The Tale of Amaretto

Seventh Grain

In which we discover the Corvette is not all that it seems...

While following her aunt, Amaretto considered that there was not much to do. The world around them was desolate and bleak. The sand was a never ending ocean of white against the dark sky. No matter where Amaretto looked, the sand encompassed everything. There wasn't even a landmark, or a single bit of plant life. The monotonous gray sky stretched onwards towards infinity, devouring the horizon line. Occasionally there were streaks of dark blues, but beyond that there was almost no color to the sky at all. A crooked crescent moon hung in the sky, shedding pale white light. The moon itself was rather awful to look at as well. Amaretto was about to complain when she realized that her aunt was no longer carrying her shoes.

"Aunt Katherine, where are your shoes?"

Katherine stopped and paused and then said, "I traded them out for these loafers." As if to emphasize her point, she lifted her foot up off the sandy ground and showed Amaretto a pair of canvas and suede loafers that were encasing her feet. They had a beautiful swish pattern on them that made Amaretto think of Celtic designs for wind."As we both know," Katherine prattled on, "High heels are not suitable for the desert."

"But where did they go Aunt Katherine?" Amaretto's voice was slightly terse.

Katherine continued walking along as she spoke, "I put them in my bag."

Amaretto' brow knotted. "You keep your shoes in your bag?"

Katherine nodded her hand and then pulled up her purse. "I keep all my shoes in here."

Amaretto blinked. "Excuse me?"

Katherine pointed towards her bag and said, "I keep all of my shoes in there. There's plenty of space in there."

Amaretto snorted. "Who the hell are you, a British nanny?"

"Do I look like I am practically perfect in every other way?" Katherine huffed.

"Hah, didn't you once say that your favorite drink was whisky? That hardly points towards perfection." Amaretto giggled.

"So I like to nip a little now and then, which makes me a British nanny more than some. Still, we aren't going to get anywhere without this." Katherine paused in her walking and she reached into her purse and began to rummage around. Just when Amaretto was about to say something, her aunt pulled out a little dust from the inside of her purse and raised it in the palm of her hand. Raising her hand to her lips, she blew on it and the dust swirled off of his hands and then from the within the small swirl, it grew even larger and then began to encompass the space before them. Amaretto took a breath at the strange magic she as seeing in front of her and when she released it, there stood her aunt's car.

"Your answer to this is a 1969 Skyline Corvette?" Amaretto seemed to stare at it with a rather voided interest.

"Yes, but it has tank wheels. That should get us through the desert a little quicker and closer to our destination." Katherine had a smirk on her face and then climbed into the driver's seat. Amaretto looked at where the wheels should have been and sure enough, there were tank treads on the bottom. Amaretto looked suspiciously at the car.

"They are called treads, not wheels," was all she said as she climbed into the passenger seat. Katherine chuckled and then turned the key in the ignition. The car rumbled and then sped onwards towards the horizon again.

Sand whipped past along with the wind. Amaretto didn't know where they were going, but she now knew that Monde Creux was nothing but sand and emptiness. The sand continued to pass by for several minutes before Amaretto finally said, "There's nothing here."

"The woman is here. There as a matter of fact." Katherine pointed her finger towards a small spot on the horizon and as Amaretto stared at it, she realized that there was indeed something that looked like a mountain there.

"What is that?"

"That is where la sorcière is, watching over the Water Mirror."

This piqued Amaretto's interest however. "The Water Mirror? What is that, a large lake?"

Katherine smiled rather placidly. "Your powers of perception are as sharp as ever. However, you are wrong. You will see when we get there."

Amaretto made a sound that was oddly like a grumble. They continued on before Amaretto broke the silence once more. "So what was that stuff with the car and the shoes? Is that magic?"

Katherine looked at Amaretto horrified. "What were you expecting, science? I'm terrible at Science. I can only perform Magic, and even then I am severely limited." At this, Katherine's lower lip began a slight quiver, almost as if she were pouting. Amaretto marveled at the fact that her aunt could make even this small and simply childish emotion look glamorous.

Amaretto chose to go in a different direction though from the magic. "What happened while we were at Tempus'?"

Aunt Katherine's face went stony. "The alarm went off. That was all."

"What kind of alarm was it?"

"It was simply an alarm," Katherine said heatedly. "It was only important that we keep our appointment so that,"

Amaretto interrupted, "There has to be a reason why we were whisked off so suddenly. Why did Tempus send us to Monde Creux so quickly?"

Katherine answered testily, "La sorcière will be able to tell you soon enough."

"Soon enough? We aren't even there yet!"

Katherine shook her head. "Shows how much you know. Here in Monde Creux, Time is not constant." Katherine pointed upwards and there it was, staring at them with grim efficiency, the side of a single mountain and carved into the side of the rock, a large temple. Amaretto was sure that just a moment ago, the mountain had not been there. In fact, she was more than sure that the strange edifice had just appeared out of nowhere. This trip was starting to get freaky. At least the first part had a slightly cute guy... even if he had been a creepy old man at the same time. Amaretto shook the thought from her mind and looked at what Katherine was pointing at.

The architecture was simple. Three arches, side by side, more arches above it, but in each of the arches except the middle one on the bottom, a thousand candles were lit. The light had a splendid effect, as directly in the center archway, a single statue was there. It was a rather large woman dressed in long and flowing robes, with her hands out in front of her. Katherine pulled up the tank-car in front of the temple and then smiled at her god-daughter.

"Next stop, la sorcière, the woman who can tell you everything."

Amaretto turned away from the temple to look Katherine. "Everything?"

Katherine reached into her purse and then pulled out a pair of movie star sunglasses, product of Gucci of course. Putting them on, she smiled and then said, "Everything."