The book was small, with a dark brown almost leather feeling cover. It had gold lettering across the front cover that read, "The Labyrinth." I let my fingers run across the book, across the letters. It felt so familiar to me. There was a ribbon bookmark hanging from it, near the end of the book from the looks of it. My fingers ran across the stacked pages, to the bookmark to pull it open, my eyes fixated on it.

"Avery?" Sarah's voice shouting out at me startled me and I dropped the book back into the box. I had been sitting on my knees while I went through the contents of the box, and as Sarah called me I turned around so quick to stand that I accidently knocked the music playing figurine down. "Avery?" I heard her voice again, more frantic now. "What was that noise?"

"Nothing, I'm coming back down." I kneeled back down and carefully returned the contents to the box, and was overjoyed after inspecting the figurine that I had not broken it. I scurried back down the attic ladder; Sarah was waiting for me in the hall with another box to take up. Her eyes watched me curiously, she knew something was off but didn't ask me any more questions.

After we finished a majority of mother's fall cleaning list I helped Sarah pack her bags into her rental car. She seemed a bit off, more so than usual ever since the whole attic thing. I watched as mother and father took their turns hugging her goodbye on the porch while I shoved her last bag into the trunk. She met me at the car, fumbling awkwardly with her keys so I would know not to take too long with the goodbye. She hugged me, quick unlike with our parents. She avoided looking me in the eye for a bit, until she did. Something about that eye contact struck me. Something about this look made me feel uneasy, like somehow she knew she was never going to see me again. She put a hand on my shoulder, and with an almost teary eye gaze said to me, "I'm sorry." She didn't waste any time after that, getting in her car and leaving me there with my confusion in the driveway.

I'm sorry. Sorry for what? Her and Toby both seemed sorry for something, but for what? Was it the same thing they both were sorry for? I didn't know; I doubted I ever would.

I went to bed that night rather early and feeling a bit uneasy. I didn't fall asleep as quickly as usual because I just knew I'd have more nightmares. I had this odd feeling, a feeling I was being watched. I knew there was no way I was, yet still…

My heart is about to beat right out of my chest. I can hardly catch my breath as I run as fast as I can down the narrow brick corridor. I almost trip over my dress, I'm running so fast. I look behind me and see the barn owl flying faster towards me; I don't know why I'm so afraid of it, I just know I am. Then I fall, down a dark hole but I land, perfectly fine, on my feet in a room of stairs. There's no more owl. Just bubbles. I get dizzy, I feel my chest tighten, I can't breathe, then….

I wake up.

I fell right out of the bed, the blankets wrapped around my body as I hit the hard floor. Everything looked blurry, the room was spinning. This has never happened before, I had never been like this after a nightmare. I tried to stand, but I could barely feel my legs. I got up and stumbled around, my head was pounding and I felt sick to my stomach. I eyes were watery and I realized then I had been crying.

Then something slammed into my window. It scared me and I screamed. I looked and saw a barn owl fluttering outside my window, the same owl as in my nightmares. It slammed its body against the window again. I watched it, flutter there and slamming its body back against the window. Yet I got the feeling it wasn't trying to get in…but that it wanted me to…follow it.

I put on the first pair of jeans I could get my hand on; my favorite pair of dark denim skinny jeans. I had been wearing a sports bra and cami top to sleep, but put on a grey cardigan before I dared go outside in the cold night. I grabbed my red Toms shoes as I went out my bedroom and slipped them on at the front door. I quietly opened the front door and slipped out into the darkness of the night.

The owl was perched on the porch rails, like it was waiting for me. It stared at me, I stared at it. It made a soft noise before it flew off. I ran after it, without question. This owl had been plaguing my nightmares for as long as I could remember. I wanted to know why and I had a feeling if I followed it I might get some kind of answer. It was difficult keeping up in a pair of Toms versus running shoes, but I didn't let that stop me. I could see something in its claw, something it was carrying. It was too big to be an animal, like a mouse or something of that nature.

I wasn't entirely paying attention where the owl was leading me, I was just focusing on keeping up. After a while, it was gone. I wasn't sure how, but it just suddenly vanished from my sights. I stopped dead in my tracks and that was when I noticed where I was. It was the park where I had seen the owl before on my run. Then in the darkness I saw the owl again, swoop down at me and drop something at my feet.

It was the book from the box of Sarah's old stuff. How the owl managed to get a hold of it, I was unsure. It was all rather bizarre really. I wondered if this was a nightmare too, a really convincing one. But none of my nightmares had ever been like this before. This was real, I was sure of it.

I picked up the book and saw the owl perched over on a bridge railing not too far away. I looked down at the book in my hands, at the ribbon bookmark that hung from its pages. My fingers grabbed the bookmark and carefully pulled it up to open the pages. My eyes searched the words on the pages, skimming over them quickly, but there was one paragraph that caught my attention. I wasn't sure why, but I felt the need to say it out loud, "My will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great." I heard the owl screech and I glanced up at it quickly before finishing the last line, "You have no power over me."

The owl screeched again and I looked up at it in time to see it taking off from its perch and flying at me. I didn't know why I just stood there instead of running, but I did, and the owl knocked right into me. The force knocked me down onto the ground, I hit my head pretty hard. I saw something in the corner of my eyes, and I turned my head to see what it was. Boots, someone was standing there, wearing a pair of boots. That was the last thing I saw before I blacked out.

I woke up when I felt sunlight on my face. I opened my eyes and just from what little I could see of my blurred vision, I knew I wasn't home. I sat up and things were a little less blurry. I was still in the clothes I wore when I chased after the owl, shoes and all. I started to look around the room, stone walls and old paintings. No lights, but plenty of unlit candles. It was spacious and with little furniture to fill it. The bed I was on seemed old, and looked like it belonged in the medieval ages. I could hear voices, loud voices, which was when I noticed the opened window across the room. I was careful when I stood up from the bed, afraid I might fall. I went to the window, and looked out across the opened sky. It was so clear and blue, hardly any clouds in the sky, with such a warm breeze in the air. I could see something in the distance, large stone walls. I looked down from the window, far down where there seemed to be a village ripped from time; it looked like something you'd see in some historical documentary about the renaissance era. There were people down there but the closer I looked the more I realized they weren't people. They were creatures.

I backed away from the window, looking over the room again and sure I was stuck in some weird dream. That was when the door opened. A boy walked in, he looked about my age, if not younger. He had a braid of white blonde hair, and the eyes of the man from my nightmares. He wore a long sleeved tunic tucked into his pants with a black belt holding a sheathed sword on his hip. I looked at his boots, they were different from the ones I had seen last night, worn over the ends of his pants. He walked in, keeping his eyes fixed on me as he did. He raised his hand and as he did the door slammed shut behind him. "Lady Avery." He spoke to me as his hand flowered. "Good to see you up and about."

"Who are you?" I asked him as I stepped backwards towards the window. He creeped me out.

"My name is Jeevan. Everyone here calls me Eevan."

"And where is 'here', exactly? And how do you know my name?"

"I've known you my entire life, Lady Avery. And you've known here, your entire life." He said to me with such a monotone voice it made my skin crawl. He moved forward, passing me and I turned to watch him as he approached the window. I couldn't help but follow him over to the window, standing in front of him and watching his eyes as he looked out the window. "Lady Avery, this is the Goblin City."