The stars were crystals of different kinds, from the pinkest reds to the darkest greens, and many other betweens. The atmosphere was now more chilly and although I felt cold, Tevessa's arm around my shoulder was unbelievably warming. We were lying by the riverbank, side by side, my left leg over his right. The water would occasionally drift forward and when it did, it brushed our legs and warmed our toes.

"I've been thinking about you," Tevessa broke the comfortable silence between us. It made me turn to look at him. His sideburns and stubble showed just how different he was from Kingsley Isnaul. King was lean, Tevessa looked stronger, more dangerous. King was the stereotype of a sweetheart, Tevessa took the figure of a bouncer. King was my boyfriend, Tevessa was my. . .

"Thinking about me?" I raised an eyebrow and lay on my side so I could stare at him. He did the same so that we were now facing each other, his hair tilted to his position. He slowly held his hand over mine. The contrast was striking: my pale brown and his rough tanned skin.

"My father didn't trust you. He couldn't, still trying to get over the Chinese's betrayal. And I was supposed to side him. The moment you found out that we were Asterions, I was supposed to kill you because if you told Crypta, he would put the pieces together. Even now, now that you know who we are..." Tevessa turned me so that I was back flat on the floor and he hovered above me, his hands above my shoulders, "It's so easy for me to kill you and take away the risk of our hideout being exposed. Yet, Emery, yet I can't."

It was difficult to not notice how his chest was heaving in and out and I could not take my eyes off the muscles that surrounded the top part of his body. Tevessa was now in a pair of black trousers--he'd gotten them from where he'd originally been--and his red shirt was beside him. I had kept to my pyjama set despite its damp smell and cold feel. Anything to stay away from being naked.

"Why's that?"

"Are you asking me that?" He got off me and faced the sky instead. "Look up. Can you see your crystal?"

I tore my eyes off him and stared at the crystals. There were numerous and I doubted I would be able to spot one. "That's like telling me to keep my eyes on one star, Tevessa."

"Is it impossible?"

"On earth it is."

"Your crystal will call you somehow. Just look up at the sky."

Sighing, I gazed at the night sky. The oddly warm water brushed against my skin helping me feel better. Tevessa stretched his right arm to me and I rested on it and leaned into him. Though the crystals were different, those close to each other had a hue in common. There were four major colours: red, blue, green, and yellow, isolated from each other. From the red, one shone brighter at me. It was a brownish red and seemed to have been polished extra well. It had six sides instead of five, and each side shone, one after the other.

"Do you see it?" Tevessa asked softly as his hand moved up and down my upper arm.

"If you mean the hexagonal star beaming at me," I cooed. "Then, yes."

"I see a tetrahedral star staring at me," he said. "A dark red, calling me to it. Have I told you my crystal before?"

"I don't remember."

"It's garnet. A stone of love and health."

"You and love don't go hand-in-hand."

He gripped my upper arm and pulled me to him. Instinctively, I held onto his hands. My hair fell and its tips brushed Tevessa's chest. "Ah, Emery Valimenati!" He blew my hair so that some flew up but still came back down on his hairy chest. "We both know that's not true. Have you forgotten our little challenge?" He was smirking now, his deep red eyes glinting in amusement.

I pouted. "Are you bipolar?"

"Come again?"

"Seconds ago you were accusing me of sleeping with Elera and his son and now you're... you're flirting?"

He left my arm and proceeded to play with my hair instead. Part of it didn't feel right, not while King was supposed to be my boyfriend. Supposed? He was! "I know you haven't, Emery." He squinted, "Or have you?"

I huffed and hit his chest. He grunted but I was sure it didn't hurt him as much as he dramatically expressed it. "I have a boyfriend, Tevessa."

He formed a gag. "You accepted the Elera's son's advances? Crypta Domroyante?"

"No, what no! I'm dating King now."

"The Elera? Tell me you're not joking."

Rolling my eyes while trying to hold in my laughter. "Not the King, Tevessa. King Isnaul."

He breathed in and turned away. "Oh, that psycho basketball player who lured you to his room and kissed you?"

"You're making me regret telling you that bit of info," I huffed.

"He asked you out again and you accepted?"

"I... Not exactly." I shut my eyes. I had accepted King Isnaul in probably the most horrible way ever. Kissing him in front of the cheerleaders and basketball players to prove a small silly point to Sandra Khaling. Maybe Luan Adams was right about what she'd said to me. I shook my head. "It's complicated."

Pulling me off him, he sat up and stared at the flowing river. "Sometimes I can't seem to get you. A few weeks ago, when we were at this same place, enjoying Nesylone Waters, you admitted that everyone knew this King Isnaul, no? One of Rose-Gold's best basketball players? Did you not say, that you only started to get along a few weeks ago? Abd your friend Sandra and he have been close. How come it's you and not her?"

"Wow. I didn't take you for a lawyer." I said nonchalantly and shrugged.

He stared at me confidently, his coral lips forming a striking confident smile. It was so, so much different from King's rose lips or Crypta's cerise ones. "Nes-hi garnet brings the creative power to manifest," he boasted, putting up his arms like a big man in his big company.

"You're an idiot." I sat up too so that we were closer to each other.

He shook his head. "Don't avoid my question."

"You've said a lot of sentences without exactly asking me any questions."

"Ah! Emery Valimenati is trying to be logical."

"Stop calling me that." I pushed his shoulder playfully.

Chuckling, he traced his finger over the sword on his hand. "Why have you accepted this King Isnaul, honestly?"

"Because I like him."

"What about him?"

I shrugged. "His entire being there."

"What's his favourite colour? Favourite food? Hobby? Likes? Dislike? Annoying feature?"

"Are you jealous?"

"Do you know the answers to those?"

"I don't have to prove anything to you."

He chuckled, and this time, it was very annoying. The water came up again and going back down, left a purple stone at the foot of Tevessa's leg. He grabbed it and the moment he recognized it, he smiled, "Ametrine."

"Does the water do this often?"

"I don't have to prove anything to you," he shot back with a smirk.

"What's your problem?"

"My problem" — he played with the small stone in his hand — "is that you have made a haste decision without proper thinking. Because if you haven't, it wouldn't have been so easy to accept to stay the night with me, or would it have to let us be so intimate with each other."

"Intimate? We are not being intimate. Have I made a mistake agreeing to your request?."

Tevessa sighed, "I don't want us to argue, esha." I rolled my eyes. Handing me the small stone, he said, "Ametrine crystal brings our dreams together. There's a difference between crystal and stone. The crystal is what is present in us, signified by our eye colour. The stone is the rare physical object we may come across more seldom than often."

"So what can you do with this?" The stone was cool to touch and shiny to look at. When I tilted it to the right, it seemed to glow an orange colour, and to the right, it was its purple colour once again.

Tevessa drew stones on the said with his index finger, illustrating as he spoke, "You have Amethyst. A stone that develops intuition and awareness, and facilitates meditation and tranquility."

I nodded. Nes-hi Amethyst was Dariela's crystal. She had used her powers once on me, the day I was 'humiliated' at Kimberly's party. Dariela had walked into Crypta's bathrooms and seen us in such questionable position, and Crypta had asked her to put me to sleep.

Tevessa drew another stone. "And then you have Citrine. A stone of success and abundance, and raises self-esteem."

I looked at both stones. Though sketchy, his drawing of Ametrine was a spiky tetra-octagonal stone and the other a big spiky circle with a bunch of edges. "Fuse them...and you have Ametrine. A stone that manifests one's vision and its crystal can bring our deepest dreams to reality."

"Hmm."

"Nes-hi amethyst is Neymen crystal. Citrine can be Bhishon or Elakki. Except there's a person who's from both divisions as a result of tribal differences, then I doubt there's a person with this crystal. The last was Livante Aghare, an Elakki, the most powerful oil specialist in Neba. He was a magician, too, and he never judged biasedly. Though part Neymen, I have respect for him."

I rubbed my thumb against the stone. "Not all Neymens are bad people. If you do what you want to do, you risk--"

"Livante is a man of half a century ago, Emery. A lot has changed in fifty years."

"Maybe not as much as you expect it."

"Keep the stone. Maybe, one day, your vision will be manifested and you'll realize just how much of a Zadio you are." He grabbed his shirt and wore it before lying down.

"Do you plan to sleep here?"

"It's a long walk back home." He stared at the sky for a few seconds then shut his eyes, abruptly. His left hand rested on his chest and the other held mine.

***

Grabbing the white papers and stuffing them into the small purple purse, I dashed out of the room; one hand on the door handle, the other handling the key, purse tucked under my armpit, phone pressed against my ear with my shoulder to put it in place.

Done, I held my phone and checked to see that Mum hadn't accepted the call yet. I felt like screaming. It'd been so fucking long since I saw her home. Was there something important happening at Clark's? Had she forgotten that she had another child at home, besides Rowan at Birmingham and Nora at the same house as she?

The call ended when there was no response. I called again as I headed to the stairs, ensuring that all other doors were locked. Calling again, I moved to the kitchen to grab a bottle of juice from the refrigerator.

It wasn't even cold. There'd been no power supply for a week now. I could've said a power cut but we never had a power issue that lasted more than a week. I thought about the bills but brushed them off immediately; these things were Mum's and Dad's businesses.

"Hello?" A squeaky voice startled me. Trembling back, I placed my palm on the refrigerator.

"Giada?" I quivered. "Why d'you have my mum's phone?"

"Good morning, sweetie, how are you?"

I shook my head although she couldn't see me. "Good morning." I locked the door and made it to the front door. "Look, I'm just about to leave for Mister Pat's and I don't know if she'd be back today or has a spare with her. Can I speak to her?"

As I opened the door, Dad was standing, cladded in a suit, with a confident polished smile, hands in the pocket of his trousers, polished loafers stepping on my doorway. "What are you doing here?"

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Well, there you have it! Thoughts?

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