The Realm of Possibilities | Shadow Trials 2023

August Trial - Part 1: Gem of Fire

Nora went out to the balcony, spade in hand. She'd had the lunch shift at the restaurant today – her least favorite shift. It just wasn't nearly as busy as it was at night. So not only did the time seem to drag, but she only made about half the tips she normally would have. At least it meant she had the afternoon off. There were a few more hours before the sun went down, and she was going to spend them outside. Besides, the planters needed some serious attention, and it would help keep her mind off her discussion with Michelle.

Nora had always been a fan of the outdoors. And even though she couldn't afford the house with the huge backyard that she'd always dreamed of, that didn't mean she couldn't have a little greenery around her. Each railing of the cramped platform had a planter box on it, and pots of various sizes were set all over the ground. There was enough room for the small wrought iron table and chairs she used for early morning coffee, but the rest was overflowing with plants. When she sat on her balcony, mug in hand, it was her own private sanctuary. But it had been far too long since she'd taken care of it. If she wanted to keep it looking like an oasis, she was going to have to put some time in.

She knelt down over the planter box that held the petunias – or, what had been petunias. Half of them were dead, and the ones that weren't were hopelessly bug-bitten. So, it was time to swap them out. She'd bought a pack of snapdragons to put there instead. She got to work, ripping out plants, trying hard not to think about the revelation she and her sister had last night.

Nora still couldn't really believe that Ian might be responsible for the chocolates she kept finding in the mailbox. But she couldn't think of another explanation. She jammed her spade into the ground, breaking up the roots as she tried to forget about it. How had she let the planters get this bad? She used to love gardening. At least stabbing the spade into the soil was a good way to get her frustrations out.

She shoved the first plant into the hole she'd made, then moved on to the next. As she started to dig the third hole, her spade hit something sharp. She'd almost thought it was the bottom of the box. But when her spade slid off it and went down deeper into the soil, she knew that couldn't be right. She brushed away the loose dirt, wondering what what it was. Stuck in the soil was something that looked like a large, faintly glowing marble. She'd never seen anything like it. She picked it up, rolling  it in her fingers. There was a kind of glow coming from the center, but she couldn't see how. She held it up to the light, trying to get a better idea.

Once the sun caught it, that faint mint green glow was even more pronounced; the marble almost seemed to shimmer with what looked like a swirling liquid inside. And at the very center, there was a small, red... something. What was it? She peered closer, holding it only inches from her nose. It almost looked like a little red water lily. And what was that in the center of the flower? It was golden and—

"Hey, Nora!" someone called. Nora jumped, almost dropping the strange marble. Still sitting on the ground, she craned behind her. Her sister, Michelle, was in the doorway, leaning casually up against the frame. "What are you doing?"

"Just gardening." Nora shrugged.

"Really? What's in your hand?"

"I don't know. Just some marble I found."

"Must be a pretty amazing marble. You've been staring at it for like three minutes."

"I have?" Nora was pretty sure it was only a second or two.

"Yeah... I called you a couple times."

"Oh..." Nora didn't know what else to say.

"What are you planting?"

"Snapdragons." Nora almost added that they were Ian's favorite, but she stopped herself. Michelle didn't notice – she was too busy swatting at something near her face.

"Ugh. Where's the bug spray?" she asked, looking around and wrinkling her nose. Michelle never did like gardening. She was always convinced that plants were nothing more than bug-generators. Nora had tried to convince her that some of the plants out here actually repelled insects, but Michelle never did believe her.

Nora held up a small bottle on the ground. She'd mixed a bit of vegetable oil and soap into water; the apartment complex had a policy against any bug-repellants that could be classified as "poison".

"What are you doing out here anyway?" Nora asked.

"Oh. Yeah, look what I found." Michelle held something up: a long chain threaded through a very familiar ring. One that had been her grandmother's.

The ring was a simple silver band, engraved with roses and thorns winding around the exterior. In the center was a small amethyst set directly into the metal. Nora had adored it when she was a child. Every time she'd visit her grandmother, she'd wear it. So when her grandmother died, of course the ring had gone to Nora. She'd been a little surprised that it was all she'd gotten, considering she'd been her grandmother's favorite. But she was the youngest of seven grandchildren, so she guessed it made sense.

She'd worn that ring for years – she'd even had it on that fateful weekend at the lake house. Ian had loved that ring almost as much as she had; he'd said it suited her. He even bought her a pair of amethyst earrings to go with it.

"Two more – to match the Gem of Fire you already have." Ian had said, pointing down at her ring.

"The what?" she asked. What was he talking about?

"That's what they used to call amethysts." he said.

"But it's not orange." Nora laughed. It looked nothing like fire. But Ian was always saying strange things like that, just to see what she'd say.

"It's still what they were called." he shrugged. He looked so serious that Nora almost believed him.

"How do you know that?" she asked finally.

"My mom... She was really into gemstones and things like that."

It was one of the few times he'd mentioned his mom. Nora had tried to ask about her before, but he would never say much more than that she wasn't here.

But ever since Ian's accident, she hadn't been able to wear that ring or the earrings. They all just reminded her too much of him. Still, she loved that ring; it might have reminded her of Ian, but it also reminded her of her grandmother. So she'd put it on a chain and worn it around her neck. That way, she could have the comforting aura the ring always seemed to provide without having the reminder every time she looked down at her hand. Eventually, she'd moved it to her bedpost before finally packing it into a box and leaving it somewhere. She hadn't even thought about it for what must have been close to a year.

"Where'd you find that?" Nora asked.

"I was cleaning out the coat closet." Michelle told her.

"Why?"

"I figured if you were going to be out here working, I could contribute a little inside."

"Uh-huh..." Nora said. Michelle wasn't exactly known for her neatness.

Michelle grinned and gave a half-shrug. "And I was looking for a box I thought I brought with me when I moved in."

Nora laughed. Now that was more like her sister.

"Come inside and see what else I found." Michelle said.

Nora shoved the marble into her pocket, forgetting all about the strange glow she'd seen coming off it. It was probably nothing anyway — just a trick of the light. And the flower? Well, she'd had marbles as a kid, and they had all kinds of weird things inside. She wouldn't realize for another two weeks that the little luminescent sphere in her pocket would change the fate of not just her world, but of countless others.