Shattering Crystals

I turn away from the boy. Then I realize that I don’t even know his name. “I’m Diana, by the way,” I say without turning back around. I stay cautious, not telling him my real name. Even if it’s just one letter away.

“Connor,” he says simply.

I silently take the path that Dean and Lorraine had, Connor pulling the hood of his navy blue sweatshirt up over his head. I try to keep my eyes off of his pretty face, but he looks up at me through his thick, dark eyelashes.

I didn’t realize that I was staring. I peel my eyes away from him and resume walking at a normal pace. He walks a couple steps behind me, keeping his head down. At least he knows how to hide himself.

I cross the street carefully and into a small, nondescript diner, one of the places that we had visited yesterday. A bell rings as I open the door. The heavy scent of cooking food is in the air and I inhale deeply, filling my lungs with the warm, comforting smells. It smells like home, kind of.

Unlike home, the black and white tiles of the floor are stained. But they appear to be swept clean. There are many scratches on them, most likely from customers pulling their seats in and out from under the small table.

I spot Dean and Lorraine sitting in a booth in the back and I head over to them, Connor in tow. The look up from their laminated menus as we approach their table.

“Uhh…?” Lorraine says, arching one of her thin eyebrows. Connor rolls his eyes at her. I slide myself into the hard plastic booth, squishing in next to Lorraine, while Connor does the same on Dean’s side (without the squishing).

“Is he – “ Dean starts to say, but I just put my finger to my lips and shake my head. He just gives me a confused look.

A silence follows, in which Lorraine and Dean look from Connor to me, and Connor to me. They seem to be questioning me, but I can’t explain in front of Connor.

“Hey, Dana, come to the bathroom with me?” Lorraine asks. Before I can answer, she pushes me out of the seat, indicating that it wasn’t really a question. I steady myself and walk into the cramped ladies’ room, which contains only two grimy stalls.

“Who is he?” she says as the heavy door swings shut.

“Connor,” I say, fearing that she would be angry if I told her what had really happened. Instead, I turn to the sink and turn on the water, avoiding her gaze. Plus, washing my hands seems like a good idea after sleeping on a park bench last night.

“Well… when Dean asked, you said that he wasn’t anyone that we need. So why did you bring him? Why is he with us now?”

“He threatened to report us to the police if he couldn’t come with us. He… he figured out who we are.”

“Did you tell him?”

“No, I’m not that stupid,” I say. “I used our past life names, to throw him off.”

“And that’s all?”

“Yeah.”

Lorraine rolls her chocolate brown eyes. “You know that we could just run and use magic or something if needed. There has to be more to it than that.”

“Well, I wasn’t thinking of that at the time. He kinda caught me off guard, and you guys weren’t there. So I had to do something about it.”

“So you decided to take him? He could be dangerous…”

“He looks so… innocent, though,” I admit sheepishly. “He’s just so adorable. He wanted to come with us… and I couldn’t say now.

“Yeah, but you can’t take him with us just because he has a pretty face. He doesn’t have any money, supplies, or anything, from the looks of it. How do you expect to support an unnecessary extra with our situation? We barely even have stuff for ourselves, and we still don’t have a place to stay! One more person is just going to make it that much easier for us to be caught, and our adventure will be over. I’m pretty sure everyone back at home won’t even let us our of their sight, afraid that we’ll run away again.”

“Like I said, I wasn’t thinking of anything like that...” I was really only thinking of how to not get our cover blown. And how I got that strange need to protect Connor.

“Well, we need to go and tell him that he can’t come. Or just ditch him here. We can’t take him with us.”

“I… But Marigold told me to take him,” I tell her. “Shouldn’t we listen to her? Maybe he knows something.”

“He wouldn’t, I don’t think. And he’s not magical or anything, so why would we have to take him with us? It just doesn’t make sense. Marigold will understand that we just can’t.”

“But…”

“You have to.” I mechanically nod my head. Lorraine give me a small smile. “You just met this guy, anyway. I don’t think he’ll be that offended.”

“Yeah, I guess not.” I reach for the paper towels, drying my hands while Lorraine washes her own. I use the paper towel to grip the door handle.

“Don’t worry, I’ll back you up,” she says. “It needs to be done though.”

I nod again, my stomach flipping over with a feeling that she’s very, very wrong.