Editha had kicked me out of the house within hours.
“I couldn’t give you this letter because I couldn’t find you,” Williams explained. “I don’t know how Editha managed to erase you completely from the face of the earth, but that’s what I was convinced that she had done. I had pulled you every string that I had – went to every length I could. Gwen, I feared that she had actually … that you were with your father.”
“That I…” My hand to my throat as my heart skipped a beat.
“I can see now that you are clearly alive and well – perhaps not in the best health that you’ve ever been, but certainly not the worst,” he continued. “But it only strengthens the question: where were you, Gwendolyn? Beyond, of course, working for your stepmother at this Apple Pancakes that she’s currently trying to give you.”
“I … Rosa let me crash me on her couch,” I answered. “Well, until just a few weeks ago when I found an inexpensive apartment and moved out on my own.”
“With … Rosa?” It was Williams’ turn to draw back, his eyes narrowing. “Indeed.”
I blinked, his reaction unsettling. “What? Is there something wrong with her? She’s been my best friend since forever.”
“Indeed,” he said. “She has been, hasn’t she?”
I did not like the way that he was saying that.
“And where is this apartment where you’ve been living?” he asked before I could comment further.
I, of course, told him, and his brow only knit further in concern.
“No wonder,” he said, shaking his head. “No wonder I couldn’t find you. Editha probably orchestrated your renting and employment to have no official paperwork at all for me to find.”
I blinked. “You mean … Editha owns the apartment where I live, too?”
Williams nodded. “I’m afraid so. I distinctly remember that place being mentioned when I oversaw her will.”
I swallowed as I processed that.
“In fact, I would much prefer it if you didn’t return there at all,” Williams concluded.
“Understood,” I admitted. But I needed to return to deal with all of the drawers. I’d only done two so far. Was there a realm for each drawer? Five more versions of myself in need of rescue. “There are things that I need that are in that apartment, though.”
“Then don’t go home alone,” Williams answered. “And let me give you a new phone. The one you have … I fear that your stepmother may have done something to the one you have – I’ve been trying to call you for weeks.”
I slipped my hand into my pocket reflexively, withdrawing my phone. “You … have?”
He nodded, taking it from me. “Come, let us get that taken care of. I’m also going to take you out for a proper lunch. You don’t look like you’ve been eating properly, and that can’t be good for your heart.”
I swallowed, giving a quick nod. “I’ve not noticed any alarming symptoms, but you’re right. I … I just … I’ve just been making bad decisions left and right since Dad died.”
“Grief makes one vulnerable,” Williams answered. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, Gwendolyn. You’re here now, and we can work together to fix your mistakes. That’s what matters.”
“But … about Editha’s offer concerning Apple Pancakes, what do you think that I should do about that?”
He stared me straight in the eye. “You are a smart girl, Gwendolyn. What do you think? This could be an offer to get you off of her back concerning the rest of your inheritance. It might merely be an easy way for her to cast off a business that is not profitable to her. She might want you to take the fall for her. Or she might try to slip something into the contract that would hurt your future dreadfully.”
My eyes widened, for I knew he was right – those were echoes of my own words earlier. “I don’t think that I shall take it from her,” I decided. “In fact, I’m going to quit my job there entirely. Today.”
“And how are you going to support yourself without that job?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I don’t want to work somewhere that makes me beholden to Editha.”
Williams nodded. “Well, I don’t want you relying on charity, but I will do what I can to help you rise above your current situation. And I agree that the first step needs to be cutting any and all dependency on your stepmother.” He stood. “But read your father’s letter first. Find out what instructions he has for you before you make any decisions of this magnitude.”
I nodded and picked up the letter as he left the room. It was wax-sealed and the same heavy paper as had been the letter I’d found with the drawers.
Breaking open the seal, I quickly extracted and unfolded the letter – finding it to be two pages long.
My dear child,
I am so sorry if you are reading this, for it means that I was not strong enough and you were left alone with Editha. I was hoping that I might last at least until your twenty-first birthday, but here we are, still months away, and I fear that I only have weeks left. I won’t be there to guide you through your final challenges.
So I’m writing you this letter and entrusting it to Williams until you are ready to understand what it means.
Ours is a special bloodline, my child, and you are heir to a unique heritage. Kingdoms is but a small part of it – a mere side-effect if you will. See, the world you know here is not the only reality. There are eight realms, each a reflection of the others, and this is the outermost.
Since my death, you may have noticed strange things about yourself. Memories that should not exist, dreams that feel like memory, visions, and dizziness. This is nothing to be alarmed about. It is all just part of the process. Those are your memories from the first realm, the innermost realm, if you would like to compare the realities to an onion.
In that realm, your name is Eirwen, and this version of you possesses the gift to shift between realms. Upon my death, her mind will have been sent to this one. However, since this is the first time that she has come here, your mind has overwhelmed her and she thinks of herself entirely as you.
Daughter, you must act quickly now. Your body in that realm lies unconscious and vulnerable, and I do not trust Vira – who you know as Editha in this realm. I have, of course, asked Hywel and Alfen to watch over you, but … just hurry, my daughter. You’re not safe until you have completed this last round of challenges. Again, I wish that I could be there to guide you through them.
You – and I speak to you as Eirwen – will need to shift your way through the realms in their reverse order and join your memories with your other selves. While you’re in the other realms, there will be challenges for you to face. Normally, they would be simple tests of your ingenuity, but I fear that Vira will turn them deadly. You must stand strong, for you can overcome, my dear. I have every faith in you.
In this envelope, you will find a key which you might recognize, for you’ve asked me about it many times, and I evaded your questions every time. Now, finally, here is the answer you deserve; it’s a magic key, possessing the power to open any lock.
Each of the seven outer realms also has a similar treasure – and this is your challenge. Travel between the realms, join your memories with your other counterparts, remember what treasure each realm has, and reclaim them from your stepmother. You will understand what to do with the key when the time comes.
If for any reason, you find that you cannot shift between the realms as you should – while this isn’t supposed to be an issue, you’re a stubborn girl and it’s already happened to you twice – I have left Hywel and Alfen (Williams and your own dear Jeremy) with instructions to help you. If you have not shifted within two months, then they are to send you the full set from the first realm, along with the chest of drawers that we keep them in. As you open each drawer and touch each treasure, you will be spirited away to the realm it corresponds to.
I hope, however, that this won’t be necessary.
You wonder why I married that woman, why I placed us – and the realms – in s
uch danger. Daughter, there are days when I wonder the same, but I assure you I had no choice. When she took my vow from me, your life hung in the balance, and all other options had failed me. Truly, she was your last hope. Perhaps I should have sought longer, but you were on the brink of death. There was no time left to be bought. I was desperate, desperate enough that I gave my vow without knowing what she demanded of me.
And, yet, even if I’d known that she wished to sink her claws into me with marriage, I think I would still have done it. I had no other choice.
I delayed things as best I could, buying every precious moment I could for you to grow and gain power. You’re on the brink of it, and while I wish that she’d given me time to make you ready, you’re close enough, and I have every confidence that you can take these last few steps on your own.
You can trust Williams and your own dear Jeremy. While neither knows of the truth of our family, I have left both of them with tools and instructions to help you along your way. And your Jeremy will learn when the time is right. Oh, but I do regret that I won’t live to see the two of you wed. Your friend Rosa … I can only advise you to tread carefully with her.
Again, and I cannot stress this nearly enough – move quickly, my dear child. Vira cannot win.
And never doubt my love for you. Everything I’ve done has been in your interest, and it’s only with the greatest reluctance that I leave you alone with her.
Stand strong, my daughter. You will overcome. You must. I have every ounce of faith in you.
With my love,
Your father.
I nearly couldn’t read the last few lines for the tears that blurred my vision. It’d bothered me so much that my father had written me out of the will, and even now I still had my doubts because of it … but it still felt good to have him tell me that he loved me – even if it was just in writing and not his voice.
“Gwendolyn, are you all right?”
Williams had returned. I hastily swallowed down my tears and wiped my eyes with my free hand. “Of course not,” I answered. “I’ve not been all right since the accident. I just…”
“It’s okay,” he muttered, laying a hand on my shoulder. “You have every right to your grief – and Editha was a cruel monster to deprive you of it.”
Mentioning Editha brought a fresh wave of tears – she wasn’t just the monster who denied me my grief, she was also the monster who caused it.
“Did the letter contain any of the answers you were looking for?” Williams asked, after giving me a few more moments to regain control of myself. Again.
“A few,” I admitted. “But it was mostly instructions.”
“Instructions?” Williams repeated. “What sort? Would you like me to read it over for you – perhaps I can help you make sense of it.”
“No!” I quickly drew back, folding the letter together. “I mean … it’s a bunch of … riddles that I have to solve on my own. You know how father was.”
I couldn’t let him read it. My father clearly hadn’t trusted him with the secret of our family … and I barely believed it myself, even with my brain having already taken two trips to other realms already.
He nodded. “Fair enough – he did say it was for your eyes only. However, he also asked me to help you in any way I can – so just say the word. What do you need?”
Taking a deep breath, I shoved the letter back into the envelope. “I need…” My eye strayed to my purse, where I’d stashed the mirror and box. I needed to return home and use the drawers to travel to the remaining realms. But with Editha owning my apartment, did I dare?
I winced as the world flickered before my eyes with a wave of nausea. This couldn’t be happening now. I’d already lost control of my emotions in front of Williams. I didn’t need an episode to make him realize that I’d gone crazy.
Except … no, this was exactly what I needed at that moment. If I could slip into the next realm without the use of the drawers, then maybe I didn’t have to go back home at all.
I met Williams’ eye. “I need to make sure Editha doesn’t win.
***
When I stopped fighting, it was instantaneous. The dizziness passed immediately, and I blinked to find myself not staring up at Williams, but down at a filthy wooden table and a threadbare rag with which I was cleaning that table.
Why was I cleaning it? I wasn’t adverse to the manual labor – but I’d been a princess in the two previous realms. Was my stepmother to blame for this?
Of course she was. Memory cleared just as a blue jay dive-bombed me because I had stopped cleaning.
Hastily, I resumed scrubbing. My stepmother had commanded these birds to keep me in this cottage, and too busy cleaning to plot any form of escape. I’d been here for two whole months.
And I’d thought that my life at Apple Pancakes had been bad. At least there I’d been paid minimum wage. Here, I was barely allowed a couple hours of sleep a night and enough crumbs to hold body and soul together.
It was pretty clear what I needed to do in this realm: escape this cottage and reclaim control of the birds by…
I actually couldn’t remember how I was supposed to do that – just that I should be the one to command those pesky avian creatures and that it had to do with the treasure that corresponded with this realm.
That did seem to be the only hole in my memory, however. My name here was Una, and I was a princess, yet again, though this realm was less medieval about it than the previous two. My reign here “aided” by a council of twelve elected officials, and I was really just a figurehead to put my name on their decisions. On rare occasions, I’d be called on to break a vote that was tied up, and I could refuse to sign any laws that I truly didn’t like, but my overall legal power was a mere pittance.
The power I did have? Controlling the birds which were key to this realm’s protection. So they did have reason to take my opinions seriously – or, they would if Nidia hadn’t stolen it from me.
Seriously, why did that woman want to destroy my life so completely like this? Was it all some sick game?
I scrubbed harder at the table since I noticed one of the pigeons eyeballing me. Escape would have to wait until the few precious hours of sleep they’d let me have that night
The next couple of hours crept by slower than any I had ever had to live through in my life – even Bianca’s time in the mirror had been so mind-numbing that time had ceased to have any meaning at all. In this cottage, I felt every single pointless second.
And I do mean pointless. I’d no sooner have a surface scrubbed clean than a bird would have it covered again with dirt, scraps, and other, worse, forms of filth. The occasional scrap was worth eating, and I scarfed them down – they were the only food I was going to get – but those were few and far between.
I didn’t dare stop cleaning for a moment. Scratches on my arms, face, and shoulders – not to mention the shredded state of my once-nice tunic – told the story of my previous attempts at rebellion. These birds did not hold back.
Only when it was too dark for me to see the disgusting mess I was cleaning did they relent – only to half-herd, half-drag me to a rickety cot that stood in the corner and force me to lie down in it. The thing was horrendously uncomfortable, but every muscle in my body already ached and I was completely exhausted. It took every ounce of my will to keep from falling asleep then and there.
I couldn’t rest, though. This was my only chance to escape from my living nightmare.
Whatever it was that I used to control the birds was worse than useless to me at that moment. Gwen didn’t have her hands on it, and it was probably nowhere near me as Una. I’d have to overpower the birds – fight my way to wherever it was that Nidia had hidden this realm’s treasure.
So, instead, Una’s memories presented me with a new solution: I could fight with the tools that Gwen did have.
Focusing every ounce of my concentration and keeping myself absolutely still so my feathered guards wouldn’t suspect a thing, I summoned the Amor
e box from the eighth realm. It wasn’t strong enough to override the orders given to the birds – but since the orders meant me harm, the box could confuse them.
Opening the box, I sat up. Immediately, an owl’s shadow swooped down towards me – no doubt with the intention of punishing my insolence.
It drew up short, however, hovering uncertainly before me.
“It’s all right,” I told it, raising my wrist. “You don’t have to fight for Nidia any longer. Help me, and it’ll be over even faster.”
The owl, being a bird, didn’t understand my words, but it clearly understood my intentions, for it alighted on my offered arm.
For the record, this wasn’t the best thought-out part of my plan. The owl’s talons dug into my wrist painfully – but it was tame compared to many of the injuries that the birds had already inflicted on me, and I didn’t have anything on hand to protect myself.
Carefully, I stood and made my way out of the cottage. More birds attacked me, but they all drew back at the last second – and my owl friend snapped at any who failed to be deterred by the box’s aura. When I finally stepped outside, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
There is nothing to compare to the crystal forests of the fifth realm, especially with moonlight glinting through the branches. There were a few more birds waiting out there for me, but as with the ones in the cottage, the box protected me.
I was free – but that was just the easy part of this challenge. This second part would require more than just the box. Closing my eyes, I focused again, and this time withdrew the mirror from the eighth realm.
“Show me Nidia,” I ordered, as soon as it was in my hand. My reflection swirled and was replaced by the image of my stepmother, relaxing in a steaming bath, pampered by maids.
Truly, the woman had never disgusted me more than in that moment. Here I was, scrubbing filth for two months, and here she was…
I dispelled the image before my anger could affect the Amore Box. The owl was already shifting uncomfortably on my arm. At least my stepmother was occupied. I’d check back on her when I was closer to the palace. For now, I needed to find the path. I knew that I was in the crystal forest that protected the city, but, unfortunately, Una hadn’t paid any attention to direction when the birds had chased her here, which left me utterly lost.
The Seven Drawers Page 4
