Shattering Crystals

A door slams somewhere upstairs.

"What was that?" I question, to no one in particular. I'm used to Aaron's accidental door slamming, but this one seems to be very much on purpose.

Connor shrugs. We're sitting on the floor in my daisy-covered room, leaning against the bed and the large map laid out in front of us. Hawaii really does seem to be our next destination... but the magic coming from it feels different. Strong, and maybe too powerful. Could it be dangerous?

"Do you want to go see?" he asks. He had been sitting with me the whole time, watching me puzzle over this strange fact. It was probably extremely tedious, as he doesn't have the power to help me.

"I guess," I say. "I hope something's not wrong?"

Connor gets up quickly, and then offers his hand to help me up. A simple gesture, but cute - just like him. We walk up the now-familiar staircase and onto the third floor.

In the hallway, Elise stands alone, in front of Aaron's door, her hands in her pockets. She's not doing anything, not moving, just staring at the golden number painted on the front of it.

"What happened?" I ask.

"He dumped me," she says, as still as a statue. Only her lips move to speak those words.

"What?" I say. "Why? You seemed really happy together..."

She shakes her head and takes a deep breath. "I don't want to talk about it right now." I can tell, by the sound of her voice that she's close to tears. She suddenly looks away, as if she was snapping back to reality. She runs into her room, down the long hallway from Aaron's.

"That was... strange," Connor murmurs. "Do you think I should ask Aaron what happened?"

I shake my head. "Don't... it might make things worse." But half of me really does want him to ask, to find out what's wrong here.

"I wonder if Dean knows anything..." Connor says. "I know he likes her."

"He might." I agree. "It's obvious he still likes her... he would know if something's wrong."

"Let's check the lobby, then. I see him there, all the time. Reading or something."

We walk down two flights of stairs, and by then I start to get annoyed with them. Sure, they are pretty, but Lynda really should get an elevator. I can almost taste my own relief as my foot hits the first floor.

"I was right, he's here," Connor says. "But... I think he's busy."

Dean is sitting on one of the many, many, chairs in Lynda's enormous lobby. And sitting in an adjacent spot is Ashlee. They seem to be laughing over something, having the time of their lives - unlike Elise and Aaron.

"What's up with them?" I wonder out loud.

"I guess they're the only ones not dating somebody," Connor says. "I mean, if you don't count Aaron and Elise, right now."

"Well, maybe Lorraine knows something," I say. "You know how she is with gossip."

"True."

"Where do you think she is?" In this huge house, she could be anywhere.

"With Cody. And knowing my brother... he's in the kitchen."

I nod my head and then walk to the kitchen, still irrationally annoyed about the whole elevator thing. As we near the kitchen, the smell of food fills the air and I'm sure that Cody is there, along with Lorraine.

But I'm wrong, I find out as I enter the room. Lorraine is in the room, but instead of Cody, there's Lynda, sitting at the small round table, her face streaked with tears and her makeup running. When did she start wearing makeup like that? But I kick that irrelevant thought from my mind and focus on the one that really matters - the reason for her sorrow. Lorraine is busy, standing over something in the oven.

"Lynda?" I ask. "What's wrong?"

"Wessley," she says, sniffling. Her usually pale face is now red and blotchy. I wonder how many relationship problems will turn up today. Though I don’t want to think about it - what if something happens with Connor?

"What did he do?"

"We just... we just fought," she says, starting to hiccup. "It wasn't anything big, really. Just something stupid about this whole magic thing."

"What did he say?"

"I don't even know..." she says. "He just said something about how this was all just so complicated... and that he really didn't want to do it."

"Well, that's the second thing that happened today," Connor said.

"What happened?" Lorraine says, turning to us. She’s immediately hungry for gossip and reacting in just the way I thought she would.

"We don't know," I tell her. "Aaron and Elise broke up, but they didn't tell us why."

"But they seemed so happy!" Lorraine exclaims.

So did Lynda and Wessley, I think. "That's what I said, too," I say. I turn to Lynda. "Where is Wessley?"

"I don't know," she says. She sighs and puts her head down on the table. "In the game room, probably. He loves it there. But I know he didn't leave the house."

"Let's go talk to Elise," Lorraine says suddenly. This remark raises more than a few eyebrows, as everyone knows the rivalry between them.

"I thought you didn't like her," Connor says.

"I don't. But I just want to know what happened. Don't you?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then Dana, let's go," Lorraine continues, cutting off Connor. "Connor, stay here and get the cookies out of the oven in five minutes."

He walks over to the oven and picks up Lorraine's pink oven mitts. “These are pretty hot.”

“Just your color,” she says. “Don’t eat the cookies, though. I still have to frost them.”

“Fine, fine, whatever,” he says, and I know he’ll probably eat them anyways.

Lorraine grabs my arm and drags me out of the room. We head back into the lobby, nearly at a running speed. We pass by Dean and Ashlee, but they barely seem to notice us. I have to run up the stairs to keep pace with Lorraine, and once again it pisses me off. After two long flights of stairs, we're nearly out of breath.

"Okay," Lorraine says, walking at a casual pace again, "that's Elise's room, right?" She points to the one all the way at the end of the long hallway.

"Yup," I say. "The door's wide open..."

"Let's go see." I do kind of feel bad for invading privacy like that, but curiosity really eats away at you.

We hear two voices speaking - one female and choked with tears - Elise. The other one is male - Aaron? The truth is that they were happy together, and getting back together so soon would be very likely. Aaron does tend to do things on impulse. Lorraine tiptoes over to the door and peeks in.

"Oh my god." Her words send my thoughts all over the place, wondering what could be happening. I stand over her and take a look for myself.

Sitting on the bed, Elise has her face in her hands and she's sobbing into them. And sitting next to her... Wessley. I can barely make out his words over the sound of Elise's crying, but he seems to be comforting her. He puts an arm around her and apparently tells her it's okay.

I don't know what ultimately happens, because I turn around and leave the second that their lips meet.