideways, looking around my surroundings. The street was busy with loud moving cars and people walking around, some even talking on their phones.

"As much as I hate to ask, what are we doing?" I questioned, not meeting their eyes.

"We're waiting for the limos to come pick us up," Ethan reluctantly replied after a tense ten seconds. I sighed, regretting why I was there. I peeked at my side, seeing the boys and noticing that they did not have their disguises on.

Before I could complain, Liam pointed at a couple of incoming vehicles.

"There they are!" Liam shouted. Just like he shouted, two long black limousines were being parked beside us.

"Who will take which one?"

Everyone looked at each other, then at me, before rushing towards the limos. They were shoving and pushing each other, saying words along the lines of:

"I don't want to sit near her!"

"You think I want to?"

It continued for the next three minutes while I silently watched with an amused look. What they didn't know was that it hurt.

In the end, I found myself sharing a limo with Zane, Bianca and Logan.

Talk about awkward.

Everyone was silent during our drive to the airport. We all ignored each other by looking through our phones.

Another ten minutes later, we were boarding the same private jet Selena and I had boarded when we went to London.

It was unfortunate that an object that once held great memories reminded me of my worst.

After a while, the plane took off. I had sat far from the seven people I currently hated, not curious to overhear what they were talking about.

I took out my laptop, switched it on and watched as it showed the beautiful Window 7 Professional logon background. I had not even logged in when I noticed Harry coming at me from the corner of my eye. He had an angry expression on his face.

So much for ignoring them. What could it be now?

"What is this?" he asked, shoving his phone into my face.

@EmeryDavis: @HarryParker has a small dick

I held a hand over my mouth, stifling a laugh as I stared at Harry. He was looking at me with a glare, and I cleared my throat.

"Well, do you?" I asked jokingly, and if possible, Harry's glare intensified. 

I sighed before replying, "I did not post that."

"Really?" Harry asked with a fake confused look. "Then why is your laptop with you?"

"I haven't logged in yet," I replied, turning it to Harry. "See?"

"I know you did this," he ignored what I had told him, and I rolled my eyes. "You must have used your phone. I don't know why you said what you said last night. Was it just to mess with our heads?"

I did not speak as Harry sighed in exasperation.

"I'm watching you," he said as he turned to go to the guys.

He was out of earshot when I whispered: "Fuck you." I took out my phone to check on my Twitter account, seeing more than ten thousand notifications.

I was surprised the account hadn't crashed.

I recently hadn't gone through my Twitter account, much to Ashley's demands. She told me that whatever was posted was very bad and that I needed to delete my account. So I went to do just that.

I was soon on the deletion page when it asked for my password. I typed it in.

Password incorrect.

I frowned, trying again.

Password incorrect.

I couldn't have forgotten my password. Maybe my phone was pressing buttons that I did not mean to press.

It was weird, especially since Ashley had logged into my account with my permission to see how bad my situation was with the OBers.

I dismissed the phone, choosing to delete my Twitter account on my laptop. After a while of starting up the browser, the same error appeared. I gave it another try, watching as I typed the keys on the keyboard, but the error appeared again.

I knew for sure that someone had hacked into my account, and I knew that the person was with Bianca. What surprised me at the moment was the ability of the person to stop me from deleting my own Twitter account.

Then something had to happen. Another tweet appeared:

@EmeryDavis: @theOrdinaryBrothers is a group of homos.

My eyes widened as I tensed in my seat. I tried to delete the post, but it wouldn't. I tried again and again, but still, no luck.

"THE HELL?" Liam screamed. I knew he saw the tweet. I went to close the browser window, but I didn't close it soon enough. Liam had been rushing towards me, and he turned my laptop to face him. He looked so pissed off.

"Really, Emery? Really?" he asked. "Why are you doing this?"

"I told you guys once, and I will tell you again. I did not do it. I tried to delete my account, but it wouldn't!"

As I was saying it, I went to delete my account.

Account deleted.

My eyes widened in disbelief at the message shown on my phone.

"What?" I commented in shock. Then I turned to look at Liam who was still giving me a harsh glare. He said nothing else, going back to his seat with the boys.

I was stunned in shock. I brought my hands to my hair, pulling at the strands in frustration.

At the moment, I didn't care how I looked. Things were getting worse for me. I was in a fight with the boys, and a day hadn't even passed! Bianca was one step ahead of me.

I looked at my laptop, noticing that it still displayed the 'Account deleted' message. I tried to move the mouse icon, but it remained frozen. Then I noticed something.

My camera lights were on.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, inching my head towards the camera.

Then the lights turned off.

My eyes widened in horror. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out what I found out.

"Guys!" I yelled as I moved towards the guys who had sat away from me. They chose to ignore me, pretending to be busy on their phones.

"I didn't post those insults. Someone hacked into my Twitter account, and that same person has hacked into my laptop. They were spying on me through the camera! That's how they made my Twitter account get deleted when Liam was in--"

"Shut up, Emery!" Zane cut me off with a glare of his own. The anger in his voice could have brought chills to my form, but it didn't.

"Do you expect us to believe you? Especially after what you've called us, again?"

"Zane--"

"No! I don't care what you have to say. Just, leave us alone," he said.

I was angry as I turned to face Bianca.

"You--"

"I told you to go, you cunt!" Zane shouted at me with a furious stare. I felt tears brim in my eyes, but I tried so hard to hold them back. 

I was hating that moment. Meanwhile, Bianca chose then to secretly give me a smug smile. My mind went back to what I went through, and I snapped.

"Stop this you evil bitch!" I yelled at Zane's girlfriend, punching the table in front of her and making her jump in shock.

"Emery!" everyone shouted at me, but I ignored them.

"I am warning you, Bianca. You do not want to mess with me," I said, inching my face closer to hers. "You may think you are bad, but I can promise you that I can be worse. I could take you down when you're not expecting it."

I read her mind, hearing her laughter. That made me angrier than I already was.

"You laugh," I said, shocking her. A smirk appeared on my lips.

"Enjoy this moment! In fact, make sure you enjoy these moments because they will be your last."

Bianca stared at me as if I was crazy.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Is she okay?" she asked as she looked at Logan. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, you know what I'm talking about you whore."

"Emery--," Zane went to speak, but I motioned my hands to signal him to be quiet while using my powers to shut him up.

"I'm going to take you down, Bianca. I will uncover all your secrets and lies, then I'll post them all over the Internet," I leveled my stare with hers. "Wouldn't you like that, Bianca? Wouldn't you like everyone to know all the shit that you have tried so hard to keep in the dark?"

She just gave me a fake concerned expression. However, in her mind, she was steaming with anger.

"Emery, are you feeling okay?"

Bianca was still playing stupid. I grinned before I laughed at her.

"I'm not stupid, Bianca. I know you have accomplices. I am also going to take them down. I won't stop until you all pay for what you've done to me."

I unclenched my first, and Zane gasped in a breath.

"I'd suggest you keep your eyes open," I added with a knowing smile before turning to go to my seat.

After that incident, the rest of the plane ride was tense. I avoided everyone and minded my own business.

We arrived in Canada a couple of hours later. I was the last one who had alighted the plane. I wanted to avoid the causes of my misery, but then, I had to be there for them. With a sigh, I followed everyone to a couple of limousines waiting for us.

I got into one with Logan, Ethan and Selena. I had a feeling that Harry, Zane and Liam did not want to sit near me.

The limo began its journey to our designated hotel. I sighed, staring at the passing landscapes of the city of Toronto. It looked like it was about to rain, and I was glad about it.

"Emery, why would you--" Selena started, and I knew where it was heading to.

"I know what you're going to ask." I cut her off. "I didn't do it. You would have believed me, but just like the rest, you believe the bitch."

"Emery--"

"It honestly makes me feel like you guys have replaced me," I commented, earning a few seconds on silence. "Do you guys hate me?"

There was a moment of silence in the car.

"We don't trust you," Selena replied. In other words, they hated me. I closed my eyes as I felt tears threatening to stream down my cheeks.

Of course.

A day had not passed, and I was more than willing to leave the tour. Being on the plane had reminded me of how shitty my life had become.

I was hated by everyone. The people who I cared for hated me and wanted nothing to do with me. I didn't want to do anything with them, but shockingly, I still cared for them.

I guess that is the sick thing about love. It makes a person still care.

"We're here," Logan announced. I sighed in relief, wanting to get out of there immediately.

I was heading towards another direction, intending to go tour the city. I needed time away from everyone, but however, Ethan stopped me when he yelled: "Where are you going?"

"Sightseeing," I replied. He looked at me in confusion.

"Aren't you supposed to be like our magical bodyguard or something?"

Oh right. I had forgotten.

With a sigh, I followed Ethan, Logan and Selena towards an open area feet in front of us. It looked like an open theater, and it seemed smaller than the ones I went to with the boys nine months ago.

According to Liam's email, it was the Molson Canadian Amphitheater. 

 

Being around the area reminded me of the current situation. The tour would suck for me because I was going to follow the boys wherever they went whereas I wanted to go explore the city.

However, I recalled what had happened the last time I went exploring. More specifically, I  remembered the events that occurred the last time I went outside. The boys had fans in Canada and every planned destination in the tour. If I wanted to avoid a crazy crowd of fans that wanted to murder me, I had to stick with the people I currently hated.

I frowned at the thought.

Looking ahead, I saw that some of the boys' crew had arrived and were busy setting up the place for the concert.

So was I expected to just stand there and watch in boredom as everyone prepared?

I looked around, noticing that the boys, Selena and Bianca were already at the stage of the theater. They were talking to some of the crew who smiled at them. The guys seemed to be having so much fun whereas I stood at a spot.

With no one to talk to.

Alone.

I hated it. I hated being cooped up in a room for fear of being attacked. I hated being on tour with the boys and my cousin, knowing that they hated me.

But most of all, I hated that Bianca was still around them.

It hurt to see how much things had changed. I thought I would be the one with them, but Bianca came and took the spot. She was their friend and practically a member of their family. She didn't want me around, and so she practically did everything to make sure I wouldn't come back.

I hated her.

I turned away from the sight of my former friends and went to a secluded corner. There were a few people around, and they were the crew.

A sob escaped my lips as I let the tears flow. 

I can't do it. I just can't do it.

I didn't think I would be able to do it. I wanted to leave the tour. I wanted to just go back to my home, and not the one in Crystalia.

I was practically not welcomed there.

I wanted to live a normal life and to move on from the pain that I felt, but I couldn't. I was reminded of it every day.

"Emery!" Logan yelled. His voice startled me. I quickly wiped the tears that had flown with my hands before turning to face him.

I just hoped the signs of my crying were not visible.

Logan stared at me in confusion.

"Are you--"

"What do you want?" I cut him off. I knew he had realized I was crying, but I did not want to talk about it.

"We are going out for lunch. Do you want something?"

I was surprised by Logan's invitation. I thought that he hated me, especially after... everything.

I shook my head in a manner of declining the offer.

Logan hesitated for a while, staring at me before he left.

Seconds later, I took out my phone and unlocked it, noticing that it was almost one in the afternoon. I realized I had spent more than an hour in my thoughts.

That surprised me and scared me. It had been a long while since I had done that, and the only time I did was during...

Was after...

My eyes widened in shock as the realization came to mind. I didn't want to accept it. I couldn't....

Was I showing signs of depression?

No. I couldn't. 

Could I?

 

 

CHAPTER SIX

Emery's P.O.V

Selena, Bianca, the boys and I had spent two days in Toronto. After that, we were all heading back to the US. 

The past two days had been nothing but tense among us. Everyone avoided talking to me after what had happened on the plane. Moreover, Bianca kept sending me her signature victorious smirks, and I tried so hard to ignore her and not to punch her.

I hated that bitch with a passion.

Anyway, the next tour destination was to be in Detroit, Michigan. We had all boarded the same private jet we had used to come to Canada. The guys spoke amongst themselves and avoided me. I had no one to talk to, and so I spent most of my time in my thoughts and on my laptop. 

I also worried that my lips would dry.

Meanwhile, my Twitter account was back again, not that I wanted it to return. 

Yay. 

Bianca must have hired a professional hacker. They knew when to make it look like I posted awful things about the Ordinary Brothers. Ever since I had seen my laptop's camera light turn itself off, I was certain that someone had hacked into my laptop and was watching me. Therefore, I blocked the camera with a small ball of cotton.

I planned to deal with the hacker. I needed to do it as quickly as possible. I had learned a lesson from postponing to check on Bianca's past, especially since I was imprisoned.

However, to deal with the hacker, I had to learn about coding. Afraid of the hacker finding out what I planned to do, I bought another laptop similar to the one and started taking an online class with a different name. 

Let's just say I was surprised by the number of modules I saw. 

I realized it was going to take a lot of time to learn all of it. It could even take years, and I did not have that much time on me.

"Attention passengers. You are required to turn off your electronic devices because we will be landing soon," the pilot announced over the intercom. I shut down my laptop before closing it and placing it in the bag beside me. I also switched off my phone, preparing myself to quickly get out when we would land.

About six minutes later, the plane had landed. Selena, Bianca, and the boys went towards the exit of the plane. I followed behind, making sure to leave a lot of space between us. Once I had alighted the plane, I looked around my surroundings.

It was a clear day, and it was past 12 noon. I was standing on a tarmacked airfield. There was a city far in front of me, and there was a gray bus parked meters away from the plane.

 

For a moment, I was confused. 

Weren't we supposed to be boarding a limo?

Then I noticed someone coming out of the bus. It was Trevor, the boys' tour manager.

"Hi, guys!" Trevor said. The rest, except me, replied to his greeting. "As you know, the remaining part of the tour will mostly be here. You will be using the tour bus again."

There were a couple of groans from the people in front of me.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Trevor said. "Groan if you want, but management says we need to cut back on expenses. It doesn't help touring around the continent with the jet. So, in you go."

There were a couple of exasperated sighs before everyone went towards the bus. I leisurely followed behind, wanting to avoid being near them. Trevor seemed to ignore me, and I was glad.

I walked into the tour bus, only to be momentarily astonished by what I saw.

The bus looked big on the inside. The walls inside the bus were painted pale yellow. Fine black leather couches were placed on each side of the walls, leaving a clear path for people to walk through. A red carpet decorated the floor. There were lights placed on the side of the walls as if we were on a plane. A large flat-screen TV also adorned the place.

"We need to decide on beds," Harry said. Then he and the rest went further into the bus. I followed, looking around and silently marveling at what met my eyes. 

There was a small kitchen; a fridge, a microwave, and an oven were placed on one side while a wooden island was located on the other. We moved past the room, and I saw the slightly-opened furniture doors to the bathroom and toilet. Then we came to a stop in a blue room.

I momentarily froze on the spot when I saw them.

Bunk beds.

My mind instantly flashed to me being in prison. It was an awful time that I never wanted to experience again. Sure, I was currently not in prison. The bunk beds even seemed more luxurious than the ones I had been forced to sleep on, but they were nonetheless a reminder of the awful place.

"Emery, which one will you pick?" Liam asked with an expectant look. That cut off my thoughts.

"What?"

"The rest have picked their beds. Only you and I are left to pick ours. These are the remaining ones," he said, motioning to two beds on the far end of the room.

They were decorated with white sheets, thick duvets, and blue fluffy pillows. I had to choose either the top or the bottom bunk. I remembered prison again, so I thought of taking the top bunk.

But wouldn't someone try to stab me—

"No one will stab you through the bed, Emery," Liam said with a bored look, reading my mind. I gave him a glare in reply.

"I'll take the one on top."

"Good," he said. "You can place your stuff anywhere in the rooms."

I stood, watching Liam silently. A thought came to mind, and I wondered what would happen if I voiced it out.

"Aren't you afraid I may want to finish the job of killing you?" I asked him. Liam and the rest tensed, and I smirked just for the fun of it.

"I'm glad you picked the top bunk. Do any funny business, and I will stab you through your mattress," Liam threatened with a serious angry look.

I laughed.

"I'm kidding!" I replied. "If I were to kill you, I would do it when no one is around to witness it. I mean, I wouldn't even be dumb enough to let my hair be enough evidence that I killed you."

"Here we go again..." Selena trailed off with a shake of her head.

"You tried to kill me," Liam pointed out.

"Oh please!" I snorted. "I didn't. I wasn't even on the scene at that time! But no matter what I say, you all stick to believing that I tried to murder you."

"But your hair and your phone--"

"Have you bothered to check for fingerprints?"

"There were none in the car," Logan stated, shocking me. "The evidence still points to you, Emery."

I narrowed my eyebrows at Logan as I gave him a confused look.

"Has it ever occurred to you guys that someone is trying to frame me?"

"Emery, we've heard enough," Harry said. "We have been ensnared by your lies once, and it won't happen again. It's pitiful, even for you."

"Those weren't lies. Have you guys even thought that if I wanted to ruin you, I would have done it a long time ago?"

"You wanted to get rid of Bianca," Selena said, and I turned to face her with a suspicious look.

"Really? You think that?" I asked my cousin, and she nodded in reply. I chuckled at the irony.

"Oh, and I thought you knew me..." I commented, still laughing at her.

"Why are you laughing?" Selena asked with a frown.

"This is sad. This is so sad," as I talked, I felt tears prickle at my eyes. I blinked hard, trying to dry them off.

"Seriously? Do you know how confused your notions are? At one point, I want to get rid of Bianca. At the other, I want to kill Liam! You even told me that I wanted to break the band! Make up your freaking minds!" I yelled at everyone, making them flinch at my outburst.

"Why don't you sum it up and say I wanted to get rid of all of you?"

Bianca gave me a glare.

"What, Bianca? Afraid I'm cracking your plan? Oh, please. You should have stuck with me wanting to get rid of you and you alone. Besides, since everyone here thinks I'm bad, don't you think I would have already done it by now?" 

Everyone tensed.

"If I was as evil as you all think I am, none of you would even be here right now. Liam," his eyes zeroed on me, "don't you think I would have told everyone what you and the rest had done to me in high--"

"Emery," Zane cut me off with a glare. Bianca turned to look at Zane in confusion.

"What? Oh, your girlfriend doesn't know your secret?"

"What secret?" Bianca asked. Zane didn't face her, still glaring at me. That just made me smirk.

"Oh, nothing that I would tell you. You see, Zane, if I wanted to ruin your lives, I would have done it by now. Especially since it is so easy to get my hands on the evidence."

"What is she talking about?" Bianca asked, but everyone ignored her as they stared at me in fear.

"But don't worry, guys. That secret won't get out... if you play your cards right. The only secrets I'm looking forward to finding out are Bianca's."

Bianca turned to face me at the mention of her name.

I ignored her as I turned to go further in the bus, heading towards my laptop. My leaving had signaled to the others that the conversation had ended, and everyone went to convene further away from me. 

They were probably talking about what I had just told them. Hopefully, they would see reason and realize they had been wrong all along.

I resumed the lessons in coding, but I started zoning out minutes later. I tried to listen, but it was not working.

Maybe it was my location.

I got up to move around the bus, looking for a place to study while getting weird looks. I ignored them, and after a while of finding a spot to use, I finally gave up. I went to the bunk beds, choosing instead to arrange my luggage under Liam's bunk bed. I held onto the bag that had my laptop because I had stuff that I wanted to do.

"Guys, I'm hungry. Do you want to go for a bite to eat?" Ethan asked. I saw everyone stand from my peripheral vision. Then they all started to exit the bus. 

Yay! Privacy!

I went to the front with my laptop, planning to find a seat and to resume my lessons.

"Emery!" Ethan called out to me. I looked at him, surprised he even mentioned my name. 

"Do you want to come eat with us?"

What?

I stared at him, still in surprise. 

"Erwiches could attack us even when we're outside."

Oh.

With a shrug, I followed Ethan out of the tour bus.

***********************************************************************************************

We all ended up in a fast food restaurant. 

The boys and Selena had worn disguises to avoid recognition from their fans. Surprisingly, so did Bianca.

I shook my head at them, turning to face my laptop. I had taken a seat far away from the boys to do my stuff. 

Ethan may have invited me for lunch, but I wasn't too sure that everyone had gotten over our disagreement in the bus. Also, I did not want Bianca to know what I was doing, especially after what had occurred on the plane.

I stayed there for a while, waiting for a waiter or waitress to service me while I went through stuff on my PC. My mood had been ruined ever since we left the bus, and the person taking their time to service me was not helping matters.

It felt like a long time before I sighed in exasperation. I turned my head up to see if there was anyone running the joint.

I was surprised that the boys' group had already been served. In fact, they were laughing, talking to each other while eating their meals. 

Ethan was even halfway through his food!

The sight of the guys enjoying each other's company brought a pang of jealousy. I used to hang out with them, but at the moment, I never would.

In fact, why did seeing them having a good time hurt?

I pushed the thoughts away when I spotted waitress pass me without sparing me a glance. I raised my hand, clicking my fingers to get her attention, but she ignored me. 

I sighed, trying to quell my anger down. 

"Hey! Waitress!" I yelled out loud as I clicked my fingers, having a couple of eyes turn to me. The waitress spotted me, and she gave me a bored look before coming to my table.

Finally!

The blonde waitress swiftly came towards me. 

"Hi! Sorry to call you out like that," I apologized when she was near me. "Could I have--"

"Yeah... I'm not your waitress today," she said with a fake smile. "None of us will be! Would you like me to help you with something? Probably to show you the way out?"

What?

"Excuse me?" I asked with raised eyebrows, seriously confused. The girl's fake enthusiasm dissolved into a look of contempt.

"You are Emery Davis, aren't you?" she questioned. I didn't reply, confirming her query.

"I must say I'm surprised you're out of jail. Something must be wrong with our government if they allow people like you to be free!"

The hell?

"You don't know what you're saying," I replied. The girl rolled her eyes at me.

"I know what I'm saying. And what I'm saying is that you are an evil bitch. I'm even surprised you have the guts to show your face in public, you no good motherfucker."

My eyes widened at that.

"You don't belong here you slut. In fact, you don't belong on earth. You belong in hell! You had the nerve to hit Liam with a car. You thought you killed him, but you lost you pathetic little piece of shit. He's still alive. And you? You are getting all the hate that you deserve in the world."

"Okay!" I shouted, having heard enough from the girl as I stood from my seat. It seemed like her insults were a bit uncoordinated, but I didn't care at the moment. She had angered me, and I was not going to just sit back and take her insults.

Those days were long behind me, and I would be damned if I ever let them make another appearance.

"Shut up! Shut the fuck up, okay?" I spat at the worker loud enough for everyone in the restaurant to hear. "You can keep on talking, but you'll just be wasting your breath. I don't care what you or other people say. I know that I'm innocent. And even though I had committed such crimes, what gives you the right to butt into my business and act all high and mighty? Do you see me complaining about that makeup on your face that is too trashy for you?"

"Wh--"

"Shut up!" I yelled, interrupting the girl from speaking. By then, I was certain that every eye was on me.

"I've let you talk enough, and I get your point. You could continue insulting me, but you will fail. It will take more than kindergarten words from a bitch like you to get me to cower. I have gone through a lot, and what you are just trying to do is pathetic. If you want to know how you can embarrass me in public, I will be more than willing to give you a demonstration." 

I cracked my knuckles.

"If you really want to get to me, don't use words alone. Use hands."

In an instant, I was all over the waitress. My hand lashed out, slapping her face. The slap was strong enough to turn her head to the side. She cried out in shock. 

The girl did not have time to react with her own slap before I gave her a couple of others on her face.

I jumped off the table, landing on the girl and sending the two of us on the floor. The people around us were making shocked noises. 

I knew I was in public, but I didn't care.

I was quickly on top of the waitress, and so I started slapping and punching the hell out of her. She kept crying out when my hands made contact with her face.

"Emery!" Selena shouted, charging right at me. I got off the girl who was crying in tears and staring at me with wide, scared eyes.

"Miss, is there a problem?" a man came towards me. He looked to be in his forties.

"Are you the manager?" I asked.

"Yes."

Perfect.

The waitress had lied, but then, that didn't matter.

"This individual," I pointed at the waitress, "did not serve me and ignored me when I called out to her. Is this the kind of service you offer to people? Do you know how many people have complained about this restaurant and how many bad ratings this place has on Google?"

Okay, I may have lied about the last part. But then, mentioning customer complaints and bad ratings to a manager of any business, they would be willing to do anything to have the problem fixed.

The manager turned to face the girl.

"Cherry," he called out to the girl in a patronizing tone.

"She's Emery Davis!" the girl yelled out in protest.

"I don't care if she was freaking Hitler! She is a customer of ours, and you were meant to treat her well."

"But she beat me up!" Cherry yelled.

"Did she start it?" the manager asked. Cherry remained quiet for a while.

The employer sighed before saying, "You're fired."

The girl's eyes widened in shock, and so had mine. 

I was just happy the bitch was getting what she deserved.

"What?"

"You are fired. Pack up your things and leave."

"But—"

"We have heard many complaints from the customers about you. Did you think this day wouldn't come?"

Talk about luck! Complaints from other customers? The girl was as good as dead meat.

The girl cried as she got up, staring at me with a glare.

"It also helps if you go after what your enemy cares about," I said as if I was telling a three-year-old something interesting. The girl shook her head at me in disbelief before she left.

Then the manager turned to face me with an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry about her. Would you want me to get you something free of charge?"

The owner looked so apologetic I couldn't even think of saying no. But then, I wondered what the other waiters would do to my food. The girl must have been friends with some of them, and they could do something in revenge for me getting Cherry fired.

I declined the offer. After a short conversation with the employer insisting and me politely declining, he left. Then I went to my seat, resuming my position as I waited for the rest to be done with their food. 

Well, there went my appetite.

I expected the attention on me to go away, but just like always, I never got what I wanted.

"The fuck just happened?" Bianca asked with a shocked expression. I turned my attention to the bitch in front of me. I hadn't realized that she had been approaching me.

"What the hell was that?" she stared at me in disbelief.

"Bitch, what did you expect to happen?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows while feigning innocence. Bianca glared when I insulted her. Then a thought came to mind. I doubted it at first, but when I put two and two together, it made sense.

"You sent her," I said. I wasn't sure. I just said it to see if I would get a reaction from her. I wouldn't put it past Bianca to pay someone to make my life hell. She tried to do it months ago with the guards. She could have tried again with the waitress who just got fired.

"What?" Bianca asked, but I saw the shock in her eyes.

I knew it!

Bianca had confirmed my thought, making me angry. The encounter with the waitress had not exhausted all of my energy and I felt ready to go for another round. 

It could not believe Bianca wasn't going to stop. She was going to do everything in her power to make sure my life would be hell.

Or maybe she wanted me out of the tour.

Either way, I wanted nothing more rather than to jump her and kick her ass in front of everyone.

It would teach the bitch not to mess with me.

Then I started thinking of something else. I could save the bitch for last, but I would like to keep her on her toes, wondering when I'll strike.

"Three strikes."

Bianca looked at me as if I had gone crazy. I noticed the boys quickly approaching her side as they stared at me through their sunglasses.

"What?" Bianca was confused.

"You even want to pretend you didn't hear what I said? I'm giving you three strikes, bitch!"

Bianca was still puzzled.

"No, let me make it five. I'm giving you five strikes. See, I am that generous!"

Bianca smirked at me.

"I am warning you right now. Tell whoever you hired to hack my Twitter account to back off, or the both of you will get it! Again: FIVE STRIKES, BIANCA! Stop messing with me. If you continue ruining my life, I promise that I will attack you. You will not see it coming! But when you do, I will make sure to beat you up and land you in the hospital," I smiled. "Oh, yeah! I know you have accomplices. Feel free to send that stupid blonde you hired to try to kill me."

Bianca visibly paled.

"She and those two men-- you know which two men I'm talking about, right?"

Bianca didn't answer.

"I'm coming for them too!"

"Emery, you are causing a scene. Calm down!" Selena yelled at me.

"No! I refuse to calm down! That bitch tried to kill me!" I yelled, pointing at Bianca. I moved to face the said bitch.

"You better enjoy this month because I will not go away until I see you rot in jail for all the pain you have caused me. I will dig up all of your dirty little secrets and expose them to the world. Just like that waitress, you will be garbage when I'm done with you."

With that promise, I turned towards the exit of the restaurant. I needed to cool off the storm of emotions I had been feeling from the recent fight with the waitress.

Wow! I had confronted and threatened Bianca twice and got a waitress fired. 

All in a day.

If someone were to ask me if I felt bad for getting the waitress fired, I would deny it. I did not feel bad at all. 

After a while of getting an unexpected walk around the city, my stomach grumbled. I sighed before deciding to look for a place to eat.

 

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

 

Emery's P.O.V

 

The weekend couldn't have arrived sooner. The boys had been given a two-days break, and so they were allowed to spend it however they wanted. I wasn't expected to be around them, and so I went to my home in Crystalia where I was to meet Ashley. 

I had missed my new house since I only spent a week with it.

As soon as I arrived, it didn't take me long to set myself up for the day. Ashley had arrived hours later, and so we planned to spend the day indoors. I was busy studying the language of programming on my laptop while she was busy with things on her phone.

"Do you know what the media said about what happened two days ago?" Ashley suddenly asked, breaking the long hour of silence. 

I had told Ashley about the waitress incident, and she was both worried and excited for me. She was glad I stood up for myself, but she was worried that people would have reasons to hate me more, especially since I got the waitress fired.

"Is it bad?" I wondered. Ashley winced.

"Well..." she trailed off. 

That was all I needed to know that it was bad. 

I had been on the couch opposite her, so I got up and went to see what she was checking on her phone. It was a blog by the popular E! News, and it read:

"Emery Davis has done it again. In a spectacle that occurred today, the O.B hater was seen insulting a waitress for doing her job."

"What? That's not what happened! If anything, she wasn't doing her job," I commented.

"Then Emery proceeded to slap the girl before the manager interrupted the fight. The poor girl had been yelled at by her employer before he fired her. This was all caught on video."

Crap.

"Afterwards, Bianca was seen marching towards Emery. They had a talk, and in that talk, Emery speculated that Bianca had paid the waitress to try to humiliate her in public. Emery Davis also threatened to expose Bianca's 'dirty little secrets' to the world and make her pay for what she did to her. This has brought out the belief that Emery is crazy and wants to get rid of the lovely Bianca, Zane Marsh's girlfriend. Also, it seemed confusing that Bianca was in the same restaurant as Emery.

Was Emery telling the truth? And what was it about Bianca's dirty little secret? Share your thoughts by commenting..." I scrolled down the screen, seeing a headline that had me seeing red.

"Related: A petition is being signed for a waitress to get her job back."

I clicked on the link and read through it. I hoped it wasn't the same waitress I had humiliated in public. However, I was proven wrong.

"This is bad," Ashley said. "More than one million reads? Crap! Emery, what are we going to do?"

"The waitress has a petition? Damn it!" I yelled, not believing the absurdity of the situation. Ashley gave me a look that said 'Really?' Then I recalled what she said.

"I don't know," I replied. "The only thing I have to do is expose Bianca, and perhaps all this trouble will end."

Then Ashley's phone played a tune. She checked it, and I watched as her eyes widened in horror.

"Oh no."

"What?" I asked, then she flipped her phone so I could see what was wrong.

@EmeryDavis: To those who are fans of the Ordinary Brothers, I say fuck you!

I was frozen in position as I read through the post. There was a bit of silence in the room as I read the comment over and over again.

"No, no, no!" I yelled, standing up from the couch while shaking my head in disbelief.

Bianca had done it again. 

Doesn't she ever take a break?

For a moment, I believed she had posted the tweet in payback for messing up with her plans and getting the waitress fired. Or maybe it was for threatening her in public. Whatever it was, it didn't change the fact that I was angered by it.

"This is bad," Ashley said. "This is really, really bad."

"How many have seen it?" I asked.

"Ten thousand and counting."

I winced.

"Emery!" I heard Liam's voice. I turned, thinking that he was in the house. He yelled my name again, and that was when I realized he was outside.

Wow. He had read the tweet and came to me fast.

"I don't want to see him or any of them right now," I spoke.

"But you have to clear the air with them," Ashley said.

"They wouldn't believe me!"

"But I am a witness to what happened. Maybe they will believe you this time."

I thought over what Ashley said and hoped that she was right. I got up from my couch and headed outside, my friend following closely behind.

I momentarily came to a stop when I realized Liam was not alone. The rest of his bandmates, Selena, Erick and Justin were also there. They were all glaring at me in anger.

No surprise there.

"Really? You had to insult our fans?" Harry asked with sarcasm. I gave him a glare.

"I did not post it," I replied.

"It's true," Ashley said. "I was there when the post was made. She was not even touching a phone or her laptop."

I nodded to confirm what Ashley said.

"Would you quit it with the lies?" Ethan demanded in a shout.

Well, I guessed they didn't believe Ashley. I gave my friend an apologetic look, but she just shrugged.

"Well, I tried. Remind me how you were friends with these a-holes?" Ashley stated, seriously confused, and I tried to hold in my laughter.

"Emery, this is serious," Erick stated, ruining the short moment between Ashley and me. I sighed, turning to face him.

"I know it is serious, and I have told you many times: I did not post it! Would you guys open your eyes for once?"

"And do what?" Logan asked. "Let you trick us into our own deaths?"

I slapped both hands onto the sides of my face. 

There was no winning with those guys.

"The only person tricking you is Bianca," I stated, earning rolls of eyes from everyone.

"Here we go again," Liam commented with a shake of his head.

"You guys seriously still don't believe me?"

No reply.

"Even when I have a witness?"

Still no reply. Just angry glares.

"Wow. What happened to make you despise me like this?"

"Um, you tried to kill me?" Liam said with a tone that was meant to make the situation obvious.

"Don't play smart with me right now. I know this had begun way before I 'tried to kill you'. You guys had been distant ever since Selena left to pursue a career in music. I just thought that you were too busy to chat, but now that I think about it, you had been avoiding me. Even you, my dearest cousin."

Everyone tensed at my sudden realization.

"Are you guys hiding something from me?"

"The only one who hid something is you. You hid your true awful nature, and now that we've found out your plan, you're angry you can't get to us anymore," Ethan stated.

I took in deep breaths to try to calm my anger.

"Emery, you do know that what you did was bad, right?" Erick asked.

"I didn't do it!"

"Bullshit!" Harry stated. 

I was getting tired of proving myself right, only for people to insist that I was wrong. And so I snapped.

I turned to face Harry, outstretching my hand. My powers held him in place as I quickly brought him up from the ground.

"Not. Bullshit!"

"Emery put him down!" Erick said with a worried expression. I turned to face him and noticed the look of fear in him. I was surprised, looking at the others and seeing the same expression on their faces.

I released my hold on Harry. He collapsed onto the ground. The chances of obtaining injuries were reduced by the grass below him. I took in deep breaths to calm myself.

"I just don't understand you guys. Why the hell did you all look at me with fear in your eyes? I wouldn't have killed him," I spoke as Harry got up from the ground. "You would know that. But now..."

I sighed in exasperation.

"Let's go, Ashley," I told the girl beside me. I turned towards the door to my home, barely sparing a glance to the people who were behind me.

Once Ashley closed the door, we stayed in the living room. I had my hands on my head as I tried to wrap my head around what had happened.

"You need to prove to them that you're telling the truth," she repeated, seemingly calm despite what had just occurred seconds ago.

"Did you see what just happened?" I asked Ashley. "I felt something in me snap. I saw how scared they were when I dragged Harry up in the air--"

"You have a lot of anger in you, Emery. You need to deal with this problem before it consumes you."

Not yet, I thought before nodding in agreement.

"You're right. I need to deal with the hacker who controls my account. But to do that, I will have to learn about programming, and that could take years. Who knows the kind of damage that could happen during that time?"

"Emery, did you forget that you are a witch? No, a crystal?" Ashley asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No," I replied. "Why?"

"You can use magic to help you know all about coding."

I did not reply for a moment, thinking over what she said.

"But wouldn't that be cheating?"

"Girl, you have a hacker on your tail. No one believes what you say. Only the two of us are certain that you are going through hell, and you know more about what is happening than I do!"

I was still hesitant on using magic for my own gain.

"Emery, everyone hates you, and that hacker is doing nothing but making the situation worse. Do you want to risk the hacker saying mean things about someone else? They might insult a celebrity you love or the freaking president!"

Ashley was right. I needed to take control over the situation before it got out of hand.

"But I'm a witch--"

"You are a lone witch!" Ashley cut me off with a look that said 'This is obvious!' "You are not a Crystalian. You are a lone witch. Lone, Emery! That hacker played a role in making your life miserable! But on the bright side, you still have your powers! You are a lone witch, and you can do whatever the fuck you want."

I stared at Ashley for a while, realizing she was right. 

"Alright. But I would first have to create a spell for this. They don't have 'learning how to read code' in the grimoires."

Ashley nodded with a smile.

At the moment, I was glad she was around. I was certain that if Ashley hadn't provided that idea, my life would have been worse.

Well, time to get to work.

 

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

 

Erick's P.O.V

"The fuck just happened?" Ethan commented as he, Harry, Liam, Zane, Logan, Selena, my brother and I began our walk back to the castle. It had been four minutes since we talked with Emery about the insulting post she placed on Twitter about the Ordinary Brothers' fans. 

"I don't know," Harry said, "but I know one thing. I will try to avoid her more from now on." After Emery raised Harry and let him fall to the ground, he had been a bit scared. The good thing was that the fall did not injure him that much, and it made it easy for Liam to heal him.

"Am I the only one who saw a shift in her eyes?" Justin asked, and we all tensed. I too had seen the short change in Emery's eyes before she snapped out of her angry stupor. Something black had curled around them before she dragged Harry up in the air. I thought it was just a figment of my own imagination, but hearing my brother mentioning it...

"I saw it too," I said. We stopped walking for a while as we stared at each other. 

"Her eyes turned black," Logan said with a furrow of his eyebrows. Then his expression changed into fear.

"Do you think--"

"No," I cut him off immediately. "She can't be evil already, especially not at a time like this!"

I was worried. I was not prepared for Emery to turn evil on all of us. We had not even solved the erwich problem.

"Dude, she gets hate on Twitter and from some of us," Liam commented. "Okay, all of us. It may be too much and distracting for her. I think she may have to leave the tour--"

"And let the erwiches attack us again?" Zane asked with a look of disbelief.

"What do you suggest we do, Zane?" Liam asked with an exasperated expression. "You know the number of times we had quarreled with her. She even attacked and waitress in public! Do we really want to risk her turning evil?"

"It will only be for the next three weeks. I doubt Emery can turn evil in that period," Selena said. "Besides, she still believes Bianca is evil. I guess that if that was true, she would have snapped by now."

  Selena's words seemed to make sense.   

"Okay, so it is agreed. In the meantime, you guys should not interact with her in a way that may insult her. Keep your distance," I advised.

***********************************************************************************************

Emery's P.O.V

It was a Monday, and I was back on tour with the boys and my cousin. 

I had settled myself in the living room area, typing on my laptop as I tried so hard not to listen to the background noises. Currently, everyone except two people had gone out to do some exploring. 

The tour bus was filled with creaking sounds, moans and groans. I already knew what Zane and Bianca were doing, and it was interrupting me.

The two weren't even ashamed about it. I mean, I was there, and the two were still going at it! I had headphones over my ears, trying to listen to music, but they didn't seem to help buffer out the sounds. Checking my time, I noticed that ten minutes had passed ever since the dreaded activity began. It was making it hard for me to concentrate.

"You take it, baby," Zane yelled.

"No, baby, you take it," Bianca yelled back.

"You take it, baby."

"No, baby, you take it!"

I had endured enough.

"Geez! Will one of you shut up and just take it?" I shouted. At once, the sounds stopped. I shook my head in disbelief, going back to typing on my laptop.

Then the sounds started again.

Damn it!

There was no getting through with those two. I realized they knew I was around. Those two were definitely doing it on purpose. 

I was so angry with them.

Apart from the noise, I was mad that I was feeling hurt. Zane was obviously in love with his current girlfriend, and there I was, still confused about my feelings for him.

I mean, it had been a long time since we had kissed on a dare. Zane had even told me that he had a girlfriend. The kiss did not mean much to him than it did to me.

Still wished he had told me before we did it.

I knew I should have been angry with him. I mean, he bullied me in high school, got me arrested and yelled at me for a countable number of times over things he thought I did. Moreover, he believed Bianca.

I increased the volume of the music, partially muting out the sounds of Zane and Bianca mating like baboons.

I carried on with the typing. It was hard to figure out a spell for gaining knowledge about programming. Coming up with the words was so hard. To add to that, spells could be dangerous; even one misspelled word could ruin everything.

"ZANE!" Bianca's excited shout sounded through the bus. I sighed, deciding to get away from the loud couple. I paused the music before closing my laptop. I proceeded towards the bus exit, glad that I had a chance to escape the people I hated.

We were all in Rosemont, right around the area where the boys would perform. I was surprised that the two people I left on the bus were still having sex even though there were people around. For a moment, I wondered who else had heard them.

Anyway, as I trodded down the steps of the bus' stairs, I did what the boys did when they were in public: I had worn a red hat and a pair of sunglasses to shield my eyes from people who might recognize me. 

Ever since I posted the insulting tweet about the Ordinary Brothers' fans in the weekend, I was worried. Six months ago, I had insulted the boys, and I was cornered and chased by OBers. I would hate to imagine what would happen because the new post was targeted at them.

To add icing on the cake, I got comments from other celebrities. Some had hidden insults, while others had cuss words with more retweets. In spite of all of that, one thing remained for sure:

The hacker had to go.

It was a good thing that the spell was coming along great. I was also glad I had followed Ashley's advice. If I decided to learn computer programming for years before I acted on the hacker, I would have possibly been the most hated person in the universe.

I walked around, excited about discovering the city yet worried about being spotted by OBers. I took about an hour taking photos of the sights I came across and enjoying the walk I had. It was a needed one, especially since I felt cooped up for most of the time in the tour bus.

When I was satisfied with my photos, I headed back to the tour bus. To my surprise, the rest had returned. They usually took more than an hour when they went outside.

"Where have you been?" an angry Liam asked in greeting as I entered the bus. "Do you know what had just happened right now?"

I gave him a bored look, clearly unaffected by his attitude.

"Let me guess."

"An erwich attacked two minutes ago! It was a good thing Bianca wasn't around to experience it," Liam answered for me.

I frowned. It would have been nice to have heard that the bitch was blown up, or to see the look on Zane and Bianca's faces when an erwich teleported in the middle of their lovemaking.

"Your job was to--"

"...take care of you like little babies," I cut him off. Liam did not seem amused, ending the conversation by going further into the bus.

"So..." I trailed off, "what's going on?" I asked, getting no reply from anyone. 

With a roll of my eyes, I went towards my laptop to resume typing my spell. A few hours later, I had finished it. I went through it, hoping that it was okay and that nothing freaky would happen if I chanted it. I even texted it to Ashley, and she quickly replied with a thumbs-up.

I smirked. The hacker was going to pay. But first, a warning.

@EmeryDavis: To whoever hacked into this account: You may be enjoying life on the other side of whatever device you are using. But what you fail to understand is that it will be so easy to get you. I'm warning you right now: Stop your shit or I will expose you and have you arrested

A laugh sounded through the bus a few minutes after I had posted the tweet. I turned around, spotting Bianca with a hand over her mouth as she stared at her phone. I thought she saw the tweet and was laughing at it. Maybe she didn't, but maybe, she did.

I narrowed my eyes at her before turning my attention back to the laptop. I stood up as I grabbed it, heading towards the room with the bunk beds. Everyone ignored me, and I was glad.

Once I was in the room, I hid by blocking the view of the others with the curtains that hung from the bus ceiling. 

I was soon chanting the spell. A surprisingly pink stardust illuminated the dark area, flowing from the laptop and into me. I continued the chant with an increased volume, feeling a tingle in my head. Once the spell was done, I was thrown to the side. Luckily, I didn't pass out.

Was that supposed to happen? Did I get the spell wrong?

"Emery!" Selena called out to me as a couple of footsteps ran towards the room. The curtains were moved back as Ethan and Selena came into view, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Is there an erwich attack?"

I looked at my laptop. I felt something being added into my brain. I winced at a headache before turning my attention to the two people in front of me.

"No," I replied. "Everything is fine. Just slipped and fell off the bunk bed," I stated. Ethan and my cousin gave me weird looks before turning to head to their seats.

Once they were far from me, I turned to the laptop. I felt a tremendous amount of knowledge about the device in front of me. On their own accord, my fingers typed on the keyboard. I had no idea of what I was doing. I realized I had opened a browser window split in half, one showing my Twitter page and the other showing the code.

 

Somehow, I understood the programming code. I changed everything that was written in code to Crystalic symbols. They were enchanted, and they would block the hacker from posting on my Twitter account again. 

I had also set up a kind of notification program on my laptop. It was set to inform me when the hacker would try to hack into my account. I had just posted a warning to them, and if they kept trying to enter my account, I would not hesitate to hand them over to the police.

***********************************************************************************************

Four days later

Third Person's P.O.V

"It's not working," an individual spoke through the phone.

"What do you mean it's not working?" Bianca asked in anger. "Try again!"

"I can't!" the masculine voice on the other line replied. "It's like the code language has been changed to another."

"What?"

"I'm seeing symbols, and I have no idea of how to get through them. It's like she knew a way around the codes and made her own."

"That's impossible! Look. We need to meet about this. I'm in San Diego. Are you here?"

"Yes," the person replied.

"Good. I'll text you where to find me."

Bianca ended the call and looked at where Emery had left her phone. She had gone to the bathroom, and by the looks of it, she wouldn't be getting out anytime soon.

The guys and Selena had sat next to each other as they conversed about the tour. Bianca found this as an opportunity for her. She quickly approached Emery's phone and entered her Twitter account. It had automatically logged in. 

Emery had forgotten to uncheck the 'Remember Me' box.

Stupid bitch, Bianca thought with a smirk.

@EmeryDavis: Kill yourselves OBers!

Bianca posted the message on Twitter, leaving the phone where she found it as she moved around the tour bus, resuming her façade of goodness and innocence.

Emery's P.O.V

My mouth dropped in shock as I looked at the tweet I allegedly posted. My neutral mood was immediately ruined once I had seen it.

Ashley had called me a couple of minutes later after the tweet had been posted. It was confusing at first. I knew the hacker couldn't get into my account on their end since I had changed my password and turned the code to Crystalic. That left one thing.

Someone had posted the tweet from the tour bus.

Bianca had posted the tweet.

Fury clouded my judgment as I made quick work of looking for her. Everyone was on the bus, but I couldn't spot Bianca.

"Where is that bitch?" I yelled in question. Liam was looking through his phone. His expression suddenly changed to fury, and I immediately knew what he was going to say.

Before he spoke, I cut him off. "Shut up, Liam! I have no time to deal with you right now. Where the hell is Bianca?"

"You insulted our fans? Again?" Harry asked in anger and disbelief. I ignored him.

"Hey guys!" Bianca said as she entered the tour bus with a cheery smile. She spotted me and then her expression turned into fear.

"You BITCH!" I yelled, running towards her.

"Emery!" Zane yelled, wrapping his arms around my form before I could tear the bitch apart.

I thrashed in his hold.

"Let me go!" I shouted. "STRIKE TWO, BIANCA! I know you did this, and I will make you pay for this. LET ME GO YOU ASSHOLE!" I yelled again, finally getting free of Zane's hold. I resumed my approach towards Bianca. However, Ethan was nearby, and he held me back.

I gave him a glare so fierce, it should have made him pee his pants.

"Why do you always keep blaming my girlfriend for things you did?" Zane asked in anger. I stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you an idiot or what?" I asked. "Your asshat of a girlfriend tried to kill me, placed me in jail for something I didn't even do and is now ruining my image!"

"But--"

"Why would I ruin my own image? Sometimes I swear I am surrounded by stupid, blind, egotistical idiots!" I thrashed, finally free from of the hold Ethan had on me. I turned to face Bianca with a glare.

"That hacker of yours is now on the top of my list. I will make quick work of getting rid of their... oh, I'm sorry. No. What I meant to say was his ass."

I noticed a sudden shift in Bianca's expression. I had just guessed the gender of the hacker. Bianca's face betrayed her, and that was all I needed to know that the hacker was male.

"You better hope you aren't next," I told Bianca, turning to go out of the bus. I planned to take a walk to calm my nerves, but that was not going to happen.

There was a horde of girls in front of me. There were like twenty or thirty of them. They all had furious expressions, and their attention was focused on me. Judging by the prints of the boys' names and logos on their clothes with pictures of the Ordinary Brothers, I knew they were OBers. I was surprised they even found the tour bus.

How did they find it—Bianca.

"What was it you said? Kill yourselves?" a brunette girl in the front of the group asked me with raised eyebrows. I raised my eyebrows as I surveyed the group again. 

What surprised me was that they were all teenagers, some even twelve years old. I felt the guys move to inspect what was happening. They stood behind me, and I felt their forms tense in shock.

"Yeah... I didn't post that." I stated, trying to seem calm when I was angry on the inside. "Bianca did."

"Oh please!" another fan beside the brunette said. "Bianca is a wonderful girl, nothing like the slut you are. We know you posted the tweet and that you're trying to get rid of Bianca. What's your deal with her, anyway?"

I went to speak, but then I realized something. Defending myself would be useless. Just like the boys, they would not believe me. In fact, it woud just make things worse. There would be another back and forth moment, and I still wouldn't win. 

"Emery, it's okay. I called Trevor. He said he got security--" Liam was beside me as he talked, but I cut him off.

"Don't bother, Liam. I can deal with this myself."

"But--"

I interrupted him with a look, and he chose to wisely shut up. With a smile that was far from pleasant, I turned to face the horde of hormonal teenagers.

"Bianca--" I went to yell, but I stopped myself. "You know what? Why do I even bother? You guys are just going to take her side," I pointed at Bianca, "no matter what I do."

"If there is someone who should kill themselves, it's you," a fan commented, and shouts of agreement filled the air.

Oh, they had no idea of how many times that thought came to me when I was in prison.

I rolled my eyes at them. 

Wow. Was that how I was doomed to live my life? Was I to remain scared of facing the boys' fans? Was I to live in fear of meeting anyone who would recognize me and start hating me from the start?

Was I to remain hated by everyone for the rest of my life?

The situation fully dawned on me. I felt trapped like I couldn't enjoy my life anymore. I had gone through such a moment when I was in high school. I couldn't make friends then.

In a way, my life currently felt like my first high school. The only difference was that instead of five people hating me, I was hated by thousands. I was forced to hide from everyone I would meet, all because of the boys, my cousin and that stupid bitch Bianca. 

I wanted to cry at the moment, but at the same time, I wanted to snap. I had been playing the role of a good girl for most of my life. 

Look at how my life had become because of it.

I was tired of being restricted to one area. I was tired of being ambushed by the boys' fans. I was tired of Bianca and her hacker; and most of all, I was tired of being blamed for something I never did.

"Would you like us to end your life for you?" the brunette girl who had first spoken to me asked. The she and the rest of the fans began marching towards me.

Oh, hell no!

A furious expression took over my face. I hid my hand behind my back as I willed for a gun to materialize on the palm. Once it had been fully formed, I quickly took it out, aiming at the brunette. 

The expressions of determination and victory quickly turned into fear. Everyone stopped walking as soon as they saw the weapon.

"Move, or your head gets blown off," I threatened.

"Emery!" Logan shouted in shock.

"Put that gun down. They are our fans--"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled at everyone behind me without facing them. "You all believe that I posted those awful tweets about you and your fans. Well, I didn't. And I will be damned if I let a couple of OBers control my life again. I am done hiding from you guys, and I will do whatever it takes to get you away from me. I will grab my life back even if it is by force."

The brunette didn't look fazed.

She smirked.

"I doubt you even know how to use that--"

That girl had no idea of who she was messing with.

I cut her off when I aimed the gun in the air, firing for a couple of times. The sound of the shots was loud. Birds around the area flew away. There were some screams, and some of the fans cowered in fright. I aimed the gun at the girl who had the nerve to challenge me.

"What were you going to say? That I don't know how to use it?" I released a dark chuckle. "I know damn well how to handle it. In fact, I could give you a demonstration," I told the girl as I moved closer towards her and placed the gun beside her head. I fired, missing her on purpose and hitting the ground. The girl flinched, scared by the closeness of the gun.

"You will hear from the police!" the brunette, who was once confident, was now shaking in fear.

"Really?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Go tell them. I have nothing to lose. I was in prison once and I got out. I could get out again. Besides, why would you tell the police about this when I have a video recording of all of you threatening to kill me?"

The girl tensed in shock, even though that was a lie. She did not need to know that.

"In fact, I could just kill you all right now and say I fired the gun as a defense. Also, they could believe me since none of you got hurt. Think about it! If you tell the police, it is obvious they will rule in my favor, and you will all go to jail."

The girl looked defeated, and I knew I won my case.

"Go ahead! Run to the police and tell them about this, and make sure to spread the word about what happened here to the rest of the OBers. If you or anyone else dare try to pull this shit again," I aimed the gun at the girl as I continued my threat, "I won't hesitate to kill you."

The girl stared at me with fear in her eyes.

With a deadly expression, I fired the gun in the sky. Like confused animals, the fans ran away from the spot, screaming. 

I stood as I watched the OBers run away from me. Once I was done, I turned to head towards the tour bus.

Oh, right.

I had forgotten that the boys and my cousin had witnessed my exchange with the fans. They looked shocked as they stared at me, but their expressions did not faze me.

"What? Is anyone going to yell at how unfair I was to your fans?" I asked, and nobody replied. My eyes traveled around everyone, landing on a pissed-off Bianca.

"That threat goes to you too, Bianca," I said as I walked towards the entrance of the bus. "This has been strike three. Hope you don't get to strike five quickly. I would hate to beat your ass without an audience."

***********************************************************************************************

Liam's P.O.V

It was evening. The boys and I were still in San Diego. We had a scheduled interview, and we were all currently behind the set, getting ready for it. 

Selena and Bianca were not there. Selena went to Crystalia, and Bianca went to visit her friends.

"Have you seen Emery?" Logan asked as his hair was being combed by a hair stylist.

"She's right over there," I pointed with my thumb while looking at the mirror in front of me. In the reflection, I saw Emery. She was busy with her phone, her eyebrows furrowed as she typed.

The guys and I avoided her ever since the spectacle occurred during the afternoon, but more so after we had discovered she had a gun. Her aims were perfect, and I was afraid for every one of us. 

Bianca had been glaring at Emery for reasons I could not think of. I was surprised she had not even moved when Emery fired the gun. It was weird of her, but then I guess she wanted to stay strong for our fans.

I was embarrassed. Our fans were there, sticking up for themselves and my band while the rest and I watched. We couldn't do anything about it.

Especially since Emery had a gun.

The guys and I had talked about it, angry that Emery almost shot an OBer. We were also angry with ourselves for not controlling the situation before it got out of hand.

"Guys, you're up," one of the hair stylists informed us. The boys and I got up and walked towards the side of the stage. We listened attentively to what the interviewer said, waiting for our cue.

"...The Ordinary Brothers!"

My bandmates and I walked past the gray curtains. We faced and waved at a small audience in front of us as we headed towards a golden couch. The interviewer was from one of the current shows that were running on TV.

As soon as we sat, the interview began.

Rose had us introduce ourselves and asked us questions about the tour. It went on with a bit of laughs and talks, mostly about funny moments with the guys, new music and how popular we had become in a matter of months.

Everything was going great until something happened.

"So, is it true that you have other people along for your tour?" the interviewer asked. The boys and I nodded in confirmation.

"Yes, we have Bianca, Zane's girlfriend," Logan said, earning applause from the audience, "and we also have Selena Gomez."

I was glad he didn't mention Emery.

"And what about Emery Davis?" the interviewer asked. I tensed. That was not what I was expecting.

"What about her?" Harry asked with an uneasy smile, mirroring the nervousness the rest of us felt.

"I heard she is backstage right now, isn't that right?" the interviewer asked. There was a huge screen behind us and another on my left that were hung high on the walls. They showed Emery, still on her seat as she continued fiddling with her phone.

Wow. She had no idea of whatever was happening on this end.

"Yes, but I doubt--" I went to speak, but Rose cut me off.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Emery Davis!"

Damn it!

The screens soon showed a couple of people who went towards Emery. She perked up in attention, confused by their presence. Someone talked to her, probably informing her of the sudden interview, and she smirked.

The bitch smirked!

Emery got up from her spot, and I knew she was coming. 

It was not good that she was being interviewed. There were a lot of things that Emery knew about the boys and me. I was mostly worried about the bullying we did to her in high school.

Could she mention that?

There was no applause as Emery walked towards us. She smiled, not seemingly bothered by the sudden interview about her. She took a seat beside Logan who was at the other end of the couch.

"So Emery, tell us about yourself," Rose said with a curious smile.

"Oh, there's nothing much about me," she said with a smile. "I'm just an ordinary girl who happens to be hated by these guys and their fans."

Emery had waved a hand over the rest of us.

There were a couple of boos from the audience, but Emery just smiled.

"What is your relationship with the boys?" Rose asked, also ignoring the audience's reaction.

"Well, I went to the same high school with them," Emery answered.

Oh crap.

"Really?" Rose's voice heightened in interest.

"Yes! You could say we were... very good friends," Emery looked at us with a knowing smile while the rest of us tensed.

"If you were friends in the past, why aren't you now? Also, what is up with the Twitter issue?"

"Oh, they don't believe me on certain topics. I mean, we were good friends! I would never try to kill Liam. That is just preposterous! What would I have to gain from killing him?"

How about revenge for what we did to you in high school?

"The rest of us are wondering about that," Rose said.

"And don't get me started on the Twitter thing. Here is the problem. Someone hacked into my account," I rolled my eyes at that, "and they are making it seem like I have nothing else to do but to make enemies with everyone on the Internet."

"You don't say," Rose said with sarcasm. "Anyway, about your account... you or whoever is using your account has a tendency of posting after every two days. Nothing has been posted so far."

"That's because I took a course about the code language and I am currently blocking the hacker."

There was a pause that lasted seconds.

How? That seemed impossible. 

"I can prove what I'm saying to you right now. Do you mind?"

Rose looked like she didn't believe Emery. The rest of us also didn't.

"Rose, you seem like a nice woman," Emery commented.

Not, I heard Emery think.

"You seem like the trustable variety. I can promise you a lot of good things if you let me do this."

Rose was confused as she said: "Okay... but I doubt you'll be able to do that."

"It's won't take long, Rose," Emery said, shocking me. 

"Alright," the interviewer replied, not believing her. 

At the moment, I had a feeling that Emery would embarrass herself in public.

Emery shocked me further by getting up from her seat to head backstage. She was soon seen heading back with her laptop. 

She sat down beside me before she started typing words that hardly made sense to me. The screens in the interview room changed to reveal someone. It was a blonde guy with spectacles, probably in their late twenties. He was in a room congested with many items, and that had me thinking he was a hoarder.

"That is the hacker," Emery said. "What he doesn't know is that I have hacked into his own device. Anyway, the screen will be divided, and the microphone will be turned on. Watch what will happen."

The screen was divided and codes were shown, just like Emery said. She typed something on her laptop for a second.

"I am going to make my account easier for the guy to hack into."

Moments later, we all watched as the guy perked up in happiness.

"Finally!" we heard the guy say. "Can't believe it took me four days to crack this," he mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.

"The... Ordinary... Brothers... is... a ... group...of ...fags." There was a click on his end, and the post was seen on Emery's Twitter account. It was displayed on the other unused screen.

I was shocked.

"Oh my God," the interviewer said. "I can't believe this. You were right. Here is the post right now!"

One of the screens showed the tweet that had just been posted. People in the audience started mumbling in shock. I stared in disbelief at everything that was happening.

"Wait, wait!" the interviewer shouted as she looked at the screen that displayed the hacker.

"That bitch thought she could outsmart me. Thinking she could just threaten me and get away with it. Well, I'll make you pay. Take this! : Fuck...you...OBers."

Just like that, the post was also placed on Twitter.

Emery was right. Someone had hacked into her account. But then, I couldn't help but think something was wrong.

"Thomas Acker," Emery spoke. The person on the screen perked up in shock. I had a feeling he heard Emery's voice. "Or should I just call you Tom? Wow! You are quite the idiot. You didn't think I wouldn't follow through with my warning, did you?"

A shutter sound was heard.

"By the way, that was me taking your picture."

The guy looked scared shitless.

"I am here with the Ordinary Brothers in San Diego, in an interview. Everyone here has seen what you have done, and they know for certain that I was hacked."

Tom Acker began getting up, running around the room he was in. I heard things being shuffled around, guessing that he was packing to run.

"I have given the police the coordinates to your home," Emery continued. "They should be there in..."

"Police! Hands up!"

The guy looked at the screen in shock. He started moving about in a frantic motion, and the police just barged in the room.

"NO! This is a mistake!" the guy yelled.

"Shut up!" the police yelled in the background as they took the person away in cuffs.

What. The. Hell?

Everyone stared at the screens in shocked silence as the guy was arrested.

"Thank you for having us, Emery," Rose said, still in shock after a minute of digesting what we had seen. She smiled, even though it was uneasy.

"I am glad I was here too," Emery said, not seeming affected by the sudden silence. "You should know that the hacker is one out of five people who will be arrested."

"Really?" Rose asked in curiosity. "Who are the rest?"

"Well, you obviously know that one of them is Bianca. But I'm saving her for last. For the others... give me three weeks. You will find out soon enough."

 

 

CHAPTER NINE

 

Third Person's P.O.V

Everyone was back on the tour bus, asleep on their bunks. The bus was moving along the tarmacked highway in the night, taking everyone to the next city where the boys would perform. The night sky produced some lighting that illuminated the room where everyone was asleep.

Bianca was awake, staring at her phone in disbelief and shock. She hadn't heard the recent news until everyone was in bed; but once she did, she could not believe it.

Emery had exposed and had the hacker arrested.

Bianca could not believe Emery had done that. She didn't think Emery would follow through her warning. In fact, her threats seemed empty to her. It felt like a dream to Bianca. She never thought Emery would have the balls to actually get the hacker arrested, especially on live TV.

The interview had resulted in doubts about Emery's personality. People on the Internet were not sure about hating her anymore, and that angered Bianca. 

It went against all the plans she had for the crystal. She wanted Emery to be hated and for no one to forget about her, but that wasn't going to happen.

The interview had also raised doubts about Bianca. Emery told the interviewer that Bianca was one of the people she would be seeking revenge on. At the moment, the focus quickly shifted to Bianca. It was bad for her because she was certain people would start taking an increased interest in her personal life. They could dig up her past and uncover many unfilled holes that would leave everyone uncertain on trusting her.

What also frightened her was the possibility of the boys not trusting her. She did not want that, especially when the band was becoming more popular.

That meant more money for Bianca, and she did not want to miss her supplier. 

That was why she was dating Zane in the first place. 

Bianca had to do something about Emery. She had followed through with her warning, and she was uncertain on what she could do next. She needed to stop her before things went out of hand.

Maybe she could send the hitman on her again.

That thought brought a smile to Bianca. She switched off her phone and lay on the bed, closing her eyes as sleep overcame her.

***********************************************************************************************

Emery's P.O.V

It was another morning. I had gotten out of bed, dressed up and ready for what the day had in store for me. 

The next concert was going to be in Las Vegas. It meant no exploring for me, especially since I had to be in the presence of everyone else.

Ugh.

The rest had woken up and were eating their breakfast. They ignored me as usual, talking about their lives and tour stuff. It was so boring, I was glad I sat far away from them. I had my laptop and headphones, watching the news about how I exposed the hacker.

Tom Michael Acker was arrested for hacking into Emery Davis' account and posting awful things about the popular band, the Ordinary Brothers. The 28-year-old was found in a secluded building here in New York with many computers. The screens showed Emery Davis' Twitter account among other details that were used for hacking into the girl's account.

Tom Acker was also found to have hacked into bank accounts. The police have refused to give details on those who were hacked, promising to communicate with the affected to give them the news. Tom has recently been sentenced to life imprisonment without trial and without bail because of the evidence found.

Apart from that, there were speculations that the suspect was innocent. After a lot of further investigations, the police confirmed that the person is not. 

This whole incident changes what we all thought we knew about Emery Davis. This brings into question the things Emery said about Bianca. Is it true that Bianca wanted Emery dead? Is it also true that she tried to kill Liam Gray? 

I re-read the article once more, and a smile took over my features. Ashley had heard about the reports, and she was happy for me. She was glad I got the asshole arrested. There wouldn't be any awful posts about the Ordinary Brothers and their fans from my account. In fact, I made sure to change my password to a critical one before logging out on my devices.

I felt relieved after Tom had been arrested. I felt giddy, and I was planning on my next plan.

I had to get rid of Bianca.

The knowledge that Tom couldn't get out of prison for what he did brought a desire to finish off Bianca. I wanted her to pay for all the pain she caused me.

I sat as I thought about it. If Bianca was arrested, the others that remained would swiftly follow through.

I had no doubt that the bitch would expose them. She would have nothing to lose, and I would revel in seeing her being escorted to prison.  

That also brought on the question: how would I get her arrested?

Framing her was out the picture. I didn't want to get my hands dirty so that she could be arrested. I needed Bianca to get her own ass arrested.

I sat in my seat as I continued thinking, and an idea came to mind: I could record Bianca confessing every vile thing she had done.

But how would I do it?

A piece of tissue paper floated into the bus, bringing my attention to my surroundings. I swatted it and forced it out of the bus through the open window.

I shuddered, wondering where the tissue had come from and why I touched it. As I headed towards the sink, I noticed that it was very quiet. I looked around, noticing that everyone had left the bus. 

I smiled as I washed my hands before heading back to my seat. On my way there, I spotted Bianca looking at me.

Ugh. Why was she around?

"Where are the guys?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"They went to get ready for the performance tonight," Bianca replied with a smug look.

I shrugged before resuming my walk to my seat. As much as I hated the bitch, I was not in the mood to hear whatever she had to say.

"That was smart of you," Bianca said suddenly, stopping me in my tracks. 

I knew exactly what she was talking about. I went to speak to her, but then something came to my mind.

The proof. That was my chance! 

If I could capture Bianca confessing to employing the hacker to make my life miserable, the guys would know I was telling the truth. Also, she would be imprisoned.

"What?" I asked after secretly using my powers to turn on the camera of my laptop. The advantage of the spell I had used to protect my Twitter account from Tom was the ability to just use my mind to do anything on my devices.

"Stop playing stupid! You know exactly what I'm talking about," Bianca said as she walked towards me, leaving some space between us. I used my powers to see if the camera was recording our direction. It was, and I mentally sighed in relief.

"I did warn him, you know," I said. "But he thought I was joking. Well, too bad for him. He's off the list and you are next." 

Bianca looked furious.

"I can't believe you got him arrested!" she yelled in anger. I shrugged with a smug grin.

"And that makes you angry because..."

"You and I both know why I'm angry!" she shouted. "I paid that guy a thousand dollars every month to make sure he did his job. I mean, it had been so easy to just hack into your account and pretend you were insulting the Ordinary Brothers and their fans. I thought he was a genius with computers! I also thought he would know how to deal with people hacking his own computer!"

I smirked.

Gotcha.

"Do you know how many times I had to borrow money from Zane?" she asked, still in her angry state. 

"What, you don't have your own money? Bitch too broke to do her own dirty work?" I questioned, feigning innocence.

Bianca snorted.

"You must be stupid. Of course, I don't have my own money! Whatever Zane would give me was not enough, and so I had Tom hack into his bank account."

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"Lucky for me, my rich boyfriend is too stupid to even check his bank account," she said with a smirk. "In fact, it made things easy for me. I could stop borrowing from him, and I wouldn't look like a gold-digger."

"What the fuck?" I commented. "You hacked into Zane's bank account?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Bianca hacked into Zane account? The hell?

"And he never checks the balance! Whenever he buys something, he just swipes his credit card and leaves."

I was angry with Bianca.

"I can't believe you! He's your boyfriend!"

"No, bitch," Bianca said, "he's my bank account."

My mouth dropped in shock. I suddenly felt bad for the boys; my heart mostly broke for Zane. He was in love with Bianca. I thought she loved him back despite her evil ways. But apparently, I was wrong.

This could crush him.

"Since we are alone, I'd rather we clear the air. Wonder why I hated you from the first moment I saw you?" Bianca stated with a smug smile. "I knew you had feelings for him. I also knew he was confused about his feelings for you. His mother had even confessed that he was in love with you when the two of you were in high school! I couldn't have that, and so I had to get rid of you to keep him."

"What?" I asked in shock.

"You were right about everything. I sent a hitman to kill you. Too bad you lived. You forced me to step up my game. I wanted Zane and his friends to hate you, and so I began making plans. Guess what I did first."

Things were beginning to make sense.

"You posted the first hate tweet about the boys, but then I already knew that."

"Yes, but that was not enough. I wanted you completely gone and completely hated. I didn't want the boys to rekindle any relationship they had with you."

Bianca pursed her lips as if she was in thought. 

"That's why I sent my hitman to dress like you on that same day. I even gave her your phone before sending her to hit Liam with a car."

"YOU BITCH!" I yelled at her. Bianca just smirked.

"Now, they're all wrapped around my finger. You have no one, Emery, and I have your friends who will listen to everything I say."

Bianca laughed.

"They think you are an awful person. And don't think that TV interview changed anything. The boys and your own cousin believe you arrested an innocent person for making it look like he hacked your account."

"But he did it!"

"Exactly!" Bianca deadpanned. "I'm even as surprised as you are! Those people who were once your friends are idiots. They are making this all too easy for me!"

I felt tears threaten to escape my eyes. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing.

The guys thought Tom was innocent? 

I forced my tears back into my eyes, too proud to shed them in front of Bianca.

"What about the other thing?"

"What other thing?" Bianca asked in honest confusion.

"Those guys. The ones who you sent to--" 

"You're wondering about that little thing?" Bianca said, shocking me. "It was a little something to think about before you would come to the hotel and be arrested for shit you clearly didn't do. Besides, from what I heard, you defended yourself before they got any further."

"You sent them to rape me!" I yelled in anger.

"Yes, I did. Too bad they didn't finish the job. I wanted them to make you look like a slut and then I would have spread the news that you slept with two men at once. Anyway, I don't need them now. My job is done, now that everyone hates you."

With that, Bianca walked away towards the bus exit. I remained in the same spot, pondering over what I had just heard.

I knew my speculations about Bianca were true, but to hear them come out of her own mouth... It changed everything.

I was hit with sorrow as the awful memories returned. I cried a little, thinking again on how my life had turned awful. 

I still could not believe that Bianca had gone through extreme measures just to get rid of me. I couldn't believe she had done it just because she thought I still loved Zane.

After what he and the rest had done to me, the answer to that question was obvious.

I wasn't in love with Zane. He had hurt me in a lot of ways, especially after he had kissed me and told me he had a girlfriend.

I shook my head, not wanting to revisit the feelings I had gone through when I spotted Zane with his girlfriend.

I turned, heading towards my laptop. I sat in front of it, and I spotted a video recording window. It was then that I recalled I had been recording Bianca confessing to all the crap she had done to me.

I just wanted her to confess to working with Tom, but I had gotten more than I requested.  It was a good thing. I was happy I had tricked Bianca. 

Suddenly, a feeling of paranoia hit me.

What if she found out and decided to delete the video?

I quickly saved the video recording and played it. The camera had recorded everything that had just transpired. It was still morning, and the lighting was wonderful. It fully showed Bianca and me. Moreover, the microphone had clearly picked our voices.

As quickly as I could, I started uploading the video to a private cloud server. 

As I stared at the uploading dialog of the web page, I couldn't help but feel excited. 

Bianca was going down sooner than expected.

***********************************************************************************************

Harry's P.O.V

My bandmates, Selena, Bianca, and I were touring part of the city with our disguises before the concert began. Unfortunately, Emery had joined us. No one had initiated any conversation with her, and neither had she.

The news about the arrested hacker had spread like wildfire. My band, Bianca and Emery were all that celebrity news articles could focus on. As a result, many began to believe that Emery was truly innocent and that what she said about Bianca could be right.

The rest of us didn't.

"I can't believe it," I said with wide eyes as I stared at the tweets about the arrested hacker. "Do you believe this shit? They say Bianca is an evil bitch!"

"What?" Zane asked with wide eyes. I moved my phone to Zane so he could see what the Internet was saying about his girlfriend.

"This is fucked up," Ethan commented. "I can't believe Emery went to these lengths to prove her innocence."

"I don't think I know her at all," Selena said. "I mean, why would she falsely arrest a guy for something he didn't do?"

"I don't know," I replied. "She seems to be improving her acting skills."

Liam nodded in agreement.

"Guys, what are we going to do?" Logan asked. "I can't be near a person like that. I mean, I could handle the insults. But the false arrest of an innocent person..."

"It's not like we were involved with it or anything," Selena reminded Logan.

"Liam, we need to do something about this," I said.

"Sadly, Harry, there is nothing we can do. Let's just hope this mess ends immediately."

Just like that, my mood was ruined.

***********************************************************************************************

Emery's P.O.V

It was about two in the morning. The concert was nearing its end. The excitement that had been there when the boys started performing had decreased as the night progressed. I could not wait to get to bed, and I was certain that I was not the only one. 

I was backstage with Bianca. We had settled on plastic chairs. I had ignored her throughout the concert, watching my surroundings at times while texting Ashley on my phone because I was extremely bored. She had recently decided to hit the hay, and I was left with nothing to focus on.

The area was mostly deserted. There were colorful rotating lights above me. A speaker was positioned on my far left, amplifying the voices of the boys as they continued singing. 

Despite the items being present in my surroundings, I still felt sleepy.

When was the concert ending? 

"Thank you, everybody!" Logan's voice echoed through the nearby speakers. 

Finally!

I winced, feeling tired and exhausted as I got up from the plastic chairs. His voice had gotten rid of some sleepiness I had been feeling, and I was slightly infuriated.

A slap suddenly hit my cheek. My head turned to the side as a result. There was a throbbing burn on my face, and that got rid of any traces of sleepiness that I felt. I turned to face Bianca with a furious look.

Not surprisingly, she was smirking at me. For a moment, I wondered why and how she got the energy to slap me late in the night. I quickly pushed the thought out of my mind when I saw her chuckle.

"You bitch!" I aimed my hand, ready to return the favor.

"Emery!" Zane yelled as he ran towards me. I ignored him, delivering the slap onto Bianca's face. Bianca began to cry, showing her wonderful acting skills as tears escaped her eyes.

"What did you do that for?" Bianca asked as Zane enveloped her in a hug. She sobbed on his shoulder. "Why does she hate me so much? I never did anything to her."

Meanwhile, Zane was glaring at me.

"Guys, she's acting. She started it!"

Selena and the rest of Zane's bandmates had arrived at the scene, and they did not look pleased.

"You must be really enjoying this," Liam said. "You had an innocent guy arrested for supposedly hacking into your Twitter account, and now you slapped Bianca?"

What?

Oh. Bianca was right. Everyone thought the hacker was innocent. 

Not for long.

"Guys, she's faking it! The hacker is not innocent! I mean, why would he try to run from the police if he didn't do anything wrong?"

"Emery, please, shut up. We've had a long night, and we would like to rest," Harry said. "Could you save your 'I didn't do it' speech for tomorrow?"

Harry had spoken with such nonchalance. The way he talked about the subject made it seem like he was talking about a common occurrence. 

It hurt. 

"But guys, this time is different. I have proof!" I confessed. 

I was getting desperate. Maybe the mention of evidence would grab their attention.

"Oh, the same way you have proof about Tom Acker being the hacker?" Logan mocked with raised eyebrows.

"But he is the hacker!" I stayed with my opinions.

"Emery, listen to us," Selena said. "None of us is interested in seeing your damn proof. It must be something that you conjured up to trick us into trusting you. We did that once, and we won't do it again."

"But--"

"Shut up!" Zane yelled with a furious expression. "You heard Selena. We don't want anything to do with you or your freaking proof. Let's go, guys."

"Look. I can understand that you are all tired. What if I showed you the proof tomorrow--"

"Emery, I am begging you to please shut up," Liam said with his hands in his hair. "We have been going on with this argument for almost two weeks now. This has been going on back and forth, and nothing has changed. Nothing will change. You know that we won't believe anything you say, and yet you still bother us."

"Liam--"

"You tried to kill me. Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to get to our good sides? Do you think that will happen after the accident?" Liam asked as anger took over his expression. It was a different kind of anger that had me move a step back in shock. 

"I stayed in a hospital for months because of you! I couldn't walk for quite a long time, and that forced us to postpone this tour. The guys could have lost fans because of the stunt you pulled!"

"Liam--" I stated his name as he sighed.

"Please, don't make us fools. Stop trying to make yourself look innocent when you're not. We know who you truly are, and there is nothing you can do to change that."

Liam's expression turned to one of pain, and I was hurt by his words. 

Who I truly was?

"I can't believe you. I can't believe how you've changed, Emery," Selena stated as angry tears threatened to escape her eyes. "I thought I could trust you, but then... after all the crap you did... You're just an awful person. I don't love you anymore." 

I felt like a knife had pierced my heart when she said the last words.

"I don't care about you. No one here does, and no one ever will. You are no longer my cousin, Emery. Just please do us a favor: do what you have come here to do."

If possible, I felt like an invisible slap had landed on my face.

There was a moment of silence between the boys, my cousin and me. Afterward, they began walking away.

I stood silently as I watched them, shocked by the events that had just occurred and the pain I was feeling. 

They didn't want my proof. I had it, but they didn't want to see it.

Tears clouded my vision, and I did not hesitate to let them fall.

They didn't love or care about me anymore.

A sob escaped my lips as I went to sit on the ground. I hugged my knees to my chest as more heart-wrenching sobs escaped my lips.

I did not care of how I looked at the moment. I could even picture the image in my mind.

A brunette girl curled into herself and sobbing.

The image hurt more, and more tears kept coming.

I felt pain. I felt so much pain.

My mind went back to what Liam had told me. He was angry and sad at the same time as he talked to me. I felt his anger and sadness, but it was not meant to be directed to me. He wouldn't have told me those words if he had heard about my proof.

Or would he?

I had no idea of what to believe in anymore. I was afraid of losing myself to what everyone thought I was. Sometimes, I thought life would be just easier if I just gave up and...

The words I had just been told kept replaying in my mind. However, they didn't feel enough.

I recalled all the arguments I had ever since I had joined the boys on their tour. The insults that were hurled at me also played in a loop, and my form shook as more sobs kept coming.

They hated me. They all hated me. They wanted nothing to do with me!

I couldn't believe it. I still couldn't believe it!

I was such an idiot! Why did I even think that a stupid proof could change anything? There was no way of gaining their trust back. There was no way of getting through to them.

They had made up their minds about me.

I felt like I was back in jail. I felt alone. 

I was alone once again.

I cried harder, not moving from my spot.

Bianca... Oh, Bianca. She was right. The bitch was evil, but she was right.

It was like I was doomed to be marked as an evil person. I was never a friend to them. I was not family.

I had no family. The only people I could talk to were Ashley and the Queen, but Erick could decide to forbid them from seeing me again.

I had not stopped crying. Every bad thing that happened to me resurfaced in my mind, a painful reminder of whom I was made out to be. 

I was a hated person. I was worthless. I was destined to experience pain in my life.

My life was ruined. I couldn't go to college. I couldn't get a decent degree and a decent job. Many people knew me, and so I couldn't make any new friends or even date. Or get married.

I had no purpose.

Just like high school.

Bianca and the OBers were the bullies, and the boys and my cousin were those who didn't dare to help.   

No, it was much worse than high school. It was my reality, and I had no way of escaping it.

At the moment, I didn't want to go back to the tour bus. I didn't want anything to do with the boys. I didn't want to be near Selena. I didn't want to be back in Crystalia. I didn't want to be back on tour. I didn't want to be an outcast.

But then, I was already an outcast.

After a while, the sadness went away and was replaced with exhaustion. I was tired.

I was tired of trying to prove my innocence to the people who I thought had cared about me.

They didn't love me or care for me anymore...

The thought hurt, but I couldn't cry. I felt like I had exhausted all of my tears. 

It took a while for something to dawn on me.

I was losing myself to the lies being spread about me.

The realization made me shocked, and anger surged into my form.

The same thing had happened when the boys had bullied me in high school. They had called me names, and those names kept resurfacing in my mind when I was depressed.

No, not again.

I was done.

I was freaking done.

The anger then dissipated, and I was left to feel nothing. 

No more. Just, no more. 

I was done pleading innocence to people who were too stubborn to open their eyes. I would just let everyone think what they wanted to think. 

I was just done. I gave up. I wouldn't try to let the boys see Bianca's true colors. She could drain their money for all I cared. She could even kill them if she wanted to. I wouldn't even feel anything if they were to realize I was right. It wouldn't matter especially after what they had told me.

The guys and my cousin, the only true member of my family that was left, hated me. All the while, I was feeling the same for them. At the moment, I didn't feel anything.

I didn't care. All I cared about was getting out of the tour as soon as possible. The erwich attacks were the only reason I was there in the first place.

Well, no more. I realized I didn't belong anywhere. I didn't even belong in Crystalia.

I needed to get away, and in order to do that, I had to deal with the erwiches. I had to figure out a way to kill them.

All of them.

The sooner they perished, the sooner I could be free from the obligation of being around the ones who hated me. That would just make it easy for me to disappear.

The thought of leaving brought a sense of calmness to my form. My mind drifted back to everyone who hated me.

I did not feel anything. 

I could have smiled, but my emotionless state prevented me from doing so.

The erwiches needed to disappear, and there was only one person I knew I could trust with the plans that were already forming in my mind.

 

 

CHAPTER TEN

 

Emery's P.O.V

The tour bus had left.

I was left standing in the parking lot in the late night where I thought the bus was, but I did not see it anywhere.

Maybe the guys wanted to avoid me. Or maybe, they didn't know. 

I thought I would feel something, but I didn't. After all the crying I had done in the recent hour, I still felt numb.

I stood for a moment, trying to think of what to do. I thought of calling the guys and telling them they had forgotten me.

But then, I dismissed the idea. I did not need to be around them. It was already the weekend, and the boys did not have a scheduled performance. 

I decided then to teleport to my house in Crystalia. It didn't take me more than a minute to find the bed and to pass out instantly.

***********************************************************************************************

"Ashley, we need to talk," I began the conversation with a serious tone. It was almost midday, and the both of us were in my home in Crystalia. 

Ashley had been on the couch, typing on her laptop when I spoke. She faced me in question.

"What is it?" she asked, placing her laptop on the mahogany table in front of her. I sighed, walking to her and sitting beside her.

"You need to stop hanging out with me," I said.

Ashley furrowed her eyebrows in shock. "What?"

I sighed again, running a hand through my hair.

"You know the thing about the hacker incident," I said, and she nodded. "Well, people are reacting to it."

Ashley nodded again.

"Selena and the Ordinary Brothers don't believe me. I don't know, but I'm guessing Bianca fed into their minds that I got an innocent guy arrested."

"What? That's crazy!"

"I know."

"There is evidence against him!"

"It doesn't matter. They still believe her."

There was a moment of silence in the room. I felt Ashley tensing in a fury.

"Those good for nothing--"

"Just stop," I told Ashley. It was nice that she was angry for me, but she did not need to do that. "There is nothing we can do about it."

"But I don't get it!" Ashley stated in confusion.

"They trust her more than they trust me. I found out yesterday through an argument that we had."

Ashley stared at me in confusion.

"We had a fight last night. I had recorded Bianca confessing every dirty thing she did to me. I told the guys I had the video proof, but they said they didn't want to see it."

I felt tears threatening to leave my eyes.

Well, so much for being emotionless.

"Emery..." my only friend trailed off.

"There is nothing I can say to make them change their minds. They hate me, and I don't want to be near them anymore. I am just done with them, Ashley. I am sick and tired of receiving blame for things I never did. I just want to go away."

"But, Emery, what about showing them that Bianca is an evil bitch?"

"After last night, it isn't worth it. The bitch can run her filthy hands through their bank accounts if she wanted to, and if they would notice their cash draining, they would still blame me for stealing their money."

I wiped the tears that had escaped my eyes, watching Ashley as she stared at me in disbelief.

"You need to leave. I thought that you being near them will make things better, but it is not working. It is ruining you, Emery."

"I can't leave!" I said with a helpless expression. "The erwiches concern everyone as much as it concerns me. I will only be able to leave when the erwiches wouldn't pose a problem anymore."

There was another moment of silence.

"This brings up what I actually wanted to talk about," I spoke. "Until I deal with the erwich problem and Bianca, I can't be seen around you."

I let the tears glide across my skin.

"B-but... Emery..." Ashley stuttered, also getting teary-eyed.

"They will think that you are my accomplice in crimes I did or something."

"That's stupid of them!"

"They might get you in jail, just like they did to me! My life is in ruins right now, and I don't want to ruin yours."

"I'll leave Crystalia," Ashley said, currently sobbing.

"But if you leave, you won't have your powers," I said. "At least I have my powers. I can't take that away from you. It's a part of you."

I sobbed.

"Ashley, you have a chance in life. You can live without being hated. I can't put that on you."

"Emery..." she trailed off as she sobbed.

Ashley was not making it easy for me. I needed her to stay away from me for a while before Bianca decided to target her.

"Don't you see I'm trying to protect you?" I yelled, my vision now blurred. "I don't want you to hate me too, and I don't want them to have more reasons to hate you. It's bad enough you are seen around me. I can't ruin Crystalia for you. At least you will have a place here. We have to do this. We need to do this."

Ashley cried beside me, and I sobbed my eyes out.

"I understand," Ashley said after a moment of crying. She stood up with her laptop from the couch.

"You'll find me when this is over, right?" Ashley asked, and I nodded frantically with a sad smile.

She gave me her own sad smile before walking towards the door. She turned to face me. We stared at each other for a moment. Then she opened the door and left.

Minutes after she had left, I cried. I lay on the couch and cried my heart out. I sobbed out loud, not caring about the noise I was making.

I couldn't believe I did that. I felt my heart clench and tear apart in sadness over what had just occurred.

I had to do it. It was for the best for Ashley.

Especially since the plan I had for the erwiches could end up with me being killed.

I was alone. I was all alone again.

However, I had to force myself to be strong. I had to force myself to have courage and endure all the crap I could go through until the erwiches were all dead. Then I could be able to leave the tour.

I would be able to leave everyone who had hurt me.

Wiping my tears, my mind went back to what I had planned. I needed to deal with the erwich problem first. 

Getting up from the couch, I went towards my bedroom. I took a change of clothes and then washed my face to get rid of any traces of tears.

I cried again when I was reminded of Ashley, and I was forced to wash my face again.

About an hour of crying had passed. Afterward, I felt sure I could get out of the house without falling on my knees.

***********************************************************************************************

It was minutes later that I found myself walking towards the entrance of the castle. The starry-day sky was exposed, and a few clouds were present, blocking the sun. 

Just as I approached the doors, the castle guards extended their swords, denying me entrance.

"Let me pass!" I commanded, but none of the guards responded. I sighed, impatiently tapping my foot against the marble floor.

It had not been a good week for me. The people who I once cared for didn't trust me, and I had just lost my friend. I was not in the mood to deal with the guards.

"I don't have time for this," I stated, sweeping the guards off their feet with my telekinesis powers. They dropped their swords as they hit the sides of the door, giving me space to pass. 

I walked forwards. Seconds later, I spotted the guards rushing towards me with their swords.

With a raised hand towards their direction, I made quick work of freezing them.

Geez. It's like Erick had banned me from entering the castle.

I stopped walking in the hallway for a moment.

Of course he did.

At the moment, it did not surprise me. 

With a shake of my head, I continued my walk around the castle, looking for the Queen. I spotted other witches in the castle who dispersed when they saw me, but I did my best to not feel anything by their actions. 

I found Erick's mother in one of her study rooms. It seemed to be a new one with orange walls and green marbled floors.

"Emery!" Elizabeth greeted me with a smile.

I noticed that the room had a large window, showing the view of the grasslands around the castle.

I smiled at the Queen before walking towards her and enveloping her in a hug.

"I need your help with something," I said.

"Sure. Anything you need," Elizabeth stated as she used her powers to close the door behind us.

 

Third Person's P.O.V

Erick was in the castle's main study room when the two guards who had been frozen by Emery busted into the room.

"The crystal is in the castle?" the King asked after the two guards had informed him of what had happened minutes ago.

"Yes," one of them replied. "We tried to stop her, but she used her powers to force herself in."

Erick did not like that.

"Do you know where she is?" he asked.

"No, your Majesty."

The King sighed.

"You're dismissed." The guards went to walk away just as Emery's cousin made her appearance. She looked surprised as she made her way into the room.

"Erick!" Selena called out. The King's heart thudded at the sight of her. 

"We need to talk."

The excitement Erick felt about Selena's presence turned into worry.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's about Emery," she said. "Have you heard about what had happened?"

"I have," Erick replied. 

The news about Emery exposing the hacker on a celebrity interview show was the most talked-about topic at the moment. The news had even reached Crystalia. 

However, Erick was doubtful about Emery's words. He was glad that Selena was around because he needed to clear things up with someone he trusted.

"Do you believe her?" she asked. "Because I doubt the guy did it."

"Wow! Me too!" Erick exclaimed in shock, glad that his crush felt the same way as he did. "I mean, Emery had tried to kill Liam and placed the blame on Bianca. Do you think Emery would go as far as arresting an innocent person just to prove a point?"

"I don't know," Selena said, "but I think it's a sign. I think it's already happening, Erick. Just like in the dream, Emery might be turning."

"What dream?" Emery's voice sounded through the main study room. Selena and Erick tensed as they immediately turned to face the crystal. She was leaning against the door with her arms folded close to her chest and a serious expression on her face.

Erick audibly gulped.

"What dream, Erick?" Emery asked again, moving into the room and towards the king.

This is bad, Erick thought. He had not planned for Emery to hear what he was telling Selena. If Emery found out about the dream, he was afraid the dream would quickly become a reality.

"Um, Erick had dreamt--" Selena went to defend the King.

"Don't answer for him, Selena," Emery cut her cousin off. "You two are acting strange. It's a good thing I know how to read body language because I can tell you don't want me to find out something."

Selena and Erick remained silent. Emery's eyebrows furrowed as the wheels in her brain turned.

"Is this the secret that you have been hiding from me?"

Selena and the King thought of ways to deny Emery's statement. If they said no quickly, it would be too suspicious. However, they realized they had wasted seconds in their effort of coming up with a lie.

"Wow," Emery said, still maintaining her serious expression. "You could have said no and lied about something. Now I know for certain that whatever dream you had is the secret you have been keeping from me. Care to tell me?"

Everyone remained silent as Emery waited. Her patience lasted five seconds.

"What are you afraid of? Why are you not speaking? Are you afraid I may spill, the same way I will spill that Erick is in love with you, Selena?"

Erick's eyes widened in disbelief, shocked that the crystal had exposed his secret. His heart thudded as he tried to process what Emery had just done. Selena looked shocked as she turned to face Erick.

"Emery--"

"Tell me the dream," Emery cut off Erick, "or else I will tell her everything."

The king looked helpless for a moment, not knowing what to say. 

"Wow! You really don't want me to know this dream? Well, then," With a determined gaze, Emery turned to face her cousin. "He has been in love with you for the past three years, Selena. I'm surprised you and Justin didn't see it."

"Emery, that's enough!" Erick yelled in anger.

"See? He even gets defensive about it, proving that I am right. I could give you all the time to talk about it, but I just hate being in this place. It was once my home, but it now reminds me of things I would rather forget. Stop wasting my time, Erick, and just tell me the dream. That is all I want to know."

No response.

"Fine, I will find out by force."

Emery extended her arm, using her telekinesis powers to drag the king upwards from the floor. Erick did not see it coming, and he was soon dangling a couple of feet from the ground.

"Emery!" Selena exclaimed in shock. "Put him down!"

"Oh, Selena. Have you forgotten? I don't take orders from people who hate me. The dream, Erick," Emery demanded as she walked around the room. "Tell me the freaking dream!"

Erick used his powers to protect his thoughts while he shook his head in denial. Emery clenched her fist, the effect slightly bringing a crushing force around the king's form.

He gasped, letting his walls down. Emery pierced through the king's thoughts. Her eyes glowed blue as she looked into the king's mind. Erick thrashed midair, trying to get Emery out of his head, but it was useless. She was seeing everything that he had dreamt.

Seconds later, Emery had found out all that Erick had dreamt. She let go of Erick, and the King collapsed onto the clean floor. Selena ran towards him, helping him up while checking for injuries.

"That was the dream?" Emery asked, a look of anger taking over. Selena and Erick remained quiet, not knowing what to say. They were shocked that Emery had found out.

"That was the fucking dream? This is what you're afraid of?" Emery asked, her form changing swiftly between the darkened figure Erick had seen in the dream and her normal self. Erick and Selena gasped.

Then Emery teleported the three of them outside the castle. Before Erick could yell in anger about how she used her powers on him, dark clouds gathered across the Crystalian sky. The clear sunny day became night. Everything in their surroundings turned to show what Erick had dreamt.

"This is what you think I would do?" Emery asked, motioning with her hands the sight of the destruction the dream revealed to Erick that Emery might bring. Dead bodies were around the city, but unlike in the dream, they did not smell. There were also erboons flying around, but they could not cause any harm.

Meanwhile, the whole of Crystalia was in shock and a state of fear. Emery's dream had projected all over the land, and the witches did not know what to do.

Erick was livid. Emery had no right to show his dream to the rest of the witches. Did she even understand the kind of paranoia it could bring?

A couple of witches in the castle were watching the exchange between their king, Selena and the crystal. Erick felt their eyes on his back, and he did not like it. 

"Emery--" Erick went to speak.

"Shut up, Erick!" her voice thundered through the land. The swift change between her normal and dark forms stopped. "I am so mad at you right now. How could you hide this from me?"

"I am entitled to my own privacy!" Erick yelled at her.

Emery's ignored the statement as her eyes furrowed in confusion, then they widened.

"Do the boys know?" No one replied. "Does Justin know?"

The silence was an answer. Everybody she cared about knew except her. 

She felt hugely betrayed. She also couldn't believe Erick had told her ex-bullies about the dream.

Emery took deep breaths as she tried to calm her anger.

"Dear people of Crystalia," Emery's voice sounded through the city, "this is a dream your king had. He believes it is something that will happen in the future. He believes it is something that I will bring to your precious city. You see, just like you, he had failed to tell me about the dream."

Erick was shocked and angry, and he could do nothing but watch as the dream was made known to everyone.

Emery's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at Erick.

"I have let all of you have an eyeful of everything around you. So tell me: what is wrong with the dream?"

There was silence.

"Let me give you the first answer. Erboons have black eyes, not red ones."
That had Selena and Erick tense in shock. An erboon from Erick's dream flew above them, and it confirmed that she was right. The erboon that attacked the King in the dream had red eyes, and he was certain Emery did not change the dream.

"You see, your Majesty, a dream about the future must not have any wrong detail," Emery said. "Anything wrong with it will just make it a usual dream. Now tell me: Have you even checked for the authenticity of the dream?" Emery asked with her amplified voice, glaring at the king. "Are you even sure this isn't a trick made by the erwiches?"

Erick had not thought of that.

"Check for it right now," Emery said just as everything quickly reverted to the way it initially was.

"No, don't do that now. Let me leave first. Wouldn't want to be blamed for something I didn't do," Emery said with an angry expression as she teleported in front of them.

Erick's heart still kept pounding after Emery had left. He turned to face Selena, noticing that she was not looking at him.

"Selena--"

"Please tell me that you checked if the dream was sent by erwiches," she cut Erick off. The King remained silent, not knowing what to say. 

His quietness confirmed that he had not done what she had asked.

Selena walked towards the entrance of the castle, and Erick slowly followed behind her. 

On their way back to the castle, a couple of witches had begun to ask them questions about what the crystal had said. Neither did the king nor Selena answer any of the questions as they kept walking.

Emery had exposed Erick's dream to every witch in Crystalia. He was stuck between feeling angry and feeling worried that he had made a mistake.

If the dream wasn't a vision of the future...

Minutes later, Selena and Erick were in the study room, and they had everything they needed to check the authenticity of Erick's dream. A bowl that had the ingredients for checking the dream had been placed on the table. 

The procedure was composed of mixing the ingredients and pouring them over the head of the dreamer as the dreamer recalled anything from the dream. Smoke would be produced but of different colors. White would signal the dream to be a certainty of future events. Orange would signal the dream to be regular and thus held no meaning. Green proved the dream was wrong and that it had been brought on by evil forces.

Erick and Selena mixed the ingredients. They closed the doors and windows to darken the room before they chanted the spell for the dream check. Erick closed his eyes as he thought of the dream while Selena poured the contents of the bowl over his head.

They were both silent as they waited for the results. About a minute later, their answer came, and they were not surprised by the result.

A green smoke appeared.

There was silence in the room as the two stared into nothing.

Green smoke had been produced.

Erick thought that what they had witnessed was a dream. He wanted it to be a manipulation of his thoughts, but it wasn't. He couldn't blame the crystal for what he had seen because no one could alter such an incantation. 

At the moment, his thoughts ran wild. Everything he felt so certain about the crystal had changed, leaving a huge feeling of doubt.

"I was wrong?" Erick asked into the silence. He and Selena could not believe it.

He had been wrong.

"No, no, no," Selena denied, shaking her head in dismissal as tears began to form in her eyes. "This can't be happening. This can't be true!"

"Emery wasn't going to turn evil," Erick stated in shock. "The erwiches had sent me the dream. And now..."

Now...

Erick wasn't feeling so sure. He felt a bit lightheaded by the sudden change of information he felt certain of.

"FUCK!" Selena cussed out loud as she tugged at her hair, staring helplessly around the room.

"We were wrong," Erick said. His heart thudded as a mixture of emotions coursed through his veins: anger, hate, regret and sadness.

"But what about the things she did?" Selena asked. "What about the hacker?"

"Emery wasn't going to turn evil. I can't believe I have been wrong all this time. What she said about the hacker must have been true," Erick replied as he stared at Selena. Emery's cousin had tears in her eyes. "The hacker might not be as innocent as we think."

"Hitting Liam with a car?" Selena asked, trying to hold on to what she believed of Emery, but it was useless. "If we were wrong about her, then that means..."

"We might have ruined everything," Erick finished. He could not believe what he had heard himself say.

The dream had forced him to end his friendship with Emery. It had caused a rift between the two, and he was not certain on how he could fix it.

He had made a huge mistake.

"We were wrong. Emery was right. Emery was innocent," it changed everything. Erick's thoughts replayed how he had been mean to the crystal, and he was hating himself.

Then his mind went back to what his mother had told him when Emery was in prison. At the moment, he hated that she was right.

"Emery said she had evidence that Bianca was evil," Selena stated after a few seconds of silence.

"Do you know where it is?" Erick questioned.

"No. Now I wish I didn't say I didn't want to see her proof."

'What?' Erick thought as he turned to face Selena.

"Let me get this straight. She said she had evidence, and you didn't even bother to check it?" he asked in anger.

"Don't yell at me!" Selena shouted. "We all thought she was lying. But now that we know the dream you had was a lie, which you should have checked if it was in the first place--"

"I didn't know, okay? It slipped my mind!"

"How can it just slip your mind? Huh? Do you know what you have done? Do you know what we have just done?"

It was hard for the two of them to process everything.

"Because of you, I might as well have just ruined the relationship I had with Emery! She was the only family I have left, and I abandoned her. I let her suffer all this time!"

Selena silently cried.

"But what if we are wrong?"

"How can we be wrong about this, Erick? This changes everything!"

Selena wiped the tears that had escaped her eyes, sighing as she looked up at him.

"We should just look for the evidence and see it for ourselves."

The king nodded in agreement.

"Okay," he said.

"But then I doubt it will change anything," Selena said as she walked towards the exit of the room. Erick was left with his thoughts.

He still hoped he was right about Emery. If what she had been saying about Bianca was true, he would not know what to do with himself. 

It would be the biggest mistake he would have ever made, and he would have no idea on how to fix it. 

***********************************************************************************************

Emery's P.O.V

The tour resumed after the weekend had passed. The next destination was Phoenix. Everyone was excited to go there. 

As the bus continued its journey to the city, I avoided any interaction with Selena and the boys. I had been silent since I had boarded the bus, sticking to my laptop and my thoughts.

Bianca had gone away, saying something about a family emergency.

As if. I had a feeling she was planning something.

"Emery, would you like something to eat?" Logan asked with raised eyebrows. The tour bus had stopped near a restaurant, and I was busy with my laptop. I had ignored Logan and the rest, continuing with editing the song I had typed on my laptop.

I thought it would be fun to try writing my own song, but I found out it was a lot of work. It had taken me months to get most of the elements of the song right. Another thing I learned as a witch was that I could use magic to come up with the background music. I just needed a title and I needed words that made it lyrical.

"Emery?" Logan called out to me, not taking the hint. Then he had the nerve to walk towards me and sit beside me.

"Do you want anything to eat?" he asked beside me. I raised my head and turned to face him, giving him a very fierce glare.

It looked like he wasn't going anywhere, and so I was forced to speak.

"No, I'm good. It's not like you want to hang out with a murderer," I emphasized with sarcasm, shifting my focus back to my laptop.

"What are you working on?" he asked as if we were longtime friends. Like I had not forgotten what he and the rest said to me on the previous Friday. I glared again.

"Logan, get away from me!" I yelled at him. "I was ignoring you on purpose if you didn't notice."

"Geez, you try to do one good thing..." Logan trailed off as he stood up. I stood up as well.

"Good? You guys mocked me with my evidence on the last concert, and you abandoned me!"

"What?" Logan was confused.

"You forgot me you idiot! You and your friends left on the tour bus, ignoring the fact that I was not in it. So forgive me if I'm not being nice to you."

"You weren't in the tour bus?" Logan said in shock.

Wow. They really had forgotten me.

"Look," I said with a defeated sigh, "Why are you trying to talk to me after what you and your friends told me on Friday? I listened to every word you said, and I am trying to do you a favor here. I am done trying to defend myself to the lot of you. It's obvious you wouldn't listen because you'll keep believing the shit that Bianca spews. I just want to be done with this tour. That way I wouldn't have to see you ever again."

"Emery--"

I ignored him as I sat back down on the seat beside me and continued typing on my laptop.

"Hey, Logan!" Liam greeted as he and the others entered the bus. I trained my eyes on the device in front of me, not even feeling the itch to look at him.

Then two erwiches teleported into the bus.

Finally!

I had been itching for an erwich to attack in the last two weeks. I needed to vent out my frustration with the guys. 

Moreover, I had made a plan with the help of the Queen.

In an instant, I blew up the first one with a fireball. It screamed, distinguishing in the air and leaving soot as the residue.

Then I went along with my plan. I needed the remaining evil witch to survive so that he could deliver a message—a message that his kind would love to hear.

I grasped the other erwich's hand. It screamed as I went to punch him.

Zane's P.O.V

Emery's went to beat up the erwich. I had remained frozen in shock at the unexpected attack.

The past two weeks had been peaceful. I thought that the erwiches had been scared to attack because Emery was with the guys and me.

Turned out I was wrong.

Anyway, I was glad Bianca was not around to see what was happening. She would have definitely been frightened by what I was seeing.

Emery was raising her clenched fist, going to punch the erwich. Then something unexpected happened.

I witnessed as Emery gasped, her skin quickly turning into an irregular dark color. Her eyes also darkened, revealing a black color that frightened me.

"Emery!" Selena yelled at her cousin in horror. Emery swiftly turned to face her. Emery gasped again before turning to her normal form. She looked shocked for a moment. The erwich was not moving. It stared at all of us for a second before it quickly disappeared.

"Emery, are you okay?" Selena called out in worry, not moving towards her.

Emery rolled her eyes at her cousin.

"If you really care to know, I'm fine. I did that on purpose."

"Why?" Liam asked with furrowed eyebrows. "You gave us a heart attack. It looked as if--"

My eyes widened, clearing my throat as a signal to stop Liam. Liam realized the mistake he almost made, stopping himself from speaking further.

"As if what, Liam? As if I may turn into an evil witch, just like Eva, and kill everyone in Crystalia? As if I may make whatever Erick had dreamt about me to become real?"

Everyone in the bus tensed in shock. Emery's face was unreadable as she looked at all of us.

"Selena, have you told them that the dream is fake?"

"WHAT?" the rest of us bellowed in shock. Emery chose that as her sign to walk away from us, moving further in the bus.

"I was going to tell you later," Selena answered as her expression turned into fury. "Erick had made the mistake of not checking if the dream was a true prophecy. We did a spell to check if the dream was a true vision of what would happen in the future, but it wasn't. We realized that it was sent by the erwiches."

Selena looked sad, not liking what she was telling us. She turned to face Emery, but she was not looking at any one of us. She was typing on her laptop.

"How could it be fake? Could Emery interfere--"

"She couldn't," Selena replied. "No one can. The erwiches sent the dream to make it look like Emery would become an evil crystal. But the question I don't understand is: why? What would they have to gain from that?"

I sat down on the nearest seat with my eyebrows furrowed. 

What Selena had said changed everything I thought I knew about Emery. If the dream was a fake, then Emery was not going to turn evil. 

The fights she had been having in the past two weeks were not signs that she was turning. She was just defending herself.

A bad feeling started to take over my emotions.

Erick's dream had also been the main influence on how I treated Emery. Now that we all knew it was a fake, could it be that we were wrong about her? Could it also mean that she was right about my girlfriend?

 

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

Logan's P.O.V

"Are you going to explain to us how you found out the dream was a fake?" I asked.

My bandmates, Selena, Emery and I were still on the tour bus. It was minutes after the erwich attack that we converged in the kitchen to continue the conversation. We had entered the area to talk privately without Emery hearing us. 

I was glad Bianca was not around because I knew she would have freaked out if she had seen the erwiches. Once was enough, especially since she kept interrupting everyone with her frightened screams. It was a good thing that she got used to it and accepted the fact we were all witches.

"I found out last Saturday," Selena began. "Erick and I were talking about the whole hacker incident..."

Selena continued to fill us in on what had happened during the weekend. My jaw dropped in shock. I couldn't believe she hadn't told us in two days!

"She exposed the dream to everyone in Crystalia?" I stated in disbelief, and Selena nodded.

"Erick is currently facing questions from witches about the dream and why he avoided telling them. In fact, his advisors wondered why he kept such a secret from them."

"He has advisors?" Ethan asked.

"He's a king. Of course he has advisors. Anyway, his mother also heard about the dream. Let's just say Erick is working on a way of apologizing to everyone in Crystalia."

I winced. Poor guy.

"Emery had told us to check if the dream was really a vision of the future. We did, but then it turned out to be a fake one."

"What?" Zane asked with raised eyebrows.

"We are certain that the erwiches sent the dream to Erick."

"Why did they do that?" I asked.

"I don't know," Selena replied. "I'm just as confused as you guys."

 

Emery's P.O.V

Idiots.

I had chanted a spell to listen in on what the guys were talking about. It just seemed to piss me off more. It was very obvious why the erwiches sent the dream to Erick.

They wanted me to look evil in front of everyone, and everyone had bought it.

The realization had earlier dawned on me, and to say that I was pissed would be an understatement. I was wishing that I could just teleport to Eva's castle and kill all the erwiches by myself.

But then, I had to be calm. My plan needed all the erwiches present for it to work.

My mind wandered to the awful events that had happened to me. 

Could it be that every bad thing that happened to me, every time I said I was innocent and the guys didn't believe me... was the dream...

No.

Hell no!

It couldn't be!

However, the more I thought about it, I realized that it could be true. 

I had no idea of how long Erick had kept the dream from me. There was a possibility that everyone decided to look at me differently after they had found out about it. 

Everyone had known about it, and so they could have made their assumptions about me because they thought I would turn evil.

I shook my head in disbelief.

Could it be that the dream made them turn their views of me?

I just kept getting more pissed off. Everyone knew about the dream, so it had to be true.

I couldn't believe those guys. They all let a dream, a dream that stupid Erick did not analyze, change their views about me. 

It all made so much sense. If Erick had not had the dream, they wouldn't have been mean towards me...

Would they?

I wasn't sure. Even without the dream, Bianca was still around. I wasn't certain that anything could have changed.

Moreover, I realized there was something that everyone had not yet figured out.

If I was arrested for something I didn't do, was forced to become a lone witch, had been blamed for posting insults on Twitter that I never did, and accused of trying to kill Liam when I didn't... did they not realize that they were not dousing the fire but adding more fuel to it?

I was a crystal for goodness' sake! If they wanted to avoid another incident of a crystal becoming evil, they should have been careful. They shouldn't have hurt me the way they did because that was just ruining it for them.

I banged my fists on the table, still shocked by what I had realized. I wanted to yell at everyone for thinking that a stupid dream gave them the right to change how they acted around me.

It all made sense.

But then, I stopped myself.

There was no point trying to get through to them. The guys definitely did not know me if they chose to let a stupid dream divide us. I had already given up on trying to make them see that I was innocent, and I was planning to stick to it. 

In fact, I had a feeling I wouldn't have to stay for long, especially after the false message I sent the erwich minutes ago.

The erwiches wanted an evil crystal and forced everyone I loved to believe I would become that. Well, they would get just that.

I was done being played. It was my time to form my own game, and this time, there will be no rematches. 

There will be no losers because they will all be dead.

Ethan's P.O.V

"So, what you are trying to say is that the dream Erick had was nothing but a mislead sent by the erwiches?" I asked to confirm what I was hearing.

Selena nodded for the second time. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"Doesn't this change everything we thought about Emery?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked with a confused expression.

"Well, ever since Erick had told us about his dream, we have been acting differently around Emery. It had led us to believe that Emery wasn't innocent in, um, you know..."

"Hitting Liam with a car?" Selena added.

"Posting awful things about us on Twitter?" Logan spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. All that. Does it mean that she was actually innocent?"

"Look, Ethan. The hacker thing--" Liam went to speak, but he was interrupted by the sound of the TV. Emery had increased the volume.

All of us went to speak to her, but we came to a stop at what we saw on the TV. A reporter was saying something about the hacker, Tom Acker.

"... have received a list of names of accounts Tom Acker had hacked into. Most of them are wealthy business people..."

"They are speaking again about the hacker. How can we know for sure that he really--" Zane was interrupted by the news reporter.

"Among those who were hacked are celebrities, specifically the members of the boyband the Ordinary Brothers and the new upcoming star, Selena Gomez."

There was pin-drop silence in the room as we watched the news.

"The mentioned celebrities are the most affected, with specific amounts worth more than ten thousand dollars being drained from their accounts."

I hoped it wasn't another ploy by Emery to make it look like—

"From what the police have gathered, it was spotted that the undocumented withdrawals began last year on July whereas for Selena Gomez began a few weeks ago. The money had been transferred to several private accounts in which we believe belong to the hacker's accomplices. The police are investigating the accounts with the best IT professionals available. It will be a while before the owners of the accounts are revealed. 

More importantly, since the Ordinary Brothers were most affected, the police believe that it is possible someone the band knows must have been helping Tom steal from them. What is the relationship between the hacker and the Ordinary Brothers? Why would he choose to hack into the boy band's accounts instead of other wealthier people? "

Logan had changed the channel.

"What the hell?" Selena screeched in shock. The rest of us were standing still, staring at the TV with the same expression.

"We were hacked?" I asked. "Could Emery--"

"No, she couldn't," Harry replied. "This started a year ago. Emery wasn't around then."

"It could be possible. Besides, where could she have gotten the money to buy her laptops? Do you also remember that she paid for her own hotel suite when she first joined us on tour?"

Emery turned to face Harry with a glare.

"It is good that you have asked, Harry," she said as she rose from her seat to face us. "I'm glad I get to clear this up. Tell me. How else could I have gotten money?"

"You stole from us?" Zane asked in anger. Emery just smirked.

"No, you idiot," she said. "My mother had passed away, remember? So she had to have left some money behind."

That had most of us silent. I had not known that.

"What?" Selena asked in shock. "But I didn't receive--"

"And thank goodness you didn't. Remember that time I stayed at home for three months? I sorted out and inherited her insurance and retirement money," she said, shocking the hell out of us.

"If you want, I can prove it right here. There are some legal documents in here that you can see for yourself."

Just as she spoke, a brown folder with the logo of a bank appeared on her palm. I took it as the others huddled around me, inspecting it. We took out some papers, noticing that some of the amounts written were more than a million. They even had names of lawyers and their contact information.

I had no option but to believe Emery.

"But it says that you can divide the money with me," Selena said, reading the will of Emery's mother.

Emery showed a smile that did not reach her eyes.

"It also says that I'm in charge of my mother's account. So, you won't be getting any cash you stupid self-centered bitch!"

We gasped.

"Besides, you're a musician now. You will get more in a year than the amount I currently have."

"But she left it for us!" Selena persisted. Emery looked enraged.

"Are you this selfish?" Emery yelled. "Thanks to you guys and that bitchy girlfriend of Zane's, I have nothing. I can't even go to college because of my incriminating actions! If I can't go to college, I can't get a decent job! I also can't get a decent job because everyone around me hates me! Do you really want to take the only thing I have left to sustain me?"

Selena remained quiet.

"B-but--"

"You hurt me a lot, Selena. You sold the only things that were left in my mother's house, and stupid Erick does not want me in Crystalia. I can't even visit my mother's grave without getting judgemental looks from witches! You can try, but I'll be damned if any one of you, including Bianca, takes this away from me."

With that, Emery stormed away from us and went into the bunk-bed area. The rest of us remained silent for a while, embarrassed over what had occurred.

I looked at Selena, seeing a hurtful expression had taken over her face. In fact, she looked close to tearing up.

"I need some space," she suddenly said before rushing away from us and heading towards the kitchen. For a moment, I wondered if the kitchen could provide the space she needed.

"If it wasn't Emery, who else could have been taking the money?" I asked.

"No one, Ethan. The hacker obviously did it," Logan stated with a look of disbelief. 

"So, what? Are you saying that my girlfriend is a liar?" Zane questioned in anger. 

"No, but it's a possibility. Think about it, Zane. If it wasn't Emery, it was the hacker. And why would Bianca lie to us and say that Tom was innocent?"

I couldn't believe it, but I had to agree with Logan.

"No! It can't be true!" Zane did not want to even think about Logan's words.

"Zane--"

Zane moved quickly. It took us all by surprise when Logan received a punch on the nose. It had been strong enough to almost make him lose his balance. Liam was shocked as he quickly went to steady Logan.

"Don't say another word, Logan, or else I will make you regret it," Zane warned before storming away from us. 

"Logan, are you okay?" Harry asked as we all went to tend to the injured bandmate. He just groaned, and I watched in shock as blood started dripping from his nose.

What the hell?

Liam quickly placed his hands on Logan's nose, healing him. The bleeding had stopped, but Logan remained passed out.

Oh crap.

"What the fuck is his problem?" Harry said with a glare as he went to run towards Zane.

"Let it go, Harry," I advised as I stepped in his path. "We have a tour to do, and it will be bad if we all cannot get along. Do you want us to be on the tabloids because of a stupid fight?"

Harry glared at me for a few seconds before sighing.

We all relaxed, but we made sure to sit away from Zane.

 

Third Person's P.O.V

It was past 12 at night. The tour bus had taken the boys, Emery and Selena to a nearby hotel immediately after their concert in Phoenix ended. 

There had been some tension between Zane and the rest of his bandmates. Hours later, Zane decided to go to Logan and apologize. The two made up, and the concert went with no drama. Afterward, everyone went to their hotel suites and instantly fell asleep.

Emery was in bed, trying to catch some sleep. She had been asleep for an hour after she had arrived in the suite, but something had woken her up. Usually, after a late night concert, she would fall into slumber when she made contact with a bed. However, she could not sleep despite being awake for more than seventeen hours.

It was then that she heard a noise. It sounded like someone was trying to unlock the door. 

Emery quickly closed her eyes and lay still, pretending to be asleep despite knowing that someone was trying to enter her suite. She heard a click as the door creaked open. Emery then heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

She chose to astral project to a far corner of the room. She blended in the dark, seeing the person entering the room.

It was a woman. She had worn black clothes and some kind of black mask over her head that did not hide some of her blonde hair. Moreover, the woman held a knife. She went to stand beside Emery's lying form, not knowing that her astral-projected form was watching.

"Can't believe she had me do this again..." Emery heard the woman mumbling. She recognized the voice. "Well, this time, I'll make sure the bitch is dead."

The blonde clutched her knife and raised it high in the air, going to stab her. 

Not again, Emery thought. In an instant, Emery used her telekinesis power to hold the woman in place. The woman grunted in shock as a reaction of the invisible hold on her form. The kinfe had also dropped, landing on the floor with a clutter. The intruder tried to move, but then she realized she couldn't. Seconds later, she began trying to free herself by thrashing in Emery's invisible hold.

Emery flicked her wrist, sending the woman flying to a wall on her left. The woman screamed as she hit the wall. The mask she had been wearing fell off, revealing her blonde hair that reached past her shoulders.

Emery's form that was near the wall disappeared, her true form never letting go of the woman from the wall.

"Well, well, well," Emery said as she rose up from bed and flicked the door shut. "What do we have here?"

"H-how?" the woman stuttered with fear.

"Oh, you don't know?" Emery asked, bringing the woman forward with her powers. The woman was soon floating mid-air. 

"I'm a witch."

With her powers, Emery turned the intruder to face her.  

The woman's breath hitched.

Then Emery squinted her eyes, observing the woman's features closely. Then something dawned on her.

It was the girl who had tried to murder her.

Anger took over Emery's calm emotion.

"You bitch!" she yelled, flipping the woman mid-air and bending her backward.

The woman screeched in unexpected pain as her vertebrae was uncomfortably bent.

"You are the one who tried to kill me, aren't you?" Emery asked. The woman did not respond.

With no remorse, Emery sent the blonde flying to a wall beside her. The blonde felt pain in her head after the collision.

"Ow! Yes!"

Emery had the blonde quickly facing her again.

"You came here to finish the job?" Emery asked. The woman just nodded as she cried. "P-please..."

"Oh, shut up! It's not like you didn't hear me telling you not to kill me when you were stabbing me."

Emery twisted the neck of the woman, almost close to snapping it.

"Who else have you killed?"

"N-No one," the woman said. Emery twisted the neck further, and the woman screamed.

"It's the truth!"

"Why should I believe you?" Emery asked. "You have caused me so much pain. You had me hospitalized for a month! Why shouldn't I kill you right now for trying to kill me, again?"

Then an idea crossed Emery's mind. She gave the woman a sinful smile.

In an instant, Emery had teleported a chair and a wooden table with a knife beside her bed.  Soon, the intruder was immediately bound to the chair with summoned ropes wrapping around her form. Emery grabbed a camera she had recently bought.

She placed it on the table before she slowly walked and settled herself on the bed.

"You and I are not going to leave this room until you tell me everything I need to know."

The woman's eyes widened in fear as a sinister smile took over Emery's features.

***********************************************************************************************

Liam had been woken up by the sound of something hitting the wall right next to his. His hotel suite was next to Emery's. Most of the hotel rooms had been booked, and the only empty ones that were next to each other were two.

Still groggy from sleep, Liam got up and walked towards his door. He got out of his suite, locking it behind him. 

The hallway that met him was silent and deserted, and the only light available was from the ceiling lights. 

Liam walked towards Emery's suite and stopped beside it to listen. He heard screams, and he did not waste any time deciding whether to enter Emery's suite or not.

He quickly opened the room, and to his surprise and horror, he found a bound woman sitting opposite Emery. There was a table between them, and Emery was glaring at the woman while she cried.

"Emery, what are you doing?" his voice boomed in the room. With a roll of her eyes, Emery dragged Liam into her room with her powers and locked the door shut behind him.

"Liam! How nice of you to join us. You are just in time before I get started," Emery said with a sweet tone that brought chills to Liam.

"Just in time for what?" Liam asked. As an answer, Emery teleported a chair behind him. Liam tripped and landed on the seat when the chair dragged him forward. Then ropes bound his form.

"Emery? What are you doing?" his tone raised in what he hoped was anger, but fear seeped out his voice. He tried to move, but the ropes were tight around him.

"Don't worry, Liam. I won't hurt you. Our focus will be on the woman you see in front of you," Emery confessed. Liam looked at the table and noticed the sharp items that chilled him to the bone. There was a variety of knives, and there was something that looked like a nail-cutter.

One of the knives dangled mid-air before one of the woman's hands was forcefully stretched out. She tried moving it, but there was a strong invisible hold on her arm.

"No! Please, no!" the woman frantically begged in tears. Then the knife forcefully dug itself into the woman's open palm.

A scream tore through the room. Liam tried to move away from the site, but he couldn't because he was bound to the chair. He watched in horror as blood oozed from the stab wound.

"Tell Liam the truth," Emery said, confusing Liam.

"Emery, what are you talking about? You can't be--" Liam's words were cut off when his lips forcefully shut themselves. He murmured as he looked at Emery, noticing that her fingers had formed a fist.

She had used her powers to shut him up!

Meanwhile, the woman was a sobbing mess, still not giving Emery an answer.

Emery slowly dragged the knife out of the woman's palm, twisting it sideways, earning a blood-curdling scream from the blonde. Liam wished he wasn't witnessing what he was seeing. It almost made him puke out the late dinner he recently had.

He looked at Emery, and in that moment, he was reminded of Erick's dream that was supposedly fake. He couldn't believe that Emery had truly become evil. He wondered if she would come after him and the rest when she would be done with the woman--

"ALRIGHT! YES! YES! I tried to kill you!"

Liam's thoughts ceased at the woman's confession.

Wait, what?

The knife kept twisting, and the woman screamed. Her form shook as she still tried to get away from the knife.

"What do you want from me, bitch?" the blonde asked with a glare once the knife stopped twisting. Emery just smirked.

"Tell him who sent you."

The woman remained quiet. Emery went to keep twisting the knife when the woman yelled.

"Alright! Bianca did!"

Liam thought he heard wrong, but by the sight of the woman still crying, it was true. Still not believing it, he decided to hear the woman's thoughts. It so happened that she was recalling the events in vivid detail. He heard her remember the meeting she had with Bianca in what he thought was a restaurant and how she had been paid. He also heard her recall how she stabbed Emery, and he shuddered. 

Liam was in shock as he stared at the woman in front of him. His mind shifted away from the blood in front of him to the realization that had suddenly dawned on him.

Emery wasn't lying. The woman wasn't lying. She did try to kill her, and Bianca paid her to do it.

Liam could not believe it. He couldn't believe it was true. It had to be a dream. It had to be a horrible, horrible dream.

"Really, Liam?" Emery asked with a raised eyebrow. "This is not a horrible dream. This is real. This is the proof I'm giving you. Since you and the rest would rather not listen to whatever I have to say, I will force you to hear the truth that I will not mind torturing out of this girl whether you like it or not."

In an instant, Emery grabbed the girl's wounded hand. The woman screamed in shock, but she screamed again when Emery cut off her thumb. And not just immediately; she cut it off slowly, like watching someone cutting a big potato.

The woman thrashed on her seat, wanting to escape the pain, but couldn't.

"You should know this, Liam: she tried to kill me again."

What? Liam went to ask, but it sounded muffled through his still-shut mouth.

Emery gave him a bored look. "Why would she be here in the first place?"

Then she turned to face the blonde.

"I should have known. This is why Bianca recently left, isn't it?" Emery asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yes," the girl said as she sobbed. "She didn't want anything to do with what she paid me to do."

"See, Liam? Bianca wanted me gone, and she sent this woman to do her dirty work."

Emery shook her head as if she was disappointed.

"It's a shame. And it's more of a shame that she will be imprisoned soon without having the chance to stab me."

Liam was still trying to process the facts that he had heard. He went to say something, but Emery resumed her torture.

"So we know you have tried to kill me twice and that Bianca paid you to do it. Things are now getting interesting. Now I need you to tell me everything that happened in Australia."

The woman's head snapped towards Liam with a shocked and scared expression. Liam jolted in his seat as a reaction, scared of finding out what the woman would say.

Emery went to deliver the knife across the other finger.

"Wait!" the woman yelled, pausing Emery's next move. "Bianca had me personally pay the men who tried to rape you."

There was silence as the woman's words were processed in Liam's mind. 

"WHAT?" Liam shouted in shock, the spell on his mouth removed. Liam turned to face Emery, but she did not meet his eyes. From his view, he could tell that she was slightly tearing up.

That didn't change the fact that she was angry.

It soon dawned on Liam that Emery had not planned for him to know about that. It was a secret of hers, and personally, she was ashamed of herself for allowing the men to go further when she could have snapped their necks.

"Emery--"

"Stop, Liam. I am not talking about it, least of all with you."

Liam remained quiet, feeling hurt for Emery. He couldn't believe Emery was almost raped during his tour. It had to be a joke. It had to be a sick joke.

"YOU BITCH!" Emery yelled before digging the knife into the woman's injured palm again. She screamed out in pain.

"Not that! The other thing."

"S-she also h-had taken y-your phone a-and posted a-a-a-awful things about the Ordinary Brothers on your T-T-Twitter a-c-c-ccount," the woman sobbed out.

"NO! THE OTHER THING!" Emery said after slapping the woman.

"She slept with Harry!" the woman quickly yelled.

Emery and Liam gasped in shock.

"She what?" Liam asked, feeling angry himself.

"It was after Emery was arrested. Bianca wanted to see if she could get Harry to be her secret boyfriend, so she slept with him. But Harry never felt comfortable with Bianca cheating on Zane. He had her swear not to tell Zane."

"And how did you find that out?" Liam asked.

"I overheard a call between Harry and Bianca. I wanted to have something on her in case she decided to throw me under the bus."

"Wow. How many things did happen in Australia?" Emery asked the woman in interest. Liam was not sure he wanted to find out more.

So far, he found out that Emery had almost been raped and that Bianca cheated on Zane. What could have been worse than what he had found out?

"Bianca also paid me to dress as Emery."

At first, Liam was confused. This did not stop Emery from urging the girl to keep speaking.

"I have no idea how, but she got the clothes Emery wore on that same day. Bianca also gave me a red wig. She paid me a huge sum that she sent through Tom."

Liam had earlier found out that Tom wasn't innocent. What surprised him was that the woman knew him.

"Bianca had talked to Tom about the plan. She had taken your phone and installed an app that could be hidden without you ever finding it."

The girl swallowed as she faced Liam. "It was a tracking device. I had my laptop with me, and I was using it to track you in the comfort of my car."

At the mention of a car, Liam tensed. He had a feeling that he knew where the story was heading, but that did not mean he was ready to hear it.

"I was driving around as I watched you. I waited for you to be in a secluded area. It was then that I found you were about to cross a road on a deserted street, and I took that as my opportunity."

The criminal gulped before adding, "That's when I hit you with the car."

Liam remained still as he let the words of the woman be processed in his head. 

It couldn't be. It just could not be. 

Emery had to be the bad guy, and the woman she was torturing had to be innocent. He could not handle it if Emery was innocent. It would change everything he ever thought about her.

"No, you couldn't! This has to be a mistake. Emery dragged you here so that--"

"Tell him something that I wouldn't have known," the crystal cut him off, her angry look turning unreadable.

"I tried to kill your girlfriend once."

Which girlfriend? Liam thought. He had a few, but there was one who left him wondering what had happened. 

Her name was Melinda. He started dating her months before the guys and he met Emery in the Starbucks café. He thought they were going great, but after a month, she stopped calling him.

Liam sat still as he let the information the woman told sink in.

"What?"

"Melinda had found out about Bianca stealing from your band and she was going to tell you and the rest. Bianca could not risk losing you guys, and so she hired me for the job."

"WHAT?" Liam asked with rage.

"I had stabbed her as she was walking across a street at night, and I did tell her what Bianca wanted me to tell her: I warned her not to go to you ever again. Then she ended your relationship, much to Bianca's wishes."

"Did you kill her?" Liam asked the intruder, his form tensing in anger.

"No. She survived, and she kept quiet about what I did."

Liam remained quiet. Things were not how they seemed to be, and he had no idea of how to take it all in.

He felt awful as he slowly processed he had been wrong all along. 

His girlfriend... Liam could not believe it. There was nothing that could change what he had been told. Bianca was evil. She had been pretending in front of him and his friends all along. She had been using them, and that fact alone made him boil with rage.

He didn't even feel sorry for the woman in front of him. She deserved the torture that Emery had handed to her.

Emery...

Everything had changed at that moment. Everything Liam believed to be facts had been changed. Emery was right.

She had been right all along.

It was not the erwiches who had tried to kill her. She had not tried to murder him, and she had not been insulting the boys on Twitter. 

It was not her. It had never been her.

It was all Bianca.

Liam still couldn't believe it. 

The girl had been with him and his bandmates, all sweet with dazzling smiles when she was truly evil. It had all been an act. Liam could not believe he fell for her bait. He couldn't believe his bandmates and him did. He began thinking of Zane.

Poor Zane. He had no idea that his girlfriend was a criminal.

Liam felt sad for Zane, and he also felt betrayed. He couldn't believe the woman had been playing everyone all along. And Emery--

Something horrible clicked inside Liam's head.

If Emery was innocent, then that meant... Oh no...

"The police will be here any second to escort you to their station," Emery said as she turned to her camera. Liam shot up when he noticed it. She clicked on some things then turned to the once-again sobbing woman.

"You better tell them everything you told us. You know what I can do to you. You shouldn't even think about trying to escape. You wouldn't make it three feet before I kill you myself."  

Much to Liam's surprise, the blonde laughed.

"They won't arrest me. They will arrest you! I mean, look at what you've done to me! How will you explain this to the police?" the woman stated with a smirk.

Emery turned to face Liam.

"Liam," that was all she said, and he understood. Liam placed his hands on the woman's. The woman gasped at the contact. Soon, Liam felt his power flowing out of him as he started to heal the woman's hands.

He released them, and Emery reveled in the shocked look the woman gave her. Emery let go of the ropes that were around the woman and Liam's torsos. She quickly teleported them away from the scene along with the chairs and the table.

"Wh-what? H-how?" the woman stuttered in the seconds that it took the police to enter the room. She was still in shock as she was being escorted out of the room.

Some people around the hotel hallway peeked through their suite doors to see what the commotion was about. The blonde sobbed in disbelief as the police escorted her out.

"What happened?" Logan asked, startling Liam who had been standing around the scene. He turned to face him, also noticing that Ethan and Harry had also woken up. 

He didn't reply at first, turning his attention briefly to Emery.

She was leaning against her door with no emotion as she stared at the sobbing woman being escorted out of the hotel.

"I don't know," Liam decided to lie. He planned to tell everyone what had really happened later.

His thoughts ran wild as he thought about his former girlfriend, Melinda. Also, a portion of his mind focused on Emery. 

He had no idea of how to approach her anymore. Everything he had felt sure about the girl had all been a lie.

And to think that she had been arrested for a crime that she didn't commit...

Liam wanted to yell at the unfairness of it all. Hadn't he just come from being on Emery's good graces? She had forgiven him and the rest for the bullying they had done to her in high school. Now...

Liam wasn't sure of what to do. He wasn't in high school anymore. He did not know how to fix the mess he and the rest had brought onto Emery. 

As he stared at her, he realized the poor girl had suffered. He felt like such an idiot. 

His mind also went back to the arguments he had with her. He hated himself more at the moment for ever insulting her, and so he swiftly turned to head to his suite.

"Liam?" Logan called out.

"It's been a long night. Let's talk tomorrow," he said, not turning his head to face his friend.

The door closed behind him, and Logan, Ethan and Harry stared at it in confusion.

 

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

 

 

Zane's P.O.V

"In other news, police officers were seen escorting a handcuffed woman towards a police vehicle outside a hotel in Phoenix earlier this morning. The woman, Charlotte Carpetstine, was arrested for trying to murder Emery Davis in her own hotel suite in the said hotel. 

Apparently, this was the second attempt by the woman. She had confessed and confirmed that she was the one who stabbed Emery Davis eight months ago in a London hotel suite. She also confessed to the attempted murder of Liam Gray where she dressed up as Emery Davis to make it look like she did it.

A series of other murders are still being investigated. What surprised many people is the fact that the woman mentioned Bianca Levone, Zane Marsh's current girlfriend, in a statement given to the police. The woman says that Bianca paid her to do all these things and was also involved Tom Acker in stealing from bank accounts. Currently, the police are looking for more evidence, and an investigation on Bianca is being carried out.

Is it true that Bianca did all these things? Was the arrested woman lying?--"

A day had passed since the incident that occurred in the hotel in Phoenix. Everyone who was on the tour bus remained quiet as we tried to process the news. 

I knew something else must have happened because Liam had been silent on the subject. I guessed he was in a state of shock. The news rendered everyone speechless, even Emery who I expected to show an emotion when she heard that my girlfriend might be going to jail.

I was worried about Bianca, especially with the way things were turning bad for her. I loved my girlfriend, and I did not want her to be imprisoned for false accusations.

I looked at Emery, but she would not meet my eyes.

"Emery, what did you do?" Harry asked. Emery remained quiet, staring at something on her side while ignoring him.

"She told us the truth," Liam muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Emery has been innocent all along. She never did all the crimes we thought she did. The hacker, the attempted murder, the rape--"

"Shut up, Liam!" Emery screamed at him. She was suddenly angry as tears threatened to leave her eyes. I was surprised because it was the most emotion I had seen from her in the past few days.

"How am I suppose to live, Emery? How am I supposed to go on with the knowledge that two guys tried to rape you!"

"WHAT?" almost everyone said in disbelief as we all stood to face her.

Emery ignored our reactions, shrugging her shoulders in nonchalance. "So?"

"So what?" Selena asked in disbelief. "Why are you treating this like a joke?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's because of I told you, you would think I was lying; you wouldn't have believed me."

"I believe you," Liam spoke.

"Oh, please. You only believed me when that woman mentioned Medusa or something."

"Melinda," Liam corrected.

Wait, what?

"Whatever. I realized that my word means nothing to every one of you unless there is evidence. I don't want to talk to you guys, especially about this."

"Emery--"

"I haven't forgotten what you had told me last week." Emery cut her cousin off. "You said you didn't care about me anymore and you told me time and time again to stop making false claims. What you want to know is what you already call false claims. I will just keep to myself until I carry out my plan, and then you won't hear from me ever again."

Emery turned towards the direction of the bunk beds, leaving me wondering what she meant by carrying out her plan.

"Liam, what happened?" I asked him. The rest also joined in on the conversation as we all stared at him. He remained quiet.

"Liam?" I prodded.

"What have we done?" he whispered, but it was loud enough for all of us to hear.

"What?" I questioned in confusion. Liam remained quiet for a while before turning to face me.

"You have to break up with Bianca," he said.

"WHAT?" I boomed out in surprise and anger.

"No. You need to break up with her."

"Liam, why are you saying this?" Ethan asked in confusion.

Liam's eyes seemed to be welling up in tears. I was starting to freak out because I had never seen him like that.

"Aren't you listening?" he asked with a look that said what he was speaking should have been obvious.

It wasn't.

"Emery was innocent all along! It wasn't her who tried to kill me with a car, and it wasn't her who was posting all those awful things about us on Twitter."

"Liam, that's crazy. Are you even sure?" Logan questioned.

"Of course I'm sure!" he shouted. "I was there when Emery tortured the truth out of that woman you've just seen on TV."

"EMERY DID WHAT?" Logan roared in shock.

"It doesn't matter! That woman was going to try to murder her again anyway! Guys, Emery is innocent, and we might as well have ruined her life."

"What if it is false--"

"Seriously?" he asked, cutting Logan off. "I knew it wasn't a coverup because Charlotte mentioned Melinda. Emery doesn't even know who Melinda is! Guys, don't you know how serious this is?"

There was a moment of silence as everyone digested the words Liam told us.

"I know you guys don't want to accept what I'm telling you. I will go and get a statement from our accounts. Maybe then you will believe me," Liam said as he turned to walk away from us. He then took out his phone as he made a call.

At the moment, the rest of us were shocked. I hated to think that Liam was telling the truth, but I couldn't ignore it. I had accepted that Tom had truly hacked into Emery's Twitter account and our bank accounts. As a result, I kept wondering why Bianca lied that Tom was innocent.

Was she truly a criminal?

***********************************************************************************************

One week later

Emery's P.O.V

A week had passed. I was excited because the tour would end in two weeks time. The boys were given a five-day break, but unfortunately, we all had to hang around the tour bus. 

There was to be an album signing and TV appearances for the boys during the week. Bianca had returned on the previous day, and she was pissed as hell. I smirked knowingly at her, loving how we were playing our game of cat and mouse.

I was also happy that the police had confirmed some of the accounts the hacker sent money to. I was surprised they even mentioned the two men who had tried to rape me. It was also a good thing no time was wasted in arresting the men.

What was sad was that Bianca had not been mentioned, but I had a feeling it wouldn't take long before she was arrested.

I knew it, and Bianca knew it too. 

That was why she was getting desperate. She had been livid all week since she had no one to give her money except for her stupid boyfriend. Unfortunately for her, ever since I overheard Liam's outburst on the previous week, everyone had been growing highly suspicious about Zane's girlfriend.

Took them long enough.

I was glad that the bitch currently had no way of getting cash and that she would soon go to prison.

On other things, Liam knew that I was innocent. I had no idea of how to feel about that. I mean, I was glad that he was on my side, but I was angry that he didn't believe me when I said that the blonde woman was sent by Bianca to try to kill me. It was only the mention of his past girlfriend that had him believing me. He could keep trying to talk to me like in the past week but I was not going to budge.

The others, well, they were unsure about Bianca. They were still unsure about me. It didn't matter because I was still pissed with them. I wanted nothing more than to leave the tour. Also, I wanted to see the look on Bianca's face when she would be arrested.

"Bianca, you have a beautiful voice," I overheard Zane telling his girlfriend while I was finishing up with what I had been typing for the past weeks. I turned to face the couple, noticing that they were smiling at each other. I had no idea why Zane had said those words, but I got my answer when Bianca started singing.

She was horrible. Her voice seemed like a mixture of a growling dog and nails being scratched on a board.

Then an idea came to mind. It was obvious that Zane loved her. She was a beautiful singer to him, but I knew other people would have different opinions.

Maybe I could have a little fun with Bianca.

A smirk formed on my lips as I faced the bitch.

"Zane is right, Bianca," I said, making the couple tense. "You might as well be a musician if you want. I mean, I am jealous right now."

"Emery--" Zane warned, thinking that I was being sarcastic. Honestly, I was, but I made it look the opposite.

"I'm telling the truth!" I said with a smile. "Or do you think that she doesn't sing well?" I asked with a sad frown aimed at Zane.

Zane looked at me with widened eyes before looking at Bianca. Bianca gave me a weird look, not believing my words. I had a feeling that Zane would confirm what I said.

"You are a wonderful singer," he lied through his teeth with a smile. I smirked.

Things were going according to plan.

"In fact, she could try to be a musician just like you guys at the American Idol!" I said, and Zane tensed.

Zane and his bandmates were to appear on the American Idol on that day as performing stars. The show was in its second season, and it had garnered high ratings. Many people were interested in it, and I was certain that there would be an audience to watch Bianca make a fool of herself.

"Yes!" Bianca yelled while nodding her head in agreement.

"Simon Cowell will be there. He will love her, Zane!" I said with a sugary sweet voice while I tried not to laugh at Bianca. She was eating up my words. 

Well, not my words, but Zane's fake excited reaction. I couldn't believe he lied to his own girlfriend!

"I am so excited! I can't wait to perform. Zane, darling, will you help me prepare for tonight?"

"Sure!" Zane continued to lie. Bianca led Zane past us. Zane gave me a glare, and I smiled at him as he followed Bianca.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked later as he approached me. I continued giving him my sarcastic smile.

"I'm giving your girlfriend a little push to pursue her career as a musician."

"You need to stop this! The both of us know that she can't sing that well."

"Correction, Zane," I said with a smirk. "You need to stop this. She believes you, not me. So you could also decide to break her heart right now without giving her a chance of ever becoming a musician."

Zane glared at me as he passed me, bumping his shoulder into mine. I narrowed my eyebrows at him. I wanted to hit him, but I knew I would be satisfied when Bianca made a mess of herself. So I told myself to be calm before resuming my focus on my laptop.

***********************************************************************************************

Hours later, I got a confirmation that Bianca was going to audition live on the American Idol. 

The bitch was going to perform.

I had been on YouTube for most of the day, watching how the auditions went down. There were both good and bad singers, some even showing a bit of rudeness on stage. The judges were serious, and Simon Cowell...

I knew he was the boys' main manager and also a guest judge on the show for the week because another got sick or something. He was the exact opposite and also somehow met my expectations.

I had watched his videos on the X Factor and other shows. He was brutally honest. That made me love him more. Nothing good like seeing someone's dreams being crushed on TV.

Does that make me a sadist?

Anyway, the boys' manager was... wow. He never lied to anyone, not even those who could sing. And the reactions he got from those who couldn't sing... wow.

I watched the videos on YouTube. There were some yelling and a lot of bleeped cussing. There was also another video of a girl who was a P!nk impersonator. I think it was on another show because Simon had not been a judge on that episode. She wanted to get away from the 'P!nk', but then... I had no idea of what happened.

I mean, she was really good.

Then there was the drama that followed afterward with her and her dad.

Wow.

It made me laugh, and it made me feel bad for the girl. But then I recalled Nicole Scherzinger saying 'No, baby, no!'

After seeing other bad performances, I hoped and prayed to the universe that Bianca's would be the most embarrassing.

My prayers were answered when I learned that Simon Cowell would be one of the judges. I could not wait to see how Bianca would react when she would be told she was awful at singing. Knowing her, she could throw a fit.

So it was later in the evening. The boys, Selena and I were in one of the private rooms that were backstage. Bianca had gone somewhere in the building to practice for her audition.

Zane had been glaring at me ever since Bianca agreed to perform on the American Idol. I glared back at him. Sure, I gave Bianca the idea to perform, but it was not me who actually lured her to the mess it would soon become.

"Hey, guys!" Erick spoke as he and his brother entered the room. I tensed at their unexpected presence.

"Erick! Justin! Fancy seeing you here," Liam greeted the two sons of Elizabeth.

"Oh, we heard that Bianca was going to perform, so we came here to support her."

"That's nice of you," I said with sarcasm, making everyone tense.

"What is she doing here?" Justin mumbled loud enough for me to hear.

"Have you forgotten about the erwiches so soon, Justin?" I asked.

"Emery..." Ethan trailed off.

I raised my hands up in surrender. "Don't worry. I won't cause any more trouble."

The door to the room suddenly opened. A brawny guy with blonde hair and an earpiece spoke to us.

"Bianca is on. After her audition, the show will end with you guys," he motioned to the members of the Ordinary Brothers. "You should be ready in about ten minutes. Come on!"

The guys quickly left the room, and the rest of us followed. We came to stand in an open area that was behind the wall-hidden stage. A large flat-screen TV was hung above us, giving us a visual of what was happening.

"We have to go prepare for the live performance," Logan told Erick. They hugged before he and the rest of the members of the Ordinary Brothers left.

The people on the other side of the stage were applauding. The rest of us turned to face the TV just as Bianca was seen going towards the stage. The judges were Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, and Louie.

My goodness. The bitch was really doing it!

"HI!" Bianca yelled on her microphone with a smile. Some people in the audience awed, and I wanted to snort at that.

"Hello," the gray-haired guy, Louie, spoke. "What is your name, love?"

"Bianca. Bianca Levone."

The audience applauded again.

Simon looked at Bianca with a confused glance and a smile threatening to pull at his lips.

"Where are you from?"

"London, England."

Some of the audience cheered for her.

"Alright, love. What will you be singing for us?" Simon asked with a serious expression.

"Good Girl Gone Bad by Rihanna."
People clapped again.

Then there was silence as the background music of the said song began to play.

"We stay moving around, solo
Ask us where you at, we don't know
And don't care (don't care)
All we know is we was at home cause you left us there"

She sounded horrible. I could actually see her voice threatening to blow out the lights above us.

"You got your boys and got gone
And left us all alone
Now she in the club with a freaky dress on
Cats don't want her to keep that dress on
Trying to get enough drinks in her system
Take it to the tele and make her a victim--"

"Stop!" Simon yelled through his microphone. "Please. Stop."

The audience applauded Simon with a couple of whistling.

"But I'm not done yet," Bianca said with an uneasy smile.

"You aren't, but we are."

There was loud laughter in the building.

"Bianca," Louie started, "I love how you took your time to come to the stage tonight. I love the courage you showed to sing your heart out and see if you can become the next America Idol."

Bianca smiled.

"But it's a no for me."

She frowned just as a loud beep signaling the denial rang through the speakers.

"Bianca," Nicole spoke, "it's a no from me too."

The same beep again.

There seemed to be silence as everyone waited for Simon to make his judgment.

"It's a no from me."

Wow. Shocking.

Bianca's mouth opened wide in shock.

Well, there wasn't a lot of drama regarding her. In fact, I was surprised Simon hadn't thrown in a few couple of words to describe Bianca's singing.

Well, I guessed there wouldn't be any embarrassing--

"You slimy shitty judges!" Bianca yelled out in anger. Everyone in the audience gasped, and so did Justin, Erick, Selena and me.

"I can sing perfectly! I am better than Mariah Carey and Carrie Underwood."

"Who lied to you?" Nicole asked with a serious expression. Bianca just got more furious.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Bianca, but here is the truth," Simon said. "You sound like a dying walrus."

The audience erupted in laughter, and so did I. The rest who were with me were sympathetic.

I rolled my eyes at them.

"You sound like a cat mating with a horse."

More laughter.

"You are not a musician yourself, Simon. You know nothing about music," Bianca, as stupid as she was, continued to defend herself in front of the judges.

There was a collective gasp from everyone.

I could not believe she just said that.

"Zane Marsh is better than all of you shitty judges."

And then another gasp.

"I can't believe she brought Zane into this!" I yelled at no one as I faced the screen.

"Bianca," Simon started, "I formed the boyband that your boyfriend is in. I still don't understand what he sees in you. Either way, as a shitty judge myself, how could your boyfriend be a popular musician?"

People cheered.

"The judges and I know more about music than you. You came for our honest opinion, and we gave it to you. Save us your drama and get the hell out of the stage."

"You--"

"You do know that I pay for all the things you spend while you're on tour with the boys, right?" Simon asked with an amused smile and a raised eyebrow.

I was happy. The bitch was getting humiliated in front of many people.

Bianca went towards Simon, still not backing down.

"Now you listen to me, Simon," she started. "I am a wonderful singer, and I do have a beautiful voice!"

Wow. She was a stubborn one.

"You are just a pathetic--"

"Bianca, you are out of the boys' tour," Simon cut her off with a serious look. Bianca gasped in shock as she stared at Simon. The audience applauded and whistled.

"W-what? You can't do that!"

"I am the boys' manager. I can do whatever I want. Or have you forgotten that? Would you even want me to start charging you for every penny you've spent so far?"

"But Emery is awful!"

"Wow! That is so immature of you. You can't handle the fact that you aren't good at something and you'd rather blame it on someone else. May I remind you that you are the one on stage?"

I chuckled while the rest behind me remained quiet.

Bianca moved towards Louie, forgetting about the microphone in front of him.

"Can you give me a 'yes'? I will do anything for you. I will even sleep with you."

The audience gasped. Bianca realized the mistake she had made, and she paled.

"Security!" Louie, looking outraged, shouted. In an instant, a huge man walked past us and went towards Bianca.

"I'm going!" she yelled as she walked past the judges and came towards us. The people behind me went towards her.

"It's okay, Bianca."

"You were wonderful to us."

"You bitch!" Bianca screamed as she pointed a finger at me, ignoring the compliments she was receiving.

I smirked at her.

Then she charged towards me. The guard who had escorted her into the room was quick enough to grab her before she could hit me.

"What's going on backstage?" Louie asked, and I heard the audience mumbling as well.

"You are enjoying this, aren't you?" she asked in anger.

I laughed, and that fueled her anger.

"Of course I am."

"It's all your fault!"

I gasped, faking shock.

"Really? Was I the one who insulted a judge and got herself kicked out of the tour?"

Bianca growled as she started thrashing in the hold of the guard.

"Let me go!"

Then Zane appeared, running to his girlfriend with a concerned expression.

"Baby--" he tried to speak to Bianca.

"Leave me alone!" she yelled. "I can't believe you lied to me like that. Why did you tell me my voice was beautiful?"

"It is beautiful to me," Zane said. Bianca seemed to be silent as she gave Zane a look of disbelief.

"What the hell? Fuck you!" Bianca yelled at her boyfriend before storming out of the room, the guard releasing his hold on her. He took it as his cue to leave.

"Bianca!" Zane yelled after her, but she didn't stop. There was a moment of silence before he turned to face me.

"Why did you lie to her?"

I raised my eyebrows in shock.

"Are you serious right now?" I asked. "I hate her! Also, she would have known it was a lie if you had not been too quick to compliment her beautiful voice."

"I didn't want to hurt her!"

"Really, Zane?" I asked. "She humiliated herself in front of millions of people. She would have been hurt either way, but it could have been less if you hadn't fed her ego!"

Zane raised his fist. My form tensed as I moved a step behind.

"What are you going to do?" I asked him with a smirk. "You are going to hit me? On TV?" I emphasized. Zane seemed to realize the mistake, but that did not stop him from glaring at me.

"Go ahead. But don't blame me if your career ends in a snap," I snapped my fingers for effect.

Zane growled before storming out of the area.

"What the hell?" Logan stated, and I turned to see him approaching me. My eyes widened in surprise at the sudden attention I was receiving.

"I can't believe he almost hit you!" he seemed shocked. I looked at the others, noticing that the other bandmates had come out.

"It's fine. But shouldn't you be performing right now?"

"We can't," Liam said. "Zane is gone."

"Can't you guys just perform without him?" Selena asked.

"We could, but then we'd have to assign his parts to some of us. We would have needed time to discuss who will get which parts."

I looked back at the TV, noticing that people were still talking about Bianca's outburst. My mind went to the song I wrote, but I doubted what I planned would work.

After a few seconds of thinking, I decided: what the heck?

I took out my phone as I headed towards the team in charge of sound. They seemed confused at first, but I gave them instructions on what to do with the phone. I reappeared in front of the guys as I tried to steady my breathing.

I was nervous.

"Emery, where are you going?" I ignored Justin's voice as I made my way to the stage. It seemed like when he mentioned my name, the others turned to face me. 

Silence engulfed the building as I made my appearance. The judges looked at me in surprise.

Unexpectedly, the audience started clapping for me. I gave out a nervous smile before clearing my thought.

Once the applause ended, the tunes of the song I wrote began to sound through the building.

 

♫

Mr. Know It All
Well ya think you know it all
But ya don't know a thing at all
Ain't it, ain't it something y'all
When somebody tells you something 'bout you
Think that they know you more than you do
So you take it down another pill to swallow

Mr. Bring Me Down
Well ya, ya like to bring me down, don't you?
But I ain't laying down, baby,

I ain't goin' down
Can't nobody tell me how it's gonna be
Nobody's gonna make a fool out of me, baby
You should know that I lead not follow

Oh you think that you know me, know me
That's why I'm leaving you lonely, lonely
'Cause baby you don't know a thing about me
You don't know a thing about me

You ain't got the right to tell me
When and where to go, no right to tell me
Acting like you own me lately
Yeah baby you don't know a thing about me
You don't know a thing about me

Mr. Play Your Games
Only got yourself to blame

When you want me back again
But I ain't falling back again
'Cause I'm living my truth without your lies
Let's be clear baby, this is goodbye
I ain't coming back tomorrow

Oh you think that you know me, know me
That's why I'm leaving you lonely, lonely
'Cause baby you don't know a thing about me
You don't know a thing about me
You ain't got the right to tell me
When and where to go, no right to tell me
Acting like you own me lately
Yeah, baby, you don't know a thing about me
You don't know a thing about me

So what?

You've got the world at your feet and
You know everything about everything
But you don't
You still think I'm coming back but baby you'll see yeah...

Oh you think that you know me, know me
That's why I'm leaving you lonely, lonely
'Cause baby you don't know a thing about me
You don't know a thing about me

(Oh you think that you know me, know me)
You ain't got the right to tell me
When and where to go, no right to tell me

(That's why I'm leaving you lonely, lonely)
Acting like you own me lately
Yeah baby you don't know a thing about me
You don't know a thing about me

Mr. Know It All
Well ya think you know it all
But ya don't know a thing at all
Yeah baby you don't know a thing about me
You don't know a thing about me                              ♫

Everyone remained silent as soon as the song ended. Then a slow clap began. It progressed, and seconds later, everyone was applauding and cheering for me. I smiled and curtsied before quickly going backstage.

"You can sing?"

"You can sing?"

"You can sing!"

Everyone who was backstage asked me in shock. I ignored them as I made my out of the room, planning to go towards the exit.

"Emery!" they all called out to me, but I ignored them. A hand grasped my elbow, turning me to face Justin.

"Did you use magic? Are you trying to get everyone to like you?" he dared to ask. There was a moment of deadly silence as I replayed the words he said in my mind.

In an instant, I slapped him hard. 

"Really? You think that everything I do is to gain attention?" I asked him in anger.

"Well, if you really want to know: yes, I can sing. I have been able to since I was a teenager. And that song you heard? That was about all of you. Read in between the lines and you'll know what I was talking about."

"Emery--"

I turned to leave, ignoring Ethan's shout, but then about ten erwiches appeared. 

Oh no.  

The crew around us screamed, quickly running away from the scene.

I had been expecting another erwich attack, but then I didn't expect it in an area so public.

I went to act, forming a fireball on my hand, but something hard hit me on the head. I collapsed onto the ground. My vision was going out of focus just as I noticed the rest trying to fend for themselves.

I felt tired, and so I closed my eyes, instantly passing out.

 

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

 

Emery's P.O.V

My eyes slowly fluttered open, and I took my time observing my surroundings. Something about the frameless windows and the gray brick walls that surrounded me seemed familiar...

My eyes shot open when I realized where I was.

I was in Eva's castle!

I felt fear as I wondered how I got there. The last events I could remember began playing in my mind, and I was momentarily shocked. It had not been a regular erwich attack, but an ambush. I also couldn't believe an erwich had hit me on the head!

 I tilted my head back, wincing as the back collided with the wall behind me. It hurt a lot, and I had a feeling it was the spot I had been hit. I just hoped there wasn't a wound.

I closed my eyes as I waited for the throbbing pain in my head to subside. Once it stopped, I got up from my sitting position and went to move forward, only to be stopped by the chains that bound me to the wall behind me. I looked around, noticing that I was not alone. 

Erick, Justin, Selena, Bianca and the members of the Ordinary Brothers were also with me. They had all passed out.

Wait. Bianca?

I was instantly pissed that the erwiches had kidnapped her too. What was the point of stringing along an innocent human? 

Okay, Bianca wasn't that innocent. However, if the erwiches decided to torture her to get what they wanted, then that would be great for me. The bitch would deserve it for what she did to me. 

But then Bianca had to be the least of my worries. Despite worrying that she would eventually find out about magic, I had to get all of us out of there.

At least I was not in the room where my mother...

I shook my head, refusing to recall those events at a moment of danger. It would bring me nothing but sadness, and I needed a clear mind to figure out my next move.

My eyes turned to my left, noticing the open window that showed the clear sky. It was a bit dark blue, meaning it was either morning or evening.

I tried to use my powers to break the chains, but they did not work. The erwiches must have used a spell everyone in the room from channeling their powers on their land.

I still couldn't believe they attacked in public! I hoped no one had seen what had transpired. However, I recalled the events that followed once the erwiches teleported into the building. There were some screams, and without a doubt, I was sure the guys and I were on the news. 

It would be a lot of work to wipe out the memories and the evidence of the attack.

My thoughts were interrupted by a grunt. I turned to look at the rest, noticing Liam moving his head sideways as he was waking up. Just like my form earlier, his was hunched in a sitting position.

I went to approach him, but the chains could only take me so far.

"Liam!" I whisper-yelled at him. Liam groaned.

"Eighty more minutes, mom," he mumbled as he continued to sleep. That would have been funny if we were not in grave danger.

"Liam!" I tried calling him again.

"What?" instead, Logan woke up. He blinked, taking his time to realize the kind of situation we were in. Then his eyes widened in shock. He opened his mouth.

"Speak quietly," I told him.

"H-how?" he stuttered, taking in our predicament and trying to set himself free from the chains.

"It's no use, Logan," I said, sitting on the ground. "Our magic can't work here."

"Should we wake the others?" he asked.

I went to say no, but then I needed their help if we were to get out of the cell. Logan and I whispered to the rest to wake up. About two minutes later, everyone had gotten up.

"OMG!" Bianca screeched loudly. I glared at her and motioned for her to shut up. "Where am I? What am I doing here? Why am I here?"

The bitch was already annoying, and she had just woken up. I was not in a mood for her behavior.

"Bianca, please shut up," Erick told her, making her open her mouth in shock. "We need to find a way to get out of this place before the erwiches know we are awake."

"Does anyone have a phone?" Selena whispered. Liam struggled to reach his.

"It's in my pocket," he said. Logan, who was close to him, dug into the pocket that was behind his black jeans. He took out the phone and winced.

The phone had a huge crack on the screen. Logan tried to turn it on, but it wouldn't respond.

"Damn it!" he cussed. "Okay, what do we do?"

"There is nothing we can do," Selena said. "We are stuck in here, and I hope it won't be for a long time."

"Guys, relax," I told everyone. "Things are going according to plan."

"What?" Erick asked in disbelief. "You planned this?"

I rolled my eyes at him. 

"You will understand once we get out," I chose to tell him.

"Get out?" Justin repeated with a glare. "If you haven't noticed, we are stuck in this cell and we can't even use our powers! How do you plan for us to get out?"

"Glad to see that you are all awake," a foreign voice spoke to us. Every one of us tensed as we turned to face the speaker, noticing that he was outside the cell. The person had worn a brown cloak and was smirking at us. Something about him seemed familiar.

"Who are you?" Erick asked with uncertainty.

"You know who I am. Don't you remember?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Then it clicked.

"Tevix," I spoke his name in shock. Everyone turned to face me in confusion while Tevix smirked.

"See?"

"Who is he?" Zane questioned, but no one bothered to answer him.

"What do you want from us?" Selena asked.

"I want Crystalia."

Of course he did.

"How are you going to get it if you have kidnapped us?" Logan asked. Tevix rolled his eyes.

"I have the King, don't I?" he spoke with a sinister smile. "It will only take a bit of torture before he starts doing what we want him to do. You know, since he has been sheltered in the castle his whole life and all that... Anyway, guards!"

The cell door opened as about ten erwiches entered the crowded chamber. Bianca screamed in terror.

"It is time for our festivities. Get everyone here, because today is a day we will all remember."

The erwiches unlocked the chains from the walls before dragging us toward the exit of the cell. There was no room for either one of us to escape, and our powers still did not work. We had no option but to follow Tevix.

We passed by a barely lit narrow hallway before emerging into a wide-open area. I took my time to observe my surroundings. The floor we were standing on was made of gray bricks. I realized we were on some kind of old courtyard of the castle.

A slight breeze past, making me shiver due to the unexpected cold. The sky seemed to be bluer than before, and I realized that the sun was just rising. Also, erwiches were present.

There were very many of them. In fact, it seemed like the whole lot of them was around the castle!

"This is bad," Justin commented. "This is very very bad."

"Fellow brothers and sisters!" Tevix shouted aloud for everyone to hear. "Today is a wonderful day for we have captured the King of Crystalia and the crystal!"

Loud cheers that seemed to come from a large crowd almost deafened me.

I observed my surroundings again while some evil witches used their powers to rebound our chains to ground. The erwiches were everywhere, seeming to be out of the castle too. According to how I saw it, some were on top of the castle towers; others had surrounded the guys and me on the courtyard while others were on the first floor, watching us with evil smiles. Erboons were also present as they flew around the sky like vultures waiting to devour a dying animal.

I hoped that people in Crystalia could see what was going on. However, Crystalia was far from Eva's castle, and so it seemed unlikely.

"Today we will take Crystalia by force!"

More loud cheers.

To quote Justin, it was very very bad.

"OMG!" Bianca screeched again. Despite our situation, her voice did not fail to annoy me up to the point that I wished someone would knock her out.

Tevix turned to face the guys and me with an evil smile.

"I have waited for this day for years. Now that we have it--"

"How sure are you that you have it?" Erick asked loudly with raised eyebrows. Tevix narrowed his eyebrows at Erick.

"The crystal and you are here. It would be easy to kill you and to take over the castle."

"Yes, you could do that, but the people of Crystalia will not easily back down."

While Erick engaged in conversation with Tevix, I tried to use my powers. They were still not working.

I sighed in frustration.

"You will make them back down, or else," Tevix said.

"Or else what?" Erick dared to ask.

In an instant, Selena was dragged upwards by an invisible force. She screamed in surprise. I stopped struggling with the chains as I looked at the ongoing spectacle.

"Do you think we are idiots?" Tevix asked with a smirk, using his powers to throw Selena to a wall behind her.

"Selena!" we all screamed. Just before she could make contact with the wall, she ceased mid-air.

"Every one of us knows about your infatuation with her."

"What?" Justin asked while the rest of us tensed in disbelief.

How?

"You're in love with her?" Justin asked in shock, but we all ignored him.

"How would you know that?" I inquired.

Tevix faced me as he chuckled.

"Come on," he said with a roll of his eyes. "For witches, you lot are pretty fucking stupid. Do you think that we don't use enchanted objects to spy on you? You know, things like magic mirrors?"

I felt shocked and incredibly disgusted. There had to be a lot of things that the erwiches must have watched. Private conversations, meal conversations, parties, secret meetings...

Oh no.

I hated to think that they listened to the talk I had with the Queen. I also hated to think they also watched us get undressed. Something told me that they did, and that made me both worried and more revolted.

"We see everything you do, and we have outsmarted you once again."

Selena was thrown back to us. She screamed before she landed onto Erick and Justin. They almost toppled on the ground had they not outstretched their arms to catch her.

"How do you think we sent you that dream, Erick?"

There was a moment of silence from our side. I looked at everyone on my sides, noticing the shocked looks etched on their faces.

"Seriously? You still doubted what I told you guys?" I couldn't stop myself from speaking out loud. Tevix just watched with an evil grin.

"You, my dear king, were so eager to protect and defend your witches. We knew you were jealous that Emery had killed Eva."

Wait, what? Erick was what?

"Oh, you didn't know, Emery? Erick had been feeling envious after you had killed our queen."

"Emery--" Erick went to speak, but Tevix cut him off.

"He wanted to look like the main hero, and so we just couldn't let the chance pass."

"You bastards!" Erick yelled, itching to get closer to Tevix, but an erwich stopped him by grabbing his shoulder and dragging him back to the group.

Tevix just laughed, and that made me more infuriated.

"That dream made it easier for everything that followed. The lack of trust in you, the sudden dislike towards you... Emery, why else do you think everyone blamed you for stuff you didn't do?"

I had thought about it, but hearing Tevix say it had confirmed it. I felt hurt, but I decided to push the feeling away. I was not willing to show weakness in front of him.

"Why did you do that?" I asked him.

"That, my dear, was revenge for what you did to Eva." Tevix pretended to be thoughtful. "But you deserve more."

In an instant, I was thrown upwards. 

It took a second for my view of Tevix and the rest of the erwiches to be replaced with that of the sky. My heart beat fast as I tried not to scream. I was met with the wonderful yet scary view of the forest behind the Crystalia mountains. The castle below me seemed to be getting smaller as I kept going up.

I had underestimated Tevix' power, and that scared me for a moment. Could he be more powerful than Eva?

Then I began falling down. I couldn't hold back a scream then. The bricks of the castle courtyard were quickly meeting my view. My mouth opened, ready to release it, only to stop when I was close to hitting the gray floors of Eva's courtyard.

"I could kill you. In fact, I wanted to, but then, someone told us about your struggle of remaining good. We would like to help you bring out your inner evil," Tevix said. 

Gotcha.

My eyes widened in pretend shock, a skill I had mastered from Josh. Just then, the ground below me trembled. I looked behind just as a large rock protruded from it. Tevix used his powers to flip me and place me against it.

My limbs were spread out, and I couldn't move.

Oh crap.

 

Logan' s P.O.V

I could not believe what I was seeing.

"Let me go!" Emery yelled as she struggled to move away from the gray rock, but she couldn't. Tevix laughed at that.

It was not how I expected my morning to start.

"What do you plan to do to me?" Emery asked, and I felt extremely worried for her. From what Tevix had said, I was frightened for the guys and me. If he could convince Emery to accept her dark side, her evil side...

"What are you waiting for? How the hell are you possibly going to turn me evil?" Emery sneered at Tevix.

I stood shocked by what she said. 

She did not just taunt the enemy.

"Is she crazy?" Ethan whispered to me. I thought so too. 

Didn't Emery realize that we were in the presence of numerous erwiches who were capable of killing us all?

Tevix just laughed.

"I was actually thinking along the lines of making Erick's dream a reality."

No.

"And how are you going to do that?" Emery questioned with a confused look. "You have me tied up!"

"Tell me, Emery. Why are you still with them?" Tevix asked.

That was not what I expected. I thought he would use spells and potions, but I was proven wrong.

Emery did not reply, staring ahead without showing any emotion on her face.

"I know it is to defend your precious friends from our kind, but what is the true reason?"

"I think you know," Emery replied, staring daggers at Tevix.

"Oh, I don't. These guys betrayed you— blamed you for something you didn't do, and that has not changed."

"It has--" Liam went to speak.

"Shut up!" Tevix yelled at him before turning his attention back to Emery.

"Someone stabbed you, and they thought we did that." Tevix turned to face the rest of us, pointing at us.

"Idiots."

Wait. The erwiches didn't do it?

"You were almost raped..."

"SHUT UP!" Emery snapped at Tevix who smiled in return.

"Oh, I'm getting somewhere. How did it feel, Emery? How did it feel to have two guys grope you without your consent? Don't you remember their fingers in your poor vagina, their teeth on your breasts..."

Tevix was an unapologetic pervert. I was angry as I looked at him, noticing that he was sizing up Emery with his eyes.

"Stop!" Emery yelled out in a sob. 

"Not the way you were expecting your first time to be now, was it?" he continued. "And I wonder, why?" Tevix faced the rest of us with a knowing smirk.

"That was in the past," Emery stated.

"Sure it was," Tevix spoke as fingered his nose and flicked off the dried mucus.

"After the attempted rape, your day couldn't have gotten worse, now could it?" Tevix said while walking around Emery. "But wait. It did."

What? How could it get worse?

"It wasn't even an hour when you went to these people," he spoke, motioning to us, "only to find out there were policemen with them."

What was he talking about?

"They didn't hear whatever it was that you wanted to say. They thought you tried to kill Liam, and that lead to you being arrested."

For a moment, I heard nothing but static as shock and disbelief threatened to weaken my form. I looked at my side, noticing that Liam had also tensed.

"Why was that again, hmm? They said you tried to kill Liam when we both know you didn't."

"STOP!" Emery yelled out loud as she thrashed on the stone. "I don't want to remember it!"

"I will force you to remember it!" Tevix yelled as a green fireball formed on his hand. "Don't you remember the humiliation you felt when everyone saw you being arrested? Don't you remember the hell you went through in that prison? Your life was ruined! The people who you trusted betrayed you! Tell me again. Why are you still with them?"

Emery's thrashing stopped. She closed her eyes as more tears flowed from her eyes. 

"All that pain. All that hurt... for what?" Tevix kept coaxing Emery, stroking her cheek and wiping off a stray tear.

"Join us, Emery," he said gently. "Be our leader, and make everyone who ever caused you pain suffer!"

Erwiches began to yell in agreement to what Tevix said. 

A couple of seconds later, Emery blinked her eyes open.

"You're right," she spoke with a calm yet eerie voice. "Why am I still with them?" she spoke as she turned to face us. She levitated up from the stone, the invisible hold on her released. 

It seemed that her powers were back. I tried to use mine to break the chains, but they didn't work.

The way that Emery was staring at us was frightening. She looked angry.

"Why do I still let them treat me like a carpet?" she levitated towards us, and weirdly, her hair was floating as if it was in water.

"Yes! Yes!" Tevix encouraged her with a sinister smile. Emery turned to me, and I tensed in fear.

Her eyes had turned completely black, just like in Erick's dream.

"I could have left them to deal with their problems."

I felt a sudden force pushing me and the rest of us up the air. I gasped at the sudden loss of footing, feeling frightened.

"Emery--"

"Shut up!" she yelled at Erick, and her voice had taken an echo-y effect.

"You caused me so much pain. You caused me a lot of pain! I thought you cared and trusted me, but you didn't. None of you did."

We stopped being taken upward. Emery levitated next to us.

"You have no idea how mad I am at you guys!" Emery shouted at us. "You have ruined my life! I can't even go outside anymore without being attacked by crazy fangirls! I can't even go to college or get a decent job! Everyone hates me, and it's all because of you!"

None of us replied. I was still processing what Emery was saying, and I hated myself. I did not know that her situation was that worse. I knew about the fangirls, having witnessed the spectacle that almost got a fangirl shot, but college? She couldn't go to college?

"I should just kill you all right here and right now!"

Emery summoned fireballs on the palms of her hands.

"Emery, we are sorry!" Liam pleaded while the rest of us tried to move away from her. But then, we couldn't since we were still in the air.

Emery remained silent before throwing the fireballs at us. We all screamed as the flames encompassed around us. They completely blocked our view, and for a moment, I thought I was dying.

It was a couple of seconds later that I noticed the flames were just around us. They weren't causing any harm.

"The hell?" Justin muttered beside me.

"I would be happy to know that the ones who brought me so much pain are dead," I heard Emery speak just as the flames began to change color. They turned an ocean blue right before disappearing.

"And that is you guys," Emery was facing Tevix and the erwiches.

What?

"What?" Tevix asked, dropping the evil smirk that had been on his face. Emery levitated towards the ground as white stardust appeared around the guys and me to form a clear glistening ball. We stopped floating on air as our feet landed on the ball's floor.

"Is she going to kill us?" Zane asked, but I had a feeling Emery wouldn't.

"I would love to be with your kind, Tevix," Emery spoke. "That way, we will all work towards one goal and not doubt each other."

Tevix looked confused.

"But," Emery said. "There is one problem."

Tevix frowned before asking: "What is it?"

From where I stood, I spotted Emery's eyebrows furrowing in anger.

"You killed my mother!"

Emery banged her fist on the ground. In an instant, yellow stardust appeared like waves of an ocean as the went towards every direction and then disappear on the ground.

"NOW!" Emery shouted, and it sounded like she used a microphone.

I was baffled as to why she had shouted.

I got my answer when I saw green stardust fly from every corner of my surroundings like rain falling towards the sky. They seemed to be coming from outside the castle. They flew and soon met at a point above us. Once they touched, they formed a green transparent dome around the lands of the erwiches. Surprisingly, some erboons were also trapped.

"What is happening?" Tevix asked in disbelief.

Emery levitated high in the air. The rest of us watched in amazement as the blackness in her eyes was wiped to reveal a brightly-glowing blue. In an instant, blue fireballs with stardust lit her palms. She spun in the air, hurling the fireballs towards each and every direction. 

Then things escalated quickly from that point.

Emery's hair floated in the air as more fireballs came out from her hands. She stopped spinning for a moment, spreading the fireballs to every corner of Eva's castle. I looked below me, seeing the erwiches scattering like cockroaches, some even being blown up by the touch of a mere stardust.

It was like many bombs detonating within seconds. The erwiches kept exploding into flames, leaving soot as residue.

It was then that I realized Emery was killing the erwiches.

I spotted Tevix running away, but a fireball hit him. He screamed as flames licked his form before he exploded seconds later. 

I also watched in disbelief and shock as debris of the old castle was sent flying sideways. Parts of the castle were destroyed, pieces of the bricks smashing against the protection ball I was in. A tower in front of us was hit, turning towards my left and landing on a couple of erwiches who perished immediately.

The ball we were in began moving us away from the scene.

"No! Wait!" Liam screamed as we all turned to face Eva's castle. We were moved away from the castle, noticing the green transparent protection dome that had surrounded it. We couldn't see anything because it looked like there was a large cloud of dust in the covered area.

It was not even minutes later that a large explosion thundered from the site. It was so strong that it shook the ball the guys and I were in.

"EMERY!" some of us screamed. The dust being caged in the green dome began to settle. However, we were quickly moving away from the castle. I couldn't see Emery.

My eyes began welling up with tears.

Oh no. Did she—

It was a couple of seconds later when we were past the mountains that I saw a figure approaching. My eyes scrunched in confusion as I saw something flying towards us at a fast pace.

It was Emery.

"Is she--"

"EMERY!" I cut Selena off when my doubts were cleared. Emery was flying towards us with a grin on her face. We all cheered at her. 

"What?" I heard Bianca exclaim in shock, but I chose to ignore it. She must have been shocked like the rest of us were that Emery had survived whatever it is she did to the erwiches and erboons.

I turned my attention to the front, seeing that we were approaching the grassland that was near the mountains.

To my surprise, a couple of people were present and so was the Queen.

Emery's P.O.V

"Emery!" the Queen screamed in delight when she saw me. I landed on the ground just as the others landed with their own magical bubble.

I hugged Elizabeth.

"I was so worried about you! Did it work?" the Queen stared at me in question. I nodded with a smile.

"Yes, it did." I still couldn't believe it.

"What worked?" Erick and Justin asked as they approached us. Elizabeth smiled.

"Our plan worked! The erwiches and erboons are all gone!"

"WHAT?" the guys yelled in disbelief, including Bianca.

***********************************************************************************************

An hour had passed, and the city of Crystalia was in a mood of celebration. There was a celebration being held in the castle over what had just occurred.

The Queen was outside the castle with Selena, Erick, Justin and me. We had taken a change of clothes to celebrate the special occasion.

"So let me get this straight," Erick spoke. "You spoke to my mother."

I nodded.

"You planned this whole thing with her."

I nodded again.

"Why didn't you involve me?" Erick asked with a frown. I rolled my eyes at him.

"You could have declared war or something, and you wouldn't even know how to keep a secret."

"I can! But how did you even do it?"

I sighed.

"I had a feeling the erwiches wouldn't miss a chance of having another evil crystal. So I had to do something to make them think I could turn evil."

"Wait. So that's why you shapeshifted to that evil form last week!" Selena said, and I nodded in agreement.

"So the Queen and I suspected that the erwiches would plan to kidnap me. If that were the case, we talked about how it could go. I had her talk to some of her trusted guards to help and to keep what I planned a secret."

"How did they know you were kidnapped? That we were all kidnapped?" Justin asked.

"Well, we decided that I would always carry a small enchanted stone wherever I went. It acted as a tracker that used magic to power it. If I was in an area where magic is banned, it would signal that I was kidnapped. It did, and so everything went to plan."

"But when did you know when to attack?"

"Um, you all heard me scream 'NOW!', right?"

People's mouths dropped open in understanding.

"So, the erwiches are completely gone?" Erick asked, and I nodded.

"You are sure?"

I nodded again.

"What if--"

"Erick, they are all dead. They all were there, and I knew they all wouldn't miss a chance to see their new queen. Besides, I would have known if someone remained."

Third Person's P.O.V

Eva had flown to earth to let Tevix convince Emery to turn evil. It was one of the endings she was hoping for the crystal. However, she was surprised by what she saw.

She was met by the sight of her ruined castle. Two of her towers were on the ground, the walls broken on impact.

"Tevix?" Eva called out, but there was no reply. She closed her eyes and tried to call some of her followers, but she received no reply. 

Eva thought it was her mind playing tricks on her. It was then that she noticed a hand underneath a couple of bricks. She grabbed it and tried to pull. She didn't need to exert a lot of force because the hand was only what it was: a hand. 

Eva used her powers to visualize everything that had happened when he was gone. It was a couple of minutes later that she realized all of her followers were dead.

She collapsed on her knees before letting out a scream filled with anguish.

 

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 

Emery's P.O.V

The celebration in Crystalia was still ongoing. After the Queen and I had explained the plan of killing the erwiches to her sons, Selena and the members of the Ordinary Brothers, we decided to head towards the garden.

"Are you sure about this, your Majesty?" I asked the Queen as I stared at her with a worried expression.

"I am very sure about this. It is about time we remove the dome that surrounds this city," Elizabeth replied.

"But what about the erboons?" I asked her. "I am not sure I had gotten rid of all of them. Those who remained could fly to us and snatch us up if you remove the dome."
The Queen remained quiet, thinking over the words I had said.

"You're right," she said. "But I am still tired of this damn dome. What if we made a few changes?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion just as she started chanting a spell. Golden stardust appeared and spread from her palms. They flew towards the invisible dome, making it conspicuous by giving it a yellow glow.

I watched in amazement as the dome swiftly dematerialized to yellow stardust. They moved around the city, glowing harsher as they materialized into another dome. Unlike the previous one which had taken the shape of a hemisphere, the new one grew higher and higher, touching the clouds in the sky. It looked like an open cylinder. The glow quickly dissipated, making everything seem normal.

"I guess that could work," I told the Queen. She smirked at me before walking towards a group of witches who had called her.

Selena's P.O.V

"Guys, we need to talk," I told Justin and Erick as soon as the new dome was formed. They looked at each other, and then at me in confusion. I walked towards the entrance of the castle, knowing that they would follow me.

We walked at a fast pace towards the main study room. Once we were in it, Justin closed the door. My eyes shifted from Justin to Erick and then back again.

"Erick, how long have you been in love with me?" I asked him. Justin's eyes widened in shock as Erick tensed.

It had been a topic I wanted to discuss. I had doubted it when Emery had told me, and so it had been easy for me to dismiss it. But when Tevix had mentioned it as he threatened to kill me, it made me think about it again. If what he had said was true...

Honestly, I did not know what to feel with the information.

"Look. I need to know because I would it hate it if I ruined the relationship between you two."

"Selena, you don't have to worry too much--" Justin spoke.

"I'm sorry, Justin, but I feel like we need to talk about this. I mean, your brother has feelings for me! I don't want to hurt him when he sees us together."

My eyes shifted to the King, but he refused to look at me.

"How do you even feel about this, Justin?"

Justin remained quiet for a moment.

"I don't know," he replied. "I don't know what to feel, okay? I'm mad that my brother wants you , and I also feel sad for him. Why didn't you tell me, Erick?"

Erick remained quiet, not meeting our gazes.

"Erick," I spoke, turning to face the king, "are you even sure that you are in love with me?" Erick's eyes briefly flashed with an emotion that I couldn't decipher.

"I'm not," he replied quickly. "It was all lies. What Emery and the erwich said were lies."

"But--" I went to speak, but he cut me off.

"They read me wrong. The two of you don't have to worry about me because I don't have feelin gs for you."

I had no idea why, but I felt like a knife had stabbed my heart.

"There is a party that I would like to get back to. I told you the truth, and I would want us to drop this subject. Okay?"

After a pause, I replied, "Okay."

Erick nodded his head at us before exiting the room.

I had no idea why, but I felt like something broke inside me. The fast way Erick had dismissed the subject made it known that he indeed did not love me. 

"So, can we go back to the party?" Justin stated. My eyes focused on him, and I was surprised that I had forgotten he had been in the room.

"Sure," I told him with a smile that seemed forced. He smiled back at me, and we were soon heading out of the room.

Emery's P.O.V

"I hate this bitch," I commented once I entered the Queen's study room. 

I spotted Bianca lying on a plush lime-green sofa. After a spell had been chanted to knock her out and to wipe the memories of the recent erwich attack, she was brought into the room. Of all the places they could have brought her, they decided to bring her to a room that belonged to the Queen.

They decided to bring her in Crystalia.

Apart from her, the members of the Ordinary Brothers and Erick were present.

"What are we going to do?" Erick asked. "Everyone saw the erwiches attack us. How are we going to wipe out their memories and the evidence?"

"Calm down," I told him. "This issue can be fixed. It will take a lot more power to wipe the memories and evidence of the erwiches being on earth, and so I need more than one witch."

"How many?" Logan asked with a curious expression.

"Perhaps twenty," I guess. His eyes widened in shock.

"I'll deal with it," Erick said. "That problem will be fixed within minutes."

"Okay. Let's go do it," I said. Erick nodded before the both of us left the room.

Liam's P.O.V

"Guys!" I whisper-shouted at my bandmates once Emery and Erick had left the room. They turned to face me just as I was heading out of the room, motioning with my head for them to follow me. 

Once we were at a safe distance away from a sleeping Bianca, I said: "I have just received a message about our bank accounts."

On the previous week, I had told the guys that I would get statements of our accounts as proof that Bianca was a thief. The bank had prepared the statement, and they had sent it to me via e-mail.

"Liam, what are you talking about?" Zane inquired in confusion.

"Zane, your girlfriend is a thief, and I can prove it."

I went to walk further into the hallways, but Zane stopped me by grabbing my shoulder.

"Liam, that's insane! How could you think that Bianca is a thief?"

I sighed.

"Zane, just come and see the statement for yourself," I urged him.

"What if it's rigged? What if Emery--"

"Emery had nothing to do with it!" I snapped, cutting off whatever Zane wanted to say.

"How do you know?" he shouted back.

"I just do! Dude, I know you love Bianca, but we have been wrong about her. Your girlfriend is a thieving, murderous bitch, and it is about time you come to terms with it."

"Liam, Emery must have lied to you," Harry joined in. "Don't listen to her. You know that she wants to kill us--"

"Shut up, Harry!" I cut him off. "Bianca has been lying to us! She has been acting sweet when she is actually awful! She has been stealing from us; she tried to murder Emery and she placed her in jail for something she didn't do! Do you realize how serious this is?"

"Of course I do," Zane spoke, "but I won't stand here and hear you speak ill of my girlfriend." With that, he walked away from me, Harry following suit.

I growled in exasperation. 

"The hell?" Ethan exclaimed, mirroring my expression. 

"Zane! Harry!" Logan called out, but the two did not acknowledge him. They were still walking away from us.

"So..." Ethan trailed off, causing me to turn my attention to him.  "Can we see the bank statements?"

***********************************************************************************************

"What the fuck?" Logan exclaimed in shock. 

We were in the main study room of the castle where we usually convened with Erick. We had used the computer to open my e-mail and to check our bank statements. 

I knew Emery was right, but what met my view confirmed it and had me feeling awful. Bianca had indeed stolen money from us, and it was a lot.

"She's been stealing ten thousand euros from our accounts?" Ethan exclaimed in shock.

"From every one of us!" Logan stated in disbelief. "She must have been earning fifty grand a month."

"And they still haven't made the connection that Bianca did this?" Ethan exclaimed at the irony, and I nodded in agreement.

"Liam, we believe you," Ethan stated while Logan nodded in agreement. "Emery could not have done this. The losses had started months before she joined our tour."

I sighed as I felt anger course through my veins. I still couldn't believe Bianca was a thief.

"What are we going to do about Bianca?" Logan asked. "I want the police to take her to jail before she can take another dose at stealing our cash."

"She can't," I said. "Bianca needed Tom to make the deductions remember?"

Logan smirked at that.

"What do you think she will do?" Ethan asked with wide eyes.

"She can't steal from us, so she has to depend on someone in our group for money."

"Zane," we all made the connection at the same time.

"He's going to feel awful when he finds out about this. How do we get rid of Bianca?" Ethan asked.

"She's out of the tour, remember?" I said.

"Not true. Zane phoned Simon earlier to let Bianca stay. After a lot of convincing, Simon allowed it," Logan informed us.

"WHAT?" Ethan and I exclaimed in disbelief.

"You mean she's stuck with us for the rest of the tour?" Ethan asked in shock.

"No," Logan corrected. "It will only be for tomorrow. Apparently, she has people to visit, and so we wouldn't see her for the rest of the tour."

The rest of us sighed in relief.

"Guys, we need to find the evidence Emery has against Bianca," Logan stated. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, trying to make the connection. It was then that I recalled Emery telling us she had proof against Bianca.

"I have a feeling it's on her laptop," Ethan stated. "She's been on it ever since our tour started."

About two minutes later, the three of us had found Emery's laptop in the Queen's study room; she had hidden in it a desk. We took it and went back to the main study room to switch it on. It had been easy to log on, and I was surprised she had not placed a password on her device.

It took us a couple of minutes to find the video.

"Hey guys, what are you doing?" I heard Erick ask as he entered the room. We ignored him as I pressed play on the video.

"What?" I heard Emery ask. I took a short time to scan Emery's surroundings. She was on the tour bus with Bianca. The way that the camera was positioned did not hide their faces, and so it was impossible to mistake their identities. 

From what I was seeing, Bianca looked angry. 

"Stop playing stupid! You know exactly what I'm talking about," Bianca said as she walked towards Emery, leaving some space between them.

"I did warn him, you know," Emery said. "But he thought I was joking. Well, too bad for him. He's off the list and you are next."

Bianca looked furious.

"I can't believe you got him arrested!" she yelled in anger. I watched Emery's form shrug. 

What was Bianca yelling about? Who had Emery gotten arrested?

"And that makes you angry because..."

"You and I both know why I'm angry!" Bianca shouted. "I paid that guy a thousand dollars every month to make sure he did his job. I mean, it had been so easy to just hack into your account and pretend you were insulting the Ordinary Brothers and their fans. I thought he was a genius with computers! I also thought he would know how to deal with people hacking his own computer!"

"WHAT?" all of us shouted in the room. It was then apparent who Bianca was talking about.

Freaking Tom Acker.

It was a good thing he was in jail. 

"Do you know how many times I had to borrow money from Zane?" Bianca continued, still looking furious.

" What, you don't have your own money? Bitch too broke to do her own dirty work?" Emery questioned.

Bianca snorted.

"You must be stupid. Of course, I don't have my own money! Whatever Zane would give me was not enough, and so I had Tom hack into his bank account."

"WHAT?" the guys and I exclaimed again in shock at the same time as Emery did. 

"Guys, what are you doing?" Selena asked. I turned to face her, noticing that she was with Justin. The rest of us motioned for the both of them to come to us. They quickly did with questioning gazes.

"Lucky for me, my rich boyfriend is too stupid to even check his bank account," Bianca said with a smirk. "In fact, it made things easy for me. I could stop borrowing from him, and I wouldn't look like a gold-digger."

"What the fuck?" Emery commented. "You hacked into Zane's bank account?"

"She hacked into Zane's bank account?" Selena stated in disbelief as she and Justin moved closer to see the video.

"And he never checks the balance! Whenever he buys something, he just swipes his credit card and leaves," Bianca added with a smirk.

"I can't believe you! He's your boyfriend!"

"No, bitch," Bianca said, "he's my bank account."

Emery looked just as shocked as the rest of us were in the room.

"Since we are alone, I'd rather we clear the air." Bianca continued. "Wonder why I hated you from the first moment I saw you?" 

There was a pause that lasted a second.

"I knew you had feelings for Zane. I also knew he was confused about his feelings for you. His mother had even confessed that he was in love with you when the two of you were in high school! I couldn't have that, and so I had to get rid of you to keep him."

I heard Emery exclaim in the video just as I wondered about what Bianca had said. I wasn't surprised about Zane having a crush on Emery. What surprised me was that Emery could reciprocate those feelings. Since when?

I mean, I knew I would have found out about that.

My mind wandered over the possibilities of how that could happen. The only time they could have looked like a couple was when they kissed on a dare... Oh.

"You were right about everything," Bianca resumed talking. "I sent a hitman to kill you. Too bad you lived. I wanted Zane and his friends to hate you. Guess what I did."

Emery had been right about someone trying to kill her when we were in the hotel in London. The rest of us believed it was an erwich attack, not listening to her when she said Bianca was involved. 

I felt awful as I kept watching the video.

"You posted that tweet about the boys, but then I already knew that."

Bianca had been insulting my band by using Emery's twitter account.

"Yes, but that was not enough. I wanted you completely gone and completely hated. I didn't want the boys to rekindle any relationship they had with you. That's why I sent my hitman to dress like you on that same day. I even gave her your phone before sending her to hit Liam with a car."

I had heard the confession from Charlotte. Hearing Bianca confirm it made it complete and unchangeable facts. It was getting hard to keep watching the video after the truths I had learned, but something told me I needed to do it.

I mean, what else did Bianca do without me knowing?

"YOU BITCH!" Emery yelled at Bianca. Bianca just smirked.

"Now, they're all wrapped around my finger. You have no one, Emery, and I have your friends who will listen to everything I say."

Bianca laughed. I felt chills run down my spine as I wondered why I trusted her. It had been one thing to hear the truth from Emery. It was one thing to also acknowledge it and come to accept it. It was, however, another thing to hear the truth come from Bianca.

I wanted to collapse on the ground from what I was witnessing. 

"They think you are an awful person. And don't think that TV interview changed anything. The boys and your own cousin believe you arrested an innocent person for making it look like he hacked your account."

I wanted to puke, feeling disgusted with Bianca, but feeling more disgusted with myself. The truth about Tom Acker was right on my face. Even Emery had exposed him on an interview! I had allowed Bianca, a person I thought I could trust, to twist the truth and make me see her own things.

I felt so ashamed. 

"But he did it!"

"Exactly!" Bianca deadpanned. "I'm even as surprised as you are! Those people who were once your friends are idiots. They are making this all too easy for me!" 

I felt more ashamed and furious with myself. However, Bianca was right about the guys and me being idiots. I wished I had seen through her disguise.

Emery's eyes looked glossy for a moment, and I could tell she wanted to cry. Seeing that crushed me.

"What about the other thing?" Emery interrupted my thoughts.

"What other thing?" Bianca asked, confused.

"Those guys. The ones who you sent to--" 

"You're wondering about that little thing?" Bianca asked. 

What were she and Emery talking about?

"It was a little something to think about before you would come to the hotel and be arrested for shit you clearly didn't do. Besides, from what I heard, you defended yourself before they got any further."

An expression of rage took over Emery's face before she yelled:"You sent them to rape me!" 

There was tension in the air once those words were said. Someone made a shocked sound in the background.

"Yes, I did. Too bad they didn't finish the job. I wanted them to make you look like a slut and then I would have spread the news that you slept with two men at once. Anyway, I don't need them now. My job is done, now that everyone hates you."

With that, Bianca walked away towards the bus exit. Emery stood at the spot for a while. It was then that she came to her laptop and pressed a button on her laptop, ending the recording.

I was still trying to process what I had seen.

"What. The. Hell?" Erick stated slowly. His breathing was a bit ragged, and I understood how he was feeling.

"We were wrong?" Justin asked with a small voice. I looked at him, noticing that his eyes had widened in shock.

"Emery... Emery...she didn't..." Logan stammered.

I looked at Selena, and she looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"Guys, look at the date of this," Ethan said, browsing through Emery's laptop. "It was two weeks ago. Friday the..." he trailed off.

"When was it, Ethan?" Logan asked him. Ethan looked unsure. He wouldn't meet our eyes for a couple of seconds.

"It was recorded a day before we had yelled at her after our concert in Las Vegas. I remember her telling us she had proof, and we said we didn't want to hear anything about it." 

I brought my hands over my head as regret coursed through my veins. I heard Selena let out a small cry.

No, no, no...

"What are we going to do?" Justin questioned. "I can't believe this, guys. I can't!" he suddenly yelled as he turned, punching the wall in front of him.

"Justin!" Ethan, Logan and I shouted at him. His form was hunched, and the way it was shaking told me he was silently sobbing.

I went to hug him, but a familiar set of footsteps were heard approaching my way.

"Close the--" I went to tell Logan, but it was too late. Emery entered the room with the expressionless mask she had perfected in the past week.

"Have you seen my--" Emery cut herself off as her eyes zeroed in on something behind me. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY LAPTOP?"

She didn't give us a chance to speak as she quickly rushed to it. She flipped it close and hugged it to her chest, looking at the rest of us in anger.

"What were you doing with it?"

No one bothered to reply in words. I stared at Emery, seeing her suddenly in a new light. I couldn't believe how much she had suffered. I also couldn't believe she was still alive, standing in front of the guys and me with a strength I never thought she possessed.

The look of fury quickly vanished as shock took over Emery's features. 

"Did you find it?" 

"Emery--" I went to speak.

"Did you delete it?"

"Emery--"

"Tell me the truth! Did you delete it?"

"NO!" Ethan yelled in response.

The look of anger disappeared off of Emery's face. She was soon looking at us with no emotion.

"So, did you see it?" Emery inquired. A couple of seconds had passed, and no one bothered to answer. There was no need because Emery realized we had seen the video. Her eyes were becoming glassy, and I felt my heart clench painfully.

"Emery--" Selena started.

"Don't! Just... don't say a word," Emery cut off Selena.

"We have a lot to talk about," Justin said.

"No, we do not," Emery said, heading towards the door with her laptop.

"Emery, what the fuck?" he asked, making Emery stop walking. "How could you not tell us this?"

The laptop that Emery held quickly disappeared through teleportation. She turned to face us with a glare.

"Why, Justin, I didn't realize I had to tell you something as small as this," she spoke with sarcasm. "Do you suffer from short-term memory loss? I told you guys that I had proof of Bianca committing all the crimes she pinned on me. But you didn't listen to me."

"Emery--"

"In fact, we had a fight about it. You guys told me you didn't care about the proof, and all in all, you didn't care about me."

"Emery--"

"I realized you guys hated me. You left me alone in that parking lot afterward, and I had a lot of time to think. I thought and thoughts, and I finally decided I don't give a crap about what you guys think of me."

"Emery--"

"Why would I listen to anything you guys have to say? You didn't give me a freaking chance! You were all convinced that I would become an evil witch. The dream Erick had was enough to make me sound like an asshole!"

"Emery--"

"SHUT UP, LIAM!" she shouted at me. "All of you treated me like freaking dirt, and it hurt! After all this time... after all the words I yelled at you... all the things I tried to tell you about Bianca... now is when you believe me? Now is when you want to make amends? You don't believe me, but you choose to believe a freaking video?"

"Emery--" Logan spoke. Emery shook her head, feeling disappointed at us.

"I don't want to talk anymore. Besides, it is good to know how much you all care about me."

Emery proceeded to walk out of the room, leaving us silent with our thoughts.

 

 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

 

Third Person's P.O.V

"I need your help," Bianca said. She was in a dark alley in the city of Los Angeles. The alley between the two buildings she stood on was hardly conspicuous due to the darkness of the night. There was the horrible smell of rotting garbage from a dumpster a few feet behind her, and she also noticed a few rats roaming around the area.

The woman hiding in the dark walked forwards and pulled her gray hood back.

"What do you need?" Eva asked. "It seems like I can hardly help you from this point. Emery seems to be beating you at your own game."

"It is our game!" Bianca stated angrily, motioning a finger between her and Eva. "You agreed to help me with this!"

"I did, but I had no idea that this was how things would turn out."

Bianca sighed in exasperation.

"I could say that this is your last night of freedom," Eva said, making Bianca tense in fear.

"W-what?" she stuttered.

Eva rolled her eyes. "Have you been listening to the news? Emery had all your helpers arrested, and they cowered and said that you were their accomplice. Did you even forget about the video?"

Eva was right. Bianca was so screwed, and she needed help with the issue. She had gotten an opportunity where she could try deleting the video, but she failed.

It had happened when she, Selena and the Ordinary Brothers were in Las Vegas. She had to think quickly when they had all boarded the tour bus after the concert ended. Bianca had thought of something, and she convinced the driver that everyone had boarded the bus. Once the bus was moving away from Las Vegas, Bianca went to Emery's laptop and tried to delete the video. However, the evidence was undeletable. She tried again and again, but she still failed.

"Look," Eva directed Bianca's attention to her hand as she took two vials of a red potion from one of the coat's pockets. "There is a way of turning it all around. You could slip these bad boys into the drinks of two people. You can feel free to pick whoever you want."

"What will this do?" Bianca asked as she stared at the slightly-glowing red liquid in the vials.

"It will spike up the anger of a person. It will spike it up so high that they wouldn't even think before they act."

Bianca thought of giving the vials to Zane and Harry. The rest had grown suspicious and had been avoiding her all afternoon.

"If I give this to Zane and Harry, what will happen?" Bianca questioned.

"Whoever drinks this will have their anger fueled over something they are already angry about."

"WHAT?" Bianca whispered in shock.

"Are you listening, my dear?" Eva asked with a roll of her eyes. "This is an anger potion. Zane and Harry believe Emery is bad, and they are angry because she wants to get rid of you. If you slip these potions into their drinks, it will make their anger over Emery spike higher than it already is, and they could kill her and you could find a way to make it look like they did it."

Bianca considered it. It was not a very bad idea after all. The plan could work for her. She could get Harry and Zane to get rid of Emery for her and then she could call the police and find a way to blame all the bad things that had happened to Emery over Harry and Zane. That way, Bianca would not have to go to jail.

"But... what about money?" she asked.

"You have been a very wonderful accomplice, Bianca, and so I'll pay you thirty million dollars for this," Eva said, making Bianca's eyes rise in greed.

"In fact, I have deposited a million into your account," just as Eva spoke, Bianca's phone dinged with a notification. She unlocked it, seeing a message from a bank telling her that her account had been topped up with one million.

"You will be set up for life. 30 million is a lot of money, my dear. Will you do this or not?"

It didn't take Bianca a lot to think of an answer.

"I'll do it," Bianca said with a smirk, turning to leave the alley.

"Pathetic," Eva commented once Bianca was out of earshot before teleporting away from the scene.

***********************************************************************************************

Emery's P.O.V

Later in the afternoon, the boys, Selena and I had returned to the tour bus. It had been after the memories and pieces of evidence of the erwich attack on the previous night had erased. Bianca had passed out ever since we had been in Crystalia and she came to wake up an hour after we had boarded the tour bus.

I was angry that she was still on tour. I guessed that was how things worked with the boys; they preferred a murdering bitch to someone they once trusted.

I kept an eye on Bianca in case she decided to pull off something. She didn't, and later in the evening, she decided to 'go out'. I didn't bother to check where she was going, believing there was nothing she could do to get her out of her mess. I was also busy with other things.

Seeing that my job of dealing with the erwiches was done, I had no other reason to stay on tour. I got to leave whenever I wanted! 

I wanted to leave soon, but unfortunately, there was an unexpected interview. It was earlier meant for the boys and Selena, but Bianca and I were included hours before the interview.

At first, I did not want to do it. However, a part of me wanted to do something before I left. It was going to be the last interview and possibly the last time I would be seen on TV. I also hoped I could anger Bianca and make her look like a fool on TV.

So the boys, Selena and I were in a building where we were all going to be interviewed. Bianca had not yet returned, and we were waiting for her.

Forty minutes had passed, and the bitch hadn't shown up yet. She was getting on my nerves already because she was late. Just because I agreed to the interview did not mean that I wanted to be in it for a long time.

What was Bianca doing? If it had anything to do with getting away with every bad thing she did to me, it wouldn't work. I planned to send the evidence I had against Bianca to the police after the interview would end.

"Zane, where's Bianca?" Logan asked with a raised voice. Just like me, the rest of us seemed to be on edge. To begin with, we had all woken up to the sight of erwiches very early in the morning and had to deal with them. Then there was the celebration in Crystalia. By then, we were all tired.

"I don't know!" Zane shouted back as an answer to Logan' question. He shook his head, probably thinking bad things about his girlfriend at the moment... or he was thinking of ways to blame me for things I never did.

Ten minutes were soon left before the interview would start, and if the bitch planned to be late, then we would all have to do it without her. However, we still had more time, and the producers insisted to wait for the bitch.

"Emery," Selena called out to me, but I ignored her. I had ignored her and the rest of the guys after the chat we had in the main study room.

I was mad.

No, I was livid!

I had not forgotten what had happened in the morning. How dare those guys go through my stuff? How dare they take my laptop? But most of all, how dare they see the proof I had there?

I wasn't pissed about that. I wanted them to see the proof and believe in me. What I was mostly pissed about was that everyone told me weeks ago that they wanted nothing to do with my evidence. What was ironic was that they took my laptop, found the evidence and watched it. That turned the way they felt about me immediately.

I was pissed—totally infuriated to the point that I was thinking about beating the crap out of Bianca when she came. A freaking video was enough to have those who I trusted believe in me. I was also pissed that everyone suddenly wanted to talk to me.

Hardly going to happen.

As soon as I was done with the interview, I would leave them with their tour. Apologies wouldn't make up for all the shit I had gone through because of them.

"Five minutes!" someone had shouted.

"Hey, guys!" Bianca yelled as she ran towards us. I faced her with a glare, but she ignored it.

"Bianca, where were you?" Liam asked, and I could see he was trying to hide his anger. "We have been waiting for you! We were even close to doing the interview without you."

"Relax, Liam. I am here, aren't I?" Bianca said. Liam went to say something. He closed his mouth as he closed his eyes, probably trying to calm down.

About seven minutes later, the boys, Bianca, Selena and I were seated on two couches that were arranged to form the letter 'L'. A man with pale skin and a few dimples on his face had sat across us. He had worn a pair of spectacles, a white, gray striped T-shirt and a pair of khaki trousers.

He talked to the boys first, then headed to Selena. It was mostly about how their tour was going and about their next music, so it was nothing important.

Then the interviewer, James, turned to Bianca and me.

"Bianca," he started, "have you checked your Twitter account recently?" he asked.

"What?" Bianca asked in confusion.

"Do you remember your audition at the American Idol?" James continued. Just as he spoke, the screen behind us and the one in front of me showed the events that occurred on that night.

Bianca's screaming could be heard through the room, and the audience in front of us tried hard not to laugh.

Bianca blushed a deep red.

"After seeing how you behaved last night, people had begun posting awful things about you on Twitter."

"What?" Bianca asked in shock.

"I would rather not go through the comments because they are mostly filled with cuss words."

I covered a hand over my lips, trying hard not to laugh. I took out my phone and checked on Bianca's Twitter profile. James was right; the comments on her Twitter were not very pretty.

I went through a couple of them, noticing that people had also mentioned me. They said wonderful things about me. Some even believed that I was not an awful person! Others commented that Bianca deserved to go to jail.

"It is not true," Bianca said with a smile, but I could see her struggling to make it believable.

"Really?" James inquired. "Then why did you attack the judges, Bianca?"

"I--"

"And didn't Simon Cowell warn you not to come on the Ordinary Brothers' tour again? Why are you with them?"

"What is this? An interrogation?" Bianca asked James with a glare.

"No, I was just wondering--"

"Well, keep on wondering to yourself you slimy curious asshole."

The rest of us gasped in shock.

"Bianca, all I wanted was to understand why you behaved like you did last night. However, the way you have insulted me has left me to believe that you are, and I quote, a truly horrible bitch."

Bianca gasped as I chuckled.

"No! I didn't--"

"No, Bianca, you didn't. Now, would you let me speak to the once-we-thought-was-a-devil-but-is-now-a-gorgeous-angel Emery?" James said.

"Thank you, James," I told him with a smile.

"So, Emery, where are you..."

James asked me things about myself, like where I learned and how I knew the boys. I still lied about being friends with the boys in high school. We even talked about me leaving the tour, how well I performed on the American Idol and what I planned to do with my life.

"Well, apart from trying to go back to college, I plan to have this girl's ass arrested tomorrow," I answered, motioning a thumb to Bianca. I had a smile throughout the interview. Even though Harry and Zane were looking at me with glares, nothing seemed to bring me down.

I also hoped that nothing overly dramatic would happen, but that did not turn out well.

Bianca rose up from the couch and turned to face me with a glare.

"It is not my fault! It is all hers! She made me look like an awful bitch!" she shouted, leaving everyone, including the crew, in gasps.

"Save it, Bianca," I spoke, rising from the seat to face her with my own glare. "Everyone knows who you truly are. You can save your pleas of innocence once the police find out that you stole money from the boys."

Bianca's eyes widened in shock just as everyone else gasped.

"That's right. It's obvious the police are investigating your case. You can't do anything because they are so close to finding out what you did."

Bianca paled even further before her eyes flashed with rage. I just smirked at her.

Then she did something. In fact, I did see it coming. 

I stood still as Bianca raised her hand. I stood still once I felt the impact of the palm landing on my left cheek. I stood still, slightly turning my head, as the sting spread across the cheek. Bianca just stared at me in anger.

"Thank you, Bianca," I told her with a smile despite the pain on my cheek. "You just made a fool of yourself and slapped me on live television."

Bianca's eyes widened in shock.

"Also, do you remember the warning I had given you after you paid a waitress to not serve me and to insult me in public? I gave you five strikes! And guess what: you just ended them."

The lights flickered off just as I smirked.

 

 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

 

Emery's P.O.V

I was on Bianca like a heat-seeking missile. She screamed once my fist connected with her cheek. 

Even in the dark, I could tell where she was, more so because she was standing in front of me. The spell I had cast to switch off the lights would only take a minute, and so I had that amount of time to unleash my anger on Bianca without anyone figuring out it was me.

I dragged Bianca by her hair, making her scream.

"Bianca!" Zane screamed for his girlfriend.

"Za--" before she could reply, I punched her in the gut. She doubled over with a low groan. I dragged her hair up and continued to unleash my anger. 

I kept slapping, kicking and punching her as the seconds passed. It honestly felt so good to unleash my anger on her. Once fifty seconds had passed, I immediately let her go and resumed my position quietly on the couch.

The lights soon came back on. I pretended to be scared, shocked and worried as I looked for Bianca in the currently-lit environment.

"Bianca!" Zane and Harry shouted at the same time. They had gotten out of their seats and were looking for the bitch. I too stood up for good measure.

"Bianca!" Zane screamed. I turned to face him, noticing he was looking at something on his right. I turned, observing that Bianca was lying still on the ground. It was then that I noticed the damage I had done to her.

It wasn't much, but it still made me satisfied. Bianca's face was decorated with scratch marks and a bruise. Her cheeks were a bright red, and a bit of blood was slowly oozing from her nose.

"Zane..." Bianca weakly trailed off as Zane knelt to scoop her up.

"Well... I guess that's all we have for tonight?" James stated as he faced the camera in front of him, unsure of what to say.

"We have to get her to the hospital," Harry said, following Zane who was carrying Bianca out of the area.

The others turned their looks towards me. They weren't patronizing, but they were questioning.

"What?" I asked, feigning confusion.

"Did you do this?" Logan asked carefully without a hint of an expression on his face.

"No," I lied. "I was standing right here when the lights went off."

He eyed me suspiciously before he and the rest of the guys headed off the interview stage with the rest. 

Unbelievable.

Of all the things they chose to believe, they believed that. I wanted to slap my head at the irony of things, but that would make me look crazy in front of the people around me. 

I looked around, seeing that what I wanted to do was completed. It was time for me to leave, and I was honestly happy about that.

***********************************************************************************************

Third Person's P.O.V

Zane and Harry had rushed Bianca to the hospital. About two hours later, they exited the hospital. The news of what happened to Bianca on the interview had reached the media within seconds. To avoid being spotted by the paparazzi who were shamelessly standing near the hospital entrance, Bianca, Zane and Harry quickly boarded the limo that had been waiting for them at the hospital's back entrance.

The doctor who tended to Bianca had told them that she had minor injuries. She was also given a cream to apply on her bruises and a couple of painkillers. Zane, Harry and Bianca headed towards the designated hotel they were going to stay in for the night. After that, they were to resume the tour on the following day.

Harry and Zane were angry that someone had attacked Bianca. Bianca had told them that Emery did it on their way to the hotel, and the two did not think twice about it. It was obvious to them that it was Emery. She hated Bianca with a passion, and she said that she would have Bianca arrested on the following day. 

Who else would have reasons enough to attack Bianca?

That was another thing that worried Zane. Emery spoke of some proof that would have Bianca arrested. He had no idea of what he would do to get his girlfriend out of the impending trouble she would face.

"We're here," the limo driver spoke, drawing his attention to his surroundings. They had arrived at the hotel. Just like in London, everyone was going to be in a single suite divided into many rooms. Emery was the exception because she had booked her own hotel suite. 

Harry, Bianca and Zane boarded the elevator to reach their hotel suite floor. When Bianca, Zane and Harry entered the hotel room, they noticed that almost everyone was out.

Zane and Harry were infuriated that no one cared enough to stay and wait for them. They had not informed them of their whereabouts. Moreover, Harry and Zane knew that they believed Emery. In fact, they had been avoiding Bianca for the whole day, and that made them more pissed.

"I've had a long day. Can I get you guys a drink?" Bianca asked.

"No, I'll get it--" Harry went to speak.

"It's okay!" Bianca cut off Harry rather quickly. It seemed odd, but Harry did not dwell too much on it. "I want to show you guys how much I appreciate what you guys have done for me."

Bianca shared a smile with the two band members before she got up to head towards the kitchen. She pulled out three glasses, took out some beer from the suite fridge and poured it into the glasses. 

Then she poured the two vials of the potion Eva had given her into the drinks that were for Harry and Zane. She took out a spoon, stirring the liquid until the redness dissipated. With a smile, Bianca went to the room and gave the guys their drinks.

She smirked as she sat down with hers, knowing what would ensue. She started drinking the beer, silently observing Harry and Zane. They gulped down their drinks until a small amount was left on each glass. Bianca watched as Zane and Harry's eyes glowed red for a moment before their expressions showed rage.

The spell had taken effect rather quickly, and that pleased Bianca.

You are going to get what you deserve, bitch.

***********************************************************************************************

Emery was in the same hotel but in a different suite, packing up everything that was hers. The past weeks had been hard for her, and so she couldn't wait to leave the tour. She was happy because she knew she would never have to voluntarily see the guys and her cousin again.

Before she went on tour with the boys, Emery had hired a private investigator to search for everything incriminating about Bianca. It was not easy, with it being costly, but things had gone well once Tom Acker had been arrested. The private investigator and the police had everything that could put Bianca in jail. In fact, they had gathered enough evidence to imprison Bianca ever since Charlotte had been arrested. However, Emery had told the private investigator to wait until she would leave. After a long argument, he agreed.

As much as Emery wanted to see Bianca get arrested, her desire to leave was her main priority. The people she once cared about had found out about the evidence. It ruined Emery's plans of exposing Bianca in public and seeing the shocked expressions of everyone finding out the truth. Also, after everything she had gone through, she didn't want to see them again. She doubted she would even forgive them for all the things they had done to her.

Emery sighed when she noticed she had finished packing her bags. She had earlier planned to stay in her hotel suite, but she later decided to go to her house in Crystalia. She would be there for a while before leaving completely. 

Just before she teleported, she heard the sound of knocks on her door. With a sigh, Emery dropped her bags and walked towards the dining area of the suite. She opened the door, coming face to faces with Zane and Harry. They looked furious.

"What?" Emery asked with a glare.

Zane pushed her inside the suite. The force of the push shocked Emery. She almost fell, but she managed to stabilize herself.

"What are you doing here?" Emery asked with a glare just as Harry and Zane entered the suite. Harry closed the door and locked it behind them. 

"I don't want any trouble with you guys. I'm about to leave so you can save yourselves the trouble of saying whatever you want to tell me."

Zane and Harry's expressions did not waver. Emery's heart thudded as something she refused to feel threatened to enclose her heart.

"You think this is funny?" Zane asked with anger, punching a wall on his right. The wall was concrete, so nothing broke when he punched it. What was surprising was that he didn't even flinch because of the pain. Emery, however, jumped in shock.

"You think that what you did is funny?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Emery said, walking further into the room to retrieve her laptop. Her thoughts were running wild as she furiously clicked on the device. She had a feeling that Harry and Zane would hit her like they did in high school. She wasn't sure, but just in case they did, she would have to put in on camera.

The laptop wouldn't connect her to the video recording software. With a frustrated sigh, Emery quickly summoned the cameras she had recently bought and stored in her home. She cast an invisibility spell over them just as she walked back into the dining room.

"You know what we're talking about!" Harry shouted.

Emery remained quiet for a while.

"Fine. I know what you're talking about. I did it. I beat Bianca like the bitch she is."

Zane and Harry actually growled once she confessed.

"Is that what you wanted to hear? Please. The bitch had it coming ever since she pulled up her plans eight months ago. You should have known that it would happen. In fact, I even gave her five freaking strikes, and she still went after me!"

"You are going to pay for that," Zane said with a calm voice that brought chills to Emery's form.

"Oh yeah?" Emery asked with a raised eyebrow. "What are you going to do? Hit me like you did in high school?"

"You beat Zane's girlfriend! Of course we are going to beat you like we did in high school!" Harry pointed out.

Emery had gotten her unexpected confession. She could just summon the cameras away and threaten the boys to never come near her again if they didn't want to have their careers destroyed.

She stretched her arm forward, summoning a fireball. Nothing had appeared. She tried again, but it didn't work.

"What?" she asked in disbelief, her heart thudding faster as fear seeped into her veins. She could have sworn that her powers were working just a few seconds ago.

Harry and Zane smirked.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Harry spoke. "After Erick told us about the dream he had about you turning evil, he also told us about the thing that erwiches used in blocking a witch's powers."

Emery's eyes widened in horror. She was angry with Erick for disclosing such a private conversation with the two people in front of her, but she was worried about what they could do to her without her powers working.

"So that means--"

"You can't use magic until we allow you to."

Emery remained silent as the words Harry said ran through her mind. She did not want to seem frightened, but it was getting harder to do so by the second.

"You can't hurt me," she said with a surprisingly clear voice. "I'm a girl."

"No, you're not," Zane said. "You are nothing but an evil bitch, and it is about time that you were taught a lesson."

(A/N This is where the scene starts. So: Warning! Violent scene ahead! Read at your own choice. For those who want to avoid this scene, SKIP TO THE NEXT CHAPTER)

He charged towards her. Emery's eyes widened in shock before she kicked him in the stomach. Zane doubled over, grunting in pain. 

Emery could not believe it. They really were going to beat her up like they did in high school.

Unfortunately, Emery was too shocked by what had happened to notice that Harry had also advanced towards her.

He punched her hard in the head. The blow had her turning her head sideways, almost knocking the consciousness out of Emery.

"Ow!" Emery yelled as she clutched her head while wincing in pain. "Are you seriously going to do this?"

She suddenly felt stupid for even asking. The hit delivered to her head had left her shortly delirious. Emery found her vision slightly losing focus. She couldn't use her fighting skills in her current state, and she suddenly realized that she was doomed.

Zane looked at Harry and they both shared evil smirks as they looked at Emery.

Emery's vision luckily stabilized. She saw the looks Harry and Zane were giving her, and she remembered them; they were the same ones they had given her when they were in high school.

"It will be just like high school. Do you remember this, Emery?" Zane asked, kicking Emery on her stomach without giving her time to defend herself. She howled in pain, doubling over next to the floor. Her hands and knees touched the floor, supporting her from falling flat on the ground.

Then Harry grabbed her by her short hair, forcefully yanking her head upwards. Emery released a pain-filled scream as she felt the harsh pull at her head. Her heart thudded faster if possible, and the pain made her feel awful. She felt each strand pulling as it struggled to hold her scalp. 

It had been years since she endured the pain they were giving her, and so feeling it again was frightening.

"Do you remember us beating the shit out of you? We enjoyed it then, and to be honest, we kind of missed it."

"What?" Emery asked, her expression unreadable due to the agony she felt. It was a wonder her strands were not being pulled off. She was, however, proven wrong when she felt a pinch on the back of her head.

She could not believe what Harry had said. She began regretting ever introducing them to Crystalia. If she had not done that, then she would have escaped the pain she was currently feeling. In fact, she could have avoided the mess that her life had become.

Zane kicked Emery in the gut again. Emery shuddered in pain, the feeling of vomiting threatening to overcome her.

"Beg us, Emery," Zane spoke. "Beg us not to hit you."

Emery spat on his face with a glare. She never thought that what they were doing would happen to her again. Even if it did happen, she wasn't going to succumb easily.

That was what she had thought earlier.

"Oh, you shouldn't have done that," Zane said before delivering a blow to her cheek. Emery's head turned, blood oozing into her mouth as she felt something loose in it.

A tooth.

Emery's eyes widened, but she didn't have time to fully react when she was punched again. At the moment, the punch hit her nose. Emery felt the blood rushing on the spot as she felt a painful throb.

Harry released Emery's hair. Emery felt some relief, but that was cut off when she noticed a swinging foot coming towards her head. As a result, Emery was thrown to the ground, the throbbing in her head increased.

Zane stepped over her and grabbed her hair. He began pulling her with it across the floor in the room, her screams ringing through the air. He dragged her halfway across the room, grinning evilly at the screams of agony that Emery released. Some of Emery's hair had been pulled off, and some blood had begun trickling onto the ground.

Emery had seen some of it, and she felt fear grasp her form. She realized that it was no longer bullying but actual revenge for things she never did. The boys were mad, and she was worried about how further they would abuse her. Would they even dare to kill her?

Unknowingly to Emery, Harry and Zane, Bianca was silently sneaking into the room with her camera. She was grinning evilly at the scene in front of her. The people in the room didn't notice as she went inside and placed the camera on a desk before swiftly getting out of the room.

"Beg us," Zane repeated. Emery remained silent, and she realized that was stupid. Harry pressed his foot onto her stomach. Emery began to thrash, the pain radiating on her belly. She tried to get away, but Zane forced her to remain still with his hands.

The tears began at that point.

"Let me go!" Emery screamed. "HELP! Someone! Please, HELP!"

It seemed that no one had heard her scream. Harry released his foot from her stomach and knelt above her, forcefully grabbing her chin. Emery's eyes were widened with fear as Harry looked at her.

"No one is going to help you," he said with a tone that brought chills to Emery's bones. "It is just the three of us, and we are going to have some fun."

Emery was slapped across the face. Her head turned back, just in time for Zane to slap her on the other cheek. The sound rang through the room. 

Zane grinned as he grabbed her from behind and threw her to the wall in front of her. The impact brought pain to Emery's backside. Before she hit the ground, she was thrown against the table in the room.

It was, unfortunately, a glass table. Emery landed on it, face forward, with the glass breaking as she made impact. The glass broke loudly in the room as shards dug into Emery's naked skin, increasing the pain she was feeling. Some of them pierced her face, leaving marks and blood oozing from the injured spots.

"You have been a pain to us since day one, Emery," Zane spoke as he pressed his foot on one of her palms. There were glass shards below her hands, and the force exerted by Zane's foot dug them further into the skin. Emery screamed just as Harry pressed his foot on the other. She tried tugging her hands away from the feet pressing onto them, but that only had Zane and Harry pressing harder.

"You tried to kill Liam. You wrote awful things about us on Twitter! You even had the audacity to steal our money!"

"I didn't do it!" Emery managed to scream out through the agony she felt.

"SHUT UP!" Harry shouted. "We know you did it. We know you also had innocent people arrested to cover up for all the vile things you did. And now you are going after Bianca?"

Harry grabbed Emery's face. He knelt beside her, raising his knee towards her face. Emery felt the impact mostly on her nose. She could not scream because the jeans Harry had worn muffled it. Then he threw her head back like it was dead weight. Luckily, Emery stopped herself before she made contact with the ground filled with shards. She was afraid that if she did make impact with the ground, she could have died.

Then her left arm was grabbed. Zane began twisting it, all the while Emery screamed in pain. The screams only increased when Zane twisted further, and he marveled at that. Emery had no option but to lie on the ground with glass shards piercing into her skin.

"Stop! Please, stop!" Emery begged. Zane did not listen, continuing the twisting, enjoying the screams a little too much. The screams increased in volume until a satisfying pop sounded through the air. Zane froze for a moment, then he smiled evilly.

He had broken her arm.

Emery remained silent for a while before screaming again. Zane let go of her arm, and the movements it made intensified the agony Emery felt. Zane went to do the same on the other arm, but with jerky movements, Emery kicked him in the balls. Zane doubled over, holding his crotch.

"You are going to pay for that!" he growled in promise. Emery tried to get up, only to be stopped by the kick sent to her face. She landed back on the ground with an angry Zane on top of her. Then he began punching her face.

The blows came too quickly for Emery to comprehend. She stopped struggling against the punches, too injured to move.

Emery felt her head being grabbed before she felt it hit something hard.

It was a wall.

Harry smiled evilly at what was happening.

"You will learn not to mess with my girlfriend!" Zane shouted, looking around the room for something. He looked down, finding the shards of glass that were spread from the broken table. With a smirk, he carried Emery's form and came to stand next to the shards of broken glass.

He released his hold, and Emery screeched as she fell before she felt the shards dig into her form again. Harry moved and pressed a foot onto her torso, digging the shards into her backside. Then he flipped her over and pressed his foot onto her vertebrae.

"NO!" Emery screamed. "NO! NO! NO!" she began thrashing against the foot on her back. Emery was completely scared then because if Harry increased the pressure of his foot on her back...

Harry released the foot, and she stopped thrashing.

"Harry, do you remember what we last did to her?" Zane asked as he stared at Emery.

"No. What?"

"We hit her half to death."

Emery's form tensed in fear.

"Maybe we could do it again!"

Emery released a sob, her inner fears of that day being revealed. She recalled the pain she endured, and she never wanted to feel it again.

"No. Please, n-no," she stuttered out in a sob.

"Don't worry, Emery," Zane said. "By the time we are done with you, you wouldn't mess with us again. Right, Harry?"

Emery's eyes widened. She quickly got up, heading for the door. Harry swept his foot under her, making her trip over it. She landed on her front, groaning in pain.

"What if we carve something on her?" Harry asked leisurely. "It would make sure she remembers not to mess with us."

Emery began crawling towards the door. Before she could even reach it, a foot stepped on her palm. She screamed again, realizing that her voice had gone hoarse over the minutes that had passed.

She was turned to face the front with Harry and Zane staring over her with evil grins. They each held glass shards, and they were smiling evilly at Emery. They raised her shirt, all the while Emery begging them to stop and making promises of never hurting Bianca. They didn't listen, and Harry made the first incision on her chest.

Emery screamed and sobbed, thrashing on the ground as tears freely poured from her eyes. Zane joined in with Harry, forcefully digging the shard into her skin. Blood oozed out continuously in a dangerous amount. Emery was forced to stay still as they continued to carve on her torso.

The screams stopped just as she felt the pain dissipating. Emery was momentarily confused. The two people above her were still drawing, but she could not feel the shards digging into her skin. Then she remembered what she was feeling.

She had felt it at one time; years ago, during the time she was hit by metallic rods that had her admitted to the hospital. Instead of fighting it, Emery welcomed it. She was getting tired... so, so tired... 

"If you want to kill me, then do it already," she spoke slowly.

"We don't want to kill you. Where will the fun be in that?" Harry asked. "We want to torture you."

"You call this torture?" Emery asked. She felt that she was close to dying, and she wanted that so much. Maybe then would the pain she was feeling stop. 

Harry and Zane did not hold back for the next five minutes. They threw her against walls like a rag doll, not caring about the damage done to her form. They beat her up, calling her names while doing so.

Emery's breathing had slowed within the period. Her vision was extremely hazy, and the pain she felt during the abuse was no longer there. That was what she thought at first.

"You deserved this you stupid cunt!" Harry yelled at her. Instead of curling back in fear, Emery smiled.

"Does Zane know you slept with Bianca?" she asked. There was a moment of silence in the room before Harry kicked her head with his foot. Zane assumed that she was lying, and so he did not question Harry. Emery passed out immediately, blood still oozing from the wounds on her form.

Zane walked towards Emery and kicked her hard in the crotch.

"That was for kicking my balls and lying you bitch!" Emery's form jolted before lying frighteningly still. 

 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

 

Third Person's P.O.V

The spell that had been in their systems wore off as red glowing stardust came out of their eyes and disappeared into thin air. Harry and Zane felt dizzy as their visions slightly lost focus for a few seconds.

"Where are we?" Harry asked in confusion.

"I don't know," Zane replied as he scratched the back of his head, still confused. "I remember us being with Bianca at the hospital," Zane stated. "Then we came back. Bianca went to get us a drink and... " he trailed off as he blinked his eyes, trying to remember what happened afterward. "I don't know what happened from there."

They looked around, coming to a stop at the scene before them. They were in a hotel suite, but there was something red trickling on the walls.

They both sniffed, and the smell that came from the room was putrid.

"Harry..." Zane trailed off as they kept looking. He walked forwards, and the sound of glass cracking met his ears. He looked down, noticing the glass shards before him. They had also been coated by the red liquid that was on the walls. 

Zane did not want to believe what he was seeing. His heart thudded as he and Harry looked forward, suddenly spotting a figure lying still on the floor.

"Emery!" Zane and Harry yelled as they ran to her form and knelt before her. 

Emery had lain on her back. Her eyes were closed, and they had both swollen into an ugly purple color. There were other swollen spots on her face that almost left her unrecognizable. Bruises and cuts were also present, and some had a bit of dried blood on her skin. 

Zane and Harry were also shocked to discover blood seeping from Emery's ears and nose. 

"Oh my..." Harry trailed off as he brought his hands to his face, horrified by what he was seeing. He noticed the bruises on Emery's arms. One of them seemed to be bent in a different position.

"Emery..." Zane trailed off in disbelief when he noticed the blood seeping from her crotch. More was oozing from her stomach, and Zane lifted the shirt.

He immediately felt delirious by what he had seen. There were many cuts on her torso, and they were still oozing blood. Zane almost puked at the horrendous sight.

"Did we do this to her?" Harry asked. He looked at his form, noticing that some of the blood was on his knuckles. Zane had also noticed, and the both of them began inspecting their own bodies. Their shirts and trousers had some streaks of blood on them.

"We did this to her," Zane stated in disbelief and shock. "But how?"

Then the memories came back to their minds. They recalled the awful sounds, the screams of pain, the begging, and the last thing Zane did to her...

Zane knew that he had been angry with Emery, but to show his anger towards her in such a way... he could not believe what he had done.  

Harry rushed to the suite's toilet, and seconds later, he was puking. Zane just stared at Emery in shock, disbelief and horror as Harry flushed the mess he had left in the toilet bowl. 

"I can't believe we did this," Zane commented, not taking his eyes off the girl he had abused.

"Emery..." Harry called out to her, only to receive no answer. "Did we kill her?" he asked Zane. "Maybe it's not too late. Maybe we can get Liam or Logan to heal her--"

Harry cut himself off as he felt for Emery's pulse on the wrist. He was shaking with hope as he touched it, and it pained him to realize he felt nothing.

Nothing.

"There is no pulse," he informed Zane with widened eyes. "Zane, what are we going to do?"

Zane remained silent as he thought of what to say.

"We place her on the bed," Zane spoke.

"What?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"We need to make it look like we were not here."

"Zane, are you serious? Look at her! She could be dead!"

"She is dead, Harry!" Zane snapped before the tears came out of his eyes. "Shit! Fuck! Shit!" he yelled as he punched his thighs. 

Harry remained quiet for a moment, letting Zane sob. He couldn't cry because he was too shocked by what he had done.

"You're right, Zane. We need to make it look like we weren't here," Harry spoke. Zane nodded in agreement before he and Harry moved to Emery's form. They grabbed her, feeling hatred for what they had done to her as they moved to the bedroom. They placed her on the bed before they quickly left the room.

Minutes after the two left the room, Bianca came back. She noticed the scene in front of her, admiring the mess the boys had done to Emery. With a smirk, she went towards the item she came for. She took the camera, swiftly heading out of the suite and closing the door behind her.

***********************************************************************************************

Emery's P.O.V

I woke up with a gasp, feeling shaken after the nightmare I just had. I didn't even want to think about the details.

It was dark in my suite, which meant it was still night. I went to get up, only to realize that I felt pain. It was hard for me to move. 

Something nagged me at the back of my mind, and it made me realize that the nightmare I had was a reality. I had dreamt what had occurred before I passed out. 

At first, I was shocked. I couldn't move as I processed what had happened.

A minute hadn't passed before I started tearing up. I screamed in anger, feeling enraged over what Harry and Zane had done to me. I was also angry that I hadn't done anything to protect myself.

I cried, thinking of the damage that could have been done to my body. I needed to see it, and so that urged me to get up from the bed.

I went to stand from the bed by supporting my form with my left arm, but I screamed out at the unexpected agony. I stopped moving. I wondered what had happened to my arm, and I quickly remembered.

Zane had popped it out of its socket.

More tears came out at the memory. 

I then used my other arm. Luckily, it had not been broken. When I was standing, I almost swore at the sudden throbbing I felt all over my form. I moved a step, and the pain seemed to have increased.

I quickly walked to the bathroom. I switched on the lights before undressing, planning to take a hot shower to alleviate the pain that I felt. It was then that I noticed my reflection in the large mirror. What I saw had me frozen.

I was unrecognizable. Bruises and cuts with dried blood had marred my face. There were swollen areas around my cheeks, and my eyelids were turning an ugly shade of bluish-purple. The skin near my nose was slightly red, and it looked swollen. I touched it, wincing at the pain I felt just by grazing the skin. 

When I winced, I noticed the red coating on my teeth. I gasped in disbelief as I opened my mouth. A couple of teeth were missing, and there was still a hint of blood.

My gaze traveled lower, noticing the marks formed by the glass shards that had earlier pierced my skin. I also saw something like a shoeprint on my stomach, and that explained why I felt pain in my gut. The arm that Zane had twisted was dangling as I noticed that it had swollen near the shoulder. 

There were irregular cuts on my torso; they looked like those of a kid trying to draw something on a piece of paper. I recalled the feeling of Harry and Zane drawing on my stomach with the glass shards, and I flinched at the memory.

They had ruined me. Those two assholes had ruined me.

I couldn't do anything for a moment as I stared at my form in disbelief. My thoughts were running wild, wondering how I was in such a mess.

How could I ever fix such a mess?

I soon found myself collapsing on the floor and sobbing. 

How could they?

HOW COULD THEY?

More tears came out of my eyes as I thought of what Zane and Harry had done to me. 

I hated them. I despised them. I had never felt such a rage as I did then. 

I still could not believe that they had abused me.

My heart clenched with rage over the words I remembered them telling me. They still wanted to beat me, and it was obvious they did not regret what they had done to me. Besides, Zane told me how much he hated me by kicking me in my crotch. I was useless.

Was that what I actually was? A worthless person who had no meaning in the world?

Still crying, I proceeded to go to the shower.

I turned the heater on, wincing as the hot water made contact with the wounds on my form. Unable to do anything with the other arm, I just stood under the shower, thinking of what I would do next. I looked down, noticing that the dried blood on my form was flowing into the shower drain. 

I had never felt so pathetic, so spiteful and so disgusted with myself. I wanted to rub off the memory of what Zane and Harry had done to me. I wanted to forget it; I wanted to leave and to never come back.

However, I couldn't forget the memory. Those two had made sure it would stick in my mind, especially when they drew on my stomach.

The water was red for a long time as it flowed into the drain. I started crying again, hating myself for ever coming on the boys' tour.

I should have stayed away. I could have dealt with the erwiches from the comfort of Crystalia without ever having to face everyone who had hurt me. 

More importantly, I could have avoided all the hurt that I felt for coming on the tour in the first place.

Minutes later, I dried myself and took a change of clothes before going into the suite's bedroon.

"Emery," the wind spoke. At that moment, I dismissed it. 

I was slowly toweling my hair as more tears poured out of my eyes when the wind spoke again: "Emery."

I realized that it wasn't the wind. It was a familiar voice.

Who was it?

As if to answer my mental question, I watched in disbelief as a woman materialized in front of me. A second later, Eva had teleported into the hotel suite. 

I blinked, beginning to believe that the damage done to my head must have been too much.

"Eva?" I exclaimed, almost collapsing on the ground in shock. The evil queen smiled as she approached me.

"Emery! Long time no see--"

"H-how?" I asked, interrupting her. "I killed you. I watched your form burn!"

"Yes, you did, but I am still alive," she replied with a smile. 

I expected her to be angry. I thought she would be vengeful. But then, the woman was talking to me as if I had not burnt her to death. What the hell was going on?

I shook my head in disbelief.

"I must be hallucinating," I told myself, looking at the mirror in front of me. Maybe I was, and the universe was paying me back by taking me to hell. 

"Poor Emery," she spoke, approaching my form. I noticed her reflection in the mirror, and that shocked me. "Look at you. You give so much but you get nothing in return."

"Leave me alone, Eva," I spoke, believing that I was indeed hallucinating. It must have been a result of the many hits I had been given.

"You do seem unsure about your demand," Eva said with a playful smile. "You want to know why?"

I shook my head in denial.

"Your inner darkness has called out to me."

What?

"I have no inner darkness."

Eva released a laugh of her own as she grabbed my shoulders. Her hands felt so real, and I wondered for a moment if I was indeed hallucinating.

"Don't play games with me, Emery," she said as she stretched her arm to touch the mirror in front of me. Once her finger grazed the surface, the mirror changed the view of my reflection to reveal my dark form. 

My evil form was staring back at me with no expression on her face. Her skin was unbelievably black, and her eyes too were black. There was only a white ring around her pupil. Even though she was standing in a dark background, I was surprisingly not scared of her.

"This is your inner darkness, Emery. It's calling out to you."

My dark form copied my actions, blinking as I moved my hand towards the reflection. I noticed the sharpened black nails on it and the unnaturally black skin that made me look like some demon.

"I can't allow myself to be that," I said, retracting my arm.

"Why not, Emery?" Eva asked as she levitated to my bed.

"There are many people who depend on me," I told her.

"It does not seem like it," Eva snorted. "Do you mean people who have let you down?"

The mirror in front of me showed the evidence to Eva's statement. It showed me being stabbed and it revealed the awful things that had happened to me in Australia. It also showed me being ambushed by the waitress and the group of OBers, and the latest, almost being killed by Harry and Zane. That had been the worst.

I turned away from the mirror, not wanting to see more.

"What were the stupid reasons they came up for these?" she asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "Oh, yes. The dream that they later found out was a fake. If you didn't know, Emery, they had the dream before things went bad for you."

"I suspected it," I said, not meeting her gaze.

"Also, have you forgotten that they all believed Bianca?" Eva asked, feigning a shocked expression. "And to think that all this could have been avoided if only Erick had made sure the dream was legit."

"SHUT UP!" I yelled at her with a glare even though I realized that what she said was true.

Eva laughed as she levitated towards me before saying: "Why do you fight it, Emery?"

"I'm not evil!"

"Really? Because other people seem to think otherwise. Don't you remember how everyone acted around you?"

The mirror in front of me materialized to show instances of how Selena and the boys avoided me when I had joined their tour.

"Erick was so sure you would bring destruction to Crystalia."

"No--"

"All of the people who you thought loved you chose to believe that you could turn evil."

"Shut up!" I yelled at Eva with a glare. "You have no idea of what you're even saying."

Eva furrowed her eyebrows at me.

"Really? Then can you explain that?" The mirror swirled again to show Ashley talking to Erick outside the castle in Crystalia.

"She broke off our friendship. Are you happy now?" Ashley had asked Erick in anger.

"What do you mean?" Erick asked.

Ashley rolled her eyes.

"She broke off our friendship because you guys don't even know her! She fears you guys will ruin my life because you blame her for things she never did!"

"We all know she did evil things, Ashley. What I am doing is for the safety of my people. Besides, aren't you glad that you aren't near her?"

"What?" Ashley asked, appalled.

"The constant drama that surrounds her. The fact that people hate her. Aren't you tired of all of it?"

Ashley went to speak, but she hesitated.

"Aren't you afraid that will all that is happening, she would eventually turn evil?"

Ashley did not reply to his question, glaring at Erick before swiftly walking away from him.

The mirror changed to reveal my wide-eyed reflection.

Ashley doubted me?

"You see, Emery, everyone does not trust you," Eva spoke as tears started clouding my vision. 

I couldn't believe it. Eva was right. 

I sobbed, realizing that everything I thought I knew was not what they truly were.

"You were stabbed, almost raped, and you were arrested for something you didn't even do. Don't even get me started on what happened in the Australian prison. Everyone hates you, Emery! They betrayed you, and you are still with them? For what?" Eva raged.

I sobbed louder.

"What about what Erick wanted to do to you once you came to the castle after seven months?"

He wanted to lock me up, as if I was still in jail yet I had not committed a crime!

The memories hurt.

"What about the ignorance? Don't you remember how everyone ignored you when you tried to tell them the truth? Don't you even recall the insults that were thrown your way?" 

Eva approached me and whispered in my ear: "What about what Harry and Zane did to you?"

I remained quiet, my sobs settled down while tears came out of my eyes.

"Everyone believes you are evil. You have no one, Emery. You are alone once again, and everyone still doesn't know you. Even though everyone found out the truth about Bianca, what proof is there that they still know you? What proof is there that they still trust you? Do they even really love you?"

I turned, placing my head on Eva's shoulder as I continued to cry. She patted my head in comfort, but that did not stop her from speaking.

"Emery, listen to me. Stop making things hard for yourself. Stop tricking yourself with the thought that you can continue living after the mess that your life has become."

"I just want it to stop," I sobbed. "I want all this pain that I'm feeling to end. Eva, please help me."

"You can only end the pain if you listen to me. Come, Emery. Let go of everything and embrace your true self," Eva said as the mirror in front of me materialized to show my evil form. "There is nothing left for you in this world and in Crystalia. There is no way things can go back to normal for you, especially after what had happened tonight."

"Eva--"

"You have nothing to lose, Emery. You get to block out your emotions," Eva cut me off. "Just think about it; no more feeling anything that could tie you down.  You'll get a sense of freedom, and more importantly, you won't feel pain."

"I won't feel pain?" I whispered in a small voice as Eva nodded her head in agreement.

"Don't you want to end all your suffering?"

I remained silent as I thought over what Eva said. My mind and my heart were fully on board with what Eva had in store for me.

"I do."

Eva smirked at me. Just then, a vial of yellow liquid soon materialized on her palm.

"Take this, Emery," she advised as she handed me the vial. "Drink it all, and all you care about will go away. Drink it all, and you won't fear anything. Drink it all, Emery, and you will feel nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

I quickly unscrewed the cap off the vial. Without a second thought, I opened my mouth, letting the contents of the potion rush in.

I made sure to drink the whole vial.

Third Person's P.O.V

Eva felt victorious as she stared at Emery.

"How long will the potion take to--" Emery cut herself off when her stomach made a noise. The noise came again, and Emery soon had her hands pressed against it. She felt something tug painfully at her heart. She had gasped before screaming out in shock, not expecting the pain that she felt. 

"What's happening to me?" Emery asked as she held onto the dresser in front of her. The pain was spreading in her heart, quickly taking effect. She screamed again as she threw her head back.

"Relax, dear. Let the potion do its work," Eva advised.

Emery went to stand, but another tug at her heart had her grasping the dresser.

"What's it doing to me?" Emery asked as she closed her eyes in a wince. 

Eva waved her hand around before casually saying, "Burning your heart."

"What?" before Emery could say more, the pain she was feeling spread through her form. She let go of the dresser, falling onto the ground. 

The pain did not register to her brain as Emery continued screaming. Golden stardust appeared on top of her form before falling onto it, disappearing into her skin. 

Eva watched in glee as the potion continued doing its work. The stardust first highlighted Emery's veins with a yellow glow before darkening her skin in a slow manner. Emery stared at nothing, her eyes wide open as the darkness continued to spread like ink in water.  

Just then, the windows busted wide open as a huge gust of wind entered the room. The glass on the windows shattered, falling onto the ground with a loud sound.

Emery's back arched as her brilliant blue orbs became dark, the sclera of her eye completely darkened. A white ring soon appeared around the iris. Emery's nails grew and took the shape of claws. She lay still for a moment, letting the transformation finish its work.

"Emery?" Eva called out with a raised eyebrow. Emery had been staring into nothing with her new black eyes for a minute. They had blinked before she levitated to a standing position. 

Eva watched in amazement. Emery walked to the mirror, and she took her time observing her form.

"Are you okay?" Eva asked.

"I'm okay, Eva," Emery replied with a calm, emotionless voice. "In fact, I've never been better."

Eva realized that her potion had worked when Emery soon released an evil chuckle.

"In fact, what I would like to do is get my revenge," she talked as she walked towards the window. "I would make everyone pay for what they did to me. They will regret ever messing with me!"

Emery used her powers to summon a storm over the city. The clouds had covered the sky within seconds. Emery laughed with an evil glint in her eyes just as lightning flashed behind her.

"Oh, my," Eva commented as Emery continued laughing maniacally. 

 

 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

 

 

Third Person's P.O.V

Selena had just come from a meeting that involved the boys and their manager. When she entered her suite, she didn't go to bed. An hour had passed ever since she had returned, and she was thinking of ways of confronting Emery and apologizing to her. 

After she had seen the video evidence against Bianca, Selena felt hatred towards Bianca and herself. She realized she had messed up the relationship that had once existed between her and Emery. She had to apologize, especially since she worried that she wouldn't get to see her cousin ever again.

But then, what would she say? Would sorry really be enough to make up for all the pain she was unknowingly inflicting on Emery?

With a sigh, Selena left her suite and headed towards Emery's. She recalled her suite details because she had been with Emery when they were booking their hotel suites.

Selena soon found herself outside Emery's suite. She formed a fist with her hand and knocked on the door. 

She stood for a minute as she waited for Emery to get the door. Thinking she hadn't heard her, Selena knocked again and waited for about two minutes.

There was still no answer. 

Selena realized seconds later that Emery might have been asleep. She was disappointed, but she knew she would have to go after her later. Maybe in the morning before Emery could check out of the hotel.

Selena turned to head towards her suite when she heard the door creak open. She turned, surprised that the door was open all that time she wasted knocking. She felt annoyed with herself. 

She opened the door wide, and she stood still at the scene in front of her with her eyes bulging out of their sockets. 

"Emery?" Selena called out after a couple of silence-filled seconds, still observing the room. She noticed the blood on the walls and a couple of hair strands on the floor. Selena noticed the hair strands were black. Emery had dyed her hair black, and Selena hated to think that her cousin was the victim in whatever had happened in her suite.

As she explored the room, Selena got more worried about Emery. The drying puddle of blood on the floor had her close to tears. 

Please don't be dead, she thought.

There was a thundering sound that frightened Selena, but she realized it was a storm coming.

She continued wandering in the suite, still searching for Emery. She came to a stop at the slightly-opened door to the bedroom.

"Emery?" Selena called out again. The door opened wider, revealing Emery standing near the window.

It was like a tension had been released from Selena when she spotted her. She felt relieved to see her cousin was still alive. 

But then, if she was still alive, then whose blood was it in the dining room?

A feeling of dread took over Selena's form. It was then that she focused on Emery's surroundings that she noticed something was wrong. 

There was broken glass that surrounded the spot where Emery stood. Moreover, something felt different about her. She still had the clothes she had worn to the interview, but her skin was different.

It had turned black. 

Selena almost collapsed when she thought for a moment that she was experiencing a nightmare.

"Emery?" Selena called out to her cousin. Emery turned, revealing the blackness of her eyes. Selena's eyes widened as her form tensed in shock.

Selena hated to think that Erick's dream was becoming a reality.  It couldn't be. Selena had discovered it was something the erwiches had done to mess up with their minds.

But then, why did Emery look like she did in the dream?

Emery began to slowly approach her cousin, a look of anger on her features.

"Emery, are you okay?" Selena said, slowly backing out of the room.

"Never been better, Selena," Emery replied with a frighteningly-calm voice and a snide smile. Emery's eyes flashed yellow before taking on their current blackness.

Selena gulped, thinking about what was happening. Was Emery playing games with her or was she truly evil?

"What happened?" Selena asked with wide eyes. Emery shrugged.

"You will find out soon enough, Selena. But first, I need to take care of something."

The tone that Emery used to say those words scared Selena.

"You don't look good, Emery. I'm going to get help," Selena announced, turning to the exit of the door. 

Selena was actually scared, and so she was trying to get away. However, a force had grabbed her before she could make a fifth step. Before she could react, Selena was thrown to the wall beside her. The impact had her losing consciousness before she fell to the ground.

"No, you will not," Emery said with a fake smile as she slowly walked away from the scene. She exited the room, leaving the suite's door open as she began thinking of how to exact her revenge on everyone who had wronged her.

***********************************************************************************************

Liam's P.O.V

The morning had come too quickly, and everyone was not ecstatic to get up.

The meeting that we had on the previous night had ended at 1:00 AM. It had taken hours, and towards the end, everyone was exhausted. Harry and Zane were absent because they were tending to Bianca. They had no idea how lucky they were.

"Have you guys seen Selena?" I asked everyone in the hotel suite. My bandmates and I had a planned concert in the afternoon, and she was to partake in it. 

Selena had not been in her room when had all woken up, and so I assumed that she was with Justin. An hour passed and she had not yet returned. We were left wondering whether she slept in at Justin's or not.

"I haven't seen her," Logan said as he wandered around the room while texting on his phone.

I sighed.

"Harry! Zane! Are you up yet?" I shouted. There came no reply from either of the two.

"Damn it! What is taking everyone so long?"

"Liam, relax," Logan said. "You know the guys know that we have a concert this afternoon. You don't have to remind them every now and then."

"Guys!" Ethan yelled as he burst into the room with wide eyes. "I have bad news. It's Selena."

"What?" Logan and I questioned at the same time.

"What is it?" I inquired.

"I don't know how, but she was found passed out in Emery's room this morning."

"What?" I asked.

"That's not even the worst part," Ethan added, and I worried about what he planned to say. "Emery's room... it's a crime scene. The police are investigating it right now."

"Ethan, I don't understand. What are you trying to tell us?" Logan questioned.

Ethan sighed before saying, "Some minutes ago, I had gone to see Emery. The entry had been blocked by yellow police tapes with the words 'DO NOT CROSS'."

Ethan remained quiet for a while before adding: "The police tried to stop me from entering, but it was too late. Guys, it's awful. There are traces of blood on the walls, and there is this huge drying puddle of it on the floor! There was also a broken glass table that also had blood--"

"What?" Logan exclaimed in disbelief.

Ethan suddenly started crying, and I went to hug him. It was a bad idea to do so because more tears poured from his eyes.

I thought again over what Ethan had said, and I felt horrible.

"Is she--" I went to ask, cutting myself off before I could finish the sentence.

"That's the thing," Ethan spoke once he was calm enough to continue speaking. "I don't know. Nobody knows."

"Ethan, what are you saying?" Logan was puzzled.

"She's not in her room."

"WHAT?" Zane exclaimed. The three of us turned to face him, noticing that he was with Harry. They had come from showering and changing their clothes.

"Guys, Emery might be dead," I told them. Harry and Zane's eyes widened in shock.

"Her body was not found," Ethan continued.

"Could she have left?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. I don't think did because her stuff is still there," Ethan answered Harry before he sobbed again. "Guys, she could be dead by now. Someone must have taken her body and probably buried it somewhere. Maybe they even cremated it."

I almost puked after Ethan finished speaking, and I had not even had breakfast yet.

"Good morning, guys," Bianca made her unwanted appearance as she greeted us with a smile. Ethan stopped crying suddenly, and he turned his glare to Bianca.

"YOU BITCH!" he had yelled before he went to her and slapped her hard on the cheek.

"Ethan!" Zane yelled as he went after him. Ethan went to deliver another hit on Bianca, but Zane placed himself between him and his girlfriend.

"You murderer! YOU KILLED HER!" Ethan continued yelling as he still struggled away from Zane's hold.

"Ethan..." a teary-eyed Bianca started as she cradled her cheek. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Oh, shut up!" Logan yelled. "Your days of bullshitting us are over. We know who you truly are."

"Guys, stop this!" Harry yelled as he went to stand beside Bianca. 

"Harry, how can you stand next to her? This bitch is a criminal!" Ethan shouted, his glare still fixated on Bianca.

"Ethan!" Zane yelled at the blonde-haired bandmate with a glare.

"Oh, what Zane? Are you going to hit me? Open your damn eyes and see the truth!"

"Ethan, calm down!" I decided to step in, grasping onto Ethan's shoulders.

"But Liam--"

"Ethan, we have a concert in a few hours." 

Ethan stared at me in disbelief.

"How can you be thinking of a freaking concert when this bitch could have killed Emery?"

"Ethan, I'm warning you to watch what you say in front of my girlfriend," Zane threatened.

"You stupid asshole!" Ethan yelled in anger, moving to go after him.

"It's not worth it, Ethan!" Logan joined in on trying to calm him. "Liam is right. We need to think about the concert."

Ethan stared at Logan in shock.

"But..." Ethan trailed off.

"I know," I told him. "But think about it. Think of all the drama we could get because of this! Do you really want this bitch to manipulate you and frame you just like she did to Emery?"

"You bitch!" Ethan yelled again at Bianca. "You fucking whore! I hope the police catch up to your crimes and get you arrested for all the crimes you have done."

With that, he stormed off the suite. Logan and I shared a look before we faced Harry, Zane and Bianca. 

"Let's go, Liam," Logan said, and I followed him as we exited the suite.

 

Third Person's P.O.V

"I'm sorry about the guys," Zane apologized as he turned to face Bianca. "And don't worry about the police. I will be with you until this whole thing blows over."

"We will be there for you," Harry said. Bianca stared at the two boys in front of her, and she wondered how stupid they could be.

"I'm glad you guys are with me. It means a lot that you believe in me," Bianca said with a fake smile. Zane didn't see through it as he smiled at her before placing a peck on her forehead.

"So, will you be at the concert?" Zane asked Bianca with raised eyebrows. "I can understand if you choose not to go--"

"I will be there," Bianca assured Zane.

"Okay, then. Let's go," Harry said. The three of them began their departure from the hotel.

As Bianca checked out of the hotel with Harry and Zane, she pondered over the video she had recorded. 

Bianca smirked as she thought of exposing the video during the boys' concert. Zane would be extremely hurt by her betrayal, but she didn't care. She also didn't care about how many people would see the video and how Zane and Harry's reputations and careers would be ruined. What mattered to her was getting out of the police's radar before they could catch up to her.

She also hoped that Emery was dead. If she wasn't, which seemed unlikely to her, then her plan would not work.

Erick's P.O.V

"Something's wrong," my mother told me as she burst into the main study room, interrupting a talk I was having with Crystalia's advisors.

"You may leave," I told them. They bowed their heads before they began walking out of the room, closing the door behind them.

"What do you mean?" I asked my mother in confusion.

"I don't know what it is," she replied as she tapped her head with her finger. "I just know that something is wrong. I can feel it in the air."

"Mother, maybe you are being paranoid," I said. "It might not even be a big issue. Maybe it's erwich withdrawals."

My mother rolled her eyes at me.  

'Erwich withdrawals' was a term someone in Crystalia had developed a day after the celebrations of the death of erwiches. Some witches had been recently waking up from vivid nightmares about the dreaded evil beings. The word had been spreading around, and it had grown popular.

"Maybe you're right," the Queen said. I walked towards her with a smile before I hugged her.

"Things are okay," I told her. "We have nothing to worry about."

The door busted open, revealing my wide-eyed brother.

"Erick!" Justin yelled. "We have a problem."

***********************************************************************************************

Ethan's P.O.V

"... life goes on."

Screams filled the cloudy afternoon air once the song had ended.

My bandmates and I were on stage with our microphones. Our fans were in front of us, screaming and yelling their hearts out at us. Those who couldn't see us had the option of looking at the large screen that was behind us.

The guys and I had just sung three songs so far, and we were just getting started. 

Unfortunately, Selena could not perform. No one had received any word after she was found in Emery's suite and taken to the hospital for treatment. The guys and I were worried about her, but our management urged us to sing without her. There was the promise of visiting her once the concert ended.

My mind was also focused on Emery; I was worried about her. I wished the concert would end quickly, but then, it had just started.

It felt like one of those times you needed something to happen, but then it would take its time to do so. Just like when someone misplaces their phone in their own house.

"Hello, Los Angeles!" Logan shouted through the microphone, earning shouts from our fans. I looked down, noticing that some of our admirers were reaching out their hands towards us. I walked forwards as I stretched my hands out, letting the fans touch them.

"OMG! Ethan touched my hand!" was one of the reactions I heard from the girls. I grinned, shaking my head as I walked back to stand next to my bandmates.

Then a tune began to play. 

"I've tried playing it cool..." Liam had begun the song, earning more screams from our fans.

"...I can't ever be bra-ave, cause you make my heart race."

"Shot me out of --" 

Harry's part of the song was interrupted by a high-pitched sound that his microphone made. The background music of the song also stopped playing, and we were all left to wonder what was happening. We stared at each other with our eyebrows narrowed, but that was not going to answer us.

My friends and I turned to look behind us, staring at the people in charge of the sound. They were on the problem, and they were trying to fix it. 

The fans in front were murmuring, no doubt also wondering what had happened.

"What's going on?" Harry asked me, and I motioned with my shoulders that I had no idea.

"How sweet," Emery's voice sounded through the speakers. It sounded loud, and I was surprised when I heard it. The guys and I were soon turning our heads, searching frantically for Emery, only to spot her approaching us from my right.

I was perplexed when I noticed she was okay. But then, she looked unusually pale from where I was standing. What also surprised me was the smirk on her face.

Either way, I was glad that she was alive. But then, I wanted to know what had happened. 

If it wasn't her blood that was in her suite, then whose was it? 

"Emery--" I went to speak to her, noticing that the microphone I was holding was placed near my lips just as a running Bianca interrupted me. 

"What are you doing here?" she questioned with a glare once she was standing in front of Emery. Bianca had no microphone, and only my bandmates, the fans at the front and I could hear her.

Emery ignored her, staring at the guys and me with a smirk that brought chills to my spine.

"Look, Emery--" Liam started to speak.

"Whatever you want to say can wait, Liam," Emery cut him off, her smirk turning into a knowing smile. "Besides, I doubt this concert will continue once I reveal everything."

"What are you talking about?" I voiced out my thoughts,

"I'm sure everyone is interested to know all the drama that surrounds me, and today, I am willing to let everyone know the truth."

The hairs on my back stood straight.

"Let's go back to about eight months ago. Hmm, what should I start with? Oh yes," Emery spoke with a snap of a finger. "Bianca joined Selena and me on the guys' tour. For some reason, the bitch had hated me since her arrival and made a spectacle that I slapped her for no reason."

Murmurs immediately started, but they stopped when Emery continued speaking.

"Well, it was for no reason. She wanted me to look like a villain in front of you guys," Emery stated as she faced the boys and me. "About a week later, Bianca hired someone-- no, she hired Charlotte to try to kill me."

Harry rolled his eyes while Zane sighed.

"I can't believe we are talking about this in public. Emery, stop lying--" Zane went to speak.

"Shut up, Zane!" she cut him off with a glare. Surprisingly, a smirk took over her features.

"Wow. You are here? I'm so surprised. I thought, you know, after what you and Harry did last night, you wouldn't even show up to your concert."

I noticed Zane and Harry tense, effectively keeping quiet.

What was that about?

"Where was I? Oh, yes. Of course, none of you believed me," she pointed at us, "and the world was convinced that the attacker had disappeared without a trace."

"Emery?" I asked, confused as to why she was repeating what we already knew.

"The attack failed, and I survived. But Bianca was not happy about that, even though I had spent a month in a freaking hospital due to those stab wounds! So she decided to up her game. Remember what happened in Australia?" she asked, turning to face Bianca who had turned as pale as a sheet.

Emery waved a hand in a dismissive way. "Well, at first, she hired men to try to rape me." 

Sounds of shock filled the area as people began talking to each other.

"Yes. Shocking, I know. But don't worry: they didn't get too far."

What the hell? Why was Emery telling everyone about that?

"That is not all. Zane's precious girlfriend had also hired a person to hack into my Twitter account and post insults about the Ordinary Brothers. But then, you all know that. What you didn't know was that she also had Charlotte dress up like me and try to kill Liam in a car accident."

The murmurs had not stopped as everyone listened to Emery.

I was still confused. Why was she telling the fans all the trouble she had gone through? Didn't she know that many people could have been recording the ongoing spectacle? Didn't she know how much the media would like to get a hand on what she was saying? Didn't she also know that what she was saying would give the guys and me a lot of unwanted attention?

"That was enough for Liam to believe I tried to kill him. Then I was arrested."

Emery's eyes shone with tears.

"It was not a happy moment for me. I remember crying my eyes out and pleading innocence to those I thought I could trust, only for them to turn the other cheek."

Emery chuckled. "I was surprised; how much had changed within a month? Well, a lot, apparently. While I was in a coma, Bianca was busy digging her way into everyone and making them see me in a false light. It hurt to realize how easily everyone could change their views about me."

The words Emery had said hurt. 

"Well, I was released from jail after a week, and seven months later, I was back on tour with the boys. The world was obviously not happy about it."

More murmurs sounded through the area.

"I understand. I don't blame you. I also know you are wondering why I was back on tour with the boys. It's easy: I was building up evidence against Bianca."

I turned to face Zane's girlfriend, noticing that she was as frozen in shock.

"Emery, will you stop lying about Bianca? It's one thing to hate her, but it's another to imprison her for something she didn't do," Harry yelled at Emery. Emery just looked at him with a smile before proceeding with what she was saying.

"Now, I have the evidence, and I can feel free to share it with the rest of the world."

Emery turned to face Bianca. "I mean, it would be fair to embarrass Bianca the same way that she embarrassed me in Australia, right?"

"Emery, please--" Bianca began to beg, but Zane interrupted her.

"Emery, stop this!" Zane roared. "You have no right to come to our concert and ruin it like this you selfish bitch!"

Emery did not reply, but I noticed Emery's eyes briefly darken before going back to their current blue.

"Stop playing stupid! You know exactly what I'm talking about," Bianca's voice sounded through the speakers. It took me a while to realize why it sounded familiar, and my eyes widened in shock.

Oh no. Was Emery really going to expose Bianca in front of everyone?

I looked at Harry and Zane, noticing they had stony expressions. I turned my attention to Bianca, noticing her expression turned to fear.

"I did warn him, you know," Emery was heard speaking. "But he thought I was joking. Well, too bad for him. He's off the list and you are next."

"I can't believe you got him arrested!"

"And that makes you angry because..."

"You and I both know why I'm angry! I paid that guy a thousand dollars every month to make sure he did his job. I mean, it had been so easy to just hack into your account and pretend you were insulting the Ordinary Brothers and their fans. I thought he was a genius with computers! I also thought he would know how to deal with people hacking his own computer!"

Every corner of the stadium was suddenly filled with sounds of shock. The murmurs grew louder in volume.

I also saw Zane and Harry lose their stony expressions as their eyes widened in surprise. I turned to face Bianca, noticing that she was frozen still with fear as the video continued playing on the screen behind me.

"Do you know how many times I had to borrow money from Zane?" 

"What, you don't have your own money? Bitch too broke to do her own dirty work?"

"You must be stupid. Of course, I don't have my own money! Whatever Zane would give me was not enough, and so I had Tom hack into his bank account."

"What?"

"Lucky for me, my rich boyfriend is too stupid to even check his bank account. In fact, it made things easy for me. I could stop borrowing from him, and I wouldn't look like a gold-digger." 

The fans were loudly talking by then. Some were hurtling insults towards Bianca as she stood there, paralyzed in shock. She did not look well, and I worried she would faint on stage.

When I turned to face Harry and Zane, I noticed that Harry had dropped his jaw in shock. He had turned to face Bianca, but she couldn't meet his gaze. Zane looked angry as tears welled in his eyes. 

"What the fuck? You hacked into Zane's bank account?"

"And he never checks the balance! Whenever he buys something, he just swipes his credit card and leaves."

Bianca was seen smirking in the video.

"I can't believe you! He's your boyfriend!"

"No, bitch," Bianca corrected, "he's my bank account." 

As the video continued playing, revealing all the things Bianca had done, the crowd was in an uproar. More people were hurling insults at Bianca while she stood on the stage, not moving.

By then, Zane had been openly crying as he kept on listening to every bad thing his girlfriend had done.

"No, no, no..." I heard Harry trail off. I looked at him, noticing that he was tugging the curls of his hair in disbelief.

Minutes later, the video ended. 

"You evil bitch!" Zane yelled. Everyone turned to face him. I thought he was going towards Emery, but he was actually charging towards a crying Bianca. He grasped her by the shoulders and shook her in fury.

"I loved you! I fucking loved you, Bianca! Why did you do this?" Bianca did not answer as she cried. 

"It's easy to answer that, Zane," Emery said, unfazed. "Your girlfriend is a thieving, murderous bitch."

She turned to face the fans.

"Now everyone knows the truth. At least now everyone can stop doubting me. Another thing: the police have copies of the evidence. Oh, and they are around the area."
Bianca's eyes widened in shock as she stopped crying. Zane was looking at her, but she ignored him.

"They've come for you," Emery told Bianca with a smirk before facing everyone in front of her. "Please make way for the officers to pass."

The people who were in front of us quickly parted to form an empty path, still yelling insults at Bianca. Far in front of me were two police cruisers. 

Just like Emery had said, I saw five police officers exit the vehicles before they started making their way towards us.

"No!" Bianca yelled as she escaped the hold that Zane had on her shoulders. "You can't take me! I'll be damned if you take me!"

"Bianca?" Zane called out to his girlfriend, but she was busy reacting in shock.

"Still don't know what you saw in her," Emery told Zane without an ounce of sympathy. Zane looked hurt, and he turned away from her.

Meanwhile, Bianca was looking around frantically just as the officers increased their pace to get to her. There was no way for Bianca to escape, especially with the crew blocking her entrance to the set and the OBers at the front. 

"Yeah... there is a present I have for you," Emery announced as she swiftly walked towards Bianca before slapping her hard on the face. Bianca cried out as a result.

"Did you think it would be this easy?" Emery asked her with a glare. "Did you think you could get away with everything you did to me?"

Emery punched Bianca on her cheek, sending her flying to the ground. The crowd behind her cheered. "You blamed me for things I never did and ruined my life in the process! You even had me arrested and humiliated in front of many people!"

The boys and I did nothing as Emery grabbed Bianca's hair, using it to urge her to stand.

"Doesn't feel good to be exposed in public now, does it?" Emery yelled at Bianca who was still crying. "You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this. Bianca, your days of freedom are over. Hope you like jail, bitch, because that is where you're heading."

"Bianca Levone," a police officer said, grabbing Bianca's wrists. I hadn't realized they had already reached the stage. "You are under arrest for counts of theft, attempted murder and tampering with evidence."

"Unfortunately for you, there will be no court of law," another spoke as he stood next to her. "The pieces of evidence found are highly incriminating, and so you have been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole."

"WHAT?" a crying Bianca shrieked in disbelief. "This can't happen to me! You can't do this to me!"

She continued yelling as two officers dragged her away. Bianca was thrashing, trying to free herself from their hold, but she couldn't. 

Our fans were loudly talking, and just like me, I was certain they were not expecting that. 

Bianca had just been arrested in front of many people. 

"Fucking cunt!" the OBers kept insulting her as she was taken to one of the police cruisers far in front of us. By then, Bianca was sobbing her eyes out. 

I decided to shift my focus back to Emery. What surprised me was that three of the police officers were still on stage.

"Emery, why..." Logan trailed off, no doubt wondering why the policemen were still around.

"You know, I planned to only expose Bianca in public," Emery continued to speak as she watched Bianca being escorted to the police vehicle. For a moment, I thought she had finished what she wanted to do. 

By the looks of things, she hadn't.

Everyone stopped murmuring as Emery took out something in her jeans pocket. I thought it was a phone, but I was mistaken when I noticed it was a handkerchief. It had been wrapped around a small bottle of water. Emery unscraped the top and poured the water over the handkerchief. Then she wiped it over her face.

I wondered why, but then I noticed a white mixture dripping off her face. I noticed something that looked like a small red dot on her forehead, but that did not compare to the next things that I saw.

A loud collective gasp sounded through the area as Emery continued to remove the makeup she had applied. It was then that I noticed the purple eyes, the cuts and the bruises on her face.

"Emery! Oh my-- What happened?" Logan asked with wide eyes as he stared at her.

"I planned to leave immediately after," she continued while ignoring Logan as she raised the sleeve over one of her arms. I noticed more ugly cuts and bruises on them. 

However, the cuts and bruises she had revealed seemed like nothing compared to what she showed when she slightly raised the shirt she had worn. There were many ugly red lines on her stomach. 

I heard Liam run off the stage, probably looking for a toilet so he could puke.

I stood frozen as I tried to grasp what was happening. Emery looked at everyone without an expression on her face as she gave everyone a good eyeful of the injuries she had obtained. 

I soon realized that something had happened to her. More so, she was revealing what had happened to her... on the previous night.

But then, why was she exposing the scars she had obtained? Why hadn't she gone to the hospital to have them treated? Could it be...

I shook my head, not wanting to believe it. However, with the way things were going, the thought seemed possible.

Could it be that whoever had attacked her was on stage with us?

It couldn't be. No one on stage had gotten the chance to see her on the previous night. There was that meeting that the guys and I had. But then, Harry and Zane couldn't attend--

My eyes widened as I swiftly turn to face Harry and Zane. They were as white as a sheet.

"You didn't..." I trailed off as I looked at Zane and Harry in disbelief.

"You were not even going to see me for the rest of your lives..." Emery trailed off in anger.

"Emery--" Zane went to speak with tears in his eyes, but he was cut off.

Oh no.

"But then, some of you guys had to do this," she shouted, pointing at the screen behind her. If possible, my mouth dropped further down in shock. It showed Harry and Zane entering Emery's suite before... before...

Everyone around us gasped in shock as the video was being played. I didn't want to see it, but once I did, my eyes flooded with tears.  

It angered me and I felt hurt by what I saw. My hearts hurt from the yells, the insults, and most of all, the screams.

Oh, the screams.

"Please, stop!" I heard Emery begging in the video just as I heard something connect with something.

I didn't need to look to know it had been a punch.

I suddenly felt like vomiting, especially when I saw Harry and Zane draw on Emery's stomach with the large glass shards.

Why did they do that? Why the hell did they do that? We had promised Emery we would never do that again to her or to any other person ever again, but why did they do that?

Didn't those guys know how much they had messed up after what they did?

Once the video ended, the only sound that could be heard was from the murmurs of shock and disbelief from our fans.

 I faced Harry and Zane with a furious glare, feeling disgusted by them. 

"You assholes!" Liam yelled before he charged towards Harry, punching him in the face. Harry did not even bother to defend himself.

"Liam, let go!" Logan yelled as he ran towards him. He grasped his thrashing arms, pushing him back with him.

Zane looked shocked as his eyes brimmed with tears. 

"Emery, I'm--" he went to speak.

"No, you are not sorry," Emery cut him off, walking towards him with a glare. "You said everything you had to say on that video while you continuously beat me half to death. I also know you meant it. I mean, why wouldn't you mean it if you broke my left arm?"

"Fuck," Logan cussed in shock.

"Emery--" Zane looked at her in disbelief and regret.

"You treated me like scum, like someone who deserved hell. Do you know, Zane, how hard it is to get another compatible arm? I might as well be one-handed from now on."

"Emery--"

"I despise the two of you with such a passion that I wish you were dead!"

"Emery..." Harry trailed off.

"I even begged you two to finish the job! You should have killed me and disposed of my body! But then, you guys wanted to ruin my life and to leave an everlasting mark in it!"

She suddenly released a dark chuckle.

"You know what's funny?" no one answered. "You see, while the two of you were busy beating the crap out of me, Bianca came into the room and placed a camera to record everything you did to me."

My eyes widened in shock.

What?

"Didn't you guys notice that?" Emery asked with a fake playful look just as the video on the screen behind me showed the exact moment when Bianca was entering the room. The video was fast-forwarded to show her leaving the room and coming back later to retrieve her camera. 

"My guess is that she thought you would kill me. I mean, you could have. That wouldn't have stopped her from using the video against you. For all we know, he could have sent it to the police and have both your asses arrested for every crime she did, including this one."

Harry and Zane stared at Emery in shock as tears slowly poured out of their eyes. 

"How does it feel, Zane? How does it feel to know that someone you love would betray you without a second thought?"

Zane still looked at Emery with regret.

"Did you even have to kick me in the crotch?" she asked in disdain. "You should know that I kept these wounds for this special occasion. I planned to expose you for who you truly are before I went to get treated for what you guys did to me."

"Emery--"

"SHUT UP, HARRY!" she yelled with a glare. Another chuckle escaped her lips as she shook her head in amazement.

"I knew you guys didn't change. I knew you couldn't help yourselves in beating the crap out of me again, just like in high school."

I tensed when Emery revealed that just as a loud collective gasp sounded through the area.

"I knew you were not sorry. I mean, come on. You guys were always angry with me. Your stupid asses were just itching to get your hands on me."

"Emery--" Zane looked sad and scared at the same time.

"You guys got away with every single thing you had done to me, but not this time. I wasn't going to let you get away with this. I'm not the same girl you knew in high school. I've changed quite a lot,." 

"Emery..."

"Arrest them!"

The police guards who had remained quickly circled Zane and Harry.

"Emery!"

"I'm sorry!"

Zane and Harry screamed out as they were quickly handcuffed by the officers. 

One of the guards was telling Zane and Harry why the were under arrest. Zane and Harry looked at Emery, then at the rest of us. 

"Guys, we're sorry," Harry said before he and Zane started being escorted to the police car. 

The crowd, still loudly talking in disbelief and shock, made way for the guys and the officers to pass. 

Emery watched with a smirk at the ongoing spectacle. The rest of us were too shocked by the sudden turn of events to do anything.

"Look on the bright side," Emery said as she turned to face us, the members who had remained in the band.

"Well, there is no bright side for you. But for me, this is the start of my revenge. What I've done to Harry and Zane is like a grain of salt to what I have planned next."

Emery chuckled darkly as she walked backstage, leaving Logan, Liam and me staring in disbelief as Zane and Harry were being taken to the police cruiser.

 

 

CHAPTER NINETEEN

 

 

Erick's P.O.V

 

"She's here," my mother announced as she ran into the study room. 

Seconds later, Selena was entering the room with my brother. Despite the medical gauze wrapped around the top of her head, she looked okay. 

I suddenly wished I was the one who was beside her instead of my brother.

Not now, Erick!

"How are you holding up?" I asked Selena.

"I'm fine," she replied. "But right now, my health should be the least of your concerns. The person you should be worried about is Emery."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Guys, she's turned evil!"

"What?" Justin exclaimed. "How do you know that, and how are you certain?"

"I know that because she was the one who did this to me," Selena said, pointing at her head.

"Why would she do that?" I wondered.

"I don't know, but some part of me tells me she's angry with us."

"Are you sure it was her? Are you even sure she is evil?" I thought out loud. "It could have been Bianca."

"It can't be her, Erick," Selena denied. "It was definitely Emery. I mean, who else could it have been that I saw? She practically used her powers to throw me to a wall to stop me from coming to you guys and telling you about this!"

Before I could say more, Selena winced.

"Great. I had completely forgotten that I had a concert today. The guys must be wondering how I'm doing. Let me call management to check up on what's happening."

She got up before she started heading out of the room. She proceeded to take out her phone just as the doors closed behind her. 

"I knew something was wrong," my mother said. "We need to look into this."

"You're right," Justin said. "We'll send the best witches to investigate her suite. For some reason, I have a feeling magic was involved."

"Justin, magic was definitely involved," I stated.

"Yes, but let's hope it's not the kind of magic that could have turned her evil."

Before we said anything else, the sound of running footsteps echoed through the outside hallway. Selena quickly burst into the room.

"Selena--"

"Ssh!" she cut Justin off before taking a TV remote and aiming it at the flat-screen TV hanging on the wall in front of us. I was puzzled by her actions.

The rest of us stood as she continued to switch channels until she came to a stop at one with a reporter.

"Shocking truths were revealed today in the middle of a concert where the Ordinary Brothers were performing this afternoon in Los Angeles. Emery Davis, the cousin of Selena, was found interrupting the concert and later revealing all the crimes she was framed for."

A shaky video was then shown of Emery speaking about how Bianca hired a hitman to kill her. Everyone in the room was silent as we stared at the TV. I was shocked by the news. 

How could Emery expose that in public? It did not seem like her.

"Emery Davis also revealed a video that had Bianca confessing to all the crimes she had committed, and she was immediately arrested in the middle of the concert."

My eyes bulged out of their sockets. Bianca was arrested?

I felt joyful for a moment. Despite the way it had been done, Bianca was arrested. I felt joyful for a moment, happy that there would be no more trouble, but the next words the reporter said immediately turned my mood. 

"The next thing that happened left everyone more shocked. Emery unapologetically revealed that Harry Parker and Zane Marsh were her bullies in high school. She also revealed that they were the ones who had physically abused last night, explaining the whole incident that had involved her suite. What she said was backed up by the video evidence that she streamed on the concert."

"WHAT?" we all screamed in disbelief and shock. I could have sworn I felt the blood leaving my body once I processed the news.

"Zane and Harry were also arrested, and this has caused an uproar in the Ordinary Brothers' fandom. There is no doubt about the truth of Emery's statements, but how will this affect the remaining band members? How will the future be for the band that had been unexpectedly split up? For this coverage, I'm..."

"They did it?" Selena asked, seeming shocked by the news. Then her expression turned into one of anger. "They had almost killed my cousin?"

"How can we be sure that it's not fake?" Justin asked, and I turned to glare at him, wanting to punch the crap out of him.

"JUSTIN! Do you hear yourself?" Selena asked in disbelief. "Emery had videos to prove what she said."

There was a moment of silence as we all digested the information we had received. We knew about Bianca, and there was no denying it being true. But the thing that involved Zane, Harry and Emery...

"What do we do now?" Justin asked.

 

Third Person's P.O.V

Emery teleported to the large mass of land where Eva's castle once existed. She looked around, noticing the green vegetation around her and the forest that led up to Crystalia's mountains.

She frowned, then she remembered what she had done to the erwiches. She was momentarily mad at herself for doing so. 

With a shake of her head, Emery summoned her powers. The wind moved around her, whipping her hair and clothes towards its direction. The ground below her crumbled with loud sounds as it disintegrated to form sand. 

The sand was soon moving around her in the wind, rising high towards the sky.

Emery levitated from the ground, spreading the sand sideways. The movement stopped with the sand parting in different directions. She watched in determination as they formed the brick walls of the castle she had pictured in her mind. Emery flew higher in the air, observing how the castle was being formed.

Five minutes later, the sand particles disappeared, and the new castle was formed. Unlike the previous one, the new one had three floors, and the walls had golden brown bricks. Emery used her powers to make the gray conical roofs for the four castle towers. She then smiled at her finished design.

She moved to walk into the castle as she started thinking of her next move. She planned to go after the people who had betrayed her right before she would destroy the city of Crystalia and everyone in it.

***********************************************************************************************

Harry's P.O.V

"Hello. How can I direct your call?"

I had been in a state of shock in the past hour. I could not believe what had just occurred. I could not believe that it had happened to me. More so, I couldn't believe that it happened in front of many people.

Zane, Bianca and I had been arrested in front of the OBers. 

I recalled in self-hatred the moment the police had cuffed Zane and me before they escorted us to the police cruiser. At that moment, I tried so hard not to look at the disappointed fans. Some had been insulting us as we were being led to the police cruiser. 

I was silent as Zane kept shouting apologies to Emery that she couldn't hear or chose not to listen, not caring about the people who saw. He later kept quiet when we were shoved inside the cruiser. 

It was then that I broke down in tears.

We were soon taken to a police station of some sort. Bianca was also present, and she had been locked in a cell with other females while Zane and I were stuck in a different one with other guys. Some of us were waiting to be deported to prison, and that included Zane and me. 

Not surprisingly, the guys we were sharing the cell with were looking at us in disbelief.

I understood them. I mean, who expected two people in a boyband to be in jail? Our clean images were ruined in less than an hour, and everyone was probably talking trash about us. 

I was honestly surprised that Emery had exposed what we had done to her. I knew I should have seen it coming when she was done exposing Bianca. I couldn't be mad at her, especially since I thought Zane and I had killed her.

We even left her bleeding in her suite. She could have been alive, and we did nothing.

Just like when we had bullied her so much in high school.

My eyes welled with tears at the memory. We had escaped the police then, but we couldn't at the moment. We had messed up so much, and we were going to pay the price. There was no way we could get out of this one.

My mind drifted to what my fans were thinking. I was sad because I knew they could not look at me anymore or stand me after knowing what Zane and I did to Emery. 

I wanted to cry again about the mess we were in.

"We messed up," Zane said with a groggy voice. At the moment, he had his hands over his face. His form was hunched, and it looked like he was trying to hide his tears. I stretched my arm and patted him on his back in comfort.

There was nothing I could say. Zane was right about us messing up. The only thing I could do was replay the memory of the concert. 

Things had not been great for Zane and me ever since we had abused Emery. We were worried about whether she was dead or alive, and so we could hardly get any sleep on the previous night. 

It came to a point that we had to chant a spell to put us to sleep. 

Seeing Emery in our concert was both relieving and frightening at the same time. Things had gone downhill for Zane and me, and it wasn't even an hour when the concert was ruined.

I pondered over what the rest of my bandmates were thinking about Zane and me. They must have been hating our guts. 

I believed we deserved it. Sure, I would love to apologize to them if they gave me a chance. However, I doubted that would happen soon. Zane and I had either ruined the band's image or broken it. We could have been losing millions of fans at the moment. I knew my bandmates were mad about that, but I knew they were more mad about what Zane and I did to Emery.

I was furious with Zane and myself. Emery had tried to warn us about Bianca, but we did not listen. We refused to listen because the Bianca we knew was a loving person. If it weren't for our stubbornness, we would have found out about Bianca way before Emery exposed her awful nature in a concert. 

But then, signs were there. The thing about Tom Acker, the woman who had almost killed Emery twice, the missing amounts of cash in our bank accounts... they were all there. We could have found out about her long ago.

But then, why were we so ignorant of them? Was it because we had fallen too deep in the mask that Bianca had portrayed in front of us?

Was it because we loved her?

I was angry with her and myself. Once Emery had shown everyone the video about Bianca confessing the crimes she had done, I was livid. Because of Bianca, I had not realized the kind of suffering Emery had endured, the kind of suffering the guys and I had made her go through. It made me see her in a different light, and that made me feel awful.

Poor Zane. I knew he was taking everything much harder than I was because he had been in love with Bianca. I knew that what he found out was hard for him. I wondered how it felt like to love someone who you later found out was a criminal... and then I stopped wondering altogether. 

I was glad I was not Zane, especially since he was silently crying beside me.

I wanted to laugh at how stupid we were. I could not wrap my head around why we had both decided to beat up Emery. 

Just to teach her a lesson...

We could have freaking killed her!

The realization brought chills to my form, and I wanted to cry over it. I never thought I would hate myself as much as then. My bandmates and I made a pact not to bully anyone to show Emery that we were truly sorry and that we were not those idiots from high school. 

However, that pact went out the roof when I punched her in the head.

I winced at the memory of the events, hating myself even more for being the cause of the pain she faced. I wished I could rewind time and stop myself from beating her because every time I closed my eyes, I could still hear her screams. I could still hear the begging. I could see myself punching and kicking her over and over again. I could even see myself drawing on her stomach with the glass shards that had been a result of a broken glass table.

It was horrible, and I was amazed by the strength that Emery possessed.

For a moment, I thought we broke her.

Maybe Zane and I deserved to go to jail for what we did to her. No, it was certain. We deserved it for what we did to Emery. I never wanted to go out of the prison because there was no way the world would look at me the same way. In fact, I knew how the world was currently reacting.

Harry Parker and Zane Marsh abused a girl last night.

That would be what the media would kinda say, wouldn't it? I knew the paparazzi were currently excited about what Emery had revealed. I also knew that rumors would be started about me abusing my previous girlfriends. Probably some old 'girlfriend' of mine would say that we 'dated' and I used to hit her away from the cameras.

I sighed.

I did not want to have to answer the questions the paparazzi were dying to ask. I was embarrassed enough and disappointed with myself. Going to jail seemed better than having my thoughts confirmed on how the media was speculating about Zane and me.

A tap on the cell door interrupted my thoughts. I perked my head up to see a police officer staring at me.

"Someone's here to see you two," he said as he opened the door. He entered the small cell, grabbed Zane and me before taking us out of the cell. He led us past other noisy working officers until we stopped at a small open room.

Erick, Selena and Justin were in that room.

Oh no.

My form instantly tensed at their presence. I could not bear to look at them. I feared the expressions I knew they had on their faces. 

I looked up momentarily, seeing I was right. They were angry, repulsed and hurt.

I soon found myself wishing for the cell rather than being near the three of them. I could only imagine how my bandmates were feeling.

"I--" Zane went to speak, but he was cut off.

"We have a problem," Erick started, surprising me. I thought he was going to start yelling at Zane and me for beating Emery.

"Emery has turned evil."

I almost collapsed at the news. 

I could not believe my ears. I went to ask Erick to repeat what he said, but his expression told me it was what I heard. My eyes bulged out of their sockets as tears threatened to spill out of my eyes.

I was right. We had broken her.

I could only assume what had happened after Zane and I had left Emery in her suite. After all the words that we had told her... after all the punches and kicks we had given her... 

It shouldn't have been a surprise. I shouldn't have been feeling the heavy sadness and fear I felt for everyone I knew. Guessing how Emery would feel was one thing, but thinking about it until someone tells you that your thoughts are true is another.

Oh crap. Emery was broken enough to turn evil.

I had turned her evil.

"Did you guys have anything to do with it?"

"What do you mean, Erick?" I asked the king once I cleared my throat.

"There was a broken vial found in her room. It had the remnants of a potion. We investigated it and realized it was a potion that could turn a witch evil." 

Zane and I gasped at the same time. We looked at each other, and I realized that even though we didn't give her the vial, we had played a part in how she currently was.  

When we were beating Emery, we called her out on her 'lies'. I had a feeling what we said to her pushed her to become the person she currently was.  

"Guys, we didn't give her the vial. Either way, we're sorry for what we did to her," I said.

"Save it. We're not here for your apology," Erick spoke to me with a glare. His stare hurt, but I knew we deserved it.

"Okay, this is not going to help us," Justin spoke. "We need to go back to Crystalia where we can deal with the problem without people listening in on us. We could search for her with the magic locator spell."

The what?

"Alright. We'll go," Erick said. Zane and I looked at each other before facing the people in front of us.

"And you guys are coming with us," Selena added, confusing Zane and me.

"Why?" I asked her.

"We need as many witches present as possible if we want to contain an evil Emery," she answered. "Who knows how much she has been bottling up for her evil self to release."

I shuddered at the thought as we teleported away from the area.

Third Person's P.O.V

Selena, Erick, Zane, Harry and Justin teleported to Crystalia. They entered the main study room of the castle where Logan, Ethan, Elizabeth and Liam were waiting for them.

Zane and Harry stopped at the sight of their bandmates, seeing that they were angry.

"You bastards!" yelled Logan as he charged at Harry. Before Harry could mumble an apology, Logan had jumped on him and started punching him. The first punch momentarily rendered Harry unconscious.

"Logan!" the rest yelled as Liam went to stop him from further injuring Harry. He wrapped his arms around Logan's torso, pulling him away from Harry. It was then that he realized that Harry did not fight back.

"Why don't you fight back?" Logan yelled at Harry with a glare, thrashing against Liam's hold. "You beat up Emery. You ruined the band! Why the hell are you holding back on me?"

"Logan!" Ethan yelled at him. "We have bigger problems than us right now. Don't you remember we have to look for Emery?"

Thunder rumbled outside the castle just as the wind outside picked up its pace, ceasing the ongoing fight.

"Is it me or is it suddenly windy?" Selena asked, rubbing her palms over her biceps.

The Queen looked outside the open window, noticing that the clouds were moving at an unusually fast pace. She walked out of the room, the rest following her in confusion. The Queen made her way to the top of the castle. She stopped at the sight that met her eyes.

The clear day sky was immediately turning into a cloudy one. The clouds moved towards a converging point far in the north. Thunder rumbled again just as the clouds that were near the mountains began to darken.

"I think I know where she is," Liam said as they faced what they saw.

Minutes later, everyone was back at the main study room.

"What is Emery planning?" Erick asked with frightened eyes.

"Well, she did say something about her revenge plans," Liam replied with a shudder.

"Apparently, she was not kidding," Logan said, mirroring Erick's expression. "What are we going to do? Erick's dream might as well become a reality that we are not prepared for!"

"Logan, calm down," Selena told him. "These are just the effects of a potion she ingested. We just need to make a potion that would remedy that and she'll be back to normal."

"What if she doesn't want to be normal?" Erick asked a question that the rest wanted to avoid.

"Erick, Emery is not Eva," the Queen said with a glare directed towards him.

"Yes, but unlike Eva, Emery has reasons to remain evil. We betrayed her and I know that her evil self would want vengeance."

The Queen remained quiet as she thought over his son's words. Erick was right, and she had no idea of how to answer his question.

"Okay, but we will still make the potion. If it works, we'll place her here and keep a close eye on her. If she decides to remain evil... then we will all be doomed."

"Unless..." Justin trailed off. His mother knew what he wanted to say.

"No, Justin," Elizabeth said. "We can't kill her!"

"But what if we have to?"

Everyone in the room felt troubled by Justin's words. They would hate themselves even more if they had to kill Emery, especially after what they did to her. For the sake of everything good, they hoped that Emery would not like the taste of evil.

Just as the people in the main study room silently thought of other outcomes of their plan, a guard stationed at one of the front castle towers spotted something through his binoculars on a stand. He enchanted it, enabling him to zoom further on the object he couldn't clearly see. He tensed immediately.

Near the mountains, there was a small tornado. The guard realized that the clouds had merged at that point as they formed the swirling clouds. That could also explain the change in the wind's speed. What the guard also saw made him slightly frightened.

There were erboons flying out of the tornado. Not ten, but numerous. They were coming out like a swarm of locusts.

The guard looked around the area with his binoculars, unexpectedly noticing Emery. She had her back to him and her hands stretched out in front of the tornado as the erboons kept coming. Then Emery turned to face the guard. It was as if she saw him, and she smiled.

Completely freaked out, the guard rushed to the castle's main study room.

"Your Majesty!" he yelled with a deep voice, panting as he stopped running. "Erboons... around Eva's castle..."

"Erboons?" Erick asked just as he and the people in the room followed him. He made his way towards the tower the guard was in and looked through the enchanted binoculars.

There were many erboons, many enough to block the sky. Moreover, he spotted Emery heading towards his way with them.

"Emery's coming," Erick announced. Justin, Selena, the Queen and the Ordinary Brothers tensed in fear. They all began heading towards the ground floor of the castle. They burst out of the castle doors and walked towards the invisible dome, stopping a few feet in front of it.

From where Emery was, she used her powers to see the castle. She growled once she saw the people who had betrayed her. She levitated higher in the sky as the erboons behind her followed.

"She's not alone," Logan said as he looked through his teleported binoculars. "So, what's the plan?"

"We talk to her," Erick said.

"WHAT?" almost everyone next to him cried out in disbelief.

"Dude, there is an evil crystal, and all you want to do is talk?" Justin asked.

"You've got any better ideas?" Erick fired back, managing to get no answer from his brother. "It wouldn't matter how we approach her. The safest option is to first talk to her. We need to distract her as the witches work on the potion. Talking to Emery will buy us some time before it is ready."

While Erick was talking, Emery had summoned a huge fireball that was quickly approaching.

"Erick!" Selena yelled as she pointed at the incoming fireball.

"Run!" Justin yelled just as they all ran towards the castle. They were all worried that the fireball would destroy part of Crystalia. Lucky for them, the fireball hit the magical dome. 

The fireball exploded with a loud sound and erupted into flames that licked up around it, momentarily blocking the view outside the dome before dissipating.

"That was a close one," Ethan said as his breathing calmed. "I am so glad you guys did not remove the dome."

"Me too," Erick commented just as Emery was getting into their view. He and the rest were maneuvering back to the dome border where they could talk with Emery without having the other witches killed.

"She's here," Liam said just as Emery flew to the ground. At that time, Liam, Erick, Justin, Selena, Elizabeth and the members of the Ordinary Brothers were a few feet away from Crystalia's border. Emery walked towards them, her stare stony as her evil form slowly took over.

Zane and Harry gasped at the transformation. At that sound, Emery's head whipped so fast as she turned her gaze towards them. She was shocked that the two were out of jail. 

Anger suddenly clouded her judgment as she threw a fireball at them. The fireball didn't reach them as the dome deflected it. Emery ducked just as it bounced towards her, hitting an erboon behind her. It screeched before exploding into ashes.

"Well, well, well," Emery said as she touched the surface of the dome. Emery felt a hot sensation in her hand, and she retracted it. "Look at what we have here: the people who ruined my life."

"Emery..." Erick trailed off, having no idea of what to say. "What happened to you?"

Emery laughed at him. "Nothing much, Erick. I just discovered who I was meant to be."

"You do know that you look awful, right?" Logan commented, and Emery's darkened eyes turned to him. Logan almost jumped at the quick movement.

"I don't understand you," Emery said with a fake confused smile. "I'm just becoming who you believe I am. I'm an evil witch."

"Emery, you are not," Justin said. "This is not you."

Emery laughed at him.

"Do you even know the real me?" she asked, moving a foot towards the dome. An electric feeling overcame her as the dome materialized with a low white glow in front of her. 

In anger, she began using her powers to try to destroy the dome. The rest saw what she was doing, but they were confident that the dome would not break.

"Weren't you all convinced that I would turn into an evil witch eight months ago?"

"We were wrong," Erick replied. "And I'm sorry for that."

"Sorry?" Emery's voice took a deep scary tone as she glared at him. "Sorry is not going to bring my life back."

"I know, Emery," Erick said. "I want us to talk. Maybe we can solve our problems without having to destroy everything in your path."

"Now you want to talk to me?" Emery growled with anger. "Where were you when I was arrested for crap I never did? Where were you when I tried to tell you the truth? You guys avoided me as if I was some disease! You all thought I was evil! Well, I won't listen to whatever you have to say. I'm done being good. By the end of the day, this city will be in ruins, just like you saw in your dream."

Emery noticed a slight crack on the dome just as Logan did. She smirked as Logan' eyes widened in horror.

"Erick, the dome!" he yelled just as the crack continued to spread. Erick had been listening to Emery's words when he observed the crack. It spread along both sides. Emery banged her fist on the dome, creating another one that was quickly spreading.

Erick, Selena, Justin and the members of the Ordinary Brothers backed away just as the Queen ran into the castle. The sound of cracks echoed around Crystalia. The witches saw what was happening, gasping and murmuring at the sight. Moments later, the dome broke, materializing into glass shards that hit the ground within seconds. 

The sound of shattering glass echoed around Crystalia. Justin and his friends had backed away again to avoid the shards from reaching them. All the while, Emery was staring with a smirk, not moving from her spot.

The dome was ruined, and the people in front of her were both shocked and scared. Emery had broken a dome, and it cleared any doubt of her being more powerful than Eva. 

Emery flew over the heap of broken glass and stepped on the lands of Crystalia. Her army of erboons swiftly flew behind her. They screeched, moving forwards and circling around Crystalia. Witches who were around the area got out and fought the erboons. Others just ran to the safety of their houses.

"I tell you the truth, and you bring those two back here?" Emery shouted at Erick, pointing at Harry and Zane. "Did you also bring Bianca here?"

"No!" Erick denied with fright.

Emery turned her gaze towards Harry and Zane. 

"You assholes!" she used her powers of telekinesis to throw the two. Zane and Harry screamed as they were forcefully thrown back. The guys watched in horror as the two collided with the castle walls behind them. They passed out in an instant just as Selena ran towards them.

Emery levitated from the ground, glaring at the people at her front.

"You could be lying, Erick," she said with a crazed look.

"Emery, I'm telling you the truth! She is not here!"

"Why should I believe you?" she yelled at him. "You and the rest had treated me like shit ever since I came back!"

The erboons were still flying around the city. Some of the witches had gotten out and were throwing fireballs towards the erboons. Most of the creatures were hit with the fireballs and exploded mid-air.

"It's a good thing I wouldn't have to see you guys again," Emery said, and that made the hairs on his former friends stand still.

"I'm going to exact my revenge on all of you, and after that, I'm destroying this place. In fact, why don't I start now?"

Emery had turned evil. It was either kill her or have her kill every witch in Crystalia. 

The realization had Justin moving fast before throwing a fireball towards Emery. Emery evaded it, sending a glare towards Justin before knocking him to the ground with her telekinesis powers.

The rest had been surprised by what Justin did and they had not noticed Emery throwing a fireball towards one of the towers.

"NO!" Justin, Selena and Erick yelled as the fireball was soaring towards the building. The fireball exploded on impact, and the tower began making a sound as it shook. Seconds later, it was falling towards the ground.

"My mother was in there!" Justin yelled, glaring at Emery. "Did you have to kill her?"

Emery just smirked. She teleported something on her palms and threw it towards the people in front of her. The object made a small explosion as it emitted some kind of green dust. 

"Emery, what--" Selena cut off her question. The gas being emitted made her and the rest woozy, and they instantly lost consciousness as they fell to the ground. Emery walked towards them, smirking at their passed-out forms. She soon called the remaining erboons.

"Carry them!" she ordered at some of them. They screeched as they flew down, grasping the bodies of those who had passed out by grabbing their arms. They began flying high in the sky with their captives.

"Don't worry," she spoke to them. "We'll be back to ruin this place, and we won't stop until Crystalia is completely ruined."

Emery levitated towards the direction of her new castle. All the while, the Queen and other witches watched in disbelief and shock.

"Your Majesty," the guard who had warned her about Emery's coming spoke to Elizabeth. "What shall we do?"

They were outside, and a couple of witches had begun surrounding the castle.

"What's happening?"

"Is everything going to be okay?"

"Did the crystal do this?"

The witches were speaking to each other and Elizabeth, demanding answers.

"Everyone!" she yelled, silencing everyone. "What you have witnessed is true. Our crystal is evil."

Gasps sounded around the area.

"But don't worry! It is not permanent." Elizabeth could not believe she had to say the next words. "Emery ingested a potion that made her how she currently is."

More gasps sounded the area.

"We are currently making a reverse potion, and everything will be back to normal." She smiled before quickly walking to the castle, leaving a couple of furious witches bustling with questions.

The Queen hoped she was right. As soon as the potion was ready, she planned to head past the mountains where she assumed Emery was. She prayed Emery had not fallen too far in the darkness, or else she would have no other option but to kill her.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY

 

 

Logan's P.O.V

A groan escaped my lips as I fluttered my eyelids open. It took me a while to focus on my surroundings, but once I did, I immediately tensed. 

I was in some kind of cell. Two torches lit with fire had been placed in front of me, illuminating the objects around me. I also noticed the walls and the ceiling were made of brown bricks. 

I was curious to know where I was, and so I tried moving to the cell door. I couldn't move because something was constricting me. I looked up, noticing that my hands were chained. I looked down and noticed I was dangling a few feet from the ground.

Oh crap.

"Glad to see that you are awake, Logan," Emery spoke. I almost shot up when I heard her voice. My eyes searched for her, but I couldn't spot her because of the partial darkness in the room. It was then that she emerged from a dark corner. Emery had regained her natural, human look. She was playing with her nails as she turned her gaze towards me with a smirk.

"Emery, let us go," Liam stated. With wide eyes, I turned my attention to the direction of his voice. I was surprised I hadn't noticed him. 

I looked around, realizing we were not alone. Apart from Liam, my other bandmates were also present. On the opposite side were Justin, Erick and Selena. They had all woken up, and they were also in the same chained state as I was. It was then that the memory of the events that had transpired before I passed out came to my mind.

Apart from feeling scared for my life, I hoped no one in Crystalia was hurt.

"Now why would I do that, Liam?" Emery inquired, teleporting a knife on her palms. "I was about to have some fun."

"You don't have to do this, Emery," Ethan said. Emery gave a dark chuckle.

"I don't have to do this. I want to do this," she said before throwing the knife towards me. It came at me at a fast speed that I screamed, expecting the knife to stab me in my head. Fortunately, it hit the wall on my left. 

Even though I wasn't killed, my heart was pounding at a faster rate.

"You see, you guys do not understand what I went through. You never did," she continued as she teleported another knife on her hand. "Every one of you thinks that a simple apology will be enough to make up for everything you did. It won't you stupid assholes!"

Honestly, I never thought that an apology would fix the mess that Emery had endured. It was the only thing I could think of. I mean, what else could we say to her after everything that had happened?

Emery proceeded to levitate towards us. She was a few feet from the ground as she stared at us in the eyes.

"Do you know the kind of crap I went through ever since Bianca and I met?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"We do," Selena replied.

"Again, you don't. You never did, so I'm going to tell you everything that had happened to me. I'm going to explain it all in detail. Maybe then you will understand why I've turned out like this."

Emery flew away from us and landed on the ground, playing with the knife she held. She turned her attention back to us.

"It started after one particular concert."

I was confused.

"You guys decided it would be a good idea to play truth or dare. Me being the idiot I was, I agreed. Sure, it was funny to see some of you guys do some stupid things, but it was not good for me."

I was confused. Emery had been laughing with the rest of us at that time as we continued to spill embarrassing truths and do shameful dares. How could it not have been fun for her? She never had to do anything remotely harmful!

"You see, Selena decided to dare me to kiss Zane."

"What?"

"Emery, how--"

"Why would that be a reason to--"

"QUIET!" Emery silenced Erick, Zane and me. She remained quiet for a while as she bit her lower lip in contemplation. "After the kiss, I developed feelings for Zane. You could even say I had a crush on him."

What?

"Emery, what is the purpose of you telling us this?" Ethan asked, feeling confused like I was. Why would her kissing Zane be a bad thing? How was her life ruined through that?

"You are all going to die after I tell you everything. Or didn't you figure that out already?"

I tensed in fear. That was not good. 

I tried to unlock myself from the chains, but they wouldn't budge. I even tried to use my powers, but then I realized I couldn't.

"Anyway, the kiss was wonderful. It was honestly my first kiss, and you all know the reason why."

I spotted Liam moving uncomfortably from where he was dangling.

"Do you all need a reminder? You guys bullied me in high school and ruined my chances of having the teenage experience. I could have gone to parties, lost my virginity or even drunk beer! You know, normal teenage stuff. But no, you had to be there every step of the way to ensure I never experienced that! You guys ruined my life then, and I'm still experiencing the effects of what you did to me."

Emery sighed as she scratched her head.

"The reason why I'm telling you this is because of what happened later. I was developing feelings for Zane..."

"Wait, what?" Zane exclaimed in disbelief, but Emery ignored him.

"...but he crushed them when he told me days later that he had a girlfriend."

Emery turned her glassy-eyed stare at Zane. "You have no idea how much that hurt me."

"Emery..." Zane spoke, unsure of what to say.

"I know that you didn't know about that. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm mad at you. You agreed to the dare. You did it, knowing fully well that you had a girlfriend."

"Emery--"

"You were my first kiss, Zane. As mushy and immature as it may sound, I was kind of expecting you to reciprocate the feelings. But you didn't. The damage had been done."

"Emery, do you know how..."

"...embarrassing this looks?" Emery finished for Liam before she laughed. "That's the thing, Liam. I don't care what any one of you thinks. Once I'm done talking, you will all be dead."

That reminder had me tensing again.

"Where was I? Oh, yes. I'm mad at Zane."

Emery levitated to Zane before punching him on the face. He groaned out in pain.

"Thanks for that you asshole."

Then she slapped him, the hit sounding through the room.

"And you," Emery unexpectedly turned her attention to her cousin. She flew to her and slapped her, and Selena cried out in pain.

"If you had given me another dare rather than kissing Zane, I wouldn't have felt bad when he told me he had a girlfriend."

"Emery! Stop!" Justin yelled at her. "It's not her fault! It's not Zane's fault. How were they supposed to know you loved Zane?"

"Oh, please. It is their fault. Every bad thing that had happened was because of all of you guys," she glared at everyone in the room before flying back to the ground. "The thing with Zane wasn't as bad as what happened next: Bianca came. I swear that bitch hated me from day one. I didn't understand it until today. That bitch didn't want to lose Zane, and so she thought of everything to throw me out. For instance, that first incident where she claimed I had slapped her for no reason. I did slap her, but it was because she insulted me first."

"Emery--" Harry went to speak, but Emery cut him off.

"Skip forward to the part where I was stabbed, and Liam decided not to use his powers on me to heal me."

My back tensed as I turned to face Liam. He too was scared.

"I'm not mad about that. You couldn't expose magic to Bianca and the other people in the building. But what made me angry was the fact that I stayed in the hospital for a month because of those stab wounds.

A freaking month.

That was, like, the second time I was in a coma in my life! Like, what the hell?"

Emery had summoned a fireball on her hand. She continued speaking, "Once I was discharged, I told you guys that Bianca tried to kill me."

"Emery, we are sorry--" again, Harry was interrupted.

"I had been stabbed, and I had stayed in that freaking hospital, under a coma, for a freaking month. I expected sympathy from you guys. I expected rage at what had happened to me, and I expected someone to tell me that Bianca was arrested. What I got was a stupid reason," Emery shook her head. "You all said that it was an erwich who tried to kill me. You fucking idiots!"

She sent the fireball to the wall on her right. It exploded, the flames licking the wall before disappearing.

"If they wanted to kill me, they would have done it a long time ago! I lived in New York for crying out loud! I was even on tour with you guys! What about that time I was alone, moaning for my mother? Was that not a good time for the erwiches to attack and kill me?"

I wanted to smack myself on the head. Emery was right, and her saying all those things made me feel stupid.

"A murder victim knows its killer. You should know that senses are heightened during a time of fear and danger. I wasn't making it up when I told you Charlotte had been sent by Bianca to kill me. I told you guys, but you did not believe me."

Tears started pouring out of Emery's eyes.

"And you idiots," Emery said, pointing at Selena, Justin and Erick. "You defended poor Bianca and were willing to drop the friendships we shared.

You were willing to throw away everything over fucking Bianca and stupid erwiches!"

Emery remained quiet for a few seconds, her rage being shown by her trembling body.

"Did you have the dream around that time?" she asked Erick.

Erick waited for a while before replying, "Yes, but it was a month ago."

Emery got angrier, if possible. She soon used her powers to drag Justin, Erick and Selena towards her. The chains rattled as they straightened from the pull they faced.

"Why didn't you check the dream?" Emery asked with fury.

"We thought--" Justin went to speak.

"You didn't think!" Emery yelled at Justin. "You should have checked if it was a true vision the moment you had it, Erick! We could have avoided all this mess!"

Despite what was happening, Emery was right. I had no idea that there was such a thing as checking a dream. If I had known, I would have told Erick to do it to avoid any mistakes like the huge one we had made.

"Emery--"

"Shut up, Justin!" she sent them flying back to the walls behind them as she yelled. They made such an impact on the wall that I felt the vibrations. Selena screeched while Erick and Justin groaned in pain. I turned my attention to them, noticing that they looked pained but somewhat okay.

"And that was when you decided I was an evil witch, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Erick answered without hesitation. "There is no denying that we were awful to you, Emery. You did not deserve what we put you through, but will what you plan to do to us solve anything?"

Emery remained quiet for a moment.

"No, it won't. I know that killing you won't rectify the things that went wrong in my past; I'm not stupid. But at least I won't have to see your faces ever again. Besides, I plan to destroy Crystalia after I kill you. So, where was I?"

She looked at us with a smile that frightened me. It was as if she had not threatened to kill every witch in Crystalia.

"Oh yes! You decided to stop being friends with me. I had no one but the people who bullied me. You know, I thought I could trust them, but what happened next was a regret. Thinking about it, it was a stupid to even fully trust them.

You see, we went to Australia, and I had stupidly planned to find out what Bianca had been hiding. I knew she was a criminal, and I wanted to find out what she did. If only I had kept my distance and done my research elsewhere... Anyway, things got in the way. 

It was on that day that everything went wrong. It was the day that I would live to remember. I can even still picture it in my mind. Do you idiots know which day that was?"

None of us replied, and Emery released a dark chuckle.

"Well, let me jog your memory. You guys were still on tour. For me, things started going wrong with a simple tweet. Bianca had taken my phone and posted something insulting about you guys," she waved her finger at me and my bandmates. "I don't know how she did it. I mean, I was in the hotel in Australia, watching a movie and minding my own business when the five of you came into the room and started yelling at me."

I soon recalled the events of that day. My eyes widened, hating to even think about it. It had been a horrible day for Emery, but it had also been a horrible day for everyone. Apart from Liam getting into an accident, I realized we had messed up so bad.

"You guys insulted me without a second thought. I was hurt, and so I went out to take a walk. I thought of leaving the tour because Bianca was there and you seemed to trust her more than me. If only I was that smart... " 

Emery trailed off with a shake of her head before adding, "As I was walking, I came across two sketchy guys. I had no idea why I talked to them in the first place. I mean, the three of us were in a deserted alley."

Oh no. I felt I knew where Emery was going with what she was saying.

"It didn't matter because I later found out that Bianca sent them."

I recalled the video that Emery had shown to everyone in the concert.

"They..." Emery trailed off as she stared at something in the distance. I also noticed that tears had started to form again in her eyes. She shook her head as if trying to clear the overwhelming emotions she was currently enduring.

"They grabbed me."

"Emery, you don't have to go into the details," Ethan told her with a sympathetic voice.

"They pushed me against the wall... slapped me when I tried to resist. It was awful, and I was panicking. I couldn't think for a while because... because.. they touched me there..." she trailed off, openly crying in front of us.

I felt both fury and sadness for Emery. Those who did that to her were lucky they were in jail because if I found them, they would be dead.

"They even touched my breasts when I begged them to stop. I remember the way they tore my shirt open and carelessly took off my bra. It hurt, and I yelled at them to stop."

I was struggling not to hear the details.

"They even slipped their hands into my pants and forced their fingers--"

"Emery!" I yelled, cutting her off while begging her to stop.

"I was fortunate because I used my powers and managed to escape before they got any further."

The rest of us sighed in relief.

"Even though they didn't get far, that experience was traumatic for me. But then, that did not compare to what Zane and Harry did. Did you know I drew blood after you kicked me in the crotch, Zane?"

Almost every head turned to face him. Zane couldn't meet anyone's eyes as he looked down at the ground.

I was still mad at Zane and Harry for beating Emery. The video of Emery's abuse came back into my mind, and I wanted nothing more than to shut it out. I also wanted to drive my fists into Harry and Zane.

"Anyway, I came back to the hotel suite and I saw you guys with the police," Emery continued as she wiped the tears away from her face.

There was silence in the room as we digested what she said. It was confusing for a moment. 

When was that day? When did that happen? If I recall, the only time we were with the police in a hotel suite in Australia was when we thought Emery...

My eyes widened in shock.

Emery looked at us with a glare. When she saw my expression, she smirked.

"Ah. Logan figured it out."

Everyone tried to face me with confused glances, but I was too busy being shocked.

No.

No.

NO!

I hoped Emery was saying that to make us feel bad. I hoped she was just saying that to hurt us. I wished what she said was a lie, but with the angry look on her face, there was no denying the truth.

"I was still shaken by what had happened to me when I entered the suite. I even planned to avoid talking to you guys because I was going to pack and leave as soon as I entered the suite. Bitchy Bianca was going to get her wish!"

"Emery--" Harry spoke, but Emery interrupted him.

"But then, she wanted more. She played you guys like a doll, making you dump the 'fact' that I had tried to kill Liam in a car accident. What a memorable day it was for me, wasn't it?"

She tried to make humor of what happened to her, but the rest of us did not laugh.

"I mean, what the hell? How the fuck could you think that of me? Why would I try to kill Liam? I mean, yes, he was one of my bullies in high school; but why would I try to kill him? He had been nothing but good towards me ever since I joined you guys on tour! All of you were!"

"Emery--" Zane said but Emery cut him off.

"You yelled at me!" Emery turned her glare to Zane and Harry. "You guys called me a liar and said hurtful things about me that you had no right to say!"

Emery charged forward and punched Zane and Harry in the gut, earning groans of agony.

Even though she had punched them, her form hunched as she started sobbing out loud.

Flashback

"You're a good actress, Emery," Harry spoke with a glare directed towards her. "Do you think we are idiots?"

"I don't follow," Emery had replied after a short moment of silence.

Harry sighed, shaking his head while staring at the floor before turning to face her.

"You tried to kill Liam."

Emery stared at him in bewilderment.

"Harry, that's absurd! Why would I want to do that?"

"Probably because you want revenge for what we did to you in high school!" he boomed.

"Guys, I said I accepted your apologies! I don't want to get any sort of revenge! What makes you think I tried to kill Liam?"

"Your phone was found in the car a few hours after you parked the car next to a restaurant."

Emery had a shocked look before she started patting her jeans.

"Witnesses also say that the driver had long red hair and did not stop driving," Ethan added.

Emery then turned to face Bianca.

"Guys, it was not me. It was Bianca! I don't know how but she took my phone and sent someone to disguise as me to kill Liam!"

"Oh, please. There is no way you are getting out of this, Emery," I told her. "What other 'truth' do you want to tell us?"

Everyone in the room was angry with Emery. We silently stared at her as her eyes began to well with tears.

Unbelievable. Harry was right; Emery was good at acting.

"I did not hit Liam with a car. In fact, after I left the hotel, I was walking around--"

"WE HAVE HEARD ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES!" Zane boomed, cutting her off as she flinched in shock. "You have been lying to us ever since this year started, and we are tired of it."

He reached out for her hand. Emery's eyes widened as she started backing away from Zane, trying to evade him. Zane gave her a glare that could kill someone on the spot as he quickly grabbed her arm.

"Take her away!" he practically yelled at the officers, throwing Emery towards them. As if on cue, the police officers in the room approached Emery. Emery gained a panicked expression as she turned to face everyone in the room.

"It wasn't me! You have to believe me!" she shouted, but no one was going to listen to her. We had discovered who she really was, and we were not going to listen to her lies.

"Why would I kill Liam? He's a wonderful guy! It wasn't me! It was Bianca!" she continued yelling.

"Shut up you lying bitch!" Harry shouted, silencing Emery for a moment.

The police guards reached for Emery's hands and placed them in a handcuff, waiting to take her away.

"I'm sorry, Emery. You did all these things, and you deserve this," Selena said with a sad smile.

Then something unexpected happened. Bianca stepped forward and delivered a harsh slap on Emery's face.

I was shocked, and I went to say something when she cut me off.

"That was for calling me ugly," and then another one, "and that was for slapping me you bitch!"

"Bianca!" Harry yelled as he grabbed her, moving her away from Emery.

With that, Emery was being escorted outside.

"Guys! Help me! PLEASE!" she yelled out loud, but no one spoke to her. We silently watched at the ongoing spectacle.

The police officers had grabbed onto her shoulders. Emery was openly crying as she was forced to walk with them outside the hotel. 

"Thank goodness that evil bitch is gone," Bianca commented as she placed her head on Zane's shoulder. Zane placed a peck on her forehead. Emery continued sobbing and screaming for the guys and me. Her voice kept decreasing in volume until we couldn't hear her anymore.

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

 

Logan's P.O.V

Emery was sobbing, and it pained me to see her like that.

"Sure, my phone was in that car, but I did not plant it there! You guys were so quick to pass the blame on me! You even told me I deserved it! I did nothing wrong you stupid dumb fucks!"

Emery continued sobbing, making me feel worse.

"I begged you and yelled at you guys, telling you that I didn't do it. You all turned your backs on me and refused to look at me, not even allowing an ounce of doubt in your minds. The least you guys could have done was listen to my version of the story! But no, you let me get arrested in front of everyone and let my life be ruined in the process."

"Emery, we're sorry--"

"SHUT UP, LOGAN!" Emery roared at me, reaching over and slapping me hard on the face. The pain she had inflicted on me did not compare to the huge feelings of guilt and regret that I felt.

"I was hurt. I was scared," Emery was openly crying in front of us, and I felt her sadness catching up with me. "My world was ruined, and I had no idea of how to fix it. I had no one, and I assumed—no, I knew everyone who knew me would not want to talk to me. Could you imagine yourselves in my place? Could you imagine going through what I went through?" 

Emery lay on the floor, sobbing out loud as her form shook. My eyes were welling up with tears as I watched her. 

Right then, I hated what the guys and I did on that day. I wished I could have listened to Emery. If only there was a way to go back in time...

"You guys did nothing. You, the people I thought I could trust, did nothing. You just let Bianca blind you with her lies, and I was left feeling humiliated. You had all betrayed me on that day. I told myself I was never going to go back to you. I am never going to forgive all of you."

The last sentence did not sit well with me. Emery chuckled as she shook her head in disbelief.

"Was I a bother to you?" she asked, and I felt my eyes open in disbelief. "Was I someone who was not worthy of your time? Was I that dependant on you guys that you wanted to get rid of me?"

She stared at the distance before saying, "Am I such a horrible person to be around with?"

I was shocked by the words Emery had said. Was that what she had been reduced to?

Was she really doubting herself?  

"Emery, where is this coming from?" Justin asked. 

"Have you been listening? It's coming from everything you guys put me through!" Emery shouted. "I went through all the possible reasons of you betraying me. I thought it was something that I did, but I couldn't figure out what it was. All the time I was in that prison cell, I thought I did something bad to you guys. Was it because I was chosen to be a crystal? Was it because I avoided you guys for the three months I spent mourning the loss of my mom? I didn't know."

There were a few seconds of silence before Emery continued.

"Besides, my time was preoccupied with being the prison's punching bag."

We all gasped in shock.

"Save me the reactions. You could have known, but you never came to visit me. Apparently, most of the prison women are fans of the Ordinary Brothers. I let them hit me." Emery turned to face someone on my side. "I recalled your words, Selena. You told me I deserved it, and for a long time, I believed that."

"Emery--" Selena went to speak as she teared up, but she was cut off.

"Even if I wanted to defend myself, I couldn't. Your dumb king deactivated my powers and left me vulnerable to more than thirty women in that prison."

"I'm--" Erick spoke, but he was interrupted.

"I could have died, you know? I knew you thought you were keeping me away from the witches because of the stupid dream. But you guys were leaving me defenseless in the presence of many criminals."

"Emery--" Ethan spoke, but she cut him off. 

"A week later, I decided enough was enough. I realized I did not deserve the hell I was going through in that prison. You guys are the ones who should have suffered. I was mad and I planned to never see you guys again, but then came the erwiches."

Emery sighed as she wiped off traces of tears on her face.

"You know what's funny? Before Harry and Zane abused me, they told me that you all know my weakness as a crystal. So I assume that everyone here knows, right?"

No one answered, and Emery became furious.

"Really, Erick? The least you could have done was only tell Justin and Selena, but did you have to include the people who bullied me in high school?"

Erick had taught my bandmates and me how to deactivate our powers within an area in case Emery decided to go all raging evil on us. He was looking out for us, and I never thought it would backfire, especially on Emery.

Oh, the cruel irony.

"That was one of the stupidest things you could have ever done! Zane and Harry used that weakness to their advantage. They physically abused me you stupid asshat! I could have died!"

Emery screamed as she threw a fireball at the wall on her side. Her expression was still of fury as she turned to look at us. 

"We've wasted a lot of time talking. Let's actually get to the part where I teach you all not to ever mess with me!"

Third Person's P.O.V

Erick's eyes widened as the chains that bound him were released. As soon as that happened, a strong force dragged him towards Emery.

"Emery--"

"Save whatever you want to say, Erick. By now, you should know I am done listening to all of you," Emery said before she delivered a punch on Erick's face.

He did not see that coming.

"You have played a large role in this mess."

Punch.

"Apart from the fake dream about me, you deactivated my powers in the Australian prison and left me vulnerable in the process."

Punch.

"You had even instructed Zane and Harry about deactivating powers in an area. That was stupid because they almost killed me!"

Emery kept punching Erick wherever she could. Yells and painful groans filled the room as Erick dealt with the pain of the punches.  

"Your betrayal was the worst."

Emery pushed him back with a strong force. Erick collided with the wall behind him with a sound, instantly passing out before falling to the ground.

"Erick!" the rest shouted at him.

"Relax," Emery said with a smirk. "He just passed out. Now, where were we? Oh, yes. Selena."

Selena gasped as her chains were released before she was quickly facing Emery.

"Apart from telling me I deserved the hell that I truly didn't, you refused to listen to my side of the story," Emery punched her cousin on the cheek, earning a cry. "You ignored my calls when I was being taken to prison for things I never did."

Emery kicked Selena in the gut. Selena bent forward to grab her stomach, but Emery grabbed her by the hair and punched her on the nose with her elbow. Selena's nose started oozing blood.

"You said my proof against Bianca was fake and that you wanted nothing to do with it." Emery slapped Selena, the sound echoing in the room. "You made me believe that you wanted me gone."

"Emery--" Selena's shout was cut off by a slap. She stared at her cousin's eyes as fear groped her. "Thanks, Selena. Killing you will be very easy."

Emery continued beating the rest who had remained. She went after Justin, Logan, Ethan and Liam, hitting them as she told them how they ruined her life. By the time she was done with them, they were badly bruised but still conscious. 

She was finally staring at the two people she hated with such a passion.

"The final two," Emery said with a smirk.

Harry's eyes widened as Emery dragged him and Zane to her with her powers.

"You and Zane had fun last night?" she asked with a sick smile.

"Emery, please--" Harry began begging.

"Ah, begging. It won't work, Harry."

Before they had time to answer, Emery punched them in their faces at the same time. There was a crunching sound as she made contact with their noses.

"Wow! Now I understand how you all felt when you abused me."

Emery punched the two again.

"It feels so great to do this! I'm loving having powers over you."

"Emery, pl--" Zane's begging was interrupted by another punch.

"You guys have always been on the giving end," she said, kicking them on their guts. "How does it feel guys?" Emery questioned as she punched them again. "How does it feel to be bullied? How does it feel now to be abused and to receive bruises that could last for more than a month."

Neither of the two had a chance to speak before Emery kicked them on their heads. They both fell down, wincing in pain.

"I am going to do to you everything you did to me last night."

She stopped for a couple of seconds to look around.

"Well, there is no glass table, but I can find something better to carve your torsos with. What if I use a wooden stick?"

Zane and Harry widened their eyes in fear despite the pain they felt. They went to crawl away, but Emery used her powers to drag them back.

"Ah. Ah. Ah!" Emery chastised with a sick smile and a wave of a finger. "I'm not done yet."

Emery used her powers to have the two standing. 

"Hmm, what else did you do to me?" Emery questioned as she recalled with vivid details what Harry and Zane did to her on the previous night. With anger, she inflicted it on them.

Some pain-filled minutes for Zane and Harry later, Emery spoke: "Do you remember this?" 

She grinned evilly as she used her powers to drag Harry and Zane with their hair across the floor. The two were soon screaming and sobbing in pain.

"Feel that? That's every hair attached to your scalp pulling at the skin. How does it feel?

'Painful,' Harry thought as he looked at the others. They were either passed out or in a daze, trying to fully regain their consciousness.   

They couldn't help him.

Emery revealed an evil grin before using her powers to throw Zane and Harry to a wall behind them. Harry and Zane groaned in agony as a reaction.

"That was one of the many times you guys threw me against the wall." Emery stared at them with fury before her look turned to one of shock. "Wow. You guys are already crying! Idiots. You can't handle what you serve?"

"Emery..." Zane trailed off in a sob. "We're so sorry."

"Zane, shut up," Emery said before dragging Zane's form towards her with her powers before pushing him back to the wall. He screamed in agony on impact.

"What else happened?" Emery asked as she pretended to think. "Oh, yes. You used your shoes to step on me. It's a good thing for me because I'm wearing heels."

Harry's eyes widened in fear. 

"Emery..."

The two were immediately thrown to the ground and forced to lay still on their fronts. Emery walked towards them, the sound of her heels hitting the ground, scaring Harry and Zane with the impending pain they would endure.

Zane and Harry could not believe what was happening. They thought of the ways they had taunted Emery in high school, and they regretted it. They were going to pay the price, and they had no idea how much more pain they could handle.

Emery used her powers to drag Zane and Harry so close to each other that there was no space in between. With a pleased smile, she started with their backs, walking along them and enjoying the screams that Harry and Zane released. At some points, she almost slipped. This forced her to add more pressure to stabilize herself, making Zane and Harry scream louder. Emery also pressed her heels into their hands, making them try to tug away from her foot, only to press harder.

The rest who had regained consciousness had begun yelling for Emery to stop, but she didn't listen. Even though they were infuriated with what Harry and Zane had done to her, they were worried she would kill them.

Emery suddenly stopped. Harry and Zane had been breathing heavily after the screams they released. They turned to lie on their backs, thinking that she was done.

Unfortunately for them, the agonized groans and cries started again when they felt something sharp carve onto their stomachs. Zane and Harry were confused as to how the pain was being inflicted. They looked up and saw Emery waving a finger.

She was using her powers.

Zane and Harry tugged up their shirts to see their torsos, spotting blood oozing from a point on the skin.

"What should I write?" Emery pretended to think. "Emery was here? No, that's too short. What about 'Never mess with Emery'?"

"Emery..." Harry gasped out.

"Yeah, I agree with you, Harry. The second one is better."

Emery continued with her inscriptions. She forced the two to lay still with her powers as she continued writing on their skin. Zane and Harry screamed and cried through the pain. They looked at Emery as blood erupted from their torsos, seeing the evil smile adorning her face. 

Harry was close to losing consciousness when Emery suddenly stopped. He felt something wet below him, and he knew it was a growing puddle of blood. 

That was how he and Zane had left Emery.

"What the fuck? They did that to her?" Justin asked as he stared at the sight of the two bleeding bandmates.

"Justin, they could be dead!" Selena yelled.

"Then there was the crotch kick," Emery stated. 

Emery kicked Zane in his crotch, and he groaned loudly at the pain. His hands were pinned on the ground, and so he couldn't tend to the ache in his groin.

"I still wonder why you had decided to kick me in the crotch," Emery addressed Zane with a glare. "Do you know that I could be infertile after what you did?"

Zane was openly crying.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I am so sorry for what I did."

"Well, after all that I've put you and Harry through..." Emery trailed off as she glared hard at Zane before looking at everyone else.

"You have all learned your lesson. At least now you know what I went through."

As she stared at nothing with a smile, Emery added, "I am glad I did this. It has been a great pleasure seeing you suffer some of that I went through."

Emery suddenly shrugged her shoulders.

"Too bad I have to kill all of you."

In an instant, two ropes had been teleported into the room. They moved towards Harry and Zane, wrapping themselves tightly around their necks before dragging them up in the air. 

The two had found strength as they gasped, struggling to get rid of the ropes around their necks. Harry looked at Emery as he struggled for breath. She was smirking with a glint in her eyes. 

Even though he was fighting for his life, he could not believe the monster that was in front of him. He couldn't believe the monster he had unknowingly encouraged Emery to become. 

Maybe he and Zane did deserve to die.

"Emery!" someone yelled as they entered the cell. The ropes that held Zane and Harry' necks instantly loosened. The two fell to the ground, coughing and gasping huge gulps of air in spite of the pain they felt all over their bodies.

Everyone turned to face who had spoken. It was Elizabeth, and beside her was a shocked Ashley. 

"Elizabeth! Ashley! What the hell are you doing here?" Emery growled out before shrugging. "It won't matter. Since you're here, I could get an audience. You will watch me kill them."

Everyone tensed at what Emery said.

"No, you won't," Elizabeth said before throwing the vial she had hidden behind her. Emery deflected the vial, sending it flying to the wall on her left. It exploded and released white smoke.

"What was that?" Emery asked in anger. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Before she could reply, the Queen was sent flying to her left. She landed on the ground, almost hitting the wall that was close to her.

"Mom!" Erick and Justin yelled, slowly getting up off the ground due to the pain they felt.

"Sit down!" Emery ordered, using her powers to force the two back on the ground before turning to face Elizabeth and Ashley.

"You two shouldn't have come," she growled.

"We had to," Ashley replied. Emery narrowed her eyelids at her.

"Why did you? Don't you usually feel uncomfortable around me and my drama?"

Ashley felt shocked by Emery's words. Emery quickly formed a fireball. Believing she would throw it at Ashley, he jumped onto the crystal.

Emery made a noise of surprise as she fell to the ground with Harry.

"Get off of me!" Emery yelled as she tried to push Harry off of her.

"I'm sorry, Emery, but this is for your own good," Harry stated before he groaned when Emery kneed him in his crotch. He didn't budge, refusing to release his hold.

"Do you have another vial?" Emery heard Ethan question.

"We do," Ashley replied, and Emery seethed at the answer. She used her powers to forcefully push Harry of her. She was soon quickly standing and facing Ashley.

"Emery, you have to take the potion. You have to return to your normal self."

"You mean my good self?" Emery asked Ashley with a glare. "If you hadn't noticed, the good Emery was a dependant bitch who could not hold up her own."

"That's not true."

"It is true!" Emery deflected Ashley's words. "You saw and heard what happened to me. My former self was stupid because she did not do anything to stop it. No, Stupid Emery let the people who betrayed her ruin her life. Stupid Emery came back here to help them with the erwich issue when she could have left them deal with it, especially with how they treated her! Well, Stupid Emery is gone, and Smart Emery is here. I will get my revenge for what these people did to me, and you won't be able to stop me."

The crystal walked forward and used her telekinesis powers to throw Ashley to the wall behind her. There was a sickening crunch when Ashley made contact with the wall. Then her form collapsed on the ground.

Emery smirked. There was no one left to try to stop her. She was going to kill everyone in the room, and she was going to destroy Crystalia as soon as she was done.

Emery turned to face the rest in the room, but she spotted the remaining vial coming towards her. Emery went to deflect it, but it had crashed near her feet before it released a white gas.

With an angry gasp, Emery went to walk away. The white smoke that had just been released forcefully entered Emery's nostrils. She tried to sniff it out, but it wouldn't work.

Emery gasped in pain as the potion started doing its work. She felt as if something was tearing her into two, and she screamed out. 

Elizabeth had gotten up and was helping the rest to their feet.

Emery's form hunched as she coughed out black smoke. It landed on the ground, swirling like a tornado below her. She looked up at the people who betrayed her with a glare on her face.

"You...assholes," Emery managed to cough out before landing on the ground, passing out. The smoke then dissipated in the air.

"Erick, Justin, what happened?" Elizabeth asked as she observed her sons' injured forms. "What did she do to you?"

"I'll tell you later," Erick replied. "What matters is that you got rid of the effects of the potion she had taken."

"Guys..." Liam trailed off as he stared at Ashley's form.

"We need to get her to the hospital," Justin said as he approached her. He knelt on the floor and leaned towards her nose, trying to feel her breath on his cheek. Ashley was still, and that frightened everyone in the room.

"I'll get her," Justin added as he knelt on the ground. Seconds later, he had stood with Ashley in his arms.

"What about Emery?" Logan asked.

They all turned their attention to the passed out Emery. Her scars that were hidden by magic were exposed for everyone to see. In fact, some of her bruises seemed to have gotten worse. Emery undoubtedly needed treatment for the wounds she had obtained on the previous night. 

In spite of all of that, everyone was confused on whether to feel scared, angry or sad after what Emery had told and done to them. They were also worried for her and for the rest of the witches.

Who knew what she would do when she would wake up.

"I'll get her," said Erick as he knelt to carry Emery's form. He and the rest were soon leaving the cell.

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

 

Emery's P.O.V

The sound of birds chirping had me slowly opening my eyes. I quickly shot up when I observed I was not in the hotel suite. I looked around, noticing that my surroundings were familiar.

I then realized I was in the room that had been designated to me in Crystalia's castle before I had been banned. 

It seemed like nothing was moved. The dresser was where I had last seen it, and the walls maintained their color. What surprised me was the cleanliness of the room. 

It was weird that I woke up in it.

I wondered how I got there, and my mind answered by replaying the memories I could last recall. Harry and Zane entered my hotel suite and...

A shudder ran through my form before I gasped. I shifted on the bed as I inspected my form for the painful injuries I had obtained. 

There were none. Even my broken arm was surprisingly healed. 

But how?

I lifted up my shirt and stared at my stomach, seeing no evidence of cuts on the skin. I knew that Harry and Zane had drawn on my stomach with glass shards, but how did they disappear? I thought those wounds would be hard to heal in the first place!

I felt puzzled as I released the hem of the shirt.

So Harry and Zane abused me and left me in my room. Then I woke up and...

I couldn't remember what happened after that.

It seemed strange. Why could I not remember what followed?

I furrowed my eyebrows as I tried to recall anything else that had occurred. I then recalled what I did to Selena and how I exposed Bianca in public. 

I also remembered the events of the previous day.

I could not believe I did all of that. Even though I had been hurt badly, I couldn't have let my emotions take such control over me. How could that have—

"Emery, this isn't you," Erick's voice spoke in my mind. I recalled black nails and black eyes, realizing they were mine. My eyes almost popped out of their sockets once another realization came to me.

I had turned evil.

That really explained the kidnapping, the torturing and what I did to Ashley...

Ashley!

My heart thudded in fear and worry over what I did to her. I had hurt her by throwing her towards the wall before she fell to the ground. She didn't groan or try to get up, and that had me believing that I killed her. 

I was soon in tears.

I stopped for a moment when I wondered why I was placed in my room. I should have been kept in the prison cells and not the room.

"How do we approach her?" I heard feminine voices from outside my door. In an instant, I lay back on the bed, pulling the covers over my form and pretending to be asleep.

"The king said she's back to normal, so we wouldn't have to worry about an evil crystal," another feminine voice replied just as the door to my room was opened.

"Amelia, I'm scared," the first voice said. 

"Calm down, Eleanor," the other replied. "Look. She's even sleeping. There is nothing to worry about."

I heard the sound of rattling plates and cups.

"Amelia, what do you think the king's going to do to her? I mean, with all the damage she did to the castle and the state in which the king came back in..."

"Eleanor, she was under the influence of a potion."

"I know, but people are speculating that she took it herself. They are angry that she's still with us, and they want her dead."

Wait. What?

"You mean you, Eleanor?" Amelia retorted. "So what? We should respect the king's wishes. He grew up with Emery, and he believes there is good in her."

"What if there isn't?"

There was a sigh.

"Then you are right. He will have no option but to kill her."

My eyes were wide at what Amelia had said. 

Erick would have me killed?

I had heard enough. I would not stay any longer in Crystalia knowing that I could be killed.

I threw the covers from my form, startling the poor women who had entered my room. They borh looked at me in shock as I got up from the bed. 

I was soon running out of the room.

"Emery!" Amelia's voice shouted behind me, but I did not care to stop to hear what she wanted to say. I ran through the hallways of the castle, passing by startled people who murmured when they saw me.

"The crystal is out!" a masculine voice shouted, no doubt one of the castle guards, and I increased my pace to escape the castle.

I was close to the exit when another voice shouted my name.

"Emery!" it was the Queen. I stopped, turning to face her with a frightened expression. She looked worried. Then I recalled what I did to her, and I hated myself for it. She must have been angry with me for what I did to her sons and the rest of the witches.

"It's okay. You don't have to run," she said with a comforting smile. As much as I wanted to believe her, a part of me decided not to. What if it was an act to get me to stay in the castle? What if it was a ploy to trick me into staying and be killed when I least expected it? Even though Elizabeth was not like that, what I did to her sons could have changed her.

I shook my head in denial.

"I'm sorry," I apologized before teleporting away from the castle. I got a glimpse of a shocked Elizabeth just as the castle guards were approaching.

***********************************************************************************************

Liam's P.O.V

Everyone had headed to the castle after what had happened with Emery. We were all healed, including Emery. She was placed in her room, and Erick planned to keep her there for observation. Ashley had been admitted to the hospital in Crystalia, and she was doing fairly okay even though she was unconscious. 

 "What is it that you wanted to tell us, Erick?" I asked as Logan, Ethan and I entered the castle's main study room. Erick was there with his mother, and they perked up when they saw us enter.

"Emery has escaped," Erick spoke. My eyes widened in shock. I believed that would happen, and I began to worry about what it meant to every person in Crystalia.

"What?" Ethan asked.

"How long ago?" I inquired.

"About three hours ago."

And you didn't tell us then?

"Do you know where she is?" I asked.

"We don't know, but the guards are looking into it. Warn the others about her."

"Erick, I doubt she would cause any harm to anyone," Elizabeth said. "I mean, she ran around the castle without hurting anyone, and she said she was sorry before she disappeared."

"I am doubtful about that, mom," Erick said before turning his attention towards me.

"I should advise you to stay in the castle. Emery could still be dangerous."

"I want to help," a new voice said. My eyes widened in shock as I turned to face Zane. 

I was confused. After everything he and Harry had done, how could he suggest such a proposition? 

"What are you doing here?" Ethan hissed at Zane. "Don't you think you have done enough to her already?"

"Guys, I know what I did to her was horrible, but I'm not the only one who hurt her. I along the rest of you pushed her to become her evil self. I know my mistakes, and I'm trying to help here."

"By killing her?" Logan stated with an angry scowl.

"No. Look, if it helps, Harry and I are sorry. We were angry with Emery for things she never did, and we both feel horrible. We both know that we deserved the beating she had given us. I am not mad at her; I am just mad at myself. I want to make sure she's okay, and so I want to help you guys find her. Would you please give me a chance?"

The rest of us looked at each other suspiciously. Erick sighed.

"Fine. But when you find her, bring her to us immediately. If we find any scratches or marks on her, you are dead. Is that clear?"

Zane nodded before teleporting away from us.

"You guys also want to volunteer to look for her?" Erick asked Logan, Ethan and me.

"Sure!" I replied. "I don't know what to think of Zane right now. I just want to make sure that the rest of us get to her quickly before Zane does. I hate to think what he would do to her."

"You're right," Erick said. "Now let's look for Emery."

***********************************************************************************************

Emery's P.O.V  

 

It was cold, and there were gray clouds that were getting darker as the evening approached. A fog was present as the rain continued pouring. I tried to look through the window, staring at the rain droplets flowing across it. The only shapes I could make out were of the city buildings. 

After teleporting away from Crystalia, I had gone to a hotel in New York and booked a suite where I spent the rest of the day in my thoughts. I couldn't even eat as I recalled the bad things I had done when I was Evil Emery. Strangely, there were unfilled gaps in my memories. For instance, I did not remember how I turned evil. 

I wondered why, and as I thought about it, I came to realize that I had done it on purpose. I must have after the horrible ordeal I had gone through with Harry and Zane. I remember feeling so much pain and the hatred I had for those two and everyone who had betrayed me.

That must have been what pushed me over the edge.

My mind went back to the memories of the previous day, feeling regretful for my actions. I was shocked by what I did, but I was more shocked by what had happened minutes before I passed out.

I started crying for the fourth time that day as I remembered Ashley. She was a good friend to me, and I had killed her. 

There was no doubt about it; I recalled the sickening sounds when I threw her to the wall. Her form had lain so still, and she could have died from internal bleeding and many broken bones.

It was all my fault. I didn't mean for her to die. I never wanted her to die!

I continued to cry over the mess of things I had made. Killing Ashley was one of my regrets. Apart from that, I remembered summoning erboons and leading them to Crystalia. I also remembered breaking the magical dome that should have surely protected everyone from me.

Those poor witches.

Remembering the encounters I had with the erboons, I was certain they had killed many witches. They had the advantage of numbers and height, and they could attack without anyone noticing.

As a result of all the crap I had done, I felt sure that every witch was thirsty for my blood. People wanted me dead for killing their loved ones and ruining their city. 

It must have been why I was kept in the castle. They wanted to kill me, and so they did not want me to escape. 

But why place me in my room? Did they want me to feel too comfortable so they could easily execute me with little resistance?

The thought brought a fresh onset of tears. My form shook as the sobs racked through me.

Even though I was a crystal, my power wouldn't be enough to hold them back. In fact, it would hurt me more if I was forced to kill them.

I stood up and shook my head to rid myself of the thoughts, walking towards the suite's bathroom as I blinked away the tears. 

The bathroom had a tub, a shower and a toilet seat situated on the side. Neither did I mind the structure of it nor admire the beauty of the white tiles around me.

I looked around, coming to a stop when I spotted white cabinets. I opened one. I looked around, noticing white and blue towels, a couple of shampoo bottles, and unexpectedly, shaving materials. That had also included something I had not seen in a while.

Razor blades. 

My eyes practically widened when I saw them. They were still in their neat wrapping, so they were new. 

The sharp objects sparked memories that I never wanted to be repeated. As if someone in the universe was against me, my mind chose to replay the events of the past two days.

I clutched my head, trying to shake them off, but they kept coming.  

Murderer.

That word had me directing my attention back to the razor blades. Without a second thought, I quickly undressed and took one of them. My heart was pounding as I unwrapped it, revealing its gray form.

For a moment, I just stood staring at it. It slightly shone in the bathroom lights, and the sharp edges were also brought out. Memories of how I used the blades to relieve me of my pain came back to me.

My eyes turned to the tub. Without a second thought, I opened the taps. I spent the minutes that took the tub to be filled staring at the razor. It almost felt good to land my eyes upon it.

Just looking at it had my heart thudding in excitement over what I planned to do.

I closed the taps before entering the tub. The water was freezing, but the memories of what I had done did not urge me to get out. 

I remained seated in the water, feeling it splash across my chin when I shifted to sit well. My focus was on the pale yellow wall in front of me as my thoughts ran wild. The room was silent, but the memories were not.

I recalled the yells, the screams and the sounds of terror and pain. 

In fact, I heard more words hurled at me in my mind.

Murderer, bitch, worthless, useless...

My eyes zeroed in on the razor blade I had placed on the floor. I slowly reached for it, and I soon found myself staring at the gray object.

I could not believe I was back to it again. The last time I did it was because I had been scarred emotionally after all the bullying I went through. My mother had wanted me to undergo therapy so that I could be okay again. It took a long while, and I recalled what my therapist said about the dangers of what I planned to do. I had despised it then, but I had currently changed my mind.

If my mother were to see me in such a state, I knew she would feel disappointed in me.

I was a disappointment to everyone.

The thought had me tearing up, and I quickly placed a side of the blade on the skin near my wrist. It just rested there, and I hesitated to cut myself.

Wow, Emery. Look at you. You look so weak right now. No wonder everyone was quick to leave you.

Honestly, it was weird to have those thoughts back in my mind. I guessed it was a side effect of all the mean tweets posted about me on Twitter that lasted for months. 

It's your fault, my own voice spoke in my mind, and I felt my heart clench. It's your own damn fault that bad things happened to you.

"Stop," I called out even though there was no one in the room. I looked around the white room, the water splashing as I moved until I stopped and stared at the wall in front of me. I wanted the voice to stop speaking, but it wouldn't, even though I knew it was right.

The guys may blame themselves for how things went horribly for you, but you know that's not true. Why do you even bother blaming them? Why are you even blaming the ones who obviously hate you? Why, Emery? Are you looking for people to blame for your own flaws?

"I told you to stop," I said. It was getting hard to ignore it.

Are you even going to deny everything I'm saying? What? You can't even defend yourself you needy bitch?

"Shut up!" I yelled, glaring at nothing.

No, I won't shut up. It's your own damn fault! All this time, it was all your fault. You could have left the tour, Emery. You shouldn't have accepted to join it with Selena in the first place! Thought it was going to be rainbows and sunshine, right? Well, Bianca proved you wrong. In fact, if you had earlier exposed Bianca's crimes, none of this stuff would have happened! You wouldn't have been here, alone with people looking for you so they could kill you.

I sobbed as tears flowed out of my eyes. The voice was right; it was always right. Why did I keep the evidence until the day I planned to leave the tour? I felt stupid for even deciding to postpone releasing it in the first place.

Do you know how many times you were an idiot? Do you remember what you planned eight months ago? You wanted to expose Bianca while she was on tour with you and the boys. Your stupid ass waited, and that landed you in jail. 

The voice laughed.

What did you expect? She knew you were going to look through her stuff, and so she cut you lose, Emery.

The tears kept coming.

What else? You could have had Bianca arrested weeks ago. But instead, you decided to wait until the erwiches were dead. You could have ended the torture, Emery. You could have ended it days before Zane and Harry got their hands on you.

"Shut... up..." I trailed off between sobs.

You could have gotten away with the problems if only you had not been such a stupid bitch. Hear that, Emery? You're a stupid fucking bitch that depends on everyone she loves to be there for her.

I sank lower into the tub, still crying.

Were they even there for you? Do you even remember the day you were arrested for something you never did? Do you even remember the harsh words they told you and the way they ignored your pleas of innocence?

I held the blade to the skin of my left wrist.

Do you want to know why? It's because you are nothing. You have always been nothing.

I quickly placed the first cut. I watched without tensing or feeling pain as the skin tore before blood had started to ooze.

That's right, Emery. You are nothing, and you will always be nothing. That's why everyone was so eager to hate you! That's why your stupid self was taken advantage of and everyone was so quick to turn their backs on you.

I added two more cuts below the first one. The blood slowly flowed along the arm before dripping into the water in the tub.

And whether or not you turned yourself evil, does it even matter? In fact, that was a horrible decision you stupid bitch! Did you think their opinions about you would have changed if you became evil? Do you think they would have cared about what you said? Do you even remember what those women said about you in the morning?

I went to the other wrist, adding an extra cut just so to ignore the words in my mind.

Erick was thinking about killing you. Killing you, Emery! That's how much you meant to them. I bet they were going to pretend to like you like they did in the beginning before betraying you, again, by killing you. What do you think they would have done? I think they would have tortured you just like you did to them. They will tell you what I already know: you are worthless!

I lay in the tub, watching as the water turned red within seconds from the blood that was oozing. I felt a little light-headed as I stared at the sight in front of me. I wanted the pain and the regrets to go away, but nothing seemed to be working.

I still felt the anger and sadness directed towards me. I had been crying for a while; crying over my stupidity, crying over my regrets and crying over my gullibility. I tried to make the feeling go away, but it was still there.

My sobs racketed and echoed in the bathroom, reminding me that I was a weak, stupid girl who meant nothing to everyone.

You know, Emery, I wonder about poor Ashley.

It was back again. The voice was back again. Didn't it know that I had endured enough? Didn't it know that I was depressed already?

"Shut up," I mumbled quietly.

She did nothing wrong. She was trying to help, but you killed her. You killed her, Emery. You killed the only person who was willing to be your friend! How does it feel, Emery? How does it feel to know you're a blood-thirsty killer?

"SHUT UP!" I yelled at the voices, clutching my head while vigorously shaking it in denial.

It's your damn fault that she's dead, Emery! You ruined everything you stupid bitch! She had her whole life in front of her, and you just cut it off! No notice. Just cut it off!

The voice inside my head laughed.

You know, Emery, this is sad. You know it's your damn fault that you are in this mess. You wanted everyone to like you. You wanted everyone to see you had been right all along. You wanted some kind of drama in your life so that everyone could focus on you, and you got it. Only, the kind of drama you got could end up with them killing you. I pity you, Emery. No one cares about you. Haven't you gotten it that everyone hates you?

I was quiet as the voice continued in my head.

You know what? You should save yourself the trouble. We both know that every witch is looking for you and wants to kill you. No one cares for you, and they won't hesitate to end you. 

Just do the job yourself. You have caused everyone so much pain with your presence. No one will miss you, and you will do them a favor by not existing anymore. There is nothing waiting for you here. There is no one willing to love you or cope up with you anymore. What will you choose, Emery?

The voice stopped talking in my head. Silent tears were falling down my cheeks. I stared at the water, not worried about how it looked a light red at the moment.

The voice was right. Every bad thing that happened to me was what I deserved. I did not deserve to live knowing that everyone hated me, knowing that I killed Ashley, but more so knowing that I could hurt someone again.

No, I was done with that. I was going to do everyone a favor and just end my life. Things would be okay; everything would be better, and I was certain that no one would mourn for my death. 

That was what I was reduced to: a person who had no value, who was not loved, and who had brought destruction around them. Continuing to live would just be me playing a game with fate.

Yeah, ending myself felt right.

I got up from the tub, quickly dried myself off and took a change of clothes. I wore the clothes I had recently taken off, choosing to replace my shirt with a long-sleeved one to hide the cuts on my wrists.

I felt a sudden rush of giddiness like something had been taken off my chest. I never thought such a feeling could take over me despite what I planned to do. I expected to be depressed and sad, but I was happy. 

I had endured eight months of sorrow, and that was the first time in a long while that I felt truly happy. 

I could even picture it: I would be gone, and everyone would carry on with their lives without a crystal to threaten their lifestyles. I would go to a better place and feel no more pain.

I teleported a piece of paper and a pen. It felt wrong to join the spiritual world without leaving a note. No one would care about my death, but it would be important to leave something as proof that I had truly died.

To whoever finds this,

Don't bother looking for me. I'm dead.

Sincerely,

Emery Davis

There was nothing more to say in the letter. Everyone hated me, and I was certain they wouldn't want a long message.

I folded the letter in two as a smile took over my features. Tears had once again formed in my eyes, and I wiped them off. Even though I was going to commit suicide, I knew things would be great. The world would continue without someone to add to its problems, and no witch would get hurt again.

With that decision made, I walked out of my suite. I left the door open, not caring if someone would want to steal anything of mine. There was nothing left in there worth saving because they were all materialistic things. 

I found myself walking towards the hallway. There was barely anyone around at that time, and those who were present looked at me weirdly.

"Is that Emery Davis?" I heard someone ask, but I did not turn to face them. 

"Are you okay?" someone else had asked me in confusion, and I just nodded with a smile. I left him and the other two in the hallway as I continued to head towards my destination.

Minutes later, I found myself standing at the top of the hotel building. There was thunder and lightning as rain continued to pour. The wind had picked up its speed, slightly forcing me to narrow my eyes and making everything around me feel cold. The floor was slippery, and my clothes were quickly getting damp.

I moved forward, inching towards the edge of the building. A flash of lightning brought out the couple of satellites that were not on my path. I kept walking until I could see the concrete banister.

I walked towards it and slowly climbed it. It was wide enough to accommodate my feet.

My heart continued pounding when I was fully standing on the banister. 

I took in a deep sigh as I stared at the barely-visible objects in front of me.

It was still raining, and night had rolled in by then. The clouds were dark as rain continued to pour over the city. The ground itself looked far, but for once, I did not mind. It was my last day of being alive, and I didn't care about whatever would happen.

I looked back at the sky again. 

I would miss the rain. I would miss the feeling of it pelting on my skin and clothes, even if it annoyed me at times. I would miss the cold around me, the wind, the fog and even the days of snow.

That thought had me replaying the memories in my life. I recalled my first memory. I was still a child, and my mother and father looked down at me with love in their eyes. 

"Emery, honey?"

"Yes, Daddy?"

"I love you."

"Love you too, Daddy."

I recalled meeting Erick and Justin in Crystalia, celebrating birthdays, and even playing with them. We had been friends during those years. Then I frowned as I remembered high school. Things seemed to switch from that point.

Even though everyone had caused me so much pain and I them, I would miss them. But I had to do it. I had to end all the pain I caused.

With a smile, I moved forward. I felt nothing below my left foot. I looked down, noticing that I was supporting myself with the other foot still on the banister. I looked around me one more time, staring at my surroundings.

No more pain. No more anger. No more sadness. No more suffering.

"Goodbye," I whispered into the air, even though I knew it would not reply. Then I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I tried to calm my breathing. I stayed on the banister for a while until I felt like I was suspended in air. 

I raised my arms, and with a sigh, I let go.

Memories of my life kept playing in my mind as I felt the wind on my face. I felt like I was floating in the air as if I couldn't feel myself falling to the ground.

I hadn't noticed the tears streaming out of my eyes until I felt a fleeting warmness on my head. 

No more pain... no more pain...

 

 

"Emery!" I thought I heard a voice shout behind me. It seemed familiar. Must have been someone calling out to me from heaven.

No more tears. No more suffering. No more pain.

Suddenly, arms grasped my form. I felt the wind stop blowing on my face, and seconds later, I felt the hard ground below my feet.

Thunder rumbled, bringing my focus back to my surroundings. 

Was I dead?

I opened my eyes to find out. Instead of seeing the ground below or pastures of green grass, I saw the banister of the building I had fallen off.

My eyes widened in shock and disbelief as a feeling of dread took over. 

How could I be back there? Wasn't I dead? 

I pinched myself to make sure, surprised that I felt pain. Maybe that was normal.

It was then that I felt I wasn't alone. Someone was heavily breathing behind me. I thought it was an angel, and so I turned to face them.

My smile turned into a frown when I noticed who it was.

Zane.

What the hell?

He looked angry.

Wait. Was I seeing things right?

I pinched my arm as I closed my eyes. Seconds later, I opened them. Zane was still there.

My eyes widened in shock.

Was I in hell?

"What were you doing, Emery?" Zane yelled at me, interrupting my thoughts. For a moment, I thought I was looking at a demon that materialized into him so it could torture me for the rest of eternity. Then I noticed something.

I felt the cold air around me. My bare feet were still on the watery floor, and the rain was still pelting on my form. Moreover, there was a stinging pain on my wrists.

I brought them up, seeing that parts of the shirt I had worn was covered in blood.

"Emery!" Zane yelled again as he grabbed my hands. He pulled down the sleeves of my shirt, revealing the cuts on my wrists. It was then that he was silenced into shock. His reaction did not deter me from my thoughts.

I was still alive.

Words could not describe the shock and huge disappointment that I felt. Those emotions quickly turned to anger. How dare Zane?

How could he?

"What did you do?" I yelled at Zane, removing my arms from his hold as I repeatedly beat him on the chest. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Emery..." Zane trailed off, not knowing what to say as I saw his eyes suddenly tear up. I was so mad at him for what he did. 

Maybe it's not too late... 

With that thought, I ran towards the banister and went to climb it. I had just placed one foot when Zane's arms wrapped around my waist. I yelled as he moved us back and away from the banister.

He suddenly stopped and turned me to face him. He looked shocked as he stared at me. I shook my head in disbelief at him as I turned to run, but he quickly grabbed me. He had us on the ground, still caging me in his hold. I tried to move, but he wouldn't budge. I got angrier, struggling to free myself.

"Let me go!" I yelled in anger as I struggled out of his hold, but Zane still wouldn't budge. I hit his arms with my hands, but he wouldn't still move. In fact, he tightened his hold around me.

"I was going to do everyone a favor!" I yelled in anger just as lightning flashed in the sky. "I was going to end my life! I know you all wanted me dead, and I was going to do it. I was so close, Zane!"

I kept struggling out of his arms. 

"What is wrong with you? Why did you stop me? I could have been gone by now! You wouldn't have even had to see me again!" 

Zane did not reply. I tried to move out of his hold, but he wouldn't let go.

"Do you want to see me kill myself? Do you actually want to kill me yourself? What is it, Zane?"

He still did not reply.

"I know I mean nothing and that I'm a worthless bitch. You don't have to tell me again. Now let me go."

Zane gave no response.

"Let me go," I demanded again, but he refused. I was surprised and angry. 

"Zane, let me go," I yelled, struggling to set myself free. Zane placed his chin on my shoulder, and he had us in an unexpected embrace. It was weird because I was still not being released, and frustrated tears had started to cloud my vision.

"ZANE, LET ME GO!" I yelled as sobs started racking my form. I couldn't believe it. He was not letting me go.

Why?

"Let me go! Let. Me. Go!"

Zane ignored my pleas, cuddling with me and firmly planting my form to his. 

"Why are you doing this? There is nothing left for me here!"

I was so close... so close to getting out of the world... so close to escaping my misery...

I stopped fighting him when more tears came out.

I was so close.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE (FINAL CHAPTER)

 

 

Third Person's P.O.V

"Why did you bring me here?" Emery asked with a low voice, but Zane did not answer her. He was quickly rushing towards the entrance of the castle with Emery in his arms. The guards who were stationed at the doors took a brief glance that quickly turned into shocked looks. They stared onwards as the two individuals made their way into the castle.

"I found her!" Zane screamed through the hallways.

Erick, Justin, Selena and the rest of the members of the Ordinary Brothers had been in the main study room when they heard Zane's shout. The Queen was among them, and they all quickly left the room to go to him.

It didn't take them long to spot him. Once they did, they were shocked.

"Emery!" The Queen and Selena gasped, running towards the crystal. 

It was quite a sight. Zane and Emery were still drenched with hair strands sticking on their forehead and their clothes stuck on their forms. 

Emery's eyes stared forward as Elizabeth touched her face, checking for any signs of injury. The Queen looked at her form, noticing a pale-red patch near Emery's wrists.

Elizabeth raised the cloth to reveal the skin beneath, and she gasped at what she saw. There were red cuts on the skin. The Queen quickly realized they had been recent. She looked onto the other wrist, noticing they had the same cuts.

"Did you do this to her?" she growled at Zane. His eyebrows momentarily shot up.

"What?" he asked, turning his head so he could face what Elizabeth spotted. Once he did, he hissed in anger before loudly cussing. 

Zane realized that he was still holding Emery. He went down, and Emery quickly got out of his hold to sit on the floor. Zane felt the loss of her warmth, and it pained him.

"Well, did you do it or not?" Elizabeth persisted with her question. Zane sighed as he took out a piece of folded paper from his pocket. He had obtained it from Emery's suite. He handed it to the Queen. She took it, quickly unfolding it while the rest turned their attention towards it.

Once everyone had finished reading the note, there were a couple of mixed reactions. They were angry, sad and a bit embarrassed.

"She almost committed suicide," Zane announced as his eyes gained a far-away look. Selena began crying out loud, running to envelope Emery in a hug. Emery did not respond to her cousin's hug or the sad stares she was receiving, sitting still on the floor as she stared at nothing. Selena was perplexed by the coldness of Emery's skin.

"She's cold, guys. Let's get her warm," Selena said. The rest began moving, but they noticed that Emery was still. 

"Emery?" Logan called out as he waved a hand in front of her face. "Why isn't she responding?"

"She has been like that ever since I found her," Zane informed as he bent to carry Emery. She did not fight him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Logan went to speak, but he decided against it. He looked at Emery, and feelings of anger and regret took over him.

They all went towards Emery's room in the castle. The guys stayed outside as Selena and the Queen helped Emery change her clothes. They had also healed her wrists. All the while, Emery was silent, and that scared them.

"Emery..." Selena spoke, but Emery ignored her.

"Come on, dear. It's better if we leave her alone for now," Elizabeth advised. Selena had no option but to nod as she followed the Queen out of the room. 

"Someone needs to watch her," Erick said once the door was closed.

"We could place a guard near her door," Elizabeth suggested. "I would like to do it myself, but we need to talk about her."

Erick called for a guard who came to stand near the door.

"Do you think this will be enough?" Selena asked with uncertainty. "What if she tries to escape again, or tries to--"

"Don't finish that sentence," Erick cut her off with a glare. He knew where she was going, and he did not want to picture it.

Selena had flinched at the look she received. Erick sighed and apologized.

"She won't," Elizabeth said with a certain expression. "I enchanted her room with a barrier spell. I even disposed of the things she could use to hurt herself. The guard will be here to tell us if anything happens."

Erick, Selena and Elizabeth then began their walk towards the main study room. Justin and the rest of the boys were also there.

"Is she okay?" Logan and Justin asked at the same time.

"She's fine," Erick said with a doubtful expression. "I don't know. We need to talk about her."

"She has been quiet ever since she got back. What's happening?" Ethan asked with raised eyebrows.

"We don't know," Erick said. "But we plan to have a doctor check her out."

"Erick, she does not have physical wounds," Zane spat out. "She needs help!"

"What do you know, Zane?" Logan yelled at him with a glare. "Weren't you the one who beat her up two days ago?"

"Logan, now is not the time," Erick intervened the conversation that threatened to become a fight.

"You were not there, Logan!" Zane yelled at Logan as tears clouded his vision. "You were not there when I saw her! She looked so broken. She had obviously given up on life, and she did not care about ending her life."

Zane's mind chose that moment to replay the events that had occurred on that day. Like the rest, he had been worried about Emery after she had run from the castle. 

Ever since Emery had almost killed him for abusing her, he had been in a state of self-hatred. He believed he deserved what Emery had almost done to his life. In spite of all that, Zane wanted to apologize for every bad thing he had done to her. He wanted to make things right. He wanted Emery to have her life back even if it meant that she would still hate him. He still cared for her, and that was why he had volunteered to help search for her.

Everyone had been looking for her for the whole day. No one had been successful in finding her, and so they were planning to look for her on the following day.

Zane, however, was adamant in finding her. 

It was later during the day that he had a feeling he knew where Emery was. He had chanted a disguise spell before he had begun to look into hotels in New York, asking if anyone had seen her or if she had booked a stay there. Some of the hotels were reluctant and suspicious as to why he was looking for her.

It was in one particular hotel where he found her.

He had noticed the mistakes he had done on the previous hotels and so he lied to the staff that he was a cousin of hers. As soon as he had received the necessary information, Zane raced towards Emery's suite.

He had been surprised to find it open. That had worried him a lot.

He entered the room, calling for her until he stopped at the bathroom. The tub was full of water, but what frightened him was the water tinged with blood. In a panic, Zane started looking around for her in the tub, splashing water everywhere. Fortunately for him, Emery's body was not there.

That still did not ease his worry. Zane continued looking for Emery, and that was how he found the letter she left.

He read it, and without wasting time, he ran out of the suite. He asked the people along the hallway if they had seen her. No one knew who she was, but they did mention a woman who matched his description of Emery.

Zane guessed that Emery was going to the top of the building. He went there and found her in the rain, standing on the banister. Before he could move, Emery had started falling. Zane screamed for her before thoughtlessly teleporting to her form. He was falling, and he tried hard not to focus on that as he grabbed Emery before teleporting back to the top of the building.

He was glad that he saved her, but he was scared of what could have happened if he had not been there on time. It made him silently cry as he embraced a sobbing Emery in the rain. Zane hated himself more for pushing Emery to kill herself. 

The two of them remained crouched in the rain. Emery continued to sob for minutes as the rain mercilessly poured over them. It was after she had finished crying when Zane took her to Crystalia.

"Zane, where did you find her?" Harry asked with a concerned look.

"She was on the top floor of the hotel, standing on the banister. She was going to jump to her death."

"No!" Erick spoke in shock as tears clouded his eyes.

"It was raining at that time. She could have slipped and fell, guys." Zane swallowed before adding, "I believe she would have been okay with that."

Tears started falling down Zane's cheeks. "She wanted to die, and she jumped. She actually jumped."

There was a collective gasp in the room as Zane began crying out loud.

"I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't... if I hadn't been there on time."

Zane shuddered at the image formed in his mind. If Emery had fallen to her death, every bone in her body would have been broken, and her body would have looked unidentifiable. He did not want that for Emery.

"That's why I'm saying she needs help. I think she has mental issues."

"Are you saying she's crazy?" Liam asked in a shout.

"No. She yelled at me for saving her from her death. She told me she was so close and that she knew she was nothing. I think she has it in her head that she has nothing to live for. She thinks she is worthless. She's so depressed, guys. That's why she needs help."

There was a moment of silence in the room as everyone started thinking of what to do.

"If she had issues, wouldn't she have talked to us?" Selena asked.

"She doesn't trust us. Well, she trusts the rest of you more than Zane and me," Harry answered with an expressionless tone.

"She needs to go to a mental institution," Elizabeth relented. That was met by voices of protest.

"WHAT?"

"Mom, are you crazy?"

"She's not psychotic!"

"She's just having a bad month."

"Hey!" Elizabeth shouted, stopping everyone from further speaking. "I'm sorry for saying this, but Zane is right. Emery has been hurt a lot. I don't think any word we will say to her will help. It's also possible that she may try to kill herself again."

"B-but, mom..." Justin trailed off.

"You all don't have to worry. She will be here with us. I believe the new hospital has a mental ward," Elizabeth reassured them.

They all started to consider the Queen's suggestion.

"Mom, are you sure about this?" Justin asked with a worried glance. "It will make her seem crazy."

"But she's not," Elizabeth replied. "Emery needs a break from everything in life. She needs a change of environment, and she needs someone to help her with her situation and to also help with the issues she has endured. This will be good for her."

There was a moment of silence in the room as everyone pondered on the Queen's words. Everyone came to agree after a while.

"We are really doing this, aren't we?" Selena asked. Justin nodded in confirmation as they all left the room to start making plans for Emery.

***********************************************************************************************

"Emery?" Zane called out as he slightly pushed the door open. Behind him were Erick, Selena, Justin and Elizabeth. They were all met with silence. At first, they thought that Emery had been asleep.

It was until that they pushed the door wider when they noticed a few scratch marks on the walls.

"Emery..." Selena had trailed off in horror and disbelief as she looked at her surroundings. The sheets looked torn, and a couple of dressers and cabinets were on the floor. It was evident that Emery had been trying to find her way out of the room, but she had failed.

"Let me out," Emery practically growled as she faced everyone with a glare.

"You know we can't let you do that," Erick replied, and Emery's form tensed.

"Why? I know I'm not wanted here."

"Emery--" Justin started, but he was cut off.

"I know you all want to kill me, but I can make a promise. I can swear that you won't ever see me again."

"Emery--"

"I'll disappear for good!" Emery added with an uncertain smile.

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at her in shocked disbelief.

"How can you act like this?" Zane broke the silence.

"Like what?" Emery questioned him. He chose to glare at her.

"Like nothing had happened?"

"Gee! As far as I know, it doesn't concern you."

"It concerns me because I was the one who found you when you were close to killing yourself!" Zane boomed, and Emery flinched in surprise. "I saw the blood in the tub, Emery. It doesn't take a genius to know that you cut yourself."

"Let me go," Emery demanded as tears started to form in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Emery, but we can't," stated Selena.

"Let me go!" Emery yelled as she tried to throw them out of the room with her powers, but nothing happened. Tears of frustration soon filled her eyes.

They had disabled her powers.

"Emery, we are not going to kill you," Erick stated with as much gentleness as he could summon. "We are all worried about you."

"Erick--"

"You need help, Emery," Justin cut her off. "We all care about you and want the best for you."

"Then let me leave," Emery begged in her voice.

"I'm sorry, Emery, but it is for your own good."

 As soon as those words left Erick's lips, four paramedics dressed in white entered the room. They had entered with a gurney.

"Guys?" Emery questioned with a panicked look as she stared at the strangers in the room.

"Relax, Emery. They just want to take you to the hospital--"

"Hospital? I'm not sick!" Emery cut Elizabeth off. "Let me go!"

Emery went to run out of the room, but two sets of hands grabbed her. She released a startled cry as two paramedics went to stand in front of her.

"Be gentle with her!" Zane spat. Emery was momentarily confused by what was happening. She soon felt a sting on her left shoulder. She turned, noticing there was a syringe delivering a drug in her system.

"What have you--" Emery cut herself off when she suddenly felt woozy. A paramedic was quick to catch her unsteady form. Another one joined him to help carry her form and place her on the gurney.

About a minute later, Emery was fast asleep. Zane, the Queen's family, Selena and the paramedics were seen walking out of the castle.

"I'm sorry, Emery," Zane whispered as he looked down at the girl on the gurney. He took a brief glance at his surroundings before looking down at her. "You may hate me for this, but you should understand that you need this. I believe you will get better, and then maybe, everything will be okay. Things will be okay for you again."

He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. "Maybe things will turn out well for us."

 

 

MORE NEWS

 

There is another book that is in the works. I will post it once I’m done.

Anyway, I am glad you took your time to read this one. Thanks!

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 30.09.2017

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