Author's Note: I want to say thanks to everybody who's reviewed. CoyoteLoon, La miseria y la muerte, and mpcp13 especially. You guys have stuck with me all the way as my most faithful reviewers, and I couldn't have done it without you! You're all wonderful!
Chapter Ten: The Pride and Fall of Enchantra
Jenny squeezed her eyes shut from the blinding flash of red light. Pulsating waves of energy streamed through her wiring and circuitry as a cloud of smoke billowed up. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason, they stopped. Confused, she kept her eyes squeezed shut and waited for something else to happen, some new sensation that would signal her transformation. Nothing. Slowly she opened one eye, then the other, and squinted through the smoky haze as she looked herself over. As far as she could tell nothing was different. She still had the same humanoid construction, tube-like metal arms and legs, white and turquoise paint job, and curving triangular pigtails attached to her spherical head. Every last screw, bolt and rivet, and even her many new dents and battle scars were all the same.
She looked at Sam. The girl had a wide, gleeful grin on her face. "Aha!" she shouted, thrusting an exuberant fist into the air. "I knew it! The Staff of Circe doesn't work on robots!"
Enchantra stood levitating above the wet floor, yellow eyes wide in shock. At Sam's announcement she began to fumble with the wooden staff worriedly, babbling in confusion. Her pale lavender cheeks were turning a brilliant shade of scarlet. "Of-of course it does! Ha ha! Why wouldn't it? That-that was just the wrong spell!"
Jenny looked between the flustered sorceress and the fair-haired girl, totally confused. What was going on here? Somehow Sam had planned on all this. That was why she had provoked Enchantra into using the Staff of Circe, and she had known Jenny would jump in the way just in time to block the spell. But what she couldn't understand was why.
Sam smirked at the witch and placed her hands on her hips. "Looks to me like the museum gypped you, Enchantra. They must have had a bogus Staff of Circe on exhibit. Or maybe it's not the staff that's the problem. Maybe it's you."
The statement broke the witch out of her shock, causing her to bristle like a hissing cat. All signs of her former cold and arrogant demeanor had vanished. "Me??" she screeched furiously, clenching her bony fists. "What on Earth are you talking about?!"
"Sam, what are you doing??" Jenny whispered anxiously, feeling her fluids turn cold. "Are you crazy? This woman could kill us!"
Sam gave her a sly wink in return. "Relax. She's almost ours." She returned her attention to Enchantra and calmly folded her hands behind her back, smiling a sweet, patronizing smile. "Everyone knows a magic staff as powerful as that could turn a robot into a slug easily. But for some reason you couldn't make it work. So, either you didn't know the spell for it, or you just aren't strong enough!"
Enchantra's eyes began to glow with an angry red light. The water below her feet rippled and splashed inexplicably, and bits of broken plastic and metal began levitating off the floor. "How dare you scoff at me?! Have you the slightest inkling to whom you speak?? I am Enchantra, Mistress of Magic!"
Jenny took a few nervous steps backward, but Sam stood her ground. "It doesn't take a mistress of magic to make a mess like this!" She waved a hand at the scene of destruction that littered the food court as if it were nothing. "My two little brothers can do twice this much damage in only five minutes! Besides, any rookie stage magician can blow things up with fireballs and lightning bolts. Riegsfried and Soy, Ten and Peller, they do it all the time!"
Enchantra's eyes burned with the red-hot flames of Hades, her long hair, cape and dress blowing wildly in a sinister wind. A dark shadow fell over the food court then, and Jenny looked up at the windows of the atrium to see a huge cloud had blotted out the sun. The rumble of thunder shook the foundations of the building, sending various small animals howling and scrambling for cover. When the mall's lights flickered and dimmed, Jenny's rusty and dented pigtails stood on end. She dove behind Sam's back with a frightened yelp, but the fair-haired girl only yawned and twirled a golden lock of hair around one finger, not looking the least bit impressed by the witch's theatrics.
Further aggravated by Sam's fearlessness, Enchantra bared her teeth and snarled. "Puny mortal girl!" Her voice boomed with a demonic echo that rattled the store windows. "Do not take me for some conjuror of cheap tricks! I am the most powerful sorceress to ever live!!"
"Oh, yeah? Then let's see if you can do something besides show off and break things." Sam took one calm step to the right, fully exposing the robot girl hidden behind her. "Think you could give Jenny a tune-up?"
"What??" Jenny shook her head fiercely, her neck creaking groaning with rust. She opened her mouth, about to insist that she be left out of whatever game Sam was playing, but Enchantra's laugh silenced her.
"Mere child's play!" she laughed, amused by the simple challenge. Another burst of thunder roared in the background. "Consider it done!" She waved one hand in front of her in graceful sweeping motions, murmuring strange words to herself.
A ring of glittering white light appeared around Jenny's feet, sending a thin spiral of dazzling white sparks looping about her legs. She watched in amazement as the twisting lights surrounded her, reflecting off her tarnished and dented metal surface. Then she noticed that the spots of chipped paint on her legs were closing up like healing wounds. As the lights swirled higher around her arms, torso, shoulders and head, Jenny's battle scars became fewer and fewer. Then as the lights whirled around each of her pigtails to finish, they winked out of existence.
She deployed a handled mirror from her right hand, examining her refelction in awe. Sure enough, she had been fully restored to peak condition. Every black scorch mark and orange rust stain had been erased, every dent had been smoothed out, and her paint had regained its smooth, polished sheen. Forgetting her fear, she squealed and bounced up and down, delighted by the smoothness of her joints. "She did it! She did it! I can't believe it!"
Enchantra smiled and placed her hand on her hip. A low rumbling of thunder was heard as the witch's anger was replaced with confidence. "I've accomplished the task. Now are you convinced of my power, mortal?"
Sam looked Jenny over from top to bottom, then shrugged. "Eh."
"What??" Enchantra exclaimed, looking stunned. She slapped her forehead in frustration and rolled her eyes. "Argh!! You 21st century teenagers! So desensitized by your television and video games, that you cannot recognize true power when it presents itself! What further proof do you need?!"
Sam held up her hands. "Jeez, chill out, lady. I'll admit that was pretty cool, but it's not enough to prove you're the greatest witch in the world. Maybe we can find something else for you to do." She tapped her lip with one finger thoughtfully, looking around at the wreckage on the floor. "You know, this food court could really stand some cleaning. Don't you think so, Jenny?"
The robot girl nodded, still smiling broadly. She still didn't know what Sam's plan was, but she liked where it was going. "Oh, yeah! Totally! This place looks like a hurricane hit it!"
Enchantra smirked, amused by another easy challenge. Holding out both arms, she closed her eyes and began speaking a chant in a bizarre language. Jenny could not recognize it in her memory archives, nor could Sam recall it from any of her international homes. As the witch's voice continued to drone on, the broken pieces of glass, metal and plastic began rising off the floor and attaching themselves to each other, arranging themselves into tables and chairs. The girls watched with wide eyes as spilled garbage jumped into wastebaskets that had formerly been lying on the ground. The shallow layer of water which had been covering most of the floor shrank down into small puddles, then tiny drops, and finally nothing.
At last Enchantra fell silent, leaving the food court immacualte and sparkling clean. Warily, Sam stepped over the dry, spotless tiles toward a perfect table. She knocked on its flat surface lightly with her fist, testing its firmness. "Looks okay. What do you think, Jenny? Does this make Enchantra the best sorceress in the world?"
Jenny looked around the food court with a frown. She noticed a pair of horses, a moose, and a buffalo were taking a drink from the fountain, and a flock of ducks were floating on the water's surface. "I dunno, Sam. She did a good job cleaning up, but all these animals are bound to make a mess again."
"Yeah, good point." Sam pouted, folding her arms in disappointment. "If only there was something we could do about them."
No sooner were the words out of her mouth then Enchantra raised the Staff of Circe above her head. As she chanted, the eyes of the wooden ram's head lit up as before, but instead of red light it was lime-green. "Staff of Circe, heed my call! Bring back human form to all!" The green light slowly expanded into a halo around the staff's head, humming and whining with energy. The animals at the fountain looked up in surprise, then went rigid as each one of them was illuminated in green. The entire Tremorton mall shone with emerald light from all creatures great and small. The humming sound grew louder and louder, until an incandescent flash filled the room with daylight. It stung Jenny and Sam's eyes even as they hid them with their hands from the brightness.
Finally the whining noise died down, and the light dimmed back to normal. The two girls rubbed their eyes and blinked, then blinked again at what they saw. People were standing around the food court fountain, looking around and talking to each other. Some of them were dripping wet and wringing out their clothes. A large metal wastebasket toppled over with a clang, spilling its contents and sending a familiar gangly teenager tumbling out onto the floor. Jenny and Sam both beamed. "Sheldon!"
The pimply faced boy looked up at them, brushing a greasy napkin off his sweatshirt sleeve. "Oh, hi, Sam!" Then his face lit up with a huge, dopey grin. "Jenny! My princess!" He leapt to his feet and dashed over to her, not even noticing when he nearly tripped over an empty plastic cup. "I knew you'd save us from that evil witch, my love! See, Sam? Didn't I tell you she was the greatest hero this town's ever seen?"
Jenny flushed in embarrassment, and Sam couldn't help giggling. Suddenly a chorus of screams erupted from down the hall. The door to the women's room flew open, and Brad and Tuck were tossed out on their rears. The red-haired teen sat on the floor in a daze, trying to make sense of what had just happened, while his younger brother rubbed his sore bottom and glared at the door behind them. "Jeez! What's the big deal? I really had to go!"
Pleased with herself, Enchantra lowered her staff and puffed out her thin chest. She gazed down at the human and robot girl with a cold, arrogant smirk. "What do you have to say now, mortal? You've seen all these works with your own eyes. Are they not the works of a truly mighty sorceress?"
Sam hung her head and bowed, looking very humble. "It truly is. I'm sorry I doubted you, oh mighty sorceress! I should have known you for what you were!"
Jenny also bowed, the very picture of humility. "I'm sorry, too, Enchantra. You proved that I'm just a weak, stupid machine after all, and I have no reason to go on functioning."
She glanced at Sam, and the two of them exchanged a quick, devious smile. There was only one thing left to take care of. With a loud gasp, Sam pointed off to the left. "Oh my gosh! Look at that! It's a flying monkey!" Surprised, Enchantra turned her head away. Now was Jenny's chance to strike. She lunged forward and quickly expanded one hand into a massive blue fist. Before the witch could react, Jenny delivered a punch to her jaw that could have shattered solid concrete.
"That's for wrecking my day, witch!" she spat. Enchantra flew backward helplessly, dazed from the impact of the blow. She finally landed in the water of the fountain with a hard splash, spraying water over the floor. The witch gave an ear-piercing scream, accompanied by an awful hissing noise. She picked herself up, splashing wildly as she clambered over the edge of the basin. Everyone stepped back in horror as the witch stood up. Steam was hissing from her body in thick white clouds, her damp purple hair and black clothes dripping with water. An inky puddle was forming at her feet, and she was growing shorter by the second. "You cursed brat!" she shrieked, face streaked hideously with dark make-up. "Look what you've done! I'm melting!"
Jenny stood with Sam and Sheldon, unable to tear her eyes away from the gruesome sight. Brad and Tuck came to them through the crowd, staring in morbid fascination. Enchantra grew smaller and smaller as her body dissolved, forming a deep violet puddle on the floor. She wailed in agony all the way, cursing the world and the horrible little robot that had destroyed her beautiful wickedness. By the time she fell silent she had become just an amorphous blob of purple and black, resting on the floor harmlessly. Reluctantly, Jenny crept up to the melted mess on the floor. She stared down into it as her friends came up beside her, wearing similar expressions of disgust. Sheldon had gone pale and clutched his abdomen in nausea. "Ugh . . . I'll never drink prune juice again."
Brad glared down at the puddle with his arms folded. "It serves her right for turning me into a chicken!" Tuck knelt down and reached a curious finger at a bubble in the oily slime. It popped, causing Sheldon to gag and run to the nearest trash barrel.
Ignoring the sounds of the boy's retching, Jenny extended a pair of tongs from one hand. She reached down into the goopy mess and lifted out the dripping staff within. "This thing's caused us all a lot of trouble. Once it's back at the museum where it belongs, I'll make sure no one ever touches it again."
Sam looked up at her and beamed in admiration. "You did it, Jenny! You defeated the wicked witch and got the magic staff back! You're a hero!"
Jenny smiled back at the blonde girl and shook her head. "No, Sam. We both are."
To be concluded . . .
