Remakes

A MOTE prompt response

“Why, oh, why did they have to remake this? It will never be as good as the original!” The wail drifted out of the back of the antiques store.

“Olivia? Livvy? What’s going on?” I started following the cry back into the depths of the store.

“This! They remade the Pendant of Zetia!” Olivia turned and held up a silver necklace with a large, blue stone hanging from it. The stone was wrapped in braided silver wire with intricately detailed leaves set at random intervals around the stone.

Glancing at it, I laughed. “I sure as hell hope it’s not as good as the original!”

“I know, right?” Livvy giggled, stopping her fake wail and gazing at the necklace. “Think of the damage someone who didn’t know what this was could do!

The glow in the stone pulsed softly.

I stared at the necklace dangling from Livvy’s hand. The silver braid around the stone appeared to writhe and twist, the leaves fluttered in an invisible breeze.

“Oh, no. Oh, hell no. No, they didn’t. Livvy, we have to get that out of here!”

“What?” Livvy caught the stone in her hand, bringing it closer to her face to study it. “It’s a remake, a knock-off, a fake. Why do we need to get it out of here?”

“Because that’s most definitely NOT a knock-off. It’s the real thing. I have no idea how it came to be sitting in the back of some dusty antique store in rural Texas, but we need to get it out of here and fast.” I reached for the necklace, but Livvy pulled back.

“How do you know it’s real?” She pouted like a six-year-old who was just told they can’t bring their favorite toy with them.

“Do you not see it pulsing? The leaves moving? Even you, as willfully blind as you like to be at times can see that.”

Livvy pouted some more but took a closer look at the Pendant. I saw the moment the realization struck her.

“Holy crap, Mel! You’re right! Ohgodohgodohgod! What’re we gonna do!” Now Livvy was dancing around like she’d walked into a spider web. I reached out and snagged the necklace from her hand before she dropped it. The last thing I needed was to lose track of this thing.

“Well first of all, you’re gonna quit panicking. Right. Now. Stop. That doesn’t help anything and you’re just attracting attention.” I glanced around the store. Luckily the only other customer was engrossed in the stacks of record albums leaning against the far wall.

Livvy stopped hopping and spinning. “Okay. Fine. But Melody, you’re holding the actual Pendant of Zetia! The goddess of vengeance! That thing has a LOT of power.”

“I am aware. And we’re going to wrap it up and shield it and take it back to the Council and let them deal with it.” I pulled a silk bag out of my small backpack and dropped the necklace into it. After I pulled the drawstring tight, I held my hand over the runes stitched around the top of the bag and spoke quietly.

“Protegas omnem potestatem hic praesens.” Shield all power present here.

“But we’re gonna have to pay the store for it,” Livvy protested as I dropped the silk bag into my backpack.

“Yep, I know. That’s why I pulled the tag. The story is I’m buying for you for a Christmas present and I don’t want you to see it. So, I pulled the tag and put it in my backpack. You stay back here until I call you. I’m gonna go pay for your ‘Christmas present.’” I grinned and headed for the front and the grandmotherly woman sitting behind the checkout counter.

“You get to have all the fun,” Livvy muttered as I left. I still didn’t have a clue as to how the Pendant wound up here. Last I’d heard – in my Arcane History class last year – was that the Pendant of Zetia was safely tucked away in one of the Council vaults where they stored all recovered and potentially dangerous lost magical artifacts.

I shrugged and walked out of the cool, dim store into the sunshine. As soon as I dropped off the Pendant at Council headquarters, it was no longer my problem.

******

This week I traded prompts with Padre. I got “Why, oh, why did they have to remake this? It will never be as good as the original.” If you’d like to play along with us, just send a prompt to oddprompts@gmail.com and you’ll get one in returen. You can also just mosey over to More Odds Than Ends and pick up a spare. It’s fun! It’s healthy! Go on, you know you want to!