Ok, Grey Kindle, here is another chapter:D Things should start picking up soon, so just sit tight!
Thanks for the reviews!
When Jareth entered the Aboveground he was still in his owl form. He thought it would be best to find Sarah's bedroom window and wait until she noticed him, then go where no one would see him change into his human form and then knock on the door like a civilized person. He was surprised that he was behaving in such a way when the norm would have been for him to burst in without a second thought.
"You are doing it for her." Sarah's little voice sounded in his mind. She hadn't been around much lately, much to his relief, but at times she did pop up with a word or two for him. Surprisingly they were normally words of wisdom, not something snotty and childish.
"I guess that goes to show what love can do to a person. Makes the best men into fools!" he thought back, more as a joke than anything.
"Or turns the fools into better men!" she laughed back, silencing him from further retorts.
Now, as he perched in the tree outside her window he was wondering if he had been right all along, that love did turn the best men into fools. He had been perched in that particular branch for a whole hour and Sarah hadn't shown herself at all. He doubted that she was even home as everything was so quiet. Or she was laying on a couch where he couldn't see her, laughing at him.
After a while he grew angry as questions raced through his mind. Had she forgotten about their appointment? Had she decided not to go through with it? Had she any intention of seeing him in the first place? Had she planned this all along as a spiteful joke?
"And I thought she had learned a thing or two when she ran the Labyrinth!" he growled to himself. He was very angry and very hurt, convinced that she had left him out there on purpose, and decided to leave. He spread his wings and took off into the air, intent on leaving the Aboveground and never coming back even if she did call on him again.
But then his anger got in the way of his better judgment. Letting out a livid roar he turned around and headed right back to the house. If she thought she was going to get the last laugh then she was wrong! He would make her pay for treating him like this!
He would not play the fool!
Down he soared right towards her window, gaining speed as he did so. At the last second he stuck his talons out in front of him, letting them collide with the glass, shattering it all over the room inside. He then perched on the sill and turned himself back into his human form, not caring if anyone saw him do so. They wouldn't know what to make of it anyway!
His mismatched eyes flashed over the small but clean room. Sarah had been there not long before, he could see the signs of habitation. Swinging his legs onto the floor he stood up to his full height and walked over the broken glass, crushing it underfoot.
"Sarah!" he shouted. He listened for some sound to let him know she was there, but heard none. His foot struck out and connected with her suitcase at the end of the bed, sending it against the wall so hard it shattered the lock and caused the lid to fall open. "I'm in no mood for these games!"
He grabbed the door knob and pulled it without turning it first. The door and door jamb shattered and sent splinters all over the place, but he didn't care one bit. "Do I have to destroy the whole house before you will come out and confront me? If so then you are a bigger coward than I ever thought possible!"
His shouts echoed through the hall, causing the pictures on the walls to shake slightly. He sent a fist through one and into the wall, leaving a large dent in it, then continued down towards the stairs.
It was there that he made a heart stopping discovery.
Down the stairs, staining the grey carpet, were several large drops of blood. The trail went on to the main hall and stopped at the front door. Jareth swallowed on a suddenly dry throat, all his anger gone and replaced with concern and dread.
"Sarah?" he called out, stepping down each step on tip toe till he had reached the bottom. "Please tell me you are here!"
No answer again. He suppressed a shudder and went to the nearest door, opening it carefully this time, and searching the room within.
It took him only a few moments to search the whole house, but he didn't find her anywhere. Everything was empty.
He went back and looked at the blood. It was still wet. All of it had soaked into the carpet except for one small droplet that nearly escaped his sharp eyes. He dabbed the tip of his gloved forefinger in it and held it up close to his eye. Looking at it carefully he saw something that a normal mortal would have missed: a slight green shimmer.
His heart raced in his chest, knowing all too well what that shimmer meant, and he quickly looked at the room around him. A crystal appeared in his hand and he threw it up in the air. It brushed the ceiling and then burst like a bubble, sending a shower of glitter all over the place. The blood stains in the carpet dried and disappeared, and all returned to the way it was before.
Without a sound he stood up and ran up the stairs, throwing another crystal behind him as he dashed through. It too burst and set everything to rights. In Sarah's room, just as he prepared another crystal, he noticed a book sitting beside the bed. It was 'The Labyrinth', her most treasured book. He picked it up and ran his gloved hands over the cover. He could feel her presence resonating from the novel. She had read it often and quite recently.
He stuffed the book in his shirt and tossed the last crystal into the air. All her clothes and personal items disappeared, he left no trace that she had ever been there.
He changed to his owl form, and flew out the window, closing it as he did so. A wave of his wing sent a large crystal flying out to the house. Once there it split into two spheres, one remained and the other flew out towards the town. They would do their job, which was to erase everyone's memory of the girl called Sarah. He couldn't let any trace of her remain in that town lest there be questions asked later on.
JSJSJS
"That was quick, majesty!" Sir Didymus said when he King returned in a flurry of wings and feathers. He had made guarding the castle his personal duty while Jareth was away, and marched back and forth by the front door proudly, his little chest puffed out and sword drawn.
Jareth didn't say anything right away. He looked out to the city, at all the creatures that ran about on their business, his brow creased in fear and concentration. He turned back to Sir Didymus and took the novel out of his shirt, handed it to the brave knight.
"Sir, this is the lady's property!" he said, though his words carried more a hint of question than an accusation.
"Sir Didymus, summon Hoggle and Ludo to my chambers. We must hurry, time is of the essence! GO NOW!" he barked, though not loud enough for anyone but the knight to hear.
Without a word Sir Didymus rode off to do the Kings wishes. He had noticed that the King called Hoggle by his proper name, and while he didn't know exactly what it meant, he had a feeling that it bespoke of a horrible disaster that was likely to take place.