Anne's POV:
I stared looking over at Sarah. She looked as determined as ever. We hooked arms and were walking down this sort of hill. We were trying to find the entrance, or a place to get in. She was talking quietly, but I wasn't focusing on her words of minor encouragment. I couldn't get those mismatched eyes out of my head, the way the could see right through you. I shivered.
"Anne!" Sarah was shaking my arm.
"Huh? What?"
"You were drifting. Are you ok?"
I nodded, smiling.
"Yeah, just this is like some weird dream."
Sarah nodded as we continued walking, as we came to a courtyard. It was rundown, and there was some goblin peeing into a fountain. Sarah keep walking, as I stepped near one of the walls running my hands across the hard stone. I could hear them talking. Turning around, I heard him say.
"Huh, no I aint. I'm Hoggle. Who are you?."
"Sarah, and this is Anne," Sarah said. Hoggle turned to look at me, he was a short little guy and had a big nose. He stared at me, and I stared back. I heard him mutter something, then turn back to killing fairys. I pulled my fingers through my hair, and sighed turning to Hoggle.
"Do you know where the door to the labyrinth is?" I asked, as I walked closer to Hoggle. Hoggle let out a snortish sound, and said.
"Hm...Maybe."
"Where is it?" Sarah asked, getting a bit agitated. I reached over, and let my hands run down the wall of the Labyrinth. "I said, where is it?" She asked again.
"Where is what?" Hoggle countered.
"The door," I said softly, staring at him.
"What door," He said almost sarcasticly.
"Sarah, it's hopeless asking him anything, let's just go." I said softly, my head swimming.
"Not if you ask the right question." He said shooting a few more fairies with poision.
"How do we get into the labyrinth?" Sarah asked walking up to Hoggle.
"Aw...Now that's more like it." He replied turning around to face us better. "You gets in," He pointed to a large gate, "there."
The gate creaked open, as we turned to stare at it. I muffled another sigh, and pulled on the hem of my shirt. Sarah walked forward to stand at the mouth of the gate, and I followed at her heels.
"You, uh...really going in there, are ya?" Hoggle asked, putting his hand on his hip.
"Yes. We're afraid...we have too." Sarah turned to look at me, and I grinned trying to show no fear. But, Sarah was my best friend, I was pretty sure she could still tell I was shaken up by the mere fact of where we were.
As we walked a bit further into the labyrinth, I rubbed my hands together, and looked around. This place was massive, with just two points of movement: left and right. Glitter of some kind coated the walls, and dead plants, and some moving ones hung on the walls. I began to wonder what this place looked like before it had fallen apart, when a voice made me let out a scream of terror.
"Cozy, isn't it."
Sarah whirled around, and stared at me, she huffed a sigh.
"It's ok, Anne. It was just Hoggle."
Hoggle walked beside me, letting out loud chuckles. I stepped over a broken tree limb, to stand next to Sarah.
"Now, would you go left...or...right?"
"They both look the same," Sarah muttered.
"Well, you're not gonna get very far."
I turned to the goblin, and said.
"Which way would you go?"
Hoggle pointed to himself.
"Me? I wouldn't go either way."
Sarah, turned to him, and almost glared. I gave her look, that said, 'try to be nice.' She gave me one back that said, 'well if he'd help I would!'. I sighed, and turned to Hoggle about to say something when Sarah jumped in.
"Well, if that's all the help your going to be you can just leave."
"You know your problem?" Hoggle waved a finger at us both, "You take too many things for granted. Take this labyrinth...even if you get to the center, you'll never get out again."
"That's your opinion." I said jumping back into the conversation. Hoggle snorted, and replied.
"Well, it's alot better than yours."
"Thanks for nothing, Hogwart."
"I think it's Hoggle." I mutter softly.
"It is Hoggle! And don't say I didn't warn you."
As we started to walk away, I heard the gate slam shut, and I turned, with a jump. I looked around the Labyrinth, and stared.
"Do you think this place was ever...beautiful?" I asked softly. Sarah turned to look at me, and shrugged.
"I don't know, let's just find Toby and get out of here."
I nodded, as we continued walking, moving branches out of our way. I stepped over a small log and nearly tripped, grabbing the wall for support, only to find that my hand had barely missed a patch of moss...with eyes. I started to giggle, when I noticed Sarah looking around, agitated and scared.
"What do they mean, "labyrinth'? There aren't any turns or corners, or anything."
"It just goes on and on." I finished.
She sighed, and leaned agianst the wall.
"Maybe it doesn't." I said, licking my lips.
"Maybe we're just taking it for granted that it does." She said turning to me. I nodded. She smiled widely, as we both toke off, at a mild run. Sarah and I looked the Labyrinth walls for any sign of a turn, or corner. I jumped over a fallen tree branch, and stayed close to Sarah.
We continued running, and I could see that we weren't really getting anywhere.
"Sarah," I started to say, as Sarah came to sudden stop. She and I were both panting, and she looked around, with anger in her green eyes. I was about to, say that we should keep going when she let out a frustrated cry. She than began to throw her fists against the wall of the labyrinth. I slide down the walls, and pulled my knees under my chin, breathing deeply. Sarah slide down next to me, and then sighed.
" 'Allo,"
Sarah turned to look at me, just as I turned to look at her.
"Did you just say, Hello?" She asked. I shook my head.
"No, did you?"
"No, I said, "'Allo," but that's close enough."
I jumped as I turned to look at a small blue worm, resting on the stones of the labyrinth walls.
"Your a worm, aren't you?" I asked softly, turning my body to get a look at the little fellow. He was about the size of the palm of my hand, and had bright blue skin, and a red scarf.
"That's right," He answered in a thick accent, grinning in his own way, up at us.
"You don't by any chance know the way through this labyrinth?" Sarah, said hope replacing the anger in her eyes.
"Who, me? No, I'm just a worm."
"Oh," I said, bringing my finger to rest between my lips.
"Come inside, meet the missus."
"No, thank you, but I have to solve this labyrinth." Sarah said, politlely.
"But there aren't any turns, or any openings or anything. It just goes on and on." I continued, staring at him, as I moved my hands away from my face.
"You ain't looking right. It's full of openings, but you ain't seeing them."
"Then, where are they?" Sarah said. I nodded.
"There's one just across there. It's right infront of you."
Sarah and I both turned to look, at where the worm was motioning.
"No, there isn't." I said softly, standing up to get a better look.
"Come inside, and have a nice cup of tea." The worm continued, shaking his head back and forth. I reached out my hand, to place against the wall.
"But, there isn't an opening," Sarah said.
"Ofcourse there is. " He chuckled. "You try walking through it. You'll see what I mean." I turned and walked towards Sarah.
"If that worm, is telling us this just so he can see us walk straight into a wall of stone. I'll squish him." I said, with a glare. Sarah, smiled and just moved towards the 'entrance,'.
"Go on, Go on then." He said.
"That's just a wall. There's no way through." I said, placing my hand on my hip.
"Things ae not always what they seem in this place. So you can't take anything for granted."
Sarah nodded, and placed her hands up. I walked with her, and waited for the moment when we would run smack into the wall.
"Hey!" Sarah said with a smile, as we turned to the left.
"Hey, hang on!" The worm called, as we both turned to look back at him.
"Thank you," Sarah said, as she continued walking. "That was incredibly helpful."
"Don't go that way," He warned.
"What was that?" I said, staring at him.
"I said, don't go that way. Never go that way."
Sarah stared both directions, then smiled.
"Thanks,"
As we turned and went the opposite direction.
"Do you honestly think, we should trust him." I muttered as we got out of hearing range.
"Anne, he showed us this opening. I think we should trust him." I shrugged, and hooked my arm through hers.
"Well, let's just get going. We need to find Toby, and get home before you parent's notice we were even gone." I smiled.
Sarah nodded, as we continued on our way to the Goblin City, to the Castle in the center of the labyrinth. My mind was still cloudy with the Goblin King's smirk, and mix-matched eyes. I slowly turned to Sarah, and blinked just imaging what they were probably doing to Toby.
"Hey, Anne. Which way should we go?" Sarah asked as we came upon a mini stone courtyard. A large stone pillar was covered with different pointing hands. I shrugged.
"Um, what about...that way." I said, moving towards the outline of the castle, and near the sounds of Toby's cries.
"We're coming, Toby." I heard Sarah mutter, as we continued moving through the maze.
"Do you hear that?" I whispered, as Sarah nodded. "Do you think he's ok?" She stared then said.
"Let's hope."
I grabbed her hand, and squeezed it softly, as I began to hum a song under my breath. Not real sure how the lyrics had popped into my head.
"I told my baby, crying hard as babe's could cry. What could I do?"
Sarah hadn't noticed me singing softly, so she continued walking around the labyrinth. I was busy pulling my fingers through the massive tangles that had started in my blonde curls, that I didn't even see Sarah had stopped.
"Oh, sorry." I said with a sheepish grin, as she slowly kneeled down.
"Can you hand me your lipstick?" I looked at her.
"Sure, why do you need it?" She slowly grabbed it from my hand, and drew an arrow facing north. Then toke off in that direction. I followed at her heels.
"You so owe me another one of those. That's my favorite shade. It's called: Jungle Pink."
I was about to glance back, when I noticed that Sarah had just dissappeared from my sight. I quickly ran after her, though I swear I saw something moving the tile she had just marked. I walked slowly behind her, as we continued marking our movements on the tiles of the labyrinth.
"You don't think they are being mean to him, do you?"
"Toby? I don't think so...But then again, the Goblin King sure was scary."
I nodded slowly, twisting a curl around my finger. Sarah made a sharp turn, right and then toke us a set of stairs.
"Sarah, this is a dead end." She looked up, and sighed. I turned around, and walked towards the tile ready to rub out the arrow, when I noticed something.
"Someone has been changing the marks." She threw the lipstick canister. "What a horrible place this is. It's not fair!" She cried, standing up about to storm off.
"That's right. It's not fair!" A voice cried out, followed by a chorus of laughter. "But that's only half of it!"
"This was a dead end a minute ago." Sarah whispered.
"No, that's the dead end behind you." I jumped as I turned around to see that the creature was right.
"It keeps changing. What are we supposed to do?" I said, walking up beside Sarah.
"The only way out of here is to try one of these doors." The red guard said.
"One of them leads to the castle at the center of the labyrinth." The blue countered. "And the other one leads to..." A head popped out at the top, and said.
"Bum, Bum, Bum, BUM!"
"Certain Death."
Then the entire group let out a chorus of "Oh's."
"Which one is which?" Sarah asked.
"We can't tell you," The red guard said.
"Why not?" I said softly, walking towards him to get a better look. The guard quickly hide behind his sheild.
"We don't know." He said, after whispering to the blue guard.
"Oh! But they do." The Blue one said, as he and the Red guard turned their heads to look up.
"Then we'll ask them." Sarah said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me back beside her.
"Uh...No, you can't ask us. You can only ask one of us." The Red guard said.
"It's in the rules. And I should warn you...one of us always tells the truth, and one of us always lies. That's a rule too. He always lies." The blue one said, pointing towards the red one.
"I do not. I tell the truth."
"Oh! What a lie!"
The guards all burst out laughing, as Sarah and I turned to look at one another.
"Which should we choose?" I muttered, and Sarah shrugged. "Well, let's be careful, Sarah, and think this through." I muttered, as we turned back to the door, ready to make a very important decision, that could either save Toby, or lead to not only our death, but Toby's.
Sorry to leave off, at I guess...a cliffhanger? I was just not really sure where to leave off.
I'm going to try very, very hard to update again possibly this weekend. But, please don't hate me if I don't.
I do promise that right now, I will update more often. It was quite rude, to make you all wait so long.
Please forgive me!
This chapter kind of sucks, sorry about that. I hope to get to more interesting stuff, but...I just can't seem to without Jareth, haha.
Well please leave some nice comments, and keep faving!
Love you guys!
Klancy! 3