“Mirror, show me where I am in comparison to the city,” I ordered. What I wanted to see was whatever treasure belonged to this realm, but since I still couldn’t remember what it was, I felt that asking the mirror would be cheating.
I held my breath as the mirror swirled to reveal a view of the forest from above – and, more importantly, the fact that I wasn’t terribly far from the city wall. I was nowhere near any beaten trail, but if I could just get to that wall, I knew that I could follow it into the city.
I ordered the mirror to zoom in on me, so I could note what direction I stood in relation to the city. Just as soon as I was sure what direction I needed to go, I went, just as quickly as my tired legs could take me.
There were more birds that tried to hinder my way as I made it through the crystal forest. I stayed resolute on my path, however, and the box kept me protected. I reached the city wall without any problems. Well, with the exception of how utterly exhausted I was.
Carefully, I wound my way around the city until I came to the gate where two guards were waiting. They snapped to attention when they saw me, though it was not out of respect as was due my position. Indeed, they regarded me with hostility!
“Begone, vagabond!” cried one. “We have no place for beggars or witches in our city.”
I drew back, affronted at first that he would accuse me of that, but then I remembered the shredded state of my dress. He had a point. That didn’t cancel the fact that I desperately needed to enter the city.
“I’m no beggar or witch,” I declared, with a lift of my chin. “I’m Princess Una – and I require entry into the city.”
This produced sneering laughter from both guards.
“Do you now?” asked the one. “Then you are, in truth, a ghost?”
“Princess Una was killed two months ago, by the same birds she claimed to control,” the other continued. “Turn again, sweetheart. We aren’t sentimental fools.”
I frowned. On one hand, I did commend these guards for their loyalty to keeping vagabonds and pretenders out of the city. On the other, well, I wasn’t a pretender. I was the actual Princess Una.
“The birds didn’t kill me – they trapped me in this cottage for the last two months, and I’ve only just managed to escape,” I countered. “And the birds only turned on me because Nidia stole the…” I still couldn’t remember what it was that controlled the birds. “She stole control of the birds from me. If she was the one who reported my death, she knew full-well that it was false.”
Though, perhaps, she meant it only preemptively. I shuddered as I recalled my close brush with death in the previous realm.
The guards were still regarding me skeptically. I took a deep breath. “Fetch Richard. He’ll recognize me.”
Richard was Williams’ counterpart in this realm and a member of the council. My memory as Una suggested that he knew about the multiple realms and would recognize the mirror and box. There was no way that he would let the guards continue to refuse me.
“Councilor Richard has better things to do with his time, especially at this hour of the night. We can turn you away just fine on our own.”
I scowled, wavering on my feet. I was too exhausted to deal with these men – but I needed into the city!
“Do you really think that I’d ask you to fetch him if I didn’t think that he would support my claim?” I asked.
The one guard frowned, seeming to consider the logic of my question – but the other just shrugged.
“How are we to know that you aren’t in conspiracy with him to put a pretender on the throne?” he asked. “It’s well-known that he doesn’t agree with Councilor Nidia’s claim of it. No, it’s best that we just turn you away.”
“And be guilty of treason if I’m telling the truth?”
I would have folded my arms over my chest if, but both of my hands were occupied. The owl shifted painfully on my wrist – my annoyance with these men was affecting the Amore Box.
I stiffened as a thought occurred to me. What if…
I didn’t like the thought. It bordered into what I wasn’t supposed to do with the box. Reminded me too much of what I knew that my stepmother had done with it. It was one thing to control the bird. Men were another matter entirely.
But did I have a choice?
I couldn’t let these men live under Nidia’s reign – they didn’t deserve it. She was cruel and greedy – and wouldn’t even allow herself to be moderated by the council. Much as I hated it, I knew her that well.
Raising the Amore Box – and my owl friend, since he was on that arm – I stepped towards the guards, sending positive thoughts their way. I couldn’t control them – that was not the power of the Amore box – but I could give them positive emotion towards me. And, hopefully, that would be enough.
“You don’t want to be accused of treason,” I coaxed. “Just let me pass, and I promise that you’ll be handsomely rewarded once I’ve punished my stepmother for her treason. Trust me, you do not want to be caught in her punishment. Please, let me through.”
The skeptical guard still regarded me distrustfully, but his friend was already undoing the gate.
“She’s the image of the princess,” he said when the skeptic turned to protest. “If she’s not Una in the flesh, then she’s her ghost – and a vengeful one at that. Don’t make me stand in the way of a vengeful ghost.”
Well, fear worked too.
And so, I finally passed through those gates – with minimal guilt. As soon as I was clear, I broke into a run, eager to get away from that pair. Richard’s whereabouts was my new query for the mirror – and the mirror’s answer showed that he was in his house, in private conversation with two of his fellow councilmembers: Juna, Dianna’s counterpart in this realm and – my heart leaped at the sight of the other – Collin, this realm’s version of my own, dear Jeremy.
I must confess that Collin rather arrested my attention for several seconds, slowing my step. He looked so deflated and dejected. So unlike himself. He barely participated in the conversation – didn’t even seem to be paying attention to it.
Was he upset over my loss? I wanted it to be true but still couldn’t reconcile it with the fact that, as Gwen, I hadn’t heard a word from him in two months. It wasn’t as though I’d been stuck in a mirror, prison, or a cottage, forced to do housework by birds. I’d just been…
Just been kicked out of the house, unable to afford a cell phone, and avoiding all of my old haunts. Williams had said that it was like I’d fallen off the face of the earth. Was Jeremey’s silence because he’d been unable to find me?
The thought sped my feet the rest of the way to Richard’s house. That and the fact that I was exhausted and the quicker I got this realm’s treasure found, the quicker I could sleep. I assumed, at any rate.
I wound through the city’s alleys and streets, thankful that the city plan was not confusing. At last, I came to Richard’s house – and frowned as I realized that my full hands made knocking difficult. I managed, however, twisting the mirror so that it didn’t knock against the door.
I didn’t knock a second time, for I was still watching them in the mirror, and could see that they heard me. All three started in surprise, but then jolted into excited conversation – who could it possibly be at this hour? – and then Richard himself stood and came to answer the door.
I dispelled the image just as he arrived, unwilling to admit that I’d been spying on him. His worry melted into a broad grin the moment he saw me.
“Eirwen!” he cried. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”
I blinked. “I … thought my name was Una.”
He laughed and nodded to the mirror and box. “Only as Eirwen do you have the power to summon treasures from the other realms,” he answered. “I’ve been expecting you. Come, inside with you – but I must ask that you leave your friend behind. No owls in the house. You know my rules.”
Right. I remembered my father’s letter now. Eirwen was my name in the first realm.
I glanced at my wrist. “I don’t know how to get him off. Not without him hurting me worse than he already has.”
Richard frowned as his eyes traced all of the scratches on my shoulders and arms – and at my wrist, which was bleeding thanks to the owl’s claws.
“I see. Close the Amore Box.”
“But…” Given that the box was the only thing keeping the bird from outright attacking me, I was reluctant to follow his instructions. Still, I didn’t have a lot of options, so I snapped the box lid shut with the mirror’s handle.
Immediately, the owl flew off of my wrist and towards my face, but Richard grabbed the bird, pressing its wings against its sides. He nodded me inside, and I ran through the door and shut it securely behind me while he dealt with the bird.
Richard followed me into the house a few moments later, without the bird.
“Before we join Juna and Collin, I’d like to commend you with the speed with which you’ve made it through to this realm. Alfen and I only sent you the drawers yesterday, and here you are already.”
I managed a bit of a smile, rubbing at my bleeding wrist. “Call me impatient, but I’ve been suffering under my stepmother’s control for two months. I’m ready to get her out of my life.” I then frowned. “But … you sent it to me? I thought…”
“I thought your father said that he would be leaving behind a letter for you – did he not explain that your family is not the only ones capable of shifting between realms?” Richard asked. “In truth, most in the first realm can – but only a few families like yours can go all the way to the eighth. This is all the further that I can go – and I, Hywel, have come with the intention of answering any further questions that you have.”
“Oh.” I wrinkled my nose. “I … got the impression from the letter that I know a lot of things that I have forgotten, and that I just have to remember them as I go. I’m also not sure what questions I should ask.”
“That is correct, and I understand that,” Richard answered. It was easiest to think of him by the name he went by in this realm. “But put aside what you think you should ask. Is there anything you want to ask? I can’t promise you all answers – there are rules concerning these challenges – but Vira has already meddled terribly with them, and we must tip the balances back into your favor.”
I pinched my lips together, closing my eyes, momentarily considering asking about Vira, but remembering that it was another of my stepmother’s names. The one that my father had given her in the letter.
“What did she do that my father married her?” I finally asked. “I know that it was blackmail. That it had something to do with me, but…”
“She saved your life, but that is all I know – and I don’t think that your father understood the full extent of what she did to you.” He shook his head. “I warned him not to do it – assured him that Rhosen and I would find a cure for you, with a just a bit more time … but there was no more time. You were sick in every realm. There was no chance of any of them pulling you through.”
I swallowed, pressing a hand to my heart, as I compared memories between Una, Gwen, Bianca, and Candice. I had been sick in every realm. To the point of death.
“Things don’t line up like that unless it’s for the serious moments.”
I nodded. “So, I need to figure that out if I’m to win against her?”
“Perhaps.” His jaw tightened. “We’ve been trying to figure it out since the day she did it, but…” He shook his head. “Focus on regaining the treasures from her. Things will be made clearer as you go. I take it that you’ve come here for the flute?”
I blinked. “The flute? Oh! The flute. That’s the treasure in this realm!” I released a breath of relief as the last bit of memory cleared.
His eyebrow went up. “You didn’t use the drawers to come to this realm?”
I shook my head. “No, I wasn’t near them, and I was in a rush, as I’ve said. Should I have? I came here easily enough.”
“The drawers are a … shortcut,” Richard answered. “You’re not supposed to use them at all, but they make things easier. Since it’s taken you so long to get started in the first place, and your stepmother has made things even more difficult. Continue to use the drawers. You need every advantage you can get.”
That would require going back to my apartment. I frowned. Well, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to leave those drawers alone in a building that Editha owned … but to explain it to Williams why I was going back home?
I’d cross that bridge when I returned to my own realm. Or, rather, Gwen’s realm, since I was apparently actually this Eirwen.
“So, do you know where I can find the Avian Flute?” I asked, lifting my chin.
He nodded. “Of course. It’s actually in my possession. It took some arguing with your stepmother, but since I knew that you weren’t truly dead as she claimed, she knew better than to fight me too hard. She hasn’t won yet, and she knows when to cut a loss.”
That didn’t really bode well with me, honestly, that she’d been willing to acquiesce any form of power to Richard. Not after my experience as Candice. She only gave up so she could do something worse, elsewhere. That said, I’d already gone through a lot to escape the birds. I was ready to be done with this realm.
“Show me,” I told him.
He led me through the hallway, into the meeting room where Collin and Juna were awaiting our return.
“Una?” Collin’s face went as white as a sheet – no doubt thinking me a ghost, just as the guards had, despite any assurances of my survival that Richard had surely given him. “Una, is that you?”
I scarcely had a chance to answer, as he was up from his seat and at my side in a moment, one hand cupping my face, the other hovering over the scratches all up and down my shoulders.
“What happened to you?”
“She’ll explain in a moment, while we see to her wounds,” said Richard, before I could answer. “Juna, go ahead and fetch bandages and medicine.”
As she stood and retreated from the room, and Collin continued to hover over me, Richard produced a chest from under a table. Opening it, he produced the silver flute and brought it to me.
“Take it, my princess, and reclaim your power.”
Smiling, I accepted it from him and put it to my lips.
4
The Diamond
I awoke in a strange bed, and it took several minutes for me to sort between memories and dreams.
The bed was Dianna’s. After I had gone to Apple Pancakes to inform them that I was quitting, she had invited me to spend the night with her, so I wouldn’t have to return to the apartment. Since I had thought that I’d found a solution to shifting between worlds, I’d agreed to it.
A glance at the clock revealed that it was well into morning. While I had returned to this realm immediately upon putting the flute to my lips, Gwen had been sound asleep at the time, and I was only just now able to process things.
Three more drawers. I was halfway through the challenges – but could only imagine that the toughest would be yet to come when I finally returned to that first realm. How was I supposed to break Editha’s power? How would I win back an inheritance that was only supposed to be mine upon her death? Was … was I supposed to kill her?
I pushed that thought aside. Sure, she was clearly trying to kill me, and it sounded like she’d killed my father, but repaying evil with evil didn’t make anything right. My father had taught me that much.
Hauling myself out of bed, I retrieved my purse from the table where Gwen had stashed it the night before and fished out the envelope, which she had not touched since I’d left her for Una’s realm.
I dumped the key into my palm, frowning. It didn’t match the shape that I’d seen in the bottom drawer – I’d been expecting a larger, stylized key. This one was small, silver, and could be easily be mistaken for any other key, save for the delicate etching that was similar to that on the drawers. For a moment, I wondered why the key wasn’t the shape that the velv
et had suggested, but then remembered that neither the mirror’s nor the box’s counterparts had matched, either. Clearly, the drawers were meant to contain the first realm’s treasures, and this key belonged to this realm.
With this realization, I slid it onto my keychain, dropped it into my purse, and then changed out of the pajamas that Dianna had lent me the night before, into jeans and a blouse that Dianna was also lending me.
I then found the woman in the kitchen, fixing breakfast.
“Good morning, Gwen,” she announced, grinning brightly. “Did you sleep well? Ready to attack the day?”
“Well enough,” I answered, climbing onto the barstool against the counter. I tugged at my sleeve. “I wish that we had gone back to the apartment to retrieve my own clothes.”
“You didn’t want to risk it,” Dianna pointed out. “I offered.”
I frowned. “Well, I’ve slept since then and have realized that living in fear of Editha is giving her just as much control of my life as she had before.”
“True enough.” Dianna placed a plate of eggs in front of me. “But eat, first. I can’t stand how half-starved you look. Just what have you been eating these last few months?”
“Nothing decent,” I admitted. “And, honestly, I’ve had enough of breakfast these last two months to last me a lifetime.” I wrinkled my nose at the thought of Apple Pancakes. I was so glad to finally be leaving that part of my life behind.
“They’re good for your heart, Gwen,” Dianna countered, sitting down next to me with her own plate of eggs. “Eat up.”
We didn’t talk as we ate, and when we were done, I took our plates, silently volunteering to clean up. I was relying on her hospitality, after all. It was only fair.
“You know, if there’s anything you want to talk about, I’m right here,” Dianna pointed out. “I’ve been so worried about you – and it’s clear that I had a right to it. What’s eating you, Gwen?”
The Seven Drawers Page 5