Nothing Is What It Seems

I picked up Banned Book Number 3: a novel-length fairy tale called Labyrinth and scanned it. Why did people ban books? A poem about breaking dishes "encourages children to commit acts of violence." A story about an unhappy kid in high school "is too intense and upsetting." Yet another story with an element of the fantastic as "Satanistic."

"What a desolation," I said aloud.

I should introduce myself. My name is Kathy, and my occupation is student. I thought it would be a wonderful idea to do my research project on censorship, focusing on banned books. All it was doing was making me depressed.

I looked down at the page the book was open to.

"But what no one knew was that the Goblin King had fallen in love with the princess and given her certain powers. The princess knew that if she wished it, the Goblin King would take her brother away…."

I laughed to myself and looked around the sterile white dorm room I shared with another girl, not here at the moment.

"I wish the goblins would come and take me away," I said, and taking in the amount of work I still had to do before I could go to bed, added, "Right now."

Then before I knew what I was about, the lights in the room were extinguished, someone cackled, there was a knock at the window, and somebody or something grabbed my leg. I screamed, but the sound was abruptly cut off by the appearance of... well…. He could only be the Goblin King.

He had a lot of blond hair, cut in a way I can't begin to describe, but I liked it. His eyes were blue and well-lined with black, sweeping up towards his brows, shaded with white. He had a slim nose, and a mouth that…. The phrase "a form like Mortal Sin" flashed across my mind. It was almost enough to make me say the hell with everything reasonable and throw myself at him. Even chill-blooded intellectuals like myself have our moments. As it was, I stood there, clasping my hands together and trying to look innocent.

"You're the Goblin King," I said, relieved to note that my voice was fairly normal.

He smiled and inclined his head an inch or so.

"Where am I?"

"Haven't you guessed?" His voice was low and soft, smoky, and sharply accented.

"I'm in the land of the goblins." I looked at the book still in my hands. "No wonder the book was banned."

He took the book out of my hand and looked at it mockingly.

"May I have that back?" I asked.

"No, I think not." He tucked the book under his cloak. "I'll brush up on my reading."

"Why am I here?"

"You asked to be brought here, and what's said is said."

"But I wasn't serious."

He cocked his head to one side. "Weren't you? You weren't happy living the way you were. I can offer you much more than that."

"By turning me into a goblin?"

"No. I think I would prefer you to stay in this form, but if you prefer to make things difficult, you may attempt to solve the Labyrinth."

I turned around to look in the direction he was indicating and was faced with a vast maze with a castle far in the distance.

"It's said so far away," I said to myself.

"It's nearer than you think," the King said in my ear.

I turned my head. We were close enough together that I could see that his hair was tipped with black and a few other colors.

"Or is it? Nothing here is as it seems, Kathy." He brushed my cheek with his gloved hand and pointed at a clock which had magically appeared. "You have thirteen hours to solve the labyrinth, or you will stay here… forever."

And he faded into thin air.

"People come and go so quickly here," I said, but that wasn't funny, so I started down the hill to the walls that made up the Labyrinth.