More Labyrinth stuff coming up. I promise Jareth will be back in the next chapter :-)

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Sarah shut the book with a sigh and got up to return it to the pile of books that Hoggle had found for her. There seemed to be no stories, no legends, and no hints of how to deal with the situation that she faced. For one thing, no Quester had ever won over the Labyrinth. And no adult person had ever been left in the Labyrinth to try to gain her freedom. The Labyrinth had very few rules, apparently, but none she could use for help. Her situation was unique, and she was no closer to finding a solution than before.

It was her third day in the Goblin Kingdom, and so far it had been very quiet. Not a trace of Jareth anywhere. Hoggle had come to fetch her early that morning, as he had found some books that might be interesting. He'd looked very tired – Jareth had kept him up all night, but had disappeared just before sunrise to go back to the Labyrinth. Apparently the problems with the Bog were spreading. When Hoggle had been sure this morning that the king would not return, he'd started on Sarah's quest instead and found some interesting legends in the oldest books. She'd spent hours on them, but they weren't really useful after a closer look. Most of the time the heroes used magic, but even if Sarah got enough magic after becoming Fae, it would still be too late. Other legends were about trades, but Sarah had nothing to trade with except herself and Toby, and that wouldn't solve anything.

"Hoggle?" she called and looked around to find the dwarf. "Were these the last books?"

The only reply she got was a soft snore, and she spotted Hoggle lying on one of the sofas, completely exhausted and fast asleep. She smiled sadly. At least she had friends down here Underground, if she was forced to remain here forever. She found a blanket on a shelf and gently covered him, hoping that Jareth would not come barging in and disturb him soon, and then quietly left the library.

The minute she opened the door to her room, she knew something was wrong. The fire had gone out in the fireplace, and the windows stood open, banging against the wall in the draft from the door. On her bed, a small sobbing grey figure lay shivering. It was Fanny and she was crying as if her heart was about to break.

"Oh, Fanny, what's wrong?" Sarah ran to the bed and sat beside the little goblin. "What is it?"

The girl crept closer to her and suddenly Sarah found herself rocking a warm little goblin in her arms, soothing her and patting her on the head. She held her for minutes, just comforting her gently, until Fanny was finally able to get a word out.

"F'nella," she sobbed. "The Labyrinth took Fenella. And it's all my fault!"

After much coercing, Sarah was finally able to piece together what had happened. The twins had been fetching apples from the orchard deep inside the Labyrinth as they did every day at this time of the year. Fanny and Fenella had created a game these past weeks between themselves on who could get home first from the Labyrinth orchard. Each would decide in which section the other would start, and then they separated and ran as fast as they could. They had to bring proof of having been at the section the other had chosen, of course, a leaf or stone or something like that. Fenella usually won, but today, Fanny had reached the kitchen first and she'd been so excited and happy. She had waited and waited for Fenella, but as time passed her sister had not come back. When she talked to the other goblins, they had told her that the section that Fanny had chosen for Fenella to start in – the Raft maze – had just hours ago become one of the places where the mists had disappeared.

"I sent here there," Fanny sobbed, "and now she's trapped and can't get back, and she'll fall into the water and die!"

"Shhh… it's not your fault," Sarah murmured. "You couldn't have known it would happen. What about the King – will he not help?"

"We can't find him! He must be outside the mists as well. I don't understand what is happening! The mists should be there. It's not fair!"

Sarah held her for a moment and smiled at her own words coming from the little goblin. Then she looked out at the Labyrinth. What was really happening? And why was Jareth unable to fix it? He normally seemed so powerful and confident, so the thought of anything defeating him seemed out of place. Maybe it had something to do with her arrival? Some neighbouring country could have taken offence that he had brought a grown mortal into the Underground and gone to war over it – attacking the Labyrinth's magic. Or maybe taken offence that he was going to marry her. Or maybe it was the Labyrinth that wouldn't accept her instead of Toby?

Whatever the cause, her little friend was in misery and Sarah could not bear to just sit and do nothing. Who needed magic, she thought – she'd found her way through the Labyrinth before without being able to see the mists and she could do it again if she had to!

"Fanny, go to the kitchen and pack a bag with water and food, and if you have it, some string and chalk. We're going out to get Fenella back!"

An hour later, Sarah and Fanny entered the Rose Garden followed by a trail of other goblins. Sarah was dressed in a warm cape and some sturdier boots she had found in the wardrobe, and she was carrying the bag Fanny had packed for them.

"You don't have to come further than this, Fanny," she repeated, but as before, Fanny would not be left behind. Her despair had been replaced by cold determination, inspired by Sarah's announcement to go out and rescue her sister.

"You need me – you said so yourself," she said stubbornly. "And you need me to get quickly back, once we reach a part of the Labyrinth where the mists have not vanished."

"And I need you to get there," Sarah agreed. "Is this far enough into the Labyrinth? Can you ask the mists to show us to the Raft maze from here?"

Fanny closed her eyes for a second and then pointed to one of the doors in the garden wall.

"Bye, everyone," Sarah waved at the goblins. "If we're not back before the King returns, you can ask him to get his royal ass out and help us find Fenella."

The goblins giggled at her daring remark and waved back, as Sarah followed Fanny through the door and started the journey. Unlike the last time, they had to pass several different mazes and Sarah was glad she had her little guide to get her there. Fanny strode confidently through the corridors, hardly glancing at her surroundings, until they at last reached a door where she hesitated.

"The mists are very faint here," she said with apprehension in her voice and reached out for Sarah's hand. "But I think we're close to the right place now."

Sarah turned the knob and pushed the door open. On the other side there was a small span of grass and an apparently huge lake stretching out before them. A cloudy mist obscured the view so she couldn't see clearly for more than a few hundred feet before everything was covered in the grey fog. From the small grass patch surrounded by water, a wooden raft was tied to the shore and another raft was tied to that one and another to that one, creating a road of rafts leading from the shore and out onto the lake.

"Yes, this is it," Fanny said in a small voice, and Sarah took a deep breath and walked through the door, still holding the goblin's hand. The door closed behind them, but contrary to apparently every other door in the Labyrinth, it did not disappear. Sarah tried to open it again, but it would not budge. It didn't even feel like a door anymore, but like a board of wood nailed to the wall.

"Sarah, there isn't any magic here at all! It's as if the whole place is just dead!"

Sarah felt no difference, but could hear the horror in Fanny's voice. "It's ok – it's just like where I come from. It doesn't matter about the magic. Do you know how large this lake is?"

"No," Fanny admitted. "We don't come here very often, and it's always foggy here. I don't think anyone knows!"

Sarah looked around and tried to spot the castle, so they at least would know in which direction to travel after they had found Fenella, but the fog was everywhere, and she couldn't see a thing. Well, they had to find the goblin anyway and then would just take it from there. She slowly approached the wooden raft at the edge of the lake. It did not look safe! The wooden planks were old and splintered, and one corner was under water and green with moss and weeds. When she hesitantly stepped out on the first plank, it groaned under her weight, and the whole raft wobbled slightly, threatening to tip and throw her into the dark waters. Sarah reached out a hand for Fanny again.

"We have to be careful," she said with more confidence than she felt. "Hold my hand and stay very close to me, so you don't fall into the water. Can you swim, if you do?"

Fanny shook her head and looked scared, but took Sarah's hand and followed her out onto the raft. Each raft was about ten feet long, and they slowly moved across the first few as close to the centre as possible to steady it. When one ended and another began, they had to cross a span of ten inches of open water, and to get Fanny safely across, Sarah made sure she crossed first herself to help pull the goblin to the other side. Their progress was slow and tense, and Sarah fervently hoped that the lake would not turn out to be too large.

When they had passed about ten rafts, they came to a raft with not one but three other rafts leading from it. Either way they looked, the rafts stretched out and disappeared into the fog, and there seemed to be no real difference between either of them. Sarah sighed. Oh well, it was a maze after all, so of course there would be junctions.

"Is there any way you can feel where your sister is?" she asked Fanny. "Does one direction appeal more to you than any of the others?"

"I usually can," Fanny answered sadly, "but without the mists of magic, I feel nothing at all."

"Well, that's ok, we'll just do, what we would have done in my world!"

"What?"

"We call for her," Sarah said with a smile and took a deep breath. "FENELLA! CAN YOU HEAR US!

"FENELLA!" Fanny yelled. "FENELLA!"

There was absolutely no reply – the lake was dead silent, except for the creaking of the rafts near them.

"Let's go this way," Sarah said and pointed straight ahead. "We'll find her – don't worry." She took out the piece of chalk that Fanny had found for her at the castle and carefully marked on the raft where they had come from and in which direction they intended to go. At least, this time no one would be changing her marks! They moved on, walking from raft to raft on the creepy lake and at every junction they called out for Fenella and waited for an answer that never came. At random they chose a direction and marked the raft, before they continued on.

They had walked on the lake for what felt like hours and they were both queasy and pale due to the constant waving floor beneath them, before they finally spotted something different at the end of the current raft road. Something dark loomed in the fog, and as they got closer they could see it was a single tree on a very small island in the middle of the lake.

"Let's rest here for a while," Sarah was anxious to get solid ground under her feet for just a moment, and Fanny looked exhausted and about to cry. They moved closer and was about to jump off the last raft, as they suddenly spotted a small grey figure lying outstretched at the base of the tree, perfectly still and almost hidden by the tall grass. It did not move at the sound of their arrival, but they both recognized it at once.

"Fenella!"