Chapter Two

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys, that's awesome to know that people actually read this. Thanks so much for the reviews, it gave me a little more confidence for this story.

Prince Joker- I'm sorry if that seemed a little unclear, what I meant with that part was that Sarah had tried to forget the labyrinth, she put it in the back of her mind so she could just forget about it. She wanted to forget it like she wanted to forget her childhood. And she wanted to forget her childhood because she felt like it was time for her to "grow up". Is that a little more clear now? Again, sorry for that.

Now, on to the new chapter

Through Dangers untold and hardships unnumbered………Sarah packed her bags into the truck of her ancient Honda accord. There wasn't much to her stuff as all she could afford right now was school supplies and text books. She slid behind the wheel of the car next, and immediately went for the heat. It was going to get cold later, meaning she'd freeze her butt off on the two hour drive, her heater went on the fritz too often. I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City…………She turned on the ignition and sat there, but only for a moment. To take back the child you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom is as great…………She adjusted in her seat to be able to direct her way out of the parking lot. "Damn." she muttered aloud. "I can never remember the next line." You have no power over me.

Sarah packed her bags into the truck of her ancient Honda accord. There wasn't much to her stuff as all she could afford right now was school supplies and text books. She slid behind the wheel of the car next, and immediately went for the heat. It was going to get cold later, meaning she'd freeze her butt off on the two hour drive, her heater went on the fritz too often.She turned on the ignition and sat there, but only for a moment. She adjusted in her seat to be able to direct her way out of the parking lot. "Damn." she muttered aloud. "I can never remember the next line."

Sarah hated driving like this, in the gloomy weather when anything and everything blew onto her windows and stuck there because it was damp, but even more so, when she had other things on her mind. Ever since that past night, she couldn't get those lines out of her head. It was most likely from reading the book over and over. What was even weirder was that they repeated so smoothly that it was as if she needed to keep reciting them.

The silence began to overwhelm her. That was another thing she hated, the silence of a car ride. As she reached for radio controls, she glanced to the side of the road. Something scattered away at the motion of her car. If Sarah had blinked that moment, she would've missed it. The thing had been rather large, more like a bear, and it disappeared through the brush. It walked, it did not scurry like a four legged animal. "What was that?" she questioned aloud, more spoken words to herself as she had been doing a lot these days.

Curiosity had the better of her, it caused her to pull to the side of the road and stop the car. She shivered in hesitation, fear, and the cold. She tilted her head to the side and peered out the side window on the right of her, not daring to immediately rush out for an investigation. She saw nothing and decided that now she would take a closer look. Ever so slowly and as quiet as she could possibly function, she opened her car door and shut it, then crept to the opening of the brush. The trees seemed to go on in almost perfect darkness.

The only noise around her was the wind that called from the trees and the few birds overhead making way for the south. There was no noise of a large animal. Still, Sarah waited. And nothing came.

After a little bit, she resided back to her car, opening the door to climb in when yet another noise caught her attention. A loud groan that sounded both inhuman and soft. It rolled a little like thunder, but sounded most unlike that of an animal as well. "How strange." she commented, casting her eyes back on the wood.

It was quiet again. Only no birds haunted the skies, and even the wind seemed a little frightened. No other cars drove by the beaten path off the wood so Sarah was nearly all by herself. This did not comfort her. She hoped now that that would be the only sound she heard, but then another came. Sarah jumped this time and made a hurried attempt at crawling back into the safety of her car until she realized that the sound the creature made wasn't a groan at all, but more of a word……or a name……

"Luuuuudddo," Is what it sounded like. Little by little, Sarah pulled away from the car to inspect the outlines of the trees again. But she, again, saw nothing. And after waiting, again, she heard nothing.

"Ludo? I am going crazy." She sighed finally returning to her car for good.

The incident with the creature haunted Sarah's mind the rest of her trip home. She couldn't place the sort of animal it was, nor could she figure what the strange 'noise' it made was. The facts she could conclude were that it was large, it may have walked on two legs, and it made funny noises. Not very helpful at all, though.

But with time, she forgot all about it.

When she pulled up the stony drive in front of the old wood House with chipping yellow paint and fading wooden shutters, she relaxed a little. A lot of memories had originated here.

Sarah could almost see a younger version of herself running home in that stupid dress, carrying that red book and with Merlin in toe. She'd hiked up the soft cream colored dress in her hands and run as fast as she could to avoid any trouble with her step mother. Then as walked inside, both her father and her step mother would give her strange looks, but did not question the presence of the dress. They just knew not to ask.

"Sarah!" A graying man with a sweater vest and black Dockers stepped onto the porch. He curled a leather-bound book under his arm and had his other arm extended out to her. Sarah's eyes nearly watered at the site of her father Robert.

"Daddy!" she replied, running into his arms. Even at 19 years old, she still needed to feel that safety of her father's arms.

"Let's go inside."

The bedroom at the top of the stairs had barely been touched since Sarah moved out of it. Of course it was nearly empty now, only a bed, some book shelves, and that old vanity remained. The room, like everything else lately, was haunted by memories of the past. But Sarah had little time to ponder that as her father called her back down stairs. "Coming!" she replied, dropping her bags on the floor.

On her way out the door, she heard a small crack from under her foot. She stepped back and looked down at a small plastic bracelet with a sporadic pattern of beads.

"Sarah? Are you coming for dinner?"Robert summoned for a second time before she had a chance to examine the little bracelet, so she slid it onto her wrist and ran downstairs.

"Sarah! Toby's eyes lit up the minute his sister had entered the room. "Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!" he cried, suctioning his body to her side.

"Oh…hey Toby…" Sarah patted her brother's head, then looked up on her observant parents. Her step mother, in particular, was looking down on her.

"Hello, Sarah." Karen, her step mother, said promptly.

Sarah gave her a blank look and nodded. "Hello, how are you?"

"Good, thank you." A fraction of a smile crossed Karen's lips.

"Look, Sar, your step mother made you spaghetti, your favorite."Robert poked his head over his wife's shoulder. He was still aware of the tension between step daughter and step mother, he always did his best to ease that.

"Thank you very much." Sarah smiled brightly.

Four year old Toby helped set the table for everyone to eat. The actual dinner was silent for a majority, except for a few phrases from Toby and awkward questions inquired by Karen. Then, shortly after dinner was done,Karen andRobert washed the dishes and left for the weekend.

Sarah collapsed on the living room couch, Toby did the same. "What do you want to do?" Toby asked.

"I dunno." Sarah shrugged and sighed, leaning her head in her palm.

Toby ran off to pick a toy from his room to play with while Sarah fiddled with the TV remote. When Toby returned, he was holding a small metal helmet. "What's this? What's this, Sarah?" he extended the helmet out to Sarah, looking at her intently like she had the answers to everything in the world.

Sarah took the small helmet in her hands, appraising the size and the appearance of it's little horns. One unmistakable factor was that it had no chance of fitting Sarah's head, but it could definitely fit Toby's. She tapped it a few times with her fist, it was definitely real. But Where did it come from?

"That's like a goblin helmet." Toby piped up.

End of Second Chapter

A/N: Thanks again for the awesome comments. I hope this chapter wasn't too bad, it's gonna get better.

Thanks for reading!

Kris