2
Sarah woke to find herself in a strange room.
She wasn't surprised.
Ten years of carefully avoiding anything unnatural, trying to avoid this exact situation, was wasted by digging up that stupid plant, finding that stupid box and opening up that stupid book. What did that make her? Stupid of course! Why didn't she just leave things alone?
The room was a little blurry, thanks to the wine, but she was sitting in an oddly comfortable chair. The room was made of stone and looked as though it was, surprise, underground. The furniture was odd, made of strangely twisted wood and almost seeming to be moving.
Sarah yelped and jumped up. Her chair had moved. And it...
"You pinched me!" she accused. The chair-shaped cluster of Helping Hands appeared to shrug. Several faces formed.
"Don't know whatcha talking about!" one said.
"Well you can't blame us. How often do we get a decent looking rear end down here?" another said.
"Might we add, you've put on weight since you were here." A third chimed in. More faces formed. They were laughing.
The whole room was laughing. There were hands everywhere. Chairs, tables, a bed...Sarah shuddered.
"Where am I?"
"You're at the Underground B&B, best Bed and Breakfast in the land. It's where our unexpected visitors go."
"Why am I here?" she asked. The hands gestured helplessly.
"Dunno. Didn't we say you were unexpected" Sarah shook her head and sat down on the floor. She noticed numbly that she was still holding the scrapbook. Damn you Jareth!
"So do I have to go through the Labyrinth all over again?" she said, more to herself than the hands. She thought she could remember the way. Or hoped she could.
"No, unless you've wished away that little boy again. That was silly wasn't it?" A cluster of hands on the leg of the table beside her said.
"So what do I do? What am I here for?" she asked them. The room shrugged.
"Dunno. You can leave whenever you like. Unless you'd like to take a bath first?" The hands all pointed to a 'bathtub' in the corner of the room near the fireplace, made of eagerly wiggling fingers. Sarah shuddered again.
"No thanks." She looked around and found a ladder leading to a trapdoor in the ceiling, climbed it clumsily with the book in one arm, and was surprised to find it unlocked.
"Suit yourself. See you next time!" They called cheerfully as she left the room.
"Kinda hope not." She muttered
