"I really don't think it would work like that, even if there was such a thing as a Goblin King," Kaya said, walking along next to me, clutching her coffee with a grin.
"Of course not," I replied. "He'd only come after little kids who got wished away, and it's just a movie anyway. So what if my mom joked about wanting the goblins to take me away? Besides, I can't say I'd mind being out of there."
"Yeah," Kaya muttered, glancing around somewhat nervously at the darkening streets around us, "Let's just get home okay? It's getting kind of late and I've got a test tomorrow unless class gets cancelled which I'm hoping for."
"Yeah, no problem," I nodded, and we sped up a bit, heading straight for our apartment this time, as opposed to meandering about.
"Look at that," she said, nodding up at the sky, where a white owl was flying overhead in the direction of our apartment. "That's so weird. You almost never see owls out here."
"It's kind of strange, but it's not that weird," I said, heading up the stairs and unlocking the front door of our second story apartment. I pushed open the door and stepped in, flicking on the light in the front hall and walking into the living room, where I saw the figure of a man on the couch. I let out a scream, but before it could even escape my lungs, I was no longer in my living room. My previously cut off scream forced itself from my throat and my thoughts snapped back to where I was.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? Where am I? Who the hell are you? How did I get here?" I shouted, turning on the man who had been in my living room and reaching out to hit him, but he grabbed my wrists.
"Most peculiar, isn't it, my dear little Lia?" He asked in a mocking voice.
"Don't call me that. My name is Liliana, not Lia."
"Oh really? I seem to recall a lot of people calling you that."
"Well, unfortunately kidnappers aren't on the list of people that get to."
"Kidnappers? You have the wrong idea about me, my dear. You were wished here. And I can't ignore a wish. It's against the rules."
"Wished here? What the fuck are you talking about? Do you meant that stupid ass movie I watched with Kaya and my mom? It's just an old movie with David Bowie. None of it's real, you demented fuckwad."
"Well, here I am, sweetheart, so I think you may have to change your definition of reality. I can assure you, this is not a figment of your imagination, though I'm not sure what movie you speak of."
"Um, the Labyrinth, obviously. God you look so much like David Bowie, how the fuck did you manage that? And how did I get 'wished' here? Aren't you only supposed to take children? I'm nineteen, not even legally a child."
"You are your mother's child, are you not? She wished you away, and here you are. Of course, she thought what you thought. That there was no way any of this was real. But it is, and, as this is, as she put it, just a stupid prank, she has refused to run the labyrinth for your return. But seeing as I'm such a kind and generous ruler of this land, and considering that you are much older than any of the other children have been before, I have decided that you may have the opportunity to run the course for your own freedom."
"What's the catch then?" I asked, taking a defensive stance.
"I'm afraid I don't understand," he replied, raising an eyebrow and gesturing for me to explain.
"The catch? The thing that makes this whole thing not sound so great anymore."
"Well, I was going to make it a fair deal, but since you're acting so very shrewdly, I suppose I should only give you half the time to pass."
"What? That's not fair!"
"Life isn't fair, my dear. And you asked for it." Before I could protest again, he disappeared into a shroud of hazy blue-gray smoke.
I huffed and turned to face the entrance to the labyrinth, striding towards the door, and trying to remember all of the things I'd just seen in that stupid movie earlier.
When I reached the gates to the labyrinth, there was no one there to greet me, excepting the faeries, which I thankfully remembered to avoid.
"Jareth, I know you're watching me do this. Would you kindly open the gate for me please, so I can actually start trying to get through?" I called, and I was right, he had been watching, that or the labyrinth had ears of its own and was waiting for me to ask to be let in, because as soon as I finished my sentence the giant, vine-covered wood doors swung outward, allowing me entrance to the maze.I stepped through hastily, and jumped only slightly as the doors slammed behind me with a hearty thud.
"Six hours, Lia," Jareth's voice rang clear through the Labyrinth, echoing from each stone in the walls. "Use it wisely, or they may well be your last in this world."
With that final sentiment in mind, I took off down the first hall, checking every so often for openings. I came to one after about three minutes of just jogging straight forward. I stepped through the opening and took a left turn, hoping that that had been the way straight to the castle like the worm had said in the movie.
Unfortunately, my luck was just as bad as Sarah's had been in the movie, and I ended up in a strange part of the Labyrinth that hadn't even been in the movie. It was icy here, making me realize that even though I was already wearing what would've been a very toasty jacket in the quite warm Texas winter that I had just left, I was freezing and I really needed to hurry out of here or it could easily kill me. I rushed through, letting my instincts guide me through the maze, and mentally begging the apparent consciousness that the maze possessed to let me through easily. I know that it sounds insane, but I know now for an absolute fact that that maze is alive. It thinks and it feels, and it gets in your head, and if you pay enough attention, and you let it in and let it know that you know it's there and it exists, it'll help you, it wants to help you.
I took turn after turn, not stopping to think about which way I should go, simply letting the labyrinth take me where it seemed to be telling me to go without question. My theory of trusting the labyrinth seemed to be working rather well, and soon I actually found myself out of the frozen wasteland.
"Thanks for the help, labyrinth, if you're really alive and I'm not insane," I stated, patting the wall. I won't lie, I did feel rather insane in doing so but it also gave me a slight comfort to think that at least something was trying to help me in this place.
I didn't know it, but Jareth was pacing the throne room of the castle, muttering angrily to himself. His labyrinth was betraying him. If it was any other of the subjects in his realm, he'd have killed them immediately with his bare hands. Even dumping someone headfirst into the bog wasn't punishment enough for betrayal of such a monumental magnitude. And yet, he was intrigued. He had been so taken with Sarah's independence, and especially with her intelligence, and yet in her time, she had been so concerned in finding allies that she had never considered that the labyrinth could be alive, and certainly not that it could be her greatest friend in this realm like Lia had. Suddenly, Jareth was stunned with a new respect for the selfish, dimwitted brat he had been stuck with. For someone to even realize that the labyrinth was sentient was a display of tremendous resourcefulness, but to be able to utilize it, even communicate with it on some level, he had never seen anyone with such a quick, sharp, open mind before. And he wanted it. He wanted to have that mind for his own, finally someone smarter than the barely civilized goblins he was used to handling. And she was much prettier than a goblin. Prettier than Sarah, too, if he gave it much thought, though in a very different way. Sarah's pale skin and eyes against her dark hair were a stunning combination that no one could deny was absolutely beautiful. But Lia was older, with a more defined face and mature features, with coppery hair, shiny like a penny or vibrant like a flame, and inquisitive green eyes with golden flecks. Her skin was pale like Sarah's, but with a spattering of golden-brown freckles dashing constellations across her skin. She was shorter than Sarah, only about five foot three, but more slender, less babyish than what had defined Sarah's cuteness.
He really was mesmerized by her, and he knew that he needed to have her. He needed to posses her. She was a wild, beautiful and free, with a sweet and mocking voice like a lark, darting just out of his grasp, and he would cage her, make sure she was within his reach always. He was certain of it. The only problem was catching her in the first place. She was already closer to the castle than anyone but Sarah had ever gotten, and she hadn't even used half of her time yet. He didn't even have the luxury of being able to use Hoggle to poison her this time. Begging the labyrinth to help him rather than her might work, but the maze also might warn Lia if it decided not to help him.
"Surely not," he muttered begrudgingly. "she asked it for help, I've asked it for nothing. After all, I am still the ruler of this land, and it must still have at least a little more respect for me than it has for the girl."
He was wrong. The maze didn't really favor any one person over another, but it was definitely more inclined to help me than him, since I didn't threaten to tear it down and dump it into the bog like Jareth would.
"Hey asshole!" I called out to Jareth, who I knew was spying on me. "Wanna like let me see a clock or something? Not exactly fair to time me if you're not going to let me know how long I have left before I get goblin-fied."
"Goblin-fied? Oh no, you misunderstand. You're much too old to become a goblin, not to mention you're far too intelligent. Only children can become goblins," he said, stepping out of the shadows. His teeth glimmered in a crooked, knowing grin, almost like the Cheshire cat, seeming to taunt me.
"Well, if you can't turn me into a goblin, why bother with me at all?" I asked. "Why not just ignore the wish?"
"Like I told you earlier, it's against the rules."
"Whose rules are they? Aren't you the king? Don't you make the rules?"
"How delightfully naive you are, my dear Lia," He chuckled. "I don't make the rules, the rules are far more ancient than even I am. All I do is enforce these rules upon those who are wished into my care and spend the rest of my time running my kingdom how I see fit."
"So what are you going to do with me then, if I'm not going to get goblin-fied?" I asked, slightly annoyed.
"I'm sure you're good for something. Cooking perhaps, or organizing the library. Possibly cleaning or tending to the garden. If you're terrible at all of those I suppose I could just show you off as an oddity at the fae gatherings. There are no redheaded far, after all, and most of them have never truly seen a human before, so you'd be quite the head-turner," He responded lazily.
"I suppose. So how about that clock? Or are you going to keep talking indefinitely?" I asked with a knowing smirk, and he seemed taken about that I had realized what he was trying to do.
"Very well, then," he replied, waving his hand and conjuring the image of a clock. Three hours and thirty four minutes remaining. I needed to go, fast.
"I'll be off, then, see you when I finish the maze," I said as i turned to leave, waving goodbye at him over my shoulder.
"That girl doesn't miss anything, does she?" Jareth asked himself, shaking his head with a dry chuckle, vanishing back to his castle to think some more about how he could find away to keep his little lark with him always.