The Tale of Amaretto

Sixth Grain

In which Amaretto and Katherine travel through dimensions...

Amaretto tried to answer back at what Tempus had said, but all she heard was a popping sound. The shift was almost seamless, but she was immediately in her bedroom. Her bedroom was a completely and utter mess. It was always a mess, but this time she was deposited into that mess with her Godmother, and that did not do well for Katherine at all. Katherine whooped as she tripped over a pile of dirty clothes. Amaretto ignored her aunt as Katherine sat up and found a bra that was settling on her head.

“Ama darling,” her aunt drawled, pulling the bra off of her head, “When was the last time that you cleaned your room?”

Amaretto sighed. “Not now Auntie. I have to look around for the box.” She had initially looked at the dresser top when she came in but noticed that the box was not there. She had been sure that she had kept the box on top of the dresser since she had gotten it. Most of Aunt Katherine's gifts had made it there at some point.

Katherine looked petrified. “You lost the box? With the Glass still inside?” Katherine fished into her purse and pulled out her palm pilot. Taking the stylus, she frantically tapped around and searched through the memory with wide eyes. She began sending frantic emails and half starts of other messages to various people. Thanks to the speed of the Internet, she didn't have to use magic (which could have taken her days), to learn what she did in less than three minutes.

“Doom. We're doomed.” Her voice had a bit of finality to it and she sat down on the bed with a look of despair and defeat.

Amaretto continued to look around her room, now searching though her dirty clothes that she had thrown in a corner. “What do you mean by doomed?”

“I mean that I'm going to get sacked, canned, downsized, outsourced...” Aunt Katherine continued to named all the words except for the term 'fired'. It didn't seem as if she had the heart. Amaretto frowned and ignored her rather dramatic aunt as she continued to search for the Glass. It took her a few moments to realize that her dresser had shifted forward. Amaretto grabbed the dresser and yanked it forward. There nestled in the back behind the dresser, was the box that her Aunt had given her for her eighth birthday.

She smiled and called to her aunt. “I found it!” At this her aunt stopped her mindless rambling.

A look of surprise came over Katherine's face.“You did? Where was it?”

“It had fallen behind the dresser.” Amaretto smiled faintly.

“If you kept your room clean,” Her aunt started with a stern look on her face, “Then we wouldn't have wasted all this time thinking that I was going to get fired as your Fairy godmother.”

“Again with that. Seriously, I don't think you can be fired.” Amaretto rolled her eyes and then tried to open the box with such force that she snapped the hinges on the box. Amaretto cursed and dropped the lid to the messy floor.

Katherine smirked and raised an eyebrow. “My, what a strong grip you have.”

Amaretto ignored the quip. She saw the familiar glass shape under her hand, nestled inside the box, and lifted it out. Her aunt stood up and walked over to behind her and then paused for a moment. “You have to take the catch off before you can tip it. Once you tip that Glass, Tempus' coordinates should kick in and it is Monde Creux for us to see la sorcière du temps et de l'espace. How fun.”

Amaretto found the familiar catch and unclipped it from the glass. The single ruby in the bottom seemed to glitter for a moment and then she saw the glass tilt. She turned around and looked at her aunt with a horrified look. Katherine simply grabbed onto her by the shoulder and smiled. “Here we go my little Amaret!” Her voice was excited and she even had a little glint in her eyes.

At that moment, once more, Amaretto heard that familiar popping sound, which made her wonder, why didn't traveling though time and space not have another sound, like a whoosh or a bang? She didn't have time to contemplate it however as she and her aunt Katherine were skyrocketed though that time and space towards Monde Creux.

The first thing that Amaretto saw was sand. The second thing that she saw was Aunt Katherine flying through the air, or more aptly falling, directly at her. She shrieked and rolled to the side. Aunt Katherine hit the ground with a muffled thump, her legs and arms flying akimbo. Katherine was stuck in what appeared to be a small sand dune and Amaretto looked around as her Aunt tried to get herself out of it.

The surrounding area was a bleak and black sky and what seemed like an endless expanse of sand. The paleness of the sand made it seem as if it had never gotten enough sun and it was rather a tepid cold in temperature. Sand covered everything and was everywhere and Amaretto felt as bleak as her surroundings looked. She turned to help Katherine, but Katherine had already extracted herself form the sand dune and was brushing herself off frantically. She ran a hand through her hair, and Katherine soon managed to get the sand out of her hair, but not out of her shoes.

Katherine made a frown. “I swear that these shoes are ruined. That makes me so mad.” She growled as she took off her shoes and then held up her pair of Prada. She looked at her godchild and then said, “Now aren't you glad you are wearing suitable jeans?”

Amaretto paused for a moment and then did have to silently agree that her aunt had been right. The jeans were a godsend. At least her other pants would not get sand all over them. Then she remembered. “Wait! What happened to our bag of clothes?”

“I left them in your room when we made the jump,” said her aunt as she sat down and began to search around in her purse once more. This made Amaretto sigh with relief. No lost pants. Those bondage pants had been hard to come by. Two separate online orders to get the right color and size.

Katherine continued on however without another thought. “Though I seem to have also lost my lip balm as we made the jump. How annoying, chapped lips and nothing to soothe them.” Her aunt sighed and then stood up from the sand dune that she was sitting on.

“Come along then. I am more than sure that la sorcière has been expecting us.” Katherine began to trudge in a random direction where there seemed to be nothing but sand.

“Expecting us?" Amaretto looked rather annoyed and peeved. "Aunt Katherine, there is nothing here. Are you sure that Tempus sent us in the right direction? Oh, and before we go any further, can someone explain all of this to me in the first place and how it can be happening?”

Katherine ignored her goddaughter and continued to look in her purse. Amaretto looked at her aunt and then walked over and pinched her.

Katherine jumped and dropped her bag. She began rubbing her hand furiously as if trying to prevent the bruise that was most assuredly happening. “Dear lord! Does it run in your family?”

Amaretto looked at her quizzically. “Does what run in my family?”

“When I first met your mother, she pinched me to make sure that it wasn't a dream. I figured that was why you pinched me now.”

“That is why I pinched you; but my mother did it too?” Amaretto tried not to crack a smile. Her mother more than likely had indeed tried to do that.

Katherine rolled her eyes before she answered in a huffy voice. “Yes when I told her that I was going to be your godmother.”

“Well if a strange woman walked up to you and said that, wouldn't you want to know if it was a dream too?” Amaretto scowled.

Katherine rolled her eyes. “No, I would thank my lucky stars. It's fine if you back talk to me, I know your are a teenager. However, la sorcière might have a different reaction if you do it to her.” Katherine continued to walk and Amaretto had no choice in but following her.