Chapter twelve,
Six months and Toffee
Six months since the masquerade ball and the magical dance with the King and Ray is doing wonderful. She keeps up with Sarah, happy she can keep in touch. Her place at Five little gowns has gone up and multiplied; she now works as the errand girl, the maid, the head dress designer, and assistant seamstress.
Life in the Labyrinth has treated Ray well, and she gets invited to balls often. Gutaki and Zari left the shop to open a deli and bakery of their own; they call it Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner. Ray goes there everyday and gets all three meals for the day from there. Getting it from anywhere else was just not the same. Bornia, Capeka, and Alopa still work at the shop, coming in everyday to help with her dress orders. Speaking of Alopa, her wedding happened two months after Ray's private dance with the king and she moved out of the shop, offering the now empty space above the shop to Ray to live in. Ray accepted and moved in. It was a small house on top of the shop with some of the walls torn down. It fit Ray nicely.
With Ray living in the shop, the shop itself seemed to be passed into Ray's charge, and she handled most of the orders from there on out. Even though she was mostly in charge of the shop,Cakepa was still the head seamstress, with Bornia and Alopa right behind her.
Traffic at the shop stayed mostly the same, even after that one goblin woman at the masquerade told most of her friends about Ray's designing talent. So Ray had more time to work on dress orders and more time to herself.
With more time to herself, Ray took the time to wander the Goblin City and the Underground that surrounded it. Sarah had never said anything about the Underground, mostly because she didn't see it. The Underground surrounded the castle in sort of a half-moon, on the other side than the one Sarah used to get in, so it was easy to see why she knew nothing about it. The shop was on the inner circle of the Underground, jut on the outside edge of the Goblin City.
Ray was on one of her regular walks around town when she spotted a new mask shop. "Hidden Faces.." she read, walking into the shop. It was a fairly large shop, but many things were still being put up and things still needed arranging. A goblin lady sat at the counter, doing some paperwork. "Excuse me," Ray said, walking up to the counter. The lady looked up at her. "Oh, hello dear. How can I help you?" she said with a cheery smile. Ray instantly liked the place. "I was wondering if I may be able to browse your shop, or if you were still much to deep in setting up for customers." she asked. The lady shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we still need to set up a few things. Feel free to browse, but you cannot buy anything at this time. But if you find something you like, I can put it on hold for you until the shop officially opens." the lady said. Ray nodded. "I'll just browse then. Thank you." and she went about the shop.
Many of the masks were blank, but there were ones pre-painted. Those were particularly beautiful. Ray found many that she liked, but there hadn't been a masquerade for a while. I'll come back when I need a mask. she thought, thanking the goblin lady again and leaving the shop.
As Ray continued her walk to the shop, she noticed a little white-brown cat had been following her. She stopped and knelt down to look at the small cat. By its build, Ray guessed it was full grown. "Oh but you're so small." she said, holding her hand out to see if it would let her pet it. The cat pressed its head into her palm and Ray scratched between its ears. "Aw, you're so cute!" she said, carefully scooping the small cat up in her arms and standing up. It didn't seem to mind in the least, in fact, it began to purr. Loudly.
Ray took the small cat back to the shop and put it on the table. "Let me get you something to eat." she said, going upstairs to see what she had left over form lunch to feed the small cat. Ray found some slices of salami, and poured a saucer of milk.
When she put the meat and milk in front of the cat, it only seemed interested in the milk, it didn't even sniff the salami. "More for me, then." Ray said, taking a slice of salami.
Ray lay in her loft, she could be alone up here, but easily get to customers if need be. She was doodling dress designs, just letting her mind wander to the next ball. The cat watched her intently. "You sure are and odd little cat." Ray said, scratching it between the ears for the millionth time. Ray had found out it was a boy cat, a stray by the looks of things. It hadn't been neutered like most pet cats.
"So, kitty," Ray said, putting her sketch book aside and looking the cat in the eye. "You got a name, or am I gonna have to make one up for you?" she asked, petting it. His fur was irresistibly soft. The cat mewed, and Ray thought it looked like he shrugged. This world is so weird. she thought. Even the chickens, which were everywhere, seemed to act just a little more human. Or goblin. Whichever. "I guess that means you don't really care if I call you something other than your real name?" she asked. The cat mewed happily. "Thats a "yes". Hrm... what to name you...." Ray mumbled, staring at the beautiful fur. It was mostly white, with strands of light brown here and there. "Toffee." she said all of a sudden. The cat looked up at her, his head cocked to one side, as if to say "isn't that a girls name?". Ray laughed at that. "I know, I know..." she said with a sigh. Toffee was a girlish name. "You know what..." Ray said, an idea coming to her mind. "I'll call you Toffee J. Now it sounds like a boy name, and every time I say your name, you'll remind me of him." she said, the cat seemed confused. Ray giggled. "Y'know, him. The King?" then it seemed to click for the small cat. Ray giggled again. "Well I have to go get dinner. I'll be back in a minute." and she hopped down from her loft and headed to Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner.
Ray walked back into the shop humming the tune she usually hummed when she sent Sarah a letter. "I'm home! Toffee J.?" she called, walking upstairs and putting her bags on the table. Toffee J. was nowhere to be seen. "Toffee J.?" Ray called, wandering all around the shop. "Maybe he left.." she said sadly. "Oh well." and she went back upstairs to eat dinner.
That night, Ray sent Sarah a letter telling her the usual, how her week was, new news, Toffee J. "I hope I see him tomorrow on my walk." Ray said before she settled in for bed.
Ray was woken up by the sound of purring. She slowly opened her eyes to find Toffee J. staring down at her with big, beautiful gray eyes. "Morning." she said groggily. "How the hell did you get inside?" she asked, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. "I closed up last night." Ray said, looking at the little cat. It mewed and looked over to the window, which was open just enough for it to have crawled through. "Oh.." Ray said yawning. "I'll remember to keep that open to ya."
The rest of the day went by as usual, Ray ran her morning errands, came back to the shop, where Bornia, Capeka, and Alopa were already sewing, ate breakfast, did her morning sewing, cleaned up after the three goblins when they left, got lunch, did her afternoon sewing, ate dinner, chilled out, and that was it. Toffee J. never left her side. Ray lay up in her loft doodling again. Toffee was curled up next to her book, sleeping. Ray looked down at him. "So cute." she said, petting him softly. "Nice that you found me." and she carried the sleeping at up to her room.
Ray sat at her desk and opened the letter Sarah had sent.
"Ray,
That new mask shop sounds like it has potential. I'm so happy that you're doing okay. Everyone here is looking for you, though, it pains me to tell you this, no one is really looking for you. There are missing signs up at the police department and on the occasional milk carton, but everyone is going on without you.....
Well, I'm glad I get to talk to you, knowing you're not lost or missing makes me feel so much better.
So this Toffee J. cat, he sounds really cute. I wish they had cameras over there, then maybe you could send me some pictures.
xoxo,
Sarah"
Ray read. She smiled sadly. "Thats why I wanted to leave so badly, Sarah." she said to the letter, taking out a piece of paper and a pen, "No one really cared about me."
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