Chapter 11 – Your Eyes Can Be So Cruel

The interior of the castle was, in a word, disappointing. It looked so ordinary that Erin touched every wall she came to, looking for the trick. There were none to be found. The walls were rough yellow sandstone, each one the same as its fellows and none of them interesting in any way beyond forming a barrier between one room and the next. Erin was so focused on checking the stones for tricks or traps she paid scant attention to the contents of each room she wandered into.

Ironically it was one of the stones that gave her the first hint that things weren't as they seemed. Erin had noticed a mark at eye level in the fourth (or was it the fifth?) room she had tried on leaving the entrance hall. A piece of stone had fallen away and the hole that it left behind looked like a lop-sided heart. She noticed another similar crack in the next room and again in the room after that. The fourth time she saw it Erin looked up and made careful note of the furnishings: broken furniture for the most part but there was the remnant of a musical instrument in the corner, something that had once had strings like a harp. This time when she left the room Erin kept her eyes straight ahead instead of inspecting the walls. Sure enough there was the ruined whatever-it-was surrounded by broken chairs.

"That's not fair," she muttered under her breath, kicking a splintered chair leg into the scrambled mess of wire. "But I bet you've never played fair in your life, have you?"

A whisper of mocking laughter was the only answer she got but then she hadn't expected anything more. She wondered how much of Jareth's promised thirteen hours she had left. Checking her watch she realised it must have stopped hours ago as it was stuck on three thirty-three.

"Well that can't be good," she said aloud. "I bet that was when he foisted that poisoned apple on me."

Alright that was probably a little unfair. She hadn't been forced into accepting the apple although she was convinced there was more than a little magic involved in the compulsion she had felt to taste the fruit. Still she wasn't getting anywhere by complaining about unfair practice, nor by wondering what time it was. She had to keep going and hope that she found her reflection before it was too late. Erin was in no doubt that when her time was up Jareth would show up quick enough. There was no way he would be able to resist gloating at her expense.

Three more attempts to leave the room were followed by three equally frustrating returns to the same place. Erin slumped against the wall, mind whirling with fear, anger and the petulant, childish thought: it's not fair! But fair or not, annoying or not, she had to get beyond this room.

"I give up," she shouted at the uncaring wreckage in the room. "You hear me? I give up! I want out of this stupid place."

She turned and ran back the way she'd come, weaving a random path through the rooms until she was brought up short at the top of a winding staircase. Erin concealed a grin of triumph. Given the devious and twisted nature of the Labyrinth and its master she'd suspected that an admission of defeat would result in being drawn further into the trap rather than being released from it.

"Get out."

Erin started at the harsh tone in an otherwise melodious voice. Looking down the stairs she saw her reflection glaring up at her. The other Erin's hair was piled on top of her head, held in place by dozens of tiny purple flowers. Her gown was fantastic, the bodice looked like leather carved with a curling pattern of flowering vines. The skirt was made up of thousands of scraps of purple silk, each a different shade and all fluttering in a nonexistent breeze. Her shoulders and arms were bare but a high collar rose up behind her head, the edges curling out like frozen spiderwebs. She looked strange and otherworldly, as though she were already part of the Labyrinth. Erin's heart sank: if Jareth had already succeeded in making this transformation would her words have any effect on this stolen part of her soul?

"Please listen to me," she called down the stairs, hoping to distract the other woman long enough to draw closer. "I need to talk to you."

"Don't bother." The tone was cruel and cold but still beautiful, like the first kiss of a killing frost. "He has warned me of your tricks. I will not listen to your lies."

With that she turned and fled down the stairs, disappearing through a stone archway covered with intricate carvings. Erin followed as best she could on the treacherous stairs, their surface slick with some glittering slime that seemed to try its best to make her lose her footing. She darted through the arch her other self had taken and found herself back at the top of the stairs. Growling with frustration she turned and went back through the doorway. Now she was in a small room, filled with racks of armor and weapons. Each turn and new doorway showed her a new room in the castle, a disjointed tour of Jareth's domain.

Now and again she spotted a flicker of purple skirt disappearing through a door or archway and she redoubled her efforts, calling for her reflection to stop, to listen to her.

She found herself in an opulent bedroom, walls panelled in dark wood and hung with beautiful tapestries. The bed, a massive four-poster, was hung with velvet drapes in deep purple and made up with pillows and covers of satin in the same colour. Through a curtained arch in one wall she could make out the edges of gowns hanging in what was obviously a dressing room. The dressing table was covered in jewels and ornaments; it appeared Jareth had been generous in his seduction.

An open archway led out onto a wide balcony: Erin stepped out and peered over the low wall to the terrace below. Her other self was there, looking around anxiously for any sign of pursuit.

"Jareth?" she called softly. "Jareth, where are you? I need you."

"Listen to me please," Erin called down to her, heart sinking when those angry eyes turned her way and ivory hands gathered up the skirts to run once more. "Please. Five minutes, that's all I ask. Talk to me, please."

"Why should I? He told me about you, you're going to try and trick me."

"I don't want to trick you," Erin told her, feeling more tired than she ever had in her life. "I'm not like that. We're not like that."

"We?" The reflection's voice was scornful. "How dare you imply we are anything alike?"

"We're the same person," Erin cried, forgetting her plans to persuade her other self to trust her. "He stole you from me, ripped my heart and soul in half and made you out of the pieces. I don't want to hurt you, all I want is to get out of this nightmare. But I'm not leaving you behind, I won't abandon you to him."

"He made me. He named me," the woman said, her voice haughty. "I am not a part of you any longer. He loves me, you know. I am his Queen."

"For how long?" Erin's voice was soft. "I'm sure he does love you, for now at least. But how long before he tires of you? How long before your tears and pain are more fascinating than your smiles. How long before you are just another pet? Before you are less than nothing because the next 'pet' has entered the Labyrinth?"

"You're lying." Erin winced at the despair in the melodious voice, at the tears she could see cutting across the ivory cheeks like knife wounds. "He loves me."

"Rob loves us." Two pairs of amethyst eyes widened at these words. Erin wasn't sure where they had come from but she knew they were true all the same. "Rob cares about us, even when we're cruel or selfish. He's always there with something to cheer us up."

"Even if it's only flowers stolen from the park." A half smile formed on the tear-streaked face.

"Exactly, even if it's only something tiny, a joke or a toy to make us laugh again," Erin nodded, smiling back at her. She was so close to her other self she could almost hear her thoughts. At the least she could sense what had happened to her, and draw a clearer conclusion from them. "Rob would never do what Jareth has done to you. He would never torment us and make us grateful for it."

The balcony shuddered under her feet. Erin looked around, half expecting to find the Goblin King standing behind her. There was no sign of him.

"Please," she begged looking down into her reflection's eyes, "please come with me. I won't leave you here alone, not now I've found you."

"I can't. Don't you see that I can't?" the other woman said, a note of true regret in her voice. "Even if what you say is the truth, how can I leave him? He is so very lonely. He needs me."

"He deserves to be lonely," Erin said without thinking. "For what he's done to you and to me, he deserves to be alone forever."

The stones under her feet twisted and lurched, pitching her forward towards the edge. Erin realised too late that criticising the Goblin King in his own castle was not the wisest of moves. The balcony crumbled sending her flying through the air toward the granite flagstones below. The last thing she saw was the terrified expression on the reflection's face as she rushed forward, arms outstretched.

A/N – Sorry Erin, but your guess was a bit out. At 3:33 he was just making up his mind to start torturing your reflection - I guess you just forgot to wind your watch up, that's all.

Big confrontation coming up - Erin finally faces off against Jareth to reclaim what he stole. Like the ballroom scene I wanted to avoid a direct copy of the film so unfortunately the Escher room won't be making an appearance. I did originally visualise the final confrontation taking place in the Escher room but it was very difficult to write and it never felt quite right. When I moved the setting suddenly everything fell into place it it began to flow again.

Thank you to everyone who is still with me - I hope the ending lives up to your expectations.

Caz xx