Return to the Center of the Labyrinth
By Quaxo'
Gnashing teeth. Evil grins. Hideous faces. Fear. Fear! Can't breathe. Surrounded. A man. Father? No. Evil man. Evil, evil man. No time left!
Toby awoke in a bed of cold sweat. He had been having the same dream, or nightmare rather, for the past three months. It always involved the same strange man, a man he had seen in his past. Toby had a feeling something bad was coming. And it was coming fast
~*~*~
"TO-BY! Breakfast!" Toby's older half-sister Sarah was calling him down to breakfast. Toby's mother and father had gone to Denver on a 'business trip', and had recruited Sarah to baby-sit. Toby saw it as an opportunity. Sarah knew what happened to him as a baby, and he intended to get some answers.
Toby galloped down the stairs and greeted a lump of burnt…stuff.
"What the Hell is this?"
"Watch your mouth! And it's a waffle…or it was." Toby nodded sympathetically. Sarah always went through the same stages after a break-up.
"So…still hung up on Michael?"
"Michael? Michael who?" Toby laughed. He may have been only fourteen, but he understood more than most gave him credit for. He poked the waffle with his fork. "I'm sure it tastes the same with lots of syrup," he thought. Sarah noticed his disgusted look, and dumped the burnt batch of waffles on the floor. Merlin made quick work of them.
"How'sa bout eggs? Is it possible to screw up eggs?" Sarah asked as she sprayed the bottom of a pan with grease. Toby grinned. He tapped his fork on the table. Sarah watched him through the corner of her eye.
"What's on your mind?" Toby stopped in mid-tap. He slowly put the fork down, and folded his hands in his lap.
"How do you mean?"
"You were F.T.T.— Fork Table Tapping. Everyone I know taps the table with a fork when they're thinking about something. Knives mean you're lonely, spoons mean you're sad, forks mean your thinking, and all three means you're excited. It's human nature," she added matter-of-factly. Toby bit his lip.
"So, I ask again; What's on your mind?" Toby took a deep breath.
"You sure you wanna know?"
"Yes."
"Well…okay, this may sound weird but, for the last couple of months, I've been having this dream where I'm surrounded by these ugly creatures and this man is there. Sarah, do you know any men who are tall with blonde, kinda spiky hair? Sarah? Sarah, what's wrong?" The brown-haired woman had gone white in the face. A pained expression crossed her features. She stood, knocking the stool she was sitting on over.
"I don't want to talk about it." Toby grabbed her arm.
"Sarah, you know what happened to me, don't you? You know who that man is. Sarah! C'mon Sarah, answer me! Sarah!" Sarah wrenched her arm free, and ran upstairs to what used to be her room. Toby looked off into space, then followed her silently.
~*~*~
Toby opened the door to the guestroom quietly and peeked through the tiny crack he had made. Sarah was sitting at the desk, gazing into a mirror that hung on the wall. She was saying something; Toby strained to hear.
"I need you, Hoggle." She looked behind her as if she expected someone to be there. Disappointed, she turned back to the mirror.
"Ludo, Sir Didymus, I need you all. Toby's beginning to remember what happened, and lately, I've been wishing I were back, just to see you all again. Why won't you talk to me anymore, Hoggle? You said should I ever need you, I should call. I need you, Hoggle." Toby was overcome with curiosity. He pushed the door open and made his way over to his older sister. He placed his arm around her shoulder, making Sarah jump with surprise. She glared at him.
"How much did you hear?" she demanded.
"Ever since 'I need you, Hoggle'." Sarah sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"I suppose you want to know what happened."
"It would help."
"Okay, let's start from the beginning.
"When you were a baby, you were very annoying."
"More than now?"
"Much more. Anyway, I was young and hot tempered and you were young and cranky. Not a very good mix. And of course, your mother and father had a habit of going out every single Friday, and usually recruited me to baby-sit."
"That doesn't sound to horrible."
"It was every single weekend. Anyhow, one weekend, I was a little…irked that 'Toby Duty' had interrupted my little fantasy time. An irked teen and a cranky baby is not the safest of combinations.
"In order to sooth your mood, I made up a story. It involve a young girl…and a Goblin King."
"Were they in love?"
"Funny. Very funny.
"As I was saying, the story was not your typical bedtime tale. The girl in the story wished her baby brother away to the Goblin King, and the king turned the baby into a monster. When the story didn't satisfy you, I threatened you with 'The Words'. When that didn't work, I yelled out some mindless dribble. Didn't help. Frustrated, I put you to bed and made what I thought was a harmless wish on the way out. I wished you to the Labyrinth."
"That doesn't explain who the man was."
"Jereth. The Goblin King." As she said this, Toby noticed the same pained expression cross her face, like she was reliving a bad memory.
"M-hm, and Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Diddymouse?"
"Didymus, and they were friends that helped me get through the Labyrinth and find you."
"Oh." Toby grabbed a pencil off a dresser and began tapping it against the desk. He looked up at his sister.
"Sarah, you said you wanted to be back in the Labyrinth. Is that true?"
"Yes," Sarah sighed. "I wish I were there right now." Sarah suddenly clamped her hand to her mouth as if she had just said something naughty. Lightning flashed. Toby pondered that for a moment; he hadn't noticed it had begun to rain.
Something scratched at the guestroom door. Toby figured it was Merlin, wanting in. He muttered something about a 'scaredy-dog', and moved to open the door. Sarah screamed and grabbed for his arm.
"Toby, no!"
"What? He's only a dog."
"No, you don't understand! I said the words!" The lightning flashed again, and the scratching at the door became a thundering pound.
Toby stared at his sister.
"You did what?"
"The words, Toby, the words! I said I wished I were back in the Labyrinth right now!" Sarah screamed again. The door blasted open, sending shards of wood across the room, Toby with them. Sarah rushed to her brother's side.
Into the room stepped a person. Tall, blonde; Sarah almost swore it was Jereth. But this person had an air of innocence about them that Jereth could never capture.
Yellow ringlets bounced off the person's shoulder, and once they stepped out of the shadows, Sarah could plainly see the person was female, younger than herself.
The girl knelt down next to Sarah, yanking her chin upwards.
"So," she smirked "you want to go back to the Labyrinth, do you?" Terrified, Sarah shook her head slightly. The girl looked to the ground and sighed.
"You know, for some reason I don't believe you." She rose, Sarah's chin still in her hand. Sarah's nostrils flared, but that couldn't hide her wavering breaths. A moaning sound brought the attention of both women back to the floor. Toby stood up groggily, rubbing his head.
"Man, did anyone catch the number on that train that ran over me? And you. Who the hell are you?"
"Toby!" Sarah hissed. The blonde girl gave Toby a lopsided grin. She raised her chin slightly, as if she were royalty.
"I am Nikolee, The Goblin Queen. And you," she added, jerking Sarah's head to the side, "are coming with me." Toby watched with dismay as his sister and Nikolee faded from site. He ran towards the strange girl, but her transparent form gave him her odd, lopsided grin and waved before disappearing.
Frustrated, Toby kicked the wall. His sister was gone and there was nothing he could do about it. He sat down in the chair that Sarah had been sitting in earlier and hid his face in his hands. What was he going to tell his mother and father? That Sarah had wished herself to the same maze she had wished him to as a baby? A soft tapping on the mirror brought his back to reality. He looked up and nearly fell of the back of his chair when he saw the wrinkled face of a little old man staring back at him. The little man tapped on the glass again.
"Sarah," the man called. "Sarah, I heard you needed me. You there, boy!" Toby fell out of his chair again when the strange creature addressed him. He pointed to himself.
"Yes you. Have you seen a girl, about…yea high, dark hair, fair skin, goes by the name of Sarah?" he asked in a gruff, weathered voice.
"She's my sister."
"Sister! But that would make you…my word! Are you Toby?"
"Do I know you?"
"HA! It is you! Why, the last time I saw you, you were this big." The man bent down to show Toby's height, disappearing from sight, only to pop back into view within seconds. He then began turning his head at odd angles, as if he were trying to stick his head through the mirror and have a look around.
"What…exactly are you doing?"
"Sarah. Is she here? She has to be, she was just calling me. Where is she?"
"Some girl named Nicole came and took her."
"Nikolee!" the odd man hissed. "What does the walking plague want with a sweet girl like that?"
"I dunno. Sarah said something about how she wanted to go back to the Labyrinth, and Nikolee or whatever you call her showed up and just took her." The man in the mirror sighed.
"Wha-well, didn't she give you a chance to save her? I mean, that's what Jereth would have done."
"Nope." The little man puffed out his cheeks and stroked his chin. His eyes suddenly lit up.
"Idea! Toby, put your hand on the mirror and say, 'I wish I were with Hoggle right now'." Toby placed his palm on the mirror.
"I wish I were with Hoggle right now! Wait a minute. Hoggle?!?"
~*~*~
Toby coughed and stood up, shaking.
"Where's the fire?" he asked to no one in particular. A tiny hand tapped him on the back of the leg. Startled, he turned around. In front of him stood a stout, wrinkled, 'little person'. The little man smiled brightly.
"Welcome, Toby. Welcome to the Labyrinth!"
Okay, that's all I feel like doing today. You people read, but you don't review. Makes me wonder why I bother. Oh well. If I get at least five reviews, I'll write more. If not, I'll right more, but it will be…[dramatic pause]…a cliché! {Oh the horror!} So get your rears in gear and review!