And then I was once again alone in the cave. I whipped my head from side to side, slightly startled and slightly disappointed- I mean…glad- that he had left so suddenly. The fire had also vanished, but I wasn't concerned about that. I pushed myself to my feet and hit my head on the ceiling. Colors flashed at the impact, and then everything went back to black.
"I can't see a damn thing," I muttered, testing my ankle. It was sore, but I had to go on. I reached out to feel my way to the wall, and felt chains hanging from the ceiling. The cool metal sent shivers down my spine, and I shuffled away from the chains. "This is hopeless. I can't see, and there aren't any doors!" If it hadn't been for the fact that I only had one leg that I could really put weight on, I would have stomped, or thrown more of a temper tantrum. But there wasn't any time for that. "I wonder what time it is…"
"Why, it's nearly mid-day!" Sprickett's voice echoed through the cave.
"Sprickett?"
"Right here! Follow the sound of my voice, little lady!"
"I can't. You're echoing."
"Hmm. Hold but a moment!" I heard a flutter of wings, and then something yanked a lock of my hair. I suppressed my instinct to swat at my unknown assailant, and instead followed the direction of the yank.
"Please tell me that's you, Sprickett."
"But of course! 'Oo else would it be?" My hair dropped as he spoke, but was yanked once again when he was finished.
"I don't even want to think about the possible answers for that one," I muttered. My comment was followed by a face plant into the wall. "Ow!" I squinted my eyes and clutched my nose.
"Sorry," my hair dropped again. "I should'a told you that we reached the door."
I felt the wall in front of me, "There's no doorknob."
"Indeed there is not."
"Right. That'd be too easy. I mean, it's not like I'm injured, and there's no light or anything," I spat.
"The door's under yer feet." I could feel the breeze from Sprickett's wings as he flapped near my head. I shuffled backward and bent down to grab the door. I pushed it up against the wall.
"What now?" I turned to where I thought Sprickett was.
"Open the door," his voice came from the other direction. I sighed and pulled the wooden plank at one side, and light poured into the cave.
"Sprickett! Oh my god, you're amazing!" I moved to hug him, but remembered that he was a bird and I would probably crush him. I followed the purple sparrow out of the cave and up a small flight of stairs into a tunnel. Every few feet, Easter Island heads were carved into the walls, and I jumped when the first spoke.
"Beware! Before you lies great peril!"
"Um, Sprickett, please tell me you didn't lead me into an even more dangerous area?" My voice was hushed and higher pitched, my eyes wider and my brow slightly furrowed.
"Oh, no, these are false alarms. Just ignore 'em." He flew on, and I followed after a moment of inner debate.
After ten minutes of "Turn back!", "Danger lies ahead!", and "You are in great peril!", Sprickett and I emerged into maze of shrubbery.
"How much more maze is there?" I wondered aloud as Sprickett flapped a few feet ahead of me.
"Quite a bit, but don't you worry. You'll get out of here just fine."
"I hope so…" A loud, rather indescribable noise erupted from all around us. "What was that?" I yelped, jumping behind the bird.
"I don't know. I'll go see," Sprickett soared up into the air and disappeared into the clouds. Once again, I was alone. My eyes shifted all over, and I began wringing my hands. "Why does he always have to up and vanish?" I muttered, wanting Sprickett to return.
"That's just the way I am." I whirled around to see Jareth standing a breath away from me.
"I wasn't talking about you," I began, "I was talking about…" A thought occurred to me. Was it possible that I could get Sprickett in trouble? This Goblin King seemed like a bit of a jerk…
"Talking about whom?" Jareth stepped forward, causing me to take a step back.
"My…um…imaginary friend."
"Imaginary friend?"
"Yes."
"And does this friend have a name?"
"Yes."
"And that would be?"
"Flowerew." Both Jareth and I were surprised by my response. Thank god my little sister constantly blabbed about how someday she would name her child "Werewolf" backwards.
"And what is this Flowerew?" Jareth took another step forward, but I wasn't about to give in now.
I stood my ground and raised my chin, "He is a one-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple people-eater."
"My, my. What an imagination you have." He sounded more impressed than sarcastic, which was an unexpected but albeit pleasant change of tone.
"That's what my mother tells me." I crossed my arms, gaining confidence.
Jareth took a step toward me, "So maybe you'll imagine your way out of this little snare." He produced a crystal and threw it against the floor. Instead of shattering, it morphed into some sort of rock monster, which turned and growled at me.
"A rock monster? Are you kidding me?" I whined, backing away from my new foe.
"Find a creative way out of this, why don't you?" He smirked and vanished.
The monster began advancing toward me, and I continued backing up until I was pressed against shrubbery.
"We were at the beach," I began, "Everybody had matching towels. Somebody went under a dock, and there they found a rock." The creature stopped in place and tilted its head, listening to me. "But it wasn't a rock. It was a rock monster! Da da da da da da da da," the monster began to sway as I sang. I continued through the song, creeping in a circle toward an open passage of bushes. I finished singing, turned, and ran. I was gone before the creature noticed. "Thank you Family Guy." I leaned my head back against the shrubs and took a deep breath. Looking ahead of me, I could see a stone maze, and beyond that, the castle. "Almost there." I pushed myself away from the bushes and jogged through the stone hallways.
After several minutes of wandering, I was back to a slow walk and felt like I was back in gym class. I threw my head back and grunted. And then an idea occurred to me. I found a crevice in the stone wall, put my toes in it, and found a handhold a few feet above my head. I jumped and grabbed it, and after a few moments of struggling, I was on top of the wall.
I walked forward, keeping my eyes on the castle. I got a beat into my head, and began adding dance moves to my steps. "When you look at me, tell me what you see, this is what you get, it's the way I am," I did a spin and returned to walking, an exaggerated swing in my hips. "When I look at you I wanna be, I wanna be somewhere close to heaven with Neanderthal man," I clasped my hands over my head and wiggled my arms and torso.
"Well aren't you the dancer?" Jareth's voice was soon followed by his appearance right in front of me. I, out of shock, threw my hands in the air in front of me and threw myself backward. Not such a good idea on my part. My butt hit the top of the stone wall, but my flailing arms threw me off balance, sending me toppling roughly six feet to the ground. I released an undignified scream as I fell, and a painful moan after I landed. I heard footsteps in front of me, and looked up to see black leather boots a few inches from my nose. I pushed myself back, away from his Higness's royal footwear, and sat back on my calves.
"Well that was entertaining," he mused, smirking as ever.
"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," I growled through clenched teeth.
"I have to be honest that I've never seen anything like that before." He casually leaned against the stone wall.
"What, you've never seen someone fall of a six foot wall?" I scowled.
"I was talking about the dancing," he actually grinned. That bugged me.
I pushed myself to my feet, wincing at the bruises. "Are you telling me that no one in this godforsaken dredge of land dances?"
"Oh, we dance," Jareth pushed himself off of the wall and appeared behind me. I mean right behind me. As in I-could-feel-his-chest-brushing-my-back close. I stepped forward and whirled around to face him. "But our dancing is a bit more…magical," he leaned down as he finished. I felt a blush creep up my face as he got closer. Inch by inch, until I could smell him. His scent was overwhelming, intoxicating. My breath hitched in my chest, and he smirked. "But you seem to have a different sort of magic, Kitten." As he spoke, he advanced, and I retreated until my back was pressed against the wall and he was a breath away from me.
I could feel my blush intensify, but I wasn't going to show any fear or discomfort. "And what magic would that be?" I spat out.
"Now that would be telling," he whispered. His lips hovered above the skin on my neck, and his warm breath sent shivers down my spine.
