When Sarah awoke, she was momentarily disoriented, not recalling where she was. It took a few more minutes before she had woken up enough to remember that she was at Karen's mother's house. As she rolled off of the bed to her feet, she felt that something was off. Looking around she tried to put her finger on it, but whatever it was, it eluded her. Shrugging, she opened the door and went downstairs.
"Are you feeling alright?" was the first thing to greet her when she walked into the kitchenette. Karen looked up from where she was feeding Toby. She looked worried.
Sarah looked confused. "I feel fine. Why?"
"You slept through supper last night," her father said.
Sarah felt even more confused. "What are you talking about? It's only—" she stopped. The clock on the wall said nine o'clock. What? The sun was shining far too bright for it to be nine o'clock at night. I really slept the rest of the afternoon and all through the night?
Lydia bustled over from where she had been cooking up a storm at the stove. She gently pushed Sarah towards a chair and before Sarah could comprehend what was happening, a plate heaped with eggs, ham, toast and pancakes was set before her. Her eyes widened at so much food on one plate. Lydia moved away, only to reappear with a large glass of orange juice. "You must be famished." Without even waiting for an answer, she started clearing Karen and Robert's finished plates from the table. She came back to sit next to Sarah, a folded piece of paper in her hand. "I've got a surprise for you." She set the paper on the table and pushed it towards Sarah. She looked very excited about it, but Sarah felt a little apprehensive.
Sarah opened it. It was a map. She raised an eyebrow in mild amusement. There was even a giant red "X" in the upper right-hand corner. She set it back down on the table, unsure what to do with it. Finally, she said, "Don't you think I'm a little old for treasure maps?"
Robert seemed on the verge of chastising his daughter, but Lydia didn't seem perturbed in the slightest. "Not for this one. Trust me, you'll love it. It's meant to be done in solitude, so you can leave your noisy family behind." At this, Karen seemed on the verge of chastising her mother, but changed her mind. Sarah decided right then that she liked Lydia. A lot. Still, she was uncertain about the treasure map, but she chose not to say anything else.
::~*~::
As if she was eager to see Sarah on her way to solving the map, Lydia practically shoved her out the door after her last bite of food. Sarah stood on the front step, and stared dumbly at the closed door in front of her. She was starting to think the map was more of a way to get her out of the house than for any real desire to show her a surprise. Before she turned to start on her way, the door opened again and Lydia shoved something into her hands. The door slammed shut again.
Sarah stared in surprise at her book in her hands. Thinking about demanding some answers, she raised her fist to pound on the door, but Merlin's sudden appearance from around the side of the house stopped her. Ignoring the fact that he had probably run himself ragged all over the large plot of land that belonged to Lydia, he waited expectantly for Sarah to take him for his customary morning walk. Sarah smiled in spite of herself, all questions having fled from her mind. Stepping onto the path, she started out, Merlin trotting along on her right side.
::~*~::
After studying the map a little more intently, Sarah couldn't help grinning at the cartoonish illustrations that were meant to guide her way. The first thing she was looking for appeared to be a large willow tree, but the illustration was drawn with a cheerful face on the trunk, an interesting contrast to the weeping willow. It wasn't until she found the tree that she was amazed to find there really were knots in the trunk of the tree that did resemble a cheerful expression. She laughed. Merlin started sniffing around the base of the tree as Sarah looked down to find the next landmark on her map.
::~*~::
She should have known that nothing should surprise her at this point, but a large boulder that looked like a mouse wearing a top hat was her next landmark and, once she found it, she saw that the boulder did indeed look like a mouse wearing a top hat. What a strange formation! She wondered if nature had carved it that way, or if human hands had. Regardless, the surface looked incredibly smooth and weathered.
She looked down at the map, looking to see where she needed to go next. She estimated that she had been out for about thirty minutes so far. It occurred to her then that she really had no idea how to get back to the house. She supposed she could use the map to backtrack, but it was a crude map to follow. Figuring that Lydia wouldn't have sent her out to get hopelessly lost, she decided to just continue on.
::~*~::
Her next landmark was a bush that was shaped like an inverted umbrella, sans the pole. Assuming she was looking for a relatively small bush, she almost walked right by it without realizing it. It was a massive bush that was almost as big as her father's car. Standing on her tiptoes to peer across the top, she was satisfied to see the top actually curved down, creating a large, leafy bowl.
Her last landmark looked to be an ordinary building, and she wasn't sure how she would be able to determine what building she was looking for, as there appeared to be no defining characteristics drawn. She was about ready to fold the map up and stuff it in her pocket and just amble along with Merlin at her side, when a small image near the picture of the house caught her attention. Peering at it closely, it looked to be a series of concentric circles, but the inner circles looked warped. "Am I looking for an archery range near a house?" she wondered aloud. It didn't appear to be too far from where she presently was. In fact it looked like she might be able to see it from where she was standing, depending on the elevation around her.
"You must be Sarah."
She shrieked and jumped in fright, twisting around to see who was behind her. Merlin, startled by her shriek, started barking loudly at the new presence.
An older gentleman dressed in dark clothing jumped back at her sudden alarm. "My apologies, miss. I thought you had heard me addressing you."
Sarah could only shake her head, the ability to speak having deserted her temporarily. Her heart was pounding so loudly, she could barely hear the man talk to her. While she was trying to compose herself, she quickly sized him up. He was an older man, perhaps in his late sixties. He had jet black hair streaked through with a considerable amount of gray, and piercing green eyes. He was dressed like he had stepped out of the early part of the century, wearing dark gray trousers, and a starched white collared-shirt with a matching dark gray vest and waistcoat. A hat was held in his hand as he executed a simple bow towards her. Merlin stopped barking his head off, seeing that the man wasn't posing a threat to his mistress…yet. He did continue emitting a low growl which earned him a shushing from Sarah.
He motioned to the map held forgotten in her hands. "You must be Sarah. Your grandmother called me yesterday afternoon and said you would be coming by this morning. I believe what you are looking for is over there." He motioned behind him to where Sarah could just barely make out a huge hedge wall. That's it? I came all the way over here for that?
"Would you like me to escort you over there? The ground can be a bit treacherous in some spots." He held his elbow out, in invitation of Sarah taking it.
She took a step back. "Who are you?"
He chuckled softly. "How terribly rude of me. I can't believe I've forgotten my manners. My name is Edward Milson and this is my estate." His hand swept behind him to encompass the whole of the land behind. "The maze has been one of the defining features of this valley for several decades, ever since my forebears, however many 'greats' it goes back," a merry twinkle sparkled in his eyes, "planted the hedges in the 1500s."
Sarah's demeanor perked up when he said maze. "That's a maze?" she asked reverently, looking once again at the hedge wall that she could see.
He nodded. "Your grandmother said you were reading a book about a labyrinth and she thought you might be interested in my family's pride and joy. People come from all over to walk its paths. It has many beauties hidden within its embrace. I would tell you what they are, but I don't want to ruin the experience for you. I will reassure you by saying that there are no Minotaurs running around inside, so you're quite safe." His eyes crinkled with mirth. Once again he offered her his assistance in getting her to the entrance, but she politely declined. "As you wish. I believe I will call on your grandmother while you are enjoying your visit here. She wanted me to let you know she will send your father to come get you at sundown. I'd estimate you have several hours to waste."
With another bow to her, he turned and walked up the gravel path. Sarah was well across the field with Merlin jumping around her when she saw an expensive looking black car pull away from the large house Mr. Milson had disappeared into. She waved to him as he went past and then continued forward.
::~*~::
A/N: Two of the landmarks I used are from movies (actually one movie and one television mini-series). Can you figure them out? Sorry for this relatively short chapter, but I wanted the whole maze experience kept in one chapter. The third chapter, which is also the last chapter, is at about 2900 words and will be posted one week from today.