Chapter Two: Curiouser and Curiouser

Stephanie spotted her wallet on the dresser next to the doorway and quickly grabbed it. "Um...stay quiet and don't move!" she mustered, her hands held out, she waved her hands once to calm him, the situation or herself. "I'll be right back," She rushed back to Cathy and gave her what she could of rent, keeping some for herself.

The woman frowned at the small amount. "I'll be back next weekend. I have a meeting and I'm not sure if I'll take my days off afterwards over there." To which Stephanie nodded. "Don't forget my babies." she reminded the girl. Again, Stephanie nodded preoccupied. Her "babies" were two grey cats that were lying lazily on the same armchair. The cats blinked just as lazily. They didn't care who took care of them, as long as they were fed.

Stephanie locked the patio door as her landlady left with all her baggage. It was hard to control the urge to rush upstairs. Bearing it no longer, she clambered up the stairs and shut the bedroom behind her.

"I thought she'd never leave." Stephanie slumped to her knees, sitting on her heels. She looked at Jareth who had remained where she had found him earlier.

A hand over her mouth, she concealed a smile. "Ah Hell," she laughed. "Jareth?" she reached over to touch his hair to bring some reality to the situation. He still had the wild spiky hair and it was slightly longer. Jareth shied away from her touch, he blinked clearly confused. He was lost in the clothes he had moments before; the jacket was spread out like a dress, his hands lost in the folds of it, and the wine coloured shirt he had worn under, hung over one shoulder.

"What is going on?" he asked in a child like voice, it was strange to hear compared to the deep tone that he always had. His manner was cool and poise, it was rare to see that in someone that looked like they were eight or ten years of age.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." she replied.

The King's, or rather Prince's, greenish-blue eyes narrowed at Stephanie. "Who are you?"

'Uh-oh.' Stephanie thought.

"And where am I?"

To Stephanie, Jareth looked confused and possibly, a little bit frightened.

"So you don't remember huh?" she started. "You're in the mortal realm, Aboveground." Still on her knees, she leaned forward. "It's all right. I'm Stephanie. I'm your friend. You can trust me."

"You do seem familiar." Jareth said after a moment of looking her over. "How do you know me?"

"It's a long story."

"Hmm. Trusting you does not explain why I am here." He raised an eyebrow, it wasn't as elegant or sharp, so it lost some of its usual effect. He then gestured to his clothes, grabbing a few loose folds. "Or why I am in over sized garments."

"You're right." Stephanie replied with a slight shrug. "But I'll try to explain as best as I can and you can decide for yourself." She got up and started digging in the only dresser in the room that was temporally hers. "But first, we'll put you in some clothes that fit..." she trailed off. She gathered what she could and what was clean from the teen girl's wardrobe; she had trouble finding anything that wasn't pink or girly; underwear, a pair of blue jeans, a belt for him to use, she also added socks and a pair of unisex converse. She had to dig out one of her own band t-shirts that might fit him. "Here." she handed him the clothes. "Right now it's all I can do, but it'll fit better than..." she pointed to the clothing that wrapped around him.

She left the room to let him dress and she preoccupied herself by pacing in the tiny hallway. "Contacting Teh're is priority," she said to herself.

The door opened and Jareth peeked out. She had to lightly smirk. The t-shirt nearly reached his knees, to be honest it was large even on her. He pulled at it, his face trying to decide what to think of his new outfit.

"If you want you could just wrap the jacket around you." she suggested. He shook his head as she stepped into the room again. "All right," She started placing the loose clothes onto the chair. "I want to ask you something Jareth before I explain everything."

"Yes?"

"What do you remember? What year do you think it is?"

"Are we not in the year of 384?" Jareth asked, sitting upon the small bed.

Stephanie let out a whistle. "Woah. I'm afraid not. It's year 2003."

His eyes widened. "How can this be? I'm only eight years."

She scratched at her ear, trying to figure things out. When he sat on the bed, she took a spot on the floor and folded his clothes as she briefly told him of the events of the past two years, but she was still getting confused looks from the Goblin Prince. "Although I'm not sure how you turned from King to Prince. Either this is some lame joke or if it's an accidental spell that backfired and caught up. But why the delay and why here?" the last was mostly to herself as she smoothed the material in her hands.

A silent moment passed between them.

"Do you think the reason why I am confused with remembering you is-"

"-past and present memories are mixed and disorientated." she continued. "At least, that's what I'm thinking."

"Strange. To me I still feel it is my present." he shrugged.

"Understandable." Stephanie nodded. "I think anyone would be confused turning back in time."

"What must we do now?" Jareth asked, he was busily toying with an object belonging to the rented room. At that point, his mind was like any other eight year old. Curious.

"Well, do you still have your powers? Or you didn't have any back then, er, now?"

"Magyks? Yes, I do. But I am not quite sure if I'll be able to use them as efficient as I was, will be―oh dear it's dreadfully confusing."

"It is, but I understand what you mean. I guess try something simple like a crystal," Stephanie suggested. "Maybe we'll be able to contact someone to help us out."

Jareth held out a hand and concentrated a little. Stephanie tilted her head curiously, as a crystal appeared in his hand. It was strange to see it appear out of thin air, even when she had seen it done several times; how it would take shape into a bubble and become solid in his hand.

"That's good," she nodded. He still had this much power at this age and in the mortal realm. She thought a moment to who would be at his castle at this time; she didn't think Kolbl would be. She asked him to concentrate on reaching of the anchor points in Goblin castle. It would be easier than to try to contact a specific being. An image appeared in the crystal. It was the Goblin City gates. She asked if he could get closer, inside perhaps. He concentrated more and the image flickered slightly before disappearing.

Jareth frowned.

"No, it's okay," she was trying to reassure him. She pushed him too quickly. She turned around and grabbed the crystal behind her. "Try with this one, just to see," It was what he had given her, to travel to the castle herself instead of calling him to bring to her lessons within the Underground; but she wasn't strong enough for that yet.

It took a bit longer but with the same end results; nothing more than a flickering image and then static. Jareth frowned again, looking more like a pout.

Stephanie sighed. "Well at least we tried. We can try sometime later. Your powers are probably not at their best right now." She got up and started pacing. 'What now?' she thought. She had no way to awaken her powers to do anything especially in her own realm. What was she to do with this little-no pun intended-problem? She glanced at her alarm clock. She barely had twenty minutes to catch her bus, plus walk at least two and half blocks to reach it.

"Damn." She didn't want to miss one day of class unless she had to, but she had assignment deadlines. She also couldn't leave Jareth like this, nor alone, lest Cathy decided to come home instead of attending the meeting or visiting her new boyfriend. She didn't know what kind of excuse would work when and if that situation happens. Stephanie quickly dug around for anything that could provide a coat against the early morning winter weather. She snorted annoyed that the main closet by the entrance held no extra coats. Even the basement held nothing. She hated digging around that was not hers but she had to find something suitable. She stood in the hallway connecting the kitchen and living room.

At that moment she had spotted Cathy's bag, she had left in the by the back entrance. It wouldn't be long before she would miss it. "Since you can't return to the Underground and we haven't made contact yet, you'll be coming with me." she finished putting on her ankle boots, it was the start of winter so no large snowfall had fallen. She opened the door and held out a hand out the screen door. The weather was mild, the wind held a small breeze, she was wearing another layer underneath her sweater, she hoped it was like the same outside the shelter of the circle of the townhouses.

Jareth had followed her and was sitting at the first step of the staircases. Stephanie grabbed her small side bag, she slung it over her head and it rested upon her left hip. She felt the weight of her wallet inside, mostly heavy with change. She placed her schoolbag upon her back and was now busily folding the sleeves of her coat so that Jareth's hands were slightly visible and yet covered against the cool air. "It's good enough for now until I find you something better." She also had no luck finding him gloves, however she did find woollen socks that fitted him perfectly over his hands.

She tried her best to hide a smirk at that, but she was also impressed by her ability to adapt. She took a last moment to make sure she had everything and finally exited, waited for Jareth to pass by and then locked the door.

Stephanie asked Jareth if it was too cold for him but he replied that he was fine. "Here we go." she said and followed the paved path that led out of the group of townhouses. She turned left and then left again, cut through the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. The smell of grease was thick in the air even at that time of day, and although she sometimes enjoyed the food, the smell was overwhelming. Half a block down the highway was a strip mall with shops and one of them was a used clothing store. She made a mental note for later.

Even this early there was still a line at the traffic lights. As they walked through the parking lot, she advised Jareth to hold onto her, at least on the main highway. "Not to treat you like a kid or anything it's just dangerous and you're definitely not used to it."

The Goblin Prince nodded.

Stephanie checked her watch that she wore on the underside of the wrist. The next bus should arrive soon, she heard one pass by the other way. She pointed to the bus shelter where a bench sat, that is, if he wanted to sit. Jareth was holding onto the girl's backpack straps that were buckled around her waist. She did noticed that he looked at everything.

"How long do you think the effect of this 'spell' will last? Assuming that this is a spell gone awry."

"I am not certain." Jareth replied. He narrowed his eyes in his thoughts. He almost looked like any other child. She figured he was getting flashbacks or that his thoughts were slowly ageing in reverse. A long pause. The sun finally risen to warm the cool morning. "It could be hours, days, perhaps even weeks because we do not know how the problem first begun." he shrugged, looking up at the girl.

"Wait! Weeks?" she turned around. "That's not a good thing."

"Now you know how I feel." Jareth countered, sounding very much like his old self.

"I hope it's not that long." the girl shook her head. "If I had more ideas how to reach anyone or even more experience, it wouldn't be so bad."

Jareth actually raised an eyebrow.

The red and white painted bus was only a few feet away. She had about a couple of steps left to reach the stop. They would make it in time.

The bus passed her by without showing signs of slowing, other to stop at the lights.

"Ah come on!" She waved to the bus driver a one handed "what-the-Hell-was-that?" gesture as it passed her by. "Ass." she snorted clearly annoyed. She tapped her fingers against her hip, it was going to be another twenty minutes or so wait before the next bus. They needed to pass the time and she wasn't going to go back home.

Stephanie glanced at the schedule that was on a metal post beside the bus shelter. She dug into the front pocket of her small bag; she was fishing around in the other pockets when she couldn't find the item she was searching for. She finally brought out her bus pass with I.D. She had also dug out some change from her wallet and placed it into the pocket of her hooded sweatshirt. She glanced to her left, to see if the bus was approaching. The bus had stopped to pick up passengers. Jareth who had remained holding onto the black strap asked if that was the mode of transportation they were taking. Answering, she neared the road, close enough should this driver decide to pull the same stunt as the other.

The bus stopped a few feet from her. The number shone neon green, almost unreadable in the rising sun. Stephanie squinted, making sure it was the right bus; there were two buses with the same number even though both were heading in the same direction, one took a longer route with many detours and she was not going to go through that. She showed her bus pass to the driver, who nodded, and he waived Jareth's fare because he was considered a child. She searched for a seat.

"Hold on and stay close." she said as the bus started to move, Jareth almost lost his balance. Seeing no seats available yet and no one was offering, she proceeded to the back of the bus and held onto one of the yellow bars, right next to the rear set of doors. There were a few people who stood near the end and she knew that the bus will be packed yet again this morning. It seemed that everyone took the bus around eight in the morning. They needed more buses for this route, she frowned. Someone noticed Jareth and was nice enough to give up their seat for him. She smiled. His feet dangled and barely touched the ground, she knew that struggle with her short stature.

Stephanie sighed at the x number of stops, not to mention with the slow moving traffic. The bag upon her back was heavy filled with not only with her large sketchbook, but a portfolio filled with paper, enough for the day's classes, her lunch, agenda, pencils, brush and other materials needed. The twenty year old also almost lost her balance as the bus jolted away from its recent stop. After several minutes-or hours to Stephanie-the bus reached the terminal station.

'Finally.' she thought as she waited for their turn to debark. They made their way to join the growing group waiting at the lights; it was perfect timing for the pedestrian light had just changed.

Her only class of the day was at the other side of the building but one stop had to be made and what was left of the old Jareth, wasn't going to like it one bit.

O

Opening the two sets of double doors, she then proceeded into class by entering her usual door of the two doors, the other was at the other side of the class upon the same wall. The class was empty and it wouldn't start until later on in the morning. At her seat, which was at the far back of the class, across the door she entered, her back always to a large window. Her desk was over loomed with the high shelves. She removed her backpack and placed it on the floor. She quickly took out things she would need to work on her assignments. She sat down in the swivel chair that came with the desk and started to finish up one of the projects due that day. The sun was warm upon her back.

Class started not too long afterwards. Today was mostly notes and Stephanie was glad of it. She couldn't pay attention to the lesson all that well. She did quick sketches beside her notes, not worrying about mistakes even if it was all in pen. She was half worrying that Jareth might get into more trouble and how to explain everything to Teh're or Kolbl once they do manage to contact them. She still haven't thought of any solutions or found a way to bring him back home.

"And so, not only should you use your guide for-" the teacher, droned on, pointing to the white board with a red dry erase marker.

Luckily, after starting on a new project, the class ended. Stephanie packed up her things, spoke to her friend and classmate, apologizing that she could not stay longer or to go downtown with her but rain-checked the plans for another day, besides they still had projects due by the end of the week, even though the usual due date was on Mondays.

Halfway across the college campus, a thought occurred to Stephanie. 'Is it just me or is this just a bad prank?' She didn't know why the thought came to her nor the reason why it was more important than the task at hand. She turned a corner and nearly bumped into someone. She apologized and walked around the person. She soon reached her destination. She entered the tiny building and smiled politely to the worker behind the desk. Showing the correct identification, she waited for Jareth to get ready, she was also mentioning for him to not forget her empty lunch bag.

"Sorry. I didn't mean for you to be stuck in daycare, even if you're older than they are-er, you know over the limit." the girl apologized as the worker was busy with another guardian picking up their ward. "but you couldn't stick around; school policy."

"I understand." Jareth nodded. He handed her a craft project he had done during the day; construction paper with a few scattered drawings and glued items. Now the question was, did he enjoyed making it? Another smirk was proving to be difficult to hide. She placed the craft in her portfolio as to not damage it. When he finished putting on the coat, he
adjusted his grip on Stephanie's backpack strap to inform her that he was ready to leave. They made their way towards the bus terminal situated across from the college.

She had been lucky. Daycare had a long waiting list. But because of a perfect timed cancellation and no one else on the list, they managed to squeeze Jareth in. However, convincing that she was taking care of him for someone was a harder task, as she had to explained that it was for a short time and that she didn't have any proper identification to prove otherwise. But for some odd reason, Jareth's charms came through when they interviewed him.

'He must have gotten away with a lot when he was younger,' she had thought and resisted the urge to laugh in disbelief.

O

The weather held up and the only indication that anything changed in the day was the colours of the sunset. When they got off the bus, she walked over to a quiet area with a bench near her home. Jareth followed silently but held a confused look.

"I want to see if we can try again. Maybe being outside might help?" she shrugged. When his own crystal held the imagine of the castle longer, she dug out hers to try. When the second attempt failed, she frowned but content that they tried. Once she got home, she might try herself, but she knew that it would less

effective. She stood up and waited for Jareth to join her and started towards the strip mall. She didn't know how long this situation would last but he couldn't just wear the one outfit she made. As she neared the stores, she saw that some luck was in her favour; the store was still open.

They did receive odd stares from one of the employees when Stephanie walked in. She really saw no reason to explain herself but if they did ask, she would give them some story about him ripping his coat.

Stephanie quickly went through the sections of clothes that were on metal and plastic hangers. She guessed what size would fit Jareth, grabbed enough for two outfits, and headed towards the dressing rooms. She handed Jareth the chosen clothes and waited patiently outside, briefly looking at a few items on shelves that were nearby. She was studying a figurine but her mind was elsewhere.

"Stephanie?" Jareth stood in one of the outfits, a teal t-shirt and light blue jeans. The clothes were a bit big but finding no other suitable things in the store and it was better than her improvised outfits.

"That's good. Now try the other." the girl nodded. As Jareth returned to try on the other garment, she asked for assistance to search for a coat for about Jareth's size. No luck there either. She frowned, one item would stay improved it would seem for the time being.

The curtain was drawn back and Jareth was now wearing outfit number two. A grey long sleeved shirt and a slightly darker pair of jeans. She inspected him and made sure it all fit comfortably and be warm, he had mentioned that he was not used to colder climate as where she was. She smiled at that; it wasn't even that cold yet. She asked for the new wardrobe to be handed to her through the curtain and headed to the counter. As Jareth changed, she paid for the items and packed them into her less filled bag. The cashier apologized that they couldn't find him a coat and she replied that it was all right, at any rate she could always go to the name brand department store across the road for the coat, gloves and more underpants. She just didn't have that much money at that point and let alone, time.