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Chapter 2 - Thirteen Hours

Two friends, Stephanie and Chantal, accidently end up in the Underground, making their way through the Goblin King's Labyrinth in order to get their freedom. Making new friends and meeting strange creatures along they way, as they try and solve the p

Chapter 2 - Thirteen Hours

Chapter 2 - Thirteen Hours
Chapter Two: Thirteen Hours




Chantal held open her hand for Stephanie to see. Sitting in the palm of her hand was a small glowing white crystal.

"Where did you get that?" Stephanie asked staring at the intriguing crystal.

"I found it on the trail," Chantal replied, she turned around and looked at the scenery behind her. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"I'm not sure, but this place looks familiar," Stephanie said looking around. An odd feeling came over her, she wasn’t sure what it was but most of it was pure excitement. "I must be dreaming," she whispered to herself.

"Familiar? Familiar to what?" Chantal asked confused. The nineteen-year old girl looked at the Labyrinth then back at her friend with her hazel eyes, her short curly brown hair blowing in the wind.

"To the Underground," Stephanie replied simply, staring at the dawn light covered Labyrinth.

"The Underground? You lost me." Chantal said staring at Stephanie. Stephanie turned to face her friend.

"From the movie: 'Labyrinth'." Stephanie said smiling. Chantal wondered where the title seemed familiar, she concluded that it was connected to the day's conversation. "Do you know what you did?" Stephanie said, her brown eyes glittering with excitement. So it wasn’t just a fairytale and there was some truth behind it all. Sarah was real. The Labyrinth was real.

"I did? I didn't do a thing," Chantal said, continuing to stare at the Labyrinth in the distance. "I just bent down to pick up a crystal."

"Did you say the words?" Stephanie asked.

"What words?" Chantal asked confused.

"The words--that wished us away. You know, 'I wish the goblins would come and take us away,'"

Chantal clamped a hand over Stephanie's mouth. "Shh! They'll hear you."

"We're already here." Stephanie rolled her eyes. She was now looking around. Something was missing. "Where's the Goblin King?"

"You are asking me? I have never been here before."

"I haven't been here either. I just assume he would meet us here." She looked at her watch. "Well, let's see. It's already 6:00 o'clock and we have thirteen hours to pass that." she said pointing to the silhouetted Labyrinth. She then walked a bit to see where a path would be to lead them down to the entrance.

"It gets dark at nine--that is in three hours." Chantal remarked, gripping her small backpack.

"Yeah, in our time. Look." Stephanie turned to her friend and pointed behind her. The sun was rising, revealing the Labyrinth in its entire splendor.

"Ack. Time warps, gotta hate those." Chantal said as she shaded her eyes to look towards the sun.

"Come on. We're wasting time chatting here when we could while we're walking," Stephanie said as she descended the wind swept hill, towards the outer walls of the Labyrinth. She grinned, in her excitement she felt a little like Sarah, on a great quest to rescue her brother. Although she did not recall making any wishes to have her sister taken away and she also concluded that there was no other person to rescue but themselves; this adventure might be far better than what Sarah had experienced.

Chantal stared after Stephanie. "Hey wait for me!" she called and started after her friend. They reached the walls and Stephanie started looking for an entrance. She looked as one who had been here before. The girl searched alongside the main wall and squinted to see far off into the distance.

"Ha! They've hidden the entrance." Stephanie ran off towards a pile of broken branches. She pulled the branches away, until two huge black double doors appeared.

"Hidden the entrance? I thought you said you haven't been here before." Chantal followed behind Stephanie.

"Hoggle, the dwarf that had helped Sarah, assuming her story was true; and the door weren't by the pond. Also, I sort of had a déjà vu feeling. Maybe it’s from watching that movie too many times," Stephanie shrugged. She reached out to open the doors but they magically opened by themselves.

"Wicked," Stephanie said, her eyes glittering again.

"Now what do we do?" Chantal asked, peering through the open doorway.

"We either go left or right," Stephanie said as she looked both ways. The corridors seemed to stretch out forever.

"Well?" Stephanie asked Chantal.

"Right," Chantal suggested.

"Should we? I mean, Sarah took that way but--I don't think we'll get to the castle, unless maybe he changed it."

"Yeah, people with a labyrinth and castles usually change the path so that it's never the same..."

"All right," Stephanie took a deep breath. "Let's go."

"Okay! What are we waiting for?" Chantal grabbed Stephanie's arm and pulled her to the right. Soon they became silent and were busy watching their surroundings. After walking for about ten minutes, Chantal suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked looking back.

"How long does this go on for?" Chantal asked looking down the corridor. She then leaned up against the wall for support and fell through.

"Chantal!" Stephanie rushed over. "I'm sorry. I forgot about the hidden passageways."

"Now you tell me," Chantal replied sarcastically, she stood up and was now brushing the dirt off.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Stephanie said as she passed Chantal.

"I hope so. I'm tired of going in a straight line," Chantal said, following Stephanie.

"Which way now?" Stephanie asked looking at the different passageways.

Chantal shrugged. "I don't know. You choose this time."

"Hmm...this way," Stephanie said pointing left.

"Okay, let's go," Chantal said grabbing her friend's arm yet again and pulled her to the suggested direction.

"Now that we know what to do," Stephanie said smiling as she went through a wall. "we'll no problem getting closer to the castle."

"The faster, the better." Chantal said looking around. "This place is starting to creep me out."

Stephanie smiled. "Oh?"

Chantal shook her head, "Just a feeling, I can't explain it."

"It is a little quiet and deserted, isn't it?" Stephanie looked around.

"It's a maze, who would want to enter a maze?" Chantal asked turning to Stephanie. "Oh, never mind."

Stephanie grinned and went through another passageway. Chantal followed in silence, looking around as she walked by. She then spotted a brown plant with eyes that followed her. "Steph, wha- what is that?" Chantal asked pointing at the strange plant, backing away.

"Hmm?" Stephanie turned around. "Hey cool, it's a Lichen." Having no problem with odd, slimy, crawly and creepy creatures, she neared the plant for a closer inspection.

"A what? Is it safe?"

"What? It won't hurt you. All it's doing is watching us," Stephanie said as she looked at Chantal. "See, look," Stephanie said as she reached over and touched it. It shied away from her hand. She frowned at the texture; it was cold and it was almost like gritty slime. "It's all good."

"Alright!" Chantal replied, still eyeing the plant.

Stephanie stood up and wiped her hand on her dark blue jeans. They walked on. Chantal kept eyeing the edge of the walls for more strange plants or creatures, keeping close to her friend. Stephanie shook her head. After a while, the girls came across several more dizzying corridors. Amidst the disappointing frowns, Stephanie pointed out that they were getting closer to the castle and illustrated it by pointing towards the castle. Chantal looked in the direction Stephanie was indicating and spotted the large dark castle.

"How long do you think it will take us to get there?" Chantal asked. A shrug was her friend's reply.

"Hey!" Stephanie said as she ran ahead. On the opposite wall, she saw a dark chestnut thirteen-hour clock. She saw that an hour had passed.

"What? An hour has already gone by? It only felt like five minutes," Chantal asked walking up behind her friend. She eyed the clock then looked down at her watch.

Stephanie looked at her watch. She gasped. "Look." She made her friend glance at her left wrist. It had stopped at 6:05.

"Mine is still going, but it says 6:05 too," Chantal said, showing Stephanie her digital watch. "It seems time flows differently here."

"Tell me about it," Stephanie said.

"So what do we do now? Head towards the castle?"

Stephanie stared at her friend. "Unless you want to stay here, not reach the castle and be turned--"

"I never said I wanted to stay here. Let's go!" Chantal said, she turned and looked at the thirteen-hour clock once more then back at the castle in the distance.

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