Valor: The Crystal Of Valimor

I

"Allie, Nick!" Their mother, Hope Hartford exclaimed, grabbing Allie's phone out of her hand and taking Nick's playbook.

"But, Mom!" Nick whined, "I was just at the part where—"

"—I was about to finish proving why this guy is completely wrong!" Allie added, pointing at her phone. "He dissed my OTP!"

"OTP...?" Hope shook her head, "Never mind that. Don't you remember what today is?"

"The day I finish reading M. Butterfly!" Nick tried plucking the book back from his mom.

"It's our annual backpacking trip with the Dorian's! How could you two forget?"

"That was today?" Allie scrunched her eyebrows.

"I reminded you this morning," her mother drawled, unimpressed. "We leave in twenty minutes and no—" she added as Nick began to open his mouth. "No phones, smart watches, scripts, playbooks, any other gadget or piece of literature, or whatever else you're thinking of."

"So, no water?" Nick asked innocently.

"Or bug spray?" Allie joined in.

Hope rolled her eyes, "Just get packed."

The twins scrambled to find what they needed for the hike—they knew their mother would not give up an idea once she got it; that was one of the outstanding traits that they had inherited from her.

Nineteen minutes later, they stood next to the door, dressed in identical hoodies and sweatpants.

"We're ready!" Allie announced, slinging her yellow and teal backpack over her shoulder, the hidden books pressing against her back.

"Have I mentioned that I loathe exercise?" Nick frowned, zipping up his rainbow and black tie-dye backpack.

"Isn't theatre, like, sixty percent exercise?"

"That's different," Nick rolled his eyes, "that's mostly dancing, singing, moving set pieces, and blocking... actually, you're right." He shook his head, "Whatever, theatre is way better than hiking."

"No doubt about that," Allie agreed.

"Come on, mom!" Nick made an attempt for his playscript. "It takes a lot of studying to be a tripple-threat!"

Allie snorted, looking at her twin from behind her bag. "I thought you were a triple-warning?"

"Hey!" Nick gasped with mock-betrayal. "Mom! Allie has a book in her hand!"

Hope sighed and reached behind Allie's bag, retrieving the piece of literature.

"Meanie!" Allie pouted.

Tying her shoelaces, Hope patted the top of Allie's head. She stood up and grabbed her keys from the countertop.

"Is it safe to go to Greyfield Park after the floods last month?" Nick asked, "I heard a bunch of things shifted."

"It's unfortunately safe," Allie grumbled, "I already checked online."

"Exactly," Hope smirked, "therefore you do not have a reason to not go."

"Well, a boy can try." Nick opened the door for his mom and sister.

"Indeed," Hope agreed, unlocking the car and getting in the driver's seat.

Allie and Nick stuck their backpacks on the front passenger seat, then slid into the back seats.

"Mom, can you play Hamilton?" Nick requested, "Please?"

"Maybe," Hope reached over to the screen that controlled the car's sound system and tapped a few buttons.

Nick's face broke into a smile as the musical started playing over the speakers. Soon, the car arrived at the park.

Nick got out of the car, eyes automatically focusing in on Cody and his chauffeur examining the map.

Allie raised an eyebrow at the excessive amount of black Cody was wearing. "Nick, did Cody join the drama club while I wasn't watching?"

Nick elbowed her good-naturedly. "Perhaps," he smirked, "You should try out next year. I'd love to see you onstage. I hear we're doing the musical adaption of your favorite book."

"Ha!" Allie shook her head, "No freaking way. I'll stick with working tech."

Nick stuck out his tongue at Allie before turning to where Cody was. "Cody!" He called out, giving the younger boy a high five.

"Sup!" The almost–freshman smiled. "Hey, Allie, Hope." He gave Allie a quick hug and shook hands with their mom.

Nick glanced at his sister, feeling a sense of dread as Allie's eyes drifted to the lakebed; She was probably thinking about their dark-haired friend that would have been looking for stones in the water.

Allie's mouth curved into a melancholic smile, "Hey Val! Did you find any—" She cut off abruptly as reality set back in.

Cody looked down sadly while Nick and Hope pursed their lips.

"S–Sorry," Allie stuttered. "I–I forgot... it's not usually like me to forget..."

Cody shrugged indifferently. Ever since the day, Cody had been acting more and more like Valorie—losing his optimistic essence.

In an effort to change the subject, Hope turned to the chauffeur. "Thank you for bringing him, Dylan."

"My pleasure," The red-haired woman replied.

"How is Sadie doing?" Her mom's voice taking a slight subdue.

"Better," Dylan checked her watch. "I should be going. I'll be here to pick the young master up in two hours. We don't want his mom to have another thing to worry about."

"Of course," her mom nodded. "Say 'hi' to her for me."

"So..." Nick began awkwardly. "Where to first?"

"I don't care," Cody intoned.

Allie pursed her lips, examining the trail map. "Wanna take the lakeside trail?"

They all perked up slightly.

"The lakeside trail?" Their mother questioned.

"Parents," Nick groaned, "as oblivious as ever."

"Alright genius," Hope drawled. "What is it?"

"It's Valorie's favorite trail," Allie sighed. "...At least, it was."

Nick saw Cody glare at his twin and felt a surge of protectiveness. He took a step forward to keep them from killing each other but stopped when Cody's shoulders slumped suddenly.

"Whatever," Cody stared at the sky. "It's the truth anyway."

"This trip is supposed to be fun," her mom intervened. "Let's all take the lakeside trail," she trailed off. "We could find some stones for V."

"She'd like that," Cody allowed a small smile. His eyes brightened up. "Let's go!"

They walked down the trail, the slightly damp ground leaving imprints of their shoes behind.

"You tell him," Nick hissed in Allie's ear as they got closer to their destination.

"No, you tell him," Allie whispered back.

"He won't listen to me."

"Try," his sister eyed him pointedly.

"H–Hey Cody?" Nick said, pulling to the side as Allie went to join their mother further up the trail.

"Mhm?" The teen's eyes scanning the ground as he poked through the stones.

"I don't mean to intrude upon your business, but one of the kids in your grade told me that you were being mean to him."

"Who?" Cody asked.

"Do I really need to elaborate?" Nick asked tiredly. "Unless you've picked on multiple kids—and I hope you didn't—you should know who it is."

"Wait... are you talking about Ian?" Cody scowled in annoyance. "You're right, you shouldn't intrude."

Nick took a deep breath, "Cody, this behavior can't continue. You're not a bully."

"Obviously," Cody snarked, only half–listening.

"Well you've become one," Nick paused, "Ever since Valorie went into a coma, actually."

Cody looked at him with a surprised expression, eyes wide from the mention of his sister. "Teasing and harmless pranks aren't bullying."

Nick pursed his lips. It seemed to him that Cody wasn't aware of the extent of his 'harmless pranks'.

"You've been extremely rude to the kid the entire year, Cody. Your 'teasing' has sent him to the nurse's office."

Cody scoffed, "He's just a big baby. Who needs to go to the nurse's office for a nosebleed?"

"A nosebleed," Nick repeated, feeling his eyebrows shoot up. "Blood."

"But it's not like I gave it to him!" Cody defended. "His capillaries broke when we sprayed water in his face."

"With a high-powered water gun."

"We didn't know it was high-powered!"

"And all over his books."

"They weren't even school books."

"But they were scripts and sheet music."

"Those aren't books."

"Cody—"

"It's just water!"

"Ice cold water."

"Still water..."

"That was below freezing."

"Then it would have turned into ice," Cody drawled. "Besides, he should learn to man up."

"Valorie raised you differently, Cody," Nick said softly.

The teen's eyes darted to meet his, Nick seeing the hurt present. "Valorie isn't here, Nick. The doctors said she might never wake up so—" He added after a moment. "—so quit bringing it up,"

"This has been hard on you, I know." Nick placed a hand on Cody's shoulder. He'd known the boy since grade school, treating him like a little brother. "But that doesn't mean you start venting out your anger on some little kid at school."

"What anger?!" Cody spat.

"Well you are being rude to him," Nick said sternly, "and mean."

Cody looked away, sighing in what Nick presumed was defeat.

"I'm sure if you apologized to him, he'd forgive you." Nick continued, "I would like to think that the two of you would have become friends under different circumstances."

"Friends?" Cody raised an eyebrow incredulously. "So you want me to become all 'buddy-buddy' with him?"

"If that's what you stubbornly want to call it..." Nick gave him a look.

"I'll think about it," Cody looked away. "But don't expect me to just go to school tomorrow and us exchanging friendship bracelets or painting each others' nails." He scrunched his nose. "He's still weird."

"Well, we theatre kids have to stick up for one another," Nick said proudly, "and our... weirdness," he made a face at the word in distaste.

"What?"

"Those cliche high school movies give us theatre kids a bad name. We are like a big family that bonds over our love of arts! We aren't all nerds and social outcasts! I mean, have you met Lucy Arnold?"

Cody perked up slightly. "What about Lucy?"

"She's an amazing vocalist!" Nick nodded in approval.

"I know that," Cody rolled his eyes. "Band and choir double up on occasion."

"Her acting is amazing, as well." Nick said, "Plus, despite being really popular, she isn't an arse like her sister."

"True..." Cody muttered in agreement. "Didn't she get the female lead for the school play? Um, the one based on the book that you guys were reading?"

"Our competition play for UIL." Nick corrected. "I didn't know you cared so much, Cody, but Lucy was absolutely lovely in it." Nick raised an eyebrow playfully. "You seem to be overly... interested in her."

"What? No, I was just asking generally," Cody shook his hands, his cheeks taking on a slight hue.

"As was I," he teased, "yet your face says otherwise."

"You should be lucky I put up with you," Cody swatted his hand playfully at him.

Nick dodged easily, "Too slow," he smirked. "As always."

"Meanie," The teen grumbled.

"I guess your athletic skills are no match to my dance skills." Nick crowed, striking a pose.

"Yeah, yeah, Mr. I'm-Playing-A-Girl." Cody rolled his eyes. "By the way, how's the play going?"

"You just missed it; competition was last week."

"Really," Cody's face conveyed no regret.

"You missed Lucy in a dress."

"You don't have pictures, do you?" Cody asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Nick smirked.

"Let's go find Valorie some rocks now." Cody gestured to the lake, averting his gaze in embarrassment. "I'm sure the recent flooding has brought up all kinds of interesting things."

They carefully made their way down to where Allie and Hope were.

"Everything looks different." Cody said quietly, "I haven't been here since she fell into a coma."

"Floods can bring destruction, but they can also bring beauty."

"Exactly," Allie chirped.

Nick bent down and grabbed and a handful of the abnormally soft dirt, making little sifting motions to find the good stuff.

After doing it a few times in vain, he was about to head closer to the lake when a strange gleam got caught in the corner of his eye.

He walked over to it and slowly yanked it out of the ground. It was about the size of a medium-ish turtle and was smooth as if it had lain undisturbed at the bottom of the lake for a long time.

"Woah... " He tilted it so that the light could hit it, causing for a spectrum of colors to reflect off of it, "Guys, check this out."

"Ooh, pretty." Allie touched the rock with a finger. "Valorie would like this."

"Wow," Cody breathed, taking the rock from Nick. "I don't know as much geology as Val," he inspected it. "But this looks pretty rare—and valuable."

Allie held her hand out and Cody placed it on her palm. "Ahk!" The hand holding the rock flew down before she lifted it back up, using both hands. "This thing is heavy!"

"It is," Nick stage-whispered, "if I wasn't so used to carrying heavy objects—cough, set pieces, cough—I would have probably accidentally dropped it."

"It's so rainbow-y." Allie smirked, "Suits you."

"Shhh!" Nick hissed, "Mom's nearby."

"Right," Allie nodded, covering her mouth with a hand. "No references to you still being in the closet while she's around."

"You know," Cody hovered his fingers above it. "There's this weird... how do I describe it?"

"Weird what?" Nick asked, doing the same.

"Aura, I guess. It's radiating off of it."

"I feel it too," Allie and Nick said at the same time. They looked at each other and smirked.

"Twins are weird..."

"Seriously though," Allie said with concentration. "I feel it too. It's strangely inviting."

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "Like an invitation. Lemme go wash it properly."

"Well," Cody slowly picked the rock back up and placed it on his sweatshirt pocket. "We've already looked for quite a while."

"Mhm," Allie said, "Why don't we go bring this to Valorie right now?"

"Good idea!"

Allie made her way towards Hope. "Mom? We found this rock—"

"I found the rock," Nick corrected.

"—and we wanted to know if we could bring it to Valorie... preferably right now?"

"When she wakes up, she'll want to study it," Nick added.

Hope's face softened, "Sure, sweetie. Have Cody text his chauffeur and mom first, so that they know where he's going."

"Thanks, Mom." Allie smiled, bounding back to them. "Cody, text your bodyguard," she rolled her eyes at the term. "We can go visit her."

"Good," Cody took out his phone.

Allie and Nick peered over his shoulders as he typed.

A few seconds later, Dylan responded.