[ Selina goes to the kitchen smiling, opens the refrigerator’s door and takes out some refreshments and arranges them on the table and then she opens a cupboard’s door only to discover a small human-like demon inside. ]
Selina: Why, hello there! I guess you did not RSVP.
Selina: Judging by the recent happenings, I guess that’s me.
Selina: So what shall I write on your name tag?
Mephiqoleth: MY NAME IS MEPHIQOLETH.
Selina: Ah, hah. [Trying to write on the name tag.] Emm, Ee, Pee…
Mephiqoleth: IT IS WRITTEN IN LESHON HAQODESH.
Selina: “Leshon Haqodesh”? The holy tongue? Do you mean…
Mephiqoleth: YES!!!… HEBREW! [Non-dramatically] I am Jewish.
Selina: Jewish? But you’re not human.
Mephiqoleth: THERE ARE JEWS OF MANY SPECIES.
Selina: Really? That’s great - can I have a Jewish lady-cat? I want one so she can mother cute little Jewish kittens.
[ Cut to Mephiqoleth - he is unamused. ]
Selina: You are not amused, demons are never amused. I should have learned that by now.
Selina: In any case, what is it that you want from me?
Mephiqoleth: MAGEIA, YOU ARE NOW EIGHT AND TEN YEARS OLD - YOU ARE NOW A WOMAN!
Selina: So I’ve suddenly become a woman at 18? I’m only one day older than yesterday, and I had my period for many years now, and…
Mephiqoleth: YOU MUST TEST ME! I POSSESS POWERFUL MYSTICAL POWERS, AND YOU MUST SEE IF THEY ARE POWERFUL ENOUGH FOR YOU.
Selina: They are. I believe you.
Mephiqoleth: NOT SO QUICKLY. MY GREATEST MYSTICAL POWER, WHICH FEW OTHER DEMONS POSSESS, IS MY TELEPORTATION ABILITY. I CAN TELEPORT YOU ANYWHERE.
Selina: Really? Like where?
Mephiqoleth: ANYWHERE YOU WANT!
Mephiqoleth: YOU DO NOT MEAN… THE AMBER!
Selina: Yes, the Amber. The Amber being…
Mephiqoleth: …THE MYSTICAL CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE AND BEYOND.
Mephiqoleth: YOU WILL LIKELY NOT SURVIVE THE AMBER.
Selina: Just one thing, can you please wait with teleporting me to the Amber until Spring break, so I can get ready and try to safely return back home?
Mephiqoleth: OF COURSE: FOR I AM TIMELESS. FAREWELL, MAGEIA, I SHALL MEET YOU AGAIN DURING THIS SO-CALLED ”SPRING BREAK“ WHEN YOU ARE MORE PREPARED. UNTIL THEN, MAY YOU BE WELL.
[ Mephiqoleth fades away into thin air leaving Selina amused. ]
Selina: Well, I suppose a one way trip to the Amber is also a fine Birthday present. [She smiles]
Jessica’s voice from the main hall: Selina, is everything OK, why aren’t you coming back? Don’t you want some cake?
Selina: Yes, sorry, I’m coming, I’m coming. [She takes the tray and leaves the frame]
[ Selina, Jessica and Jonathan are standing near their lockers arranging stuff. ]
Jessica: Spring break at last!
Jonathan: Yeah, thank God.
Selina: Yes, I could use some rest too.
Jessica: So, Selina, what are your plans for the vacation?
Selina: Oh, I’m going on a trip.
Jonathan: Really? A trip.
Selina: Oh, it is going to be a surprise. [The bell rings] Home time, bye!!! [She walks away.]
[ Jessica and Jonathan look at each other ]
Jessica: Yes… [she sighs].
[ Selina is wearing a backpack full of various trip utilities and wears a pouch bag, and approaches the cupboard of Mephiqoleth. She opens it. Mephiqoleth is there. ]
Mephiqoleth: I SEE YOU ARE READY, MAGEIA.
Selina: Yep! Got my traveller’s checks, some dollars, my mobile, my passport, some water, some snacks, some sunscreen. Not sure if all that will help with surviving The Amber, but I can always hope.
Mephiqoleth: I COULD HAVE USED MY CONJURING SPELLS TO CONJURE THEM FOR YOU.
Selina: Well, as someone who saw enough of your demons’ lot’s shenanigans, and some episodes of Sabrina, there’s no way I will trust such magically conjured goods.
Mephiqoleth: YOU MAY BE RIGHT. MAGIC CAN BE A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD.
Mephiqoleth: BUT BACK TO BUSINESS. ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT ME TO TELEPORT YOU TO THE AMBER?
Selina: Positive. Do your worst!
Mephiqoleth: Fair enough.
[ Mephiqoleth raises his hands and says in Hebrew, as the Hebrew letters (in the modern Hebrew alphabet) appear on the highlighted floor, with a darkened room and the Hebrew letters of the spoken message expand outward. ]
Mephiqoleth: אלוהי אברהם, יצחק ויעקב, שגר את באפי מאגיה, הקוטלת, אל… [The god of Abraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov, please teleport Buffy Mageia, The Slayer, to…]
Mephiqoleth: … האמבר. [The Amber]
[ Seen through Selina’s Eyes, the scenery morphs into the untidy living room of, in midday, in a “villa" in Ramat Aviv Gimmel, Tel Aviv. The birds are chirping outside and there’s a feeling of tranquillity. ]
[ Cut to Selina inside the house. She looks around ]
Selina: That’s the Amber? It’s pretty nice here. Hope I’m not trespassing.
[ The door gets unlocked and opens. Mrs Mendelssohn enters. ]
Mrs. Mendelssohn: [Startled] Why hello there. Who might you be?
Selina: Oh, Selina Mandrake. At your service! Nice to meet you! [She approaches Mrs. Mendelssohn, and extends her hand.]
Mrs. Mendelssohn: Nice to meet you, too: Mrs. Catherine Mendelssohn.
Selina: Nice to meet you. [They shake hands] Just a question: [She looks around] where am I?
Mrs. Mendelssohn: In the Mendelssohn residence.
Mrs. Mendelssohn: Tel Aviv?
Selina: Tel Aviv, Israel?
Mrs. Mendelssohn: Indeed.
Selina: Oh cool! [ She wears her cap hat. ]
Selina: I heard Israel looks the best in the spring.
Mrs. Mendelssohn: Yes, it does.
Selina: Well, good bye. I’m going to go. Farewell.
Mrs. Mendelssohn: Good bye.
Mrs. Mendelssohn: [To herself] What a strange girl. Better have a talk with Yaron about inviting his friends over.
[ Selina is standing in the living room holding a remote control to the television showing photos from her trip to Israel.
The television is showing a photo of the Beit She’an excavations. ]
Selina: And this is Beit She’an, which is a huge excavation site, in which I spent a lot of time. I ended up touring along with them…
[ Selina presses the button, and a photo of Selina wearing sunglasses along with a group of Israeli soldiers (without guns), both male and female, who are crowded and stand next to Selina. ]
Selina: Yes, soldiers, and it may seem surprising to the uninitiated, but most of the soldiers in the Israeli streets don’t carry guns, and there are plenty of civilians without guns too. This group was escorted by an armed escort, who was not actually a soldier.
Selina: Anyway, the soldier I spent the most time talking to was a military programmer, who wrote “boring dot-NET code” at work, but we found a common language talking about computers and software and Linux and stuff like that.
[ Selina presses the button, and a photo of the River Jordan appears. ]
Selina: This is the River Jordan, which is not too impressive. I recall that it took us several minutes to cross the Rhine by train, while it took me less than a minute to walk across the Jordan by foot. Anyway, I had a fun time kayaking there.
[ Selina presses the button, and a long shot of a view from the Jerusalem promenade is shown. ]
Selina: Yes, Jerusalem - a beautiful city, definitely. That put aside, what they say about the atmosphere and the air feeling “holy” is true. It is intoxicating. It’s like… you don’t belong there. It can drive a sane person mad. I don’t understand how people can live there.
[ Selina presses the button, showing some photos of Jaffa and Tel Aviv at night. ]
Selina: The famous Tel Aviv and Jaffa night life.
Jessica’s Voice: [from behind] OK, Selina, hold it, hold it.
Jessica’s Voice: You said you were going on a trip, but to Israel? Like - seriously?
Jessica’s Voice: I mean, we are clueful enough to know that it’s not a constant battle zone, like some people may be misled to believe, but still!
Selina: Yes, yes, I know. But I still wanted to go, and also got a free ticket.
Jonathan: Really? Who gave it to you?
Selina: Oh, a secret admirer.
Matthew: Heh, anyone I should know about?
Selina: He’s not that kind of secret admirer.
[ Selina walks to kiss Matthew, and they kiss. ]
Selina: Well, I’m going to the kitchen for a sec, then we will continue. Hang on!
[ Selina walks out of the frame. ]
[ Selina goes to the kitchen and opens the cupboard revealing Mephiqoleth. ]
Selina: Hi! Thanks for the trip.
Mephiqoleth: I SEE YOU HAVE SURVIVED THE AMBER.
Mephiqoleth: DO YOU NOW BELIEVE HOW POWERFUL I AM?
Selina: Well… are you sure you teleported me to the exact location of The Amber, you know, the mystical centre of the universe?
Mephiqoleth: THE VERY EXACT POSITION.
Selina: Not off by about a 100 kilometres?
Mephiqoleth: NOT EVEN A QUARK’S DISPLACEMENT.
Selina: Well… then I am not convinced. I would expect The Amber to be something like Jerusalem’s Temple Mount or the Middle land in China, or maybe the centre of mass of the universe — not some house in Northern Tel Aviv that no one heard about.
Selina: So I am not convinced. But I brought you some cheesy souvenirs.
[ Selina puts a small Tembel hat on top of Mephiqoleth’s head and gives him a small shirt that reads “My slayer went to Israel and all I got was this stupid T-shirt.” ]
Selina: Hope it fits. [She turns away.]
Mephiqoleth: THE PROPHECIES OF THE CODEX HAVE COME TRUE: I HAVE BEEN SLAIN BY BUFFY MAGEIA, THE SLAYER. [He dissolves into air, leaving the hat and the shirt to fall into the cupboard.]
Selina: Hey, my name is Selina… oh.