The usual disclaimer... I don't own the characters, places, or words. I just arranged them.
"Winston!" His mother hollered, "Claude and Peter are here to see you!"
Winston cringed. He had been avoiding Claude and Peter since Sarah's disappearance. They had been a part of his posse, a group that had joined together after their mutual hatred of incompetence had left them all but ostracized. Together they had fed each other's frustrations at the foolishness of others. When he had first received the Labyrinth book, he had shared its secret with them. His friend Claude had also wished away his sibling.
Winston could hear their footsteps outside his door. He scrambled to hide the Labyrinth book before they entered the room.
"Hey guys," Winston waved guiltily as they entered.
"Where have you been these past weeks?" Peter demanded.
"And why did my brother return. You said that book would work. You said he would be gone forever," Claude grumbled.
Winston shrugged, unsure of how to answer either. How could he explain the changes that had been wrought in him?
"Where did that book end up anyways? I want to give it a try on Megan," Peter queried in reference to his sister.
"It disappeared," Winston lied.
"I heard your neighbour did too," Claude chuckled.
Winston glared at his friend. "You don't understand!" Winston scolded. "This is far bigger than we can comprehend. Sarah sacrificed herself to bring our siblings back and now she's trapped. We were fools for making the wishes in the first place."
Peter's face scrunched in disgust. "What happened to you?"
"I grew up," Winston responded.
There was a moment of silence, eventually broken by Peter's murderous tone. "Do you think you're better than us?"
"You think I'm stupid. You told that girl so," Claude remembered.
"I bet you still have the book," Peter realised.
"I do not," Winston insisted.
Peter and Claude looked at each other and they shared a moment of mutual understanding. Claude jumped forward and grasped Winston's arms. With all the brute force he could muster, Claude pinned Winston's arms behind his back.
As Winston struggled to be free, Peter ripped through his room. Books flew from the shelves. Drawers were opened and their contents emptied on the ground.
"Let me go!" Winston whined. He contemplated calling for his mom, but the deed seemed cowardly. Unbefitting.
Peter continued to tear through Winston's room. He moved towards the bed and Winston's breathe caught. He had not had time to stash the book in its customary spot in his dresser. He had merely tucked it under his mattress.
The door creaked open, and all three boys turned guiltily towards it. Expecting Winston's mother to emerge with a harsh scolding, they were relieved to see it was only Keira.
She looked at each of them, evaluating them. "Winnie?" She whimpered, noticing the distress he was in.
"It's okay Keira; nothing is going to happen to you," Winston promised.
"Winnie?" Keira whimpered again.
"Get outta here," Claude roared at her as Peter went back to searching the room.
Had the boys not dismissed Keira so hastily, they would have noticed a goblinesque expression settle on her features. Her shoulders came up and her fingers spread as she crept towards them. Her tiny hands reached out to grab Claude's large hands, still detaining her brother.
She drew her face to the flesh grappled in her hands and bit down hard. Claude yelped in agony as her sharp teeth chomped on his arm.
Winston broke free finally and shoved Claude back, into his desk. He launched forward and tugged the Labyrinth book from under his mattress.
"Get him!" Claude commanded Peter.
Winston slipped away from Peter and managed to grab Keira's hand. He tugged his sister out of the room and slammed the door behind him. They flew down the stairs, Keira cackling softly.
Winston and Keira reached their front door as Winston's door opened. "You can't get away from us! We'll find you. We'll find that book and use it against you!" Peter called out as he ran after them.
Winston and Keira picked their way across the street without a destination in mind. Winston hazarded a look back and saw that their tail was too far behind. They would lose them in the alleyways and streets ahead.
"We need a safe place to hide," Winston told Keira. "We have to protect this book."
"Destroy it," Keira suggested.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"I need to figure out how to save Sarah. I can't do that without more information. Wait, do you know what we're talking about?" Winston still had not figured out how much Keira remembered.
Keira shrugged.
"This way," Winston told his sister. "We can hide over here."
She followed him across a small brick bridge and into a park. Winston tugged Keira into concealment behind some shrubberies.
"We stay here?" Keira asked.
"For now," Winston assured her.
"Then we save Sarah?"
Winston's brow rose. "Do you remember where Sarah is?"
Keira shrugged.
"We are going to try to rescue Sarah anyways."
"Okay,"
"As long as Peter and Claude don't cause any more trouble that is..."
Peter and Claude stormed after Winston and Keira, but they never managed to catch up. Something was fundamentally different about Winston. Ever since Sarah had left him a note in the Labyrinth book, or maybe even before that, he had begun to change. For one, he had taken up running. Exercise had always seemed a waste of time to the stubborn child Sarah had known. But the boy who had watched a neighbour selflessly give herself to a villain in exchange for the rescue of two children she hardly knew had understood that whatever was coming next in his life, he would need all the advantages he could get physically and mentally.
Peter and Claude, holding to Winston's former credo, had no chance of reaching their former companion.
"Now what do we do?" Claude grumbled as they forfeited their chase.
"Well, did you need the book to make the wish?" Peter asked.
"No," Claude remembered. "I don't think I did."
"Then what did you do?"
Claude thought for a moment. "There were some words I said."
"What words?" Peter jumped with excitement. "Maybe I can still get rid of Megan."
"You think it will work again on my brother?"
"I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine."
"I hope so."
"Well, what are the words?"
"Uh..." Claude thought hard. "I wish the gnomes would take you from me."
"Gnomes? I thought you said they were goblins."
"Uh... Yeah. Goblins. That's what I meant."
"Alright, let's try it. I wish the goblins would take Megan from me!"
"Did it work?"
"I don't know."
