Glassmage Oblivion

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

The living room was exactly as she remembered it. Without a fire in the hearth, however, her breath was visible as a soft, white fog.

Had her parents paid a service to look out for the chalet in event of their absence? There was no evidence of vandalism. No broken windows, though the wind did push insistently against the thick panes of glass.

Moving toward the back stairs, she recalled with a startling rush of warmth the evening she’d first met Laurel. They somehow managed to squeeze all those lost years into a weekend and somehow managed to thwart her mother’s plan of conquest.

Again in her sister’s now abandoned room, Gabrielle walked up to an ornate, wooden dresser and pulled open the center drawer. Smiling, she found a dark green sweater folded neatly on the top.  The weave was thick and she pulled it quickly over her head, loving the fact that something belonging to Laurel was now keeping her warm.

Gabrielle had no doubt that Deorwynn and Eadwynn would discover some way to free Laurel and the others from the collapsed castle. The rest was now up to her.

She would begin her search in the Playroom, that horrible room her parents (her mother, more specifically) had created to test and exploit Laurel’s fledgling skills at silicasting. It was only through years of observation, combined with a great deal of luck, that they were able to devise their own version of a Mioglasi. Production of these doorways, as controlled by her parents, would completely transform global society. In the process, Kendra would control the use of the portals and her power would increase exponentially.

Gabrielle sighed when she entered the room. Various colored tubs and bins of sand lined the walls, a few askew and one completely knocked over. The Mioglasi she and Laurel had created was no more than a fractured heap of milky glass on the floor. Staring down onto it, she was reminded of the castles back in Kell. Seeing her face reflected back in each shattered surface was only a reminder of her involvement.

Taking a deep breath, Gabrielle turned slowly in a circle and tried to see the room through new, objective eyes. What was she missing? Was there some hidden detail her mother hadn’t thought through?

So began an agonizing search. Moving from room to room, Gabrielle went through everything. In the kitchen, she realized that a system must have been setup up to take care of the place since the refrigerator was empty of any spoiling food. The pantry was stocked with a generous amount of dry goods, all with printed dates well before expiration. Taking a foil-wrapped roll of Kambly chocolate-dipped biscuits, she absently nibbled at them as she continued.

The living room, the largest area in the chalet, turned up nothing except things she, herself, would have left lying around. She eventually found herself upstairs in Laurel’s bedroom again and took her time sifting through everything. Laurel’s diary, sitting unobtrusively on the shelf above her bed, was the only item of concealed mystery.

Gabrielle set the journal aside and paced the small house a final time, hoping to discover something she’d missed. There was nothing.

Back on Laurel’s bed, Gabrielle pulled blankets and covers up and around her. She gently touched the cover of the diary.

“Sorry, Laurel,” she said softly, knowing she couldn’t just put the book aside.

Opening the diary, she began to read. The first entry was a hastily written account about how she’d overheard the first definitive words that she had a twin sister. It brought tears to Gabrielle’s eyes and she heard every word in her head as if spoken by Laurel.

I’ve always wondered, dreamed and hoped, but now I know it’s true! They’ve been hiding her in the States. What is her name? If there was only a way for me to communicate with her in secret!