There were a lot of fallacies regarding the general nature of how a Goblin City was actually run. Like any other metropolis the goblin Denizens took pride in their various trades which consisted of but weren't limited to metal and leather crafting, the manufacturing of spirits, and the tending of both chickens and hogs. There was also a deep sense of culture within the city; although in all fairness you often had to be either a goblin or a child to appreciate ballads about farting and epic stories depicting conquests over who was going to eat the last sweet roll. Believe it or no Goblin culture was chalk full of rich and undoubtedly colorful history, fashions, music and social oddities of all sorts. One just had to live there to know it.
Then of course there was the castle itself; a magnificent sight to behold and a social utopia in its own right. The castle, when not being magically manipulated for the sake of defense, was vast and kept largely in working order. Most of the goblins that resided within its walls where a little bit more refined then their other brethren, a little more articulate as well if not always all together intelligent.
At the center of it all was Jareth. The Goblin King. Regardless of what anyone actually thought about his personality, Jareth made for an effective and efficient ruler. That was his job after all; ruling over the goblins and by association the very labyrinth itself. Or at least, this was what most people understood his purposes within the goblin kingdom to me. Only Jareth himself knew the scope of what was and what was not true. Nevertheless, Jareth took pride in his perceived position as well as his vast responsibilities. Maintaining a working Labyrinth along with governing a kingdom wasn't as easy as it might have seemed. There was always some part of the vast maze under construction as the stone pathways often had to be repaired or refashioned due to natural ware and tear.
Since nearly a quarter of the Labyrinth was made up of hedges, small lawns, and gardens; Gnomes had to be regularly brought in to reshape and manicure the green areas as goblins by nature weren't really inclined towards gardening. It took a lot of work to maintain a place that, for all logical intents and purposes, most intelligent beings would never willingly step a foot into. But in a way...That was the greater beauty of it all.
Yet for all that Jareth had accomplishing he was still just one mortal man. Oh yes. Jareth was quite mortal indeed, despite the rumors that were scattered throughout the Underground claiming otherwise. If he was somewhat magically endowed due to the nature of his position, his illusionist abilities were secondary to the man who actually possessed them.
At current the Goblin King was out of house. Flying no doubt as he always did in the early morning before the sun had yet to fully rise off the horizon line. While Jareth's crystals were effective when monitoring one thing at a time, they lacked the ability to present the greater picture that was the Labyrinth as a whole. For that Jareth was much keener to observing things for himself from the sky. There was also the escape his morning flights allowed. Jareth did not leave the confines of the Labyrinth often as his presence was often in such high demand. His morning flight was often the only chance the Goblin King got to have a moment to him self and even then his trips were often cut short by the demands of his people.
The present morning was no exception.
No sooner had Jareth just begun to relax and enjoy himself did the mysterious magical link that connected the Goblin King the the more private area of his domain began to tingle and demand his attention. It was sort of like having an annoying internal buzzer that told Jareth when he was being summon back to the castle either by the Goblins or someone else. While Jareth could technically ignore the summoning if he wished to in this case, his sense of responsibility wouldn't allow him to ignore the intrusion and since his mornings were almost always guaranteed to be interrupted anyway Jareth was inclined to simply cut his flight short.
It took only seconds for the Goblin King to return to the throne room of the castle which was actually a large rectangular reception hall and enthroning area different from the smaller circular observation room he had once used to observe the whereabouts of a mortal girl who had been stupid enough to get caught up in a fairy enchantment. It wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last. The throne room was mostly empty and minimally decorated. While Jareth kept the castle in good working order he was not the type to drape his surroundings in opulence nor was there any need to clutter the place up with to much furniture since the goblins were notoriously hard on things and it was best to give them little ammo to playfully attack each other with or destroy in the celebration of their goblin revelries.
Flying in swiftly through a high up window the form of the barn owl landed before the high backed throne that was situated on a low dais within the room. Just before the owls claws made contact the owls form shifted into the Goblin King practically right in front of the guest whose presence had summoned him.
"Mim! What, may I ask, are you doing here?" Jareth inquired in a annoyed and menacing manner.
The doe eyed curly haired strawberry blond woman who dressed in a almost obscenely low cut cotton candy pink gown jumped back from where she stood when she turned her face idly only to suddenly find an annoyed looking Goblin King grimacing at her from the atop the step of the dais where he no doubt had appeared.
"Oh! Your Majesty, can't a lady make a social call?" Mim instinctually stuck her long thin wand uncharacteristically behind her back as if she was afraid that Jareth might grab it and snap it in two if he got too annoyed with her.
The worry wasn't exactly unfounded since Jareth certainly wouldn't have tolerated Mim or anyone else dangling anything in his face.
"I'm here on formal business anyway. You know, there's rumors that you're becoming quite sedate. I'm here to tell you that the High Council is getting rather concerned over your lack of contribution. Human's need us Jareth, and all of us are expected to eventually pay our dues. Don't you think you've been sitting around in this dump with your little pets moping long enough?"
"First of all Mim, the High Council has no jurisdiction over what I do or do not do with my time. Unlike you and many others of our race, I do not merely live to offer wayward advice and assistance to passing human's stupid enough to get themselves into magical and melodramatic situations. My purpose is to govern this kingdom among other things and I take those tasks very seriously." Jareth muttered pointedly at the women whom he did not particularly like.
"Secondly, the goblins are not pets. They are powerful magical beings that must be tended to and given structure. You will treat my subjects with respect, Mim; or kindly get out of my domain. And anyway why are YOU playing messenger? Your own track record assisting human's is not exactly pristine. I find it hard to believe someone from the High Council sent you of all people to lecture me." Jareth challenged still standing and staring daggers at her.
"Oh, your majesty. How your words wound me." Mim muttered without sincerity as she swooned slightly and placed the back of her hand against her forehead. "I'm just passing on rumors out of courtesy. Excuse me if you'd rather not hear them. As for your...Subjects. I meant no offense. Please excuse me."
At this Mim bowed deeply in pardon. Caring little for whether Jareth accepted it or not.
"Anyway, I didn't come here to lecture you although I would much appreciate if you'd magic up a seat or pillow or something. I am a guest, after all."
Mim waited for Jareth to oblige her refusing to continue there conversation or leave until he provided her with an appropriate level of hospitality.
Jareth ultimately appeased her using one of his crystals to manifest a flowery pink flowered tuffet with gold cord before he took his own seat upon the throne.
"Thank you. I'm glad to see that wasn't so hard." Mim said before tip toeing around the tuffet and settling upon it. "I've volunteered to extend to you a message from the High Council. Its your turn to host the the Council's Centennial Ball. You do have a kingdom after all and in this case you are obligated to accept. Here."
Mim produced a large envelope from her skirts and tossed it in the Goblin King's lap. As she did this she also grabbed part of a gold tassel hanging from the back of the tuffet and ripped it off, palming it in her wand hand as she fluttered her eyes as the Goblin King in a satisfied manner.
"Well," Mim said on an exhale. "I think that about does it for me. I'll be going now I think. Busy busy. I simply can't wait for you to make good on the Council's demands. You know I'll be there. With bells on."
At that Mim winked at the Goblin King before she stood and swished her wand once in a circle in front of her. Her presence popping in a explosion of pink tinted sugar scented bubbles leaving only her sugar sweet scent in the air and the abused tuffet behind.
Jareth was glad to see the the pink monstrosity go. Although he didn't consider Mim to be a threat or anything other than an annoyance, Jareth didn't trust her unexpected appearance and was wary of why the woman was bothering to grace his door. Jareth plucked the envelop Mim had thrown at him out of his lap and frowned at it. There could be no mistaking its origins or authenticity and the implications unnerved him.
Mim was correct.
If the High Council of the Goodneighbor's were commanding that Jareth host the Centennial Ball then he could not refuse them. Part of his custodianship of the Labyrinth and the Goblin Kingdom dictated that he offer up his holdings for their use. The problem was that Jareth didn't like the idea of anyone having such unregulated access to his domain. There was powerful secrets hidden within the Goblin Kingdom that would prove difficult to protect if he had to contend with alot of high minded magical folks of various abilities and influences tromping about the castle, the goblin city, and perhaps the Labyrinth itself.
Jareth had never enjoyed political intrigue and balls always seemed to bring out trouble. Besides the various Good and undoubtedly Bad Neighbor's that would be in attendance, invitations would also be extended to the far off surrounding kingdoms who were more likely to secretly squabble over power and influence. Apart of Jareth did not savor the possibility of the Goblin Kingdom being included in the folds of anyone else's plans.
The Goblin kingdom was a neutral sovereignty for a reason and Jareth intended to keep it that way. Not bothering to open the formal notice Jareth signed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand hoping in vein that he could wish this part of his responsibilities away.
As for Mim, being what essentially amounted by human standards to be a Fairy Go(o)d Mother; Mim was gifted with certain advantages other magical folk were not. Namely Mim had the ability to transport at will between the magical world of the Underground and the Above world of humanity. To be sure she took full advantage of this ability.
Mim greatly enjoyed humans. She found many of their vices to be appealing to her and since she had no concern for money or status she could more or less selfishly use her presence in the human world to entertain herself. Among other things Mim enjoyed a good party and she liked vain vices of beauty and glamour. But being what she was was not all fun and games. Technically Mim was a Go(o)d Mother and there was an expectation that she occasionally use her powers and abilities to guide certain human's down a better path.
It was basically the whole Cinderella story. Every century or so Mim was supposed to answer the call of some unfortunate sap and liberate them from their earthly woes. While the mechanics were a little vague if Mim didn't do it she ran the risk of having her powers dwindle and her magical influence taken away from her. A fate Mim had no intention of ever submitting to. It was bad enough that she could only stay in the human realm for a limited time every day if she didn't want to get temporarily trapped and reduced to the abilities of a mortal for an entire lifetime.
Mim had been there and done that and it generally was not an experience that she was eager to duplicate. Even if she had eventually coped and even enjoyed the experience after awhile.
The Cafe she ran in Boston had originally been a genuine source of income and shelter when Mim had accidentally lingered too long and gotten stuck for the duration of a natural human lifetime in the Above Ground. Now it served more as a nostalgic reminder of her time in Boston as well as a kind of trap for unsuspecting humans Mim had a mind to "help". And sometimes, just sometimes, Mim liked to cause a little trouble of her own just to spice things up. The rules of her kind did not stipulate that she couldn't cause as much trouble as she cured. And sometimes causing a problem was much more amusing than being the solution.
Mim smiled to herself as she popped into existence in the back room of her cafe shop. Instead of the cotton candy pink gown she'd worn while visiting the Goblin Kingdom, Mim was now dressed in jeans and a peach colored bodice over a transparent cream colored undershirt that was gathered at the shoulders. The tight jean and low cut bodice was bordering on inappropriate for the workplace but since Mim was the boss she dressed as she liked.
"Come on, you stupid thing." Mim muttered as she held up the golden cord shed stolen from the tuffet she'd been sitting on to the light and shook it once and then twice in her hand.
After about half a minute the cord suddenly transformed back into a round clear crystal. Innocent looking and flawless.
"Bingo." Mim whispered in satisfaction. "You should fetch a pretty penny to the discerning eye of some unsuspecting schmuck. And with any luck Im bound to have a little fun."
Mim pulled a handkerchief from between her breasts and briefly polished the crystal before she hovered to the front display window and set the crystal on a small silk cushion with a small sign in front of it reading "BEST OFFER". Mim then moved over to the shops door and turned the hanging sign over to OPEN.
Now the only thing left to do was to wait.
While Mim waited in the above to stir up her own mischief, Jareth spent the rest of the morning making plans.
His first order of business was to discuss plans for the castle itself. Besides the trivial importance of writing up invitations and hand picking who was and was not to be formally invited, Jareth had to figure out what he was going to do about the goblins themselves. While typically unorganized when left to their own devices, Goblins had an amazing ability to organize when they were given a unifying task. On some level the species had a sort of collective voice and mind space that could be tapped into. such as the time Sarah Williams activated the Goblin's magic and awoke them from their individual slumber. The taking of Toby Williams had been masterfully organized and had had little to do with Jareth himself until after the fact. In that situation Jareth had simply been a messenger and the situation had not really involved him directly until Sarah Williams had entered into a bargain with him specifically.
When it was warranted the goblins could focus their attentions and produce impressive feats of theatrics among other things. Yet in general they were perceived as stupid, foolish, and dirty creatures. Likened in some places to vermin. Hosting the ball presented the unique challenge of staving off such catty presumptions. Of which Jareth knew there would be many both secret and obvious. The solution of course was to enchant the goblins in the same way he had once enchanted them when he's preyed on the inner desires of Sarah Williams dreams. So long as people were in the castle the goblins would take human form. An enchantment that was limited to the castle itself. Jareth was not made of magic after all, and while the power of the Labyrinth amplified his abilities greatly even the Goblin King had his limitations. Jareth would have to anchor the enchantment to the castle itself since he did not have the stamina to uphold the spell by himself. But in doing so he also wouldn't have direct control over the spell at all times. In any case it couldn't be helped.
There was also the matter of consulting the Labyrinth's advising council. A task he was not particularly looking forward to simply because it was a nuisance to bring all of them together at once especially over such matters as he had to discuss with them.
Sighing Jareth summoned his Labyrinth guards and ordered them to summon the Labyrinth Council to assemble as soon as possible. With his luck the business was going to waste the entire day.
While the Goblins preceded to do his bidding, Jareth got up out of his throne and made his way to his observation tower. Unlike the goblins who scurried about the castle quite quickly, Jareth used his abilities to get to places in the castle at will. while it still typically required him to walk through an entrance, he could more or less come and go wherever he wanted in the castle. The observation room was a favorite place for the goblin king because the high window allowed him to look out over the maze. For once the space was more or less empty with the exception of a goblin or two that had passed out or fallen asleep ans it was unlikely Jareth's presence would disturb them. Steping easily over a goblin curled near the center of the room Jareth went to his window perch and summoned a morning dove.
Most of the advising council could be summoned from various places in the Labyrinth. The only exception was the White Huntress who was technically not a denizen of the Goblin Kingdom. Jareth would send word to Meriel himself as they in some ways governed their own domains and therefore were more qualified compared to the others. Meriel almost never set foot in Jareth domain, Mostly on principle. She was an aloof creature and one of the few people Jareth treated with reserved respect and tolerance mostly because Meriel was just as formidable as he was and it was important that he maintain a working relationship with her. Removing a small not from his sleeve requesting her presence, Jareth gave the note to the morning dove and quietly requested that the animal be so kind as to deliver it to her. The dove seemed to have to problem with this and took off graciously into the sky.
Jareth smilled to himself just then, wishing he had time to do the same but his business was too pressing and he had no other option but to return to his throne room and wait for his guests to arrive.
Joby Jones was not a morning person, but she had spent most of the last eight years waking up at six o' clock to tend to plants and create backyard wonders. As soon as her alarm went off, she smacked the snooze button reflexively. She rolled over with a groan, pulling the sheets over her head in dismay. Spring landscaping at the Millers, she thought. The Millers had the biggest yard of her company's clients, and they requested her services quarterly. She hated the Spring session most of all because it entailed two days worth of hauling, digging, clearing dead brush, laying mulch, and shaping the yard to the Millers' exact specifications. They favored her work because she wasn't afraid to suggest her own ideas, and her imagination could create a scene that bordered magical.
Finally, she managed to get herself in a vertical position and up on her feet. She quickly ran a comb through a mess of curly, black hair and smoothed it back with an elastic headband. She slid into a pair of grass-stained cutoffs feeling grateful that the long winter had finally passed for good. She threw on a tye dye tee shirt with "Carroll Creations" emblazoned on the front. She picked up a little red book entitled The Labyrinth and slid it into her back pocket. She recently received it as a gift from one of her favorite authors and icons, Sarah Williams, and she fell in love with the story. She could definitely see how it inspired Williams to construct her own fantastic series about how a girl lost in a magical world found her own power. Joby took the book everywhere with her, and would take occasional breaks thumbing through its pages and lingering over her favorite parts.
She tied the laces of her dirt-coated work boots and ran out the door. Luckily, her company was a short walk away, and they provided her with a truck during work hours. She checked her phone noticing that she had left a little earlier than usual. A tremendous yawn signaled that coffee was in order. Just then, a little cafe' appeared out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't remember noticing it before despite her daily trek. She trotted across the street hoping it was open.
Sure enough, the OPEN sign blinked in bright red neon, but before Joby had reached the door, the crystal on display caught her attention. She paused, her head slightly tilting, eyes alit with curiosity. She pulled out her book, grinning as she reread a scene in which a goblin king had used a crystal sphere to spy on the heroine as she traversed his dizzying lair. Crystal balls weren't the things of goblin royalty in her world though, they were associated with...fortune tellers! She entered the cafe with a little burst of energy. She beamed at the owner like she knew her as well as a neighbor.
"Hi! Could I get a coffee to go and...well I'm not really looking to buy, but I was wondering who is selling that crystal ball? This might sound silly, but I was just wanted to know if the seller does readings...you know, like fortunes."
She bit her lip. It really was a silly question to ask, but she couldn't deny her love of anything close to resembling real life fantasy. Clairvoyants definitely fit the bill.
Uh huh.
It wasn't even noon and Mim already had her first good candidate. The dark haired girl practically seemed out of time and space and Mim could detect a heightened kind of imaginative thinking that made her finger tips twitch with anticipation.
"Good morning." Mim drawled as she took her sweet time filling Joby's order. "That crystal there is something quite special. While there are of course imitators out there, other crystals of similar appearance, I guarantee you'll never find one in this world quiet like it. It was a...Contribution, from a private owner. Quite the magician I'm told. They say that if you take it and turn it just so in your hand the crystal will show you wondrous things. Things quite beyond ones imagination. As for the seller, that would be me. Madam Mim, at your service."
Mim passed Joby her coffee.
"My you are a pretty thing. What could a girl like you possible need to know about her future? The world, as they say, is at your fingertips. Or, at least, it should be. As it happens I do give readings, free of charge for the time it will take to drink your coffee. If that is, you have the time."
Joby's mind carried on steps ahead of Mim's descriptions as she pictured some ancient bearded wizard peering into the sphere and whispering incantations. She imagined a flamboyant stage magician who practiced real magic in private. She thought of the story that she still grasped in her hands and fondly caressed the spine with her finger. She refocused and tried to reign in an air of scoffing disbelief. Of course she knew that the ball had no true inherent power, but she was also well aware that her curiosity often got the better of her and would have her asking questions long after the time she was supposed to start pulling weeds. Already she was intrigued by this woman in the daring blouse. Even her name possessed a mystical quality even if it were made up to draw in patrons.
Joby didn't feel very pretty with her grubby uniform and calloused hands and the world only sat at he fingertips of the bold, the daring, and the unafraid. All that stood within her timid reach was a grass stain on her shorts which she began to idly scratch at while she pondered a response. Her terminal honesty got her in trouble a time or two, but she kept her heart an open book.
"Well...I guess I feel like I've grown out of the landscaping business," she said, her eyes still darting back to the sphere. "I've been in this rut for so long, and there is so much I'd like to accomplish. I just want to know I'll ever get out and do something worthwhile. Oh, but I should really get going."
She pulled out her phone to check the time.
"I have a huge job to finish today, and I've already been here for...um...that can't be right...a minute?"
No way could that be right. She glanced around the cafe for another clock to tell her that she needed to run and run fast. The one on the wall showed the same thing. Joby blinked, trying to figure out how a coffee could be made and a conversation start within sixty seconds. She really did spend too much time in her head. She gave a small, embarrassed laugh.
"Gracious, I guess I do have a little more time. You must have made that coffee quicker than I thought. Okay, well I'd love a reading if its not any trouble. Getting my fortune told is on my bucket list, and I do want to see if this dream of mine will ever pan out."
She also had millions of questions to ask about this mysterious contributor and if he ever performed in town. At twenty-five, she was still a sucker for magic shows.
She pulled out her wallet. "How much do you charge?"
"The reading is free with the coffee purchase and since you've already bought that you don't owe me a thing." Yet. Mim thought as she smiled at the girl and pulled a worn deck of tarot cards out from behind the counter. "One coffee, one question, one card."
In a gracious swipe that rivaled a Las Vegas card dealer, Mim fanned the deck in a long line out along the counter. "Pick and all will be revealed."
Joby bit her lip as her tingling fingers lingered over the yellowed cards. Now that I'm here, I don't know that to ask, she thought. Of course she wanted to ask "Will I be successful?" "Will I be happy?" "Will I go traveling?" and all of those other cliches people ask. If this was her only chance, she wanted to cover it all. She thought about her hero. She focused hard. Will I ever have a life like Sarah's?
She moved her hand back and fourth over the smooth line of cards and drew. Her card depicted a ghoulish looking mask with a pair of long spiraling horns and a handle with a bony claw grasping one side of it. She handed it it Mim.
There certainly was something interesting about Joby, something in her destiny line that piqued Mim's interest. Not many humans anymore were gifted with a predisposition for encountering real magic. Most had lost the will to believe long ago and over the centuries the connection between the human world and the world of Faerie dwindled. Mim's kind had a magical obligation to attend to the human world. Perhaps because there was a symbiotic relationship between them, but it was getting harder and harder for creatures like herself to do their jobs.
This girl was different though. Mim could tell she was a rare kind of exception to the common. Well that was indeed an interesting point. Mim also detected a magical trace on the girl's person. She was under someone's protection. Mim could feel the magical influence butting up against her own. But it was less of a persona and more of a thing, like a charm. Such things were usually in the form of an object. If Joby was indeed being protected by someone else's magic that made Mim want to know the girl and how she'd come into such protections.
"Well, well, well. Look at that. Life as you know it is coming to an end, my dear. You should be delighted. Nothing does more for a young woman's constitution than getting the chance to transform into something completely different than you once were. Congratulations." Mim sounded genuinely delighted.
Joby's heart stopped for a moment. Was this woman reading her thoughts? Or was the reading true? She wasn't entirely sure that she like how Mim phrased things.
"I don't know if I should be gratified or nervous. The fortune sounds awfully vague about whether that end will be a happy one or not." She read enough to know to never jump the gun when receiving news from clairvoyants. "But then again, anything beats another eight years of digging as long as I have the time to write. She slid the red book back into her pocket.
"Well it's been wonderful talking to you, ma'am but I really need to get going. You have a lovely store. I'll definitely be popping back in."
She extended a hand for a parting handshake.
"And thank you for the reading. I really hope things pan out."
She turned to the door. She hesitated, turning her attention back to the spherical crystal. There was something about it that still held her attention. She looked back at Mim one last time.
"By the way...just out of simple curiosity...whats the asking price of the crystal ball?"
She thought bitterly about the meager twenty some odd dollars she had. She knew she couldn't afford it, but maybe she could find a buyer. The Millers liked to collect oddities.
Gotcha.
Mim pretended like she was trying to remember but inside she was gleeful with triumph.
"You know, that thing has been in my window for so long at this point anything would be a profit. Tell you what, just for some extra good luck since your life is seemingly about to take such an interesting turn, I think I could part with it for a solid twenty. No tax, my treat." Mim said sweetly with just a hint of shrewdness for good measure.
Ah the game was almost afoot.
Blissfully unaware of any impending trouble, Joby fished out her wallet and parted with her twenty dollar bill. Luckily, she filled the truck last week, and the Millers were a short drive. She wouldn't need to refill the tank today.
"Sounds fair to me."
She couldn't wait to have it in her hands.
Mim practically floated around the counter and passed Joby on her way to the display plucking the crystal up before presenting it to the girl in exchange for her bill. A satisfied smile was on her face.
Once Joby took the crystal Mim's work would be done. Although the sorceress didn't have the power to activate the crystal's magic she was convinced that Joby could. Like all of Jareth's crystals the orb had the power to show people their secret dreams. It also had the power to fulfill them, and she did not doubt that the strange girl in front of her wanted her fantasies to be real more than anything. Possibly at the expense of her common sense.
Then again, wasn't that what the fools journey was about? Like all fools Joby had a kind of protection about her that Mim hoped for the girl sake wouldn't let her down.
Only time would tell.
Mim waited for Joby to take the orb from her before she spoke again. "Oh. Before I forget. A word of warning."
Mim paused for dramatic effect.
"Be careful what you wish for." Mim said slyly, meaning every word.
She took the orb and held it into the light. Turn it just so. Whatever that means, she thought as she tilted and rotated it until an image took shape. Joby saw a scene of an older version of herself seated at a long table before a line of excited fans. Books were piled on the table around her, and she was signing copies for everyone. Yes, but what is going to be my inspiration? What inspired Sarah? The scene shifted flying over a vast tangle of forest and an all too familiar treacherous maze.
"Odd. Looks like some place I've read about."
She cocked her head to one side, her eyes somewhat blank and glassy as they fixated on the orb.
Joby snapped herself out of her trance. She quickly busied herself with tucking the orb gently inside her purse.
"Well thank you very much, Madam Mim. Have a great day."
With that, she turned towards the door and and pulled the handle.
She didn't step out on the streets of Boston.
She stopped in her tracks and gasped at the scene before her. From her place on a tall sandy hill dotted in short, scrubby bushes, she could see a great maze made of ancient brick walls in the distance. At the center sat a fortress-like castle with tall buttress towers built on top of a steep, rocky mountain jutting before a sepia-colored sky. Her jaw dropped. She knew where she was, but she struggled to believe it. She spun around, but the door she had stepped out of was gone. No no no no. This isn't happening. All she could see was a vast, tangled forest looping around the hill and even crossing into the labyrinth.
