2
Both girls stared at each other, unsure of what to do. What did one do when all house doors were locked, the owners of said house were on vacation, it was almost ten o'clock at night, and yet something – someone – stood behind you in the darkness?
Trinity turned around first, and screamed.
"Holy crap!" she shrilled, "It's you!"
Evelyn, who had turned around as soon as Trinity screamed, opened her eyes wide in fear. Both girls stared at the man who had invaded the house they were watching.
Jareth, the Goblin King, stood before them.
He was dressed in all black, cloak swirling around him in the same unnatural wind that caused glitter to swirl everywhere. His face was a mask of scornful disdain, but he made no move towards the girls. Instead, he simply stared back, as if expecting a better reaction. Soon, however, his expression changed to one of boredom. He remained silent.
The girls assessed the situation quickly, coming to the conclusion that if his intentions were bad then they were in trouble. He was blocking their way to the nearest door, and although there was a back door behind them he would easily be able to go around the house and reach them before they could get to any kind of vehicle. He gave off a magical light, but the hall was still shadowy without the electric lighting.
Trinity cautiously spoke first.
"It's you, isn't it? Jareth, the goblin king?" she tried to keep her voice steady.
He merely nodded.
"Why are you here?" Evelyn asked, her voice stronger than Trinity's. "We didn't wish you here."
"He comes because he needs your help, although you'll have a heck of a time getting him to admit it," a new voice piped up from behind Jareth. He came around the king and the girls saw that there was another man (another Fae by the looks of him) in the house. This man had a hairstyle similar to Jareth's, although not quite so flamboyant, and his hair was a dark reddish-brown. He was dressed in a maroon poet shirt and black riding pants. He ducked his head respectfully as he introduced himself. "I'm Raiv," he said, "Jareth's assistant in his quest for – "
"Need we tell them all the details, Raiv?" Jareth said coolly, speaking for the first time. "I was under the impression that there were certain things that needed to be kept secret in this world."
"Yes, sir, but I doubt they would be inclined to help if they didn't know why we were here," Raiv retorted.
"We don't need their help."
Raiv rolled his eyes, facing Evelyn and Trinity so that Jareth couldn't see him do it. "Jareth has recently been banished from his – er – kingdom, and…"
"I was not banished."
"What do you need us for?" Trinity asked warily. She could see that at this moment things were tense between the goblin king and his assistant. She did not need angry males in this house, especially since she and Evelyn were alone.
"I do not need anything. I merely require your assistance in gaining my kingdom back," Jareth said to them, aloof. "I was recently taken from it, and dearly wish to return before my subjects take their chaos to new heights and destroy the Labyrinth." He swept off, back towards the kitchen. The girls would have followed, but Raiv still blocked their way.
"To make a long story short," Raiv said when the king was out of earshot, "Jareth's heart was greatly damaged with Sarah's rejection – I'm sure you heard that story, it caused quite a shock in both of our worlds – and he grew cold, and hard. He wouldn't listen to his subjects or matters of his kingdom. His sour attitude was damaging to his Labyrinth, and so he was sent away and stripped of his power before the damage could get too bad. He was sent here to find his heart again. He has much to learn, I'm afraid. Physical labor would do him good, he needs that, but he also needs lessons in humility, trust, and love."
"So why are you here?" Evelyn asked.
"I am here to…assist Jareth in any way I can. It was I who suggested sending him to a farm, where he could really get some work done."
The girls glanced at each other. They wanted to help, but were wary of having two men on the property while the owners, Helen and Gary Mason, were away on vacation.
"We'll be glad to help," Trinity offered, "But…"
"You'll have to sleep in the barn," Evelyn said crisply. "We will not have you in the house at night."
Raiv bowed graciously, hiding the malicious grin that had spread across his face. "I thank you," he said, "I will go inform the king immediately."
With this, he turned and entered the kitchen, where Jareth was sulking elegantly. The girls followed quietly, curious to hear the goblin king's reaction. Also, the Fae were the only sources of light in the dark house besides the candles, and they glowed brighter than the tiny flames. So, they were in the room when Raiv broke the news to Jareth.
The goblin king, though much of his impressive appearance was diminished by his lack of magical power, was still intimidating when angered.
"I will not sleep in a barn like a filthy beast. I will choose my own quarters!" His eyes glinted dangerously and threateningly.
Both Evelyn and Trinity came from large families, and both knew a spoiled child when they saw one. They rolled their eyes at each other.
"Look, Jareth –" Evelyn began, but was cut off.
"And I will be addressed by my title, girl!" Jareth snarled.
Trinity would not tolerate anyone, much less a character previously thought fictional, talking to her friend that way.
"You know what?" she snapped, "You are the one that needs to get the kingdom back! You are the one who has lost all his power! We can call you whatever the heck we want! We aren't affected by anything going on in your world, so it's just fine with us if we kick you out and you lose your kingdom forever! It's not our problem. So if you want our help I suggest you start your attitude adjustment now and get your tail out to the barn!"
She glared at him from under thick eyelashes. He glared back briefly, but realized it would be hard to be intimidating back without his power. He swept arrogantly out the front door.
Evelyn spoke to Raiv as he followed the king. "There's a small apartment above the concrete barn. It's only like one bed and a couple blankets, but it's better than a stall."
Raiv nodded, and exited to house to follow Jareth.
Abruptly, the power returned. The sudden light from fluorescent bulbs made both girls jump. Trinity scowled and stalked to the fridge, throwing it open to get herself a drink.
"Well," Evelyn said, "What now?"
"We have two men living in the barn while we are watching a farm for my aunt and uncle. These two men are not only foreign, they are from an entirely different world that is kept secret from any of our people."
"And we want to help them out. And there's no telling how long it will take for one of said men to regain his heart."
Trinity snorted sarcastically, "No big deal, right?"
Evelyn laughed nervously, "Right. What do we do about them?"
Trinity shrugged. "I guess we let them stay. We really should help Jareth, poor guy. He's completely out of his element."
"What about Raiv?"
The younger girl's eyes narrowed. "I don't know about him. I mean, I guess if Jareth stays, he has to stay too. But he didn't say anything about himself not having power. Did you feel the air around him?"
Evelyn nodded, "Like it had a charge. You think he still has power?"
Trinity nodded. "A lot of it, too. That's just a guess, but it's probably safer to guess more rather than less. I think if he wants Jareth to stay here, he could probably make him stay no matter what we said. We really don't have a choice."
They looked at each other, slightly nervous.
"Can we do this?" Trinity asked the older girl.
Evelyn shrugged. "You just said it. We don't have a choice."
That night, Trinity spent the night sleeping on the floor in Evelyn's room, both too unnerved to spend the night in isolation.
The next morning, Jareth's attitude adjustment began with a wardrobe change.
"There are people coming over to ride and work with us today, and they haven't even heard of your world," Trinity snapped at him when he complained, "If you want to keep it a secret, you'd best change."
Jareth was dressed in his usual poet shirt and tight riding pants and boots, and saw nothing wrong with his outfit. Trinity consulted Raiv (who did have limited power) and the lesser Fae waved his hand at Jareth. His clothes, as well as Raiv's, changed immediately. Jareth's tapered-leg jeans, Pink Floyd t-shirt, and sneakers were straight out of the 80s, but the girls decided they would do. Raiv had changed into a slightly more modern cut of jeans and a nondescript red shirt.
The next thing that needed adjusting was hair. Jareth's overgrown mullet and Raiv's similar, but not quite so big, haircut needed to go. Raiv changed his hair easily to a longish, layered style, but could not do anything about the goblin king's flamboyant hairdo.
"My power can't go against personality," he explained, "That's why his clothes are so different from the time period in your world. I can't change his hair because it's who he is."
Both girls were exasperated. The only thing to do was attack the rather ruffled goblin king with scissors and see what happened. They had looked up pictures of David Bowie (whom Trinity claimed the goblin king looked like) on the internet to find styles. Trinity had liked a long, layered look that was definitely modern, but Evelyn noted that it would be extremely difficult to cut, and they didn't have very much time until Lisa, their coworker, showed up. Finally, the girls agreed on a short style that would leave the top part of his hair longer and wild-looking, while the rest of it was short. Evelyn appointed Trinity to do the cutting.
"But I've only ever done horses!" Trinity complained.
Evelyn raised her eyebrows. "Would it kill Jareth to have a bad haircut?"
"I guess not."
Jareth was not at all thrilled to have Trinity, this tiny teenage girl who had dared stand up to him and demand things from him, cut his hair. This time, it was Evelyn who gently attacked his pride.
"If you don't fit in here," she warned him, "People will just think you have brain problems. You'll stick out like a sore thumb."
The goblin king remained silent as the black-haired girl nervously approached him with the scissors they used for trimming horses' manes and tails. She reached out nervously, and cautiously took a lock of his long hair. Her eyes widened.
"Wow," she said, "Your hair is so soft. It's beautiful."
It escaped no one's notice that Jareth puffed up a little with the complement.
Trinity cut swiftly, but carefully, and in no time they had a lot of soft blonde hair on the barn floor (which they swept outside) and a goblin king with much shorter hair. Raiv went to get a mirror so Jareth could see himself. Evelyn stood, staring at Jareth, knowing she had missed something. Finally, it clicked.
"His eyebrows!" she hissed at Trinity, "What about those?"
Trinity laughed. "That's easy," she said, "We can just say that he was a Vulcan at a convention a few days ago."
"What?" Both Evelyn and Jareth were confused.
Trinity raised an eyebrow. "You know," she said, "From Star Trek. Spock? Half-Vulcan?"
She got blank stares. Sighing, she arranged her hand into a strange gesture.
"You know," she sighed again, "Live long and prosper?"
Blank stares. Jareth gave her a look that said "And how am I supposed to know that?"
The teenage girl sighed. "You guys had no childhood."
At that moment, the dogs started barking, announcing the arrival of a white Maxima. Raiv, who'd been unable to find a removable mirror, poked his head in.
"I believe we have a visitor," he said.
"That'll be Lisa," Evelyn said, "She works with us. She's here to help us feed the horses."
"What'll we tell her?" Trinity asked, panicking.
"The truth," Evelyn said calmly. "She'll never believe us."
Trinity and Raiv both nodded.
"What do you want Jareth and I to do?" Raiv asked.
"Just introduce yourselves. Politely." Evelyn flashed a glare at Jareth. He scowled. Trinity went to stand near him to make sure he behaved.
Suddenly, Lisa bounced cheerfully into the barn. This woman was slightly younger than Evelyn, but older than Trinity, and had long, dark brown hair that was pulled into a ponytail. She stopped short when she saw the two men standing in the barn with her friends.
"Trin? Ev? Who are these guys?"
"It's Jareth and Raiv, from the Labyrinth. Don't you remember from the movie?" Evelyn said in a calm way that Trinity admired.
Lisa looked confused. Realizing she wouldn't get another answer from Evelyn, she turned to the two men.
"Who are you?" she asked.
Raiv bowed slightly, which looked funny in his jeans and t-shirt. "My name is Raiv," he said elegantly.
Lisa turned to Jareth.
Trinity kicked him surreptitiously when he made no move to answer.
"I'm Jareth," he growled politely.
"See?" Trinity asked cheerfully.
Lisa shook her head. "Whatever," she said, "Let's go feed."