Advent, part 8
Rating: M
Thanks so very much to knifeedgefic for the super-speedy beta, and, as well, to lightup_tea and for their feedback.
Cross-posted at labyfic.
Advent
Part 8
I was fading in and out, it’s true - somewhere between wakefulness and dreams, between my world and the Labyrinth … And the room was very dark. Still, I could hear enough and see enough to know what happened. My ears catalogued it, dispassionately. My sister had let her arms fall - but the Goblin King had pulled them around his neck, and he had tangled his hands in her hair and was kissing her over and over, again and again, whispering things that I couldn’t understand when his mouth was free, whispering them into her mouth in a murmur when they kissed again - and again, until, “… Jareth,” she sobbed. “Promise me - promise me - oh god -”
“Let all the gods of all the worlds witness it,” he growled. “I promise you.” Then he yanked her head to a better angle and bit her lips - he drew blood. He had meant to draw blood. My sister cried out, and then again, louder, as he turned them and shoved her up and against the door.
“After - after it’s born.” Her eyes were wide and desperate in the darkness. “Promise me you’ll let me go …”
“Sarah …” the Goblin King whispered. His eyes were just as wide, and alight with a look I still couldn’t remember. “My Sarah …” He smiled up at her, his teeth jagged and sharp, and then he edged and twisted his way between her legs. I don’t know what would make her groan like that, but I saw his smile widen.
Then he leaned forward and rasped into her ear, “Give me the child, Sarah, and the day you do, you may crawl off your blood-soaked childbed and go wherever you wish.”
“You bastard,” she choked, shuddering, and I heard this weird guttural sound from his throat as he kissed her again. And again. I hadn’t ever really kissed Debbie like that. Oh I mean, sure we had French kissed, but this … I don’t know how to describe it.
Maybe it was difficult to find words because I was going farther away. I closed my eyes to think, and I felt like I might open them on someplace completely new any minute. I was a bit curious about where it might be. I still felt removed, though. It didn’t even bother me when I heard the sound of cloth being torn.
I opened my eyes again. I couldn’t see much. Except I remembered: Debbie was once grumpy for a week because I spilled Coke on her favorite sweater. I can’t imagine what she’d do if I tore her shirt off like that. The Goblin King was, though. Tearing my sister’s shirt, I mean. Then all of a sudden he shoved himself back off the wall and Sarah almost lost her balance.
I could only hear their breathing.
I saw him staring. “Where …” He drew a hand across his mouth. “Where did you get that?”
My sister croaked, “Get what?”
“That necklace.”
“Oh.” I saw her try to draw her shirt back closed - I could just glimpse a blue-green glint of light outlining her fingers. “It was my mother’s.”
“Was it?”
My sister bent her head, cupping the jewel on its chain in the palm of one hand. “Yes.” She looked back up and fixed her eyes on Jareth. “Aren’t you curious about it?” Her voice shook.
He took one step forward. Then another. I thought for an instant of a cat, treading silently towards a bird -
The blue-green light reflected in Sarah’s eyes. “Here, Jareth.” She held out her hand. “Come see.”
The Goblin King’s eyes were wide - he stretched out one hand -
Sarah sucked in a breath. The sound broke the silence.
Jareth blinked. I saw him frown. “Wait …”
“Take it!” Sarah rushed towards him, brandishing the jewel.
Things slowed down for me and went silent, too. I saw him sidestep her, his cloak flowing around him, and push to hasten her charge forward - he lunged behind her as she slammed into the wall opposite the golden door and seized her wrist with one hand and her hair with the other.
I heard the chain of the necklace break, with a tiny -snap- … I saw the blue-green light fall to the floor and ricochet under my desk.
After that it was dark again. There was a rushing in my ears. I thought it could be my pulse. I counted the beats for a while, before my hearing came back. Jareth’s voice was low and vicious.
“ - and to think I almost fell for it. I wonder why that might be?”
All this next was in flashes. He covered her left hand with the palm of his own and I heard something -crackle- and Sarah screamed.
Another flash: Jareth took his hand away. “Ah. Entrapment. Now how did that come to be there?”
And another flash. Sarah with her back against the wall, her face a tear-streaked fury. Jareth weaving a crystal over his palms, then shaking it out into a shimmering, crystal-flecked … cloth? “You can tell me where the rest are or I can find out myself.”
“You have no power over me,” she spat. “That spell won’t work.”
“Shall we find out?” He spread the cloth out wide between his outstretched arms. “Tell me.”
My sister glared at him.
“Very well.” Jareth wafted the cloth towards her with a wave of his hand.
It got quiet again. I could smell something burning.
I looked up at the ceiling for a long time. Then I looked across the room at the faint shape of my bed for even longer. My desk was to my right - except when I reached out a hand I couldn’t touch it. I kind of wanted to. I had spilled coffee on the blotter earlier that day and I wanted to feel if it had dried.
Maybe if I moved a bit I could find a way to touch it. The drugged calm hadn’t quite spread to my limbs, so I could walk. I started.
The weirdest thing was that I was in one place - my room - but at the same time I was walking on top of a wall. I remembered it from when Jareth had first taken me to the forest. But now the forest lay to my back. Even though I could hear it whispering to me, I walked away.
It was harder than it looked. I couldn’t move the walls the way the Goblin King could, so eventually I climbed down and walked through the Labyrinth itself. I heard the forest murmuring for me to come back. I chose to go down the branches of the path where the whisper was quieter.
I turned a corner in the Labyrinth, and saw my sister lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Jareth was sitting on the floor, his back against the bedframe, both hands laced around one bent knee. If he tipped his neck, he could rest his head against my sister’s hip; if she shifted her hand, she could touch his hair. But neither of them moved.
His voice was quiet. “It amazes me. For them to give you a transport crafted by a direct descendant of Finir himself … Such power - why to you, I wonder? …”
I saw Sarah wipe away tears tracking silver down her face. “They promised to help me save Toby.”
“And when was that?”
“When - the year after you first returned.” She coughed and wiped her nose. “My sophomore year. I saw that story, and I knew you had - and then they contacted me …”
Jareth was quiet.
“… and they knew you had taken him, and brought him back. You never bring anyone back -”
“Sarah, I brought you back …”
She went on as if she hadn’t heard him. “And they said you were looking for a son, so that you could get out of the Labyrinth, and - and -”
“Destroy them all - yes …” he sighed. “I’ve waited far too long. But, Sarah, why this? Why equip you as a third-rate saboteur to try to trick me into some sapphire prison, when they could have trained you up as a runewriter or a spellcrafter?” He turned his head to the side. I saw her shiver at the brush of his hair on her skin. “Or as a sorcerer?”
A long pause, then: “I don’t know.”
The scene vanished into darkness. I kept walking.
*
I walked for what seemed like a shorter amount of time - and then I turned another corner of the Labyrinth.
They hadn’t moved. The golden light from the door fell on my sister where she lay. It made her hair lighter, but turned her skin weird and burnished-looking. She was really pale anyway, so I guess she couldn’t help it.
“This had power.” Jareth held up the jewel between finger and thumb; it was blackened, and from it dangled two strands of broken chain. “And the runewrit had power, too, overall. The magnifier on your tongue in particular would have required great ability to set. The others … well.”
And then I saw the Goblin King turn around completely and rest his chin on one hand. “The others were not as complex.”
With the other hand he reached out a finger and touched what looked like a scrape, or a burn, on my sister’s hip.
I saw her flinch away from him.
“Shh …”
She didn’t shh though; she kept moving until she had pressed her back against the wall by my bed and pulled my quilt half over herself. “Jareth - I don’t want -”
“Oh, I know you don’t want …” the Goblin King whispered. “You never intended to go through with it, did you?”
“Goblin King …” I heard her voice, tightly controlled. “How could you delude yourself into thinking I would ever give a child into your power? For whatever reason?”
Jareth was silent for a long moment. Then he pushed himself off the mattress. I saw the light from the door spark off the ends of his silver-gold hair, and I saw my sister pull the quilt up to her neck.
“So, you have served me false; well and good. False or true, you still made a bargain, Sarah. Do you plan to keep to it?”
No answer.
“It seems to me that we are back where we started. Nothing has truly changed. Except for this.”
I saw the Goblin King reach down and touch one of my sister’s feet, through the blanket. “Grace. And grace again. Desire -” he moved his hand up her legs “- here, here, here, and here. Enticement …” he moved his hand slowly over the blanket, and I don’t know why she should gasp, but she did. “Entrapment …” he touched both her hands, “Fortitude,” both her shoulders, “Desire once more …” he brushed one finger over her lips. “And the magnifier …” The Goblin King bent over her “… was here.”
The scene vanished into darkness. I kept walking.
I walked and walked. My legs were starting to hurt. I could feel the ground beneath my shoes change from rock into springy soil, but when I stretched out my hand, I still felt a wall. I turned another corner of the Labyrinth.
I saw Jareth kissing my sister - but just barely. It reminded me of when I had first kissed Debbie. We were both so shy that we had just stood there for what felt like five minutes before she had moved closer.
Sarah lay there with her arms rigid at her sides. I saw him draw away, slowly, and look at her. He moved even more slowly to frame her face with his hands.
When he kissed her again, I heard her make a small noise. Like she had something stuck in her throat.
“Shh …” Jareth stroked his fingers over her temples. “You see?” He kissed her again - and I knew that head tilt. It had taken Debbie and me a while to dare do that … we were too worried we would lock braces by accident.
The kiss was longer this time. I saw Sarah close her eyes.
“There …” he whispered. “The magnifier was there.”
“I know.” Sarah kept her eyes shut.
There was silence for a long moment. Then I heard the Goblin King whisper.
“It’s not fair, you know.”
Her eyes flashed open. “What?”
“It’s not fair.” Jareth brushed away tears that shone on her face with gentle strokes of his thumbs. “All of the snares vanquished … all of the runewrit is gone, but … when I look upon you, nothing has changed.
“I want to look at you every day.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “I want to take you with me and keep you forever. I have never wanted anything so very, very desperately, as I want you, precious thing.”
He didn’t sound desperate, though. He sounded reflective, quiet … maybe even happy, a bit. I didn't understand.
Sarah wasn’t happy at all. She brought up both her hands and fisted them on her collarbone, ready to shove him off. “I’m not a thing, Jareth.”
“Yes. That I know.” He moved one hand down and touched one of her fists. “And I know, Sarah, that I will never underestimate you again.”
They were quiet for a long minute. He bent to brush a kiss over her knuckles, and I saw my sister trembling.
“But what do you want?” Jareth slowly tilted his brow. “Do you want me to be … gentle with you, perhaps? Like this?” He caressed her hand. “And like this?” He kissed her cheek. “It could prove a novelty, I suppose. What say you?”
“No.”
Jareth looked at her for a long moment and then unfolded to his feet. He fished in a pocket, I think, to find something - then he let the blackened jewel drop and, matter-of-fact, brought one heel to bear on it.
I heard a grinding -crunch-.
Then I saw him walking to the golden door. I saw the long line of his back lean and twist as he touched the latch and light flared.
“Wait -” Sarah gasped, pushing herself up in my bed. “Wait - Jar -”
“And here I thought you had forgotten.” He looked back at my sister, coldly. “Make your choice, Sarah.” Jareth slung off his cloak and let it fall to the floor. “Join me here,” he pointed at it, “and leave with me … or stay in that bed, and stay here, safe and sound. Howsoever you may chose, do so before my patience reaches its end.”
He didn’t say anything more; just sank to his knees and stretched out on his cloak like a cat might in a beam of sunshine. It was so dark, though, in my room ... And the golden light of the door didn’t remind me of sunlight at all.
The scene vanished into darkness.
*
I kept walking.
My feet hurt just as much as my legs. When I stretched out my hands now, I still felt walls. How long would this last?
And how much time did I have left?
“Oh …” My own voice sounded really loud. “That’s - that’s a really good question.” Like in AP Senior Lit. That’s a really good question, Toby. Anybody want to take a stab at it?
It felt like the warm haze of magic was wearing off. To be honest, I was beginning to get a little worried. Once the walls came to an end and I couldn’t hear the forest anymore, how was I going to get home?
“Only one thing to do …”
Even though all of my muscles were like, no, you do this and we go on strike, I started running. At least I was warmed up.
And at least I had run with Jareth all these years. If I hadn’t, I would never have been able to run like this now.
It only took a short time before I turned another corner of the Labyrinth.
I saw my sister sitting in my bed, head resting on her upturned knees. She had wrapped my quilt around herself. I wasn’t sure, but I think she might have been crying.
That image vanished into darkness. I was starting to pick up speed, though, so it seemed only an instant before I turned another corner of the Labyrinth.
I saw Sarah standing. My quilt was bright red and orange around her. Her bare feet looked really white where they touched the Goblin King’s cloak. She was looking down at him.
I looked too. And this entire night, all of it … all of it it felt even more like a dream.
A long time ago, I had thought that he looked like a hero or a god from my mythology book … but here … Lying on his black cloak, with his eyes shut and his hair spread out, he looked like some sort of enchanted princess. Like the kind you wake up with a kiss. Only he was a guy, so it was … It was just - weird. Like the whole picture - him fast asleep, all silver and gold on a cloak like night - belonged in a magic book, and not in my room.
I think Sarah thought it was weird, too. I saw her step away, a few wobbly steps. Then she sat back down on my bed.
The scene vanished into darkness. I kept running as hard as I could. I turned another corner in the Labyrinth.
I saw my sister kneeling. She pulled the quilt closer around herself. Then she lay down, in stages, eyes fixed on Jareth. She looked ready to bolt if he so much as twitched an eyelash.
He didn’t, though.
I heard Sarah sigh, all shaky. She scrubbed one hand over her face and reached back, trying to bunch the cloak together into some sort of pillow.
“Here,” I heard Jareth whisper. Sarah flinched when he stretched one of his arms, but he just slipped it under her neck, all gentle and quiet. Then he reached out his free hand and clasped it around one of hers.
I heard him sigh in turn. Then his breathing evened out. I think he had gone back to sleep.
Sarah swallowed. It was a loud sound, in the dark.
The scene vanished. I was still running - now I had a stitch in my side and I could feel sweat running down my forehead. Everywhere I tried to look, though, I only saw darkness. I tried to run faster.
I turned a corner in the Labyrinth - I saw Jareth and my sister asleep, side-by side. I turned a corner in the Labyrinth - I saw her shiver and move closer to him, as though she was cold. I turned a corner in the Labyrinth - I saw them kissing.
All of these images were silent.
Thanks so very much to knifeedgefic for the super-speedy beta, and, as well, to lightup_tea and for their feedback.
Cross-posted at labyfic.
Advent
Part 8
I was fading in and out, it’s true - somewhere between wakefulness and dreams, between my world and the Labyrinth … And the room was very dark. Still, I could hear enough and see enough to know what happened. My ears catalogued it, dispassionately. My sister had let her arms fall - but the Goblin King had pulled them around his neck, and he had tangled his hands in her hair and was kissing her over and over, again and again, whispering things that I couldn’t understand when his mouth was free, whispering them into her mouth in a murmur when they kissed again - and again, until, “… Jareth,” she sobbed. “Promise me - promise me - oh god -”
“Let all the gods of all the worlds witness it,” he growled. “I promise you.” Then he yanked her head to a better angle and bit her lips - he drew blood. He had meant to draw blood. My sister cried out, and then again, louder, as he turned them and shoved her up and against the door.
“After - after it’s born.” Her eyes were wide and desperate in the darkness. “Promise me you’ll let me go …”
“Sarah …” the Goblin King whispered. His eyes were just as wide, and alight with a look I still couldn’t remember. “My Sarah …” He smiled up at her, his teeth jagged and sharp, and then he edged and twisted his way between her legs. I don’t know what would make her groan like that, but I saw his smile widen.
Then he leaned forward and rasped into her ear, “Give me the child, Sarah, and the day you do, you may crawl off your blood-soaked childbed and go wherever you wish.”
“You bastard,” she choked, shuddering, and I heard this weird guttural sound from his throat as he kissed her again. And again. I hadn’t ever really kissed Debbie like that. Oh I mean, sure we had French kissed, but this … I don’t know how to describe it.
Maybe it was difficult to find words because I was going farther away. I closed my eyes to think, and I felt like I might open them on someplace completely new any minute. I was a bit curious about where it might be. I still felt removed, though. It didn’t even bother me when I heard the sound of cloth being torn.
I opened my eyes again. I couldn’t see much. Except I remembered: Debbie was once grumpy for a week because I spilled Coke on her favorite sweater. I can’t imagine what she’d do if I tore her shirt off like that. The Goblin King was, though. Tearing my sister’s shirt, I mean. Then all of a sudden he shoved himself back off the wall and Sarah almost lost her balance.
I could only hear their breathing.
I saw him staring. “Where …” He drew a hand across his mouth. “Where did you get that?”
My sister croaked, “Get what?”
“That necklace.”
“Oh.” I saw her try to draw her shirt back closed - I could just glimpse a blue-green glint of light outlining her fingers. “It was my mother’s.”
“Was it?”
My sister bent her head, cupping the jewel on its chain in the palm of one hand. “Yes.” She looked back up and fixed her eyes on Jareth. “Aren’t you curious about it?” Her voice shook.
He took one step forward. Then another. I thought for an instant of a cat, treading silently towards a bird -
The blue-green light reflected in Sarah’s eyes. “Here, Jareth.” She held out her hand. “Come see.”
The Goblin King’s eyes were wide - he stretched out one hand -
Sarah sucked in a breath. The sound broke the silence.
Jareth blinked. I saw him frown. “Wait …”
“Take it!” Sarah rushed towards him, brandishing the jewel.
Things slowed down for me and went silent, too. I saw him sidestep her, his cloak flowing around him, and push to hasten her charge forward - he lunged behind her as she slammed into the wall opposite the golden door and seized her wrist with one hand and her hair with the other.
I heard the chain of the necklace break, with a tiny -snap- … I saw the blue-green light fall to the floor and ricochet under my desk.
After that it was dark again. There was a rushing in my ears. I thought it could be my pulse. I counted the beats for a while, before my hearing came back. Jareth’s voice was low and vicious.
“ - and to think I almost fell for it. I wonder why that might be?”
All this next was in flashes. He covered her left hand with the palm of his own and I heard something -crackle- and Sarah screamed.
Another flash: Jareth took his hand away. “Ah. Entrapment. Now how did that come to be there?”
And another flash. Sarah with her back against the wall, her face a tear-streaked fury. Jareth weaving a crystal over his palms, then shaking it out into a shimmering, crystal-flecked … cloth? “You can tell me where the rest are or I can find out myself.”
“You have no power over me,” she spat. “That spell won’t work.”
“Shall we find out?” He spread the cloth out wide between his outstretched arms. “Tell me.”
My sister glared at him.
“Very well.” Jareth wafted the cloth towards her with a wave of his hand.
It got quiet again. I could smell something burning.
I looked up at the ceiling for a long time. Then I looked across the room at the faint shape of my bed for even longer. My desk was to my right - except when I reached out a hand I couldn’t touch it. I kind of wanted to. I had spilled coffee on the blotter earlier that day and I wanted to feel if it had dried.
Maybe if I moved a bit I could find a way to touch it. The drugged calm hadn’t quite spread to my limbs, so I could walk. I started.
The weirdest thing was that I was in one place - my room - but at the same time I was walking on top of a wall. I remembered it from when Jareth had first taken me to the forest. But now the forest lay to my back. Even though I could hear it whispering to me, I walked away.
It was harder than it looked. I couldn’t move the walls the way the Goblin King could, so eventually I climbed down and walked through the Labyrinth itself. I heard the forest murmuring for me to come back. I chose to go down the branches of the path where the whisper was quieter.
I turned a corner in the Labyrinth, and saw my sister lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Jareth was sitting on the floor, his back against the bedframe, both hands laced around one bent knee. If he tipped his neck, he could rest his head against my sister’s hip; if she shifted her hand, she could touch his hair. But neither of them moved.
His voice was quiet. “It amazes me. For them to give you a transport crafted by a direct descendant of Finir himself … Such power - why to you, I wonder? …”
I saw Sarah wipe away tears tracking silver down her face. “They promised to help me save Toby.”
“And when was that?”
“When - the year after you first returned.” She coughed and wiped her nose. “My sophomore year. I saw that story, and I knew you had - and then they contacted me …”
Jareth was quiet.
“… and they knew you had taken him, and brought him back. You never bring anyone back -”
“Sarah, I brought you back …”
She went on as if she hadn’t heard him. “And they said you were looking for a son, so that you could get out of the Labyrinth, and - and -”
“Destroy them all - yes …” he sighed. “I’ve waited far too long. But, Sarah, why this? Why equip you as a third-rate saboteur to try to trick me into some sapphire prison, when they could have trained you up as a runewriter or a spellcrafter?” He turned his head to the side. I saw her shiver at the brush of his hair on her skin. “Or as a sorcerer?”
A long pause, then: “I don’t know.”
The scene vanished into darkness. I kept walking.
*
I walked for what seemed like a shorter amount of time - and then I turned another corner of the Labyrinth.
They hadn’t moved. The golden light from the door fell on my sister where she lay. It made her hair lighter, but turned her skin weird and burnished-looking. She was really pale anyway, so I guess she couldn’t help it.
“This had power.” Jareth held up the jewel between finger and thumb; it was blackened, and from it dangled two strands of broken chain. “And the runewrit had power, too, overall. The magnifier on your tongue in particular would have required great ability to set. The others … well.”
And then I saw the Goblin King turn around completely and rest his chin on one hand. “The others were not as complex.”
With the other hand he reached out a finger and touched what looked like a scrape, or a burn, on my sister’s hip.
I saw her flinch away from him.
“Shh …”
She didn’t shh though; she kept moving until she had pressed her back against the wall by my bed and pulled my quilt half over herself. “Jareth - I don’t want -”
“Oh, I know you don’t want …” the Goblin King whispered. “You never intended to go through with it, did you?”
“Goblin King …” I heard her voice, tightly controlled. “How could you delude yourself into thinking I would ever give a child into your power? For whatever reason?”
Jareth was silent for a long moment. Then he pushed himself off the mattress. I saw the light from the door spark off the ends of his silver-gold hair, and I saw my sister pull the quilt up to her neck.
“So, you have served me false; well and good. False or true, you still made a bargain, Sarah. Do you plan to keep to it?”
No answer.
“It seems to me that we are back where we started. Nothing has truly changed. Except for this.”
I saw the Goblin King reach down and touch one of my sister’s feet, through the blanket. “Grace. And grace again. Desire -” he moved his hand up her legs “- here, here, here, and here. Enticement …” he moved his hand slowly over the blanket, and I don’t know why she should gasp, but she did. “Entrapment …” he touched both her hands, “Fortitude,” both her shoulders, “Desire once more …” he brushed one finger over her lips. “And the magnifier …” The Goblin King bent over her “… was here.”
The scene vanished into darkness. I kept walking.
I walked and walked. My legs were starting to hurt. I could feel the ground beneath my shoes change from rock into springy soil, but when I stretched out my hand, I still felt a wall. I turned another corner of the Labyrinth.
I saw Jareth kissing my sister - but just barely. It reminded me of when I had first kissed Debbie. We were both so shy that we had just stood there for what felt like five minutes before she had moved closer.
Sarah lay there with her arms rigid at her sides. I saw him draw away, slowly, and look at her. He moved even more slowly to frame her face with his hands.
When he kissed her again, I heard her make a small noise. Like she had something stuck in her throat.
“Shh …” Jareth stroked his fingers over her temples. “You see?” He kissed her again - and I knew that head tilt. It had taken Debbie and me a while to dare do that … we were too worried we would lock braces by accident.
The kiss was longer this time. I saw Sarah close her eyes.
“There …” he whispered. “The magnifier was there.”
“I know.” Sarah kept her eyes shut.
There was silence for a long moment. Then I heard the Goblin King whisper.
“It’s not fair, you know.”
Her eyes flashed open. “What?”
“It’s not fair.” Jareth brushed away tears that shone on her face with gentle strokes of his thumbs. “All of the snares vanquished … all of the runewrit is gone, but … when I look upon you, nothing has changed.
“I want to look at you every day.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “I want to take you with me and keep you forever. I have never wanted anything so very, very desperately, as I want you, precious thing.”
He didn’t sound desperate, though. He sounded reflective, quiet … maybe even happy, a bit. I didn't understand.
Sarah wasn’t happy at all. She brought up both her hands and fisted them on her collarbone, ready to shove him off. “I’m not a thing, Jareth.”
“Yes. That I know.” He moved one hand down and touched one of her fists. “And I know, Sarah, that I will never underestimate you again.”
They were quiet for a long minute. He bent to brush a kiss over her knuckles, and I saw my sister trembling.
“But what do you want?” Jareth slowly tilted his brow. “Do you want me to be … gentle with you, perhaps? Like this?” He caressed her hand. “And like this?” He kissed her cheek. “It could prove a novelty, I suppose. What say you?”
“No.”
Jareth looked at her for a long moment and then unfolded to his feet. He fished in a pocket, I think, to find something - then he let the blackened jewel drop and, matter-of-fact, brought one heel to bear on it.
I heard a grinding -crunch-.
Then I saw him walking to the golden door. I saw the long line of his back lean and twist as he touched the latch and light flared.
“Wait -” Sarah gasped, pushing herself up in my bed. “Wait - Jar -”
“And here I thought you had forgotten.” He looked back at my sister, coldly. “Make your choice, Sarah.” Jareth slung off his cloak and let it fall to the floor. “Join me here,” he pointed at it, “and leave with me … or stay in that bed, and stay here, safe and sound. Howsoever you may chose, do so before my patience reaches its end.”
He didn’t say anything more; just sank to his knees and stretched out on his cloak like a cat might in a beam of sunshine. It was so dark, though, in my room ... And the golden light of the door didn’t remind me of sunlight at all.
The scene vanished into darkness.
*
I kept walking.
My feet hurt just as much as my legs. When I stretched out my hands now, I still felt walls. How long would this last?
And how much time did I have left?
“Oh …” My own voice sounded really loud. “That’s - that’s a really good question.” Like in AP Senior Lit. That’s a really good question, Toby. Anybody want to take a stab at it?
It felt like the warm haze of magic was wearing off. To be honest, I was beginning to get a little worried. Once the walls came to an end and I couldn’t hear the forest anymore, how was I going to get home?
“Only one thing to do …”
Even though all of my muscles were like, no, you do this and we go on strike, I started running. At least I was warmed up.
And at least I had run with Jareth all these years. If I hadn’t, I would never have been able to run like this now.
It only took a short time before I turned another corner of the Labyrinth.
I saw my sister sitting in my bed, head resting on her upturned knees. She had wrapped my quilt around herself. I wasn’t sure, but I think she might have been crying.
That image vanished into darkness. I was starting to pick up speed, though, so it seemed only an instant before I turned another corner of the Labyrinth.
I saw Sarah standing. My quilt was bright red and orange around her. Her bare feet looked really white where they touched the Goblin King’s cloak. She was looking down at him.
I looked too. And this entire night, all of it … all of it it felt even more like a dream.
A long time ago, I had thought that he looked like a hero or a god from my mythology book … but here … Lying on his black cloak, with his eyes shut and his hair spread out, he looked like some sort of enchanted princess. Like the kind you wake up with a kiss. Only he was a guy, so it was … It was just - weird. Like the whole picture - him fast asleep, all silver and gold on a cloak like night - belonged in a magic book, and not in my room.
I think Sarah thought it was weird, too. I saw her step away, a few wobbly steps. Then she sat back down on my bed.
The scene vanished into darkness. I kept running as hard as I could. I turned another corner in the Labyrinth.
I saw my sister kneeling. She pulled the quilt closer around herself. Then she lay down, in stages, eyes fixed on Jareth. She looked ready to bolt if he so much as twitched an eyelash.
He didn’t, though.
I heard Sarah sigh, all shaky. She scrubbed one hand over her face and reached back, trying to bunch the cloak together into some sort of pillow.
“Here,” I heard Jareth whisper. Sarah flinched when he stretched one of his arms, but he just slipped it under her neck, all gentle and quiet. Then he reached out his free hand and clasped it around one of hers.
I heard him sigh in turn. Then his breathing evened out. I think he had gone back to sleep.
Sarah swallowed. It was a loud sound, in the dark.
The scene vanished. I was still running - now I had a stitch in my side and I could feel sweat running down my forehead. Everywhere I tried to look, though, I only saw darkness. I tried to run faster.
I turned a corner in the Labyrinth - I saw Jareth and my sister asleep, side-by side. I turned a corner in the Labyrinth - I saw her shiver and move closer to him, as though she was cold. I turned a corner in the Labyrinth - I saw them kissing.
All of these images were silent.