The CEO Who Spurned Me

"Umm, why would the HR department be down in the basement?" Clara asked nervously as the lift shuddered to its final stop. Franklin had escorted them to the elevator, pressing the button for them, before ushering them inside and walking away without a backwards glance.

"Because I abandoned Karen Willis at the altar several centuries ago," Archie said gloomily, startling them all.

"What!?" Flynn exclaimed, doing a double-take. "And you chose to deliver this blow now!?"

"I didn't recognize her at first," Archie protested, "she's taken too many trips to the Fountain of Youth."

"Then how do you know it's your former betrothed?" Jenkins said impatiently. "It might be some other CEO you spurned."

"It's the way she looked at me," Archie explained, "like she'd love to send me on a holiday to hell for a few millennia, just to top up my tan you know."

"Where you a goat when this happened?" Clara asked hesitantly, secretly wondering why the lift doors weren't opening.

"No, Bunty," Archie said, examining his hoof, "I was young and handsome and human, a right ass-wipe. A bit like your buddy here," he said, jerking his horns at Jacob.

"Where is my walking stick!?" Ezekiel boomed, waving it at Clara.

"It's in your hand," Clara said slowly, all but spelling it out for him.

"Oh," Ezekiel said, wrongfooted, staring at it.

"Can't you just sort this whole thing out with that wand?" Clara said to Flynn, turning to him.

But he just shook his head, destroying her last hope. "I used up the last of its magic with the collecting cans," he said tiredly, "and it takes twenty-four hours to recharge."

"It's a wand though," Clara challenged, "it doesn't run on batteries."

"No, it runs on magic," Flynn snapped, "and magic is like energy" -

- "Uh, guys, the doors are opening," Archie said, making Flynn falter, but only for a moment.

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Flynn intoned, before taking a balletic leap into the unknown.

I am falling into grace to the unknown
to where you are and faith
makes everybody scared
it's the unknown
that keeps me hanging on...

~*~

"Nothing like a brisk walk to clear the cobwebs away," Flynn said, linking Clara's arm through his, as though they were taking a Sunday stroll.

"I am getting a bad feeling about this, Flynn," Jenkins said, glancing round at the Grecian frescoes they'd been following fruitlessly for the past ten minutes. It was literally like being in a labyrinth, wandering passage after passage, setting Jenkins's suspicions off like fire alarms.

"We're on the right track, Jenkins," Flynn said acerbically, losing his good mood, "this has Circe stamped all over it."

"I think this has been modelled on her holiday home actually," Archie said thoughtfully. "That touch of decay just brings back so many fond memories."

"This design is Hellenic," Jacob said, pausing in front of one particular fresco, "you can see it in the curve of the chin, just right here."

They all stopped, staring at him like he'd suddenly started speaking Swahili, Ezekiel half raising his walking stick, unsure whether to strike Jacob or not.

"What?" Jacob shrugged. "It's Grecian art, get over it."

Clara let out a choked sob, before flinging herself into his arms, burying her face in his shoulder.

"Um, you okay?" he asked, awkwardly patting her on the head, rather like she was a faithful golden retriever.

"You're back!" Clara cried, pink tears rolling down her cheeks like pearls.

"And you're the colour of candy-floss," Jacob rejoindered, bemused.

"Look who's talking," Jenkins muttered.

"What do you mean I'm back?" Jacob said, drawing back from Clara. "Where did I go?"

"Circe slipped something in your coffee," Flynn explained, stepping forwards, making Jacob do a double-take, "the spell's probably wearing off now. I suspected as much when you identified that vase as Ming."

"I thought you were finding the Library?" Jacob said, bewildered. "And what's with the Liberace look?"

"Stuff and thangs," Flynn said in a cryptic Southern accent. "But to cut to the chase, you're hunting down a Minotaur in your boxer shorts."

Jacob glanced down at himself. "Just another day in the office, then," he said grimly.

"Deal with it," Flynn said smartly, setting off again.

"So what's with Father Time and the Barbie goat?" Jacob asked Clara in an undertone, falling into step beside her as they followed Flynn.

"That's Ezekiel and Archie," Clara explained, "and don't get me started on Jenkins's loin-cloth."

"Don't even mention it," Jacob retorted, "I'm scarred for life now."

"I heard that," Jenkins fired over his shoulder.

"Where's the rest of the gang?" Jacob said, ignoring Jenkins, glancing around him. "And why we all pink?"

"I don't know where Eve and Cassie are," Clara said, "but they're probably still in Manhattan" -

- "Manhattan?" Jacob said in disbelief.

"I know, some people have all the luck," Archie interjected, looking suitably tragic.

"She talks!?" Jacob said, doing another double-take.

"He talks," Archie corrected him. "Though I'll be anything you want me to be, darling."

"Did a goat just hit on me?" Jacob said, addressing the empty air.

"Yes it did," Clara said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, where are we, then?" Jacob said, eying Archie with fascination.

"Boston, boyo," Archie enlightened him, before sashaying off.

"And why we are pink again?" Jacob said, turning to Clara.

"That was your work," she said tiredly, "and don't ask me to explain either."

"Okay, I won't," Jacob said, the two of them then slowing to a stop as Flynn came to a halt in front of a sign declaring the legend, Human Resources. "Nice calligraphy," Jacob observed thoughtfully, "especially with the upper curl of the R" -

- "What are you, a handwriting expert?" Jenkins said irritably, rounding on him.

"I appreciate art, okay," Jacob retorted, "unlike some people around here" -

- "Zeke, don't!" Clara cried out, cutting across him, just as Ezekiel flung open a nearby door, Flynn failing to stop him in time.

"Oh," Archie said, surveying the room filled floor to ceiling with skulls.

"Oh indeed," Flynn said weakly, only to spring forwards as Ezekiel suddenly charged at the nearest column of skulls, his walking stick raised high above his head. "Ezekiel Jones!" he hollered, hauling him back. "Bloody behave yourself!"

Ezekiel just gnashed his false teeth at him.

"I think we should leave now," Clara said nervously, clutching Flynn's sleeve.

"I think we should too, sugar-lump," Flynn hastily agreed.

~*~

"Okay, that wall just disappeared," Jacob said for the third time.

"We're in a magic maze," Flynn said for the fourth time, "walls disappear, doors country dance and windows are the stuff of myth and legend."

As he spoke, a roar echoed through the air, making everyone clutch each other. "I am having a serious Goonies moment here," Clara whispered, nearly strangling Jenkins.

"Never say die," Archie quoted aptly.

"We need to move," Flynn said, grabbing Clara's hand and hauling her on, the others sprinting to keep up. They rounded a corner, only to crash into Eve and Cassandra, everyone doing a Jacob and double-taking for dear life.

"Your hair," Eve exclaimed, pointing at Clara, her other hand flying to her mouth.

"Your beard," Cassandra aimed at Ezekiel, clutching her head.

"You alright, kid?" Jacob said, grabbing her arm.

"She's been doing that for the past ten minutes," Eve explained, eying everyone with horror, still unable to believe what she was seeing.

"How did you get here?" Clara asked, confused.

"The maze exists in more than three dimensions," Flynn said, glancing around him. "Boston, Manhattan, everywhere."

"I thought you were finding the Library," Eve said, stepping forwards.

"I was - I am," Flynn corrected himself, "I just got... distracted."

Eve just nodded, unable to do anything else.

"What's wrong with her?" Flynn said, glancing at Cassandra who was now doubled over in agony. "Is it the brain grape?"

"Do not refer to the tumour that's going to kill me as a brain grape!" Cassandra snapped, straightening up, startling everyone with her uncharacteristic venom. "Savvy?"

"Savvy," Flynn agreed, swallowing hard.

"God, you annoy me," Cassandra hissed through gritted teeth, half turning away from him.

"Don't talk to him like that," Clara said, frowning. "He's got the point."

"Do you?" Cassandra said, rounding on her. "It's you who got us into this mess in the first place, jumping into that curiosity cabinet like it was the Caribbean Sea."

"What, are you suggesting I should have abandoned Ezekiel to a rather obscure fate instead?" Clara said, striding forwards, throwing off Flynn's restraining hand.

"I'm suggesting you stop taking things into your own hands," Cassandra said tersely. "Just because you're bedding the boss doesn't automatically grant you the same authority he has over the rest of us" -

Clara slapped her, hard.

Cassandra just stood there, shellshocked, the tears welling up in her eyes. "You bitch," she whispered, her hand flying to her cheek.

"Better that than being a back-stabber," Clara said, shaking from head to foot now.

"I know I betrayed you that first time," Cassandra said, her voice cracking, "but I was scared - I - I never intended for you to get hurt, never mind die."

"I did die though" -

- "Look, I have a death sentence inside my head, and they offered me a cure, so what was I supposed to do?"

"Not sell us out for starters" -

- "God, you're so self-righteous," Cassandra said in disbelief.

"Me, self-righteous?" Clara said in equal disbelief.

"You're always queening it over the rest of us," Cassandra said, "so yes, self-righteous just about sums you up."

"Well, I think treacherous turncoat just about describes you to a T" -

- "Oh look at me, I'm Clara Hartlee, sacrificing myself for my great Librarian leader like a good girl," Cassandra pouted, prancing about like a prat. "Observe, Flynn, I just got a sword stuck in my side for you" -

- "That's enough!" Jacob yelled, startling Cassandra to a stop. "You screwed up, deal with it!"

"Screw-up doesn't even cover it," Clara said, tossing her curls back.

"Primp somewhere else, princess," Cassandra spat, flapping her hands at her.

"Traitor" -

- "Narcissist" -

- "Squealer" -

- "Swellhead" -

- "Ummm, sorry to break up the bitching," Archie interjected, his horns paling, "but I think we have company..."