Chapter Eight: Not As Surprised As We Thought

Nobody really noticed him arrive, but then, nobody's supposed to. What happened was that one moment they were toasting marshmallows with my supervision, and the next, we heard an angry shout.

"What is the MEANING OF THIS?!"

Everyone froze, the same as they had when I had arrived downstairs this morning. Every head turned to the King in the archway across from the throne. Marshmallows fell into the fire or burned on the ends of spears in the time it took for me to realize what happened. My head snapped up and I saw him standing there, and I, too, froze in place.

He was heart-stopping. He wore a black shirt with gray pants, his usual black boots, and a pair of gray gloves. His peasant shirt was open, showing his chest, and one could very much tell, since he now leaned against the side of the arch he stood in. It was a deceptively casual act, as his arms were folded. His hair was wild, as it always was, but it gave him the look of someone half-crazy.

Half-crazy, seething mad, and every inch gorgeous.

His eyes fell upon me, on his throne, and his upswept brows lifted. "And why," he continued, "is little…mortal…Crystal on my throne?" The tone he used cooled the room by ten degrees, I swear.

Terrified, the goblins all swarmed back from him, some carrying their spears with them. Several of the short weapons still had white puffs on the end of them. Some climbed the walls and cowered on their perches, some clambered up onto the throne around me, and a bulky Blar sat in my lap. He was the only one besides tiny Sqeek who could fit; I hugged them close to me, protecting them. My other hand went down to the shoulders of the goblins on the steps and below, the nearest of whom clung to my skirt or hid behind it. They crowded the throne, effectively cutting him off from me.

"Good evening, Your Majesty," I said in a level tone, almost using his title as an insult. "I was teaching the goblins how to cook marshmallows as a surprise for cleaning the castle and they wanted me to—"

"You…were…what," he asked slowly, in the voice that your father asks you things when you know he wants the details so he can punish you more thoroughly.

"We were making marshmallows," Blar said emphatically, as if Jareth should have heard me when I had said it before.

I repressed the urge to shudder at Jareth's question. Icy never was my style. I prefer an argument, or "discussion," as fiery as my hair. "Teaching them how to make marshmallows—you know, the little white puffs of mostly sugar that us powerless little mortals enjoy making at campfires. It's a human tradition." I said it in a tone bordering on mocking—did he not despise mortal habits?—but not quite over the border…yet. He was still glaring, which meant he wanted me to go on. "I asked them to clean the throne room for you, because it was very dirty. They did and then washed the entire castle. I told them that since they had done it, they got a surprise. The marshmallows were that surprise."

"That doesn't explain the fire." He stalked from the arch towards me from my left, around the fire pit. He wisely stayed just out of reach of the goblins. One should never underestimate the power of stupid things in large groups.

"The fire is for toasting the marshmallows, Your Majesty. It is also burning the wood they brought in to make the marshmallows over and the dirt and hay we swept up from the floor and off the walls. I suppose you never even noticed that your throne room is virtually spotless. All you could think about was that someone might have taken your place."

Fire flooded his mismatched eyes and I smirked mentally. I had succeeded in riling the Goblin King. Now we could have a fight my way. Indignation heated his voice. "How dare you insult me? I'll drop you into the Bog of Eternal Stench for that!"

"We'll see who drops whom in a moment."

"You defy me?" He was incredulous.

"Of course. What else would I do to someone so arrogantly blind?" The jewel on the band on my arm grew warm and I could feel my power tingling inside of me. Before Jareth could reply, I sent a peal of thunder across the sky, letting it roll from one side of the castle to the other with a volume that drowned the frightened gasps of the creatures around me. "Would you excuse us, please," I asked politely but firmly of the goblins in general when it had subsided. I didn't really ask; grammatically, I did, but my tone was that of a request that really wasn't one.

"But who'll protect you if we leave?" I was surprised at Neek. He was braver than I had suspected.

"Yeah," the others murmured at random. "We can't leave you with His Majesty alone!"

"He'll send you to the Bog!"

"Just like he said!"

General dissension was setting in, and I didn't want Jareth to think I'd been turning the goblins against him when he was gone or he'd end up sending whole platoons to the Bog in no time at all. "Really, guys. I'll be all right. I can take care of myself. Trust me." I swiftly removed the edge in my voice. "Can you do that? Can you trust me? Please?"

There was a dreadful silence. I began to worry, mostly that Jareth would take it the wrong way before I had time to explain things. He was like that, I had noticed. Blar and Sqeek hopped down from my lap onto a space the others vacated for them. "We trust you," they chimed.

I smiled down at them and whispered, "Thank you."

They bobbed little bows and scampered around the right side of the fire, away from Jareth. A few more followed, and soon there was a steady stream of goblins leaving me. Each of them turned and copied Sqeek and Blar before they passed the arch.

Qinty was the last one to go. "Bye, Crystal," he said after he bowed.

I couldn't help but smile. "Goodbye, Qinty." I was sorry to see him leave. His blind devotion touched me to the bottom of my heart.

Jareth was staring in wonder at me, which I noticed only when I turned to confront him. His anger had suddenly vanished. Mine had too, when I had seen all the little goblins following Blar, Sqeek, and Qinty. "They cleaned my castle? Only because you asked them to?"

My soft answer was "Yes." I stood and stepped down from the throne. "Because I asked them nicely. I have to admit that the 'surprise' helped. They cleaned the entire castle—well, they left some things alone, such as your room, the Escher Room, and mine. I didn't want them messing up our rooms or getting lost." Now that we were on the same level, we didn't seem so far apart, as communication went. "Would you like a marshmallow, Your Majesty," I asked a little tentatively.

He seemed puzzled. "I would," he said.

I nodded and found a goblin spear with two uncooked marshmallows on the end. Holding it over the fire, I attracted Jareth's attention. "This is how you cook a marshmallow," I explained gently. "You hold it over the fire until it's golden brown." I made a face. "I just can't understand why some people like them burnt."

The Goblin King smiled, amused. We stood in silence, he watching me as I monitored the white puffs on the end of the spear. His attention unnerved me and so I concentrated fiercely on my task. I often pulled it back to squeeze them carefully, testing to see whether the outsides were crusty and the insides were soft. When they were done, I carefully pulled one off and held it out. "Here you go," I said. "It's a little too warm, so I suggest you blow on it before you eat it to cool it off. Then you just pop it into your mouth." I demonstrated by doing the same with mine.

"These are delicious," he said when he had finished his. "What did you call them?"

After I swallowed, I told him. "They're marshmallows." I wiped the end of the spear with a damp cloth and set it back against the wall. I worked up my courage. "Jareth?"

"Yes, Crystal?"

"I want to apologize for this morning. And for what happened a few moments ago. I shouldn't have accused you like that, I shouldn't have cursed you, and I shouldn't have antagonized you. It's just that I was so angry that you've never been nice to them…and I was angry about you being angry about me using my magic." I looked down at the floor and began to fidget with my hands, something I did when I was nervous.

And I was very nervous right now. Jareth's halfway-open shirt wasn't doing me much good, either; every time I looked at him I couldn't stop the world from disappearing around me.

"Anyway…I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Jareth came a few steps toward me. "What gave you the idea that I was angry with you?"

I had to fight to answer over my fear and apprehension. "Your eyes," I said, not raising my gaze. "It was your eyes. They had darkened over and you were staring at me and you didn't move and I knew that you had gotten angry. Just like in the Labyrinth. So I got angry back and that's why I fought with you." I looked up at him at last, dreading what I'd find there.

It turned out to be completely different than I expected. What I found was his burning gaze capturing mine, not letting me go.

I found I didn't want to look away.

He was only a few feet from me now and still he took a step or two closer. "I wasn't upset with you, Crystal," he said softly. "I was admiring your strength, your spirit, your power. I was admiring your hair…how it shone so bright in the noon sun—it still does, even in the torchlight." I stopped breathing when he reached out to take my locks in hand, letting them fall in a copper cascade to my chest again. "Breathe," he whispered, the quiet command reminding me of that necessity. I obeyed, unable to contravene. "I was admiring you."

I looked down to his pendant, resting on his bare chest. "Jareth…." I began, but found I could not continue. My eyes went back up to his, and I settled a hand on that arm just as the hand that held my hair moved to my cheek. We drew closer, and he continued.

"I was imagining…what it would be like…if…I…."

His mouth settled over mine with incredible gentleness. It was the kiss of a feather. My head began to swim. Blood rushed through my head and I instinctively moved closer to him, increasing the contact. Understanding, he deepened the kiss. I could not help the tiny moan that escaped. The warmth of the smoldering wood not five feet from us was nothing compared to the intense need suddenly burning deep inside. Thinking anything was beyond me. On an impulse, I flicked my tongue out to taste him, at the corner of his mouth. He tasted of marshmallows, smoke, and a faintly earthy scent mixed with the unmistakable male. I did it again.

He shuddered and met me, taste for taste. Heat blossomed in me and I pressed myself closer to him, my hands flattening on his chest. I ached for his touch. One arm came around me and the other went to my waist, at my side, as if answering my unspoken desire.

That shift swung his amulet against my fingers and in response a measure of amber power suddenly swirled within him. I could see it in my mind, dormant power waiting to be loosed. It felt like a pacing lion, waiting for its moment to be unleashed.

I stumbled back, troubled. The rush of air into my lungs began to clear my mind. Everything registered in surreal clarity, including the dull ache that made me want to run back into his arms. The fire crackled unnaturally loudly. The clock ticked like cannon fire. I became aware of my labored breathing and of Jareth's. "I…." I began breathlessly.

"Don't," Jareth growled, trying to attain calm himself. "Just don't." He turned toward the fire and ran a hand through his hair.

I put a hand to my diaphragm in attempt to help steady my breathing. Slowly backing away, I eventually turned and made my way to the staircase. "Good night, Jareth," I said softly, looking back.

He turned as if I had surprised him and then relaxed when he realized what I had said. "Good night…Crystal," he slowly answered. His attention went back to the fire, about as tall as a goblin now. With a gesture from him, it flared once more.

I made my way up to the stairs a little dizzy, confused, and with my mind lingering on that overwhelming kiss. It had evoked feelings I never knew I had, much less that I ever thought I'd feel. Jareth did that to me. It both frightened and excited me.

One thing was for sure, I thought as I opened and closed my door. I definitely wanted it to happen again. I stripped myself of dress and slip efficiently but thoughtfully—my thoughts dwelled on Jareth. My armband shrank itself to a looser bracelet so that I could sleep. I pulled on my green silk nightgown again, imagining the feel of his hands on me again. "Oh, come off it, girl," I told myself as I climbed into bed. "You're going daft, that's all." I closed the curtains and tried to sleep, but my mind wouldn't let me forget the feel of the Goblin King's lips on mine, or the pleasure the touch of his tongue brought to me, or the heat that had flooded me, or the intense need that I felt so close to him. I guess it was about midnight when I had finally pushed those thoughts away so that I could rest, but my dreams tormented me through the hours of darkness beyond.


The goblins seemed to know when she had gone. As soon as I felt the castle shift so that her room was someplace else, one stuck his head in the door. "Your Majesty?"

"Yes—" What was his name? "—Neek?" I drew myself from my trancelike study of the fire.

He shook a little when he realized I had said his name. Usually I don't care about someone's name unless that person irritates me. "Is….is it all right if we come back in?"

It took a few moments to process the request. I was still rather distracted by the kiss Crystal and I had shared. I shook myself—now was not the time. Looking back to Neek, I said, "Yes. It's all right."

Goblins of every size and shape flooded the room immediately. "Where's Crystal," one of her other two pets asked. It was the stupidest of the three.

I answered with small words. "She went back to her room, to go to sleep."

"Oh," he said, and moved off.

I retired for the night, extinguishing the fire in my room in order to punish myself. The fire running through my veins only burned hotter with every thought of Crystal. I didn't need the flames from the logs to keep me warm. So I sat in my chair and shivered, because everything around me seemed cold without her.

I swore mentally several times. I had become infatuated with her. My thoughts constantly dwelled on her; right now, every thought was on her and her body and her mouth on mine and her power. Gods, the power! I felt the reaction of my power to her when she had touched my pendant, which must have been when I had embraced her, and I felt her power stir in answer. Vibrant emerald green it was, pulsing with all the life and imagination she carried. There was so much potential within her, and she knew how to exploit every bit of it, I could tell.

Swearing again, this time aloud, I paced to my window to watch the Goblin City sleep and laid my hands on the sill. It was midnight, which is to say six-thirty. Every person's thirteen hours to navigate the Labyrinth successfully begin at dawn; on a twenty-six-hour seasonless day, the thirteen hours end at dusk. They never see the city at night; it really is rather….beautiful. That's not an adjective I use often. Everything around here is ugly. Since Crystal came, however, that word has been coming to mind more often.

Crystal. I sighed. Crystal was…amazing. Her jewel-like eyes flashed when she was angry; sparkled when she was glad. The fire of her hair never died. Her ivory skin glowed and she carried herself like a queen. She was entirely self-confident, unafraid to stand up to me, but she had shown herself so susceptible at times. It was as if she knew her weaknesses and was determined to not let them show. She possessed a sort of intense, hypnotic aura, filled with its own power. That power was like the glass spheres I often conjure; it is relatively harmless on its own, but when in the hands of an experienced wielder, it becomes an awesome thing, capable of magic or mayhem. That ability was an integral part of her, yet it was such a small part that it was far more important what she used it for. Her character directed her to use it for purposes that furthered things I didn't—don't—understand. It made me respect her, and desire her. I wanted her to teach me what she knew: what to use power for.

She had somehow managed to get the goblins to clean my castle—they said for her, she said for me. Why? And how? I had only sensed subtle bursts of magic from the castle while I was away; they were certainly not mine, nor any I had left behind. She hadn't taken over their minds because that requires overt magic. Goblins are stupid and need bluntness. So where had the subtlety come in and how did she get them to do it? Did she really talk them into it like she said she did?

And what was with these marshmallows? They were light and sweet, unlike anything I had ever tasted before. But still Crystal's kiss had been sweeter.

I sighed. I was getting nowhere in my thoughts. I bowed my head, and then turned my attention to the admiration of the early-morning stars just as the sound of running footsteps sounded down the hall. Frowning, I went out to see who it was.

It was Crystal, in a green silk nightgown and robe. Her hair was loose, trailing behind her as she ran. When she caught sight of me, she called my name. "Jareth!" She flew into my arms and began to sob hysterically. Her hands fisted with my shirt in them and burrowed her head into my chest.

The only thing I could think to do was to put my arms around her, so I did. I discovered that I liked it; I tightened my embrace. She did not seem to notice. "What is it, Crystal," I asked softly, leaving one hand to hold her while the other stroked her head. "What's the matter?" I didn't want the castle hearing what happened, so I transported us to my room, rather than disturbing her by making her walk. "What's the matter, Crystal," I asked again.

"It was awful," she replied between sobs. "I had such a nightmare…." She broke off, crying.

I shushed her. "Everything will be fine," I said. "It's okay. It was just a dream." I let her cry, as it was apparently the only way to help this pass. To my surprise, she let go my shirt with one hand and gripped my pendant. Unseen amber power rushed out to her before I could stop it, but not like I expected. It wrapped itself around her, comforting her in some strange way. I let it go, directing it to cocoon her and calm her. Troubled green power laced with gratefulness extended itself around me, seeking the comfort that I had to offer. We were a swirling mass of power. The overall sensation was not unpleasant.

We stood like that for a time. Crystal soon quieted, but tears still fell and her body still trembled. She tried to speak, to explain what had happened. Her voice was still exhausted from the distress. "Hush," I murmured. "There's no need to tell me what happened. Everything's all right." With subtle directions through my power, I instructed her sit down. She still clung to me; I sat down next to her. It was a bit awkward, but we managed so that I was leaning back against the wall and she sat facing it, her legs stretched out along the wall and her upper body still in my embrace. Her tears began afresh but there was no more sobbing, only the shivers of relief. I noticed eventually that she had fallen asleep. I resolved that I would not disturb her, so I simply sat cradling her as she slept. Her grasp had relaxed, but she still held my talisman. As long as it gave her peace, I did not mind. It gave me a chance to gaze on her countenance, beautiful in sleep despite the tear streaks running down it.

Comforted by dreamless sleep, her face showed none of the startling maturity or wisdom it did when she was awake. Both qualities, to the extremes they were, were far beyond her years, yet she carried them without complaint, merely a resignation and a depression that overpowered even her strong soul from time to time. "Such a terrible burden, for one so innocent and young."

Gazing at her oddly vulnerable form resting so peacefully in the pale light, my heart stirred within me, and I felt a great swell of emotion like to only one other time in my life—no, twice, I corrected myself. With great reluctance, I shoved those two incidents into the past and looked down to Crystal's sleeping form. And when the sun had risen, I had made a choice for my future.