Disclaimer : I do not own anything recognisable here. 'Nuff said.

A/N : A guide to reading...

"Blah" - spoken

"Blah" - spoken with emphasis

Blah - thoughts/internal monologue

Enjoy!

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It was the middle of a cool, autumn afternoon. The breeze was light and crisp, tossing and twirling the dry leaves that fell in red, orange and yellow hues. It was quiet, too- only the occasional hum of a passing car disturbing the peaceful serenity to be found here.

The young woman sat at the base of an old spruce tree, her knees close to her chest. Dark hair hung down in curtains on either side of her face, hiding her from the world. Intense blue eyes pored over the minuscule print of the book on her lap, greedily drinking in every word. The wind lifted her hair, causing her to brush it out of her eyes impatiently. Any passers-by could be forgiven for mistaking her for a statue otherwise, so little did she move.

"Come away o human child, to the waters and the wild," she read softly, her tone almost reverent. "With a faery hand in hand; for the world's more full of weeping, than you can understand." Her voice was low and very distinctive- few had trouble picking her out from a crowd. Her father told her she could probably sing the birds out of the trees, but she had never tried. For all her love of fantasy, she was a practical girl, as full of contrasts as the world she built for herself.

The sound of the screen door opening jolted her out of the world of words. "Anna, come on! We are going to be late!" Toby Williams had grown up to be a dashing man- blonde-haired and blue-eyed, with a permanent twinkle in his eyes that spoke of many things seen and unseen. He was a well-liked man, running a medium-sized law firm in his father's footsteps. His beloved Lucy had wanted children, but some unforeseen complications had prevented them from having any. As a result, they had adopted Anna...and it was a cruel twist of fate that robbed him of his wife barely two years later. The scars were only just starting to heal- not that he ever told Anna so, but then again, Toby suspected he didn't have to.

Anna looked up from her book to where her father stood on the back porch, his jovial smile eliciting a small one of her own. Getting to her feet she dusted herself off absently as she walked towards him. She was dressed all in black, as usual- black long-sleeved shirt, black jeans and boots. Tucking her book under one arm she pulled an elastic band off her wrist and tied her hair back in a loose ponytail, a few strands escaping to frame her face. "Ready, Dad," she said simply.

An hour and a half later, a short, flesh-coloured ball of energy barrelled straight into Anna just as she was getting out of the car, squealing at the top of his five-year-old lungs.

"ANNA'S HERE! ANNA'S HERE! ANNA'S HERE!!" Anna only just remembered to turn her wince into a smile as she looked down at her youngest cousin.

"Hey, Bobby! My, look how you've grown!" Picking him up she spun him around a few times, much to the little boy's laughter and her own. Toby beamed as well, carrying a large box wrapped in silver and blue paper up to the porch of a white Victorian-style house where a woman stood, hands on her hips and a smile on her face and in her green eyes.

"Sarah! How are you?" he greeted her, giving her a one-armed hug. Sarah, his half-sister, beamed back and kissed him on the cheek. A lot had changed since...that night, one of them being that they had become much closer than even full-blooded siblings would be, much to Irene and Robert's surprise and pleasure.

"I'm doing great! Thanks so much for coming," she replied. Toby shrugged easily.

"As if we'd miss Lily's birthday party. She's, what, sixteen now?" Sarah nodded.

"Yep!" She was distracted by sudden screaming laughter- Anna was tickling Bobby everywhere she could reach, and the little boy was writhing on the ground in delighted agony. Toby's smile turned a little wistful- he hadn't seen Anna quite so open in a long time...so long, in fact, he had almost forgotten she was only nineteen years old. She behaves too much like an ancient grandmother, he thought.

The sudden slamming of an upstairs window drew his attention, up to where he caught a glimpse of long, dark hair vanishing behind a curtain. Sympathetic blue eyes met suddenly weary green. "Still having those days, huh?" Sarah sighed, nodding again, but with a great deal less enthusiasm and more sadness.

"She's angry because I wouldn't let her go to a party with her friends. Really, Tobes, sometimes I just don't know what to do with her..."

Anna heard the adults talking, but continued playing with Bobby as if she did not. Lily had never liked her, seeing her as a rival in everything despite the fact she had no desire in the least to compete with the younger girl for anything. On the other hand, Lily didn't really like any of her family members- a phase Anna was fervently grateful she never went through.

"Anna! Will you keep an eye on Bobby for me? I still need to get the cake done for the party," Sarah called, Toby having gone inside to put the birthday girl's present away. Anna smiled and nodded.

"Sure thing, Aunt Sarah." The older woman vanished inside, leaving Anna and a now breathless Bobby on the front lawn. Picking the little boy up Anna carried him around the house to the backyard, where they proceeded to play a rather vigorous game of tag.

Up in her room, Lily Thomas scowled as she saw her cousin and uncle arrive. She was Sarah's replica in every way...multiplied by a factor of ten. She was fiery, headstrong, stubborn...and incredibly spoilt. Everything just had to be done her way, or she would throw a temper tantrum or sulk for days or scream at her mother...sometimes all three at once. The difference? She had none of her mother's peaceful temperament, something Sarah found particularly trying, especially now that she had reached those dreaded teenage years.

"Stupid people who can't mind their own stupid business," she muttered. "I hate them...I hate them all!" Thanks to them, her mother had forbidden her to go out. Thanks to them, her friends would think she was a lame wimp for staying home to celebrate her birthday with her family like a good little girl. Angrily she threw one of her books at the wall, following it swiftly with a kick to the wastepaper basket near her desk that was, mercifully, empty. Her room was cluttered, decorated in hues of blood red and black with several posters of various metal bands plastered to the walls. It was in vain that Sarah had tried to get her little girl interested in fantasy, like she had been- Linda was just too active and headstrong to sit still and listen to fairy tales for long.

The sounds of laughter filtered in through the partially open window, and despite herself she looked out again to see her little brother being tickled by that horrid cousin of hers, Lana or whatever her name was. Lily had not been pleased when her little brother took a much greater liking to her cousin than to his own sister, and the thought sent a surge of fresh rage through her veins causing her to slam the window shut and pull the curtains closed. Just as quickly as it came, however, the feeling melted away to be replaced by a sudden, deep sorrow.

"It's not fair!" she said, dashing away the tears roughly with the back of her hand. "It's just not fair!" She threw herself on the bed at the last, burying her face in the pillow and dissolving into piteous sobs. At that point, she hated everyone and everything.

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Lily didn't leave her room for the entire day.

Sarah had tried to get her to come down- several times, in fact- but her entreaties were greeted at first with silence, and then blasted metal music, and finally Lily shouting at her to go away. In the end, Anna, Toby, Sarah, Bobby and Gary- Sarah's husband- sat down to a rather subdued birthday dinner sans the birthday girl. Toby had attempted to keep things light-hearted, cracking a few jokes, but his efforts were met with strained chuckles and he finally ceased when Anna gave him a look. After dinner, Toby suggested taking Sarah and Gary out for the evening, to which both adults agreed readily. Anna did not have to be told to baby-sit the younger two, and it was with a smile that she waved them off.

"Anna, can you read me a story?" Bobby asked, looking wide-eyed and innocent in his blue striped pyjamas. Anna smiled, ruffling his hair.

"Alright. What do you want me to read?"

"Um..." he looked at the dark wooden bookshelf for a minute, thinking about which book he wanted her to read, then finally settled on a slim volume with yellowed pages and a red velvet cover. "This one." Anna looked at the title, emblazoned in gold: The Labyrinth. She smiled, remembering how Aunt Sarah read this to her once, and Anna had been puzzled as to why she kept changing the words as she read- until she told her the real story of her journey through the Labyrinth.

"Are you sure, Bobby? You know your mother doesn't like you reading stories like this," she teased. Bobby nodded with a cheeky grin.

"But you won't tell her...will you?" he replied with puppy dog eyes. Laughing, Anna relented. Tucking him in his medieval-themed bed in his bedroom, Anna sat down on the edge of the bed and opened the book to begin reading.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess who lived with her wicked stepmother..."

It wasn't long before the little boy was fast asleep, lulled by Anna's soothing voice that lowered in volume until she finally stopped, tenderly stroking his hair. Perhaps it was the lack of a mother that caused her to develop such a maternal side, but she bonded with children far better than anyone else her age did. Pushing the thought aside she put the book on the nightstand, leaving the door slightly ajar as she headed to her aunt's room next door to watch some television.

Lily heard the adults leave, and saw the opportunity to get some food- she was hungry. Sneaking downstairs was no trouble, and she found the leftovers of dinner that she popped into the microwave to be reheated. She was about to sit down and dig in when Anna suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"That wasn't very nice, you know," she said softly. Lily stiffened and turned to fix her with a glare.

"What do you want? Haven't you ruined my life enough?" she demanded angrily. Anna raised an eyebrow in response. Such melodrama.

"Ruined your life? And just how have I 'ruined your life'?"

"If you didn't come Mom would have let me go out with my friends, instead of having some stupid dinner here!" Anna exhaled slowly and shook her head. There was no reasoning with her cousin, and for a moment she wondered if it really was worth getting to know such a brat. She left Lily in the kitchen and went back upstairs, taking her collection of Yeats' poems with her. Outside, a storm was brewing, black clouds gathering and lightning flashing white against the darkness. Anna glanced out the window, and shuddered.

She couldn't shake the feeling something was about to go horribly, horribly wrong.

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So...how was it? Good? Bad?..Terrible? Please, I need to know! For my muse's sanity, if not mine...though I do wish he'd help out a little more. ~sighs~ Goblin Kings. Can't live with 'em, can't write without 'em. Such a pity...oh, and I apologise beforehand if it seems I've made the OCs too 'black and white', as it were. The relationship dynamics will be fixed over the course of the story...more shades of grey, for one thing. And remember...

'Please leave a contribution in the little box!'