Don't Let Go
Chapter Twenty Three: I've Been Waiting All My Life
Sarah took a deep breath and looked around her room. There were a couple of possible routes to the Labyrinth: the mirror, the window, and the closet. She considered each carefully, wondering how she would pull off the impossible and slip into the Labyrinth. He'd told her she had power over the Labyrinth, just as it had power over her. So theoretically, it would answer her when she called.
The question was, then, how she should call. As she stared at the mirror, her brow crinkled with thought, she remembered Hoggle, Ludo, and Didymus's offer to be there whenever she should need them. But truthfully, she hadn't called on them since the final night, the victory celebration. And the specific rule was,"Should you need us," and Sarah was slightly ashamed to realize that the rule didn't apply here. She didn't need them, not for her confrontation with the Goblin King. Besides, as wonderful as they were, her Labyrinth friends might not have the ability to let her through.
She moved to the window. Once, it had served as her portal to that strange, illogical world of twisted rules and bended words. He had let her through the window; his power had driven the journey. She smiled ironically. Considering I'm going to go see him, it's probably against some set of rules for him to help me. Sarah sighed, shoulders slumping. That, and he's not even paying attention to me. He likely wouldn't even hear me if I called, much less oblige me.
Finally, she came to the closet. In the oubliette, Hoggle had placed a plank of wood up against the stone walls and opened it twice, once to reveal a broom closet and once to reveal an exit. She wondered if the device could be replicated. "Well," she reassured herself optimistically,"Won't know 'til you try!"
She went to her desk and took a sheet of paper from the drawer. Then she grabbed a black magic marker and wrote in large letters,"To the Labyrinth." She capped the pen and looked at her handiwork musingly. Then she took a piece of tape and taped the handmade sign to the closet door. She stepped back, biting her lower lip nervously.
The closet door waited patiently as Sarah gathered her courage. She didn't know what she would do if the door didn't work. She didn't know what she would do if the door did work. But she had to go forward, to go back to the place where it all began. Eyes closed tightly, she reached a hand forward and turned the knob.
A shallow breath later she opened her eyes cautiously, squinting into the distance. Before her lay the Labyrinth in all its dusty gold walls, and the sharp-edged castle at the very center, very peak of it. A wave of relief swept through her and she almost collapsed, her knees were so weak. She stared out over the Labyrinth. It took her breath away. Unbidden, memories and images sprung to mind, and an odd, nostalgic calm settled over her. If she wanted to, could she come anytime she wanted? Could she leave the world behind her, step into this different and strange place whenever the urge overtook her?
She shook her head. One step at a time. Smiling, she glanced downwards and echoed her words from her last traverse of the Labyrinth: "Come on, feet."
Sarah walked down to the entrance of the Labyrinth. The fairies were there, as before. They buzzed about, little pretty baubles of light and gauze. Sarah warily avoided them, remembering the ferocity of their bites. They, however, didn't ignore her.
One flitted to hover about Sarah's head and twittered cheerfully. Sarah ducked and waved the fairy away, but only lured another to fly about her head. Then another, and another, until she was surrounded by a ephemeral cloud of magic and wings. Frustrated, she demanded,"Oh, what do you want?" The fairies merely smiled, twittered, and bounced through the air. Annoyed, Sarah stalked to the door and pulled it open. As she escaped through the door she thought she heard a cluster of high pitched voices whisper thinly after her,"About time you came back!" Startled, she turned and peered at the fairies just before the doors closed. After a confused pause, she shook her head and looked down the long corridor. Where to?
She walked to the right and ducked through a wall. She looked around, somewhat exasperated. Did she have a time limit this time? Or could she spend as long as she needed trying to get through the damn thing? Even so, she really, really didn't want to spend forever in the Labyrinth; she had more important things to do.
"'Ello there!"
Sarah stilled, then turned to meet the little green worm. She smiled with recognition. "Hello again! How's the missus?"
"Quite well, quite well, would you like to come in and have a cup o' tea?"
"I'm afraid I have pressing matters," Sarah said reluctantly,"But I promise, once everything's sorted out, I'll come by for that cup of tea."
The worm tilted its head and studied her. He nodded. "All right, your word is good."
Sarah smiled ruefully. "I don't suppose you could tell me how to get to the Goblin City, could you?"
The worm smiled. "Quite right, quite right. Go left and you'll go right to that nasty little castle."
Sarah stared at the passageway. "You mean, if I had gone this way last time, I would have saved myself a lot of trouble?" She turned back to the worm, annoyed, and complained,"You told me to never go that way!"
The worm inched forward on the jutting brick of the wall. "Sure I did. Y'weren't here just to go straight to the castle. That'd defeat the whole purpose of ye being here!"
Thinking about it, Sarah had to agree that the worm was right. "But this time I need to talk to him first."
"Indeed, indeed. The left path is yours to take, then. Go and do your business, miss, and come back for a cup of tea sometime." The worm crawled into a small hole and disappeared.
Sarah grinned. "All right. Thanks." She turned and walked down the passageway, heart thudding. Did she have the right words this time? It was always the words. Always, always. And she seemed to have a knack for finding the wrong ones.
She saw that walls changed their position after each blink, creating a straight, simple path towards the castle for her. She saw, but took no note. Her mind was too preoccupied. Her feet moved autonomously, detaching themselves from the silent central control. The castle loomed in the rapidly shortening distance.
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A/N: Almost there. Almost there....I'm not kidding.