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Chapter 10: Interesting Happenings
Jareth had spent the rest of the afternoon following the girl named Alice and her companions. He'd watched as they had gone about the town, stopping for snacks at one small store, sitting around and chatting in another. He'd followed them to the lawn of one of her companions where they sat, splayed and lounging, relaxed and conversing about some upcoming school event. Most of the conversations were lost on Jareth however because he was to intent on watching the girl named Alice. The most intriguing thing he'd learned today was how full of mischief her eyes were. It would suddenly flash through those grey eyes a brief moment before she acted on it, whether it was stealing the last snack from the one named Willis or tackling the one named Vincent.
He now stood on the curb outside of her house, leisurely observing as the one named Willis helped her dismount from his motorcycle.
"You know, you didn't know really answer my question earlier."
"Question? What question?" Alice asked as Willis gently tipped her head back to get a better view of the helmet's clasp.
"The one where I technically asked you if you wanted to go to the dance, you know, the one that's happening about a week and a half from now?"
"You were serious?" Her head jerked back up right.
"Yes." A grunt of disapproval slipped out as his fingers lost hold of the clasp. Tipping her head back once more he continued. "I was serious. I mean if you didn't want to go you could have just said so."
"I thought you were teasing." Alice pulled off the helmet staring down at her distorted reflection avoiding eye contact with the boy in front of her. Somewhere near them a streetlight flickered on, its low hum joining the sounds of the nighttime critters slowly coming out as the sun set off in the distance behind the house. "It's hard to tell sometimes."
"Fair enough." Willis placed his hand on the helmet, making her look up at him. "I was serious, and I'm willing to take you, but you have to want to go first. At least say you'll think about it."
"Yes."
"Yes what?"
"Yes I'll go! I mean why not? I haven't really been to any school stuff, so why not right?"
"Yeah, why not?" Willis chuckled, before he could say anything else he was interrupted by the sound of the screen door rattling against the side of the house, the culprit, Georgie, standing in the doorway.
"Alice! Mom said come on it's time for dinner! Hi Willis!"
"Hi Georgie!" he called back before turning back to Alice. "Same time tomorrow?"
"Yep! Same bat time, same bat channel!" Alice smiled before running up the walkway and bounding up the stairs. Turning she waved, now being joined at the door by Gigi, watching as the boy mounted his bike, secured his helmet, turned on the lights and revved the engine before turning about and speeding off into the night towards his home.
Jareth mounted the stairs, his gaze still fixed on the girl named Alice as she waited until she could no longer hear the sound of the engine before making her way inside. Jareth stepped forward, ready to continue his secret observance, when a sudden wave of ill feeling came over him. Curious he extended his hand forward, gingerly resting his fingers against the façade of the house only to remove them quickly.
Iron. Cast iron to be exact he discovered, as he peaked through the windows and saw the offending ornamentations on either side of the door; shaped like flowers and curved vines one had pegs below it for holding keys. Their placement wasn't accidental either, he surmised, as he stepped off the porch and rounded the side of the house, his meandering steps taking him to the back yard. He observed the family from a distance, watching as they sat down for dinner, laughed, ate and shared their days. As they finished and cleared the table, as they split off, the adults cleaning the kitchen while the children went off with their school bags. A light on the second floor flickered on catching Jareth's attention. Ascending to the second story he discovered the window was to Alice's room. The girl wandered around her room aimlessly for a moment before settling in on her studies. Trying to get closer Jareth felt the same wave of uneasiness from earlier, shifting his position at the window he noticed a decorative cast iron pair of scissors. From what he had seen down stairs he could only guess that there was one on the other side of the window as well; a disgruntled look played out on the Goblin King's face, there was no doubting it now, someone in the house knew of Fae and their workings, or at least how best to keep them away.
Backing away from the window he groused realizing that once again he was being forced to watch the girl named Alice from a distance. But his grumblings subsided as he watched her settle into her desk to work, playing music as she studied. And as he had earlier that day he watched her, watched her as she finished her school work and readied for tomorrow, as she left the room only to return in what he guessed where her sleeping clothes for the night, as the small one named Georgie exploded into her room demanding a story before bed, as she read her voice flocculating for each character, as she sent the one named Georgie off to bed, and turned in for the night herself. Just before she turned off the lamp near her bed, Jareth saw her retrieve from the back of a book photos, old and slightly crinkled. She kissed them, returning them back to their hiding place whispered her prayers for the night before extinguishing the light and sending herself off to dreamland.
"Goodnight my Alice, may your dreams be pleasant ones." Jareth smiled, as he left his vigil for the first time that day. Making himself visible Jareth quickly changed in his owl form and flew off into the night, unawares that he himself had been watched also, as a lone wolf settled into his usual spot for his nightly ritual of watching the girl he'd promised to protect. Looking up at the window of the girl's room the wolf spotted the red haired woman, and as they had many nights before, both nodded their recognition of each other before she drew the curtains and the day ended.
When they finally came across the house, Kern and the shadow creatures under his control had been searching for quite some time. Following the trail of the young Goblin King had not been easy, they had trekked to various points around town before coming to their final destination. Kern now stood, hovering just above the tree line, the dark of the night encompassing him and the creatures around him as he watched the window on the back of the house. The hour being so late, all lights were off within the house, all of those residing within having long ago closed their eyes and drifted off to more pleasant thoughts than the worries of the day. A sinister grin birthed itself on Kern's face as one of the shadow creatures rubbed up against his leg, ready and waiting, eager to proceed with their assignment.
"Alright, you heard her, our lady wants the girl. Alive. Proceed quietly, we need not wake the whole house with our deed." The creatures, now sharing Kern's vicious smile, descended upon the window with an eerie silence. They circled around the window, before the first shadow took the initiative, breaking away from the group it approached the windowsill claws at the ready. Finding the seam between the window and the sill the shadow creature's grin turned almost feral as it began wedging its claws under the seam, ready to pop open the window to steal in after the quarry inside.
Kern watched from his post as the creature struggled with the window, at first the resistance it met seemed reasonable but as it continued to struggle other shadows slipped down to join it. The creatures jumped back snarling at the window, one of the larger ones swooped down, thrusting its large claws at the bottom of the sill began to go to work only to be thrown back, a large spark coming from the window. The seam around the window lit up for a brief moment before disappearing, had he not been watching Kern certainly would have missed it. Descending upon the window himself, he waved away the shadow creatures to inspect the window more. As he floated around the window he caught the sight of something just within the shadow of the interior. Curious, Kern pressed his hand against the exterior wall where he guessed the object to be, only to recoil a moment later.
"Well isn't that just interesting?" Kern looked at his slightly burned hand. Iron, it was the only explanation for a reaction like that. Someone inside knew how to keep things out. Moving back he looked at the dark creatures around him, before turning his attention back to the window. "Well boys, what are you waiting for? Have at it. A far worse fate then a few burns by iron awaits us if we return to our lady without the girl." Some of the shadows whined and circled about his feet as they took in his words. They knew it was true, the burn of the iron was a small thing compared to the wrath of the queen.
As the shadows set back to circling the window a faint sound caught Kern's attention; at first he thought it was simply the girl turning about in her bed within, upset maybe by a dream, but as the sound persisted he began to look about to find the source. Looking back over his shoulder, near the tree line he found the source. A wolf melted out of the dark forest floor, its eyes fixed on Kern, teeth bared, eyes red, and a deep resonating growled reverberated from deep within the belly of the beast. Turning around completely Kern descended hovering just out of reach of the creature.
"Be gone pest. No one here challenges your territory. Leave!" he rebuked, but the beast did not move. Kern stared down the beast when something clicked in the back of his mind. Glancing back at the window over his shoulder where the shadows were busying themselves, he turned his attention back to the beast before him and sinister grin forming on his face. "Well, well, isn't this just interesting?"
As he spoke, more wolves began to bleed out from the edge, all at the ready, prepared for the attack. Without much warning one lunged forward, targeting the shadow man, missing just barely as he managed to pull himself out of the way just in time; the wolf recovered quickly turning its sights back on its evasive target. Kern pulled back his arm, ready to attack; dark bolts of energy surging from his finger tips forming a ball in his hand, his sights set on the beast that had advanced first, when a scream pierced that night. The energy dissipated from his hand as his attention snapped back to the window over his shoulder. His first thought being that the shadow creatures had succeeded in their task, but finding the window still intact and them hovering just outside of it he found it not to be the case. The screams persisted, the shadow creatures began to retreat from the window. The light of the room flashed on sending the remaining creatures scattering in various directions; a figure, though fuzzy, appeared in the window for a moment as they made their way to the bedside. Kern immediately made himself scare, pulling back to the height of the tree line, out of sight of the window, the house shrinking as he fled into the night.
As the wind sliced pass his face the unexpected events of the night played over within his mind; first the iron within the window and then the wolves, none of those were mere coincidences. The girl was being guarded, that was for certain, this wasn't going to be some simple smash and grab. To get the girl would take far more effort than he had originally anticipated. The compounding mysteries surrounding this girl were making her far more interesting than he thought her to be. One thing he knew for certain, after this night, she wasn't simply some girl who had escaped the queen, there was something much more, and once he had her within his grasp, he was going to find out just what it was.
Woot! More stuff! More questions! More writing I have to do!
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FeyFaerie: Thanks for all of your comments! I really enjoyed them, thanks and I hope you continue to enjoy yourself! :)