The Minerva Prophecy

03: Danger Arrives

Crystal drives home in absolute silence. No music, no radio, and no audiobook. Just her dealing with her thoughts. Or more like her dealing with a million questions and no actual answers.

She keeps circling back to the responses Themis gave to her, trying to bridge any connections between what happened to her a child to what is happening now. "I guess whoever tried to kill me then is back to finish the job."

Thinking about the last part of her visit, she exhales in intense frustration. She is not sure why Themis involving herself to give her answers.

When Crystal was getting ready to leave, she asked Themis how much the reading was, prepared to pay her for services rendered.

Themis smiled and simply said it was on the house.

While she held her wallet, Crystal was confused and asked why.

Themis simply said there is no need because it was she who called Crystal here.

The very thought of this is sending chill down her spine. She shivers and pulls her jacket closer to her body.

"Antares, call Jackson," Crystal finally says. Maybe he didn't get on the plane yet. She still doesn't want to tell him what has happened in case he worries. But just hearing his voice would calm her nerves.

"Calling Jackson," A female voice responses came back through the car speakers.

It went directly to voicemail. A bunch of loud noises came blaring in the background, including sirens and horns, and then finally Jackson's voice, "Uhh hey it's Jackson, I can't come to the phone right now. I'm currently busy getting into trouble. But if you leave me a message, I'll try to call you back as soon as they allow me that one phone call. Talk later. Bye. Beep."

Crystal let out a sigh but couldn't help herself from smiling. She can't remember how many times she asked him to please change his voicemail. But he never would. Good thing it's his personal phone and not his work phone.

Although they leave casual voicemails to each other all the time, this is the first time Crystal feels nervous. She has so much to tell him, but she doesn't know how to articulate it or verbalize it yet. In fact, she doesn't even know how to articulate it to herself. She quickly pushes the end call button in her car.

There is no point in calling him. He's on a plane coming back. She will see him the morning.

She stops at the tall steel dual swing driveway gate to her house and the front sensor detects her car.

"Welcome home, Crystal." The female voice speaks again through the car speaker.

"Thanks Antares," Crystal responds grimly as she drives past the gate and to her courtyard. The garage door instantly rolls open and she drives the car into the garage.

Crystal always perceives her home as too big for one person. A modern home with hints of French style architecture, over three thousand square feet, two story, and on a one-acre lot. If it were up to her, she would be content with a two-story town home.

But this house has a special meaning in her heart. When she was a kid, her grandma would hold her hand while they pass by this neighborhood. They didn't have a car and would often walk to places instead of taking the bus. At that time, her parents had already passed away for several years and her grandma was starting to struggle physically due to health issues. They were extremely poor at the time.

Crystal often felt guilty of not being able to help grandma make enough money. Even though she was still a kid, she often felt apologetic for being a burden to grandma. They have passed by houses in this neighborhood many times during their walks when they wanted to save money from bus fare. She and grandma would pretend they were house shopping and would pick their favorites. Grandma liked this house the most for its beautiful garden and Crystal said that they would live there one day when she makes it big.