Crystallo (working title)

CHAPTER 4: THE THING

Caretaker Izel glanced at his wrist watch and mumbled something like, "Right on schedule."

A Greige Manipulate crystal fey popped her head out, arms resting atop the sun roof of the vehicle, with an accomplished smile on her face. She had dark brown skin, that was decorated in grease and oil smudges. Her silver hair was piled up high in a messy bun, and her eyes a bright silver to match the crystal she wore on a necklace as all crystal fey did.

Her outfit seemed to be an afterthought, straight forward and simple. She wore a white (now grease-stained) tank top, huge loose black gloves, dark green cargo pants, and black combat boots.

"Well, what do you think? I based this off of a car from the human realm, but it's much better than a car of course. I call it, the THING!" She opened her arms in a grand gesture as if waiting for applause.

Zinnia couldn't help but laugh, and she did clap her hands for the Greige Manipulate fey. The fairy seemed pleased, and posed with her hands on her hips.

Caretaker Izel cleared his throat, "Zinnia, this is Selah, who just recently acquired her talent a week ago which you can see is Greige Manipulate. Selah, this is Zinnia, she acquired her talent just now within the hour."

Selah hopped out of the THING and shook Zinnia's hand, "That's amazing! What did you classify as? Your hair and eye color is still dark brown, so I can't really tell," Selah shrugged.

"Zinnia's hair and eye color won't change to match her crystal until we have a necklace made to be worn around her neck. I was hoping to arrive at the Royal Palace and get that done," Caretaker Izel said seeming a little unsure of the THING.

"Not a problem, the THING can get us there in no time, hop on!" Selah waved them over to the silver vehicle.

There were two seats in front and two in the back, each with its own window in addition to one big window to the front and one big window to the back. It was very similar to the cars in the human realm, except they usually had three seats in the back.

Caretaker Izel and Keenan Silk took the back, so Selah and Zinnia climbed up front. The seat was quite comfortable, it seemed to mold to Zinnia's body like memory foam. There were arm rests, head rests and all the windows showed realistic holographic images of a great flower field that looked exactly like the one near Zinnia's living quarters.

"I've designed and built this to be the next best mode of transportation. Everyone will want one, you'll see," Selah put her hands behind her head, closed her eyes, and leaned back confidently.

"Er, how does it work, exactly?" Zinnia questioned.

Selah peeked open an eye at Zinnia and closed them again saying, "Everything is pretty much automated, well not everything but mostly everything, so you hardly have to move a muscle. All you need is a good clear voice. Allow me to demonstrate..." Selah sat up, eyes bright with excitement and said, "THING! Take us to the Royal Palace, please."

An automated, robotic voice replied, "Calculating destination to Royal Palace. *Ping!* Calculation complete. Expected arrival time, fifteen minutes. All passengers ready for departure?" the THING questioned.

"Affirmative, depart away my amazing THING!" Selah smiled wickedly.

The THING roared to life and started down the road towards the Royal Palace.

"Scanning passenger vitals. *Ping!* Passenger vitals scanning complete. Passenger number two hydration levels are low. Now retrieving hydrogen dioxide," the THING announced.

A hole opened up at the front end of Zinnia's armrest and a perfectly cool bottled water appeared through the hole. The hole automatically adjusted itself into a cup holder, and Zinnia was in awe.

"Great, isn't it?" Selah waggled her eyebrows at Zinnia.

"It's incredible! And you've only had your talent for a week? Selah, this is astounding," Zinnia shook her head in disbelief and took a grateful swig of water, immediately feeling much better.

Selah rubbed the back of her neck in content, "Ha, thanks," she grinned.

"I wonder... Selah? Can you change the video displayed on the windows?" Keenan asked.

"Of course! Just push the green button next to the window you want to change and then a keyboard should appear so you can type out the location you want to view. It will show a live broadcast of a section in that area. If you want to view a different section of that location, keep pressing the randomize button on the keyboard until you get the area you want and then press view," Selah replied.

"Very interesting, I will try this out if you don't mind?" Keenan began playing with the window.

Selah pushed a button on the dashboard and soon lovely soft classical music began playing. The sound was so clear and crisp that Zinnia had to look around to see if anyone was actually playing an instrument.

"Surround sound baby, isn't it the best?" Selah sighed, "The human realm definitely has the best ideas, I'll give 'em that. Wouldn't it be cool to actually meet one of them? The mortals I mean, I've heard that one of them named Leonardo Da Vinci invented flying machines! How amazing is that?" she said dreamily.

Zinnia chuckled and turned around to the back and saw that Keenan's window was displaying a glimmering lake with glowing deep blue waters that seemed to be hidden in a forest. He watched it with great interest and smiled a little to himself.

Zinnia looked over to her Caretaker and saw that he had actually fallen asleep! What's more, his seat had reclined back a little by itself to accommodate him. Zinnia giggled and showed Selah, she started giggling too.

"Now arriving at destination, Royal Palace," the THING announced.

The holograms on all the windows vanished and they were able to see the huge water fountain at the center of the Royal Palace courtyard. The THING circled around the fountain and stopped in front of a towering structure made from marble of many different colors.

"Ah, here we are," Caretaker Izel said very pleased, probably relaxed from the mode of transportation. Everyone reluctantly got out of the THING, sorry to see it go.

"Alright, THING, thank you so much for your assistance. Go park back in the garage, I'll meet back with you later for your tune up," Selah waved.

"Heading towards destination, garage," the THING took off toward the Manipulate sector.

Zinnia faced the Royal Palace, and made her way up the small steps with her heart thumping excitedly.