Chapter 2
Amelia’s nose felt like it was going to fall off anytime soon if she didn’t find somewhere warm that wasn’t jam packed with people. She sighed avoiding the touch of the people around her as she wondered around the city’s plaza. There was a chime from the clock tower indicating that it was three already causing Amelia to grimace.
Deciding that the cold was enough for her she took refuge in an antique book shop. The warm air hit her face with a welcome sigh as the sound of twinkling bells alerted the bookseller of her presence. The atmosphere was dusty and smelted of old socks and sand wood, which wasn't a very good combination of smell to deal with and Amelia kept herself from wrinkling her nose.
The book keeper was an old man bent with age, bald, and wrinkly. A large hawk nose was the only feature that seemed to stand out against his small face, a pair of glasses stood at the tip and Amelia wondered to herself if he had to cross his eyes just to read. The man looked up from his book, a thick tomb that seemed bigger than his head, and briefly glanced at his new customer. He croaked out a welcome nodding in her direction, and she smiled politely in return, wondering over to a random aisle.
Amelia browsed through the shelves looking but not really paid attention to anything in particular. She was going to leave when she felt warmer and felt ready enough to brave the cold.
“Ah. It’s good to see young people these days interested in books,” a voice suddenly beside her spoke in a cheerful manner causing Amelia to jump letting out a surprised gasp at the sudden intrusion of her space.
She looked around trying to find the source of the voice. “Down here, darling,” the voice prompted still cheerfully.
She looked down and blinked it was the bookkeeper from the counter; he was leaning on a cane. She blushed feeling rude as she stared at the tiny old man. “Sorry,” she apologized “I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings.”
He waved it off with a crooked hand. “It’s alright, happens all the time.” He looked up smiling. Amelia noticed that he still had his teeth and wondered again if his teeth were, perhaps, fake. It was possible after all.
“Right,” she said unsure of what else to say.
The man smile went wider his blue eyes bright at the prospect of getting to talk about his favorite subject—books.
“The name’s Fred, Fred Little, but everybody calls me Fred.” He held out his free hand and Amelia took it feeling the smooth baby-like skin.She felt obliged to answer back. “I'm Amelia, Amelia Erwin,” she said shaking the hand politely. Fred just nodded. “So what are you looking for Amelia? I’ll help ya.” He eagerly asked.
“Um… Nothing in particular,” she lied.
Fred gave a little hum eying the books in the shelves “I see,” he said his voice lowering as he went on, “You’re one of those customers who rather not say because it’ll embarrass you or it’s a top secret mission.”
Amelia opened her mouth to deny his rather overzealous imagination. But was cut off with, “Don’t worry you’re secret is safe with me.” He tapped his cane to emphasize his point and he nodded vigorously to himself, suddenly deep in thought.
Amelia looked at him hopelessly. “It’s okay, sir really it is.”
“Fred,” he said absentmindedly.
“Huh? Look, Fred, I’m grateful you wanted to help me, but it’s nothing like that,” Amelia protested gesturing with her hands to make her point.
Fred hummed again looking at her sharply. “You must be one of them,” he sighed scratching his chin. “Yes that must be it. You're quite early and not exactly what I expected. I expected someone much bigger.” He made a wide gesture with his hand.
Amelia frowned confused “What are you talking about? I’m not with them or anything.” Fred looked her over thoughtfully. “Yes, yes I suppose so. You don’t fit quite in with them. But a customer is a customer. How much are you willing to pay?” He stared up at her with calculating intelligent eyes.
“Pay for what?” she was starting to get fed up with the old man. At first she thought he was nice if a bit eccentric, but now he was just too annoying.
“Oh, you’re a tough one. Guess you want me to show you. Fine follow me out to the back.” He beckoned with a finger, leaving Amelia to just stare at him unsure if she should follow or just leave the store once and for all.
“Well come on, Amelia Erwin, if that is your real name.” Amelia looked at him warily and decided to play along with whatever the old man was playing at, just to humor him. The back room was had even more dust than what Amelia thought it would, as she sneezed a few times her eyes even watering. Fred was muttering to himself unaffected by the atmosphere rummaging around the boxes and drawers that were all over the room.
“AHA!” he called out triumphantly pulling a leather bound book from one of the many drawers. Amelia wondered over to him curious, he showed her the book.
Amelia feigned interest “Oh, that’s ... nice. I suppose.”
Fred nodded. “Yes, I believe this was what you were looking for. I'll start the price—five hundred. It’s a really good deal.”
She blinked “Look, Fred, I think you got the wrong person. In fact I should go now.” She took a step back.
Fred frowned making a tsk-ing sound. “Look here. How much did your boss give you to give me?”
“What are you talking about? Look sir I have to go now.” Amelia didn’t want to play whatever the old man was playing anymore. It was starting to get scarily real, as he was getting more serious and stubborn.
“How much have you got on you?” Fred asked eyes narrowing, his large nose twitching. It reminded Amelia of a mouse smelling for cheese, except mice was cute and this old man was anything but that.
“Well?” he persisted inching closer as she inched back. “I’ve only got a five.” Amelia lied, in reality she had twenty-five but he didn't need to know.
“Sold.” he quickly replied. She froze “Huh? But weren't you saying it was five hundred?”
Fred looked sheepishly at her. “About that, I didn’t think you would take it seriously, in reality the book doesn’t cost much. I only raised the price because there were others who wanted it and telling me these prices they were willing to pay. Besides I don’t blame you wasting the money your boss gave you to give to me. I’ve seen temptation before,” he said giving a hearty laugh.
Amelia was speechless. This old man must really be insane, she thought, I almost got played. She took out the five dollar bill just to finally shut the man up and exchanged it for the book. And with that she left the shop with one book, five dollars short, and a note to herself never to go back there again.
****
Kathy Woods resented the fact that her boss had chosen their headquarters to be in a cave—on a mountain. How uncivilized can one person get? Really now, Kathy thought trudging through the ankle deep snow glaring at the white powder.
“This is also why I hate winter,” she muttered aloud hissing.
There was peal of laughter from a tree close by, causing Kathy to groan as she recognized who it was.
“What do you want Olga?” she gritted out spitefully.
There was a soft thud on the forest floor and a light chuckle revealing a tall woman with long dark brown hair, onyx eyes, and a body, that Kathy was slightly envious of, clad in only a tight top and pants. She wore a bear skin as a coat and in a cheerful manner said with a slight Russian accent
“Am I not allowed to greet an old friend?”Kathy frowned looking Olga over and her choice of clothing.
“Shouldn’t you be hibernating?” Kathy sneered pressing her arms closer to her body.
“I’m wounded and here I was greeting an old friend about to give her a present too.” Olga looked over at Kathy innocently holding out a fur coat and shaking it in her direction. Kathy perked up with longing but tried to hide it.
“Well a present. How nice of you Olga. Too bad I don’t need it.” She sniffed in disdain and indifference. Her eyes told Olga otherwise.
“You sure Kathy?” Olga knew how to play this game with Kathy, she knew how prideful her friend was—it was a quality that she hated yet loved about Kathy.
“Well, it would be a waste not to wear it,” Kathy feigned a thoughtful look “I’ll take it, you know take it off your hands and everything.”
Olga shrugged. “If you say so.”
She threw the coat to Kathy who caught it with ease. She hastily put it on and feeling in a better mood than before, she continued walking with Olga matching her strides.
“So how was the trip to Mexico and South America?” Olga asked casually after awhile burning with curiosity. Kathy was silent not breaking the pace she was in. Olga waited with patience, twisting her fingers in her hair.
“It was...better. Nice and hot just the way I like it,” Kathy finally said after a few minutes.
The other just looked at her in awe and happiness “I see.”
The rest of the trek was made in silence, one in which Kathy was grateful for.
The entrance of the cave was anything but primitive; it had the state of the art security system and cleverly hidden traps. Olga waved to the camera and a monotone voice came from a speaker, “Welcome back Miss Woods, the boss is waiting for you in her study.”
Kathy nodded backing away a safe distance from the opening door, feeling a gust of warm air hitting her face.
They quickly walked in and the voice from before spoke again from the inside, “Oh and Olga the new trainees you left in the training room are making a mess. I advise you to put a stop to them before they destroy half of the mountain.”
Olga cursed. “I leave them alone for an hour and they start fighting. Well Kathy, my friend I guess I'll leave you here. The trainees we got this year are a rowdy bunch.” She laughed, then waving a farewell she sprinted in a different direction.
Kathy watched her amused until she was out of her line of sight, then she looked up at the ceiling. “Chris, give me the status quo from up until now.”
A hologram of a thick set male with scars criss-crossing on his face, and brown eyes that held hidden knowledge of the many things she herself didn’t know. He appeared right next to her standing straight and tall, hands held behind his back as he jerked his head to the side.
“Let’s walk shall we? We wouldn’t want our lady to be impatient.”
She gave a small smile. “I see you haven’t changed at all in the last two years. I'm glad.”
Chris grunted walking a steady pace. “It was a b***h putting up all the projectors.”
Kathy laughed and said, “I can only imagine, now tell me what’s been happening since I've been gone.”
“The usual, though lately our income has been slowly decreasing, but we’ll manage. Our lady, of course, has been scheming something. You know how she is, she absolutely won’t tell us what she’s been up to until you arrived; only then will she tell all her advisors. The other organizations have been quiet lately of course planning something. My spies unfortunately are unable to come up with anything; it’s troubling I tell you.” Chris sighed and paused hesitating to what he was going to say next. “Some bad news for you Miss Wood, our lady has recently acquired a pet.”
Her eyes widen and then narrowed “A pet? What kind of pet?”
Chris ignored her question feigning surprise. “Well, what do you know Miss Woods here we are. I’ll take my leave.”
“Wait! Tell me so I can deal with it properly!” she swiped a hand at him only to have the image blink out as her hand went through. She bit her nail muttering a curse, then taking a deep breath she knocked on the door once before opening it.
“My lady?” she called out surprised at the sudden darkness of the room. She frowned opening the door wider and stepping in.
“Medusa?”
All of a sudden she was pulled to the side a strong arm holding her arms tight together and another around her neck. She felt a blade against her neck, then feeling a surge of anger and alertness she stomped on the intruder’s foot. There was a sharp curse the hold loosening and Kathy took advantage of it. She elbowed her captures stomach then spun around on her left foot swinging her right leg up and hitting the head. There was a loud thud of the body falling to the floor, a knife already in her hand she poised the blade over the neck, clutching the hair tight making a fist with her hand.
“Who are you?” she hissed.
The lights blinked on and there was clapping slow at first graduating to a faster pace and a peal of mocking laughter. Kathy looked up with a sort of dread and annoyance unto the figure seated on top of the oak desk.
Lady Medusa sat with a sort of royal air about her; her long black tresses curled gently framing her heart-shaped face. Her olive skin practically glowed with mirth, her blue eyes were bright. She leaned back crossing her legs together. She smiled and gesturing with a long slender arm she spoke, “Kathy, how wonderful to see you again. I see you have met my most treasured pet Lucas.”
Kathy frowned. “I would like to say that I've missed you as well but that would be lie.”
Medusa giggled. “My, it is nice to see you. Come Kathy, and tell me what happened to you these past two years. You can release him; he's harmless as a fly.”
She giggled again at her own joke. Kathy stood up wiping her hands on her clothes with a slight mixture of disgust and a grimace. The male twitched but didn’t move. Medusa waited for Kathy to sit closer to her and when she did Medusa looked at Kathy eagerly.
Kathy sighed. “Where do you want me to start?”
Medusa shrugged. “The beginning is fine. After all I am a good listener.”
Kathy took a deep breath settling in her chair and proceeded to tell Medusa the events from the past to the present. All the while Medusa listened with rapt attention.
