Chapter 2
I scrambled backward in an attempt to get on my feet. I had to catch up with Emmy and hold on to her for dear life. Collision with the wall stopped my progress. My head hit with a nauseating crunch, and the room began to swim. A few blinks later, my vision cleared, and there he stood in all his goblin glory.
"Jareth...you're-you're real."
With a sinister smile playing on his lips, he gave a grand bow. "The one and only, at your service, my lady."
I shook my head and swallowed hard. Exotic didn't do him justice, though it was the primary word running through my mind. A paradox. He looked nothing like I had imagined, yet exactly as I expected him to be. Tall, agonizingly thin, with an angular face framed by wild blond hair that made him look like some 80's rocker wanna be. He grinned and extended his black-gloved hand. It filled me with fear and, strangely, intrigue.
"There now, Victoria. No need to cower in fear. I won't hurt you."
"How do you know my name?"
"I have been acquainted with you for many years." He knelt and waved his hand in front of my face. "Allow me to help you to your feet."
I reached out, trance-like. As my hand made contact with his, a blast of ice shot through my whole being. He smiled, and in the semi-darkened room, I couldn't tell if it was kindly or evil. With a surprisingly gentle pull, he drew me up off the floor.
"That's better." He continued to smile, and I found I couldn't tear my gaze away from him. Worse, I couldn't seem to close my bottom jaw, which hung open like a farm gate on a rusted hinge. "It's all right." He let my hand slip out of his, and a comforting warmth that dulled my senses replaced the cold. Was he causing this? He raised his hand and pressed up on my jaw. "No need to gawk. I am very real, but I am not here to cause you harm."
I shook my head and my wits suddenly returned. Emmy! I whirled about, but she was not in the room. Of course she wasn't. I had told her to run, but now I had to find her. When I looked back at Jareth, he wore a smug grin. The sensations...they had been caused by him. I narrowed my eyes.
"You are smooth. But I'm stronger than you think." With one last glare at him, I bolted from the room and down the hall. "Emmy!" A quick scan of the child's room showed it to be empty.
"Emmy?" Panic I could not afford to give in to laced my voice. I grabbed the railing of the stairs to keep from falling and ran down as fast as I could go. "Emmy, where are you?" A flip of the switch for the living room lights proved useless.
"Emmy!" Tears pricked at my eyes and nose. "Please, Emmy. I'm sorry I snapped at you. It wasn't your fault. I know you didn't mean it." Could she be hiding in her closet? I groped my way back toward the stairs and crashed into a tall, thin body. I screamed as a pair of long arms darted out and wrapped about me.
"Steady," purred a voice of icy silk.
Fear and tranquility combined and clouded my thoughts. I wanted to lay my head against his shoulder and give in to the warm fuzzies warring for my attention. Yet I could not shake the feeling that I was on a mission to do something. What could it have been? Something important. Lives were at stake…A search.
Emmy!
I tried to pull away, but his arms held me in a vice-like grip.
"Let me go!" The more I struggled, the more he tightened his hold so that I thought I might be squeezed in two. His physical strength was otherworldly. And cruel. Out of pain and sheer exhaustion, I stopped fighting. "Please. I must find her."
"Calm yourself, Victoria." He kept my arms pinned at my sides. "It's no use. You won't find her."
My insides gelled. A renewed fear pounded in my heart and pulsed through my brain. Was he referring to Tory, or had he taken Emmy, too?
"Oh, don't look at me that way," he snarled and loosened his hold on me. "The child is already gone."
"No!" I gasped, and my legs gave out beneath me. My captor eased me to the floor without releasing me. My fears melted away, and all I could think of was my brother Nick. How would I tell him I had lost not one, but both of his children? I didn't think. Using all my might, I broke the king's grasp, went up on my knees, and grabbed fists full of the leather lapels of his coat. "Please. Oh what do I call you? Sir? Lord? Your majesty?" He arched his eyebrows and opened his mouth, but I went on before he could answer. "Of course. You're the king of the Underworld, aren't you? So your majesty–please don't take the children. I beg of you."
"My dear Victoria, it is already done." He smiled, and I thought it looked a little less sinister. Or was he just playing with my mind again?
"No." I shook my head. "Please let them go. Give them back."
"You don't understand." He stood, lifting me with him. "I was summoned by the little girl and I have done as she asked in both cases. There are rules, you know, and even I must abide by them."
"Please, show mercy. Take-" I sucked in a breath. "Take me instead. I will go with you and-and be your servant. Just please return the children to their mother and father." Tears now streamed down my cheeks as I looked up into the cold slits that were his eyes.
His mouth opened in a surprised O, his brow furrowed. "You would sacrifice yourself for the children?"
"For them, for my brother, for my sister-in-law. Please, your majesty. Let the children go. I promise I will stay in their place."
"You would willingly stay in the Underground? With me?"
"Yes, yes," I said impatiently. "Just please give the children back."
He stared into my eyes for a long moment, as if trying to see into my soul. I wanted to look away, feeling utterly exposed by his scrutiny, but I was powerless to move my head or even twitch an eyelid. Yet he could not see my heart. He could neither see into my soul nor read my mind, and I was not about to give him a clue as to what lay there.
He let out a weary sigh and turned his head to the side, victim-like. "Alas, you know not what you say. You have no idea the gloom and darkness of my world."
"Then just let the children go. Emmy didn't mean it. She didn't know what she was saying."
His head snapped back up again as his laughter rang out, cold and harsh. "I do not act upon what one means, but on the actual words one speaks."
I balled my hands into fists and beat them against his chest. "How can you be so cruel? Is there not even an ounce of goodness in you?" So this was why Sarah refused him in all of our later stories. She had done so for real! "I understand, now, why Sarah refused you."
All amusement drained from his face. He grabbed my arms, his fingers digging painfully into my flesh, and lowered his face so we were almost nose to nose. "Do not trifle with me, Victoria. I've been patient with you, but now you cross the line."
"Let me go," I said in a hoarse whisper. "You're hurting me."
His eyes flickered across my features, resting briefly on my lips. Oh, no I would not give in to that sort of seduction. I sniffed in air through my nose, closed my mouth in a taut line and glared.
"Ah, Victoria." He touched my cheek, but I pulled back. "Such passion. You could rule with me. What's the worth of two noisy little girls when you can have an entire kingdom?"
"No thank you, and no deal. I won't play into your games. I'm not a fifteen year old child. You give back the children, and I'll go with you."
"Very well. If you can find them, you may have them." He released me and stepped back, anger smoldering in his eyes. "We shall see if you are able to find your way to my castle. You have thirteen hours. If you make it, you and the children will be free. But if not..." He shrugged and let his words hang in the air.
I blinked, and when I opened my eyes saw the scarlet darkness of the world around me. The Underground. There before me, looking like some giant red brain, lay the labyrinth.
"Remember, you have thirteen hours to find your way through the maze. Good luck!" With a flourish and ringing laughter, he bowed and vanished.
For a moment, I crumpled to the ground and gave in to my tears. Why did I ever tell Emmy that stupid story? I sucked in air as if it were courage and pushed myself to my feet. Poor Sarah. Now I understood why she had stopped playing the game. She had seen the Underworld—and its king—for what it really was. What she must have gone through while searching for Toby. Sara had been so young. A disadvantage in mental skill, maybe, but a definite advantage in the area of physical ability. The labyrinth was filled with riddles, and I was sure I could reason through them. But did I have the physical stamina it would take? Emmy's and Tory's lives were at stake. I had to.
With one more determined breath, I sprinted toward the large door leading into the maze.
SB
Jareth hover-crouched above the wall near the entrance to the labyrinth, gazing down at his latest victim. Something stirred in his heart as he watched the desperation mingle with determination on her face. He'd forgotten the feel of a warm body in his arms. Victoria's scent, a mixture of peaches and vanilla, clung to him and filled his senses. He had enjoyed holding her, maybe a little too much. Could she be the one? Of course not. There was no one. Not for him. For a moment when he'd searched her eyes, he thought she might be. But she'd made it clear she only agreed to go with him in exchange for the children. That wasn't good enough.
"Ah, Victoria. Have you any idea the magic you possess?" For centuries he'd controlled his feelings, and now he had to fight them outright. Only Sarah had managed to break through a little of the armor he'd built up around his heart. The disappointment of her rejection had wounded him too deeply, and since then he'd not allowed himself even a twinge of feeling. How could he rule this dreary world unless he showed himself to be ruthless and cruel? Feelings got in the way. Worse, they hurt. He didn't want to feel. Better to be calloused and safe than aching from yet another rejection. This curse was almost more than he could bear, and he'd only born it all these years because he had hardened his heart against emotions. All emotions, of course, except for anger.
He closed his eyes and let the anger–his fortress, his safety net–fill his heart once more. He smiled. Ah yes, that was more like it. The lovely redhead running through his maze was the enemy. She must be defeated, and he could pull no punches in assuring his victory. This time there was no room for mistakes. He could leave no room for a repeat of the mistakes he'd made before.
"Sire." One of his henchmen huffed up beside him. "She's got the fairies on her side. Saved one from a spider's web. And she's just spoken with the worm."
Alarm speared through Jareth. He cursed. "That stupid little worm." He grit his teeth as his fingers balled into a fist."I had hoped she would waste a few more hours just trying to find the entrance." With a sigh, he shrugged. "Can't blame the poor fellow, though. He can't help himself, I guess. It's his nature to give folks directions." A grin twitched at the corners of Jareth's mouth. "Of course, we can be thankful he always steers people away from the castle." With a laugh, Jareth snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of dust and smoke.
