3

- It's a threat? I got even angrier.

- An observation, she retorted, visibly proud to have me in her nets. I felt hatred blur my sight, clouding my vision as if everything had suddenly become darker. The sassy clown wanted to play? All right, she was going to lose. Perhaps she thought that keeping me prisoner in this place out of nowhere would be enough to keep me in her nets, but she was soon to become disillusioned. If necessary, I was going to play her game to lead her on and take what I needed. In this case, a way to get home. Without forgetting to make him pay dearly for his act. Maybe eventually, I would agree to follow her and listen to her, but for the sole purpose of finding a way to get home on my own. And before leaving,

- Either, let's say I want to listen to you and help you so that you can then take me home, wouldn't it be better if you explained all this to me? I say, pointing to the waist-high slime, before pointing to its towering wings. The clown frowned, visibly suspicious of my sudden change in mood. Maybe deep down, she wasn't so stupid, although to dress like that, I had great doubts about her intelligence. It was no longer a lack of taste at this point.

- Not here.

- Do you think I'm going to settle for that? I annoyed. I'm making a colossal effort here, in case you missed it! Perhaps it would be too much to ask that you do the same? I spat at him like venom. The clown remained unmoved, still installed on his rock.

- I didn't say that I wouldn't answer you, but I'm forbidden to reveal certain things to you without the agreement of my superior. I frowned. His superior?

- And this is how you were supposed to convince me to help you? Without revealing anything to me, asking to follow you blindly?

- Of course not, but I haven't had the opportunity to express myself.

- Well, go ahead, you have plenty of time, I said in a dry tone. The clown sighed.

- Out now my poignant words, prepared in advance, no longer make sense. The context has changed too much, she retorted. But if you want to hear them, I wanted to convince you to follow me, to help us by reporting the fact that the threat might eventually reach your planet. But I didn't expect you to be so selfish and personal, she explained. All I remember was the word "planet"… I didn't even dare to look for an explanation for the fact that she used this term. Just thinking about it made me nauseous.

- Anyway, I guess I don't have a choice… I articulated. If I want to go home, I'm going to have to follow you… But you can't deprive me of my free will! Once I know what you expect of me, I have every right to refuse, I warn.

- Of course, I never claimed otherwise, she agreed. But I wouldn't help you get home.

- It's blackmail! And afterward, you dare to reproach me for my selfishness! I exploded.

- Between bringing you home and using you to save millions of lives, the choice is quickly made. It may be selfish from your point of view, but from mine, no, she retorted in a calm voice, unimpressed by my explosive mood. I had to refrain from jumping at his throat for the stranger. What right did she allow herself to play with me like this? I was not her puppet and she would soon regret having even crossed my path.

- So, for you, I'm just a pawn to be manipulated? To sacrifice for your great cause? I fumed.

- There was never any question of sacrifice, she exasperated herself. If necessary, I will personally see to your safety. All I need from you is your gift. His last words had the effect of freezing me. My blood froze in my veins. I was now just a block of ice frozen in time. My…gift? She wasn't spinning. I didn't have a gift and I didn't see how I was going to be able to save millions of lives, he was missing a hell of a box.

- My what? I choked. Anyway, in the end, I have absolutely nothing to do! If you could stop bullshitting me so we can get on with what matters, that wouldn't be a luxury. I need to get back to my routine! Ah, and… You better sort out the chaos you've caused among my enforcers. The clown didn't notice my words, and sat up, seeming to be deep in thought.

- You are a real enigma, she confided to me, visibly lost. If I understood correctly, you agree to follow me?

- I don't have a choice, and the sooner this story will be settled, the better it will be. I can't wait to stop sticking with your crazy head.

"Very well, then follow me," she replied simply, beginning to fly above the mud. I was about to move when I realized I couldn't. I got bogged down.

Fulminating with rage, I tried to struggle, in vain. Damn, vase.

- You come? the clown threw at me, wondering why I didn't follow him. I felt rage consume me. I couldn't tell him what was happening to me, it was far too pitiful. But still, I didn't have a choice. Glaring at her, I promised myself that she would pay dearly for it.

- Your bloody vase got me bogged down! Couldn't you teleport us to a healthier place? Or are you so deranged that you idolize mud like merry boars?

The clown heaved a weary sigh and grabbed my arms before flapping his wings with incredible power, pulling me out of the claws of the slimy mud. She put me on the rock where she installed it earlier. Taking off her hooded cape, she passed it to me.

- Put this on, we mustn't know that you come from Earth, she told me. I obeyed in the simple interest of hiding the mud that had smeared my clothes. The clown pulled the hood of the cape over my head and took me by the arms before flying away. I got dizzy. I curse her once again for pulling me back to my quiet routine.

The winged clown ended up dropping me off in the grass, once we were out of the swamps.

- It's difficult to carry you while flying, she explained to me, we'd better continue the journey on foot. Anyway, it's not very far.

- I hope so, I said dryly. I don't want to hang around here much longer. The clown ignored my remark, already advancing straight ahead of her. I end up following her, seeing no point in hanging around and making a fuss. The sooner I would find a way home, the sooner I could avenge myself before returning to my peaceful routine.

The winged blonde led me to a village that we had to cross. I saw him in the distance, gradually approaching us. Were the inhabitants all as sassy as the clown who was serving as my guide at this precise moment? I didn't expect it, my eyes didn't need this sight.

Approaching the cabins, I noticed that they were atypical, to say the least. Round or oval in shape, the bricks were brown the same shade as the color of the earth. The panes, similar to stained glass in churches, were also round and the couple doorway was framed by an ashen gray brick wall. The rooftop was perhaps the most fascinating, at least when you liked something out of the ordinary, which I didn't. Soaring at first in a point, like a roof in the shape of a triangle, the point curved and curled, as if a curler had been put on the roof to obtain such a result. The color of the roof was green, it looked like it was made of moss and I wondered if by this fact it was really solid.

We entered the village by following a dirt road and I was happy to see that the village was deserted. I had already seen too many things out of the ordinary to accept even more. Because who knows what they might look like? If the blonde had eagle wings, I could easily imagine a red-haired girl with a duck's beak. Whatever all things considered, I didn't prefer to visualize it. This idea seemed far too nauseous to me. I had always hated anything out of the reasonable and out of the ordinary. The rationale was much more reassuring and logical.

But I had spoken too soon. We crossed a square where in its center was a fountain. The place was crowded.

- Lower your head, told me the winged girl, who had explained to me that one didn't need to discover that I came from the Earth. I obeyed more so as not to see what these villagers looked like than to please him. However, I could not close my eyes to what I had just seen. Finally, I would have much preferred to come face to face with a red-haired girl with a duckbill.

The man in front of me whom I had perceived before I started to contemplate my feet like a poor thing had an unusual gender. Bald and smooth, a horn vaguely reminiscent of a rhinoceros was sunk into his forehead. Her bronze-colored skin seemed to glow at the jawline as if it had been dusted with glitter. His eyes meanwhile were simply extraordinary, and in my vocabulary, it was not a compliment. I hated the extraordinary. Her irises were salmon pink.

I couldn't wait to get out of there. This unusual side made the hair on my arms stand on end. This world was not my world. I had nothing to do here. The winged clown was going to pay me for it.

Not looking ahead, a young villager shoved me straight into the shoulder. I nearly lost my balance, but the eagle-winged blonde caught me and adjusted the hood over my head.

- Sorry, the boy apologized. I couldn't see his face, but his electric blue skin streaked with lightning gave me goosebumps. But indignation prevailed over everything else, I already opened my mouth to set fire to the imprudent and put him in his place when the clown preceded me.

- It's nothing, she reassured him before pulling me firmly into a place safe from any indiscretion.

- What are you doing? I was indignant. Let me put this game…

- I think we'll quickly set the record straight, she cut me off. First, keep quiet, don't start attracting attention! Second, you don't show your face, you don't defy people with your gaze and you don't say the slightest word, and tertio, you look in front of you when you walk.

- Sorry? He's the one who ran into me! Maybe we should buy this toddler a pair of glasses or teach him that running into strangers is not a thing to do. His skin may be covered with sparkling lightning, but it does not seem to be a light, I got angry. First of all, why should I be silent? What's the point in keeping the information that an Earthling is wandering among you? The winged blonde sighed loudly, obviously, I was straining her nerves and I was proud of it.14

- Nobody must know who you are and where you come from, she confessed to me, you are a secret weapon.

- A secret weapon, I laughed. She took me for her object.

- Yes, now let's continue our way instead of wasting our time.

- What are all these mutant-like people? I said, not moving an inch, next to them, you could almost look normal. What trap did you take me to?

- I promise you that you will know more once we arrive, but this is neither the place nor the time to go into all sorts of explanations. I crossed my arms against my chest. It was so easy… It was obvious that it was not her who had fallen into an adventure to pull the hair out at the root. If I asked questions, there was a problem! I was not naturally curious, quite the contrary.

- Ok, let's go, I agree, understanding that staying here to discuss would rhyme with nothing. But you'd better not waste time before enlightening me, otherwise you can say goodbye to your precious help, I said, although I had no intention of helping him. But it was just easier to make her believe that she had won the round and that she still had something to hold on to. It allowed me not only to save time to find a solution to get out of this rat trap but also to have some control over her. To be able to control the sequence of events in my way. As long as she believed me capable of cooperating, she did not use force or subject me to increased vigilance.

The clown guided me once again through the crowd. Crossing paths with out-of-the-ordinary beings at every step, I tried somehow not to wonder about what was happening to me. Going into all sorts of questions that I won't get any answers to could make me lose my head and now was not the time. I had to keep my cool in adversity, otherwise, how could I fight it?

I heaved the deepest inner sigh when we left the village. Finally. I no longer had those strange faces dancing under my eyes.

- We soon arrived, and the blonde told me in a low voice, we are going towards the mountains, towards the castle. Once there, please keep quiet, she asked me. I didn't answer. I would behave as I wanted, she had no complaints to make!15th

I then saw as she had said, a castle stuck against the façade of a mountain of gray stone. The castle was huge, covered with stairs, towers, windows… It looked like a magic account with an extraordinary building. The castle was the same color as the mountain, so from a distance it was easy not to notice it, blending into the background like a chameleon.

We headed straight for the majestic building and eventually came out on a huge gray stone staircase that led to the heavy door of the castle. On each side of the imposing door, stood two towers where perched guards dressed in the same color as the building. Seeing us arrive, they leaned in our direction and I turned my head away, not wanting to see what they looked like. I had already seen too much atrocity on my walk.

- Let us pass, asked the clown, you know very well who I am and why I am here.

- The secret mission and the key character? The guard asked though as I felt my heart skip a beat at the words.

- Do you need a drawing? The blonde was annoyed. I heard a sigh, probably let out by one of the guards.

- Very well, pass, he consented. I heard cogs in the door and it opened slowly. The clown wasted no time and led me inside. I wasn't sure I wanted to go to such a place, but deep down, I didn't have a choice.

We emerged into a courtyard still the color of the stone of the mountain. Was there an ounce of color in this place? I began to doubt it.

The clown led me across the large courtyard and I stared at my feet, not wanting to be interested in anything but my shoes. Which were covered in slime. His world was none of my business.

The eagle-winged blonde opened a stone door and ushered me down a long hallway. The colors then burst before my eyes, contrasting with the gray outside. The hallway tiles were a shiny black filled with sparkling midnight blue crystals. The slabs were framed in pearly white. The other shiny walls as if filled with tiny sequins were adorned with gold candlesticks engraved with lots of small drawings from where I was, I could not define what they represented. Paintings filled with colors and atypical statues decorated the long corridor. The small, off-white domed ceiling had several chandeliers from which hung crystals of all colors, shimmering in the glow of candlelight.

- Impressive, isn't it? The blonde threw at me, surprising my gaze.

- I didn't know that one could create such an ugly place, I say above all to annoy him. Although deep down, I didn't like this place. He was too different from what I knew. The clown rolled his eyes and didn't stop at my remark. She led me to a door that led to another larger hallway.

- The guards probably had to announce our arrival, we must be expected, the girl explained to me. I shrug my shoulders, showing him that it doesn't matter. I just wanted to get it over with. The clown stopped in front of an oval door a reddish color and grabbed a gold ring attached to the door to knock. The knock rang out. I shrug my shoulders, showing him that it doesn't matter. I had felt the presence of no one at the back of the room and by reflex, I had very quickly lowered my head toward my disgusting muddy feet. We walked along a nice dark blue carpet in the direction of the people probably waiting for us there. The winged clown made a pretty bow and with a nudge, she urged me to do the same. I pushed her away with a sharp gesture. I do I didn't come here to do somersaults in front of strange-looking people. Besides, I had not even asked to come to this place.

- She's not very convenient, commented the blonde to justify my rudeness.

- It was to be expected, answered a woman in a soft voice. My tongue was itching, I wanted to answer them in a biting voice, but I didn't want to raise my head. Not if I had to discover a physical to make vomit. Anything supernatural used to make me sick, so these events could very quickly land me in the hospital

- Eudora, you can take off your cape now, the clown threw at me. I started laughing.

- No, I'm disgusting with slime. You shouldn't have landed us in a swamp, I grumbled. I stink so much that I feel like I'm wearing your scent. And with those words, I began to wipe my feet on the pretty rug, staining it with a greenish substance. This gesture did not seem to please the woman with the soft voice who released a small animal noise.

- Well, take her back to the dressing rooms so she can change, we'll resume our interview after that, she agreed. I was then framed by different people and the clown guided me into another room.

She had wanted to bring me here against my will? She was going to have to put up with my moods.

This outfit is hideous, I'm not going to wear that, I don't want to look like you, I gritted, silly clothes, it's not my style. I pushed away for the tenth time the outfit she handed me. Out of the question that I put on the black overalls where multiple planets shone, for whom did she take me?

I had washed, removing all the slime and I had taken pleasure in taking all my time. I liked being kept waiting. Since then, only dressed in a white T-shirt and panties of the same color, I saw the clown show me various clothes that I was denied by a non-categorical. We were behind a screen, and on the other side, like a royal guard, the people who framed me to come here were waiting for us. I would have thought they would start to lose patience all this time, but oddly, they were most uncomfortable.

- Seriously Eudora, make up your mind, we're not going to spend all day there, the blonde exasperated. At this rate, too bad for you, but you'll end up in this outfit, she decided, pointing to my underwear.

- Well… the first outfit you showed me then, I finally cooperate under the sigh of the clown. She handed me pants wide at the thighs and becoming narrow at the ankle, black. Silver chains hung at the knees. For the top, she passed me a large white checkered shirt, the sleeves stopping at the elbow. It was by far the least extravagant outfit.

Once I was dressed, the eagle-winged clown folded up the screen. At the same time, someone opened the door and joined us in the room.

- The queen has had an unforeseen event that she must imperatively settle, he informed us, the interview is postponed. She asked me to tell you that in the meantime, the girl was your responsibility. This information did not seem to please those around me.

- Nous l'attendrons dans la salle d'entretien, trancha une fille. Sur ces belles paroles, tout le monde obéis. On se retrouva de nouveau dans la pièce au somptueux tapis bleu où une tache de vase était visible à l'endroit où je m'étais essuyee.

I felt furtive glances landing on me every couple of minutes and it was starting to piss me off. The people in the room looked at me uneasily and curiously. I end up looking at the girl who spoke earlier, finding out what she looked like. She had long, sleek, shiny black hair. On this side, it could still go. But like any inhabitant of this place, she was nonetheless an anomaly. His white skin with a slightly rosy complexion was covered with scales of a light blue almost white. The scales rose on his skin and stopped at the level of the cheeks, skirting his mouth. The top of his hand was also covered with scales of the same color. His eyes, meanwhile, were golden. The girl kept staring at me.

- Fish, are you done watching me? I gritted, taking a cold tone, it's getting uncomfortable. The girl turned her head away and the others around did the same. I finally end up looking at them all in turn. As much as I knew who I was dealing with, I couldn't stare down their appearances forever. There were six of us in total, including me, the fish, and the clown. The fourth girl was redheaded and her flamboyant hair fell to her feet. She had a thin face and a narrow nose. She had fox ears that appeared between her hair, and a fox tail and when she opened her mouth I could see sharp teeth appearing in it. His eyes were the same color as those of the winged clown: an extremely light blue. So clear as a sky

The fifth was a boy. He had purple skin and very short, brown hair. He was tall and all muscle and had only one bark-brown eye.

The last one had electric blue hair, and it wasn't a picture, it was electric. His eyes were the same gold as the fish.

- You all have such a repulsive physique? I blurted out, looking disgusted. It's that… I'm going to have nightmares about it myself…

- Eudora… sighed the clown. I turned to her.

- By the way, when is your queen coming back? It's not that I'm bored, but I'm still waiting for explanations and I don't want to linger here.

- We don't know, his departure was a little hasty, answered the clown calmly.

- I don't care about that, you said I'd get answers here, I'm waiting. My tone was dry and I now glared at my comrade. The blonde looked at me with an exasperated look.

- Yes, but with the queen, except that she is not there, she pointed out.

- And you can't speak on your own? Do you need her to express yourself? I say in a mocking voice. Or are you just a servant little robotic knight, unable to act without the consent of your superior? I'd go for the last choice, I finish.

- Your opinion leaves me indifferent. You will get your answers in due time. I felt anger rising. She took me for a puppet, leaving me to languish as she pleased.

- Alright, I'm out, I taunted, striding away. I didn't like it when people played with me without giving me a voice, I still preferred to manage on my own to go home.

- You have no right to leave! Cried the one-eyed boy, looking distraught.

- Oh yeah? We'll see, I laughed as I approached the thick red door. The clown grabbed my arm to prevent me from leaving and I pushed her away violently.

- Don't touch me, because this time, I'll do much worse to you than throw you out the window, I threatened her, revolted by her touch. The other teenagers in the room looked shocked at the news. At least, maybe they would learn to fear me. The winged girl didn't let any emotion show on her face.