“Open the coffin.”
“Rufus! Are you crazy?” Laura hurriedly stopped the compliant soldiers. “It’s been so many days. You can’t open the coffin just like that!” I seemed to have pissed off Laura.
I knew what she was angry about. All she ever wanted was for Crystal to leave with dignity. She didn’t want everyone to see Crystal’s rotting corpse.
But there was an unsettling feeling inside me that would not go away unless I saw what was inside the coffin. I knew I just had to confirm.
“Mom, you’ll soon know why I made this choice.” I insisted on it, not even bothering to explain myself.
“Your Majesty, it’s not appropriate to do so.”
“Yes. Crystal has passed away. We’re all mourning that we lost her. You’d better think about it before opening the coffin.”
Everyone was against my orders. It was only Flora who stood and said, “Please do as His Majesty says. I don’t believe that Crystal will die like this either. I feel that there’s something we should know.”
“Really, Flora?” Harry’s face brightened with hope, his eyes still red “If you two insist, I’ll support you.”
“Enough!” Laura shouted angrily, looking a little more anxious than when she first heard my request. “Opening the coffin is a big deal. If anything happens “Mom, just trust me. I know what I’m doing. I’m aware that Crystal’s lying inside.” I turned to look at her, my face stained with determination. “I understand your concern, but please trust me this time. I’m very rational now.
I know what I’m trying to do.”
She lingered her gaze on me for quite a moment. Despite the queries that were storming her eyes, her mouth remained shut. She sighed, turned on her heels, and walked to a far nook, not daring herself to witness what we were demanding.
I raised my hand and signaled to one of the soldiers to open the coffin.
The coffin lid slid slowly, and the faint scent of Gardenia wafted through the ar.
My heart was beating faster, and I clenched my fists before loosening them. To say that I was nervous was an understatement. Then I walked towards the coffin, only to find that Crystal’s body inside looked as alive as before and not even stiff.
Her hands were placed on her belly. She looked peaceful as she lay there, like she was just sleeping “How… How could it be possible?” the soldier beside me exclaimed after witnessing the scene.
Laura turned around, made her way through the crowd, and took a look for herself. Disbelief registered on her visage, and she took two steps back. “That’s impossible. The magical medicine has already lost its effect. Crystal’s body should be rotting.”
Rufus’ POV
“How can this be? Crystal’s body has not been rotting!” Flora looked both surprised and pleased. “Does this mean that Crystal can come back to life?” Harry, Warren, and the others also stepped forward. Everyone was astounded and then speculated excitedly.
“Crystal is still alive. She is just sleeping.” Harry was so excited that he nearly leaped up with happiness. However, Joanna grabbed him before he could.
“But if she is still alive, why can’t we feel her breath?” Flora extended her hand and placed it under Crystal’s nose. She said in a disappointed tone, “She is not breathing.”
“Bring the wizard and the doctor here immediately. Crystal has black witch blood. She won’t die so easily.” Laura looked a little agitated and instantly ordered the soldiers to summon the wizard and the doctor.
Mixed emotions coursed through me. Joy and tension competed in my heart. I gazed at the person in the ice coffin, not daring to do anything else. I was afraid that all of this was just my dream.
“Rufus, why don’t you take Crystal out? The low temperature will interfere with her waking up,” Warren suggested.
His words made me snap back to the present. Forcing myself to calm down, I leaned forward to carefully lift Crystal out and placed her on the soft couch.
Murray and the doctor arrived in a few minutes.
The doctor examined Crystal thoroughly but still had no explanation. From a medical standpoint, she showed no signs of life. How could she come back to life when she didn’t even have a heartbeat?
Then Murray cast a spell on Crystal and a black fog descended over us.
About ten minutes later, it slowly dissipated. Murray’s forehead was drenched in sweat and his face was white. He looked very exhausted.
He said to me in a weak, voice, “I just cast the spell to awaken the black witch bloodline, which is usually accompanied by the medium of communication of the witch power-crows. But I simply couldn’t summon Crystal’s crow. There are only two possibilities for this to happen. The first is when the crow’s host is dead, and the second is when the black witch bloodline of the host has disappeared.”
“Do you think it is the second one? Didn’t Crystal transfer all her black witch power to Beryl?” I anxiously asked.
Murray shook his head. “She only transferred her power. She can’t change her bloodline, so…” cHe paused, eyeing me hesitantly. “That only leaves one possibility. Crystal is dead, which is why I can’t summon her crow.”
“Can’t there be a third possibility? Why hasn’t Crystal’s body rotted?” Flora refused to buy it.
“Even when Noreen died, her body decayed.”
“I don’t have a reason either.” Murray didn’t know what to say for a while. He smoothed his beard and began to think hard.
Everyone else also started pondering but still couldn’t think of a plausible answer.
My mood had soured again. I held Crystal’s hand and stared at her face unblinkingly.
I hoped she could tell me the reason and what my next plan of action should be.
“Rufus, consider those clown symbols again. They can’t just appear on the ice coffin out of thin air. There has to be a reason.” My wolf, Omar, helped me clarify my thoughts. “Think back to what happened in the amusement park again.”
“Lee…” I muttered. As I tried to clear my mind and remember, a vision flashed through my mind. “Lee has marked Crystal! Is it possible that she became part vampire?”
This conjecture filled me with hope again because vampires did display the phenomenon of fake death.
But what could I do to wake her up?
The picture of an ancient book about vampires suddenly popped up in my mind and an idea struck me. I bit into my wrist and kissed Crystal with my bloody mouth.
I slowly let the blood flow into Crystal’s mouth. Her lips were soft as if she was still alive, but they were very cold.
After giving her blood twice, I wasn’t sure if it was my illusion, but I felt that her lips were not as cold as before.
When I was about to feed her more blood, I finally heard a gulp. Screams rang out around me.
“Did I-imagine it? I heard Crystal swallowing.” Harry leaned forward, wanting to confirm the sound.
“No, you didn’t. Look at Crystal’s face! She has come back to life.” Flora was very excited, but she lowered her voice. She didn’t dare to speak loudly, fearing that she would disturb Crystal as she woke up.
I was ecstatic. I ran to Murray, who was still baffled, and dragged him to his feet.
“Look, Crystal has come back to life!”
Murray’s eyes widened and he thought he had heard me wrong. He muttered, “How can it be? Did a miracle really happen?”
He crouched down to check on Crystal and was astonished. “I can’t believe that her heart is beating. How is this possible? How can anybody become alive again after being dead for nearly half a month?”
“This is the miracle I was waiting for. I knew Crystal wouldn’t die so easily. She is powerful.” Tears of joy welled up in Flora’s eyes. She clasped Warren’s hand tightly.
Murray cast the spell to summon the black witch blood again, and this time he received a response.
A palm-sized, fat golden eagle appeared in the air.
“This. .” Murray hadn’t expected this turn of events. He tucked a lock of his hair behind his ear and said, “Normally, crows appear. How could an eagle be here?”
“Isn’t that good? At least it’s stronger than crows.” Feeling curious, Flora extended her hand to touch the golden eagle.
The eagle flapped its wings and flew far away, leaving behind a trail of feathers.
Flora rubbed her nose and sneezed. “An eagle that sheds feathers.”
It didn’t matter if it was a crow or an eagle. The important thing was that Crystal was alive again. I grabbed Murray’s slender shoulders and shook him.
“Does this mean that Crystal won’t die again?”
Murray was lifted off the ground. He kicked his feet in the air, feeling unsafe.
“That’s very likely. Your Majesty, please put me down. I’m old and terrified of heights.”
I obediently released him and lifted Crystal in my arms to examine her.
“So what is the cause? There has to be a reason,” Laura asked in a puzzled tone.
“It must be something related to vampires.”
As soon as I said this, everyone gasped. “Vampires? Crystal has turned into a vampire?”
I didn’t deny it. I gave a brief account of what had happened in the clown amusement park. “The vampire who kidnapped Crystal is named Lee. He’s Hobson’s illegitimate child. I’m not certain if Crystal has turned or not, because she has displayed no thirst for blood yet.”
“No, Crystal has not betome a vampire,” Murray interrupted me with an affirmative answer.
“If Lee had successfully finished the ceremony, Crystal would’ve become his slave, and she wouldn’t have been able to transfer her black witch power to Beryl so smoothly. We can safely conclude from this that the ceremony failed. But Lee bit Crystal. There is a high possibility that his special power has entered her body.”
He paused for a moment and said in a more determined tone, “I guess Lee’s special power must be something about resurrection.”
Rufus’ POV
According to Murray, Lee would be a potential ticking time bomb that could spell trouble for Crystal in the days to come.
Besides, in my heated fight with Hubson, he revealed a secret: Lee was his son, born out of wedlock.
That meant in Lee’s eyes, ‘I would forever bear the burden of being his father’s murderer. Why would a person harboring such deep hatred help his enemy?
The enigma perplexed me endlessly, but alas, I had no luxury of time to unravel its intricacies. Through the maze of doubts clouding my mind, one truth emerged -Crystal owed her safety to Lee’s intervention.
Had it not been for Lee’s timely reminder, Crystal would have been cremated. I clutched Crystal closer, an involuntary response to the weight of worry that pressed upon my heart.
“So why hasn’t Crystal woken up yet? Can’t you cast a spell?” Flora inquired, her gaze fixed on Murray. Her anxiety bubbled unbearably; she yearned for Crystal’s eyes to flutter open this very instant.
Murray stroked his beard pensively, allowing his thoughts to wander. Eventually, he fashioned a glistening crystal orb and delicately placed it upon Crystal’s forehead. With an incantation upon his lips, he summoned the mystical forces.
I could sense a slight shift in Crystal’s body, and a surge of hope swelled within me, longing for her to awaken in the next breath.
Yet, even after the spell had been cast, Crystal remained frozen in sleep, as if her movement had been an illusion conjured by my desperate mind.
Murray removed the ball and said with a sigh of relief, “Don’t worry. It’s nothing serious. It’s just that Crystal has suffered a great loss of blood, so she can’t wake up yet.”
“She has lost a lot of blood, right? So she will wake up if we replenish her blood?” Harry proposed.
I raised my arm, poised to cut my wrist.
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