In the Eyes of the Queen [ Labyrinth ] ✔

Chapter Two

I sigh as I put the key in the lock with gloved fingers, and with the exhaled air go all my concerns. It has been a figuratively long day and I am anxious to get inside and relax for a moment before I have to get ready to go. I hear a scuttle as the lock clicks and I roll my eyes. No doubt my small apartment is in greater dishevelment than I left it in.

I open the door and the expected mess greets me. My small collection of cook- and kitchen-ware covers the floor, though it mostly remains near the kitchenette. Clothing litters the bottom of my open wardrobe and spills onto the floor, with some pieces hanging precariously halfway off of their hangers and others hanging out of a few open drawers of my dresser. My foldaway bed is in place, but blankets and a sheet are out-of-place in a corner, adding to the mess. Merlin is wearing a sweater around his neck (I wonder how they managed that?). Ki is wearing my one and only baseball cap and his twin Ky is paused in mid-snatch. If the sofa cushions were not sewn on, I am sure they would be across the room.

Like Ki and Ky, the rest of the mischievous goblins are frozen in place; some were rushing to hide, others to tidy. I would usually be upset, or at least frustrated. It is, of course, the nature of goblins to be mischievous. Even so, I managed to secure a certain companionship from them as well as respect that begot obedience. I ignore their unoriginal attempts at mischief most of the time, and sometimes give them playful things to do. I even taught the most intelligent ones useful things. I allow only the small goblins to visit the flat since there is not much room (especially with Merlin here). Between that fact and the one that the more intelligent ones seem more likely to gravitate toward me, they really are not too much trouble.

Sure that they intended to tidy before my return—which was unexpectedly early today—I decide it is not worth the energy to reprimand them and I step around them and the messes on the floor to sit on the equally messy sofa with a relieved sigh.

A few goblins relax in place but are still afraid to move further. I glance down at them.

"Well?" I ask with raised eyebrows.

I do not need to expound. They immediately return to their hurried tidying or come out from hiding to help. Ky snatches the hat from his brother's head and places it on his own before joining the work, but Ki is too absorbed in rushed obedience to notice.

I close my eyes and listen to the familiar scurrying and indistinguishable whispers as I hear drawers and doors open and close, dishes and cookware clink, and clothes and blankets rustle. I smile to myself, knowing that this should not be familiar at all. Beyond my walls, the real world awaits. Yet I cannot deny the alternate reality I am aware of. Though I never can return to the otherworld, or whatever it is called, I cannot reject what part of it comes to and envelopes me in this in-between existence. This is my reality, and although my dreams are tempered, I am okay with that. After all, I am an adult now; there is no time for daydreaming. (And my reality is just as—if not more—more fantastical than others' dreams.)

The sounds around me slowly fade and I feel Merlin lay on my feet. I sense another presence near me. A small sound next to me on the couch indicates that one of the goblins has climbed up beside me and is attempting to clear his throat politely. (Trust me, that is something you never want to hear.) I open my eyes and look over. Her throat. It is Gelda, the only female among my goblin visitors.

Actually, I am not entirely sure Gelda is a goblin; one does not go around asking questions like that. She is thin and, like all the goblins in my company, short. Though she only reaches my shoulder in height she is by far the tallest among my company. Her skin is of the same quality as her goblin cohorts, but unusually dark. I cannot decide whether it is black or a deep blue. Her features are more human, and her hair hangs from her head like long, sleek black fur that shimmers blue in the light with her every movement. She is actually rather beautiful.