Author's Note

I'm really excited to start sharing this story with everyone, I've had the idea in my mind for a while now and now that I've started to write it I'm really happy with how it's developing. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it! For anyone following my story New Dreams, I do plan to keep writing that, but since my inspiration for it is a little dry at the moment, I thought I'd write something else to keep me in the flow of writing. This new story is coming to me much more easily at the moment, but I'll definitely go back to New Dreams once I find my inspiration for it again. With all that explained, please enjoy the first chapter!

Chapter One: The Little Red Book

Sarah remembered when she had been given the book, the memory as clear as crystal in her mind.

She had been nine years old, her hair woven into two plaits and tied with simple, old ribbon. The pain of her mother's departure was still raw in her heart as it had only been a month since Linda Williams had run away to a bigger city, determined to have an opportunity to perform on a bigger stage, taking most of their fortune and dignity with her.

Her father had let her explore the little bookshop, although he had warned her they would not be able to afford to buy anything, and had patiently sat in an armchair in a corner of the shop, with her in his lap, for a couple of hours while she read to her heart's content.

It was then that the owner of the bookshop, a friendly man, old enough to be her father's father, had approached them and carefully knelt in front of the arm chair.

Her father had given him a smile and said, "Hello Mr Pratchett."

"Hello Mr Pratchett." Sarah had echoed.

"Hello Sarah," he'd replied, "I have a gift for you." He held a little red book out to her and she saw the golden elaborate letters on the front shine slightly in the light.

Her father had begun to protest, "Mr Pratchett, that's too kind, we can't take -,"

But the shopkeeper had shaken his head and pressed the book into her hands. "Please, I'm happy to give the gift, and I think Sarah will like it."

She had thanked him over and over until they had left the shop, holding the book tightly to her chest, and that night in her small room in the small house they'd had to move into after her mother had left, she'd read late into the night to finish the story, and once she'd finished it she'd spent long moments tracing the letters of the title on the cover, her small fingertips following the elegant letters of the word Labyrinth.

Now, ten years later, she carefully put the book into her back pack, along with all the other necessities for her journey. Her world had grown since that day, and she now knew more than just the small coastal city she had lived in since she was born. She had never actually travelled anywhere, but she had learnt as much as she could at school and taught herself more outside of her lessons. She had lost count of how many books she'd read in her life, she devoured them, always hungry for more knowledge and stories. She had learnt as much as she could, but she had a list of the three most important things she had learnt so far written in the journal that she kept for her most important thoughts and dreams and ideas. They were:

1. To not idolise her mother.

2. That life was not fair, but that did not mean you could not try to make changes.

3. That all the fairy tales she knew, all the stories of magic, fantastical creatures and kingdoms beyond imagination, were true. And that included the story in her little red book.

One of these stories was about the sea that Sarah could see from her bedroom window. They lived quite close to the beach in their small house, and she could hear the waves moving across the sand as she fell asleep every night. But she knew the truth: the sea was not real. Well, there was certainly water there, but it was not the large expanse it appeared to be. Sarah knew that once you stepped into the water, the landscape would change, and you would find yourself facing a new coast and a new land. It had several nicknames, faerie land, the other world, and more, but the city that you first came across when you arrived there was the coastal city of Merroir.

It was a beautiful place, with a bustling market that sold wonderful treasures and trinkets. At least that was what Sarah had heard, she had never actually been herself, but she knew plenty of people that had, a lot of the business of her home town came from trade between the two cities across what was known as the Faux Sea.

But now, she had decided to make the journey across too.

In the past nine years her father had met someone else and had made her Sarah's stepmother. Not long after that, Toby, her half-brother, had come along. It had taken a long time for her to accept this change, since for a while it had just been her and her father against the world, and she had loved it, but then she had found herself having to adjust to these two new people in her life that her father cared about too. And she had not liked it at all, it had been difficult, and she had been difficult as well. But over time she had come to love them both, especially her brother, who was now three years old and sweeter than the peach flavoured chocolates that came across the sea from the other land and were sold in the local sweet shop. They were Sarah's favourites, but they could only afford to buy them once a year on her birthday.

Which was why she was going across the sea. Not for the peach chocolates, but so they could afford more. It had been nine years and their family had gained two more people, but they still lived in the small house and saved every penny they earned just to get by.

But Sarah knew that the story in her little red book was true, she knew that across the Faux Sea, past the city of Merroir and over the hills of the Crystal Valley (named for the water that flowed down in waterfalls looking like hundreds of diamonds spilling over cliffs), was the Goblin Kingdom, within which, at the heart of the Labyrinth there sat the Castle Beyond the Goblin City, where the Goblin King ruled. And she knew that he granted a wish to everyone that completed the great maze.

Sarah was going to get her wish, and she was going to give her family the life they deserved.