The Labyrinth on Bourbon Street 2

A Study in Peach

The fire died in the middle of the night, so Allie went searching for another source of heat; the nearest being Sebastian. Sebastian fluttered his eyes as the light returned to the Labyrinth, surprised to find Allie's head on his chest and her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders. He was even more surprised to find that his arms were laced around her waist, as if his subconscious wanted to keep her safe in the night.

At his first slight movement, Allie was shaken awake. She squinted in the light and looked around.

"Aw no..." Allie spoke as if she was hungover. "That wasn't just a dream?" 

It took Sebastian a second to realize that she was referring to the Labyrinth itself, and having to babysit the two goblin boys that were huddled together by where the fire was. 

"Yeah." Sebastian answered. They saw that the two brothers were in a deep sleep and looked to be peaceful.

"We could just run off now!" Allie whispered hurriedly to Sebastian. "They won't even remember us!"

"Come on, be serious." Sebastian rolled his eyes. "They'd know the Labyrinth better than us."

"They're just children!" Allie countered. 

"All the more reason they shouldn't be left on their own." Sebastian concluded, raising his eyebrows. 

Allie huffed. "Alright, fine." She pressed her palm to her forehead. "But we need to get a move on."

Allie gently shook the two boys awake. "Wakey wakey, boys..." Allie hummed. "Time to get on with the quest to the center..."

The noise that came out of the brothers was not of this world. It made both Allie and Sebastian cringe in fear. 

"We have to make it to the center today," Allie's voice flattened. She turned a bit sour at the thought of having to babysit the two little demons all day.

"Allie..." Sebastian's voice echoed through the corridor. "I think the castle may be nearer than originally thought."

"No way..." Allie put her hands on her knees and hoisted herself up. She dashed to the corner where she heard Sebastian's voice. There was an opening that was not there the night before. The opening led to a small villa that trailed right to the castle. And it was completely empty. 

"You found the castle?" one of the little boys sneaked up from behind Allie and scared the hell out of her. 

"--Jesus Hell!" Allie asserted, putting a hand on her collarbones. 

"It seems that we did." Sebastian explained while Allie tried to regain her breath. 

"Well?" The firebug cheered. "Me first!" 

"No!" His brother shoved through. He held his lute by the neck, and slung it over his back. "Me!"

They dashed into the scenery. The firebug sped ahead, but the minstrel waited for them. 

"Come on!" he yelled, waving his hand in the air.

"You go ahead!" Sebastian cupped his hands to his mouth. With Sebastian's blessing, the minstrel darted off to meet his brother. Allie's eyes followed their path to make sure that they were safely off on their way.

They reluctantly stepped towards the castle, which was as flat as the outline of the Labyrinth from the hill they started on. 

"Something about this seems fishy..." Sebastian thought out loud.

"Chill." Allie insisted, although being just as weary with her steps. "We just saw the boys go in no problem."

Before you could say "what could possibly go wrong?", something went terribly wrong. The walls of the labyrinth started to cave in on them, boxing them in to a single square that just kept getting smaller and smaller. And as they tried to dash through the gradually decreasing spaces, they saw that the castle was getting farther and farther away. It was an all too familiar sight for Allie.