Chapter Ten

(Meeting the Goblins)

Ari looked at the fire while everyone else slept. She knew her friends were exhausted. Even Sarah, who'd run the Labyrinth, was worn out. She sighed as she contemplated what to do next. The only problem was that while everyone else had slept, she'd made an unfortunate realization. They couldn't cross back into the mortal realm again before Beltane. At least not on their own.

The blonde haired tomboy knew there were not very many Fae that would be capable of crossing realms when it wasn't Beltane or Sahmain. One was the Goblin King and Ari wasn't about to take a chance where Sarah was concerned. The only other options she had would be the High King or one of the Dream keepers. One was the Queen of Dreams while the other was the Nightmare King.

She quickly nixed the Nightmare King which left only two other options. The Dream Queen or the High King. The problem was, which one should they try to find?

Ari sighed as she heard a faint noise in the bushes not far from them. The girl may have pretended not to notice, but she was well aware they were being watched. The only thing she wasn't sure of was who was following them or why. She was, however, very certain they weren't Dark Elves.

As she continued to ponder who might be following her another idea came to her. Had they been following them even before they were taken? There had been a lot of odd things that had happened since Sarah had joined the group.

The blonde girl smiled as an idea came to her. She went over to Lola's bag and took out a candy bar. Careful not to be seen she also slipped out a box of jawbreakers. Lola never went anywhere without candy. In fact she usually had a rather large assortment she kept with her. The red head had a sweet tooth the size of Alaska! She took the candy bar and pretended like she was going to take a bite before sitting it down on the fallen tree she'd been sitting on.

Next she slipped the box of candy under her arm out of sight from the candy bar. "I need to stretch." She said out loud and rose to her feet. She made a fake yawn and walked away from the fire and over to the bushes away from where she'd heard the small noises.

Once out of view the teenage girl quietly climbed up a tree and watched to see if anyone would come out.

The goblins watched as the Dark Elf Princess walked away only briefly as their eyes fell on the candy bar. Over their time watching over the girls they'd grown to love Lola's taste in candy. Especially her chocolate candy bars.

"Mine!" Ricket said and headed for the bar. The other goblins countered with their own "Mine!" and before long all the goblins were in the open heading for the candy bar. None of them thinking for a moment they were being lured out.

From a branch in a tree the tomboy watched as a group of goblins entered the camp. She covered her mouth as she almost laughed at seeing the creatures head straight for the candy bar. Her plan had worked.

As she watched she began to recall things she'd heard Delilah say about creatures being after her. A few of the creatures in the camp matched the descriptions. The goblin with the long tail, one with claws, and another fit a few descriptions. Something told her these goblins had been around them for a while. They might even be the explanation for a few of their pranks becoming a little bigger than expected. Delilah's car came to mind as well.

The blonde girl looked over at her friends and noticed Lola was starting to stir. Her eyes widened as she saw Lola was going to wake up. She couldn't help but smile. "One, two, three." The moment Ari stopped counting a blood curdling scream whipped through the air.

"Ahhh!" The goblins screamed, startled by the girl. That woke everyone up. In less than twenty seconds all of the girls were awake and both screams from the girls and goblins broke the silence of the early morning.

Ari started laughing as the girls jumped up in a panic as both teenagers and girls raced around bumping into each other, only to scream more, turn in another direction and run into another individual.

The tomboy laughed so hard she almost fell out of the tree.

Sarah yawned and looked at the racing goblins and girls and seeing Ari nearly fall out of the tree, she laughed. The thought of the pranks they'd played at the lake came back to her memory. Finally she let out a whistle that stopped everyone in their tracks. Unfortunately they had all decided to run the same direction and a pile of teenagers and goblins ensued.

"Oh my gosh that was so funny!" Ari announced before jumping out of the tree. "Man you guys were funnier than Delilah and her minions!" All three teenage girls in the pile glared at her.

As if suddenly remembering the goblins the three girls quickly got out of the pile and moved toward Sarah.

"Uh Ari… um… what are they?" Lola asked openly concerned.

"Goblins." Sarah informed the group of girls.

"Shit!" Jenna swore. "You're not taking Sarah without a fight!"

Ari looked at the red and black haired girl before rolling her eyes at her friend. "Jenna if they wanted to take off with Sarah they would have tried it when the rest of you were asleep." Turning her attention to the group of Goblins she asked. "Why are you following us?"

"We no want you get hurt." Whippley replied being honest. "Too fun to let get hurt."

"Fun?" Brandy questioned.

"Princess like fun. She teach Lady to be fun." Widget chimed in.

"At lake." Digger added.

"The Lake." Ari got a huge smile on her face. "Are you the reason Delilah's car ended up in the lake?"

"We no like her!" Ricket said and crossed his arms and scowled.

Ari started laughing. "That was an awesome prank!" She praised. The goblins started snickering happily.

"Princess approve?" Whippley said hopeful.

"Completely!" Ari announced. Without a second thought she walked up to the goblins. "Would you be responsible for a few other unusual events?" Her voice wasn't demanding. It was full of joy and her face was happy and held mischief at the same time.

"The fire was Torch's fault not ours!" Whippley assured her grasping his flicking long tail.

"Torch cut fun time!" Widget complained.

"Maybe, but he got us out of class as well." Sarah said amused.

"Yeah and a science test I didn't study for." Jenna said. "I'll have to thank Torch."

"Were you at Jason's party?" Sarah asked. The girls watched as for the first time the goblins looked guilty rather than pleased. "You were weren't you?"

"King not like Lady with boy." Widget said.

"I assume it would be torch that started the fire?" Ari said showing disapproval for the first time.

"He wasn't supposed to!" Whippley assured the tomboy. "We just wanted to stop music, not burn down place!"

"We ban him from comin after dat." Digger informed them.

"You said you were following us to keep us safe. Safe from what?" The dark haired girl asked.

"There dangers out here Lady. We no let bad thing happen to you. King not like that."

"No, then he couldn't do it himself." Ari muttered.

"King no harm Lady." Ricket told the blonde haired girl. "Lady special."

"He can't have her." The princess said firmly. "None of us belong here." She watched as the goblins looked down sadly.

"But you fun. You princess. Should be here." Whippley said sounding sad.

Ari smiled a sympathetic smile at the long tailed goblin. Slowly she made her way closer to him and crouched down in front of Whippley. "What's you name?"

"I Whippley. Digger, Widget, Ricket, Rolly, and Noxy." The Goblin introduced.

"It's nice to meet our little cohorts in crime." She said smiling warmly at them. Turning her attention back to Whippley she said, "We were stolen Whippley."

"Grandmother stole you first." Whippley pouted crossing his arms.

Ari had to fight the urge to hug the upset goblin. "That may be, but they deserve to return home." The teenager said pointing to the other girls. "They have no ties to this world."

"Lady does." Widget said.

"Shouldn't it be the Lady's choice?" The blonde girl said. She watched as the goblins looked at each other but didn't respond. "Who would be more likely to send them home, the High King or Dream Queen?"

"High King send friends home. High King not Happy Dark Elf King brought them too," Ricket informed them.

"He'll at least send Sarah and the others back?" Ari questioned.

"Send Lola, Brandy, Jenna back for certain. Don't know about Lady Sarah." Whippley replied.

"Why wouldn't he send Sarah back?" The tomboy watched as the goblins looked at each other and at everything but her. "Whippley."

"Well..."

"That will be enough." Ari and the girls looked over to see a very powerful dark haired Fae standing there.

"Who are you?" Brandy questioned.

"I am prince Amador, High prince of the underground." He informed the group of teenage girls. Looking at the group of goblins he said, "I do not believe my brother will be pleased you didn't alert him to your whereabouts. You will answer to your King for this."

"You're Jareth's brother?" Sarah said more than a little surprised.

"Yes I am."

"This doesn't sound good." Brandy said and looked at Ari.

Ari was practically glaring at the high prince. "I don't care who you are, you aren't taking Sarah from me without a fight."

Amador smirked at the blonde woman before him. "I'm not just taking Lady Sarah…"

"Ari." She said knowing he was waiting for her name.

"You're King Soren's daughter?" He said, unable to hide his surprise.

"Unfortunately." The teenager pouted.

Amador blinked at the blue eyed girl. Most girls would kill to be a princess. The girl before him appeared to absolutely hate the idea. He glanced her over and realized she was dressed nothing like a princess. Yet he still thought her to be beautiful. He looked the other girls over and found they were also lovely. Not as lovely as the princess or his brothers obsession but lovely none the less.

"My father waits." The price announced. He waived his hand and the group disappeared from the forest.

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait. I kept rewriting the chapter not pleased with it. I am however pleased with this one.