Hello again. Disclaimer: I own nothing that was on the show, that belongs to Butch Hartman.
The Ghost of King Midas
Sabrina's birthday started out like any other day.
She'd woken up by slamming her head against the ceiling, managed to land with minimum damage to herself or her room, changed into her uniform, and gone downstairs for breakfast as per usual. Her parents were in the kitchen having breakfast for once, her Dad talking on the phone with someone and her Mom sitting down at the table sipping at her coffee. "Buenos días." Sabrina said as she sat down and wolfed down a medialuna.
"Feliz cumpleaños, hijita." Gabriela said, giving Sabrina a kiss on the cheek and Fabian held up a finger, signalling for her to be quiet.
"Yes, she's right here, do you want to talk to her?" He said, looking at Sabrina for her answer. "It's Hernan."
At the mention of her uncle Sabrina ripped the phone out of Fabian's hands and held it to her ear. "¡Hola tío!" Sabrina said, hearing a chuckle on the other side of the line. Hernan, her Dad's younger brother, spent most of his time travelling to exotic locals as he worked for a prestigious travel magazine as a writer and photographer.
"Hola Sabri, feliz cumpleaños! Happy Birthday! How's my favorite niece doing? Your father told me about the internship in that lab. Congrats!" Hernan laughed, causing her to smile.
"Thanks. Where are you now?" She asked.
"I am currently in Ezeiza, waiting for my car to arrive. I'm in Buenos Aires for the week." He announced, making Sabrina grin and throw her fist in the air. "Look, I'm going to be busy for the next three days, but clear your Friday night. What do you think of me taking you to eat sushi and then to see a play in one of the best theaters in the city as a birthday present?"
Without even thinking about it, Sabrina agreed. "Yes!"
"Dress nicely, it's a formal event. I'll see you on Friday, que tengas un buen día. Bye."
"Goodbye." Sabrina said before she hung up and passed the phone back to her Dad. "Tío Hernan is taking me out on Friday night for sushi and to the theater." She said to her parents before putting on her coat, grabbing her backpack and slinging it onto her shoulder. "Have a good day, bye!"
Out the door and almost skipping from joy - Sabrina Marquez carried on with her day.
...
When Hernan came to pick her up at eight that Friday, Sabrina had changed into the little black dress she used for formal occasions and let her hair half-down for once, using a couple of pins to secure it out of her face. Just for emergencies, her pocketknife was safely put away in her sling purse. Sabrina said goodbye to her parents and jumped into the taxi with her uncle and started talking immediately, not stopping except when they arrived at the restaurant and then continued talking when they sat down at the table and finished ordering.
"Enough about my travels, how's the internship going?" Hernan asked her as they waited for their drinks and food. "I heard that you work for Doctor Alejandro Martinez now."
"It's great. Monday through Friday after school until eight at night and the occasional Saturday." Sabrina answered, purposefully leaving out the experiments, ghosts, and ever-present threats.
"No me digas...from what I heard, that old man makes Dr. Frankenstein look like a kid with a baking soda volcano."
"I only talked to him a few times - but if what I hear in the lab is true, then he has some severe problems with a lot of people."
Sabrina suddenly felt the dreaded burning feeling in her forearm and looked around the restaurant until she found a floating figure that looked like an Asian man in elaborate robes hovering by the entrance, yet nobody seemed to take notice of him. It had become a regular occurrence lately: seeing quiet, humanoid ghosts that nobody else seemed to see. Sabrina had put them down as stress mirages at first, but then one of the ghosts actually talked to her and it was enough to set her on a short-lived hyper-paranoid streak. He's not attacking, he's not causing havoc, he is peacefully floating about. Please carry on sir. Sabrina ignored him and her attention went back to her uncle telling her about his time in the Maldives.
Two hours later, after they had eaten and talked about school and travel anecdotes and other things, they left for the theater and Sabrina saw that Hernan wasn't kidding when he said they were going to the best theater in the city. The building - like many others in Buenos Aires - was built in past centuries, keeping the old facade and remodeling the inside. As they walked to the lobby, Sabrina was there were many rich and powerful and corrupt men and women drinking and laughing as they waited for the play to begin. Hernan, who hadn't stopped taking pictures throughout their outing, took pictures of the premise while he and Sabrina continued to talk.
And then Hernan saw the handsome man across the room. "Che, Sabri." He nudged her side, bringing her attention to the man, Sabrina examined him and gave her uncle a nod and a thumbs-up.
"Yeah, he's definitely gay." Sabrina agreed as her uncle smoothed down his suit. "Are you going to talk to him? Just like that? Are you insane?"
"What? You think that I can't seduce him?" He asked, giving her an incredulous yet cocky look.
"You are a successful 37-year-old single gay man who spent two decades in the closet. But maybe he is still in the closet too." She argued and then an idea popped into her head. "Go with your notepad, introduce yourself first as a travel writer and then start making your way into his pants." Sabrina suggested.
Hernan straightened up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. "This is why you are my favorite niece." He said before going up to the man, leaving Sabrina alone.
Suddenly, a voice she didn't want to hear ever again addressed her and every muscle in her body tensed before turning around and facing Vlad Masters. "Ah, Miss Marquez - what a surprise!"
"Drop the bullshit act, I don't believe it - you obviously knew I'd be here." Sabrina said, glaring at the man. She looked back to make sure Hernan was distracted and wouldn't see her. "What the fuck do you want?"
"Information. You see, Miss Marquez, before I was a billionaire business man-" y un soberano infumable "-I was also scientist who researched this new and exciting field of science. You've proven to be an interesting test subject." He said, grinning like a villain with his hands behind his back. Before she could say anything else, Vlad turned around and walked away - but not before saying one last threat. "Gold lasts forever Miss Marquez, human flesh, unfortunately for you, does not. Toodalo!" And with that he was gone. Him being gone only made Sabrina even more anxious as she remained on edge, jumping at the slightest sound or almost pouncing on person that brushed past her.
One of the many waiters came up to her and asked. "Excuse me, Miss but do you happen to be Maria Sabrina Marquez?" Sabrina laced her fingers around the pocketknife's hilt and raised an eyebrow.
"Who wants to know?" She inquired, stepping away making the waiter step forward, too close for comfort.
"Vlad Masters sends his regards." And with that he stabbed her side with a strange device. An electric current wired through her body, making her shiver and shake slightly before steadying herself against the table. The blast had knocked the air out of her lungs and effectively weakened her - she felt like she was just taking a breath after not breathing for months. Sabrina felt heavy and grounded...just like before the Accident. No. No, no, no, no.
The waiter was gone quickly, Sabrina followed him with her eyes and saw him sneak behind one of the heavy velvet curtains as she tried to stabilize herself. Sabrina took a deep breath and let go of the edge of the table before weaving through the crowd after the waiter. Behind the velvet curtain was a narrow hallway that ended with a spiral staircase that Sabrina assumed must have led to the upper catwalks above the stage. The waiter was sitting in one of the steps, headphones covering his ears and his nose stuck in a book. Good, he's distracted. Sabrina took off her shoes so that she wouldn't alert him of her presence and silently crept up the hallway until she was right in front of him.
Quickly, Sabrina grabbed the headphones' wire, looped it around the waiter's neck and pulled, applying pressure to his windpipe and moving behind him so that he couldn't catch her. The poor man struggled against Sabrina and flopped like a fish out of water, desperate for air, before giving up and remaining still. "What do you want?" He asked breathlessly.
"What did you zap me with?" Sabrina insisted, applying even more pressure to the windpipe to remind the man who had the upper hand in that situation. The waiter nodded and Sabrina budged a centimeter, enough to let him speak.
"I-I don't know." He said between wheezes as he grasped for air. "Please don't kill me - I was paid in dollars - I have three children and a wife - I won't say anything I promise-" He reached into his vest and pulled out the device, throwing it back in her general direction. "Por favor se lo ruego, please let me go."
With one last pull, Sabrina let go of the man and instead went for her knife, holding it out in front of her both as a defense and a threat. "If you value your life, get out of here while you still can - things are going to get...unpleasant."
The waiter stumbled to his feet and ran off, leaving his book behind. Sabrina took a deep breath and analyzed the situation: okay, this device by that billionaire son of a bitch has left me powerless for who knows how long. He said that he hadn't finished testing me - he's probably testing how well I can manage without my powers - which means he's been doing this for a while - wait, does that mean that he sent Payne after me? That would explain how he managed to get the name and address of my school and know which class to go to. That son of a bitch is going to get it once I'm finished here, but first and foremost: will I ever get my powers back? What if I'm doomed to remain a regular human for the rest of my life?
So, I'm still a threat to him with or without the powers - I still have the job at the Portal Project and my wonderful brain. I could still achieve a very successful career in several fields of science; but I had just gotten control of most of my powers, and now it's even more time until I can get used to being a regular human again.
But that's a problem that can wait, now to deal with Masters and whatever the fuck he has in store for me.
Sabrina picked up the device and stored it back with her knife; put her shoes back on, tidied up; and rushed back to her uncle before he started to worry.
The play was going to begin shortly, and people were already lining up at the door to enter and find their seats. Sabrina saw Hernan and the man he had been courting lining up together. "Hey, sorry I took so long." Sabrina apologized to her uncle as she got in line next to him.
"No problem. Sabrina, this is Matthias Van Hassel, a visiting businessman from the Netherlands." He presented her, and Sabrina gave the man a kiss on the cheek - the typical way to greet strangers. "Matthias, this is my niece Sabrina." Kind words and a "pleasure to meet you" were exchanged as the doors opened and everyone rushed into the theater to find their seats. Sabrina and her uncle were seated in one of the boxes and talked away as they waited for the play to begin.
"So, how was the Dutch businessman?"
"You were right. He's gay but not out of the closet. He is afraid that making it obvious will result in loosing his job and becoming a social outcast."
"You'd know about that. Grandpa Tomás almost managed to send you to that military academy and to that conversion therapist."
"Oh yes, I was the disgraced homosexual abnormality in the very ordinary Marquez family. If you think they are overbearing now, it'll be ten times worse later. Few years more and they'll start bugging you about a boyfriend, then marriage, and then children."
"And unfortunately for them, I will grow up to be a successful scientist with no husband and two cats named Schrodinger and Mendeléyev." They laughed.
The lights in the theater dimmed and the curtain rose up.
...
Act I was interesting enough.
The play was about King Midas, an Ancient Greek king who helped a satyr that was good friends with the god of wine and said god granted Midas one wish, and Midas asked for a gold touch - and then he turned his daughter and all the food he touched into gold. Later he judged a competition between two gods and the god that lost was a bad loser and decided to punish Midas by giving him donkey ears - but that's irrelevant.
But as the play progressed and Act II loomed closer, Sabrina started mentally preparing herself for whatever the hell Vlad would throw at her. Gold lasts forever...King Midas had a golden touch...Is there a ghost that can turn everything he touches to gold? The ghost of King Midas, maybe? I don't even know when it's going to attack me or someone else - seeing as there hasn't been any screaming yet, I'm going to assume that it has yet to attack. But when it does attack, I'll make sure that Hernan doesn't go anywhere near the ghost and we can both leave the theater and away from danger and maybe out for ice-cream at Munchis. Everyone's happy...except those that might be turned to gold...but that's not my problem.
The curtains drew to a close and the lights in the theater turned back on as the intermission began and people went to the bar to have a quick drink or to the bathroom. Hernan and Matthias had gone to the bar to get some drinks and Sabrina had accompanied them. Now comes Act II, and we're still here when we should really leave this place. But how do I manage that?
Feign illness?
No, that will only worry Hernan.
Yeah, but better worried and out of the theater than careless and in the line of fire.
No, not an option, this is his job too.
Then what do I do? Stay here and be turned into actual gold? In the myth, assuming that the ghost does follow all the rules of its story - there was a way to reverse the effects of the gold touch. But what was it?
"Sabrina?" Hernan tapped her in the shoulder, bringing her back to reality and causing her to instinctively latch onto Hernan's arm as if he were an attacker. "Te sentís bien? Are you feeling okay?"
"Si si, sorry." She apologized as she let go of his arm and recomposed herself. "Just thinking about something. What were we talking about?" Sabrina asked with a smile.
Hernan shook his head and laughed before pointing to Matthias. "Van Hassel here was just telling me about the myth the play is based on. Says they skipped a very important part: how Midas managed to restore his daughter and food and everything he had turned to gold." He told her.
Goddammit Marquez..."Really? How did he manage that?" She asked, trying to look interested but not desperate.
"Well, quite simple actually, the myth said he simply dipped them into running water. A river or a creek of some sort." Matthias explained as he tried to light a cigar but a server quickly came to shut it off. The server left and Matthias insulted him in Dutch. "Damn regulations, "our sensors are very sensitive, sir" and all that bullshit."
The smoke sensors are sensitive, and a building like this - a cultural hot-spot for the rich and corrupt - it sure has water sprinklers. And if they are so restless about the smoke sensors it's because the sprinklers are full. Ha. Ha-ha. The presents itself before the problem. The irony is about as hilarious as this situation. The spectators were called back inside for Act II and Sabrina tensed. And now, the conflict begins. Sabrina followed her uncle back to their spots as the lights dimmed again and the lights focused on the stage, but this time, instead of the curtain rising as it should: a spot of gold appeared around the center and spread from there, effectively turning the entire curtain gold and solid.
And then there was a terrified scream from behind the curtain. Security guards ran through the wings to the stages and to the stage behind the curtain to see what the hell was going on. A gun shot. A scream. A shout for help.
And then the ghost in a motherfucking toga appears.
The crowd sees but does not react. They stand there, still and motionless as the pale, almost transparent, man in a white toga with donkey ears and wearing a crown just paces around the stage, looking around and gawking at the new world that was laid beyond him. But he straightened up and greeted them all with his arms stretched wide open. "Well well well! Gods of Olympus! This messenger wasn't messing with my toga when he suggested I come to this place. So much potential! So many beautiful angelical faces just yearning to be immortalized in my precious metal. Except for you, yes, you at the third row with the ridiculous glasses, sorry sweetheart but not even my magic touch can perform such a miracle. May I suggest some offerings to the goddess Aphrodite? If she's still thriving, that is, gods can be so moody. They give you a gift then curse you then disappear for a couple of centuries and then come back to have some more bastards." The crowd laughed and cackled, thinking it was all part of the play.
Midas flew off the stage and landed in front of the first row, examining the very unfortunate audience members. "Lovely. Nice. No. Ew. Over my twice-dead body. Marvelous! Get up!" Midas cried out as he stopped in front of a young woman of twenty-one and examined her face closely without touching her. "Well? Did I stutter? Get up sweetheart, that was not a suggestion." By now the audience was bending over with laughter. He was just an actor with very good cables that made him fly around. Nothing less, nothing more. The young woman got up from her seat and stood in front of the ghost, shifting uncomfortably at the attention. Midas started telling her how to pose. "Put your arm like this, no not that like that you look like one of my house-slaves. There there, with poise and elegance like a swan. Now you're ready!" And with that he just touched her hair, literally a little pat on the roots, and the gold spread throughout her entire body until there was statue where a young woman had been previously standing.
The crowd gasped and awed at the statue, a man in the seat next to the one the woman had been sitting on even reached out to touch the golden figure. Solid gold. "Now, who's next?" Midas asked to the now buzzing crowd - all eager to participate like children in a magic show. No, please no, PEOPLE HE LITERALLY TURNED HER INTO A FUCKING GOLDEN STATUE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FUCKING EYES! Someone stood up and then another and then another until the entire first row had been turned into gold statues with their fully given consent. Ay ay ay, if Vlad's test was on how much faith and trust I have in the human race then I failed.
Suddenly Midas silenced the crowd. "Now now, that's enough demonstration. I'm looking for a certain someone. A special request from a new friend. Let's see if you know her, shall we? Brown hair, dark skin, has no consideration for anyone else besides herself? You'd make a wonderful addition to my collection, General..." Midas sing-songed as he scoured the room with his eyes. Sabrina leaned back on her seat, shifting away from the ghost's sight. Okay, what now? I can't destroy him, and the water sprinklers would only work for those turned to gold, not him! Then what? Hide until my powers are back? And even with my powers, how do I destroy him? My knife isn't permanently coated in Blood Blossom extract and unless I can weaken him with some- Vlad's device. If it can effectively cripple my powers for a couple of hours then it can weaken any type of ghost. I just need to weaken him, then we'll see if he has a particular weakness I can exploit.
"Are you going to show yourself, estimated Thief? Or do I have to go look for you?" Midas asked. Sabrina excused herself saying that she had to go to the bathroom and left her spot as she clutched her purse and went back to the narrow hallway she had previously caught the server that had short-circuited her powers. On the way, she tightly braided her hair back to keep it out of the way.
If this leads to the upper catwalks then maybe I can find a way to set off the fire alarm and the sprinklers, managing to turn those statues back to humans.
But what about Midas? What if by doing so I just make him angry and he lashes out and goes after you?
...Good, let him follow me, I could lead him back to the Ghost Zone, just like Steiner.
But what if he turns everything in his wake into gold?
Then all the thieves in the city (including me) will begin ravaging. I can weaken him with Vlad's device, maybe I can weaken him until he disappears or until he's too weak to turn anything into gold. That's grasping for straws, but I don't have much to go on.
Sabrina geared up and ran up the stairs, once she was up on the catwalk, she saw a ladder on the other end of it that led to the portion of the stage that was currently behind the curtain. There were five golden cast members frozen in several poses, but Sabrina payed them no mind, avoiding them for the time being as she walked across the catwalk and latched onto the ladder, descending down to the stage and hurrying to the side, where she could access the front of the stage and face Midas without being see. Sabrina peeped from behind the golden curtain and saw as Midas turned another eager spectator into gold. No worry, if I managed before without my powers, then I can do this. Theoretically.
Sabrina took a deep breath and took a step back before she looked around, trying to find anything that she could light on fire and something to light it up with. She spotted the costume rack with a toga and took one, they probably won't miss it anyway. Now something that can create smoke...Sabrina looked around again, and there she saw the electrical box, the one that had the sign of the electrocuted man and "High Voltage" written in big bold letters. Actually, I don't need the toga, I just need to cause a short-circuit and create smoke.
Throwing the clothing piece aside, Sabrina opened the box and examined the various cables and switches. Which to cut, which to cut. The cables were unlabeled and the switches as well. But I can't create a short-circuit without possibly electrocuting myself in the process. If only I could have something that imitated electricity or some of energy, like caloric or mechanic. Suddenly her mind went to Vlad's device. The shock on her was similar to being electrocuted, it had even caused a small amount of smoke to rise up. Thank you, Masters, for providing this - whether you intended to or not. Sabrina grabbed the toga from the floor and examined the device, turning it around in her hands until she found the ON switch and flipped it. The green energy around the device indicated it was functioning and Sabrina knelt on the floor, setting the clothing piece in front of her and then poking it with the device. It was less than second before a thick cloud of smoke rose up from the now blackened cloth.
And then alarm went off and it started to rain down.
There were confused screams and Sabrina hurried to the seats to see what was happening. People were leaving and the statues were slowly starting to turn back to humans, the people that had been petrified barely gaining awareness of their surroundings before running out as well.
And there was Midas losing his mind.
"No! NOOOO! My statues! Where are you, you wretched thief?! Show your face!" He screamed in rage as he fell to his knees. Who knew King Midas was such a drama queen? Taking advantage of his distraction, Sabrina ran with all her might and plunged the device into the King's back. Again and again and again with a ferocity she didn't know she had. Midas howled as he fell to the side in a fetal position. "My statues...My statues...my pure golden statues..." Midas whimpered. Then his body started flickering like a faulty light bulb before disappearing completely.
Sabrina was left standing there as the sprinklers ran out of water and the rain stopped - she was soaked to the bone and would probably catch a cold, but that wasn't important right now. Suddenly she realized that Hernan was probably looking for her, so Sabrina quickly threw the worn down device into her purse and ran out to the bar, where the spectators had retired to when the sprinklers had activated, they all had towels around them; she spotted her uncle and Matthias scouring the room for her. Hernan saw her and she ran to him, he gave her tight hug. "Where were you? The alarm went off and-"
"I was in the bathroom and when I heard the sirens I hid there just in case. What happened?" She asked him, looking distressed. And the Best Liar Award goes to: Sabrina Marquez, for her outstanding performance as a defenseless ignorant teenager.
Her uncle told her what had happened as they dried off, put on their coats, and left the building. "And then the fire alarm rings and we're escorted outside. You arrive sometime after that." Hernan told her as they walked down the street. "So, how about to make up for this fiasco, we go get some ice-cream?" He offered, and Sabrina nodded immediately.
"Absolutely." She agreed. Suddenly she felt a familiar warmth and the feeling of zero gravity return to her, spreading through her like soup in the winter. Wow, late like a true Argentine, nice one, powers. Nice to have you back, though.
Sabrina froze in her steps when she saw Vlad Masters watching intently from the other side of the street - leisurely sitting in a cafe and sipping coffee as if he was just waiting for a friend who was running late. He looked at Sabrina with a pleasantly surprised expression on his face - like the new teachers who were surprised when she surpassed their expectations. He raised his cup in a mocking toast and continued to enjoy his evening as if he had done nothing wrong. Así que te pensas que te voy a dejar así nomas, hijo de la gran puta? So you think that I'm just going to leave, you son of a bitch?
Just to give him a small taste of what was to come his way - Sabrina noticed a waiter carrying a piece of cake with merengue topping and made him trip, using telekinesis to make sure the piece of cake landed square in the billionaire's face, frosting first. Sabrina chuckled, covering her mouth with hand to disguise the laughter before flashing her eyes green at him as a threat and a reminder and looking away - listening to Hernan talk about the time he went bungee jumping in Punta Cana.
After a well deserved ice-cream - yes, ice-cream in the middle of winter - Hernan dropped Sabrina off at her house and the genius decided to wait some time before getting back at Vlad - not only fooling him into a sense of security and making him think that public humiliation was her revenge, but also to give herself time to think of a very good plan. A magnificent plan to burn a clear message in Vlad Masters' mind: I am not to be messed with and I will not play your games.
The winter holidays had officially begun - a little later than usual but a late break is better than no break - and Sabrina fell asleep thinking of what to do during those three weeks of cold freedom.
What is Sabrina going to do? You aren't going to find out soon, but I'd like to hear your speculations.
As always review, suggest, favorite, and follow the story and thanks to RevyCaitEll, 16, karisay, and those who follow the story but don't review (why? reviews make the author happy)
Glossary and translations:
Buenos dias: good morning
"Feliz cumpleaños" or "feliz cumple": happy birthday
Hijita: (literally: my little daughter), sweetie
Que tengas un buen dia: have a nice day
No me digas: don't you say
Y un soberano infumable: And an insufferable bastard
Por favor se lo ruego: please I beg you
Munchis: an ice-cream parlor in Argentina
