Shattering Crystals

No one answers. They all turn to me, expecting an explanation.

“I, uh, I’m sure there’s a place for him,” I say uncertainly. Part of me actually believes it – I was told to take him back with us. The other part… well, I’m not so sure. Cody sighs at this and buries his head in his hands.

“I’llohifeeohs.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said,” Cody says, lifting up his head, ”I’ll go if he goes.”

“You will?” I ask, surprised. I had expected to persuade him for at least another hour, or way more.

“If Connor goes,” he reminds me. “I don’t know if he still wants to, though.”

“Dean, go help Cody find him,” Lorraine says, her tone commanding. “Me and Dana can, uh, plan where we’re going next.”

The guys nod and head out the door. Lorraine plops down in Cody’s vacant seat, and I sit in the chair next to her.

“How did you find him?” she asks, with genuine curiosity.

“I went with Connor to his house to get some supplies.”

”Yeah. Thought they looked alike. Why didn’t you tell me?” she asks, disapproving.

“You were asleep,” I state simply.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She shifts slightly in her seat.

“Well, what do you think? Do you think he’ll be a help to us?”

“He’s alright. Gets quite angry, though.” I can see in her brown eyes that she thinks of him as more than just that. She’s excited about him, and so am I. We’ve completed one part of our mission. Plus, he’s pretty hot.

“Yeah, I noticed. So, how are we going to plan this?”

“What?” she says, slightly distracted. “Oh. Yeah. Well, Marigold did tell you to come here. Why can’t she tell you the next place?”

“She already told me she doesn’t know. We’re going to have to figure it out, but she also said that the magic is going to help us.”

“And how exactly are we supposed to know what that means?”

“I don’t know. She stopped talking to me right after that.”

“I see… Well, do you know how to detect magic yet?”

“Uh, kinda. Like with the sparks thing. I only discovered it this morning with Cody though, so I don’t know how that’s going to work out…”

“Well, I kinda felt something when I got near him,” she says.

“It’s called sexual attraction.”

She rolls her eyes at this. “It was like, a weird… tingling sensation.”

“It’s called sexual attraction.”

“Yeah, you know what I mean. I know you could feel that too. I wonder if it works long distance.”

“I don’t know. How are we supposed to test that out?”

“Hmm.” She gets up from her seat and slowly revolves on the spot, her arm stuck out in front of her. I try not to laugh at how stupid she looks, but then she sits down. “I didn’t feel anything.”

“I wouldn’t think so. Maybe there’s another way.”

We look around the room, although I don’t know what we’re looking for exactly. In the corner of the room, we find a golden globe on its stand. I run my fingers over the smooth surface, spinning it. But then I feel something

“Wait… I felt that feeling again,” I say, stopping the globe.

“You mean, ‘sexual attraction’? I didn’t know you were into globes like that.”

“Seriously, though.” I turn it until North America is facing up. I place a finger on our current location (or as close as I can get) and I get that faint tingling sensation again. As I move it down, the feeling only gets stronger. But once I pass Florida and into the ocean, it weakens. “Right here.”

“Let me see.” She does the same as I just did, and she stops on Florida, just like I did. “I think we’re supposed to go to Florida.”

“Yeah, but Florida is a pretty big state.”

“We can figure out town and stuff later. It’s not important right now. But we obviously can’t take this globe with us, so we’re going to need another way to figure out places.”

“How about a map?” I suggest.

“Let’s print one out at the library or something tomorrow. Right now, we have to go see if Connor and Cody are going. We also need to know how long we’re going to be staying here before going to Florida.”

“How about forever?”

“I wish. I don’t want to wander around and sleep on park benches again. Or those long-ass bus rides. But there’s nothing we can do about it,” she says, sighing.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Let’s go find the guys then.”

He head out the back door, the same way they all went. Finding them isn’t hard – we follow the sound of their voices, which lead us to the shed.

The brothers are sitting on the grass behind the shed, arguing about something, while Dean leans against the blue paneling, calm as ever.

“Connor,” I ask, nervous. My palms decide to be annoying and start sweating a bit. “So… are you going with us?”

He looks up. “I don’t know you.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Lorraine says. “You know we have to keep it a secret.”

“I told you who I was. And I’m still not sure what your real names are. You could be lying again.”

“You could have been lying, too,” I point out.

“And I wasn’t. It makes all the difference.”

“Connor,” Lorraine says, “are you going or not?”

“Yeah, are you?” Cody asks, as his future is also determined by Connor.

“I…” I can see the defiance in his eyes. The longing to escape. The anger. They fight with each other, and it takes him a while to come to a conclusion. “I will.”

“Great,” Lorraine says, her eyes lighting up. I know that I must be the same way.

“Yeah, glad to hear that,” I say. I hold my hand out to help him up. He totally ignores it and gets up by himself.

“I may be going with you,” he says, looking me straight in the eye, “but you must know… I am not your friend.”