Sarah reached the hedge wall ten minutes after she had left Mr. Milson's company. The closer she got, the higher the walls towered over her. They were easily eight feet high. A true maze!
Directly in front of the entrance was a large sign that Sarah assumed would show a map of the hedge maze, but it only gave the history of the maze's birth. In a small box hanging on the bottom right corner of the sign were several pieces of paper. Right above it was a small sign that told the reader that maps were in the box, if they desired to have one; the other option being to just go and follow their own feet. Maps were also scattered throughout the maze if minds were changed.
Sarah thought about grabbing a map, but she decided not to. Where was her sense of adventure if she stuck to a map? She'd done enough of that just getting there. Besides, she could change her mind later if she needed to. Instead, she'd use her book as her guide. Her eyes sparkled with eager anticipation as she pulled the book from her pocket and opened it to the first page. She whistled for Merlin to follow her, and, stepping forward, she entered the maze.
::~*~::
The green, leafy walls intimately guarded the path on both sides. The path itself was a dusty dirt, but every so often, Sarah came across sections that were paved with bricks or white stone. Mr. Milson hadn't been lying when he said the maze held many beautiful secrets. Only five minutes into it, Sarah had come to a large open area where a peach tree was in full bloom, ripened fruits hanging heavy on its boughs. It was in the center of the open space, with a small patch of grass surrounding its trunk. Sarah didn't even know how the grass could be such a deep emerald color when it looked to always be in the shade of the massive tree. Elegant stone benches were arranged in a circle around the tree, spaced apart by four to five feet. Sure that no one would be bothered if she helped herself to some of the fruit, she plucked the largest one she could find from its branch and sat down on one of the benches to savor its juicy meat. It had only been an hour or so since breakfast, but the walk to get there had taken its toll. Thinking Merlin was probably starving as well, she broke a large chunk of her peach off the pit and turned to offer it to him. Merlin had collapsed onto the ground next to her and was already snoring loudly.
Content to let him rest for a few minutes, she lay down on the bench and opened her book to where she had last left off. Yes, she knew the story by heart, but there was something thrilling about reading it when she was actually wending her way through a real maze. It wasn't the Labyrinth of her story, but it served just as well when she knew the better alternative only existed in a book.
As she held the book up, it gradually weighed on her arms and her eyes. The clouds drifted soundlessly across the blue sky above, beyond her book, weaving a careless, dreamy spell over her. The book slipped from her hands as her eyes quietly closed.
::~*~::
She was awakened by the sensation of something wet tickling her fingers. Laughing in her sleep, she slowly opened her eyes. Merlin was wide awake and standing at attention next to her, his rough tongue eagerly licking the faint peach juice from her fingers. She laughed again and sat up. "Ah, Merlin!" She rubbed his head affectionately, even though he was still attempting to lick her fingers.
Standing up, she stretched, loosening cramped muscles from her short nap on the bench. Sleeping on a stone bench was definitely not one of her better ideas, she thought as she bent down to pick up the fallen book. Looking around, it took her a moment to figure out which opening had brought her to the tree. Grabbing another peach from the tree, she randomly selected one of the other paths, and moved away from the peach tree. The path was narrower than what she had already passed through and paved with ivory colored stones set carefully into their places. As they walked along, Sarah broke pieces of the peach apart and fed them to Merlin, who was quite happy to be enjoying the full fruit instead of what remnants existed on her fingers.
::~*~::
The afternoon reached its peak as the sun beat mercilessly down upon her head. Being that it was August, the high temperature was already bad enough, but the sun seemed to be directly over her head and it didn't matter which path she took, she could never find one with enough shade along one side or the other to shelter her and Merlin. After making a few more turns, she found another fruit tree, this one bearing apples, and practically dove for cover underneath the shady boughs with Merlin half a step behind her. Pulling a few apples down, she fed a couple of them to Merlin and started on one herself as she leaned back against the trunk of the tree.
She estimated she had been in the maze for about two hours by that point and already she had seen such wonderful things. Some member of the Milson family must have been quite an admirer of sculptures as she had seen some amazing pieces while in the maze. Her favorite was a beautiful imitation of the Venus de Milo, carved out of white marble, and surrounded by rose bushes in the waning bloom of late summer. She had also seen The Thinker coated in burnished bronze, the heat rising from the sculpture in visible waves. David appeared to have been carved from limestone, but was coated with some kind of varnish or sealant to protect him from the elements.
Having nothing else to do but wait for the sun to start its downward movement, she decided to read another chapter or two from her book. Thirty minutes went by before she judged it was time to move again. Nudging Merlin from his doze with her foot, they left the cool shelter of the tree and went out through one of the many openings. Unlike all the previous open areas and courtyards she had passed through, having walked many paths between them, the next courtyard she came to was just on the other side of the one with the apple tree. It was smaller than the apple tree one, almost one quarter of the size. Four marble columns were situated in the four corners but each was approximately three feet away from the corners of the hedge. Place carefully atop each column was a sphere, each a different color. One was a bright citrus orange; another was a deep ocean blue. The third was a rich earthy brown and the last was a frosty white. The colors were translucent so any observer that looked through the spheres could see beyond in tinted shades. Sarah stood in the midst of them, spinning to study each in turn. A full minute passed before she comprehended what they represented. "The four elements," she whispered. Acknowledging what they stood for, she studied each of them in a new light. She loved how the different angles she looked at them brought the colors to life within. As she circled the orange, it looked as though a fire were raging within; circling the blue looked as though huge waves were roiling upon a tempestuous sea; and so on.
Sarah almost didn't want to leave, but Merlin had caught sight of a bird flying from its safe haven within the walls of the hedge and had given chase. Sarah ran after him, cursing every step of the way as she lost track of where she was going.
::~*~::
She had finally caught up to him underneath the branches of another fruit tree, a peach tree, as he kept barking at the bird that had taken up residence within its boughs. At first Sarah thought they had arrived back at the peach tree she had found earlier, but she noticed this one was smaller and there weren't any stone benches arranged around it. Instead this one had a small cluster of benches in one corner as though they were waiting for weary travelers to take their respite in nonchalant conversation. A large arch covered with vines protected the seating from the harsh rays of the sun.
Sarah patted her leg, motioning for Merlin to follow her, but he only came when she reluctantly pulled a peach from the tree and started tempting him with it, all the while leading him away.
Perhaps the most modern object she came across was in the next open space she stumbled upon. A vast sandpit took up almost the entire ground space with only a two foot cement path bordering it on all sides. Standing securely in the midst of the pit was a large playground jungle gym. It was basic when she compared it to some other park playgrounds she had seen, but it also seemed out of place within the maze. Shrugging her shoulders she carefully led Merlin away from the sand before he could get himself dirty by playing, rolling around, and digging in it.
::~*~::
An hour later, Sarah found a massive mini maze within the larger hedge maze. Its construction appeared to be solely for the intent of giving adults a chance to rest while their smaller children ran around the two-foot high maze on their own adventures. It was so large that Sarah assumed she was at the center of the maze. She sat down on one of the benches and traced the path of the maze with her eyes. She started to yawn, but she pinched the tender flesh on the inside of her elbow in an effort to stay awake. She wouldn't completely disagree with another short nap, but her joints and muscles were still protesting the last one she had taken on a bench. At the very least, she would try to find another tree with its soft grass and cool shade.
She groaned as she dragged herself to her feet and started off along another path. While the maze was huge, it wasn't big enough to require hours of concentrated effort to solve. It was only taking her that long because she was ambling slowly along, savoring every sight, every sensation, every memory that was etching into her mind. Shortly after her nap, she had decided to make the experience even more fun by pretending she was the heroine in her book. It was easy enough to do with the maze around her. She had never considered acting out her favorite books before, sticking only with scripted plays that were written for stage production. Thinking of all the movies that had been made based off of books, she was surprised she hadn't done it long before.
A short time later, Sarah spied yet another fruit tree, this one bearing lemons. Having no desire to consume the sour fruit, she collapsed onto the soft green grass and was quickly asleep beneath the shelter of the leafy canopy, Merlin curling up beside her.
::~*~::
The sun was getting low in the sky when Sarah found the true center. Long before she reached it, a steady roaring sound interspersed with the trickling of water reached her hearing. When she turned the last corner, she was awestruck at the scene before her. Everything she had encountered in the maze was gigantic: the maze itself, the mini maze, the spheres, the trees, even the statues, but nothing had prepared her for what she saw in front of her. The biggest fountain she had ever seen was roaring with life in the center of the paved courtyard. The length and width thereof was easily bigger than the community pool back at home. The top of the fountain was twenty feet above her and it still managed to shoot water another ten feet into the air. Smaller jets in the descending pools also shot water upwards but none as impressive as the one at the top. A gentle breeze brought the mist from the falling water to dance along her body and she relished the coolness it brought to her flushed skin. Not until she saw the abundant amount of water did she realize that she had brought nothing with which to quench her thirst, or even Merlin's.
Merlin had taken one look at the water and charged past her, throwing his entire body into the fountain. Sarah started to yell at him to get out, but she quickly saw that he was paying her no heed and she couldn't blame him. She hadn't considered that this adventure would take all day and she hadn't prepared accordingly. She looked thirstily at the fountain. She just hoped it wasn't chlorinated. Especially since Merlin was lapping the water up like he was fearful it would suddenly disappear.
Stepping forward, she pulled her shoes off, followed by her socks. Rolling up her pant legs, she stepped hesitantly into the fountain. A sigh of breathless contentment escaped her lips as the mere touch of the water rejuvenated her. Carefully stepping around the small geysers, she waded through the shallow pool of water to the ascending basins. Cupping her hands, she filled them with water from the smaller basin and she took a tentative sip, ready to spit it back out and drag Merlin bodily from the fountain if she tasted chlorine.
It tasted as though she was drinking from a crystal clear spring of pure icy water, melted straight from a massive glacier. Naturally, she could not really make such a comparison since she had never drunk water that had come directly from a melting glacier, but she couldn't imagine it would be much different. Cupping her hands again and again, she drank until she was fit to bursting from all the water flowing through her system.
Now that her thirst had been taken care of, she turned to see what Merlin was doing. He was pouncing on a geyser, using his furry paws to cover the jet. Satisfied that he had succeeded, he looked to his left and then to his right. He let out a mighty howl as he noticed more jets spraying water. He pounced on the one on his left, repeating his actions, but the sight of more geysers erupting, including the one he had previously covered, filled him with indignation. He sat back on his haunches and started barking at each geyser as they continued unabated all around him. Sarah chuckled as she watched him. He was soaking wet and she could see areas where his long fur was starting to tangle. He was going to be a beast to brush later.
Sarah waded back to the edge of the fountain and sat down, watching as Merlin started his game again. He seemed determined to stop the gurgling water. Sarah let her feet dangle in the water as she pulled her book out of her pocket. She had made it close to the end and she felt that was as good a time to finish it as any.
::~*~::
Sarah hummed a nameless tune as she walked around the exterior of the maze. She wanted to go back through, but as the sun was so low in the sky, she knew she'd still be in there well after dark if she attempted it. Maybe she would come back another day.
Perhaps the most memorable part of the whole experience was how easily it became for her to believe she was the heroine in her book. The deeper into the maze she had gone, the simpler it was for her to act out the scenes from her book. Pretending she was the unnamed heroine from "The Labyrinth," she turned every corner and walked every path as though she would meet her nemesis at any moment. Adrenaline coursed through her body, regardless of the fact that, in reality, no one was pursuing her. It mattered not. She was so immersed in her fantasy that she probably wouldn't have recognized her own father if he was standing right in front of her. Sarah smiled at all the wonderful things her overactive imagination had conjured.
Sarah rounded the corner of the maze and saw the large manor before her. Judging from where the manor was in conjunction with where she presently was and where she had entered the maze, she determined that she had exited the maze on the exact opposite side from where she had started. She started jogging when she saw dust rising from the end of the road that led to the house. Spying two vehicles approaching the house, she recognized the one in front as the one Mr. Milson had left in. The second one was her father's car. Taking one last look at the maze behind her, she openly started running across the field to greet the vehicles. Merlin whimpered as he struggled to keep up, the long day having taken its toll on him.
Yes, tomorrow was another day.