Chapter Text
December 15, 12 pm
Lucy shoved her front door open with her shoulder and walked in. She placed her bags of groceries on the floor and shut the door closed with her foot. Lucy sighed in relief and shivered. Although winter hasn’t arrived yet, the warm weather was giving way to the cold.
Noticing the quiet in the apartment, Lucy hummed and walked around. Strange. Marie should be in the kitchen baking or sewing something in the living room. She stepped in to the kitchen and found a note on the fridge. Lucy walked to the fridge and took the note and leaned against the counter.
‘Tom is taking me out to dinner tonight. I will be staying at his place tonight. Irene came by and dropped something for you. It’s in the living room on the coffee table. M’
Lucy sighed and crumpled the note. She tossed it in the trash and walked back to her grocery bags. Whatever Irene had dropped can wait. For now, she has milk and yoghurt to put in the fridge. After putting the groceries away, she walked to the living room and plopped down on the couch, brushing her curly brown hair out of her eyes. Lucy noticed a shoe box with her name written on it on the coffee table and tilted her head at it.
Before she could have a look inside, her phone started ringing. Lucy jumped and took it out of her pocket, looking at who it was before answering.
“Irene!” Lucy greeted.
Her adoptive mom’s voice was warm as she spoke back. “Did you get the box?” She asked.
“Oh, yes.” Lucy grabbed the box and put it on her lap.
“Great!” Irene chirped. “Have you opened it yet?”
“No. Why?”
“I want to know what is in there.” Irene laughed.
“Wait. You don’t know what is in there?” Lucy asked, already moving to take the lid off.
“No. Carl was the one who took you in. He was the one who made this box. Wouldn’t tell me what was in there. Told me we should give it to you when he felt the time was right.”
Carl was Lucy’s adoptive father. He was the police officer who had found Lucy on the side of a highway driving back from a patrol. Lucy’s hands froze above the lid. The topic of her birth mom still stung. Lucy bit her lip and Irene could tell what was bothering her.
“If you don’t want whatever is in there…”
Lucy shook her head and took the lid off. She tossed it on the coffee table and peeked inside. A red blanket was neatly folded up inside the box. On top of the blanket was a gold necklace with a small orange gem on it. Next to the necklace was a photo of Lucy as a baby.
“What’s inside?” Irene asked.
Lucy took the necklace out and placed it on the coffee table. “A necklace.”
“Ooh.”
Lucy took the photo out and placed it next to the necklace. “A photo of me as a baby when I was found.”
“Uh-huh…”
“And a red blanket.” Lucy took the blanket out and unfolded it.
It smelt of spices and dirt. Her name, Lucinda, was embroidered on it in gold thread. The edges were embroidered in gold thread. Lucinda shook it out and dust fell off the blanket. Lucinda coughed then sneezed.
“Is everything alright?” Irene asked.
“Yeah. Dust just fell off the blanket.” Lucy sighed and folded the blanket back up, setting it aside. “Thank you, Irene.”
“It’s okay. How are your archery lessons going?”
“Amazing. I’m a natural apparently.” Lucy said.
“Didn’t you just start?” Irene asked.
“Yeah. Weird, huh. Maybe I was an expert archer in a previous life.” Lucy joked, smiling.
Irene laughed. “I should go. Sure you don’t want to come around for Christmas?”
“I’ll… think about it.” Lucy said. “Bye. Say hi to Carl for me.”
“I will. Bye.”
The phone beeped and Lucy sighed, feeling the bitter sting she would feel when she thought of her birth mom. Lucy sighed and rubbed her face. Work was so exhausting. She lied down on the couch and fell asleep.
*
Lucy was woken up by a strange, bright glow. She sat up, blinking her eyes open, and looked around. Her eyes fell on the necklace and she scrambled away from it, cursing. The orange gem was glowing! Lucy blinked at the necklace and quickly got up. She had read enough books to know that if something that shouldn’t be glowing was glowing, then that means that something magical is happening.
Lucy ran to her room and got dressed in a red tank top with lace sleeves and black leather pants. She grabbed her leather jacket from her bed and slipped in to her black boots. Lucy walked back in to the living room and sat down on the couch. She reached out and grabbed the necklace. Her hands tingled when they touched the necklace and Lucy slowly put the necklace on.
A warm sensation spread through her body, ending at her throat. Lucy stood up and walked around the coffee table, looking at the necklace with wide eyes. The gem glowed brighter. Then brighter. Soon, the glow lit up the apartment and a whooshing sound was heard. The apartment melted away and her surroundings turned purple with streaks of purple. The last thing Lucy thought was that she was glad that she got dressed before being teleported to wherever she was going.