Chapter 3 The Moonflower Space Takes All Their Money

I took a few fever pills out of my space. Then I filled a cup with magic water from the moonwell.

I swallowed the pills and drank the whole cup in one go. A little strength came back to my weak body.

The moonwell water could not bring a dead person back to life. But compared to normal water, it worked wonders. If you drank it for a long time, it made your body strong and your life long.

As for the honey water Margaret left behind, I did not touch it.

I had all of Elowen's memories. I knew how rare it was for her to get anything sweet. Even after she moved into the Thornfield house, she was obedient and sensible. She never fought, did the housework happily, and earned more work credits each day than her stepsister.

Still, Grandmother Thornfield called her a lazy burden. Isolde slacked off, and yet Grandmother said she was the best and hardest-working girl in the world.

This time, Grandmother gave up honey water and eggs. For the first time ever, she even took out fifty cents and sent Margaret to the village healer to get fever medicine.

It was only because she was afraid I would die, and nobody would marry her favorite granddaughter's groom tomorrow.

If not, I would not have gotten even an eggshell.

After the pills, I fell asleep within minutes.

Hunger woke me once in the night. I saw no bowl and no spoon. Nobody brought me food. I was left sick and hungry, and nobody cared. I knew who had stolen the eggs Margaret cooked.

Fiona. It could only be Fiona.

I sat up. Moonlight came in through the cracks in the broken wall. I threw back the blanket and put my feet into the old cloth shoes on the floor. They were washed pale and had seven or eight patches. There was no sound outside. I hid behind the firewood and slipped into my space.

In my old life, I took a bath in a hot spring there every day and sipped nice red wine. But not now. I showered as fast as I could. Then I took a bowl of beef and rice and a glass of milk from the kitchen.

I left very unwillingly.

It took less than five minutes. Time in the space ran twenty times slower than outside. So nobody knew I was gone.

I opened the wooden door slowly. The yard was quiet. The Thornfields were all in a deep sleep.

I went to the main house, blew sleeping mist into the rooms, and opened the door with my tools.

My goal was clear: the room where Grandmother and Grandfather Thornfield slept.

All the family's money was in Grandmother's hands, and I planned to take everything she hid. The Thornfields owed the original owner a life. I would use their own money to pay the debt.

I looked at the two old people sleeping deeply, and my eyes went cold. I took a small detector out of my space. It was no bigger than a watch, but it could find anything valuable.

I turned it on.

In a blink, all the cash and a wooden box that Grandmother hid were gone from the room.

And what a box it was. Eleven gold bars. Two gold bracelets. A dozen gold blocks. Silver coins. Rings, necklaces, and all kinds of gold and silver jewelry.

Millbrook Village used to belong to rich old landlords. Most of this treasure was stolen by Grandmother years ago when their things were taken away.

No wonder the Thornfields lived so well! No wonder Uncle Daniel and Uncle Henry both got factory jobs and married city girls. They had been sitting on a fortune all along.

I went through the other rooms the same way and put every hidden bill and treasure into my moonflower space.

Last, I went to Isolde's room.

Sewn into the inside of her new clothes, so well that you would never see it unless you looked closely, I found three hundred dollars, a gold bracelet, and two gold blocks.

Grandmother's love for Isolde was so unfair! She believed Isolde would marry into the Hale family and live a rich life. So she secretly gave her pocket money and a bracelet. None of the other granddaughters or granddaughters-in-law ever got this kind of treatment.

I walked out of the main house, blew mist to wake everyone up safely, and went back to the shed.

I did not touch the dowry or the family's shared things. If I took everything at once, the Thornfields would make a big scene at the wedding. Besides, I already had a plan to get my own dowry.

I fell asleep peacefully.

......

At dawn the next morning, I was pulled out of bed.

It was Grandmother, of course. She was afraid I would wake up and refuse to marry Lucian again. As soon as I washed my face, Margaret helped me put on new clothes and quickly did my hair.

Grandmother stayed right beside me. She was too afraid I would run away to leave me alone.

When my hair was done, she pointed at the quilt on the bed. Her face looked like she was in pain. "That cotton quilt was made by your mother for Elder Cuthbert. Take it with you."

She never wanted to give me any dowry. But she was afraid I would make a scene. So she bit her teeth and took a quilt from her daughter Beatrice's dowry chest.

"Heh." I laughed coldly. "A blanket? Do you think you can send me away like a beggar?"

I turned around calmly and looked at her. "I admit Isolde stole my marriage. But what about the gifts the Marsh family sent? Did all of those go to Isolde as her dowry?"

My voice was full of confidence.

"What gifts? No, no!" Grandmother froze, then quickly said no. But her eyes moved nervously and gave her away.

I was not going to be patient. "Grandmother, if you want the Thornfields to have a happy wedding today, give me what is mine. I don't need much. Just a share of everything Isolde gets."

"In your dreams!"

She jumped up in anger and pushed the money back into her pocket. "You useless girl! You want a dowry? Never!"

Still angry, she raised her hand to slap my face, like she always did.

But I was no longer the weak, shy Elowen.

I caught her wrist and held it tight. I looked at the open door, then raised my voice. "You won't give it? Fine. Let Isolde marry into the Marsh family herself. I will not swap this marriage!"

"Quiet! Shut up, you brat, shut up right now!"

Her heart jumped. There were many neighbors helping in the yard. If they heard this, would the Thornfield family have any face left?

She glared at me, ready to call me ungrateful.

But before the first curse came out of her mouth, the sound of loud horns and drums came from outside the yard.