Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!

Notes: Although I am no stranger to fanfiction & this movie (I own it & watch it like … every night), this will be my first fic for the labyrinth, so it might not start off strong … but I am going to do my best to make it worthy of reading & worthy of the story that inspired it. Thank you for your interest. I will try not to disappoint.

Twenty years after her last adventure, Sarah Williams, now a thirty five year old teacher at a prestigious private school in her home town & things should be right on track, the problem is she hasn't been feeling … right for a while, & what ails her is much bigger then she could ever imagine. PLEASE R & R … thanks.

Thirty-five year old Sarah Williams sat at her desk in her classroom, grading papers. The red pen fell from her loose grasp as she brushed a few ebony tresses of hair that had freed themselves from her ponytail out of her eyes.

"Hey … you still here?" Her old friend, Jamie Collins said as she popped in the door way, Sarah rubbed her weary eyes again. "Mid-terms … I hate mid-terms. When is winter break again?" Jamie looked at her watch. "Offically? It started about five hours ago." She said wryly.

Sarah chuckled humorlessly. "Figures." She said. "Say why don't we bust outta here & have some drinks at Randal's? You can grade the rest of these at home." Jamie suggested, Sarah groaned.

"I always hated the idea of taking work home … it kind of reminds me of when I was in school myself ... even as a teacher I can't get away from homework." She said with a chuckle, Jamie laughed as Sarah shoved the papers in her bag & they headed out.

"So …. Sarah dish me, how are things going with Michael?" Jamie said as she peeled the label off her bottle of beer. Sarah shrugged casually. "Oh, him? We broke up." "What?! Sarah you guys were only dating a few weeks! There is no way you can decide on someone in that short of time!"

Sarah huffed. "I can." Sarah couldn't explain it, but she had always had these … abilities, She somehow knew what other people's intentions were … sometimes even before they did.

"He was only looking for a causal relationship, just a good time … & a good time we had." She said with a wink, Jamie stared. "So he was … using you? From the very beginning? & you knew?" Sarah shrugged as she nodded.

"Girl you've got to teach me how you tell that about a man, because lord knows I have dated me a string of frogs that were clearly never going to be prince's." Jamie said, Sarah's expression darkened as she averted her eyes. "It's not something I can teach."

For the last few years Sarah had become increasingly detached from the world & society. For as far back as she could remember, she never did have many close friends but recently it seemed the distance between her & this world was growing.

Since she was very young, she loved acting out plays from Shakespeare & reciting classic poetry, which put her at odds with most of her peers. Friends came & went, & Jamie was the only constant friend she'd had since childhood. Even as an adult, her peers avoided her unless it was something related to wok.

"I'm thinking of going back to work for the National museum of Literary History again." she blurted out, Jamie sputtered & patted her chest as she choked on the swig of beer she had just taken. "Wh-what?" she managed to choke out.

"I miss being close to the artifacts. It's almost like something is pulling me back there, I have to go, Jamie. I can't explain it, but I just have to go."

"But … you can't just leave your job here! What about the rest of the year & your two weeks' notice?" "I already gave it." Sarah replied, Jamie sat back in shock.

She was used to her friend's quirks but this was a new one for her. She knew Sarah missed working at the museum but she never thought she would leave a promising job for it.

"H-how long have you felt this way?" Jamie asked. "A while … I don't remember exactly how long." Jamie nodded. "Well girl, I'll be sad to see you go, but you gotta do what you gotta do … I guess." She said as she hugged her friend.

As Sarah packed up her apartment in preparation for the movers to come tomorrow she knew she should be feeling sad. This town is where she grew up, it was where her father & little brother, Toby lived, now twenty two was going to the local college & she was leaving it all to move across the country to a city she hadn't lived in since her early twenties.

She had worked at the museum as a tour guide among other things to put herself through college, the pay was crap but the job itself was amazing. She never tired of telling visitors about the artifacts & scripts.

Her father had been beside himself when she had gotten the acceptance letter from Columbia, if it hadn't been for her scholarship paying most of the way, she knew she wouldn't have been able to afford to go.

She maintained a perfect GPA throughout her college career, & upon graduation, she was invited to come back home & teach Honors' English at one of the most prestigious private schools in the state.

At the time she was excited, a great paying job with excellent benefits didn't just fall into your lap like this every day. Of course the reputation that preceded her didn't hurt either.

All of the other teachers went to great schools, it was a requirement that you had to go to a certain caliber of university & graduate with a certain GPA for your application to even be considered, so Sarah seemingly waltzing in with such ease understandably rubbed a lot of her peers the wrong way.

She would miss the teaching aspect of it, she loved the idea of being partly responsible for the education of the future generation, a task in which she placed the upmost amount of importance on.

It was another reason she was leaving, she promised herself that if she couldn't teach with the passion she had started out with, then she would quit, because to her there was nothing worse than a teacher who didn't want to be there.

Sarah finished packing the last of her things, she backed up against her bed & flopped down onto it.

"Hey! Why the long face?" a familiar gruff voice broke the silence, Sarah grinned in spite of everything. "Hey, Hoggle." She said as she rose to sit in front of her vanity. It was the same one she had since childhood.

"I'm going back to New York tomorrow." She said, Hoggle didn't bother to try & talk her out of it, he knew very well by now that once Sarah Williams set her mind to something, nothing could change it.

"Who are you talking to …? Ah! Lady Sarah I presume!" Sir Didymus said as he pushed his way into the mirror, Ambrosius barked excitedly as he licked the mirror's glass. "Get off you filthy mutt!" Hoggle said as he pushed them away, Sir Didymus' face was replaced by Ludo's. "Hi Sarah!" He said as he waved happily.

"I'm glad to see you are all doing well, Hoggle's smile became increasingly strained. "Uh … yeah! You know us never better!" He said, his voice a little too chipper & she was instantly suspicious.

"Except for the dreadful weather, I can't even remember a day where it didn't rain & let me tell you … the smell of wet dog is NOT pleasant!" Sir Didymus said thoughtfully before Hoggle could shove him away.

"Quiet you fool!" she heard him hiss, something stirred in her brain's deep subconscious, a deep worry at the mention of rain in her friends' home … it meant something … but she wasn't sure what. She had a terrible feeling that it wasn't a good sign.

"Oh you know the underworld; we sometimes get some crazy weather down here!" Hoggle interjected quickly. "Mmm." Sarah muttered, more to herself then to him. "Listen boys, its late & I have a three thousand mile trip to make tomorrow so I'm going to try to get some sleep." Hoggle smiled. "You know where we'll be if you need us." He said with a wink.