This is a Halloween story, not sure how many chapters there will be or when I'll finish but I hope you'll enjoy it!

Sarah whistled as she walked to pick Toby up from school. Her hours ended earlier that day than usual and she offered Karen to go pick Toby up, excited to see the boy.

"SARAH!" Toby ran towards Sarah, nearly knocking her over. "I didn't know you were picking me up!"

"Well I got off early and couldn't pass the - Ew, Toby!"

Toby was having a nosebleed and it got all over her new sweater that Karen had bought for her this chilly October. Toby sheepishly scooted back. "Sorry."

"Eh, no harm done. You've been getting a lot of these lately, haven't you?" Sarah brought out a tissue and handed it to him. "The air is really dry."

"Is that you, Sarah Williams?"

Sarah turned to see one of her old teachers, Mr. Peterson. She awkwardly tried to cover up the bloodstained sweater with her hand. "Hi Mr. Peterson!" He was her band teacher in middle school but was also teaching music classes in the elementary school at the same time. Hence how he knew Toby.

"Looks like Toby got another nosebleed." He said to her so Toby wouldn't hear and feel embarrassed. "How are you doing?"

"I'm well!" She beamed. "I graduated from NYU in microbiology and a minor in chemistry, and now I'm working at the biotech company downtown."

"Wow, it doesn't surprise me that you're so prestigious. Whatever happened to being an actress and a musician?" He asked her.

Sarah shrugged. "I loved doing both, but while in college, I realized how much I would hate it as a full time job. It's so easy to lose the passion you so craved and instead you worry about so many other things. I had a hard time enjoying music or even watching shows because all I could think about was how I would act or think or whatever. I'll go back to playing music or acting one of these days for fun, but overall I'm glad that I didn't pursue it as a career."

"That's very wise of you." He said. "So why biology and chemistry?"

"I had a knack for solving problems and coming up with new techniques." She grinned.

It was true. In the Labyrinth, she had learned quite a bit about thinking outside the box and reasoning things through. It didn't mean that her passion for fantasy and the arts faded, but she felt she'd rather not do it full time. She didn't tell anyone, but she would write short stories in her free time.

Biology and chemistry fascinated her because it explained the world around her. And through understanding, more discoveries could be made. It was a win-win situation to her.

"I'm hoping to work at the company for a while, save up money while living with my parents. Then maybe go to grad school to either get a masters or a PhD program if possible."

"Well, good luck in all your ambitions." He said to her. He glanced over at Toby sitting on a ledge and swinging his legs. "I guess you better go, your brother has a lot of energy."

"I guess I should." She laughed. "See you later, Mr. Peterson!"

Sarah held Toby's hand and he hummed a song that she had never heard before.

"And baby said, Dance magic dance!" Toby kicked a rock so hard it went flying.

"What song is that?" Sarah asked him. "Something Mr. Peterson taught you?"

"Nah, I heard it when I was a baby." Toby told her.

Sarah made a face but shrugged. Kids said weird stuff all the time.

"We talked about our favorite books today in class." Toby told her. "It was really fun and I got to share mine."

"That's wonderful." Sarah beamed. Toby had been a fast reader. "What books did you all discuss? And what's your favorite book?"

"A lot of people liked the Ramona books or Nancy Drew. I really like Encyclopedia Brown but my favorite is The Labyrinth!"

Sarah's face turned sheet white. "W-What?"

"It's a story about a princess who saves her brother from the goblin king. He's the bad guy, but I don't think he's that bad. He loves her."

Sarah felt really uneasy about this. She had never discussed the story to Toby and the book had been kept in her room. "Where did you find that book?"

"In the book shelf in the living room." Toby said. "I like the story because I think he knows that he wasn't very nice to her after she told him she had no power over him but she also knows to love her brother."

Sarah never thought of it that way before, the idea that maybe the goblin king could've seen the err of his ways. Sure, she wasn't perfect and she learned that, but it wasn't really fair of him to just yell at her and tell her he did everything when nothing made sense. Why couldn't he just explain things to her instead of making her confused?

She had thought of the Labyrinth daily. She called her friends and nothing happened. She didn't try to call the king, afraid that he hated her. Or even worse, that we would never call.

She would have doubted the whole thing happened had it not been for some artifacts left behind. A silver leaf and flower on a ribbon from her hair in the ballroom dream, a feather of a barn owl in Toby's old room, and a perfect crystal. Like a treasure, she placed all of those and her music box in a special jewelry box that Karen had given her for her 16th birthday.

She had a stuffed fiery, a Ludo doll, and many more things she had prior to that fateful meeting. What was the book really about? Why did she have it?

They were questions she wanted an answer to but she also was too afraid to even think about them.

"Sar, look at that."

Sarah snapped out her thoughts and saw Toby pointing to a house. "Yeah, it's the abandoned house. What about it?"

"I went there sometimes." He said. "Just to go exploring. There's goblins inside who want to play with me."

Sarah had a million things on her mind. She was about to tell Toby to not associate with the goblins. Not because they were bad, but because they were clumsy and could cause harm (like when the king sent an army after her). "Toby-"

"Race ya!" He took off running to the house.

"TOBIAS WILLIAMS!" Sarah yelled after him. She ran after him and panicked at seeing the house.

Something felt off about this place and she didn't know why.

Toby walked into the house and disappeared.

"Ugh, this place gives me the creeps." She stared at it. "Toby! Come out now!"

No response.

The house was over 100 years old and why no one took it down was a mystery. It was two stories high, its white paint was peeling off too.

"Ugh." Sarah marched up the steps. If anything was going to trigger Toby's nose bleed besides the dry weather, it would definitely be the amount of dust inside. "Toby!"

The moment she stepped into the doorway, her head started to spin. She saw a flash of lime green energy hit her and she fell backwards out of the house.

The last thing she saw were two bright, orange eyes.