A/N: This story is turning out creepier than I intended. But I quite like that, and hope you guys too. There's always been an element of creepy to old folklore, so I'm enjoying the suspense. Right now Sarah needs a bit of shaking up, she's been living in a rut for the last fifteen years, leaving her adventure behind in the Labyrinth as just a bad nightmare. I don't own the Labyrinth, again that pleasure is Jim Henson's creation. Please read and review.

Sarah remembered a dream.

A beautiful kind of dream. A vivid kind of memory that she had forgotten as she had gotten older. It was filed away in the harmless, forget it folder in some organised part of her mind. Her inner conscience had emerged, wearing a librarian like outfit and severe glasses, demanded the memory, tucked it into the plainest, ugliest folder it could find and stashed it away somewhere.

Sarah remembered the addictive taste of adventure on her tongue. She remembered conquering anything with the sheer belief and dogged determination that she could. Remembered where there were those who cheered for her, those who defied her, where they left magic in her ears and fingertips, and finally, the sweet taste of a dream and adventure that had won and come true for her.

Why had she forgotten that?

Somewhere along the line, Sarah applied for Julliard. That sheer belief and dogged determination that was so much a part of her youth…had crumbled and shattered, torn to pieces like she did the rejection letter she had received.

Reality was so much bitterer. So much more unfair. It didn't matter how determined or how much faith you had, some things just couldn't happen. Weren't meant to be.

That beautiful dream had turned into a nightmare. She remembered the sharp taste of sulphur and grit from the concrete walls. The realization that a beautiful man with magic could crush the fragile grove of her throat, could turn her easily into a frog and stomp on her for her defiance. She could have died, could have been…so many things.

The nightmares weren't good for her. She would wake up clammy and shaking, frightened and disturbed. Dogged by a memory that she would rather forget. So an owl that she thought must have been J-…him, couldn't possibly have been following her. It was just an owl. Nothing she needed to be afraid of.

The mirror she wondered might take her away to danger was just a mirror. Nothing more.

No more birthday wishes were said either.

Nothing utterly important had ever happened to her.

Except this.

"Oh, Sarah." Irene Williams was the first person that came out of the house. As soon as the car parked, Sarah had just managed to get out of the passenger's seat before she was in the arms of an older, light-haired woman. "Sarah." Irene pulled back, a deep frown on her face as she quickly looked her over. "Are you alright? We were so worried when we heard what happened."

The black-haired woman gently shrugged her off, unsure of the sudden concern. They had not gotten on so well in the past, and had only recently come to civil terms. "I'm fine, Irene." A taller, leaner man dogged Irene's steps, and with a start, Sarah realised that that shadow of a man was her father. "Dad…"

Robert Williams had always been a rather dumpy, humble man, unwilling to be assertive (which was one of the traits Sarah had always been impatient with in him) but he seemed worse off now. Stress and age had taken away most of his hair, and deepened the lines in his face. He looked tired and stressed.

A pang of worry struck her. Was this because Toby was out of control? Her eyes flickered to her younger brother, whom was taking his time getting out of the car and glared grumpily at his mother.

"Sarah, honey, it's good to see you." Robert gave a waning smile and came to give her a one-armed hug. He felt even more frail than he looked. Almost a decade older than what he was.

"Dad," She choked, "Are you alright?"

What eyebrows he still had rose. "Me? I'm fine, don't you worry. I should be asking you, shouldn't I?"

"I'm fine, Dad." Sarah insisted, "Honestly-"

"Toby, could you grab your sister's things from the trunk?" Irene asked. Toby gave her a filthy look but did as he was told. "Sarah, you stay as long as you need to. Until you find another place. Come inside, you must be exhausted from all this."

Truth to be told, she really was. Last night had been eventful. Coming home to her house completely trashed and a strange message on the wall. It had taken a few hours to deal with the police, who wanted a full report, and questioned whether she knew of anyone's motives against her, if she was involved with the occult, and other things that she was quickly forgetting already. All of it was ridiculous. Of course she wasn't involved in the occult or had any real enemies.

She wasn't allowed to take much from the house due to it maybe being evidence. She was allowed some toiletries and untouched clothes. They might be able to pull fingerprints off of the rest, due to the almost supernatural nature of the invasion, they were willing to investigate. Nothing left nail-sized grooves in a wall that deep without leaving behind a nail atleast. Not unless they were made of something much more biologically hardened.

Maybe a team of acrylic-nail armed school girls…

Probably not.

She and Toby hadn't gotten much sleep afterwards. They stayed in a cheap motel room for the rest of the night. It had a flimsy lock, and she made sure she slept in the bed closest to it, keeping an eye open until eventually exhaustion overtook her. In the morning, Toby had informed their father on last night's events and they drove back home to stay.

The four of them went inside. Toby left her things by the door and disappeared to his room to charge his phone. Her Dad mentioned something about putting on the kettle and left for the kitchen. Sarah looked around. Her father and step mother's house was timeless. A classic over fifty years old, with a veranda and going around it. Inside, it hadn't changed much. A newer couch and television. Sarah touched the wallpaper and smiled slightly. It was still ugly to her, just as it had been when she was fifteen. But being here, gave her a greater sense of security and nostalgia than anywhere else

"I cleaned your old room a bit," Irene laid a hand on her shoulder and smiled in a comforting way. "Sorry, I turned it into my office before but I moved back in your bed, and some of your old things are still there. Want to take a look?"

Her old room. "Yeah, yeah, thank you, Irene."

Sarah felt her step mother's eyes on her as she walked up the stairs, but didn't feel threatened or annoyed by it. Irene really was concerned. She felt a strange sense of happiness about that.

Her room was exactly the same way as she left it. Sarah hovered in the doorway, wide-eyed. Oh, exactly. Irene had done an amazing job in cleaning up after herself.

She walked in and three steps…the floorboard creaked. Grinning, she made her way to her bed and sat down. The bed was well-worn, soft, barely retaining any firmness due to its age and use. Her fingertips brushed against the fuzzy material of her afghan blanket, colourful and worn, it'd been a gift from her grandparents before they passed away.

She used to use it as the cover of her bedroom fort while she arranged all of her teddy bears as an audience, and told stories and secrets to them with her trusty flashlight and Lancelot.

"Lancelot!" She stood and walked towards the cubbyholes that housed all of her teddy bears. She counted twelve of them and- oh yes. The molten gold-coloured teddy bear in its pride of place, in good condition, including the blue ribbon around its neck. Lancelot had been her favourite as a kid. Him and..."Oh." Her eyes landed on the small, orange, fox-like teddy bear on the floor. It looked like it had fallen from somewhere. She bent down to collect it, turned it around and froze.

"With my lifeblood have I sworn, that none shall pass this way without my permission."

"Sir Didymus, at your service, milady."

"If that is how it is done, then that is how you must do it."

"And remember, sweetest damsel, shouldst thou ever have need…"

"I'll call." Sarah found herself repeating what she had once said before. So long ago. She absently brushed the whiskers on the teddy bear's face.

"Sir Didymus." A voice called from the doorway. Sarah looked up. Toby stood there, a glazed look in his eye as he observed the bear in her hand. She quickly stashed it away behind Lancelot in its cubby.

"Toby! Oh, uh, you alright?"

He shook himself out of whatever daze he'd been in. "Uh, uh, yeah. No, I'm fine. Just dropping off your stuff," He lifted her bag. "Oh, and Mom and Dad have tea and stuff downstairs so…whenever you're ready. Yeah." Awkwardly he left the bag by the door, waved at her and shuffled out.

She stared after him, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Hopefully he doesn't remember….Her inner conscience tapped its foot. Remember what? It was just a dream. Come on, Williams. She got up and lifted her bag onto the bed, opening it up with a little bit more force than necessary and started to put her things away.

Tap, tap.

Sarah looked up.

Tap, tap.

Confused, she looked at the window. There was nothing there. Definitely no owl like before. Strange, she kind of missed that owl. It had become something of a constant companion through her life. Maybe it was a spirit animal.

Maybe whatever was tapping was just a tree branch, or a rat, or just something perfectly explainable.

She went to go back to her bag, when something louder, heavier and right in front of her wall went THUMP. THUMP.

Sarah jumped. Her heart leapt right into her throat. "What…the…hell!?" Pulse racing, she backed away from her wall.

From the exact same spot came a softer tap, tap.

For a moment, Jennifer's story came back to her. "There are goblins in the walls…"

There could not be goblins in the walls!

"Sarah." Irene was at the doorway this time. She took one look at the wide-eyed, flushed raven-haired woman and frowned. "Are you okay?"

"I, uh…" Sarah swallowed, and her gaze fell intently on to the wall. "Did you hear something right then?"

Irene's eyes slowly shifted to where Sarah was looking at, and then back to her. "I didn't hear anything-"

"Just, wait a minute." Sarah interrupted. They stood there in silence.

A minute went by and nothing happened. Irene quietly sighed. "Sarah, you've been through a lot of stress lately. You just had someone violate your home, violate your sanctuary. I know how much you love your private space and to have this horrible thing happen to you…you're just on edge. Paranoia does things to us."

"I'm not paranoid."

"No," Irene said gently, "No but, having a cup of tea or coffee might do some good, yeah?" She walked in and tugged on her sleeve. "Come down and let's talk over something to eat."

For once, Sarah felt like she was fifteen years old and being babied by someone who cared. She couldn't bring herself to resent Irene for that.

A/N: Currently, I'm on a 12 day cruise around New Zealand and Australia and using my phone as a hotspot to access fanfiction. Otherwise I would be trying to type this all up using my phone. Originally, this was going to be a much longer chapter but with all the sightseeing, I haven't had much time. Not to worry, I should have the next chapter up next weekend. Please review!