AN: Sorry for the delay in posting chapters. I had planned on a chapter a day. But I work 2 jobs and have been very tired. This is gonna be a long one. I can only manage short chapters during the week. So perhaps on weekends Ill post a longer one if possible.
I am not a regular writer. But I do write. I am working on a novel now too. Plus I am a professional Artist. So I have many projects. I will finish this…. And to my few reviews THANK YOU, I am so glad you like this.
UPDATE: 01/25/2016
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"Damn I need to call Sarah first. A nap will just have to wait," she picked up her cell to dial her friend, "Sarah… Yeah it's done… Tonight or tomorrow? Ok see you in a bit."
Jennifer plopped down on her comfy couch she kept in her studio. It seemed only a few minutes but hours passed as she starred into those mismatched eyes. Strange how regal he looked but something was hidden in those mesmerizing eyes. Sometimes, she mused, she let her imagination get the better of her. She had to remind herself there was nothing in that painting that she didn't put there.
Only a knock at the door finally shook her out of her daze.
"Who is it?"
"Jen it's me… Silly who else would come calling this late?"
"Sorry habit…," she hollered back. Jennifer jumped up from the couch, letting Sarah in to her apartment.
"Soooo, where is it...?"
"In my studio. Follow me."
"You haven't said his name or wished again have you?" Sarah asked
"No…don't worry he hasn't shown either."
"Oh he will. He is just waiting for the best time to make you life hectic."
"I dunno Sarah. Somehow, I get the opposite impression. I don't know why but I do."
"I only knew him from my time in the labyrinth and from a few extra visits I get when I am not careful how I word thing. And on a very rare occasion he chooses to visit my dreams." She said this while rolling her eyes.
They walked into the studio where the portrait was displayed. The room was dimly lit so Jennifer flipped on the track lighting.
"My god... Jennifer that's exactly him. How in the world did you know? Right down to his eyes," pausing mid sentence, temporary entranced by eyes so blue, "Though I don't think I ever saw him with that expression."
"I haven't a clue. I read your book and well it just came to me. It's more like he was already in the canvas I just had to let him out. It's how I always paint."
"Well you did a fine job. That is the bane of my life portrayed there."
"Why bane? Aside from dreams visits what has he really done that so bad?"
"It's hard to explain. Sometimes I fell as if he wants something from me. But he never says. I just feel awkward around him. I was 14 when I first met him. Maybe that first impression stayed with me. He was quite menacing and powerful to me then."
"I guess but your 25 now…. Hasn't your age provided a better view on things? At least time should have." looking at Sarah with a puzzled gaze, "You've changed, why couldn't he? If he was truly, as you say he was, perhaps he was just playing a role that you expected. He did say once in the book 'I am tired of living up to your expectations' perhaps that is what he meant?"
Sarah paced as she thought about this, "Maybe but I want nothing from him other that the right and ability to still speak to my friends there."
"Fair enough… Listen…I am beat… care to come by again tomorrow?"
"Sure… I'll call first."
"Great," she hugged Sarah and walked her to the door, "See ya tomorrow."
"And Jennifer, for me… Be careful ok."
"I will. I promise."
Jennifer waited a full hour before she again was pacing the floor trying to come up with a safe way to call Jareth to her, a way she could be in control.
"Hmm... how should I do this? He gave me that mirror…," she looked at the mirror she had left behind on her desk. It looked ordinary enough but gifts from magical realms even in story were never what they seemed. She placed it mirror side down once again, just in case.
A nap, that was all she needed. Just a catnap to ease the weariness she felt. Her head barely hit the pillow before she was fast asleep.
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Jareth watched Jennifer and Sarah through a crystal he had conjured. He still found it odd how these two girls had become friends and never questioned each other over anything said. All was taken at face value.
More and more he was becoming very fascinated by Jennifer. She painted him, without ever seeing him physically, such an odd occurrence. She was a puzzle worth solving.
Perhaps tonight he would grant her wish and visit her dreams. Of course, the girl needed to sleep first. He had noticed she rarely slept and it was never for long.
"Hmm... she just needs a little magical help." He said as he cast a small sleep spell on Jennifer's bed
Soon she was fast asleep and Jareth was already in her mind invading her dreams.
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Everything glittered and sparkled, from the floor to the ceiling. There was a strange hazy quality to the edges of everything. She couldn't focus on anything. The room was dressed up for a fancy event, a ball she thought, but she wasn't dressed for a ball. She felt out of place in her jeans covered in paint. Jennifer hadn't even a clue how she had arrived in such an elegant place.
She absently walked down a long hall of mirrors and chandeliers draped in silver fabric. She looked to her side in a mirror, but gazing back was no one she recognized readily. Jennifer walked slowly up to the mirror reaching out for the reflection timidly, fearing it was more than a mirror. It was herself reflected back but she was not wearing her painter's jeans. Instead, she wore a lovely gown of navy blue velvet with white sating trim. It was fitted quite snug but hung in a very full ball skirt about her waist. The neckline plunged almost too low for her comfort dripped in pearls and crystals, the delicate drop sleeves also were covered in crystals so that she glittered like the room as she moved.. Her hair was hanging loose in soft spiral curls down her back and pinned slightly up at her temples with silver ribbons and glittery gems of blue. This was her dream gown. How had she ended up wearing it? How had anyone even known about this dress, she hadn't even drawn it yet.
"Strange…Am I dreaming? I must be." Barely able to tear herself away from the mirrors, she continued to wander down the halls, peering inside rooms that shot off from the main hall, but she found no one else. Faintly she heard and orchestra playing a familiar waltz, it was still distant.
She followed the music to a grand room, where she finally found other guests of the ball, "why does this seem familiar?" They twirled about in fancy costumes and masks that were as beautiful and as grotesque all at once.
As she entered the room, all activity stopped. The laughter died, the music ended. Slowly the crowd parted to allow a single man to step through, Jennifer knew who this was. She had seen him. Painted him. Those eyes belonged to only one man. She made no move but allowed him to make his way to her, each step like a predator staking prey, carefully and deliberately placed.
"You're him aren't you?" forcing herself to hide the smile that was trying to creep across her face.
"Indeed. You did wish to meet me in your dreams did you not?"
"I did. I don't deny it. But it has been a while. I just assumed you didn't grant wishes to just anyone."
"Normally I do not. But… I made an exception in your case. As to the wait. I wanted to see your painting complete first," he held out his hand, "shall we dance?"