17 year old Julie Kinipela sat in her room, typing away on her computer when her baby brother, Makaio, started wailing from her parents room. Julie rolled her eyes and got up, heading down the hallway. Her parents had left earlier, like they always had, for the evening, leaving her to baby-sit Mac, short for Makaio.
She turned on the light in the massive bedroom and walked over to Mac's crib, picking him, up, " What is it now?!" she sighed and started bouncing the baby. Makaio only cried some more and Julie growled in frustration, " Stop it, Makaio! There's nothing to cry about! Just please go back to sleep." With that she put him back down in his crib, tucked him in and walked out of the room turning off the light.
" Sometimes I wish that the goblins would take you away…" Julie grumbled and the next second, Makaio went silent. Julie spun around on her heel, her waist length ruby red hair whipping around. She jogged back to her parent's room and peeked inside, " Makaio?" No sound. She creaked the door open a little and slipped inside, flipping the light switch, which did nothing. Julie started to panic. Where is he?! Why isn't he making any noise? In that instant she realized what she had said earlier and her eyes widened in horror. " Oh no. What have I done?" She had just asked the Goblin King to take her brother away!
At that very moment the French doors flew open and in stepped a man wearing a black poets shirt, black tights with black knee-high boots and a black velvet cape that draped his frame perfectly. He stood about 6'3" with wild blonde hair that fell past his shoulders, sticking out in every direction. He also had mismatched eyes, one piercingly light blue and the other one a slightly greenish blue. He smirked at Julie and she swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat, meeting his gaze, " Helloooo…" she then blinked, " Jareth, the Goblin King, I presume?"
Jareth dipped his head in acknowledgement, " You assume correctly, my dear Julie." He purred in his rich British accent.
She put her hands in the back pockets of her bell-bottom jeans and cocked her hip to one side, biting her bottom lip, " Any chance I can get my baby brother back?"
Jareth' s mismatched eyes twinkled in amusement, " What are you willing to do, my lady?"
Julie looked nervously around the room then back at him, " What can I do?"
Jareth crossed his arms against his chest, " There are many things you could do… You could always take your brother's place, instead, or you could…" he paused for a second, " Or you could run my labyrinth- with a time limit, of course." He threw in at the last moment.
Julie thought about it for a second, " What happens if I lose?"
Jareth chuckled softly, " The child will be mine… I'll turn him into a goblin." He chuckled again, then looked directly in her eyes, " Or you can take his place, and I'll let him go."
Julie's mouth hung open in shock and she crossed her arms over her chest defensively, " I'll run your labyrinth. I do love a good challenge." Everything dissolved around her and she was suddenly in the Underground on a hill overlooking the Labyrinth and Jareth' s castle. The mere size of it took Julie's breath away and she looked back to Jareth, " Has anyone ever made it to the castle?"
Jareth' s stance stiffened and his eyes grew cold, " Only one. You have thirteen hours to reach my castle before your baby brother becomes one of us, forever…" he said as he slowly disappeared. " Such a pity…" his voice rang out and Julie looked down at the Labyrinth.
" Well, that number's shortly about to raise from one to two." She said as she started down the hill towards the labyrinth.