Ursedonah sat alone in her room staring intently at a piece of parchment on the desk. She appeared to be deep in thought. She looked up.
"Artemis" Ursedonah called
The sound of footsteps filled the hall.
"Yes, master?" Artemis said as she entered the room.
"I need you to go over a few things. I don't know whom else to trust. They're all against me. They plot all day. They're all plotting against me." Ursedonah said in a strange voice as if in a trance.
"No they aren't. You're acting paranoid."
"I'm not paranoid! Was that a threat?"
"No it wasn't. Now, what did you want me to go over?"
Ursedonah snapped out of her trance.
"I need you to go over these plans. Memorize them."
"Okay." Artemis said and then began reading it. "Umm, this is in a different language."
"Yeah, I know. Memorize it that way so that nobody can get the plan by reading your mind. This is confidential. Don't tell anyone." Ursedonah said sounding agitated.
"Yes, master."
She said this in such a strange voice that Ursedonah couldn't help but look into her eyes and see what she was thinking.
"Why didn't you tell me that you couldn't read Cryptic?" Ursedonah said just as Artemis walked out of the room.
Artemis looked terrified.
"I thought that you be would mad." She whimpered, avoiding Ursedonah's eyes, "Anyway, nobody ever taught me in the first place."
"You can't be taught how to read Cryptic, it's just something that you know. Did you drink every drop of that potion I gave you?"
"Yes." Artemis said obviously lying.
"I don't appreciate being lied to. You didn't drink it all. You spilled half of it. That's why you don't understand parseltounge and you can't read Cryptic."
Artemis nodded. The room was silent. Nothing moved. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. It was Lucius.
"I hope that I'm not interrupting, but I wanted to inform you that the testers have arrived." He said as he entered the room.
"What testers?" inquired Artemis.
"The people who we will be testing some of my new potions and spells on." Ursedonah replied simply.
Lucius left the room having said everything that he came there to say.
"Now, you punishment for lying." Ursedonah said, her attention focused on Artemis once more.
A look of pure terror came over Artemis' face. She turned pale and closed her eyes in anticipation.
"Crucio!" Ursedonah said in a smiling in a cruel way.
Artemis screamed and writhed. Tears fell down her cheeks as she squirmed on the floor. Her blonde hair covered her face and her glasses fell off.
Ursedonah raised her wand.
"That hurt didn't it? Don't want me to do that again do you?"
"No master, please, no!" she shrieked.
Ursedonah stood there looking at her mercilessly.
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Because—Because I—uh…" she stammered sounding terrified.
"Crucio."
Artemis writhed and screamed once more. Her eyes rolled back and she shrieked even louder. Ursedonah raised her wand. Artemis lied there twitching, though the pain was now subsiding.
"I—I'm—sorry" Artemis said panting.
"I hope you've learned your lesson. Never lie to me. I will give you more of the potion, but you won't get away this easily. You will have to be one of the test subjects for another potion I'm creating."
"What does it do?" Artemis really sounded nervous now. There was a silence as Ursedonah contemplated whether or not she should tell her. She decided against it. Why tell her when I can torment her further by keeping the information to myself. This is a dangerous potion. The last person to use it ended up sprouting tentacles and gills. She thought as she walked away. Artemis sat there looking utterly terrified; dreading what was yet to come.
"Artemis. It's your turn," a man called Daoud shouted from the room that was used for Ursedonah's top-secret experiments. What could they be doing in here? I heard somebody screaming. What kind of potion will be used on me? She thought as she stood up. Artemis shivered.
Daoud laughed as she entered the room.
"Looks like you're in for a fun time." He said sarcastically, "You've got the potion for telekinetic powers. So far we've had ten people come in for that, but four octopuses, one cat, a shark, and four hippos come out."
Artemis' eyes widened.
"Oh well. She's made some more changes. If you're lucky, then you'll come out of here with the ability to move things with your mind just like our master." Daoud continued cheerfully.
He withdrew a small test tube full of greenish liquid from a drawer.
"Here, drink this in one gulp, close your eyes and say the alphabet for me."
Artemis did so. He laughed hysterically.
"Nobody's ever fallen for that one before!"
Artemis was mad. She was tied down 'for her protection' so she couldn't throw anything at him. But she wanted to. If I wasn't tied down, I could handle him. She thought and she looked at the straps binding her to the table, but a strange thing was happening. The straps were coming undone. Her eyes widened in amazement and stared at the computer. Lift up. She thought afraid of what might happen. In amazement she stared at the computer which was now a foot off the table. Now go down. It followed the request.
"Wow. It worked. Now this is the potion that you were supposed to get for the languages." Daoud lied. It was really the reversal potion.
The tube lifted out of his hand and flew toward Artemis. She drank it unknowingly. She tried to make the tube float back to him, but it didn't work.
"Okay, now I need you to drink the real language potion." He said.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that the potion you just drank is a reversal potion. You no longer have the abilities."
She stared, dumbfounded.
"Master, the potion worked, and so did your 'close your eyesand say the alphabet' thing." Daoud reported to Ursedonah a little while later.
"You mean to tell me that the others haven't closed their eyes nor have they said the alphabet? That was an essential part of it. No wonder they turned into animals!" Ursedonah replied.
"I thought that was just a joke."
"I don't joke." Ursedonah said, sounding agitated.
"What should I do with the girl?"
"Kill her." Ursedonah said impatiently.
"Daoud, number one wants to speak to you." Arsallah said.
"What is it now?"
"I'm just the messenger. How should I know?"
Daoud walked further into the forest. There he met Becky, the one they referred to as number one in the secret organization, AUL, or Anti Ursedonah League.
"What do you want?" he asked roughly.
"The girl who you were just ordered to kill, what was her name?" Becky interrogated.
"I dunno. I think it was Artemis or something like that." He replied vaguely.
"Bring her here. She may be useful."