11
"Aren't we bright this evening." – supplemented the latter.
Jake still stood there, trying to take in the whole effect. The man, clad in clinging dark-grey breeches, black leather boots, a rather revealing poets shirt that appeared to fall open all the way to his belt, and a heavy-looking cloak did not seem at all concerned that his attire was rather…unusual.
He had the look of someone very much at home in his clothes - so much so, that they become inseparable form his visage. His face was pale, all sharp lines. His blond, nearly platinum hair followed the sharp line motif, with the jagged cut that swooped its way down onto his shoulders. It reminded Jake of feathers. A crescent moon pendant with an odd design glinted from his pale, open chest.
For some unholy reason, Jake felt attraction for this…being.
The whole dark fairy stuff he had been reading about lately supplemented the necessary word: Fae. This was a Fae.
Jareth glanced around the room.
Tapping his riding crop on his boot, he made a few elegant, cat-like steps across the small apartment, and seated himself gingerly on the highest stool he saw.
"Uh…would you like to sit down?" Jake offered, a bit too late. He had been fascinated by the man's movements – so feline, so latin-dancer-esque.
"Thank you."
The man's… Fae's voice sent unwelcome shivers down Jake's spine. It disturbed him that he was so affected.
He noticed that his visitor had the manners of royalty, and did not even attempt to conceal it. If all of this was real, he could well be talking to a Fae prince!
It amused Jareth to keep this unpleasant silence and read the boy's thoughts, but he knew he did not have much time to waste.
Jake waited for his visitor to speak again, staring up at him. There was something odd about his eyes.
"I'm paying you this visit," Jareth began abruptly "in hope that you can help me."
Uncharacteristic for him, yes, but it was good tactics.
"You, of many, know a lot about my people and their ways. You also know mortals, and their ways. Thus, you can serve as a connecting thread for me."
Jake sat up, excited by such an opportunity.
"Three years ago," The Goblin King continued, "my future queen was… kidnapped. When it happened, she was given a potion to make her forget me, forget our love, forget her people."
It was a simple little fable, true, but the boy seemed to be eating it up. Jareth smirked inwardly. It was somewhat true…it did all happen three years ago. And she was his future queen.
Jake was a little over-excited. Maybe it was his nerves, or maybe the unusual effect that this G.K. was having on him, but he was sitting on the edge of his chair, drinking in every word. It wasn't so much the actual story that affected him as the manner in which it was told. Or the one telling it. Or the whole concept of the fairytale coming alive in his shabby living room.
"In the three years she was gone, I looked for her everywhere, in all the worlds accessible to me. Now, word has come that she is among humans, in your world, and in you particular part of it. Her age would be equivalent to 18 years, and I believe she attends this university."
Immediately, Jake thought of Sarah. Who else could it be but her? The mysteriously otherworldly, fairy-like girl who looked like she didn't belong in this world… now, he could help her return to her people, to her position as Queen, to her… oh.
She would be his Queen… for a moment of confused silence, Jake didn't know if he felt jealous of his visitor or of Sarah. It once again disturbed him.
Running a hand across his forehead, he looked again at the Fae King before him.
"So you need me to…?"
"Find her. Identify her. Point me in the right direction. I know Fae, but not Mortal – I might be mistaken, and then the situation would get ever so much worse. I don't want to risk loosing her in this world."
"What would happen?"
Jareth sighed, fighting to keep his temper in check. The boy was testing his nerves, asking him to make up much more than he had intended to… Let's see, - he mused to himself, - what happens to Sarah if he doesn't find her in time and take her back with him…
"If she unites with a mortal, she will be… lost to me and to her world. She would turn mortal as well and …would die within… 7 weeks."
There, that should do it. Two birds with one stone… Now, did his audience buy this one?
Jake sat there, staring at him with widened eyes.
And were those dilated pupils he was seeing? My my. Jareth leaned down to him, face inches away.
"I need to find her. Before anything… happens. Can you help me?"
Just now, Jake realized that his eyes were different colors. One blue, one brown.
Hauntingly piercing they were too.
Snapping out of his trance-like muteness, Jake struggled to speak, as thoughts of Adam and Sarah, and the bet and the dancing spun around in his head.
"YES." He finally managed to say it. "There's this girl…"