“What’s not eating me?” I countered. “Editha’s smashed my life into a hundred pieces, and I hardly know where to begin when it comes to piecing it back together.”
“You came to us. That was a start.”
I managed a smile. And there were also the drawers, and I seemed to be making far more progress in the other realms.
“I guess, but … my inheritance is gone, I don’t know what has become of my relationship with Jeremy, and my friendship with Rosa might be gone, too. I … why did I let her make all of my decisions for the last two months? Why did she abuse the power I gave her? She trapped me a box: had me working for my stepmother and renting my apartment from her, too. Did … did she know that she’d put me completely in Editha’s power?”
“You think that she might have been intentionally sabotaging you?” Dianna asked.
I shrugged, turning away from the sink as I had finished with the breakfast dishes. “Whether or not it was intentional, she did, and now I don’t know if I can trust her anymore.”
Dianna frowned. “Gwen, she’s been your best friend since grade school. I wouldn’t want you to abandon that friendship in a rash act of grief. Your father…”
My father had warned me to watch my back with Rosa. Williams had seemed apprehensive when I’d told him I’d been staying with her…
But I had no evidence of her betrayal in the other realms. Yes, she’d helped Rinold with my escape, but it didn’t mean that he’d been party to his betrayal. And, sure, Richard hadn’t included her in the private midnight meeting, despite the fact that she was also a council member, but it might have been with the intention of keeping Vira from noticing them.
“Maybe when all of this is over,” I finally answered.
“All this is over?” Dianna repeated. “And how will you judge that? You’ve lost a lot that you aren’t going to get back – if not ever, then at least not for a very long time.”
Well, I was talking about the drawers, but she didn’t know about them.
“I discovered that my father left instructions behind for me,” I answered. “When I finish with them.”
“Ah.”
“And I’m not sure if I can succeed if I’m listening to her advice,” I continued. “I don’t want to lose her as my friend, but…” I shook my head. “But I need to go back to the apartment.”
“Call John, first,” Dianna said, handing me a cell phone. “And keep hold of that. It’s a prepaid that I keep on hand for emergencies, and this counts. We don’t want to risk losing you again.”
“Thank you.” I slipped the phone into my purse and then, after a moment’s hesitation, threw my arms around the woman. She didn’t hesitate in returning the hug. “Thank you for everything.”
“Don’t even mention it, Gwen,” she answered. “You know that you’re more than a client to John and I – you’re family.”
“I know that,” I answered. And she’d been the closest thing I’d had to a mother. “I just … doubted it. I’m so sorry.” I shook my head as I pulled out of the hug. “I was an idiot.”
“You’d just lost everything,” Dianna answered. “Grief can make even the smartest people do stupid things. The important thing is that you don’t dwell on that grief – let it have its place, but don’t dwell. It’s time now for you to start moving forward.”
I nodded, thanking her again as I left the house, flipping the phone open and quickly finding William’s number at the top of the contacts. I dialed it immediately.
Williams picked up on the second ring.
“Is that you, Gwen?” he asked.
“Yes, how did you know?” I asked, climbing into my car. “This isn’t my phone.”
“No, it’s Dianna’s,” he answered. “And I know that she would give it to you. So, what do you need?”
“I reread the letter last night,” I told him. “Realized that part of the instructions involved something I left at the apartment. So, as much as I don’t want to go back there, it looks like I have to, and I might have to stay there a while. Dianna said that you wouldn’t like me to stay there by myself.”
“No, it probably wouldn’t,” he agreed. “Give me your apartment number and head over there. I’ll have someone meet you.”
“Thank you.”
I hung up and started the car, driving as quickly as I could to the apartment while still observing speed limits. Thankfully, I found the door still locked and the place empty and seemingly untouched. Rosa wasn’t hanging about to chide me for dumping her at the gas station.
Most importantly, the chest of drawers was still standing at the foot of my bed. I slid open the next drawer, and there was a wooden version of the flute. When I picked it up, I could feel the magic it held, but it didn’t transport me to another realm like the mirror and box had. I’d already been to its realm. Carefully, I moved it to my purse, but before I could open the next drawer, there was a knock at my front door. Hopefully, it’d be the “someone” that Williams had promised me, so I left the drawers alone while I went to investigate.
I had not given much thought as to who that “someone” might be. And I honestly wouldn’t have dared guess who it did prove to be, for fear of disappointment.
“Jeremy?” I couldn’t believe my eyes as I opened the door.
“Gwen?” He clearly couldn’t believe his eyes, either.
“Jeremy!” I cried his name again, all other words evading me as I threw my arms around his neck. He had no words, either, as his arms folded around me and he held me tight.
“Jeremy, I’ve missed you so much,” I whispered. “I thought … I thought…”
“Gwen, what are you doing here?” he asked. “I’ve been to your house every day, and Editha has always claimed that you’re in your room, refusing to see anyone.”
“No…” I pulled back to stare up at him. At his messy brown hair. The mischief normally dancing in his eyes and grin was muted by concern for me. “No, she kicked me out of the house as soon as the will was read. She’s been lying to you.”
His jaw tightened and he shook his head. “I should have known. I knew you would never shut me out, no matter how upset you were.” He guided me inside, shutting the door behind us. “So, this is where you’ve been?”
I nodded. “Not much to look at, and I just found out that Editha owns the place. She’s probably just renting it to me as a way to keep me exactly where she wants me to be. She also owns the restaurant where I worked as a waitress, but I quit that job yesterday. Couldn’t stand the thought of her having that level of control over me.”
“Williams said that he wasn’t comfortable with you being alone here and wanted me to stay with you while you didn’t whatever it is you need to do,” Jeremy said. “He didn’t tell me what that was, though. What do you need to do? Is it anything I can help you with?”
“They are instructions from my father,” I answered. “Nothing complicated, but I have to do them on my own. Just … stay here a moment. I’ll be right back.”
“Oh … kay.”
He didn’t protest as I pulled out of his arms. I hated to leave him now, when I finally had my version of him … but I was in a time crunch. And I wouldn’t actually be going anywhere – just the part of me that wasn’t his Gwen. I supposed that I ought to let them have their reunion to themselves. It was only right, and there were other versions of us in the other realms that still awaited theirs.
Sliding open the next drawer, I found a cut diamond the size and shape of a small egg.
***
I found myself in a dark tunnel, but, strangely enough, the darkness didn’t seem to affect me, and I could still see perfectly well.
“Ivory, why did you stop? Is there something up ahead?”
I wasn’t alone. Spinning around, I found myself staring a female dwarf in the eye. I frowned, glancing down at my hands.
I was a dwarf, too.
Well, that was new. I’d stayed human in all of the previous realms – but, after a realm where the t
rees were made of crystal, changes to my physique were only to be expected.
“Ivory? Is everything all right?”
My eyes snapped right back up to the face of my companion – Ebony, Rosa’s counterpart in this realm. We were in these tunnels alone together, searching for my father’s body, and the Endless Diamond that he’d been carrying.
“Ivory, you’re weirding me out here. Talk to me.”
“I’m fine!” I quickly answered, spinning back around to face the tunnels. “Perfectly fine. I just … had a thought, that’s all.”
“Is it a helpful thought?” asked Ebony, poking me in the back. “We need to find the diamond before your stepmother does, you know. It’s been two months – I’m beginning to think it impossible. Your father – and it – are probably buried under a couple hundred feet of rubble in a tunnel we’ll never use again.
I frowned. She was right, yet I couldn’t bring myself to admit it. I had to recover that diamond.
“I could summon the mirror of sight,” I suggested.
“Not helpful,” Ebony declared. “You can only summon it when you’re Eirwen, and you’re not … wait. Are you Eirwen right now? Did you just transition? Is that what just happened?”
I shrugged with a sheepish grin as I turned back to face her again. “You caught me. Yes, I am.”
“Good. Summon it, then – no time to waste! We’ve been down here far too long already. I can’t wait to see the look on your stepmother’s face when we find the diamond.”
“I can’t, either,” I agreed, closing my eyes, but it was half-hearted. The potential of her betrayal niggled in the back of my head. I didn’t want it to be true, but something in her words and manner just didn’t add up.
I pushed the confusion aside and focused on drawing the mirror to this realm. For now, finding the Endless Diamond was my priority.
“Show me my father,” I ordered, as soon as it was in my hand.
Immediately, my dwarven reflection swirled and cleared to reveal nothing but a pile of rubble. I swallowed, realizing my father’s death in this realm. I’d known, of course, for death reflected through every realm, but until this moment, for Ivory at least, it’d only been the word of Opal, my stepmother, and Slate, William’s counterpart.
“Buried, as I suspected,” said Ebony, cutting into my grief as she always did. “It’s as lost to us as it is to your stepmother. There’s nothing we can do.”
“No.” I dispelled the image of my father’s unmarked grave. “The treasures aren’t so easily lost. My father knew that he was about to die. He would have prepared accordingly.”
Ebony wrinkled her nose but didn’t protest as I ordered the mirror to show me the diamond itself.
As I hoped, it did not show me the same pile of rubble that was the final resting place of my father. There was the uncut diamond, sitting at the top of a pile of gold – and my stomach sank.
“Someone’s been using it,” I said, meeting Ebony’s eye. “And it looks like it might be a dragon.”
Ebony’s eyes widened in fear. “A dragon? But they…”
“They’re real,” I assured her. “My father taught me how to deal with them, but getting back something of such value, I don’t…”
“Maybe we should just let it have it.” Ebony shook her head. “Oh, Ivory, Opal can’t possibly face a dragon, either.”
“No, we’re going to go get it. Mirror show me the way.” I gave Ebony a glare as the image dispelled and was replaced with a view of the tunnel that I was now facing. “It looks like we’ve been headed in the wrong direction, at that.”
I brushed past Ebony, done with letting her change my mind, and she wordlessly fell into step behind me. We didn’t talk as we made our way through the tunnels, even though the trek took us hours.
What could I say to her? I desperately wanted her to still be my friend, but every word she said just sat worse with me.
So I just focused on the tunnel before me and the mirror’s image, which shifted forward each step I took, showing me the way. I let my mind wander to Gwen and Jeremy, wondering how they were taking advantage of their reunion. There was was a counterpart for him in this world, too, and we were together here … but he’d gone missing, even before my father’s death. I worried about him.
Eventually, the tunnel opened into an enormous chamber, filled with gold and every kind of jewel imaginable. Oh, and also a large black dragon snaked around the piles. Even given my smaller stature as a dwarf, the thing was enormous.
“There’s the diamond.” Ebony pointed to a pile of gold. Only problem: the dragon’s tail was wrapped around that particular pile.
“I see it.” I tucked the mirror into my bag.
“How are we going to get it? That dragon’s enormous.”
“We’re going to deal for it,” I answered. “Or, I am. Stay back.”
“You … I … Ivory!”
“I told you, my father taught me how to deal with dragons – and it should respect me as the diamond’s rightful owner.” While I wasn’t a princess in this realm, our bloodline was known and respected, especially by magical creatures such as dragons.
“So … you’re going to talk to the thing and it’ll give the diamond back to you?”
“Not talk. Deal. Now, stay back. Hopefully, this won’t take long and the dragon won’t ask me for anything too difficult.”
My family served as shamans for our dwarven clan, and as such, I knew some pretty powerful magic. However, I’d expended a lot of energy these last two months, creating food and water out of rock in order to keep us alive. Unfortunately, location spells weren’t in my repertoire, which is why I’d had to wait for the mirror.
Slowly, I made my way into the chamber, careful not to disturb a single jewel or piece of gold, something easier said than done. It wasn’t wise to disturb a sleeping dragon, but I didn’t have a choice – I was too pressed for time.
When I was close enough, I drew some incense out of my bag and lit it – the only way to awaken a dragon without angering it. I selected some especially spicy, pungent scents, and a glowing eye opened only a moment after.
“That smells good.”
The dragon’s voice rumbled the entire chamber.
“Good dragon, I have come to deal with you,” I announced.
“I don’t deal,” the dragon answered. “I’m guarding this treasure for someone else.”
My breath caught. “You … are? For who?”
“A friend.” The dragon’s eye slid closed again. “Don’t think that dragons can have friends? Well, we do. Or, I do, at least. And I’m only supposed to give the treasure to his daughter. To her, and not to anyone else, even if they claim to be working for her, because they could be working for her stepmother, who’s a nasty.”
“And … how are you going to recognize this daughter?” I asked, tilting my head to the side and raising an eyebrow.
“I’ll know her when I see her.” The dragon answered. “I knew her before her stepmother turned me into a dragon. As I said, she’s a nasty. The stepmother. Not the daughter.”
“Before … you mean…” I suddenly recognized his voice under the boom and echo. “Jeremy?” Wait, no. That wasn’t his name in this realm. “Charcoal?”
The dragon’s head shot up, and he swung around to stare at me with one eye. “Ivory! Oh. Sorry.”
“So, about recognizing me?” I raised my eyebrow again.
“Had to make sure it was you.” Charcoal put his head back down. “Can’t be too careful. Jeremy, though? You’ve never called me by that name before. Is that what I’m called in the eighth realm? Or have you finally found me in the seventh?”
“The eighth,” I answered. “So, Opal turned you into a dragon, but now you’re guarding the diamond for my father?”
“Yeah, I think she wanted to use me against you,” he explained, “so she turned me into this and let me loose in the tunnels. Fortunately, your father found me and restored my voice and autonomy. Then he told me to wa
tch the diamond until you found me because only you can free me for some reason.”
I poked at the enchantment surrounding Charcoal – now that I knew about it, I could see it clearly – and nodded. “True love magic. Typical for transformation. I’ll just have to kiss you.”
“Ah, makes sense. You know, you really need to find me in the seventh realm, because it’s apparently the only one where we’ve never met. Your father says that he’s tried to arrange things between you, but that you’re stubborn there and would prefer to remain independent.”
“I’ll get to it when I’m done with my stepmother,” I assured him. “Now, the diamond?”
“Oh, yes!” He jumped to his feet and spun around, his tail whipping about so violently I would have lost my head if I’d been taller. “It’s right … right … what happened to the Endless Diamond!”
His roar nearly deafened me as I rushed forward to the pile where I’d seen the diamond earlier. It was gone.
“It was here,” I told him. “I saw it. Maybe…” I twisted around to glance back at where I’d left Ebony.
“Can you stop burning that?” Charcoal asked. “I can’t smell properly with it.”
I nodded and quickly put a lid on my incense pot. “Ebony!” I shouted. “Did you see…”
“Hush!” hissed Charcoal, and he ran off, slithering down one of the tunnels on the other side of the room. He returned just minutes later with an invisible figure clenched in his teeth, who he threw to the ground.
Automatically, I dispelled the invisibility, and I gasped as I saw who it was.
“Ebony!” growled Charcoal, pinning her down with a claw. “I was to give that directly to Ivory. Why are you stealing it?”
“I … thought she wanted me to do it – that she was just trying to create a distraction!” Ebony squeaked, eyes widening as one of Charcoal’s claws hovered far too close to her throat.
“I told you to stay back!” I growled at her. “And where did you get that invisibility spell? I didn’t give it to you, and you don’t have magic. In this realm, at any rate.”
The Seven Drawers Page 6
