Chapter One : The Painting

A seventeen-year-old Sarah, was sitting cross-legged on a blue carpeted floor next to her younger brother, the two of them surrounded by papers of all sizes. Some paintings, others just pencil sketches of creatures and far off places. The two sat there in their pajamas sifting through the papers like they did every week, picking out the best ones and sorting the rest. The dark haired brunette paused on a stack she had set aside earlier that evening.

"Toby, who is this you keep drawing?" Sarah asked holding up some portraits of a handsome man with gravity defying blonde hair wearing in a partially opened poet's shirt and black vest with black gloves that seemed to fit to his hands like a second skin. He boy looked up at her as a small look of frustration crossed his face.

"I wish I could tell you." His eyes shifting to the drawings "I don't know myself." He lifted another one off the ground to eye level. "I see all of these strange things in my head, and for a moment they seem so real. Like I've seen them with my own two eyes." He paused setting it back down among the others "Then the next moment, they're just blurs."

Sarah continued to stare at the pictures, something about the man just seemed so familiar, her heart warmed just by looking at him. Sighing she handed them back to her brother, something about his drawings always made her feel a bit uneasy. She was never quite sure what it was about them, maybe it was the sometimes creepy, contorted faces that stared back at her from the thick paper, or the dark forests that often matched ones from her own drawings…ones Toby had never even seen before. Whatever it was, it nagged at the back of the mind with every glance she took at Toby's art. "Sarah?" Her attention was drawn back to the boy on the floor next to her. "Why do you always ask me about him?" Sarah's voice caught in her throat as she struggled to find the answer that evaded her "You never ask about anything else I've drawn…. Just him. Why?" He stared at her waiting for her to respond.

"I-" She looked down at the man's portrait once more her eyes drawn to his. "I… don't really know. He looks… familiar… somehow." Adverting her gaze she glanced at her brother, who looked very confused.

"Familiar? How is that possible? He's from my head."

"Like I said before, I don't know, he just does." She cleared her throat before standing. "It's getting late, I should go to bed. You know, school and all that jazz tomorrow. I should be well rested!" Toby gave her a funny look as she practically ran out of his room and into her own, closing the white door behind her. Releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding, she walked to her window and slid it open, watching the clouds moving quickly past her. It had been like this since Toby could pick up a pencil, he would draw these strange creatures over and over with amazing skill for a boy his age. And for years she would look at his portraits with such longing. Sighing she slid under her covers and flicked off her lamp, leaving her window wide open. "I wish I could remember where I've seen you before." She whispered before slipping into a not so peaceful slumber.

Sarah found herself walking amongst the dark trees that had haunted her dreams and her pictures for years. Her hand pressed lightly against the rough bark as she circled the tree, her eyes closed, listening to the woods around her. It's not so bad, she thought, lifting the skirt of her dark red gown to reveal the indents of her bare feet in the soft soil beneath her. Not once was she ever able to see the forest during the day—to be honest she wasn't quite sure she would even recognize it. Although perhaps she wouldn't recognize this place, no matter the time of day. Sarah knew the forest only by its feel, so maybe it looked nothing like what she saw. All of the time she spent there, she kept her eyes closed, because every time she opened her eyes… she woke up. She never really understood how she could only draw herself in this forest, but not once had she ever been able to truly see it. "It's like I'm blind," she said, softly leaning her head on the trunk of the tree.

"Who's there?" A voice called out from somewhere on the other side of the tree. A gasp escaped her lips as her eyes shot open from the unexpected sound.

Her heart raced as she lay there in her bed, her eyes open and locked on the white ceiling above her. Never before had someone else been in her forest, and even if they had, she had never heard them before. Still on edge, she jumped at the sound of a small knock on her door.

"Sarah? Are you up?" Toby's voice called from the other side of her door. A few seconds passed before he knocked again. "Sarah?"

"Yes, I'm up," she replied once her heart had calmed.

"Good, breakfast is ready." She heard him leave her door before she could respond. Throwing back her covers, she threw on a t-shirt and a pair of worn-out jeans before heading down the stairs.

"HAPPY EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY!" Her family yelled as her foot reached the bottom stair. A smile spread across her face as Irene pulled her to the table. Sure, she and her stepmother didn't always see eye to eye, but she appreciated the effort. Sitting her down Irene brought out a large plate of breakfast food consisting of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and a small mound of strawberries. Thanking all of them, she ate to her heart's content.

"I thought your presents should wait until later this evening, but Toby insisted," her father said when she had finished off her food, giving the boy a small nod. Running off, Toby returned a few minutes later with a rectangular gift wrapped in shiny blue wrapping paper and silver ribbon. Setting it in her lap he urged her to open it. Carefully, Sarah peeled back the tape and gently pulled the wrapping paper from the gift. She gasped as a handsome blonde man lounging under an oak tree stared back at her from the canvas. It was Toby's imaginary man… in her forest. Once she was able to tear her eyes off of the man and look at the rest of the painting, something in the background caught her eye. In the distance, half hidden by a large oak, was a girl, her dark brown hair partly tied up in a complicated style with braids and flowers covering her head. But it wasn't just that—she was wearing a long, dark red, fitted gown. Sarah's eyes widened as she stared at the girl, because her eyes were closed and a small sad smile showed on her face, one hand lifting her skirt, the other placed firmly on the bark of the tree.

"Toby…" She turned her head slightly to her brother, but didn't look at him, unwilling to take her gaze from the girl.

"No need to thank me," he said, playfully smiling at her. "I've had him lounging against that tree done for quite a while now." Pausing, he looked at the painting. "The background though…that was a last minute idea. I woke up early and painted it."

"So that's why the blow-dryer was on at three in the morning," Irene laughed finishing her cup of tea.

"I had to dry it somehow," Toby said in his defense. He pulled at Sarah's arm. "I'm glad you like it, but you have school, remember?"

"Oh. Right." Sarah said distantly, still staring at the painting.

"Actually dear, I called the school," her dad said, looking up from his paper, smiling. "You're apparently sick today."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Sarah exclaimed, hugging him before running up to her room and closing the door once more. Turning she set Toby's gift on her bed and looked about her room for a frame. Pulling an elegant black iron Celtic knot frame from under her bed, she positioned the painting carefully in it before hanging it on a nail above her bed. Sitting herself at the far end of the bed, she examined it once more. It was her dream Toby had painted in the background. Jumping up, she walked over to it. "It was your voice I heard last night, wasn't it?" she asked the blonde man accusingly. Receiving no answer she flopped back down, defeated. "Who are you?"

The man only looked back at her, uninterested.

"I wish you were here in person. Then I could just ask you." She laughed at the idea. "Like that's even possible, you're not real." Stifling another giggle she looked up at him. "But how familiar you look…" She sighed. "I wish you were here right now."

Suddenly, there was a slight popping noise as the room got a tad bit foggy.

"Oh for the love of Fae, not again!" a voice growled. "You would think you would have learned your lesson the first ti—" The speaker was met with a pair of large, surprised brown eyes.

Sarah gazed at the man in front of her before standing up and walking towards him. "You're real?" she asked, amazed, just barely able to feel some of the longer strands of his blonde hair before her hand was swatted away.

"As if you didn't already know I was real," the man said irritatedly, crossing his arms. His eyes widened a bit as he finally caught on. "Wait, you don't know me?"

Sarah cocked her head to one side. "Should I?"

Sarah jumped at his silky laugh.

"This is just precious!" Containing his laughter, he circled her like a vulture. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Stopping in front of her once again he leaned down to be eye level with her. "Not that this hasn't been…entertaining, I have to be going now." Giving her a mock bow, he vanished, leaving a slightly dazed Sarah behind.

"Wha-?…TOBY!" she yelled in a panic. Her brother took a few seconds to come rushing in.

"What is it?" he asked, worried.

"That man." Her hand lifted to point at his painting. "You said he was FAKE, right?"

"Yeah." Without looking at him, Sarah could tell her brother wanted an explanation.

"Well, he was just here."

"I'm sorry…what?" he asked, a look of sheer disbelief on his face.

"That man… was just in my room. Literally!" she said finally turning to him, a slightly crazed look on her face.

"I don't get it," Toby replied slowly

"As in standing right here. Mocking me, no less!" She started to pace the floor. "Saying something about me already knowing who he was."

"Sarah… maybe you should go back to bed," Toby stated, becoming very amused with the whole situation.

"I do not need to go back to bed Toby. All I know is that I wished him to be here so I could ask him who he was, then BAM!" She threw her arms up for effect "Attractive tall blonde man standing in the middle of my room, ranting at me."

Toby looked at her for a minute before he burst into laughter. "You have one crazy imagination!"

She turned her head to glare at him. "Oh shut up, Toby!" Staring at the painting she spoke in a loud clear voice. "I wish you were here in my room again." After a few seconds of nothing happening Toby erupted into laughter once more.

"I'm going back to my room now," he said, holding back giggles. "Happy birthday, sis." And with that he was gone.

Sarah stood in the middle of her room in complete shock. How did that work so well the first time, but not at all the second? With a huff she glared at the man in her painting.

"You must think this SO amusing don't you?" she growled. "You think you're so clever, leaving me to make a fool out of myself like that." Pacing her floor again, she kicked her backpack out of her way, and suddenly feeling powerful she jumped onto her bed and put her face right in front of his. "I wish I was where you are, right now!" she yelled angrily at him.

Sarah gasped as she felt her body collapse in on itself for a few seconds before she landed, not so gracefully, on a very hard stone floor.

"Ok, ow," she said, rubbing the side of her face that had made contact with the cold floor. Lifting her head, she screamed as she found herself a mere few inches away from an ugly dark brown creature. The little thing screamed in return and bolted from the room as fast as its short stubby legs could carry it.

"Would someone care to explain to me why there is a human girl in my throne room?" a voice drawled from behind her. Sarah looked in the direction of the voice, her eyes locking with a pair of mismatched brown and blue ones. "Look who we have here." The man said, a smirk playing on his perfect lips. "Welcome back… Labyrinth Champion."

A/N: So there's chapter 1 as promised, hope you liked it! I'll be working on chapter 2 in between my finals and packing, so maybe, sometime next week? Anyway let me know what you think of the new and improved chapter 1 :D