Through the Earth
Chapter 4

I explained everything I saw to Liam who listened with deep interest as we left the forest. We both agreed that standing around the crater wouldn’t get us anywhere, so he offered to take me to the apartment that he shared with his two sisters. I’ve never been in an apartment before since goddesses that don’t live in Diamond City have houses, so this is going to be interesting.

As we got closer to civilization, Liam started walking down a path made of cracked white rock that was directly next to a road made of ugly black stone. Some humans were riding in these weird metal boxes on wheels that were riding down the black road, so I decided that maybe it would be best to stay away from them to avoid getting hit.

The buildings next to the road were all one story and for some reason, they had colorful words that somehow connected to the walls. At least there were patches of grass and a few trees so the town wasn’t too ugly.

Eventually, we got to a three-story building that sat parallel to the road. I followed Liam into the building, up a flight of stairs to the second floor, and to a door that he unlocked with a key.

As we stepped inside, Liam said, “My thirteen-year-old sister is in her room, while my twenty-two-year-old sister is at work.”

“I thought humans had parents,” I stated bluntly. Liam’s face fell and I immediately regretted my words.

“My...mom passed away last year and...my dad divorced her when I was little. I barely remember him. My sister Jessica takes care of me and my other sister, Cassie.” I don’t know what divorce means, but I think it’s safe to guess that it’s another word for leave.

“I’m sorry I said that.” My face started to grow hot. “I forgot that humans can die. Gem goddesses can be injured to a point where we stop breathing and lose consciousness, but we wake up once our wounds heal.”

“It’s fine,” he muttered. Still embarrassed, I continued to talk.

“I do know that it is possible for gem goddesses to die, but that only happens if our type gem or mineral on Earth goes extinct. We’re not only invincible and immortal, but we also age slowly. For example, I have the appearance of a human fifteen-year-old, but my real age is 15,352 years old.”

As Liam looked up in surprise, my embarrassment increased. I always ramble when I’m flustered, but only with people that I’m close to, like Sapphire or Ruby. Now that I think about it, I never rambled around anyone but them. When I’m embarrassed around other people, I just get angry. I know that I’ve yelled at Liam before, but something was different this time. His eyes were filled with pain and I wanted to make up for it.

We stood there in silence for a few seconds before Liam said in a more cheerful but careful voice, “Um, you should probably change into more casual clothes. You don’t exactly blend in with all the humans when you wear that.”

“Where am I going to find human clothes?” I grumbled.

“Well, I’m not good at shopping so we should talk to Cassie. She’s like a fashion expert or something. Maybe she could lend you some clothes?” Liam walked past what seemed to be an open space kitchen and living room. It was very small but still homey. I decided to sit on the couch while Liam entered the hallway. From the distance, I heard Liam knock on a door but he didn’t step inside the room.

“Go away!” shouted a voice on the other side of the door. I couldn’t believe someone could sound so rude.

“Cassie, I have a friend over.”

“I don’t care that you finally made a friend, you lonely dork. Just leave me alone so I can make this Tik Tok in peace.” I could hear Cassie as clear as day as she shouted through the walls and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. This is exactly why humans have a bad reputation.

“Cassie, my friend is a girl.” In literally two seconds, the door unlocked and opened with a slam.

“Did you say girlfriend?” she asked with excited energy.

“No!” Liam shouted nervously. “She’s just a friend that wanted to hang out, but is it okay if she borrows some clothes. She forgot to wear something more casual.”

“Say no more, brother. I’ll gladly help your ‘friend’.”

“Stop that.” It was very strange hearing Liam sound so offended, but I barely had time to think about it as a girl with wavy blonde hair in a ponytail and cheeks dotted with freckles rushed into the living room.

“OMG!” shrieked Cassie. “You are so beautiful. And that dress!” She bent down to stroke the fabric. “It’s amazing, but how did it rip at the bottom?”

“Uhhh.” Not sure what to do, I said the first thing off the top of my head. “Evil dog.”

“Oh my! Why are you still walking around in it? You could trip or damage the fabric.”

“Um...dirty laundry? This is my only clean dress.” I hoped it didn’t sound like I was asking a question, but if I did, I don’t think Cassie noticed with all her excitement distracting her.

“If only I had enough money to take you on a shopping spree,” Cassie sighed. “Oh well. You can borrow some clothes from me.”

“I hope it isn’t a bother.”

“A bother! On the contrary, it would be my pleasure. Someone as beautiful as you shouldn’t be getting fashion advice from dorks like Liam.”

“Hey!” Liam remarked. “My fashion advice was telling her to see you.”

“Okay, okay. Come with me…um, what’s your name?”

“Emerald.” Cassie nodded and pulled me towards her bedroom. She seemed nice but I also heard the way she yelled at Liam. I glanced at Liam who gave me a reassuring smile. He knows her best and trusts her, so maybe I can trust her, too.

Cassie dragged me into her room and locked the door. Her room was small but still was able to be filled with lots of things. The first thing I noticed was colorful pieces of paper all over the walls, that had pictures of people who appeared to be singing. There was a bed with a mattress big enough for one person, and Cassie directed me towards it and sat me down.

As she opened the door to a closet and started digging through clothes, I glanced around her room and tried to make sense of all the furniture. There was a nightstand next to the bed and the object sitting on it was a black rectangle with red numbers. Right next to the door was a wooden desk with a chair.

There was a full-length mirror next to the desk and I stared at my reflection, horrified. My hair was a mess. Back home I would use magic to style my hair so I could instantly fix it when it got messy, so I wasn’t used to it looking so out of place. Maybe it isn’t so bad if Cassie hasn’t brought it up, I thought.

“Perfect!” Cassie exclaimed. “This green tie-dye shirt is perfect. It matches your eyes. Now I need to find some jean shorts.” I looked at the mirror again and saw that Cassie was right. My hair may have lost its color, but my eyes sure haven’t. “Here we go. This will look cute on you. Hopefully, the shorts fit since you seem to be a size larger than me. It makes sense because I’m only thirteen and you’re...fifteen?”

“Yes,” I said with slight hesitation.

“I thought so since Liam’s also fifteen, but you already knew that.” I actually didn’t but I kept silent and nodded as Cassie threw me the clothes she picked out. “I’ll turn around while you change.”

The shirt she gave me had short sleeves and a swirly design of green paint that Cassie had called tie-dye. Painted on top of the swirls were white and gold stars and the gold ones had glitter that reflected the light. The shorts were made out of a thick navy blue material. I didn’t think that the navy blue matched well with the green, but I didn’t want to anger Cassie by questioning her choice.

I slipped out of my dress and pulled on my new clothes with ease. “Ready.”

Cassie turned around and gasped. “Wow, you look so good. I’m glad the shorts fit, but I figured that would happen since they are a little loose on me. You’ll grow out of them soon, though.” I probably won’t since I age slowly, but I won’t mention that.

“So I can go now?”

“Wait a minute. Your hair looks a little slept on. Just give me a moment to brush it.” She opened a drawer in the nightstand and pulled out a hairbrush. I sat at the desk chair as she brushed it, wincing when my hair pulled. “There you go.”

I stood and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked different but in a good way. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. You know what, keep those clothes. The t-shirt is one size too big and I prefer jeans with rips. Now go see Liam.” A cheeky smile spread across her face. “It must be important if a hot girl takes time out of her day to visit Liam in the middle of the summer.” She winked at me for some reason, so I quickly grabbed my dress, unlocked the door, and walked quickly to the living room before she did anything else weird. Cassie was very sweet and generous, but her animated personality and the way she yelled at Liam earlier made me think it was best to stay on my toes when I’m around her.

“Hey.” Liam said as he sat up on the couch. “Wow...um...you look good.”

“Let’s go somewhere more private so we can plan what to do next without others overhearing.”

“Um...okay. Follow me.” I followed him to a door at the end of the hall and when we entered, I noticed that it was a lot less decorated than Cassie’s room. It did have a desk with a chair and a bed the same size as Cassie’s but the similarities stopped there.

Even so, I enjoyed the bare space of Liam’s small room since I felt like I could breathe and relax. “So Emerald,” Liam said as he sat on his bed. I chose to stand. “Have you thought about a way to get home?”

“I have. My magic isn’t strong enough to open a portal so deep in the Earth, but if I find Queen Gold, we could combine our magic to get a portal to open in the tunnel I arrived in or maybe even in the core. Gold does have the strongest magic out compared to the other goddesses.”

“Didn’t Gold get zapped with that Time Diamond, though? Will she still have magic?”

“The Time Diamond can only take away immortality and slow aging since that’s what gives you them in the first place,” I huffed. “Her magic should be just fine.”

“Well, your plan sounds good except for one thing. We don’t know where Gold is.”

“You don’t think I know that?” I asked, offended. “I’m still trying to figure out how to find her.”

“Well I thought of an idea,” Liam said nervously. “I’m pretty good at drawing, so I wondered if you could describe Gold until I have a good picture of her. Then we could show people the drawing and ask if they’ve seen her.”

“You know what, that doesn’t sound too bad. But this all depends on if you can actually draw.”

“Well describe her to me and I can draw her right now.” Liam sat at his desk and pulled out a piece of paper and a yellow stick with a grey tip. Probably the thing he’s going to draw with.

I started to describe Queen Gold’s features. I’ve only ever seen Gold up close through pictures and my visions, but I still had an image of her features in my head. It did take a lot of erasing and me having to specify things I didn’t know, but eventually, Liam finished the drawing after an hour. I didn’t say anything, I only stared in shock.

“Um...is it good?” Liam sounded very nervous and unsure.

“Good?” I asked. “This is amazing! It looks just like her. You have real talent.”

“I-I-I do?” he stuttered.

“Yes.”

Liam smiled. “You’re actually the first person that’s seen me draw.”

“Really?” I was shocked. “What about your sisters?”

“They know I like drawing, but they’ve never seen my work. We mostly just kept to ourselves after our mom died. I’ve never really hung out with them anyway because Jessica is seven years older than me and Cassie’s personality makes you get tired of her after a while.”

“I understand. Sapphire and Ruby are my best friends, but they’re more than that because we’ve lived with each other all our lives. Sapphire is like my big sister since she’s very responsible and always tries to make sure Ruby and I are all right, but she sometimes is hard to hang out with because I want to do adventurous things while she wants me to keep things safe. Ruby is like my little sister and we used to do lots of things together like sword fighting and hunting, but ever since she’s become a teenager, she didn’t really want to hang out with me. I would spend my days practicing my magic but eventually, life just started to feel…”

“...meaningless.” Liam finished.

“Yes. I always wished my life had a purpose. After being alive for thousands of years, all the days blend into one as they repeat over and over again. Sometimes there are parties and festivals that go on, but I’ve been to so many that they aren’t entertaining anymore. Ever since Queen Silver attacked the North Settlement, I wanted her to pay for her crimes, but to tell you the truth, I don’t know what I’ll do once she is defeated. Fighting werewolves and risking my life not only gave me a real chance to use my magic and sword fighting skills, but it makes me feel like my life means something.”

“I know what you mean. My mom died a year ago in a car crash and it’s been pretty hard for us. She was so kind and always wanted to help people, so that’s why she became a nurse.”

“Sorry to interrupt but what’s a nurse?” I asked.

“It’s okay. A nurse helps doctors heal people,” he answered. “Anyway, she was always there for me and my sisters and wanted us to follow our dreams. I’ve always wanted to be an artist since I was ten years old, but we never had the money for art classes. Us humans go to a place called school when we’re young and school teaches us about things that happen in the world or different things we can do. When I reached high school, I finally had the chance to sign up for a free art class so I could enhance my skills, but before I got to draw anything, my mom died. I wanted her to see my dreams become real, but she never will. Life went on and every day felt like the one before. Nothing new seemed to happen. Well, until you came along.”

As Liam wiped a tear and my heart broke. While humans are dying every day, not one goddess has died, and it didn’t seem fair. Liam sniffed. “I’m sorry. Why am I telling you this? You’re so easy to talk to.”

“Easy to talk to?” I echoed. “Me? I snap at people and often get angry. I don’t mean to sometimes, but I’m usually described as hotheaded. How am I easy to talk to?”

“You have insulted me before, but I can see that all you want is to go home, and that is what fuels your anger. You don’t get angry without reason and you’re a kind person underneath all that. I guess I feel okay opening up to you since you are genuinely kind.” I couldn’t believe how right he was. He was so thoughtful and understood exactly what I was going through without me having to say anything.

“Thank you for being here for me,” I said. There was a knock on the door and a woman in her twenties that looked very similar to Liam walked in.

“Hi Liam,” she said. “I was told you have a friend over.”

“Yes, Jessica.” Liam replied. “I don’t know what Cassie told you, she’s just a friend.” Why does he keep calling me “just a friend”?

“I figured,” said Jessica. “I just wanted to say that I’m going to be making mac and cheese for dinner and it will be ready soon.”

“Okay,” Liam said. “Thanks.” Jessica nodded and closed the door behind her. I moved to sit on Liam’s bed and there was a moment of silence. “I thought of something.” Liam said. “You said earlier that you look fifteen but you’re actually about fifteen thousand. I wondered if you take a goddess’s age and just remove the last three digits, it would be the age humans think they are. Like if a goddess is 7,000 years old and you remove the last three numbers of her age, you get 7, and that would be how old humans would see that goddess.”

“I think you’re right.” I said. “Cassie actually looks like she’s Ruby’s age, but she’s 13 while Ruby is 13,584. It’s funny. Jessica looks older than Sapphire, but she is only 22 while Sapphire is 19,617.”

“That is kind of funny. Now let’s go eat some mac and cheese.”

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“The best food you’ll ever taste.”

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