“Natalie?!”
There stood Natalie, holding her squeaky hammer. She seemed as surprised to see the group there as the group was to see her.
“What are you doing here?!”
“I could ask you the same thing!”
“Well,” Natalie hummed. “I just wanted to see what was up with this auction. Maybe steal a thing or two. I saw that banana guy upstairs though, & I got suspicious.”
“Oh, of course he’s here.”
“You’re never gonna believe this, but this asshole-” Juniper pointed toward The Auctioneer’s body on the ground. “-was gonna TURN US INTO STATUES!”
“WHAT?!”
“He was gonna auction us off! As statues! Real fucked up if you ask me!”
“That is fucked up. Even I wouldn’t go as far as turning people into statues, & I’m your worst enemy.”
“You are?”
“Whatever. We should probably get outta here before this guy wakes up.”
“What do you mean before I wake up?”
To everyone’s surprise, The Auctioneer was very much still awake. It probably didn’t help that Natalie used a squeaky hammer to hit them.
“YOU’RE STILL AWAKE?!”
“You used a squeaky hammer. Of course they’re still awake.”
“You think I have the budget for a real hammer?!”
“They’re only, like, $10.”
“Does it look like I have $10?”
While Natalie & Cherry argued over the price of hammers, The Auctioneer quietly (but swiftly) snuck away from the group, running up the stairs.
“Everyone has $10! At least, they should!”
“Well, I don’t! I work at a Dollar General for minimum wage, what do you want me to do?!”
“GUYS! They’re getting away!” Juniper yelled, pointing at The Auctioneer.
The group started running up the stairs in an attempt to catch up with The Auctioneer. He did have the head start, though, so he was way ahead of the group.
Successfully making it up the stairs, The Auctioneer ran through the doors leading into the main room & slammed it shut. The group heard a click, indicating that the door had been locked.
“Shit!” Cherry hissed. “That asshole locked the door on us!”
“Well, we can’t just burst through the door,” Juniper said. “Sorrel’s out there. How would we explain this to them?”
“Preferably, we don’t explain this to them at all. But, when push comes to shove, I’d rather my sibling find out about.. the magic thing.. than getting turned into a statue.”
“We’re still not busting down the door though.”
“Oh, yea, I don’t wanna have to pay for property damage.”
The group looked around the room for anything that could help them escape.
“Hey! A vent!” Leslie pointed up toward a vent on the wall. “One of us could climb through there, maybe.”
“Like in Among Us?”
“Not like Among Us.”
“Whatever. Who’s climbing through the vent?”
Everyone turned to look at Natalie.
“Wh- ME?!”
“You’ve committed crimes before, & you seem to have no regard for safety. Climbing through a ventilation shaft should be easy for you.”
“Wow, way to assume. I.. suppose it couldn’t hurt, though.”
“Alright! Let’s do it!”
Since they were the strongest (physically), Juniper lifted Natalie up to the vent. She took out a screwdriver & started unscrewing it.
“Do you just have that on you at all times?”
“Of course I do. You don’t have one?”
“No??”
After around 30 seconds, Natalie had gotten the screws off & pried the vent grate open. She hauled herself into the shaft.
“Good luck!” Leslie smiled, giving Natalie a thumbs up.
-
Sorrel was just minding their own business. They weren’t really expecting that girl to come back from where she went, but she seemed confident enough. Sorrel assumed she would succeed in whatever plan she had.
A slam from across the room alerted Sorrel. They looked up to see the guy running the auction (They had introduced themselves as “The Auctioneer”) leaning against a pair of doors, locking it. Maybe that girl from earlier was right about this being suspicious. Nobody slams a door shut, locks it, & leans against it like that unless they’re up to something nefarious.
Sorrel shifted closer to The Auctioneer to ask something, but before they had the chance, The Auctioneer started speaking.
“We’re having some.. problems, currently! But don’t you worry, everyone! We should be back on track within the next hour or two!”
“Uh.. if I may ask,” Sorrel started. “What sort of problems are happening?”
“Um. It’s.. uh...”
The Auctioneer paused for a moment, seemingly thinking.
“It’s spoilers! For the auction!” the banana guy said, poking his head around the corner.
“YES! Spoilers for the auction!”
“Spoilers for the auction?”
“Well, you don’t want the surprise of the auction to be ruined for you, yeah?”
“I.. guess not, but-”
All of a sudden, the vent that was right above the door fell off its hinges, hitting The Auctioneer on the head.
“Ow!”
A girl hopped down from the vent. It was the same girl that was talking to Sorrel earlier!
“ALRIGHT!” she yelled. “Listen up, everybody!”
Everyone in the Auction House turned to look at her.
“This fucker right here-” she pointed at The Auctioneer. “-is TURNING people into STATUES to auction them off!”
Everyone (including Sorrel) gasped.
“Wh- That’s not true!” The Auctioneer said.
“It is! There’s a freezer down in that basement that turns people into statues!”
People in the Auction House started mumbling among themselves. Personally, Sorrel couldn’t believe it. A freezer that turns people into statues? It just didn’t seem possible.
“Hey! That’s the girl who threw a squeaky hammer at me back at the restaurant!” the banana guy pointed toward the girl.
“& I’ll do it again if you’re not careful!”
Sorrel suspected a fight was about to break out, & apparently so did The Auctioneer, because they took out a megaphone (from seemingly nowhere?) & yelled, “ATTENTION, EVERYONE! THE AUCTION WILL UNFORTUNATELY BE DELAYED UNTIL TOMORROW! WE’RE OH-SO SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE. PLEASE EXIT THE BUILDING NOW.”
One by one, everybody in the Auction House just mumbled & left the building. It was now just Sorrel, the girl, The Auctioneer, & the banana guy in the building. The Auctioneer turned to look at Sorrel.
“Are you gonna leave, or am I gonna have to call security?” he asked.
Sorrel probably should leave, but they didn’t just want to leave this girl alone. Helping her out would be the right thing to do, they thought.
“Uh.. no thanks.” Sorrel responded.
“What a shame. Guess you’ve just gotten yourself a one-way ticket to becoming a statue!”
-
“What if.. we lockpicked it?”
“I am not lockpicking anything ever again.”
“Someone else could lockpick it then!”
The group was standing around the door, thinking of ways they could unlock it. They knew busting it down with Cherry’s sword wasn’t an option, because Sorrel was at the auction. Going through the vent was also not an option, because they wouldn’t be able to get everyone through it.
“We could just wait until The Auctioneer unlocks it himself.”
“As if they’re ever gonna do that?”
“Natalie’s out there. She could probably force them to unlock it.”
“She also has a squeaky hammer as a weapon, so who knows how well that’s gonna work out.”
“Didn’t she say Pim was there too? It’s a 2v1 situation out there!”
“As much as I mildly dislike Natalie, I suppose we should help her. We are heroes, after all.”
“& that loops us back to the original problem: how do we get out of here to help?”
“What if.. we... bang on the door until they let us out?”
All of a sudden, the group heard some keys jangling from outside the door. They readied their weapons.
The door opened.
It was Sorrel, holding the keys, while Natalie was fending off The Auctioneer & Pim in the background.
“Nora?”
“OH- Sorrel! Funny seeing you here..!”
“I thought you weren’t interested in the auction. & what’s with the outfits?”
“It’s.. a long story.”
“Yea, long story. We’ll explain later.”
“..Alright.”
The Auctioneer turned around & spotted the group. “YOU!”
He approached the group.
“You five have ruined EVERYTHING!”
“We didn’t do anything.”
“You foiled my boyfriend’s plan, you broke out of the freezer, & your little friend forced me to delay the auction! You could have been world famous!”
“We don’t wanna be world famous. We just wanna graduate college.”
“Wh- GRADUATE COLLEGE?! You should be aiming higher than that! Don’t you see? You’re perfect for the auction! & you just threw that chance away!”
“What, the chance to be a statue & never see our loved ones again?”
“No! It’s more than that! It’s the chance for fame! The chance to be recognized! Adored!! Wanted!!!”
The group looked at each other, thinking about what The Auctioneer had just said. Being wanted sure sounds nice, but they did prefer being alive.
“Sorry, bud. We’re already wanted.” Nora shrugged
“Whuh?”
“We are?”
“We’re wanted by our friends, & our families.. & each other.”
“Oh, we’re not wanted by the government?”
“I’m not. Are you?”
“Maybe.”
“That’s off-topic, though. The point is, Auctioneer, there’s already people in our lives who care about us.”
“But- the auction! You’re absolutely perfect for the auction! We want you!!”
“That’s not true, & you know it. You’re just saying that because you want to avenge your boyfriend.”
“I-”
The Auctioneer paused, taking a step back.
“You know what?” he said, pulling out his cane (from nowhere??). “You’re right. There are so, so many other people out there better suited for this. However, you 5 ruined my boyfriend’s plan, & now you’re gonna pay.”
The group readied their weapons. This was gonna be a rough fight.
Kalani blasted a magic shot at The Auctioneer. They dodged out of the way, & the magic shot hit Pim (who was still fighting with Natalie).
“Ow!” he yelled.
“Oops! Sorry, babe!” The Auctioneer yelled back.
Juniper took this opportunity to take a jab at The Auctioneer with pheir spear, but he grabbed a hold of the pointy bit before it hit him.
“Seriously, how are you doing that?!”
“Yea, dude. Doesn’t that hurt?”
Oh, bold of you to assume I can even feel pain!”
“What do you mean by that?” Juniper asked, trying to tug the spear out of The Auctioneer’s hands.
“C’mon, feel my hand! You’ll see what I’m talking about!”
Reluctantly, Juniper touched The Auctioneer’s hand. Even through the glove on her hand, the hand was freezing cold.
“Jesus christ!” Juniper hissed. “How are you that cold?!”
“Being locked in a freezer for about a year will do that to ya!” The Auctioneer winked, grasping onto Juniper’s wrist & flinging zaem across the room.
“WOAH!!” Juniper yelled, landing against the wall.
“Juni! Are you ok?!” Kalani asked.
“I’m.. fine! Ow..” Juniper put his hand over his forehead.
“Don’t worry!” Leslie grinned. “I’ve got this!”
Leslie ran up behind The Auctioneer, & slashed them in the back with their scythes.
“YEOWCH!”
“Hey! How dare you?!” Pim yelled, running toward Leslie. Natalie bonked Pim in the head with her hammer, making a squeaky noise. It didn’t really hurt him that much, because it’s a squeaky hammer.
“..did you really expect that to-”
Before Pim could finish his sentence, Cherry flung their sword at him, only for it to be intercepted by The Auctioneer.
“I have really got to stop throwing that thing.”
The Auctioneer grinned, tossing the sword aside. “Well! This has been a very exciting fight, I’ll say that much! It is time for it to end now, though, as you clearly have no way of beating us-”
“HEY, IS THAT THE IRS BEHIND YOU?”
“HUH?!”
Pim & The Auctioneer quickly turned around. Natalie quickly grabbed a chair & hit the both of them with it, knocking them out.
“Well.” Nora hummed. “Guess that takes care of that.”
“Nice thinking with that chair, Nat!” Leslie grinned.
“Oh, uh.. thanks!”
Now that Pim & The Auctioneer were dealt with, the group felt that they had successfully saved the day once again! Satisfied with the ordeal, they all pulled on their ties & poofed back into their normal clothes.
“Alright,” Sorrel said. “Now that that’s dealt with, I think I’m owed an explanation.”
The group froze. They had completely forgotten about Sorrel.
“Wait, you know this guy?” Natalie asked.
“They’re my sibling,” Nora said.
“Oh! I wish I had known that before roping them into this.”
“Anyways.. long story short, turns out we’re.. uh... prophesied heroes who have to save the world?”
The group put on a fake grin as Sorrel stared at them.
“Prophesied heroes?” they chuckled, raising an eyebrow.
“Yup!”
“It sounds silly, but.. it came with a book & everything, & you clearly just saw us in action, so..”
“No, that’s cool as fuck!”
“It is?”
“Yeah!”
“Well!” Nora smiled. “You took that a lot easier than I thought you would.”
“Well, I am a tad bit confused about how this all happened in the first place, but magical powers are cool.”
“Y’know what? I’ll tell you all about it when we get home.”
“Whatever happened to keeping the magic thing under wraps?”
“What, are we not allowed to tell my sibling?”
“Ok,” Cherry rolled her eyes. “I guess Sorrel can be the exception. Who wants to go get ice cream?”
“Ooh! Me!”
“Ice cream sounds good right about now!”
“Can I come too?”
“N-”
“Of course, Nat!”
“Awesome!”
& so, the 7 of them went off to get some ice cream. A good end to a rough day, they thought. Hopefully nothing would happen with Pim & The Auctioneer within the next few weeks. They needed some time to rest.
Besides, the play was happening next month anyway! They had to be ready for that!