Heather stepped into her punishment room as much as mixed emotions as possible. One the one hand, this was to be her final punishment before her psychiatric evaluation, but on the other hand this was supposed to be the worst punishment yet. But when she entered the room, there was only a tourism guide to Animalia with a sticky note on top of it. But when she read the sticky note, her punishment became obvious:
‘Three riddles, three tasks, three challenges for thee,’
‘To redeem your name and make yourself free.’
‘Ancient gods so cruel once ruled from high,’
‘Can you name their stage where the land meets the sky?’
When she read this, she immediately knew what she had to do. It was a good thing that the sticky note mentioned as a postscript that Skye-Eye units were keeping an eye on her.
—
She was only slightly winded when she eventually got to the Meat Market. There was a performance going on involving female zebra Animalians in skimpy one piece swimsuits dancing to a song that she couldn’t identify because the language was in Japanese, but apparently involved high kicks.
When she went over to the bar, a male white Siberian tiger with the name Steve on his name tag. Before she could make an order, he slid her over a glass of Orangina drink on two coasters underneath the reinforced plastic that served as a secondary dancing stage.
“I heard about what you did at my old school.” He said as Heather began drinking it.
“Wait... you’re still in school?” Asked Heather, somewhat surprised.
“I’m working here for some pocket change, and to support my bondmate.” Steve clarified.
“Your bondmate?” Asked Heather, not familiar with the term.
“She was rescued from a bad circus and brought to Lyre Zoo to recuperate before being transferred to Project Tiger in India. She was uplifted during the zoo outbreak, I got knocked into her enclosure by accident, and the rest is history.” Steve explained.
As Steve explained how he and his bondmate met, Heather had finished her drink and wondered why she had been given two coasters instead of one. But the reason immediately became obvious when she pulled them apart. The one on the bottom had this written on it:
‘To solve your next trial and prove yourself witty,’
‘Look for a two-headed snake that sang oh so pretty.’
‘Shi lured him in with her song and grin,’
‘His wife must have thought it a pity.’
“What do I owe you for the drink?” Asked Heather, getting up to leave.
“It’s on the house.” Answered Steve, reaching under the bar and pushing a button there, signaling that the first part of the Punishment was complete.
—
Heather was a lot more winded when she arrived at the Python Penthouse, which was where she was supposed to go. First it was a three mile run across town to the Reptile House apartment complex, then it was up 15 flights of stairs because the elevator was supposedly getting inspected. And if that wasn’t enough, it seemed that the heater system kept the building at a permanent “hot rainforest temperature” for the benefit of the tenants. It was alright for a while, but with the level of activity she was doing, it was starting to become miserable.
She had barely reached for the doorbell when the door opened and the largest anaconda Animalian showed herself in the doorway, even if you ignored the fact that she had two heads.
“So you are Heather.” Said one of the heads, “Come in, I am Iphis.”
“And I’m Ianthe.” Said Ianthe.
—
During a conversation with Iphis and Ianthe, Heather learned that, with Iphis and Ianthe being a herm (she had originally thought that “shi” was a typo), Heather was actually on the high end of ‘normal in Animalia’.
Near the end of the conversation, Heather picked up the folded piece of paper with her name on it and saw this poem/clue:
‘One last challenge to make yourself free,’
‘Look for lines in the earth that only gods can see.’
‘Keep an eye out for scales that are shaded in red,’
‘From a Project Dinotopia Volunteer that has been raised from the dead.’
“It must be that new Peruvian restaurant that opened recently.” Said Iphis, reading over Heather’s shoulder.
“Oh, El Nazca?” Asked Ianthe, remembering their 5th date with Typhoon and Waterlily, “Their chili con carne is too spicy for me.”
At this, Heather pulled out the Animalia guide book and opened to the new additions section. When she saw where the restaurant known as El Nazca was, she got up, thanked Iphis and Ianthe for there time, and raced out the door, with Typhoon coming in from work a few minutes later.
“Mission accomplished?” Asked Typhoon, also in on this. With Iphis and Ianthe’s confirmation, Typhoon pressed a button behind the television, confirming that part two was completed.
—
When Heather finally got to the Peruvian restaurant, El Nazca, she was eating a lunch prepared for her when she finally realized what her punishment was to be. She had a not-so-warm reunion with her grandmother, Effie, who was now a double-dosed Animalian of the same species as Heather, except that she was now a head taller than Heather, with bigger curves and muscles than her, but it could only be her, because only Effie would call her “Bon-bon”, not to mention that her new Dinotopian guardian still had the one blue eye and one green eye that her grandmother had. But the worst was yet to come.
Her real punishment was to watch her grandmother (formerly as strait laced as anyone who was born at the turn of the century who was as ugly as “bad breeding” (as they would say in the late 19th-early 20th century would say) could be) perform on the Meat Market stage as a “jungle girl (fur bikini)” as someone who was as polar opposite to her grandmother could be, as well as her new (not just stage) name, Tyra Wrex, alongside Sophie, her new boyfriend, and the rest of her friends.
It was a good thing that her psychiatric evaluation was after Tyra’s show, she couldn’t take the embarrassment anymore, both from her grandmother’s performance and Abby and Co.’s teasing.