"Beth!" I felt someone shaking me violently. I was on the floor where I had collapsed.
"What happened?" I mumbled quietly.
"Beth, are you all right?" I opened my eyes to Oscar above me.
"Sort of." I sat up and looked around. The bed and desk were back. How? They were gone just a second ago.
"Beth, how long do you think you've been out?"
"Umm, a couple of minutes maybe."
"You've been out for ten minutes."
"Really?" I asked in disbelief.
"I should've remembered to give you your crystal. I can be so stupid sometimes!"
"It's ok, I'm fine." I said trying to sound convincing. He helped me to the bed and sat me there for a bit before he started questioning.
"What happened?" I explained it all, from the bricks, to the note, to the girl.
"Do you have any phobias?" I thought it was a bit of an odd question but answered anyway.
"Not that I know of. Why?"
"Just curious. Put this around your neck, and wear it at all times." He held out a neck chain with a small clear coloured gem hanging off it. As soon as I touched it, it went blue, then shifted to red, then settled as purple. A very dark amethyst colour.
"What did that mean?" I asked, staring at the gem.
"It shows your personality colour." I looked at the dark purple, studying it. I looked up and saw Oscar looking at his, which was a burnt orange with wisps of emerald green mixed in.
"No one around here really knows what that means, the colour I mean." There was a short silence then he spoke again.
"They protect us, from Claudius. He's the one who does all those weird things, like the bricks, and the disappearing furniture, and the note. He does it to confuse us. To distract us, from our quests." There was an other silence, which I broke this time.
"Are they hard to obtain?"
"No, not really. But you only get one." The same female voice spoke from the door.
"Mind if I intrude?" she asked Oscar with raised eyebrows.
"Be my guest." He said, gesturing to me.
"Hi, I'm Lili." She said with a warm smile. She gave me a strong hug and leaned back , looking at me with her arms on my shoulders.
"Gosh, your quite a girl." She gave me another smile then looked over to Oscar.
"The others are keen to meet her, is she okay? I heard Claudius got to her."
"I think she's just shaken, but I've given her her gem now, so she should be fine."
Lili looked back at me. She was quite beautiful herself. She had the same brown waves as me and and an hour-glass shape to her body.
"Well, let's go meet them, shall we?" she linked arms with me and walked out of the room into a small hallway and down it into a very large rec-room. Several people were scattered around the room and as I entered they all looked at me. Yet again, there wasn't any windows in the room, just lights. It felt awkward having all eyes on me.
"Hello everyone," Oscar said to the group "this is Bethany." There was a chorus of hellos from everyone.
Then the sirens went off.
YOU ARE READING
The Ringmaster's Keeper
Fantasy"This year's challenge," Claudius said as the medieval bridge lowered behind him, "is them." He took a step to the side and gestured towards him. Austin. When Beth is sent to a magician's mind to retrieve her boyfriend's memory of her, she finds o...
