“Okay, but…” He frowned harder. “Gwen, I want to give you the world, though.”
“And you will,” I assured him, smiling. “I didn’t say you couldn’t do that. I just don’t want you to solve my problems, that’s all.”
“Oh, I see.” He wrapped his arms around my waist, his grin returning. “You know, if you want, I’d marry you tonight. I don’t trust … I can’t help but think that if I let you out of my sight for a moment, I’ll lose you again, and I don’t want to risk it. Not again.”
I pushed myself to tiptoe to give him another kiss. “Tempting,” I admitted, but then I pulled out of his arms. “Alas, but I can’t accept that offer. I’m yet not done with the challenges my father left for me.”
“Oh, but surely…”
I cut him off with a shake of my head. “Jeremy, I said that we’re bound by fate … but our choices aren’t aligned for tonight. I have to finish these challenges first. I’m sorry.”
“And I suppose you do deserve a proper wedding,” he admitted, shrugging. “What are those challenges? I know your father was eccentric, but why were they the only thing that he left for you?”
I glanced away, clutching the strap of my purse, where I’d stashed the letter and all of the treasures that I’d collected so far. “It’s … complicated, and more than just him. The challenges are actually … family tradition, that I didn’t know about until now, but the leaving everything to Editha was blackmail.”
Jeremy’s eyes widened. “Blackmail? How? Why?”
“You said it yourself earlier.” I tightened my hold on my purse. “What was my father willing to give anything for? Six years ago?”
“Six years … you mean…” Jeremy shook his head. “But what would Editha have had to do with your recovery?”
I shrugged. “Honestly, I still don’t fully understand it myself, what she did … but she was somehow behind it, and it was at a great cost to my father.”
“Okay, so he traded Kingdoms for your life – but the business is just a business…”
“It’s … not just Kingdoms that she wants. Actually, I don’t think Kingdoms was what she wanted at all, beyond how losing it crippled me.” I took a deep breath and met Jeremy’s eye. “I didn’t know it until just two days ago, but there are other things that have been in my family for much longer, things that were left to me, and they’re what she wants.”
He frowned, fiercely. I could tell that he wanted to help me, but I was just confusing him.
I pulled the letter from my purse. “Here. I’m not supposed to let anyone read this except myself, but I trust you, Jeremy. Besides, if you’re going to marry me, you deserve to know what you’re getting into.”
He continued to frown as he took the envelope from me, opened it, and read. Trepidation filled me as soon as it left my hand, and it didn’t help that he didn’t say a word, even as he reread the letter a second and third time, and then he even went back to examine certain portions.
I bit my tongue, fighting the impulse to snatch it out of his hands and declare it all a joke. Jeremy deserved the truth. Deserved the chance to run screaming for the hills.
There were still moments where I wished that I could run away from the insanity that my life had become.
Then, just as I couldn’t bear the suspense a moment longer, Jeremy met my eye and said one word.
“Wow.”
I hugged my arms to my chest. “Tell me about it.”
“Do you – was your dad telling the truth in this letter, or is there a metaphorical riddle hidden in there somewhere? Can you really visit parallel dimensions?”
I blinked, not expecting such a positive response from him, not when I was still so unsure about the whole situation.
“Either he told the truth or I’ve gone mad,” I answered. “I’ve visited four of the other realms already. The drawers are in my bedroom, and I actually only have two of them left – and then I’ll have to figure out how to get back to Eirwen’s realm on my own. I think. And, Jeremy, I assure you that this insanity will settle down once these challenges are over. If my stepmother doesn’t succeed in killing me, that is.”
“Killing you…” Jeremy repeated.
“She already nearly succeeded,” I admitted. “The powers she wants are attached to me, and she can’t have them so long as I live. Now’s the time for her to strike, here in the middle of these challenges. The power isn’t fully mine yet, nor do I fully remember how to use it. I’ve pieced together a lot from the memories of my other selves in the realms I’ve visited so far, but they don’t understand everything completely.”
“I see.” Jeremy’s brow knit for a moment, but then he shrugged. “It’s still pretty cool, though. I always knew that there was something special about you and your father, Gwen.”
I gave a bit of a grin. “More than I ever suspected, then. Skeptical little me.”
He laughed, handing me back the letter and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of skepticism. Keeps people from pulling the wool over your eyes. And that’s what convinces me. If you’re taking this seriously, then what argument do I have?”
“The fact that grief could have addled my brain and I’ve just gone mad?”
Jeremy just laughed again. “Ever the skeptic! Well, I’d buy it if your father hadn’t written this letter. Come on. Let’s get you back to the apartment, so you can visit the next realm. It sounds like you’re nearly done.”
So close, and yet still so far away.
“I can’t believe that you’re just accepting all of this,” I shook my head, leaning into him as I relished the normalcy of his presence.
“Would you like me to freak out and lock you into an insane asylum?” he asked.
“Maybe?” I gave a half-hearted laugh. “I don’t know, Jer. I really don’t know.”
“Well, then if you’re leaving the choice up to me, then I’m going to believe you and help you with your ‘challenge’ however I can – if that’s all right with you, that is.”
“Thank you.” He had no idea what his support meant to me. “You’re amazing, Jer.”
We’d reached his car again, and he opened the passenger to help me in. “Not half as amazing as you are. I’m not the one who can visit parallel realities.”
I laughed and waited until he climbed in the driver’s side to answer. “Well, it’s not really me who does the shifting,” I informed him, and then I frowned. “Well, it is me, but not me as the Gwen you know and love. Eirwen is the one who shifts between the realm. Right now, I’m both her and Gwen, but when the challenges are over, she’ll go back to her realm, and I don’t know how often she’ll bother to come all the way out here, so I’ll be back to being the good old Gwen you know and love. Well, mostly. I’ll always have shreds of her memories that she leaves behind with me. And I’ll always have the key that’ll fit any lock, even when the rest of the treasures return to her realm with her. I haven’t actually tested that one, yet, but the others seem to work.”
“Interesting.” He raised an eyebrow at me as he started the car.
“Also, a bit of a warning,” I continued. “By marrying me, you will actually share in my power. Not the full array of it, mind you – that’s why my stepmother wants me dead, she couldn’t get it all by marrying my father – but Alfen will have the ability to make it all the way to this realm. It’ll take a while, I admit, because he currently can’t even make it to the fourth realm, which was the one I just came from, but … again, just a warning.”
His eyebrow arched again. “Cool.”
I reached into my purse and pulled out the mirror. “I have tested the Mirror of Sight in this realm, so I know it works. Do you want to see?”
“Sure.”
I fingered the handle of the mirror, my mind suddenly blank. What did I want to see? What did I want to show Jeremy?
“Show me Rosa.” The order escaped my lips on a passing whim, a desire for more proof of her betrayal. Maybe something that would shed
light on her motivation. Why had she done it?
The mirror’s surface swirled and my breath caught as I saw my … former best friend. Standing on the doorstep of my apartment.
“I thought we agreed that we weren’t talking about her,” Jeremy pointed out.
I glanced at him to find his eyes fixed firmly on the road, as they should be, since he was driving. My grip tightened on the mirror’s handle.
“She’s at my house,” I hissed. “The apartment!”
We reached a stoplight, so Jeremy glanced away from the road, and his eyes widened as he saw the mirror. “Oh. Wow. That … that’s freaky.”
“Tell me about it,” I agreed.
“So, Rosa’s going to be at the place when we get there?” Jeremy asked, diverting his back to driving as the light turned green. “Well, then you’ll have a chance to ask her about the last two months.”
My eyes narrowed as I watched Rosa dig in her purse, no doubt seeking the key I’d given her.
“I don’t think she’s there to talk,” I growled, through clenched teeth. “In the last realm I visited I … found out that she’s working with my stepmother. There at least. I still don’t know for certain about here. Guess I’m about to find out.”
I dispelled the image as Rosa unlocked the door and went inside my apartment. I’d given her that key. I’d trusted her. And now, much as I desperately wished that she was there just to talk, the sick feeling roiling in the pit of my stomach said otherwise.
I looked to Jeremy for reassurance and found that he had removed a hand from the steering wheel and offered it to me. Gratefully, I accepted it, fitting my fingers between his like hey belonged there. Because, of course, they did.
We didn’t say anything else to each other the rest of the car ride. I hopped out of the car as soon as we’d stopped and rushed up the stairs to my apartment. Once there, however, I hesitated. Rosa was on the other side, and the best-case scenario was that she wanted to chew me out for dumping her yesterday morning at the gas station. And, while it would no doubt come up, I wasn’t expecting best-case.
“She’s gone, then?”
I twisted around to see that Jeremy had caught up with me. I shook my head.
“She let herself in, she has a key,” I told him, taking a deep breath. “Oh, Jeremy, she’s been my best friend since forever! Why would she do this?”
“I think the only way to find out is to ask her,” he answered, putting a hand on my shoulder. “And the only way to do that is to open that door. Come on, Gwen, You can do this.”
I could. Of course I could. Lifting my chin, I shoved open the door, only to find Rosa tearing my couch apart.
“What is going on!” I demanded. “Rosa, what are you doing?”
Rosa jumped up like I'd stuck her with a pin. “Gwen!” she cried. “You – you weren’t home when I got here. I had to let myself in.”
“And proceed to tear up my couch?”
Her eyes widened as she glanced down, as though seeing her handiwork for the first time. “Gwen, I’ve not heard from you since yesterday morning – beyond finding out that you quit your job when I showed up for work this morning. I’ve been worried about you.”
“I told you where I was going,” I told her. “And if I decided that I didn’t want to play into Editha’s schemes to keep me trapped, what is that to you? You yourself keep telling me that I need to make my own decisions. Even as you keep trying to make those very decisions for me. Thanks a lot for that, by the way.”
Her mouth opened, shut, and then she folded her arms over her chest as she glanced over my shoulder to see Jeremy. “Ah. I see how it is. You make up with your wayward boyfriend, and now, suddenly, I’m nothing to you.”
“He showed up on my doorstep this morning,” I informed her. “I would have texted – even called – to tell you all about it, but you thought it would be a good idea for me to give up my cell phone.”
Rosa scowled. “It wasn’t like you could afford it.”
“So, um, Rosa,” Jeremy spoke up, “Gwen tells me that you were living with her for a while. And yet every time I’ve met you and asked after her, you’ve claimed that she’s been in her bedroom, crying and refusing to see anyone.”
Rosa went pale, and she took a step backward. “I … I…” She appeared at a loss for words, but then suddenly composed herself and lifted her chin. “She didn’t need you to waltz in and fix everything for her – and I knew that was what you wanted to do. She deserved a chance to fix her own life.”
“Then why didn’t you give me that chance?” I asked. “Why did you keep me and Jeremy apart? And, while we’re on the subject, did you know that Editha owns this apartment? Apple Pancakes?”
“Editha owns half of the city,” Rosa countered. “It’s really hard to get a job or house anywhere without her owning it.”
“Rosa…” I took a deep breath. “Rosa, please tell me that I can still trust you. I want to trust you, but something … everything in me says that you’re working with Editha. Please tell me you’re not working with Editha.”
Rosa opened her mouth, as though to protest, but then she snapped it shut and glanced down, guilt written all over her. “I … I’m sorry, Gwen. I really am.”
I swallowed. “Rosa … why?”
Her head shot up and she glared at me again. “Because not all of us are born with silver spoons in our mouths, Gwen. We don’t all have awesome dads who give us the world when we ask for it or amazing boyfriends who worship the ground we walk on. Some of us actually have to work ourselves to the bone to get even scraps.”
“Rosa, I’m sorry – but you know I’d share that with you,” I told her. “I got lucky, I know, but I didn’t let that go to my head. And you know that.”
She held my gaze for several moments more, and then she pushed past me, out of my apartment.
“I’m sorry, Gwen.”
And she was gone.
“Well … that happened,” said Jeremy, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close. “Are you okay, Gwen?”
I let him hold me for a few moments, but then I pulled away and marched into my bedroom. “I need to defeat my stepmother. She can’t take anything else from me.”
“Ah. Well, I’ll be in here. Waiting for you.”
I threw a grin over my shoulder to him. “I’ll be back in a moment, but just as Gwen. Eirwen’s the one leaving.”
I tugged open the next drawer, heart hammering. There was no treasure inside, however, just a folded note tucked into the indentation where the tiny, square-shaped thing should go. I pulled open the letter to read it.
Your stepmother wears the comb at all times, and we cannot take it from her. Alfen is going himself to the third ream, taking the key with him in order to help you win that realm’s version of the comb.
And, with that, the world swirled around me.
***
SYSTEM RESTART COMPLETE.
The words played against my eyelids as I groped to consciousness in this new realm.
NET ACCESS FAILED.
Net access…
My eyes flew open and I glanced wildly about my surroundings. There wasn’t much to see, as I was in total darkness. I was in hiding, having placed myself in dormancy until Eirwen’s presence in my mind was detected.
My name was Fiona.
Eirwen, is that you?
I stiffened, at the cold, emotionless voice in my head. It wasn’t from the computer that governed my restart. It was…
Lukas? I answered. There was only one person with whom I held a link with that could be used without the net.
In this realm, yes, he answered. Though I’m also technically Alfen at the moment. I have the key and have already escaped my confinements. Give me a moment and I’ll unlock your door.
I blinked as a door swung open and light flooded into my cell.
“Ah, but it’s good to see you,” said Lukas, holding out a hand to me. “I mean, the wires are a necessary evil of this realm, but it’s g
ood to see that you’ve finally found your way about those drawers. The sight of you in that coffin day in and day out has been wearing on me, I freely admit.”
“Coffin?” I repeated.
“According to tradition, Hywel and I placed you in a glass box after you fell unconscious. It will keep your body alive while your mind is in the other realms, and it protects you against your stepmother. Once shut, it can only be unlocked from the inside, and only with the key. Which is why I’ve brought this one with me here. So that, when the time comes, you can take the eighth realm’s key with you when you finally return to us in the first.”
“Got it. Okay.” I nodded slightly as I absorbed his face, so similar to the Jeremy I knew and loved as Gwen … and yet different, too. Though that was mostly the wires, sticking out of his skin and running through his hair. Just what were we in this realm?
Still taking a moment to sync up, are you? A grin quirked the corner of his mouth as the computer voice sounded in my head again. It’s these computers in our heads, here. They reject the presence of our first-realm selves, so coming here is quite disorienting. It’s why this is the furthest that most people get.
I swallowed. “That is seriously freaky.”
“It’s the norm here, though,” he explained, taking my hand and helping me to my feet. Now, we need to move quickly while we’re both here. Vira knows that you’ve begun the challenges, and she’s very angry. Neither Hywel nor I expect her to play by the rules. Come.
“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” I told him, wrinkling my nose. “It’s weird and you sound dead.”
Lukas leaned down and kissed the end of my nose. I know, and I’m sorry, but we have to sneak now and can’t risk anyone hearing us. Your father upgraded our personal link so that we could talk without the net, enabling us to hide off-line. You don’t want his efforts to go to waste, now do you?
I frowned but tightened his hold on his hand. Okay. Fine. Where are we going? Where’s the comb that we’re supposed to find? What does it do?
It’s the Comb of Beauty and it affects the physical appearance, Lukas explained, leading me out of the closet I’d been hiding in, and through stark, brightly-lit hallways. Focus on restoring your memories for a bit, Fiona. We shouldn’t have any trouble for the first few minutes, so you should take this chance. It’ll make things easier if you’re not constantly asking me questions about things you should already know.
The Seven Drawers Page 8