Chapter thirteen: Magpie
The Lychen were more than happy to gossip about the newcomer, as usual. Serena leaned against the wall to listen.
"A girl, pretty girl, lost her baby brother!" one of the smaller stalks informed her, before going back to his conversation.
"—not scared, not mad; it's like she's dreaming—" one particularly large patch of Lychen was whispering to its neighbors.
"—watching her close. Maybe he likes looking at—" another chuckled.
"—an Oubliette already? What bad luck she—" sighed a third.
"—her Marie, didn't he? That's what the fairies—"
"—dwarf to take her to the—"
Serena shoved herself away from the wall and started down the corridor, shaking her head. So this Marie was going to have to start over already? She hurried to the first bottleneck and made herself comfortable in the shade where two walls met. The girl would have to pass by here; if she couldn't even get this far on her own, then she was hopeless and nothing Serena could do, short of leading her by the hand, would get her through the Labyrinth.
She didn't have long to wait; Marie came gliding around a corner within half an hour.
The Lychen were right; the girl gazed around her with dreamy eyes, as though in a trance. Her clothing was bright and loose—a gypsy, perhaps?—and her hair was in dark waves down her back. She was, Serena thought, an extraordinarily pretty young woman.
It made sense, when she thought about it, how many of the people who came to the Labyrinth were older sisters and young mothers. They were so often the ones responsible for small children, but they were inexperienced in dealing with the tantrums and upsets that came with the little ones; they might quickly become exasperated with their charges, and say things they didn't truly mean. Here was another sin to lay against the Goblin King's account: taking advantage of desperate words spoken by young girls at their wits' end. It was sickening.
Marie looked around her detachedly, getting her bearings, and then wafted down a corridor that led most directly to the castle. Serena nodded and stood—the girl had brains enough to watch where she was going, at least, and anybody could fall for an Oubliette the first time.
She threw herself into the work, clearing away obstacles, enemies, and distractions. She was worried that there seemed to be an overabundance of riddling doors this time through the Labyrinth, but after the fourth time she lurked around such a juncture, waiting for the girl, and then watched her pass through easily with what sounded like a few lines of old legends half-sung, Serena decided that Marie could handle problems of lore and logic in a singular fashion, and left her to it. It was the physical challenges that Serena tackled—dead ends, traps, and goblin patrols.
After a short moment of panic when she very nearly combined the first and last of those problems—how could she have been so stupid as to be spotted by a bunch of Nipper Sticks, anyway? And then to head straight for the corner of the hedge maze?—Serena glanced up at the sun and realized that they were making extraordinary time. Jareth had chosen the wrong victim, it seemed. Marie seemed to know almost by instinct what it had taken Serena years to learn; in fact, Serena was beginning to be jealous of the girl. And it was not, she insisted to herself, because Marie was beautiful as well as smart, mature-seeming and confident while still having so much of the dreamer in her, and even more, still very much a human.
It was just that, if life were fair, someone with such a talent for besting the Underground should not be free to live out her normal and happy life, while Serena felt such a binding obligation to perform this work.
These thoughts died, though, as she felt the air stir, and heard on it a voice that had grown only slightly less intimidating with familiarity. It was so close, and for a moment Serena thought that it was addressing her; but no, the Goblin King didn't know she was here, just around the corner from where he had apparently stopped the other girl.
"Hello, Marie." He greeted her as though they were friends, and Serena scowled at his nonchalance. "How have you liked your stay Underground?"
But Marie answered him in an equally pleasant voice. "This Labyrinth is just as my father used to describe it in his stories."
"It must be quite a pleasure, then, to see your dreams a reality."
"It is a fascinating experience."
"Really? That's all? Just interesting? But then, after listening to your father for so long, perhaps you find it all to be anticlimactic. It is rather disturbing to me to hear the Labyrinth's secrets touted about as mere folklore and superstition—certainly they have made your journey easier thus far."
At this, Marie actually laughed. "Goblin King, you ask me for my permission to make my task more difficult—by declaring the Labyrinth's ease so that you may make it harder, or by exaggerating its difficulty, so that you may turn my false words back on me. But I will not give it!"
Serena sucked in a breath. She was right, the Goblin King always spoke this way before throwing something particularly nasty at his victims. She mentally cursed herself for not realizing it. And she should already have known the power of words in this place; she had seen it up close and personal, what with the four Oubliettes, two Cleaners, and the Bog; and then there were the words that summoned the Goblin King, and those that defeated him…
Though he had been caught at his game, amusement was clearly audible in the Goblin King's voice when he spoke next. "Well, well. It seems you can hold your own in a battle of words, at least. A toast to your impressive mental abilities!"
For the first time, the girl sounded uncertain. "No… I'd rather not. Wine dulls the mind and senses."
"But this is not wine," the Goblin King assured her, "only peach nectar. It will do you no harm."
Serena buried her face in her hands, because she knew that Marie was well aware of the King's rule—that he spoke the truth in all things.
Sure enough, the Goblin King's words were enough to allay the girl's suspicions. "A toast then—to me if you must, but also to your generosity." There was a clink of glasses, and Serena bit her lip and closed her eyes, but she could not close her ears, and she heard clearly the soft thump as Marie slid to the ground, the delicate tinkle of shattered crystal on the flagstones, and the Goblin King's low chuckle—and then, chillingly, his voice was raised again, and there could be no mistake this time, he was addressing her…
"Come out from back there, little magpie; I'd like to speak to you."
Serena froze, every muscle tensed as she fought the urge to flee—she couldn't escape him in any case, but that didn't stop her from wanting to run all the same.
"You don't still think you can hide, do you? You're very noisy for someone who wishes to escape notice." Again she could just see the smirk on his face, and that gave her enough motivation at least to open her eyes and get her feet moving.
She came around the corner and planted herself directly in front of the Goblin King, arms folded across her chest and face firmly fixed in a scowl. His eyes flickered—she thought he might have been surprised—but then he grinned at her, that cocky little twist of the mouth that she so loathed, and she quickly forgot about it.
"What do you want?" she asked aggressively. He could send her Aboveground or do any number of other things to her, but she was determined that she would go out fighting in any case.
"A lot of things, few of which you would care to know or understand," he told her, apparently not noticing her tone. He looked her up and down, rolling a crystal across his palm. "For now, answers would be satisfactory."
"Answers," she repeated flatly. "That sort of requires questions, doesn't it?"
"Certainly." He made to continue, but Serena overrode him as an idea occurred to her.
"Then I'll want something in return—that's only fair."
The Goblin King's eyebrow shot up so fast that Serena was sure it would fly right off his head. He spoke slowly. "Yeees… that seems reasonable… but what did you have in mind?"
Serena thought fast. "Just some answers for me, as well—straightforward ones, mind." She didn't bother asking that he be truthful; another jerk of his eyebrow said he had noticed, and Serena experienced a sort of grim satisfaction—so he was not just playing, he really didn't know about her. That was good.
"We are agreed, then—question for question, answer for answer. Would you like to go first?"
"After you." Serena gave a slight bow and a flourish of the hand, a clear mockery.
The Goblin King's mouth quirked, and it seemed that his first question came before he could stop it: "Is that my shirt?"