Twins of the Soul

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth.

Author's Note: Transferred over from my old account. Some chapter titles have been changed.

Suicidal Peach

"Momma, there's a weird boy staring at me funny!" the mortal girl whined to her mother. I shook my head to clear the cobwebs from my brain.

Idiot, I told myself. Mortals age differently than the Sidhe. Don't you ever pay attention to your tutors?

The girl was slim, perhaps eight or nine years old, with wispy mouse-brown hair, an aquiline nose, and eyes as brown as goblin loam. I had to wrinkle my nose at that thought.

What is it about this girl that sings to me?

I made it a project to follow her around for about a week. And the things I saw! Mortals still remember some of the old ways both beneficial and harmful to my kind. The cold iron caused my nerves to jangle and my skin to turn black, where it touched the non-magical metal.

I watched the girl spend several hours crammed into an ugly brown building, something that no creature should ever have to endure. Mortals take no pride in their offspring's upbringing and education.

Education to my people involves communicating with the base elements and other fine arts. I was learning to shapeshift and my tutor had me study the birds: their environs, their flight patterns, and other aspects of the species. I still haven't decided on my final form yet; I'm leaning towards the snowy owl right now.

Later that day, I followed her and her mother to a sort of indoor-outdoor market and about had a heart attack when I saw her take a bite out of a peach.

I shouted, dropping my glamourie.

She gave me a glare a mile long. "Momma said I could, she's going to pay for it in a moment."

"But you ate a peach!"

"Well, I don't really like apples. Witches give them to you all the time in spells in the fairy tales," she told me.

"But..."

"Sarah, honey, who are you talking to?" her mother asked, depositing some nuts in the basket.

"The boy from a few days ago," Sarah replied.

"Sarah, there's no one here," her mother said, replied ignoring me.

The story of my life.

Which brings the story back to Sarah. Why had she wanted to end her life when she's still just a child?

Only the labyrinth runners and the condemned ate peaches.