It was amazing to think that one little necklace could cause so much trouble.

It seemed so innocuous, innocent. The small black gem was an iridescent thing, had an amazing ability to change its appearance depending on how you shone light on it. Wrapped in a delicate cage of silver, the piece of onyx hung off of a completely normal chain. There was nothing to suggest this necklace was particularly special; it certainly didn't look expensive or flashy or even noteworthy. One might even venture to call it boring.

What it did was anything but boring.

The last time the necklace had been worn, it had turned lives upside down and inside out. It was hard to know whether it had altered destiny or just facilitated its preset path, but it had wielded an uncomfortably firm hand in changing the course of lives. It had altered perspectives, changed attitudes, imparted secrets and generally been about as troublesome as it was possible for anything in this life to be.

It was strangely warm to the touch, seemed to radiate a tiny heat from within. One might almost imagine there was a supernatural glitter to it - though it was more than possible that was just the mind playing tricks. It rolled between fingers, looking remarkably innocent under the intense gaze to which it was being subjected. It was a gaze of weariness, of thoughtfulness. It was a gaze of suspicion, but also a gaze containing dangerous amounts of curiosity.

It was unsurprising, given that the owner of the fingers had been one of the three lives in particular that it had really screwed with.

The necklace stood as solid proof of destiny being the funny thing it is. In the vast scope of human possibility it turned out that life did have meaning, seemingly insignificant things did matter and that choices always had consequences, even the smallest ones. Anything was truly possible, there was some grand cosmic design running through life and things happened for reasons. Sometimes, it was difficult to decide whether that thought was comforting or just overwhelming. That was a whole other theological and existential debate which had been raging for millennia, one of no interest to the person holding it.

So, the owner of those fingers, taking a deep breath and recalling precisely how you used the necklace, began rubbing the stone, eyebrows narrowed in concentration. The voice spoke loudly and clearly to the empty bedroom.

"I wish I could see Claire again."

The stone began to emanate an eerie blue glow, and there was something painfully ominous about it. For a brief moment the fingers trembled, and the thought began to form that maybe this hadn't been such a great idea. It was all very well in theory, having a magic necklace which granted wishes, but the reality of it was that you were messing with forces you didn't understand: forces far greater than you that could squash you like a bug.

The whole deal with the black mist appearing and slowly twisting serpent like into the shape of a body - that was more familiar. A young woman who must have been in her twenties began to emerge, one of petite stature and brunette hair. She wore a particularly penetrating expression, one eyebrow arched high and her arms folded tightly across her chest.

"Well, well, well. I certainly wasn't expecting to see you any time soon."

"Hello to you too, Claire."

"Cut the banalities, alright? I just got summoned from on high, out of something very important I might add; I don't have time for you to feed me bullshit. What in God's name do you think you're doing playing with that thing? Did we not learn the last time?"

Okay, the hostility was somewhat unexpected. Claire had been quite amiable enough the first time, even if seeing her had been somewhat of a shock. Ghosts tended to be shocking.

"I just… I wanted to talk. I'm sorry, I just…"

Her face softened a little, and something that might have been sympathy passed briefly over it. "If I were you I'd have wished for a new holiday home in the Bahamas, or maybe a lottery win."

"I don't need money. I need answers."

"Okay then. What's the question? What's this question we're so desperate to have answered we summon the dead… though at least you didn't hold a séance, those frickin' things are really annoying to get sucked into." She threw her hands out in an invitational gesture.

"I need to know how it's going. In the other dimension."

Being a spirit and therefore dead, it really shouldn't have been possible for any blood to have drained from Claire's face. However, what little colour it had was promptly lost and a slight panic hit her eyes. To anybody who wasn't aware that other dimensions really did exist the statement would have sounded like a bad science fiction cliché, but more to the point, delusional. To Claire, who knew a good few secrets of the universe and was aware not only of their existence but of what had happened the last time somebody had crossed one, it only sounded dangerous.

There was a reason people said that curiosity killed the cat.

"Oh I don't think you should be asking that."

"Why not?" The voice sounded bold, almost defiant; it was a far cry from the fear of the previous minute or two. It didn't, however, count on Claire's blunt and forthright nature, which had only become exacerbated in her afterlife.

"One, because the whole cosmic point is that you never know what happens if you choose differently and yes, okay, I know, last time, but that was an extenuating circumstance and it was an accident. Which leads me onto two… I'm sure you've been torturing yourself wondering if the grass really is greener on the other side, but do you honestly think you're prepared to know? Really?" She asked shrewdly. "You think you can handle finding out?"

She did understand. She truly did; it had to be horrific learning of an entirely separate version of you running around an alternate dimension, playing out the other path your life might have taken. That, however, was exactly why people were never supposed to know - once you got a little taste of the knowledge you would start tormenting yourself over every decision, knowing that somewhere else it was being played out differently.

"I need to know. So please, tell me."

"Nope. Can't, it's against the rules," Claire answered succinctly, shifting her insubstantial weight from one foot to another and re-folding her arms over her chest. "And quite frankly I wouldn't if I was allowed to. Honestly, my friend, I understand why the curiosity has to be a killer but… God, I shouldn't need to tell you this, you were there. You saw what comes of seeing the other possibility; you're still living with the damn fallout. I'm sorry I can't help you, but honestly it's better if you don't know. And I'm sorry I can't stick around but they're calling, I have to go."

"Don't make me do this."

"Make you do wha… no. NO. Oh fucking no. Don't. Please, for the love of all things holy, do NOT do what…"

The thumb furiously rubbed the onyx again as a hurried voice interrupted her. "I wish I could see what it's like in the other Renee's dimension."

The onyx began to glow blue, and Claire could only put her head in her hands, shaking it vigorously.

"Well now you've fucking gone and done it."