The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga) (55 page)

“Because there is no way to do this without them knowing it was you and without knowing we can get out of here together safely, I won’t risk you getting caught and punished
.” I didn’t care if this was my one shot at freedom, at the expense of a friend’s life I wasn’t willing to risk it!

He started to fiddle with the key and try again to open the door until I put my hand on his to stop him.

“Percy no! Please, don’t do this…there has to be another way.”

“There
isn’th time, thhey come for you now.” He said, his hand starting to shake.

“Then let them take me and I will try and get away at this auction thing, but I refuse to do it now…do you trust me
, Percy?”

“
Yesth” He nodded and I pulled the key from the lock and handed it back to him through the bars. I then fishes in my pockets until I found Draven’s fathers coin, as it was one of the things not yet taken from me.

“Here take this, it is something precious to me and I want you to keep safe until I see you again and Percy…” I paused as I placed the coin in his hand to then keep hold of it when I said,

“If you let me do this my way and I promise you…
I promise you my friend
… I will find a way for us both to come out of this safely.” He looked ready to cry but shook his head anyway for another yes and then ran from the room before I saw the first of his tears fall.

“Oh
, Percy.”
I said aloud. I now knew the lengths that Percy would go to free me and when someone risked their life for yours, that friendship was immeasurable!

It wasn’t long before they came for me and with Dimme being my main tormentor in all this, it was no surprise that he was front row with a beaming smile slapped on his face! Of course, it was Gastian who was leading the demonic mob and he too was looking especially pleased with himself.

“So
, it’s the big payday today then?” I asked picking dirt from my nails trying to look uninterested, when deep down inside I was just hoping when the time came that I wouldn’t start screaming like a little girl who wants her mamma!

“It is indeed parasite, so it’s time to get you presentable
, as I am not sure I will even get ten pounds for you in that state, although if it were left up to me I would gladly keep you in this cesspit where you belong.” I schooled my anger at his words and said on a laugh instead,

“Well
, I am facing a room full of shit for brains!” At this Dimme reclaimed his trade mark angry blotches and Gastian sneered at me, making my work here complete.

“Get in there and hold her down!” Gastian ordered as he pulled out a syringe and started to draw liquid from a small glass bottle. The cell finally opened and the demon horde filed in making me shoot from the bed and back into a corner.

“NO!” I screamed as they all lunged for me at once. I tried to escape them but it was no use, as all I could do was squirm around in their flaky hands.

“GET OFF ME!” I screamed as their already bruising hold tightened painfully.

“Hold her down!” I tried to twist but it was no use as my face was slammed down to the floor, so my cheek rested against the dirty stone. My arms were held back at a painful angle and I could no longer move without fear of breaking something. So all I could do was wait for the stab of the needle and the drugs to override my system, rendering me unconscious.

And for once…

I welcomed it.

Chapter 50

The Auction.

The next time I opened my eyes it was to the sight of red darkness. It took me a moment to bring my senses back under my control and realise what
I was faced with. I started by blinking my eyes but even that felt weird at first. My lashes kept tickling on something that was around my face but it wasn’t a blindfold. I managed to push away enough of the grogginess to focus on the dark red blur in front of me and in doing so, I saw thin black bars in front of some sort of red material that was only letting in a small amount of light.

“Where am I now?” I whispered to myself. I was just managing to come through the rest of the effects of the drugs that seemed a lot heavier than last time. It made wonder if they had to give me a few shots in the time it took them to get me here…wherever here was exactly?

I tried to sit up and when it felt like my brain was going to dribble out of my nose, I raised my hands to my head to find them shackled together in a pair of ornate silver cuffs that fit snug to my wrists.

“What the…?” I said following the thick chain attached to them all the way up to the top of the strange cell I seemed to be in. The chain wasn’t pulled taut at the moment, but hung loose around the floor which I was sat on. High above me was something I couldn’t really make much sense of. It seemed like a swinging metal bench like you would find hanging from a tree in a garden. That was all I could ma
ke out from down here, but it led me to follow the thin metal bars that went up into what looked like a cage in the shape of a Japanese pagoda. In fact, it kind of started to look like…

“It can’t be…a birdcage?” As soon as I said it the m
ore I really saw that it did, in fact, look like a giant birdcage with a swing hanging in the middle of it.

“This does not look good
.” I said as I saw the chain attached to the very top of the domed roof which had another smaller roof in the centre, exactly like those old antique birdcages you find people using for quirky ornaments. And for God’s sake, my own mother had one with a plant growing from it in her conservatory! Well, if I ever got out of here alive, then that thing would be finding itself in the skip!

When I finished examining my unusual surrounding
s, someone must have turned up the lights as I could now make out more and discovered what part I was to play in the birdcage and yep, you guessed it... I was the damn bird!

I can’t say I was displeased to
wake and find I no longer smelled like I had washed in a compost heap with a rotted fish for a sponge and left to dry like a wet dog. Although, now being clean did feel beyond good but did beg the question as to who had cleaned me? This gave me chills and it wasn’t just down to my bare arms, which I kept hugged around my belly.

I had been put into a massive dress all made entirely from feathers. It had a swan white corseted top that laced at the front, leaving too much cleavage on view for my liking. The feathers reached up to a high point over each breast and then fitted tight down the waist to join the skirt. There was a wide white satin sash that hung around the waist and tied in a floppy bow behind my back. But it was the skirt that was truly incredible and also ridiculously huge!

The top layer to the skirt was made from long black feathers all hanging downwards in a graceful way and finished on a curve around the sides, then fell longer at the back. Then came the underskirt which was a mass of layer upon layer of large white ostrich feathers that fluffed out all around me and went way beyond my feet when I finally stood up. It was as stunning as it was crazy being dressed as a giant bird, but I had to admit that I was happy I didn’t have some over the top showgirl feather head dress, straight out of Vegas, to go with it!

No, instead my hair had been styled and swept back in a side parting and then pinned under, creating volume to the back with what little hair I now had. Over this was a single white ostrich
feather held in place like a headband with what felt like jewels attached to one side.

I couldn’t see my hair, only feel it to
know this was the style and it was the same with the mask that had been also pinned under my hairline to stay in place. I felt around my eyes and knew this was the reason for the weird sensation on my face when I had first woken up. My lashes would brush the top of the eye holes in the mask, telling me I also had makeup on my lashes to make them longer. I could feel the feathers along the mask that was a perfect moulded shape for my face and when I looked down at my nose, I saw the feathers were black. Simple, but elegant, ballet shoes in white were added to the costume and their ribbons were tied around my ankles keeping them firmly in place.            

After I had finished looking around at my new crazy situation, it didn’t take me long to discover what was happening as I heard the sounds of crowded footsteps all beneath me. It sounded as if someone had just opened the door and people of the masses were now all flooding in. I wanted to move but I was too afraid to, so that no-one was aware that I was now awake.

I still couldn’t see anything other than the red glow from the light behind the material, but the noise of people was getting louder by the second. Did they know I was in here? For some reason
, I didn’t think if I started screaming blue murder that people would come running to my aid.

So here I was, dressed like I was
playing a part in Swan Lake, now about to go up for a sick human auction! I waited for the sound of the crowd to calm down as I knew they must have now taken their seats, considering I could no longer hear chair legs being moved along the floor. It’s amazing what your other senses can pick up when you can no longer rely on your eyes and you concentrate enough. For example, I could smell dust and old metal. There was also a chill in the air and that, combined with the echoing sound of people chatting, told me that I was most likely in a large open space, high above the ground. But I was only left to speculate as the Auction was about to begin.

“Good evening to you all on this fine night. I would like to welcome you to this year’s collective auction
.” A round of applause sounded and also some thudding of feet where others were obvious getting more excited.  

“As you will see in your catalogues handed to you at the door, we have a wide range of rare pieces on offer with also a surprise last minute addition to our collection. Which I think you will all agree
is a most treasured find indeed and one held in the upmost secretive of circles.” This part brought on a lot of ‘Mmm’s’ and ‘Ahhh’s’ as I could imagine they were all looking up at the covered cage I sat chained to.

“Right
, then let us begin.” I heard more shuffling and then,

“Starting with lot 23, here as you can see held up on my left is the rarest of all the
Pokemon cards. This particular one was never released in English and only four are said to exist in the world. I have a starting bid on the table of 15,000 dollars, do I hear 16,000?” I could barely believe my ears and actually coughed out my shock on hearing I was being sold in the same auction as a bloody Pokemon card! Ok, so getting my whole priorities mixed up I couldn’t help but think… ‘I’d better get a higher bid for me than a stupid piece of card!’

I listened to the auctioneer reeling off figures and upped the price until it finally sold for $25,000.

“Next is lot 19 the iPhone 4S Elite Gold. This darling phone is made by Stuart Hughes and is designed with 500 internally flawless diamonds that total over 100 carats.  The Apple logo itself has over 50 diamonds. And if that is not enough for you, then the navigation button has a 7.4 carat single-cut internally flawless natural pink diamond, which as you all know is extremely rare. But alas, that is not all, as it also comes with the chest which is made from solid platinum with original pieces of bones from the T-Rex…shall I start the bid at say 9 million.”

“What!” I couldn’t help myself from shouting…were these people crazy?! Luckily I don’t think people were too concerned with me as the noise of the bidding was underway. This ridiculously expensive phone reached 11.5 million and sounded
as though it went to someone who could only grunt…well for that price, I hoped the guy got free calls for life included!

“The next lot is number 2 in your catalogues and goes by the name
Chupacabra. This goat sucker has come all the way from Puerto Rico and in his previous owner’s own words, he’s glad to be rid of the ‘nasty little bastard’. A diet of animal blood is all that is needed to keep this demon in good health. I know there has been some interest in this lot, but as the owner was adamant to get rid of him there has been no price set, so we will start the bid at as little as 10 dollars, do I hear 15?” I could hear the snarling and gathered the ‘nasty little bastard’ was being shown to the crowd as the bidding for him commenced.

I had to say that right now I could relate to that goat sucker as I knew what it was like to be caged, soon to be put on display and sold. In the end the creature only so
ld for 85 dollars and I knew its buyer was an enthusiastic woman, as I could hear her gleefully shouting out as the last price was accepted.

“Next
, we have lot 14 and in keeping with the pet part of the auction we have for sale this rare Red Tibetan Mastiff. It is considered in the human world as the most expensive dog, but as we all know in our world this is not the case, as a Hellhound at the last auction raised a mighty 30 million. However, we still have a starting bid on this fine animal, whose owner has named him Eugene and has thrown in the diamond encrusted dog collar. Let’s start the bidding at the vendor’s lowest asking price of 1 million, do I hear 1.5 million?” I listened to this lot get up to 2.5 million and then the auctioneer said,

“Come on people, this is a great lot and not one I want to go for so little. Please remember this breed has its direct ancestry leading all the way to
Apedemak, who for those of you lacking in our history was a lion-headed warrior God, worshiped in Nubia by Meroitic people. Also the Maahes has been linked, who was of course an ancient Egyptian lion-headed God of war.” After this little history lesson the price reached 4 million within a few minutes and poor Eugene had a new owner who spoke in what sounded like Chinese.

It went on like this for what seemed like a long time and things auctioned ranged from The Sultan’s Golden Cake that was decorated with gold leaf, that went for $1500, to one of the lost
Fabergé eggs from the fall of the Russian Royal Family in 1917 that sold for a cool 10 million dollars.

But in total they must have got through about 40 lots, which also included two dinosaur fossils "locked in mortal combat" according to the auctioneer that went for 8 million dollars. Now
, this would have been something I would like to have seen but really, if I was honest with myself, I would have been fascinated to have seen all that was sold.

They had a whole section of five lots dedicated to antique weapons from a pair of pistols, that were once owned by President George Washington during America's War of Independence and then there was some Emperor dude’s gold dagger, who built the
Taj Mahal! I have to say though, that one of my favourites had to be the 1954 Superman Lunch Box that sold to a deep voiced man who won with his bid of 14, 500 dollars. But with each time the hammer struck down again and again ringing out like a death drum, it only brought me closer to my doomed fate of being sold. 

“Now
, time for the last item from the catalogue with lot number 35. This beauty was made for Lamborghini’s 50th anniversary and is called The Veneno and as most of you here know this is Spanish for ‘poison’ and rightly so. With its V12 it thunders out a 750 horsepower which will bring you to 60 in 2.8 seconds. As you can see from the write up it also reaches speeds of a daring 220 mph. So, for all you speed junkie Angels and Demons out there, then this lot is for you. So let’s start this off at the company’s own buying price, but please do remember that there are only 3 of these hard tops made, so that will reflect on the bidding. Who will bid me to start off with 4 million?” I started to listen for the bidding but then got distracted by the sound of a chain moving.

I looked down to see the chain attached to my restraints had started to snake on the floor before lifting. I watched in horror as it kept going until pulling my bound hands up with it. I stood to give it even more slack but this ended up just giving me a few more s
econds before it started to lift my whole body off the cage floor. I cried out as the pain lashed through my shoulders from being held up by just my wrists. The metal from the cuffs started to cut into my skin and I held onto the chain to relieve some of the pressure.

I looked up as I twisted round like a giant fish on a hook and saw that the swinging perch was coming closer. Then the pulling of the chain stopped and I hung limp for a painful second before swinging my body towards the seat. I then held on tighter to the chain and on a yelp brought my legs up enough to hook them over the metal swing. I shimmied my butt up until I was sat on it and tried to keep myself steady but it was difficult. I ended up battling to keep myself from falling back or forward but with my arms pulled above my head and with the perch moving under me, it felt like I was partaking in a circus act…and not doing a very good job at that!

Then I heard the hammer go down on the price of 6.5 million for the Lamborghini and I braced myself for what was coming next.