New chapter.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:
Say Hello to Cadmus
"You're assignment, you miserable nothing," "Hera" said, apparently aware that Melissa wasn't exactly impressed by her spiel, "is to find the lovers of that philandering, lecherous husband of mine, and any children conceived by him, and kill them. Kill them all. Bring me back their hearts in this box."
She present a gold box no bigger than a snuff box.
"The interior has been magically expanded," "Hera" explained. "All of them should fit in there."
Melissa tightened her grip on the hornbeam wand.
"Fail me, mortal, and your life and forum will be forfeit," "Hera" said. "So, simply do. Not. Fail. Me."
"No," Melissa said, firmly.
"What was that, mortal?" "Hera" said dangerously.
"I said, no!" Melissa declared. "I will
not murder innocent --"
"They're only innocent if
I say that their innocent!" "Hera" announced, rather wildly. "You simple mortal. You think you can challenge
me of all gods? I'm the
queen for a reason!"
"Because you married Zeus," Melissa said, raising her wand. She remember the human-detecting spell she cast earlier. She was quite confident that this was a fake. That this "Hera" was not the real deal -- assuming, of course, the real deal even existed.
"The impudence! The unmitigated gall!" "Hera" screamed in scandalized tones. Melissa thought she was trying too hard to sell this farce. She almost wish she had some Veritiserum to force-feed this fake goddess, so she get some truth out of her. But Melissa doubt that would even work at this point. "You dare defy a goddess!"
"You're not --"
"Do not speak further!" "Hera" demanded, almost drunkenly. "You
will do what I ask of you, and that is final."
"You are not the boss of me," Melissa said. "I don't have to capitu--"
"Be silent! Your opinion in this matter is absolutely worthless!" "Hera" cut her off. "I'm the queen of the gods, it is your duty to obey my every --"
"
Silencio!" Melissa said, jabbing her wand at "Hera". "Hera's" lips flapped rapidly but no sound issued. The novice witch's Silencing Charm had worked. "Now, listen to me. You are no goddess. I am not going to commit murder, I'm going to commit x, y, and z just because you tell me to. I'm not your slave, and I'm not going to playact as one so you can have your delusions."
"Hera's" mouth still flapped angrily, but no sound ever issued from it. It was then that Melissa noticed her eyes. Vacant and unfocused. It looked like what Broken described to her what people under the Imperius Curse looked like. This woman was being controlled. But how?
The laurel wreath. Had to be. The real Hera, if the myths were right, never wore laurel leaves. She wore some sore of crown, tiara thing. Melissa didn't know the name. So, if she -- or the ones controlling her, rather -- wanted to impersonate Hera fully, why include something not associated with her? Simple. It was a device, cleverly disguised, to control and warp this woman's mind.
"Hera's" mouth was clearly going on a tirade, despite no sound issuing from her mouth. Melissa made up her mind on what she had to do. She had to move quick, had to act quickly.
"Stupefy!" Melissa shouted as she pointed her wand at "Hera". The red light issued from her wand hit "Hera" square in the chest and she collapsed, unconscious, but not dead. Melissa knew it would wear off in time, but that was not her concern of the moment, as her Stunning Spell was doing its job.
She suddenly sense that the two were soon to be accompanied by many bodies, many people. She cast the human-revealing spell again, which confirmed her suspicions. And may have alerted these people to her presence. She used a Summoning Charm to retrieve the laurel wreath, and, if she was prudent, she would have Apparated immediately away.
But, alas, she was curious. So, she twirled her wand around herself as though she were wrapping herself in rope. She muttered the incantation for the Disillusionment Charm, stumbling over it for the first few times before getting it right. She knew she did it right when she felt as if there was a raw egg running down every inch of her body. She was camouflaged, but neglected to notice that the laurel wreath she held was not.
She watched men come in and secure the room. They looked like a S.W.A.T. team, only their faces were completely obscured, like they were wearing morphsuit masks with eye holes or something. On their shoulders they carried an emblem. It was an eye with a beaker with a double helix strand of DNA inside the beaker, all encapsulated within the pupil of the eye. No letters or writing appeared on the emblem. Who were these guys? They weren't Knights. They were part of Malice's cavalcade, as Malice had no emblem -- surely Cloak would have said something if she did.
"What's that?" one these soldiers said.
"What's what?" said another.
"That thing of there? Is that one of those MC-143 things?"
Melissa quickly realized that they were talking about her and she immediately Disapparated with a loud crack.
