Bonjour! I am happy to see from you a third time round! How are you? And the weather? Okay, now that I have the customary greeting down, lets get to the nitty gritty stuff: I do not own or claim to own Labyrinth or any of its normal characters or its extremely gorgeous characters. I do own my peeps though.
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Sarah followed Peter as he confidently walked behind the debating crowd. Her heels tapped sharply on the polished marble floor and her eyes scanned the large room that the auction was taking place in. Above her, she spied a large and sparkling chandelier held up by golden chains. The room itself was simple and annulled the considerable adornments giving off an ostentatious air.
The bidding was fierce and precise. The auctioneers voice commanded the room as the buyers silently held up their representing numbers. It was almost like a dance, precise and accurate to the mark. Each number that poked up seemed to have its own choreography among the others.
"Sold!" and the gavel hit the desk. "Sold to number 141 for six hundred dollars." The woman behind the number stood up to claim her prize.
"If you will follow me, ma'am," an attendant muttered to her as they exited out of the chandelier room into a bright corridor. The door lightly closed behind them and the bidding resumed on now a small statuette of what appeared to be Aphrodite.
Sarah watched intently at the bidders as they began their ballet of numbers once again. Perhaps she was becoming too hypnotized by the flashing signs, or being lulled by the auctioneer's steady voice, but at that very moment Sarah stopped walking and began falling into the arms of a very surprised Mr. Rutherford.
He had stopped only a second ahead of her, at the far window of the room next to the door that led to the lighted hallway. Turning, he was only able to hold out his arms to counter his balance as Sarah tumbled towards him. Almost in a painfully slow motion, Sarah felt herself pushing him to the ground as every muscle in her body went into hyper sensitive mode.
"Ow," she muffled into his silken shirt trying to regain any sense of what had just happened. She was on the ground, no, not on the ground but on something softer. Someone softer. She was in a marble room. There were people. Lots of people. People staring at her. Now there was a gentle rocking below her as the full throttle of the entire situation hit her and Mr. Rutherford chuckled. Sarah scrambled up, avoiding the accusing glances from the tailored bidders. As quickly as she could, Sarah backed herself into the door and swerved around a now perturbed attendant trying to take hold of the situation.
Now inside bright hallway, Sarah covered her face with her hands reveling in her shame.
"Oh God, now I will forever be known as 'That-girl-who-fell-and-looked-like-a-complete-idiot.' Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. This day is just getting better and better. Oh, oh, oh…" she continued groaning out her agony.
"Now Sarah, when I said I wanted you to help out with the auction, I didn't mean for you to give them a show and intermission," Peter laughed as he now entered behind her and carefully closed the door. He was still brushing himself off and chuckling as Sarah turned around to face him.
"You can fire me now. Really. I would totally understand. I mean, I would if I was in your case. Okay, maybe not fire myself, but a really strong talking too would be in order." She looked up at him and to her surprise; he was neither angry nor embarrassed. Quite the contrary, he was completely amused and looking back down at her with gleaming eyes and a crooked smile.
"Sarah, for that, I am willing to forgive your tardiness and all future lateness. Just as long as you promise me a performance like that again though."
"Crap, how bad was it?" Sarah replied, still turning a bright cherry color.
"Terrible, horrible and wonderful at the same time. I am hoping I have some nasty bruises from this. My 'Sarah battle wounds'."
Sarah couldn't help but to glance up at him in surprise. He had been kind, he had been funny and witty, and all those things you love in a good boss. Yet, this was the first time he had ever spoken to her, well, like a friend would.
Peter was still grinning to himself, and now watching her take in his demeanor he beamed even more. For some reason, he could not stop himself from laughing about the whole experience. He couldn't resist poking fun at her, it was just too easy! And seeing that blush cover her face wasn't a bad sight either.
The attendant walked back in through the door, this time with a tall and lanky man following behind. As he ushered the winner through the hallway, he gave the two an accusatory look.
"Aah. I can see that you are really good at making friends as well!" Peter exclaimed as the attendant shut one of the doors leading out from the corridor with a bang.
"As many as possible," Sarah muttered more to herself than in response.
Mr. Rutherford turned to her and began walking down the hallway to the door on the far right. "As much as I love your adeptness at being a true-blue hooligan, we really must be getting back to work," he said somberly.
They both walked down the carpeted hall until they reached an ornate door covered in swirling designs. What was inside the door was infinitely more impressive to Sarah though. Her first look at interior of the room allowed her to completely block out any immediate recollection of the humiliating fall. On every table, shelf, pedestal and any other available spot were precious collectibles. She had seen many at her job at the antique store, but the sheer vastness of this collection left her semi-speechless.
"Now, these are some of the items today that are either going to be a part of the official auction, be sold throughout the day, go into the store for future sale or be stored for later use. A lot of these things I recently bought at an estate sale, or I have bought today so far. In the future, we will need to organize all of them. I thought you might like to see them." Peter saw Sarah's jaw drop and watched as she began to lustfully eye the items around her.
"But for now, you are going to be my helper in delivering the goods to the wonderful bidders who are out there making our living possible," and with that he gestured Sarah out of the treasure room and into the one that the attendant had gone through with the buyer. This one was also full with objects, but they somehow lacked something that the smaller room she had just seen had.
"I expect you have familiarized yourself with everything here?" He asked and she nodded. "Well then, I will get out of your way and allow you to help this young gentleman," as he spoke, a man in his late twenties walked in and looked at them with a smug expression donning his face. He, apparently, had just won what he considered to be the biggest prize at the entire auction: a red piece of china decorated in an art nouveau style that was incredibly rare. Sarah eyed him and gestured for him to come to her. She began to congratulate him for winning and go through the usual assortments of description of the piece as it was brought back to them from the main room. As she continued to speak, Mr. Rutherford winked at her and walked out, leaving Sarah alone with the surly attendant and the inquisitive winner.
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Sarah was exhausted, no more than that, she was near death it seemed. The Auction had taken up the rest of the day and it was now ten-o-clock at night, at least that's what the roman numbered clock pointed out to her as it ticked above her head. She had been talking to buyers all afternoon and into the early evening, until the full auction had ended. After that, she had the lucky job of helping to put away and pack up various items that had been used during the day. She had packed and reorganized until she was near tears and finally decided that it was due time to go back to her cozy apartment.
Mr. Rutherford had been in and out of the back room helping her and talking with the other attendants hired to help. He had just been to see her, but Sarah now realized that she needed to leave: she had gone to the point of no return fatigue wise. She stepped out of the room and back into the carpeted hallway now dappled by the moon light coming through the windows,
"Mr. Rutherford? Sir? Is anyone else here?" No one responded and Sarah shrugged her shoulders. Perhaps he had left already or maybe he had gone to another part of the building. Sarah stood there for a couple more seconds before deciding to just go ahead and leave, but as she turned, the temptation flew back at her. She had to get another look at that room overflowing with precious objects. Her feet muffled by the red carpet underneath, she stuck out her hand to turn the door handle.
"I'm not doing anything wrong, it's okay Sarah. You can just go in and take another look," she said to herself, comforting any last qualms that might override her curiosity. She flicked on the light switch to the room and took in a deep breath. Everything inside was just so lovely and seemed to have an air of majesty about it. She walked in and this time began to examine the pieces individually one-by-one. As an Art History major, she had learned to distinguish the smallest details and appreciate good art for what it was. The items in this room, so far, had all been exquisitely made.
As she finished up looking at the things on the table, she moved over the shelving along the walls. A particular piece caught her eye and led her to stutter on a hic-up stuck in her throat. A statue, no larger than her forearm, stood there staring up at her. It was of tree, golden and strong, with little fruits coating its top. The entire statue glowed in its golden exterior and the fruits lining the leaves were clear, glass or crystal balls shaped to what appeared to be an apple. Sarah stopped and stared at it. She could not tear her eyes away from how the delicate branches extended from the tree or how she could almost get that feeling that she could tell the ripe fruits from the others. It wasn't until she heard her name being called that she turned her head away.
"Sarah? Sarah? Are you all right?" Mr. Rutherford asked, peering at her from the outline of the doorway. Sarah smiled up at him and nodded her head.
"I'm fine. I just wanted to get one last look at the stuff in here before I went home. They're just so beautiful." And with that, Sarah walked to him and back into the hallway, turning off the lights and shutting the door behind her.
"How about we go on home?" She asked back with a grin and they both proceeded to walk towards their cars and out of the imposing building.
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The sun crested over the distant peaks, dappling the sky in an orange glow. With each tendril of sunlight creeping out of the night, the sky grew brighter. The sun was not greeting the world with a smiling face; instead it delighted in blaring its rays to top volume in effort to wake up the sleeping land. The light skulked its way to every corner of the Underground, where it landed on a massive stone fortress. Quickly, it climbed up and up to the towers and peaked roofs. As the rays discovered the vast castle, a curious beam made its way into a rounded window and onto the lap of a very disgruntled and offended looking Goblin King.
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A/N Surprise! I am asking for your help again in reviewing me. I take all kinds of reviews, even little emoticons are exciting! Just tell me what you liked, disliked or hope to see in the future. So, I hope you enjoyed this third chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you!