"D-Do you... want to take my necklace?" I asked nervously, still facing them, eye to eye. And then my finger moved again. "NO."
"Then what do you need? Why are you following me around?" I waited patiently for my finger to move, but it didn't. They didn't answer my question. "Why aren't you responding?" And then, suddenly, my finger moved.
"C...R...Y...S...T...A...L."
Who's Crystal? or what is Crystal?
"Who's Crystal? Is it a person? or a gem?" I asked, but again, they didn't respond. They just looked at me, and to be honest, it was kind of creepy.
"If you're not here to harm me, then why are you here?" I dropped my first question since they weren't planning to respond.
"G...U...I...D...E." That was the word my finger landed on.
"Guide? Guide me with this magior?" They didn't speak, but they nodded.
So they're really not going to harm me... but what did RJ mean when he said they were going to take something from me?
"D-Do you have something to take?" Again, they didn't respond, but they shook their heads like they disagreed.
"D-Do you know how I got this magior? Y-You know I was raised with no magior, but one night, I suddenly had one. S-So do you know how I got this magior?" I asked my voice is shaken like fuck. If they were really here to help and guide me with my magior, then they possibly knew where it came from.
They nodded.
They knew.
"H-How did I get this?" My finger started to move. "E...M...E...R...A...L...D."
"Of course, I got this from Queen Emerald. Every magior everyone owns comes from her."
"You're going to guide me using this magior, right?" I inhaled deeply before I spoke again. "Do you have anything to ask as compensation?" I asked, wanting to clarify if they were planning for something more… maybe war.
They nodded.
"What do you need in return?" I asked, and they looked at my ring.
"This?" I pointed at my finger, and they nodded.
"Okay, that's easy." I was about to take it off, but they suddenly vanished.
"Wait—"
What happened? I looked at the recipe, and there I saw the tiny little detail I missed:
You can only use it for an hour. Nice.
Now that I got to talk to them and they won't be an addition to my baggage, I could finally feel some relief and continue with my original plan.
I didn't sleep, even though I knew I had a test tomorrow. I stayed awake. I was looking through my parents' old things, hoping to find something that might connect to the idea of how my mother got this necklace. My eyes got distracted by the book I last saw before everything changed. Geometry of Dreams and the Magior beyond the Microscope.
"I wonder if you have anything to do with all of this," I silently said to myself.
I scanned every page, looking for something unusual. I didn't see anything—it looked just like an ordinary book of mathematics, and I didn't understand any of it. I kept trying to find the page I last read, but for some reason, I had forgotten the page number. As I flipped through the pages, the book suddenly changed. The pages didn't feel like math anymore.
"The Life Before It" by Unknown Author. That's what I read on one page.
I'm dumb in math, I admit, but I'm not stupid enough not to know that this was no longer a math book. I kept reading. The title was intriguing—I wanted to know what this was.
"Why did you let Father? Sister? My beloved mother..." – first sentence."I'm ugly, I know. But that doesn't give you the permission to steal from me, Savannah... Sister to enemies? I met Harry first, loved him, and he loved me back. But in the swish of time, you managed to steal him from me. You took what was mine. –E"
Is this a diary? This page felt like someone pouring out their pain after being betrayed.
I flipped the page again.
"I was born with nothing. No beauty, no talent, no love. Completely different from my sister—loved by many, even my own partner liked her. It hurts, but more than that, I'm furious. I wanted revenge. I planned everything thoroughly... but how? Harry is hella rich. Their house is fully guarded. I need a solution. –E"
This was indeed a diary.
"I'm pregnant. I can't believe that our simple love would grow like this. I wonder how Harry will feel when he learns I'm pregnant. Will he be happy? Maybe this is my chance to take back what's mine. I'm excited. –E"
I continue to read the next paragraph.
"I finally did it. I told Harry about our child, and he was thrilled. He said he's willing to leave Savannah for me and our daughter. I'm happy. Very happy. We'll have our very own family. –E"
I continued to read. The pages were old, full of sadness, and heavy with emotion. Ever since I got this necklace from my mom, I started to feel this strange connection... a sadness that wasn't entirely mine.
"Mary, what happened? Did you get to talk to them?" Micah asked me directly as soon as I arrived.
"You came this early just to ask that?"
"You don't know how worried sick I was overnight. Now tell me... what happened? We still have an hour," she said as she looked at her watch.
I looked around first, checking if anyone else was nearby.
"I got to talk to them..." I started. Her face waited silently, fully focused on what I was about to say. "They're not harmful... and good news—they want to help me control and master my magior. Unbelievable, right?"
"Really? B-But usually they ask for something in return... Did they ask you?"
"Yes, but it doesn't matter because they said they only want my ring in return." I pointed to my ring.
"Huh? Just that? This looks like some ordinary ring. Why would they want that?"
"I don't know, but I'm just glad they didn't ask for anything bigger." I paused, looking around again before continuing. "But Mic... there's something bothering me. I told you before that I remember reading a book before I passed out that night, right? Well, here's the thing..." She leaned closer to fully hear what I was about to say.
"I looked at that book again, and something strange happened. Seriously. The page I was reading wasn't there anymore. And the rest of the pages suddenly turned into a diary or... I don't know. I was just shocked to read all that pain from the person who wrote it."
"Gosh, girl... my head is spinning like f*ck!" she cursed. "But Mary... what does the diary say?"
"The diary is owned by a woman, I guess... and she sounds in pain, betrayed—you name it. But weirdly, throughout the diary, she never mentions her own name. Only the names Harry and Savannah. And from what I read, Savannah and the woman are sisters."
"Savannah is such an uncommon name. Whoever that is... she could be anyone."
"You're right! But I'm sure that diary existed years ago."
"And we both know who knows best about people from years ago..."
"RJ."