The Broken Crystal

Chapter Seventeen

"STOP!"

A yell, strong and powerful.

A hundred confused eyes, flickering, flickering, flickering.

A drenched finger that slipped from the barrel of a wet gun. Then nothing. And soon, the pregnant sound of a gunshot was being replaced with another thunderclap.

Luke breathed out a relieved sigh, while Haven and the crowd turned to the one who had spoken. "It's Wilma!" They whispered amongst each other, some gasping. "Haven's gonna be in so much trouble."

Haven lowered her gun, eyes wide. "Wilma!" she greeted, a pointless effort at sounding casual. "What brings you-"

She spotted Jazz behind the Alpha and immediately stopped the question from flowing out her mouth. Of course she was here because of him. "I see you've brought Jazzy with you. I honestly thought we'd lost him forever!" Haven chuckled awkwardly.

Wilma was not amused. Ignoring Haven's desperate attempts on clearing the air, she rushed over to Luke. Then, ignoring Nate's desperate attempts to stop her, she cupped the condemned boy's face in her palms.

"Luke! Are you alright?"

Luke nodded, but Wilma still checked, lifting his arms and turning him around. The boy couldn't help the shattered laugh that escaped his lips.

"I'm- I'm okay, Wilma. No worries." He smiled at her, even though his face was a map of purple landscapes and salty rivers. Wilma noticed his bound hands and began to untie the knot, sighing when her palms came out red.

"At least they didn't do anything serious to you," she mumbled then turned to Haven, who had been trying to sneak away.

"Haven! The tent. Now. "

Biting the inside of her lip, the girl obliged. Wilma followed close behind, after making sure no one was going to try to kill Luke in her absence. Evanna went along, after releasing herself from the two men holding her.

Once Wilma closed the tent flap, all hell broke loose. "What in the world were you thinking?"

Haven tucked her falling shawl back into place, avoiding the Alpha's eyes as she mumbled: "There was an incident. And-"

Evanna cut her off, her voice a sudden scream in comparison to her ex-friend's low mumble.

"Without any fucking evidence, these fuckers blamed him for some fucking attack and sentenced him to death!" Her eyes were narrow slits, fists tightly clenched. Wilma looked at Haven with the same anger and Haven shook her head frantically.

"That's not how it went! There was this new girl, Crystal, and we were supposed to-"

"Crystal?" Wilma interrupted.

Ever since Jazz had given her the news, she would find herself daydreaming about twisting the odd's usual cruelness. Somehow, somewhere, she believed it could really be her. And the seed of hope had been growing and growing in a secret from everyone. Including herself. It was only now that she felt it blossom. An exotic flower, every hurdle as blue as the memory holding the eyes of her newborn baby.

Her Crystal.

"T-that's my daughter," Wilma uttered, her eyes wide, mouth curled into the slightest of smiles.

Haven and Evanna looked at each other for the first time since their official title of ex-friend to exchange looks of wonder.

"She said she was from the institution, but I didn't know..." Haven's voice trailed off. Before: "Oh my god, Wilma that's wonderful."