#10 Fancy Dresses and Alternate Dimensions: The Necklace

Harmonia was very. . .Greek. Quite frankly, it looked like someone read up on mythology and decided to create a city that combined just about every impossible thing ever. Somehow, all the stone pillars and the amphitheater and the statues of nearly naked winged men managed to not fall through the fluffy clouds on which they were built. Fantasy world science at its finest.

"So, have you ever been to Harmonia before?" I asked Molly as we flew closer.

"Once. Long ago with William when we first became Dimensional Guardians." Her face turned a little pink at saying his name. "We had to go on a similar kind of your like you do, although it was not nearly this massive and it certainly did not cause this much trouble."

"Well, we've got an entire secret organization bent on foiling me before I can foil them, so this sort of trouble kind of comes with the territory."

"You are very confident," Molly said softly.

"That also comes with the territory." It's not like keeping the confidence was easy. No matter what I said, I still felt like I was being yanked around to even crazier places without having much room to breathe.

"I do not want you to die," said Molly, her voice cracking.

I looked up at her, but her face hadn't changed much. It had the same stony expression as usual and there weren't even tears in her eyes. She was good at holding back a lot of things. Something must've happened to make her train herself to do that.

Even though I was already clinging to her, I squeezed tighter for a moment to give her a hug. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't supposed to exist, right? And whoever's in charge of the universe decided that Fabric Healers were necessary, so I don't think I'll be dying any time soon."

"I am glad you are starting to understand things. I only wish Natasha could understand things too. . ."

Natasha. I'd almost completely forgotten about that mess. "Is that what you're really worried about?"

Molly nodded.

"Look, I promised I'd help Natasha, right? You don't have to worry."

"But they are going to kill you. That is what they are trying to do now. That is why they are stealing the Fabric Healer relics. They want to kill you before you can become more powerful."

"Well, we'll still manage, right?" I said weakly. Geez, this girl is a downer when she's in a bad mood.

"It will be my fault if we do not."

"How would it be your fault?"

"Dimensional Guardians are supposed to protect the Fabric Healer. If we fail, we are at fault."

"You can't blame yourself for everything. Life sucks when you do that."

"Amber, do you know what it is to feel guilty for something that someone else has done to you as if you are the reason they left in the first place?"

"Weird question," I said, "but yes. I do."

"Then you can understand why I feel guilty about Natasha and why I would feel guilty if something bad happened to you."

"Molly, why do you feel guilty about Natasha? I mean, yeah, there's that whole invisible piece thing, but why do you feel like you have to fix it?"

"Because it is my fault that she has the invisible piece. I was the one who took her to the other dimension. It was before I knew anything--I was still very young and I had a good reason for bringing her, but it was still a bad thing."

"What's the reason?"

Molly didn't answer and she wouldn't have had time even if she wanted to because seconds later we landed on the marble staircase of what looked like a museum. Winged people with fancy white robes flew and walked all around us, staring for a few moments and whispering things about the Fabric Healer. This kind of attention is something I got used to pretty quickly, but I couldn't help but wonder how these people were noticing my presence. Were they glad for it, or were they wary because they were in on hiding Amethy's necklace from me?

"Molly, I'm not sure how much we can trust the people here. I think we're better off not asking anyone for much help," I whispered.

"Understood," said Molly, twirling her parasol. "Discretion in these matters is one of my top skills."

Before I could say anything, Molly stopped the nearest person and looked at him harshly, or rather, she looked at him normally, but Molly's usual expression looks pretty harsh when you don't know her that well.

"If something stolen were hidden in this land, where would it be?" she said.

The man stammered. "What is this, some kind of riddle?"

"A very important object has been stolen and we believe the perpetrator has hidden it here."

"What? Oh!" the man said, seeing me for the first time. "Oh my, that's the Fabric Healer's cloak, isn't it? Something was stolen from you?"

"Yeah. Something I'm supposed to have. It's a necklace."

"We believe an elf named Dorian is involved," said Molly.

"An elf? Come to think of it, I did see an elf here a few hours ago. He had something in a bag and was headed toward the roof."

Molly sighed. "That means he is gone by now. He could be in any dimension."

"Then how do we figure out where to go next?" I asked and slumped down on the steps.

"If I recall correctly," said Molly, placing her finger on her chin, "Locrio said his brother has a flare for the dramatic. He enjoys making everything a game."

"They sound a lot alike," I said with a short laugh.

"Of course they are alike. They are brothers."

I sighed. Molly would never understand my jokes.

"We should go up to the roof to see if he left a clue."

"You think he's sending us on a scavenger hunt or something?"

"Yes."

"Alright," I said and stood up. "Let's go."

"Um, if it's any consolation," said the Harmonian man, "I--I think it's wrong for people to steal from the Fabric Healer."

"Thanks," I said and walked past him.

"The stairs to the roof are over there," he said, pointing somewhere inside.

"Thanks, but we won't be needing the stairs."

Molly took this as her cue to run and I followed. When she leapt into the air, I lunged after her a second later and wrapped my arms around her waist. It was uncomfortable and kind of awkward flying like this, but we landed on the roof a few moments later. Sure enough, there was a clue and it was a big one, scrawled out on the stone in large letters:

THE PURPLE NECKLACE MIGHT BE GOT
IN A PLACE WHERE ITS OWNER TRAVELLED NOT.

"Well this is lovely," I said. "At least the guy can rhyme."

"Amber, do you have The Guide with you?"

"Yup," I said and reached into my cloak to pull it out.

"Find Amethy's account and scan it quickly. From what I recall, she was very detailed about the worlds she visited and never mentioned the ones she didn't."

"Ah, I see your line of thinking," I said as I thumbed through the pages. Molly was right. Amethy had divided her experience into chapters based on each dimension she visited. All I had to do was look at the first pages of each one until her story was over.

"Walden isn't here," I said a few minutes later.

"Then that is where we shall go," said Molly and whipped out her giant zipper, "but first we must find the others." She opened a hole in a square of blue fabric and stepped inside. I followed and the two of us rushed through the inter-dimensional space with the zipper tugging Molly along. When we emerged, we were inside the Super Secret Elven Library again (I told you I'd passed in and out of that place a million times before we finally left Secoria). It was completely empty except for the books and scrolls, or at least it seemed that way. My senses told me something different, though. I couldn't really explain it. I walked down the center of the room, scanning every aisle because I was sure someone or something else was here. Molly followed quietly. Suddenly, I caught a brief glimpse of a woman (at least, I though it was a woman. It could've been a man with really long hair) looking at a scroll, her face covered in shadows. Before I could get a good look at her, she disappeared through a square of gray fabric, taking the scroll with her.

"Was that a Dimensional Guardian?" I asked.

"Perhaps," said Molly.

"Then I wonder why she ran away. . ." Something about seeing her unsettled me as if I was supposed to know what was happening, but I couldn't figure it out.

Molly took out her zipper and said Locrio's name. He appeared on the screen with a frustrated look on his face.

"That thing is a communicator too? Sweet."

"I apologize for running off so quickly," he said. "The others are with me. We couldn't find Dorian anywhere."

"That is okay," said Molly. "Amber and I found a clue in Harmonia. We think he has fled to Walden. We are in the library right now, so come here and then we can go."

"Alright," said Locrio and signed off.

We didn't wait too long before they showed up and then I quickly filled them in on everything that had happened, including that strange woman stealing the scroll.

"We can deal with that later," said Locrio. "Right now, it's more important that we find the necklace and stop them from taking the other relics. Michael, Ophelia, you lead the way since it's your world we're going to."

The twins smirked.

"So Amethy never went to Walden," said Michael.

"Probably because she never heard of it," said Ophelia. "We'll take you there, but you better not memorize the path or anything."

"Yeah, otherwise we'll have to just make a new one that only we can use."

With that, we followed them into the inter-dimensional space. It was about time I was given the chance to look at another world. Secoria was getting kind of old, but I knew I'd have to go back. In the meantime, I tried to figure out the Grand Master's pattern. The ex-DGs had to have some sort of plan or knowledge of where all the Fabric Healer relics were. Otherwise, they wouldn't have known about the necklace in the first place.

The answer, of course, had to be somewhere in The Guide.