Chapter one: Apart, but Together
The rain was tapping softly on the roof as Toby lay down to sleep. He was trying hard not to worry. His older sister Sarah hadn't come home from work. He'd been living with her ever since his mom and dad had died a few years back. That was back in '98, and it was now 2000. He was almost fifteen, and Sarah actually treated him that way.
His sister was a bit… strange. Strange, but not in a bad way. Toby loved his sister to death. She was kind and sweet and very smart. But she happened to be a little overprotective and very sheltering. She was the literature professor at the local university, and she was damn good at it, mostly because of her love for the written word. She read a different fairytale to him every night, and her collection was endless. On top of being intelligent and gentle, she was also the picture of beauty.
Toby was concerned, though. His sister was always home when he got back from school, and she would have told him if she was staying after. It wasn't as if she hadn't left him home alone before; she just didn't do it often.
He decided that she must've fallen asleep at her desk and he was sure that she was safe. She would be home when he woke up, making pancakes for breakfast, a smile on her red lips, with an apology for not making it home. With that calming thought, the young teen fell asleep, his thoughts serene, and he dreamed of an endless maze and a man laughing as he walked a twisting staircase.
o0o
A few hours earlier
Sarah was grading an endless stack of essays and was eager to get home. She had gotten Toby's report card and she had been so pleased, she had decided to take him out for dinner that evening. However, with the rate at which her distracted mind was working, she was going to be very late.
She was worried for her young brother. Ever since her father and stepmother had died, Toby had been very quiet and withdrawn from the world. She couldn't always be there for him, especially with her long hours at the college. She did everything she could for him, and whenever he asked for anything, it was his. She still read to him every night, just like she used to.
Every night, though, she'd look at that red leather book and think of him . Her stepmother had sent her to therapy for years so that she'd stop, but she couldn't forget his flashing smile or his mismatched blue and hazel eyes. She just couldn't. After all, he haunted her every dream.
Jareth. The Goblin King. He haunted her memory, her every step, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget. Not him, not the Underground, not the Labyrinth. She had tried to block it from her mind early on, but she quickly realized that she couldn't , despite the fact that the road she desired had long since vanished. He would always be her dream.
She looked up at the clock, startled at the time. By now, Toby would have gone to bed. She put away her pen and her students' papers, picked up her purse, and hurried out to her car. She wanted to leave the memory of that gorgeous otherworldly man behind her.
o0o
Toby woke up sometime during the night and went to his sister's room, just to check if she was home. She was laying on top of the blankets in her nightgown, her white robe tied loosely around her hips, a small red book in her hands. She had fallen asleep, reading, just as always. He tilted his head and frowned. He didn't know this book, he realized.
He moved forward, carefully removing the book from his sleeping sister's hands. It was the book. The book that she had hid away when he had asked her to read it to him. The red cover was worn and faded, the golden lettering no longer shiny. The Labyrinth, it read. He sat down next to her and opened to a random page. He read the words out loud to Sarah, hoping her dreams would be happy.
"And then the young woman looked at the child, and unable to bear his presence any longer, she said the magic words given to her by her dear Goblin King. 'I wish the goblins would come and take you away. Right now.'"
Toby shook his head and laughed. What a silly book!
His laughter, however, was echoed by multiple squealing voices. Sarah awoke, startled, and looked around. When she saw the book in Toby's hands, she could feel her heart stop, all thoughts fleeing her head.
"Toby!"