Babysitting wasn't something I particularly enjoyed. My cousins were crazy. I mean, technically they were my second cousins because my first cousins were their parents. But they were still family and I was born in the awkward middle where my first cousins were fifteen years older than me and their kids ten or more years younger so I was stuck babysitting.

I was in charge of three of the ten wild children on my dad's side of the family for the next six hours—from six in the evening to midnight. On top of that, it was raining, making the kids go even crazier than they already were. At least at around nine I could put them to bed and then just sit with my music and book until their parents got home.

In particular, the oldest of the three was a handful. He was almost nine years old and convinced he was Thor.

Trying to keep up with all of them was a nightmare. The youngest was a little girl who was probably three and obsessed with girly stuff. She was constantly trying to climb up my legs to touch the makeup I'd hastily put on earlier in the morning. The middle child was another boy—but he was almost seven and bigger than his eight-year-old brother. The boys were constantly wrestling, and I had to lug their little sister around on my leg while I tried to keep them from breaking anything. There was a reason I didn't like babysitting.

I was quite relieved when nine o'clock came around and I could clean them up, throw them in their pajamas, and put them all to bed. Once I read the little girl a story about princesses and gave each of the boys a comic book to read to put them to sleep, I went out into the rest of the house and started to clean up. Toys, blankets, crumbs, and random bits of cereal were all over the floor. I started my systematic clean up with I heard a loud crash and the middle brother crying. Sighing heavily, I went into his room. His older brother had snuck in and pushed him out of bed just to be irritating. The crying woke up the youngest and she started crying too in the next room. The oldest was laughing his head off.

I buried my face in my hands and sighed again. "Sometimes I wish that the God of Mischief would just take you away," I muttered.

The house went silent.

My ears perked and I lifted my face out of my palms.

Where the boys had been, there was just a pile of blankets. My mouth dropped open and I ran into the girl's room. Her little bed was empty too, with her sheets ruffled and covers crinkled. I looked back into the middle boy's room. Nothing.

I just stood there in the little girl's pink-covered bedroom staring around. Lightning flashed outside, closely followed by thunder.

The window blew open—throwing rain in my face. I winced and took a step back.

A shadow eased over the floor. When I looked up… I froze.

Standing just inside the window was a man, accompanied by greenish light and little bit of what looked like glitter blowing in the stormy wind. He was tall, pale, with wicked icy blue eyes and sharp cheekbones. His overlong hair was black and he was wearing black leather armor accented with gold and green. There was a terrible smirk on his lips.

I couldn't help it—I gulped.

"You're the God of Mischief," I whispered. The man smirked wider. "Please, I didn't mean what I said. I was just frustrated and annoyed. If it's all the same to you, can I have my cousins back?"

The man looked contemplative for a moment. "How about this," he started, with a very proper British accent. "How about I give you… thirteen hours to get them back?" I stared at him for several moments with my mouth gaping open.

"How?!" I demanded.

He pointed out the window. "Come and see." I stepped closer to him and looked out.

A rainbow something shot from the sky and grabbed both me and the God of Mischief—Loki. I'd read about him in the book I'd taken with me to babysitting. With a feeling of both pushing me down and pulling me up, I was yanked out of the little sister's bedroom. For several long, agonizingly painful moments, I felt like I was being ripped apart cell by cell and then slammed back together.

Then it was over. Panting, I collapsed onto all fours on the… very strange-looking floor. Regaining my composure, I looked up.

"Asgard," I breathed.

Loki smirked. "Precisely. Your cousins are in the exact center of my Labyrinth—under Asgard. I'll give you thirteen hours to solve it. If you do not, your cousins will stay here… forever. They'll make lovely servants." He pointed to a clock that appeared from nowhere. It had thirteen numbers on the face. "Tick tock, love. Tick tock." With a devilish smile, a shimmer of goldish-green passed over him—and he vanished. The clock went with him.

I stared ahead at the rainbow bridge that appeared to lead straight to the pipe-organ-looking castle. First I had to find the entrance to Loki's Labyrinth. I jogged out of the chamber where we'd… landed(?) and went down the bridge.

After a few minutes and what felt like no progress at all, I very nearly ran into someone—literally. The man was tall and blond with a dark cape hanging off of his shoulders. He'd appeared out of nowhere on the otherwise empty bridge. He was staring off the bridge at the water, seeming not to notice me. "Excuse me?" I piped up.

He gave a start and whirled around, drawing a sword and holding its point uncomfortably near my neck. When he saw the fear on my face he relaxed. "Apologies, maiden. How may I help you?"

"I have to find the entrance to Loki's Labyrinth. Do you know where it is?"

The blond smiled. "Certainly. Follow me." He sheathed his sword with a flourish and started off down the bridge. "My name is Fandral, my lady. What is yours?" he asked. I gave him my name in return, feeling a bit awkward. "A pleasure to meet you. You have a lovely name."

"Thank you. Nice to meet you too," I offered.

Finally we reached a cottage on the outskirts of the city that surrounded the castle. Fandral opened the door and slipped in, dragging me behind him by my hand. He latched the front door closed and lit a torch. "Stand here," he ordered, pointing to a spot on the wooden floor next to a rug that looked more expensive than anything I'd ever seen in my life. I did as I was told. Fandral whisked the rug off the floor to reveal—surprise, surprise!—more floor. I was about to make a very sarcastic remark when he knelt down and pressed a knot on one of the panels. The beams all slid away to reveal a chute. Not even a staircase. "I'll go down first. When I call, follow me. I'll catch you when you reach the bottom. Do you trust me?"

I cleared my throat. "I guess I'll have to," I admitted.

Fandral smirked—but his was less impish than Loki's and more amused. He swished his cape dramatically behind him and dropped down the black hole in the floor. I waited next to the gaping opening, rocking back and forth on my heels and the balls of my feet, waiting anxiously. Every second I was just standing here was a second I wasn't looking for my cousins. Oh my gosh, their parents are going to kill me, I thought morosely. Thirteen hours missing…

"Alright! Come on down!" Fandral's voice echoed up the chute.

I bit my lower lip, took a deep breath through my nose, and stepped over the edge. I landed on my backside on the smooth slide and started my descent. I kept my ankles close together and my arms folded like a mummy to my chest so they wouldn't get caught on something on the walls—if there were walls. All I could see was darkness. It was all I could do not to cry out in fear—what if I took a corner too fast and flew out? What if there were no walls and I lost my balance and fell?

The slide dropped out from under me and I did shriek. I was falling! Down… down… down…

"Oof!" I exclaimed as a pair of strong arms caught me. I looked up to see Fandral smiling. Gently he set me back on my feet.

"Welcome to Loki's Labyrinth, love."

End Note: If you haven't seen Labyrinth, I've written this so you don't have to have seen it. If you have seen it, I've filled this with references for you! FYI, in particular for those who have seen Labyrinth and know what it means, the prompt was "Imagine Loki being the Jareth to your Sarah." So that's what I've done! This'll probably be 6 or 7 chapters long. Disclaimer, I own pretty much nothing.

Leave a comment or a question if you have one - and thank you so much for reading!