Circles And Squares

As the sound of stomping cloven feet drew closer, Cassandra's eyes suddenly went wide, her face lighting up like the Fourth of July. "There's a pattern," she breathed, tracing the air with her hands, "pattern, pattern, pattern - circles inside of squares inside of triangles." She turned to face the others. "That's why I have a headache," she smiled, "my brain knew we were in a maze before we knew it ourselves."

Clara just slow-clapped, deliberately drawing it out. "Hurray, let's throw a ticker-tape parade," she said, "and maybe a party afterwards" -

- "That's enough, Clara," Eve admonished, rounding on her. "This is so not the time."

"She's right, sweetpea," Flynn said hastily, stepping inbetween them, seeing Clara was about to launch an attack on Eve next, "maybe next year, eh?"

Clara just stared at him, her jaw working.

"Can you get us out of here?" Jacob said, turning to Cassandra.

"Yes," she said in a small voice.

"Let's follow the brain grape, then," Clara said smartly, making to leave.

"Do not refer to it as a brain grape!" Cassandra snapped, stamping her foot, only to freeze as a loud roar reverberated around the chamber. "Okay, let's follow the brain grape," she agreed hastily, before taking off like a startled deer, the others hard on her heels. It was only after the tenth turn they took that Clara suddenly realised they'd lost Eve. But just as she tugged on Flynn's sleeve to tell him, Cassandra skidded to a stop, the others crashing into her, the sight of a towering beast with large curling, curving horns and crimson eyes stopping them in their tracks, quite literally, since it was blocking their way.

"Overcompensating, are we?" Archie said coolly, appraising the Minotaur's horns with disdain.

"Let's not provoke the ancient mythological creature, shall we?" Jacob hissed from the corner of his mouth.

But before Archie could frame a comeback, there was the sound of a single gunshot, making everybody's heads snap up. The Minotaur whirled around, only to see Eve standing there, gun raised, her head tilted to the side. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Eve taunted, making Clara roll her eyes at the cliché. But the Minotaur took the bait, lowering its head and charging at Eve, only for Eve to start charging at it in return, running like the T-1000.

"No, don't do that!" Flynn exclaimed in agitation, dancing from one foot to the other.

Just as he said this, the Minotaur and Eve were on the cusp of colliding, only for Eve to suddenly hit the floor, sliding under the Minotaur's splayed legs, firing several bullets into the Minotaur's flesh as she did, making it roar in agony, its body collapsing to the ground, the impact causing the corridor to shake like a blancmange.

"What a woman," Flynn breathed, Clara elbowing him in the side, making him hastily shut up.

"Amen to that," Jacob echoed, staring at Eve as she strutted towards them, looking like he'd been bewitched again, before shaking himself back into semblance.

"Umm, is it meant to do that?" Cassandra said nervously, pointing past Eve's head, all of them looking, only to see the Minotaur staggering to its hooved feet again.

"Time to make tracks, bipeds," Archie said deadpan.

"Follow me!" Cassandra said, taking off again, the others following her example. She led them round several corners, leaving the labyrinth long behind, the walls becoming boring beige, the floor linoleum, all portents of the other world, the constant hum of photocopying machines filling the air. But the Minotaur continued its pursuit unperturbed, the sound of its stomping feet disturbingly close. "In here!" Cassandra cried, darting through a doorway, the others piling after her, Eve slamming the door shut behind them, snapping the lock into place.

As she did, the Minotaur suddenly smashed its head off the window, trying to impale its reflection, making Flynn shake his head. "Not the brightest trick in the book, are we?" he said fondly, Archie chuckling along in accompaniment.

"The door's going in!" Jacob yelled, shoving Clara behind him, Eve shoving him behind her.

"What do we do!?" Jenkins said, turning to Flynn, wringing his wrinkled hands. "There's no other way out!"

Flynn glanced around for a helpful window.

"I've already done that, you anserine ass!" Jenkins bellowed.

"Watch what you're saying," Archie flared up, "I'm half donkey on my mother's side."

"Where is my walking stick!?" Ezekiel roared, again oblivious to the fact he was clutching it for dear life.

"Cassie, do something!" Clara said, rounding on Cassandra.

"Do what?" Cassandra squeaked. "I hardly have Ariadne's ball of thread, do I?"

"Do we have it?" Flynn demanded, rounding on Jenkins.

"Obviously we don't," Jenkins retorted, "or we wouldn't be here, would we?"

"I mean in the Library!"

"It's not much use to us if it's in the Library, is it?"

"Well, is it!?"

"No, it isn't, unfortunately."

"So do something, Cassie!" Clara cried.

"I don't know what to do," Cassandra whispered, blue eyes wide and almost wondering. But just as she said this, there was a whirl of pink glitter, making them choke and splutter. When the air cleared, it was only to see the Annex doors flung wide, making everyone do a double-take, the sight of the familiar bookshelves beyond making Clara slump against Jacob with terrible relief. But floating in mid-air, blocking their escape into the Annex, was a fairy, its pretty face marred by massive fangs protruding past its rosebud lips.

"Fleen," the fairy sing-songed. "Wand!"

"My, how you've grown," Flynn observed, flinching as a door hinge flew past his head, "or at least your teeth have," he amended, eying the fairy's incisors critically.

"Fleen!" the fairy repeated. "Wand!"

"If you let us past," Jenkins said quickly, "you can have it!"

"Jerkin," the fairy frowned, "wand?"

"Yes, wand!" Jenkins fervently agreed.

The fairy hesitated before floating aside, everybody propelling themselves through the Annex doorway, diving for cover as the other door finally gave way. Dramatically doubling back, Cassandra and Clara hastily slammed the Annex doors shut, backing away as Jacob snatched up a fencing foil, Eve pulling out her gun, Flynn the fairy wand, Ezekiel raising his walking stick. Together, the four of them approached the Annex doors, making Clara and Cassandra look at each other in bewilderment, wondering what the hell the others were playing at. On the silent count of three, Eve and Jacob exchanged glances, then nods, the two of them flinging the doors open again, all four forming a line, brandishing their respective weapons. But all that greeted them was an empty alleyway, a cat knocking a bin over further down, the fairy floating above them with fluttering wings.

"Wand!" the fairy said gleefully, snatching it from Flynn's fingers, before disappearing in a puff of pink smoke.

"Oh joy," Jenkins said dourly, "oh joy."

"Mon cherie," Flynn purred, prowling through the door, resplendent in a crimson velvet suit teamed with a black silk tie.

"Come any closer, and I shall hex you," Jenkins warned, restored to his usual irascible self, sporting a crisp white shirt and emerald green bow-tie.

"Any luck with locating Ariadne's ball of thread?" Flynn fired at him.

"No."

Flynn shook his head, before sashaying past, admiring his reflection in the mirror opposite. Nearby, gathered around the clippings book were Cassandra, Jacob and Ezekiel, the latter minus his beard and false teeth, the effects of Circe's spell finally wearing off. All that remained was a verbal tic, Ezekiel demanding to know where his walking stick was from time to time, before returning back to normal. As they flicked through the pages of the clippings book, Eve sat down on the bottom step of the sweeping staircase, trying to console Archie over the loss of his pinkness, looking slightly stunned as she did so. Offering a Kleenex to a talking goat had never been something she envisioned herself doing.

Flynn finally turned away from his reflection, glancing around for Clara, but she was nowhere to be seen, panic hitting him in the solar plexus. "Where the hell is Hartley?" he demanded, stalking over to the others, startling them.

"I'm here," Clara said from the doorway, brow furrowing, "I was just looking up Theseus's phone number."

"He's gone ex-directory," Archie whimpered, brushing away an imaginary tear, prompting Eve to offer him another tissue. "Last I heard he was in Elysium."

Flynn ignored this fun fact, striding over to Clara instead, making her take a step back. "What's with you?" she asked, smoothing down the front of her bright blue dress, a deliberate countermand to the pink she'd endured.

"Just... just don't disappear on me again," he said, drawing her to him, his gaze travelling over her face, taking in every facet and detail. Apart from the faint wave of her hair, she was Clara again, snub nose and all.

"Pot calling the kettle black," Clara parried, wrapping her arms around Flynn's neck, Flynn more than willingly surrendering to her will, his lips finding hers, his hands sliding over her hips.

"God, I missed you," Flynn whispered, leaning his forehead against hers.

"You're here now," Clara whispered back, ignoring Jenkins's pointed hem-hem.

"But it's not enough, is it?" Flynn said, startling her. "You deserve more than this madness. Dating requires dates, not destruction and even more destruction."

"It... it comes with the territory," Clara said, before doing a double-take, "wait, did you just say we're dating?"

"That's precisely my point," Flynn said, frowning, "we're dating without going on actual dates - although, sacrificing your life for mine was pretty romantic" - Clara's answer to this was to pull his face down to hers, silencing him for several long moments. Then Flynn straightened up, straightening his tie, looking pleasantly dazed. "I could get used to that," he said suavely, smoothing his hair back.

"You better," Clara said smartly.

"I fully intend to," Flynn said, drawing her to him again, only for Jenkins to clip him around the ear.

"You're together, we know," Jenkins snapped as Flynn massaged his earlobe, looking wounded, "that newsflash was so... yesterday."

"Jenkins has gone Hilary Duff on us," Ezekiel said in a loud aside, "Godspeed."

"Well, I didn't know if we were together or not," Clara flared up, folding her arms across her chest, startling Flynn.

"You didn't?" Flynn said, looking shocked.

"No, I didn't," Clara exclaimed, "you were here and gone, like a hit and run" -

- "Whoa, this isn't a hit and run," Flynn said, taking her hands in his, "this is me and you, together, properly... like baked beans on toast properly. Hell, I Banished a hell demon to hell for you!"

"Baked beans and toast?" Cassandra said confused.

"You Banished Demos?" Clara said, even more confused.

"Yeah, I did," Flynn said awkwardly, shifting from one foot to the other.

Clara studied him for a moment, before casting all decorum to the four winds by casting herself on Flynn's black velvet waistcoat, Flynn wrapping his arms around her.

"I should have asked you out for a drink, shouldn't I?" he said, brow furrowing.

"Ah, the benefits of hindsight," Jenkins said, "and now back to the matter at hand" -

- "Yes, you should have," Clara said, sighing heavily, "maybe taking in a showreel or two afterwards as well, just so I knew where we stood with each other."

"It's beside me, Hartley," Flynn said, grinning ruefully down at her, "didn't you know that?"

Another day and I'm somewhere new
I made a promise that I'll come home soon
Bring me back, bring me back to you...

"We need Ariadne's ball of thread," Jenkins said mournfully. "Without it, we're lost."

"Why?" Ezekiel asked. "Can we not just enchant a plain old ball of thread?"

"Magic has three parts," Jenkins explained, casting him a withering glance, "the power to change reality; the focus to direct that change; and the effect that change has on the real world."

"The effect would be the Labyrinth," Jacob said thoughtfully, earning a pat on the head from Flynn. "Ariadne's ball of thread would either be the power or the focus."

"The Minotaur might be the missing third part," Clara hazarded.

"Precisely," Jenkins said, "Archimedes's former betrothed must have the ball of thread in her possession in order to create that kind of chaos in this dimension" -

- "I gave the ball of thread to Circe," Archie said guiltily, startling everyone, "just after I dumped Akantha at the altar."

"Akantha's Karen, as in Miss. Willis, CEO of Golden Axe Foods?" Eve said, exchanging a glance with Jenkins.

Archie nodded nervously.

Flynn stooped down so he was at eye-level with Archie. "Why do you keep springing these surprises on us, Archie?" he said, dark eyes dancing dangerously. "Every corner we turn seems to lead back to you."

"It seems like your exes have teamed up together to bring hell down on your head," Eve said, rounding on Archie.

"Somebody tried to kidnap Archie before all this happened," Clara interjected, remembering that night Flynn brought Archie to her apartment.

"And Zeus flung the Minotaur out of your flatshare," Jenkins said, advancing on Archie.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Cassandra said, stepping in front of Archie. "The talking goat's just a puzzle piece, a slice of the pizza. Let's not miss the bigger picture here. You said there was a room full of skulls. That means people are being sacrificed to the Minotaur. What we have to ask is why?"

Flynn straightened up, face thoughtful. "You're correct, Cassandra," he said, inclining his head in her direction, "Miss. Willis the CEO formerly known as Akantha, and Circe are teaming up together for a reason, and I would bet my bottom dollar the Serpent Brotherhood are their backers. We have to find out what, why and when, so we can stop them."

"What about Henry Birch?" Clara asked, her voice cracking. "Do you think he's been sacrificed?"

"It might be too late," Flynn said uneasily, "I don't know."

"Golden Axe Foods need to be stopped," Cassandra said firmly.

"So let's stop them," Jacob said, rolling up his sleeves, "before they stop us."