Author's Note: A huge thanks to all my reviewers so far! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I wanted to post it quickly, but there might be a few errors, I'll be back to edit it soon, so if you find any, let me know so I can fix them. Review, please, now that I've gotten to the 'good part', updates should be quicker. Thanks!!
Circe le Fey
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Rhia scrambled hastily up the wall, panting. This was not the way it was supposed to work. How could she have been so clumsy as to get herself caught? Her father would have a fit if he saw her now. She ducked low on the wall as the boy ran by, looking around for her. She just hoped he didn't happen to look up. At first, he didn't. He glanced around, and then cocked his head, listening. She held her breath, feeling terribly conspicuous.
He was just starting to move again, as if ready to walk away, when suddenly, faster than her eyes could follow, he whipped around, and reached up and grabbed her arm. A brief struggle ensued, and it ended with Rhia falling off the wall. She knocked him over on her way down, and landed on his arm, before springing up almost immediately. He didn't let her go though, jumping up and grabbing her shoulder, pulling her around to face him. She grappled with him a little, all the while wondering if her father was going to appear at any minute.
How humiliating, honestly, wrestling with some aboveground boy that had wished away an innocent child. "Let me go" she hissed, reaching up to scratch at his face. In a minute they were both going to be in a lot more trouble than they bargained for. He batted her hand aside, and grabbed her wrist. Rhia responded by stomping on his foot, bringing her boot heel down hard on his toes, his eyes widened with pain, but he didn't let go of her arms. "What is wrong with you?" he stared at her, "I just want to ask you some questions". "I'm sure you do" she growled, hooking her leg around his in an attempt to trip him. "Okay, that's it!" the boy swung them both around, and grabbed hold of her arms, standing far enough away that she couldn't knock him over. Rhia made an attempt to bite his hand, but this time he stamped on her foot, and she paused for a moment. This was ridiculous. Rhiannon, daughter of Sarah Williams, and Jareth, King of the Goblins, locked in this little scuffle. How undignified. And it would be even more undignified if she wasn't allowed out of the castle for another fifteen years. In the interests of ending this little interaction as quickly and painlessly as possible, without being detected by her father, Rhia stopped, and stood straight.
Jesse paused, and watched the girl quietly for a second, expecting her to bolt within a moment. But she just stood there, glaring at him, her green eyes narrow. Right. So. . . "Um, who are you?" he asked slowly. She just blinked at him. "Well, I mean, in the book they mention the Goblin King, but they don't say anything about a girl, unless. . . you're not a goblin or anything, are you?" He winced, she had just kicked him in the shins. "Do I look like one, you stupid aboveground boy?" she had a low, mocking sort of voice, that reminded him vaguely of someone, but at the moment he couldn't think who. "Right, watch who you're calling child" he told her, but not too unpleasantly. He did need her help after all. "So. . . Who are you?" she paused a moment. "My name is Rhia" she said finally, "and I live in the Labyrinth" "I didn't know any humans lived here" he said, looking at her. She was on the tall side, slim and lithe, with wild dark hair and green eyes. Her skin was startlingly pale, and something about her face was just a little exotic, a little. . . inhuman. "But why, what are you?" he asked.
She glared at him. "I got chased up a wall, dragged back down, and tackled, because you want to know what I am?" "You were following me first" he pointed out, "and, I guess it's really none of my business, what, who, you are. What I need to know is how to get to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth" she stiffened slightly under his hands, and he tightened his hold, expecting her to start struggling again. Instead she just shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that simply isn't possible. And you're squeezing my wrist. Hard" he loosened his grasp only slightly, and she glared at him, wisps of loose dark hair falling in her face. "Why not?" Jesse asked. "If you live here, then you should know how to get through the Labyrinth." "Oh, I can get through the Labyrinth" she told him calmly, "but I can't show you". He glared at her, "why not?" she rolled her eyes, "I have an allergy to obnoxious boys that don't even have the manners to introduce themselves." They both paused.
"My name is Jesse" he said, pronouncing it Jessie. "Jesse? Isn't that a girl's name?" she smirked. "Sometimes" he said, "there's a famous singer named that though" "are you a famous singer?" she asked, so seriously that it took him a moment to realize that she was mocking him. He rolled his eyes, "listen, I haven't got time for this. I've introduced myself, will you take me to the castle now?" she shook her head. "Sorry, I can't". "Why not?" he asked, frustrated. She shrugged calmly, "can't. It's against the rules". "The rules, whose rules?" "The Goblin King's rules" she answered. He paused for a minute, feeling like smacking her, and then decided on another tactic. "Oh, I see" Jesse remarked "so you're just as scared stiff of the King as that dwarf gardener I met by the door. Funny, I would have thought that you had more back bone. I guess not." Her eyes narrowed, and she jerked back from him. "I am not scared stiff of the King" she said scathingly. Well, not exactly, she thought.
Jesse raised an eyebrow at her. "Sure, of course not. You just obey his every rule-" "I do not-" she paused, thinking. It was a very, very bad idea, that would get them both in a lot of trouble, but. . . She could take him a little of the way at least, just long enough to maybe see a little more of him. There was no way he would beat the Labyrinth, even with a little bit of help, not wasting time the way he was, and if she only guided him a little of the way, there was a possibility that her father wouldn't catch them. As much as he was annoying her, quarreling with him at least sounded a little better than spending the evening alone.
Jesse held his breath as she stared past him, her startlingly green eyes narrow with thought. Finally, she looked at him. "I'll take you a little of the way" she said finally, watching a his eyes widened. "You will?" he asked, smiling at her. "Yes" she said, a little sourly. Just a moment ago he had been glaring at her, and now all of a sudden she was his new best friend. Typical.
He let go of her wrists, and she pulled away from him, and started walking away, quickly.
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Review, please, and release Chapter 5, which is currently imprisoned in my mind.
Circe le Fey