As Clark wandered down the long hall toward Lex's study, he could hear music. It sounded Eastern, in the hall it sounded muffled thru the doors. He sharpened his hearing to the none-human level. The music was clear in his ears, but no humans were in the room, Clark listened harder and could make out Lex's voice and a woman's coming from the next floor. Unsure, Clark pushed the doors open and looked into the study.
The music continued to play; there were empty glasses on the table next to an very low decanter. There was a feminine chuckle from over Clark's head. Clark flushed, they were in the loft library. Clark looked around the room quickly searching for anything that looked like it could be the urn. Finding no sign he switched to x-ray vision. In the secret vault in the wall, he saw a pile of bone colored pottery shards with tiny black writing. Clark needed to tell Lex about Diana, if the shards were what he thought they were Lex was in danger.
He heard Lex laugh and begin to descend the stairs. The teenager froze unable to move as Lex came around the corner in a royal purple silk robe. The billionaire stopped on the last step and leaned lazily against the wall, smiling an almost sinister smile.
"Clark, what brings you here…unannounced." He said. Clark stuck his hands in his pockets and blushed harder.
"Lex…I 'm sorry…I just needed to talk to you and you did say I could come by to see the urn." Clark said in a rush. Lex waved a casual hand and walked to the bar, looking back over his shoulder.
"That I did Clark. But the situation has changed." He poured a drink. Clark raised his eyebrows.
"Little early for scotch isn't Lex?" Clark said then the words sunk in. "What has changed?" Lex took a long pull from the glass and shrugged.
"I opened it." He stated flatly. Clark's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.
"Y-you opened it?" he asked. Lex nodded.
"Yes and it got broken in the…aftermath." He chuckled. Clark felt a chill run over his skin. The soft pad of bare feet sounded behind him. Clark caught movement in his peripheral vision. The witch walked into his line of sight, Clark gasped. She was clad, well kind of clad, in supple black leather. Her lavender hair was plaited into hundreds of tiny braids. She turned her green eyes on Clark; his blood ran hot in an instant. She slinked to Lex's side and draped her arms around his waist. Lex ran his hand up her back and twining his fingers in her braids. Circe looked like a satisfied cat. Clark was trying not to panic, this was a witch according to Diana a very powerful witch and Clark was susceptible to magic.
"You must be Clark, Lex has told me so much about you." She purred. Clark shuffled his feet. The witch extended a hand.
"I am Circe." She said grasping his hand tight. Clark tried to affect a convincing smile, her touch made him feel weak for a beat.
"Well, I can...see you are busy now Lex. I'll come by later." He said stumbling toward the door. Circe and Lex followed him across the floor.
"Well, that would be nice Clark. Give a call before you come over." Lex smiled wickedly. As Clark disappeared out the door Circe nuzzled her face into Lex's ear.
Clark was halfway home before she could speak.
"Is that what you want? The beautiful boy's secrets?" Her words dripping spells. Lex's eyes flashed purple and he nodded.
"Get me my medallion."
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As Clark skidded to a halt in the Kent farmyard, his mind was spinning. That Lex had managed to let the witch out of the bottle was very high on the not good list. He walked quickly up the steps and banged thru the screen door. Martha and Diana were folding laundry and chatting. They looked up at his sudden appearance.
"Hey honey." Martha smiled at her son. Diana smiled as well then her brow creased.
"Clark is something wrong?" she asked sharply. Clark held his hands out.
"Ok I went to see a friend of mine who I thought had the vase your looking for." He said in a rush. Diana nodded impatiently. Clark took a breath.
"He did have it." Clark said biting his lip. Martha cocked her head as Diana's spine stiffened.
"He kind of opened it…the right way. She's out. I saw her, and she seems to have become…close to Lex." Clark said wincing a little. Diana's face went white; she sat on her stool suddenly.
"Circe is free?" She whispered. Clark nodded. Martha gasped and placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. Diana blinked and stood up again.
"You said that you know this man she has spellbound?" she asked. Clark's eyes widened.
"You think that's what she's done?' he answered her question with a question. Diana nodded.
"If Circe has seduced him he is under her power. She hates men as a rule." Diana explained. Clark felt his stomach drop. Diana moved around the counter and closed on him
"Take me to them now." He demanded, fire in her eyes. Clark looked doubtful.
"M-maybe we should have a plan first." Clark tried to stall.
"You and I against her will be more than enough, why wait?" the Amazon said stiffly. Martha shook her head and reached for the girl's arm.
"Diana, if Circe is a magic user, then Clark will not be much help to you." The mother said softly. Diana's blue eyes were confused; Martha's face was patient.
"There is very little that can harm Clark. Magic is one of those few things." She explained. Diana looked at Clark with wonder.
"That is astounding. And unfortunate." She said before pushing past him. Clark tried to hold her back
"Wait, where are you going? She's out, and you said you didn't think you could take her once she was free." He demanded. The girl shrugged him off.
"Then I pray she has not regained her full power yet. Or all is lost." Her voice was low. Clark's thoughts flew, there had to be something they could do.
"Maybe not, will you trust me?" he asked. She looked into his eyes and nodded.
"Good, if there is a way for us to beat her I know some one who will find it." Clark smiled.
They two super teens took off out the door. Martha walked to the door and called to her husband. They needed to be ready if something went wrong with Clark's plan. Martha hoped Chloe could be the ace her son was counting on.
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Chloe Sullivan sat in the Talon coffee house, sipping her latte and surfing the net on her laptop. She was frustrated; the story she was researching had reached a dead end. In addition, Clark should have called her about going over to Lex's today; he had yet to make her cell phone jingle. She jumped when the large hand came down on her shoulder.
"Clark! About time you showed up, I was beginning to think you'd ditched me." She said merrily. Her eyes fell on the stunning girl to Clark's right. Her face fell.
"Who's your friend?" she asked her voice cooling. Clark sat next to Chloe, a serous look in his eyes.
"Chloe, this is Diana. We need your help." He said in a hushed tone. Diana inclined her head to the blond girl and sat on the other side of Clark. Chloe looked over the raven-haired girl with mistrust. Turning her face back to her friend, she shrugged.
"What's going on?" she asked. Clark related the pertinent information in a low voice, leaving out anything that related to his abilities. Diana noticed his editing and understood. Chloe listened wide-eyed, casting surreptitious glances at the Amazon.
"My God! Lex let this seriously dangerous bitch out?" Chloe said when Clark had finished. "But then why does that surprise me?" She added sarcastically. Her dark humor was not well received, sobering she looked at her friend.
"What do you need from me?" she asked. Clark leaned in closer, lowering in voice more.
"We need to find an edge over Circe, she has Lex under her spell, do you know of anything that may help?" he probed, green eyes full of worry. Chloe squinted as she thought.
"There was something I remember from Mr. Dodd's last class." She began searching her computer files. "Some way Odysseus beat Circe." She opened the file and scanned the text rapidly.
"Yeah, here it is, Hermes gave him the cure to Circe's spell, the herb Moly." Chloe looked up at them with a skeptical look. "The question is where the hell do we get some Moly?" she shrugged. Clark looked crestfallen. Chloe began typing again; she put the name into Google and crossed her fingers. Who knew if this herb even existed? The results came back quickly. Diana had moved closer to Chloe, fascinated by her computer. The blond gave Diana a small smiled over her shoulder and clicked the fist hit on the page. Reading fast Chloe's blue eyes grew very large.
"Holy shit! Clark, Moly is a type of Garlic! Hot Damn! It's the Golden Lilly type." Clark looked bemused.
"I bet crazy Mr. Hobson has some." He said brightly. Chloe grinned, Diana looked confused.
"That's right, he's that nutty garlic guy." She turned to Diana.
"Has an almost frightening love of the smelly stuff. He even has a giant bulb of garlic painted on his van." She giggled. Diana stood and nodded to Clark.
"Let us go. The sooner we get the spell breaker the sooner we can stop her and restore your friend's free will." She looked down at Chloe's up turned face.
"Thank you very much fore your help, Chloe. You are a gifted scholar." She bowed her head to the girl in deference. Chloe blushed bright red.
"It was nothing, no problem." She mumbled. Clark smiled and rose to his feet.
Diana stepped back and cast her eyes around her in sudden alarm. The front doors of the talon shattered into splinters of wood. People screamed and hit the floor. Clark whirled around putting his body between the flying debris and the girls. In the gaping hole where to door had been stood the black clad witch, her lavender hair floating around her like gossamer. Her cold green glare fell on Clark and her lips twisted into an evil grin. The grin faltered as Diana leapt up on the table, giving the witch a baleful look.
"Hippolyta must be getting old." Circe said nastily. Diana jumped to the floor preparing to fight the witch. Circe flashed across the room knocking Clark and Chloe to the side and clutched the young Amazon by her jaw, lifting her off her feet.
"How dare she send a child to collect me!" The witch seethed. Purple light began to crackle around her; Clark pulled Chloe up and held her behind him. The movement caught Circe's attention for a split second, enough time for Diana to bring her arms up and break the witch's hold on her.
"I am no child!" Diana growled.
Gaining her footing, she spun around and kicked Circe's feet out from under her. Circe turned over while she fell, catching her self on her hands and kicked back at the girl. The leather boots connected with Diana's stomach knocking the wind out of her as she flew back toward the counter. There was a high-pitched scream from behind the counter as Lana skittered from the flying Amazon's path. Circe's eyes fell on the dark haired girl while she cowered in a corner and a sick glee spread across her face.
"Here is one who holds magic." She laughed extending a hand in Lana's direction. Clark moved to stop the witch; she looked at the boy with malice. Clark froze in place, unable to move. Circe turned back to Lana and shot a stream of energy at the girl. The amethyst light encircled her lifting her off the ground, Lana screamed in pain as Circe pumped her for magic left over from Isobel's possession of her. Diana jumped over the counter top taking stock of the damage Circe had done.
Now charged up by the siphoned magic, Circe hit Diana with a powerful bolt knocking her back down. Chloe was trying to move Clark; desperate to help him she pushed at his shoulders begging him to move. The witch rotated back to the immobile boy and moved quickly to him.
"Now, beautiful one, you are coming with me." She said grabbing him by the shirtfront. Diana leapt over the counter for the second time and dashed across the room.
"Not If I can help it." The Amazon shouted jumping high in the air to bring her elbow down on Circe's back. The girl fell on top of Chloe as Circe and Clark vanished. The witch laughed condescendingly from the door.
"Silly little girl, you cannot best me." She said. There was a stirring in the air as the purple magic began to spin around Circe and the limp form that was Clark. It quickly became a funnel cloud that ripped a hole in what was left of the talon's front window. The cyclone sped down Main Street and disappeared.