The Queen Of All Strange Things

11

The next day, I was handed the script of my act since it was business, big time.
01)You real name is Amethyst Heartfield but you use your adoptive mother's name as Stone.
02)Your parents died in a car crash when you were five and your bother (a.k.a. Andrew) was one.
03)You were separated during adoption. You knew that you had a little brother.
04)You tried to find your bother but it was all in vain.
05)You finally meet him... ect.
06)YOU ARE A HORSE ENCHANTRESS!

This was Andrew's script.
01)You were adopted
02)You don't know you have an elder sister
03)You meet 'me' in school and sort of got along
04)You talked about your parents and discovered you were lost siblings
05)Just make it believable!
06)You brought 'me' to Sightless only for an Emergency, and was reluctant to bring 'me' here due to the political situation here.
Andrew and I looked up from our scripts.
'You do realize you will never be a good screenwriter,' I said to Zeus. 'And why are you giving this to us?'
Zeus rubbed his beard. 'Because you two are going to appear in the Council meeting today.'
Andrew and I looked at each other.
I looked at the script, 'Who idea is this?'
Zeus cleared his throat. 'It's a perfect work of art. There can never be a better story.'
'It's cliché,' I said.
Zeus gave a scowl. 'Get rid of those fairy braids.'
'I can't undo them! They were on my hair for two days already.'
Someone tugged the bottom of my trousers. 'May I summon the fairies mi-lady?'
It was Trevelyan who was biting onto his Santa cap.
'No need,' I said. 'Just go and watch some TV.'
'As you wish mi-lady...'
The gnome disappeared.
I sighed. 'He follows me everywhere; it's starting to get a bit annoying. The Council meeting, they won't broadcast it on TV will they?'
'Of course they will.'
'I shouldn't have told him to watch TV.'
I followed Andrew deep into the palace as I tried to fix my hair so that the fairy braids won't show. We reached a large corridor where tow unicorns stood guard besides a door. The door revealed itself and the bustle that could be heard inside subsided. The golden hue in everything made me feel uncomfortable
Andrew, Zeus and me stepped into a little podium at the very bottom and at the center of the miniature coliseum. Large steps ran from top to bottom in concentric circles and the steppes were filled with council members seated on thrones of different shapes and sizes. I took a quick glimpse at the crowd with trembling feet.
All that Athena thought me during these few days flushed into my head. Almost every deity or at least some deities of each civilization were here. And that' s not all, there were men in business suits, probably Seers. Zeus materialized in a 'throne' next to a... wait a minute a Roman Zeus? At the corner of my eye I saw the knight who was sharpening his sword on TV and he was still sharpening his sword.
Above us was a circular pond with the transparent bottom above us. I saw the bottom of lily flowers and some carp swimming above us. Somehow, light penetrated through it and lighted up the Council room with patterns of moving streaks of flowing water. Whoever built this room did think a lot about beauty and detail. Even the pillars were painted gold with white vines creping around it.
'Amethyst Heartfield...'
I jerked and was about to protest that my name wasn't 'Heartfield' but I held my tongue and stood almost at attention. The person who was speaking was one out of four men seating on a high table in front of the podium, like that of the judge's table in a courtroom.
'Please introduce yourself.'
I heard Zeus speak into my head, Make this work or else you won't see the light of day.
Even though I knew he was always kidding, it always made me feel like he really meant it.
I looked up at the person who spoke. He was a pale thin man with a pointed face wearing a blue suit. His smile was crooked and his nose was pointed as his face with a pointy beard. I didn't like him at first sight.
'You already know my name,' I said.
'Yes, yes,' Said another. 'But who are you?'
I froze. Who was I? Zeus said me to make this work. Even though I didn't want to be queen, something about all of this made me want to be playful. I knew that being the shy and embarrassed figure will not help. I decided to use the most refined quality that I own; annoyance.
'Well, I'm Sixteen of you all are wondering. I'm from England, you know that Island in the corner of the Atlantic. I like books, storms, aliens, horses and ice-cream.'
Most of the Council members just looked at each other. I was not kidding about the horse part. I always fancied horses, but I had a feeling that this whole business might make me fed up of them too. My old elementary school friends still joke at me for believing in Unicorns even though I never did. I just liked them.
'Anything else?' asked a Seer with a raised eyebrow.
'Uh... I sort of can see strange things and.... Travel between worlds and they say I'm some sort of an Enchantress.'
'Do you claim Andrew to be your brother?'
'I don't claim anything,' I said. 'He just is.'
'And how can you be sure?'
I sighed, trying to sound annoyed now. 'I knew I had a baby brother. My mom... she adopted me. My brother was adopted by someone else but my mom didn't know whom. I sort of met him in school; I found it odd that his last name was Heartfield. I knew that it was my family name but usually you give up on it when you get adopted. So I thought maybe he was a distant relative or something. Guess he was adopted too.'
'So by chance you entered the school in which he was enrolled to?'
'What do you mean by that? He enrolled to my school by chance. I wouldn't have even noticed him if he didn't have a giant blue Chinese dragon trailing around him and it almost gave me a heart attack.'
A few chuckles filled the room.
Then the attention was given to Andrew. 'Do you claim her to be your sister?'
'I wish I hadn't,' he said.
'Why is that?'
'She's a pain.'
I rolled my eyes.
'Do you believe she is your sister? I doubt you have the memory of having one.'
'I don't,' said Andrew. 'But she's an enchantress like me. That's enough proof.'
'Did you know she was an enchantress when you first met?'
'I knew she was a Seer. She didn't know it herself.'
'You brought her here two weeks ago to assist with the Dist Pixie tragedy as the news proclaim. It is true?'
He nodded.
'Did you know she was your sister by then?'
Andrew nodded.
'So you knew she was an enchantress as well?'
'I had my suspicions.'
'How did you know?'
Even I was curious about that.
He was silent for a while. 'I guessed. She is my sister. She was sixteen, didn't believe in invisibles and still could see them and.... I saw her talking with horses.'
'So you say she really is a Horse Enchantress?'
Andrew simply nodded; he nodded like he was forced to do it. I guess he isn't too good at lying either.
'If she is a Horse Enchantress, we need proof,' said the guy with the pointed everything.
'True,' said Mr. Hill. He gave me a look which told "be careful".
The guy with everything pointed cleared his throat and the whisperings subsided. 'If you may allow me to suggest, only a Horse Enchantress can tame the creatures with an Equestrian origin.'
'What do you suggest, Carsson?'
'I suggest a trial,' Mr. Carsson said.
'What kind of trial?'
Mr. Carsson gave me a wicked grin. 'Let her meet one of the most dangerous horse related species around and see if they respond to her.'
I gulped.
Silence filled the room.
'So...,' said another Seer. 'Which creature do you propose?'
'The Mares of Diomedes!'
I heard shrieks from the Council. Even Andrew looked death stricken.
'Mares of what?' I said.
Zeus bellowed. 'Do you want the only Enchantress in the Kingdom to meet death by being eaten by horses!'
Eaten by horses?
'Wow, Mares of what?'
'The Mares of Diomedes,' said Andrew. 'They eat... flesh.'
I felt blood drain down from my face. Sure, flesh eating horses.
Since there were a lot of protests, Mr. Carsson cleared his throat. 'Well, maybe something less dangerous, like the Kelpie. '
A few nodded. Some looked skeptical.
'The Kelpie,' said the knight who was now polishing his scabbard instead. 'That's dangerous too.'
A large bulky blonde guy in armor and with a winged metal cap and a large hammer spoke, 'It's a worthy opponent.'
'For you of course,' sighed an African lady in a blue dress.
The Viking guy (who I think is Thor) stood up. 'She will be tested if she can slay the beast and if she dies worthy she shall be sent to the Halls of Valhalla in wait of Ragnarok.'
No thanks.
'I mean tame it, no need to slay it,' said Mr. Carsson.
'What about Pegasus,' said a Giant Eagle.
'Pah!' cried Zeus no.2. 'That thing is timid as a rabbit!'
'Then the Kelpie it is!'
'Suppose so,' said Mr. Hill. He seems annoyed and frustrated about everything.
'Uh.... What is a Kepie?'
'But the Kelpie is outrageous as the Mares of Diomedes!' said Zeus.
'Who votes for the Kelpie,' announced a Seer. Quite a lot of hands went up. My fate is sealed. I'm destined to be eaten by kelp or something like that.
'It's decided then,' shouted Mr. Carsson.
To me it sounded more like, 'OFF WITH HER HEAD!'
There was a big rumble going inside the Council room.
'Um...'
Everyone silenced.
'What exactly is the Kelpie anyway? Is it a horse made of deadly kelp?'
'Somewhat close,' said Zeus. He really was not in s good mood which meant that I have a good chance of kissing this world goodbye.
So the seemly annoying Mr. Carsson (who presumably wishes for my ultimate death), Mr. Hill (who seems rather concerned), Zeus (who was on the edge of his nerves), Athena (who was more curious than worried), Andrew (who cared for nothing) and Thor (for some strange reason) accompanied me (who was trying to figure out what my last will might be) out of the Council room to a large arena. It had only one narrow opening covered by a bar gate and really high walls with the biggest and mostly supposedly guarded door that was made of hard steel. It was divided into two halves with a ring in the middle and carving of monsters around it.
'Welcome to the Imprisonatorium!' said Mr. Carsson, starching out his arms like a TV host.
'Who named it?' I mumbled.
'Perseus,' replied Zeus with a sigh. 'I wanted to name it something like the "Hades-on-Earth" or the "Prison-of-no-escape" but it was out ruled.'
'I thing I prefer the present name,' I said.
'This is where all the deadliest invisibles are imprisoned,' said Mr. Carsson.
'Uh-huh,' I said.
He gave a look which told me that he was expecting a reaction from me.
'It has highly secured walls made of_'
'Carsson,' snapped Mr. Hill.
'Now, Thor's hammer Mjolnir is the key since_'
'No one can lift it,' I said.
'Yes, and_'
'Carsson!' said Zeus, lightning flickering under his beard. 'Thor! Open the Imprisonatorium!'
Thor gave each of us a quick look.
'The last time I did, the Arena was sealed wince the Hydra overtook the place.'
'It was your fault. You forgot to close it!' said Zeus.
'Are you sure?' asked Thor again, his hand reaching for his hammer on his belt.
'Just open it!' said Mr. Carsson.
Thor shrugged. Thor rotated his hammer several times and it shot into the door, right in the middle of the ring.
THUNG!
Just then, from far away some other bells rang.
And oh, there was a hole in the middle of the Imprisonatorium door right in the middle. Then Mjolnir made another hole to the right and flew back to Thor's hand.
'Thor!' cried Athena.
'Sorry,' he said.
I stared aghast. 'How are you going to close it?'
'Reconstruction,' said Mr. Hill.
My jaws fell open.
'W-when was the last time it was reconstructed?'
'1787,' replied Zeus. 'It might be hard getting Pluto to fix it for us again...'
I shook my head in disappointment. 'Are people here really crazy. Can't you make a decent lock or something?'
'We don't need to open it,' said Zeus. 'Unless a terrifying monster comes along... But that doesn't usually happen.'
'But the prisoners? Don't they eat? Someone has to feed them.'
' They never die,' said Andrew. 'They are kept until they are forgotten and they fade away forever.'
'What if someone remembers?'
'It takes a lot of mind power to bring back a Forgotten.'
So, that what the term "Immortal" means in here...
'Well, then,' said Mr. Carsson. 'After you, my dear.'