A Quarrel Called: Stewards Of The Plane Book 1 Read Free

it.”
    I took the ring from her, careful not to actually touch her
hands again. It was silver set with some sort of large amber-looking stone.
Metal flecks swam in it, and a tiny embedded crystal sat on top. I didn’t know
what it was, but I could see now that it definitely was not amber. “What is
it?”
    Tara leaned over to get a better look and smiled. “I know
what that is,” she said. “It’s a pog.”
    “A pog?” What an ugly name for a piece
of jewelry. I turned it over again, looking for a battery, anything to explain
the strange buzzing sensation I had felt. There was nothing.
    “A P.O.G.—positive orgone generator. Some people make jewelry out of them. Did you make this one, Esme?”
    Esme smiled. “No, it was a gift from someone special. And
now I am gifting it to you.”
    Give me a break. “Then I can’t take this. It wouldn’t be
right.” I tried to hand it back.
    “But it’s a gift,” she said again, firmly. “It would be rude
to give it back.” Gently, she pushed my hand way.
    “Thanks, I guess.” I didn’t know what to do with the thing.
Shoving it in my pocket would seem ungrateful, so instead I stuck it on the
middle finger of my left hand; it was too loose to wear on the ring finger.
“What should I do with it?”
    Another customer entered the store through the door behind
us; Esme looked at them and smiled. She turned to me again, the smile fading
somewhat. “Wear it. In a few days, when you’re ready, come back and I’ll tell
you more.”

 

02. SAM
    The Blossom was the same as always: red vinyl booths with
Formica table tops, random neon signs lit up the walls, and a CD jukebox in the
corner. I wasn’t crazy about its retro-diner style, but I had to admit, the
food was good and the portions were big – which helped me stretch my grocery
clerk paycheck a little further since I was still saving to buy a car.
    Melody and Tara walked in just as my stomach gave an
embarrassingly loud growl. “You guys took long enough,” I said as the girls
slid into the booth opposite me.
    “Tara was communing with a crystal. I had to tow her out of
there by her Rapunzel hair,” said Melody, flashing her white teeth at me. “Cool Ramones shirt. Where’d you get it?”
    She knew very well where I’d gotten my shirt. “Oh, some
chick gave it to me for my eighteenth birthday.” I took a moment to study her
face – freckles, dark blue eyes, more fierce than Tara’s lighter shade, brown
hair that wasn’t brown in the sun, and a slightly upturned nose that wrinkled
when she laughed. My gut lurched. The Friend Zone sucks.
    “You want to see the crystal? Here!” Tara dragged my
attention away by thrusting her newest purchase at me from across the table.
    I’m usually a good sport, even though I think Tara tries a
little too hard to get my attention. I don’t want to encourage her, but she’s
Melody’s friend. And ever since I told Melody about my dreams, Tara has found
me even more interesting, like I’m somehow her secret new-age lab partner. I
took the bundle and folded back the tissue paper. It was quartz, I could
clearly see that – geology being my favorite subject – and double-terminated,
which is a little bit rare. But other than that, it looked fairly average to
me. Clear, but not too clear, colorless, shiny. Yep, it was quartz. “Nice,” I
said, as I handed it back.
    “No, no, take it out of the wrapping and hold it for a
second. It has a nice little buzz.”
    Melody rolled her eyes, and I pretended not to notice as I
gingerly took the crystal from the paper and held it in my hand. It was
decently heavy, being about six inches long, and about an inch and a half in
diameter. I could bludgeon someone with it in an unfair fight, so at least in
that way it was useful. I smirked.
    “There! I saw that, you do feel something!”
    I looked up at Tara and shook my head. “Sorry doll, but I
was just thinking about how this is heavy enough to smash someone’s brains
in…it