The Lost Labyrinth

9. A Very Old Lady And Bad Dreams

I think I'd fallen asleep because when I woke up, I wasn't in the valley anymore.

I was in a beautiful garden, full of flowers. In front of me was a huge cottage style victorian house. There was a stone path in front of me leading to the porch of the house. The patch surrounded by the beautiful flower garden. To the right was a beautiful swing covered in pink roses.

I walked down the path toward the house. Each step I took made me even more scared. I was completely unaware of what was to come.

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I put my hand on the door handle and took a deep breath. I opened the door. Inside was anything but what I expected. Inside the house were cobwebs and old wooden furniture. To my surprise, there was a woman in the house. She had long dark hair and a really old face. She had the most blue eyes I've ever seen in my life, almost unreal. She was sitting in a rocking chair, going back-and-forth reading an old book. I was surprised she wasn't bothered by all the cobwebs around. I looked down to the floor. It was all dusty and dirty. But something else on the floor scared me to death.

Snakes. About 13 of them if I had to count. They were all green and slithering by her feet. It seemed like she didn't notice them, but deep down she definitely knew.

I was still standing in the doorway. I took one step onto the floor and it creaked so loud. The woman's head shot up and all the snakes eyes looked at me.
"Hello" the woman said. "I'm Cassandra, what can I do for you?". Voices, ragged, and old. But also sad. She seemed so...alone. She didn't seem bothered by my being here at all.

"Uhm" I said, trying to think of something to say that wasn't stupid. "I'm Maddie and I'm just looking for a Labyrinth exit".

Her eyes up when I said the word 'labyrinth'. Then I remembered something. A while ago I got a note that said Cassandra will tell me everything, right? Or something like that. This was her.

"I got a note a while back, saying that maybe you can help me. How?" I said.
"I'd love to help you, but as you may not know, I am never believed". She said coldly. "Hence, there is no point".

I had no idea what she was talking about. It was probably a mystery that could be solved by the diary. I searched my bag and opened the diary up once I found it. To a new page and as usual, a new message popped up. It said; Once you find Cassandra, it will be hard to get her to tell you what she needs to, but as you see, she is never to be believed, ever. Ask her why, and she will explain.

That still didn't explain why she was never believed, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"Cassandra why were you never believed?" I asked firmly.

"That girl must've sent you" she stared at the floor. "I will tell you at your own cost. Firstly, I was never believed because I tried to warn everybody. I knew it was gonna happen, I always do. And they didn't listen. That's how ancient Greece ended up completely flooded."

I thought about that for a second. I remembered my Aunt Helen telling me about Ancient Greek stories. Whenever Cassandra told someone the truth, they never believed her. She always knew it was going to happen.

"Well" she continued. "Here I am 6,000 years later, hiding in the woods."

She kept on talking. Then she told me something unbelievable. "You will never get out of the labyrinth. You will be the one stuck here for a millennia. Just like me."

Then the scene shifted and I wasn't in Cassandra's house anymore. I was wondering how the team could change. I knew I was in the land of illusions again. This time things are different, things were actually real, but not somehow.

I was now in a really old bookshop. The bookshop only had a floor, a chandelier in the centre and one book on all the hundreds of bookshelves. I pulled that one book off the shelf, once I did that I opened up the book. Inside the book wasn't words. Inside the book was a hallow space. It was a box disguised as a book. Inside the box was a key, I looked around to see if I could find the keyhole. I did.

The keyhole was in another bookshelf. I stuck the key in and turned it. It opened the shelf. Before I could see what was inside.

I.                          WOKE.                           UP.