"Jareth are you there?" She didn't think he had fallen with her, but it didn't hurt to check.
"No Jareth, just me," Arten'barad said in a soft voice under her ear.
She welcomed the presence of the tiny dragon she had forgotten, relieved to know she was not completely alone in this darkness. "Darkness again," she muttered. "When I get out of here I'm going to invest in a pair of night vision goggles and carry them with me at all times."
"Is this better?" A bright spotlight illuminated Alia as she sat on the floor. She could now see about three feet around her, but nothing in the darkness beyond.
"Who's there?" she demanded as she stood up.
A laugh surrounding her answered her.
Alia groaned. It had to be Hadrian.
"I thought you would be happy to see me." The voice sounded close by, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"I can't see you." She felt Arten'barad crawling down inside her shirt again to hide and restrained herself from squirming at the sensation of movement and tiny claws against her bare skin.
Hadrian appeared suddenly just beyond the edge of the light.
"Why am I here?" she demanded.
"Why are you doing any of this? Because I want you to."
"Yeah, I know, but why am I here? What am I supposed to do now? There's always a puzzle to solve with these things. Something to overcome."
"Right you are," he said circling her. "In your case I think I have come up with just the thing."
"What?"
"How about a little incentive first?" Hadrian gestured into the darkness and a scene illuminated showing Caereh walking up to Tieran and speaking to him soundlessly – a scene from a play where she could not hear the words being spoken. Tieran answered Caereh, put his arms around her, and kissed her.
Hadrian froze the movement in the scene as Tieran moved his hands down Caereh's back.
"Oops. Poor timing on my part, wasn't it?" Hadrian commented on the sight.
"That never happened. Tieran hates her. There's no way he would tolerate Caereh and do that."
"Perhaps not before, but you forget about magic. People can be made to forget things. The conscience can be repressed. Subconscious feelings brought to the surface. Let's see what else he does."
The frozen scene darkened and another glowed and came to life a short distance away. Caereh and Tieran played the only parts in this scene as well, but it allowed no doubt about tolerance. The two lay in bed together, obviously very intimate. They spoke, but once again Alia could not hear their words and Caereh's hair prevented her from reading their lips.
"What is this?" Alia demanded.
"This is what will happen if you do not make it through the Labyrinth and to the castle in time. You will all stay in the Labyrinth until Caereh tires of you, remember?"
"But where am I?"
"Who knows what she did with you? It's not important – you're not in this scene."
"Tieran wouldn't do this. I told you. He loves me, not her."
"Then she must have done something with you. Gotten rid of you for good, don't you think? I'm not surprised, really. She's got a one track mind and she really doesn't like you much." Hadrian froze the scene again, leaving an ugly tableau of laughter over something one of them had said. He turned to Alia.
"I think you should consider cutting your losses now. It's becoming fairly obvious that your loverboy doesn't care for you as much as you think he does. We could come to an arrangement, you and I. Caereh can't do anything without me. It would be simple for me to fool her when she gets rid of you, if you agree to come with me. I haven't had a pet in quite a while and your life would be much more interesting than it is now."
"No."
"Let's just see what else happens, shall we? You may change your mind." The bedroom scene faded and he directed her attention to the other side of the chamber. "This is what happens if you do succeed."
This time Caereh sat alone in a living room decorated in shades of white, taupe, and beige, a room on earth, for an entertainment center with a television could be seen off to one side. As Alia watched Tieran appeared in the room and Caereh looked up at him.
"What was it this time?" the dark haired woman asked. Alia jumped at the voice, not expecting to be able to hear the dialogue.
"Alia," Tieran answered in a disgusted tone as he sat by her feet on the couch. "She was feeling insecure again and wanted me to hold her hand."
"Why don't you get rid of that baby?" Apparently, it hadn't suited Hadrian to let her hear what they said before, but this played right into his hands. "She demands too much of your time, always wanting you to be there at her beck and call."
"I don't do that!" Alia exclaimed, but Caereh's words planted seeds of doubt. "I don't, do I?" she could not help wondering to herself.
"You never should have married her," Caereh continued.
"I couldn't do anything else." Tieran shrugged and laid his head on the back of the couch. "She expected it."
"Well, get rid of her, darling," Caereh said as she leaned forward and stroked his face. "She's dragging you down." She kissed him and he kissed her back.
Alia stood watching, speechless.
"There must be something you can do," Caereh urged him when they finally broke apart.
"I'll send her away. Maybe Jareth'll want her," Tieran mused. "He owes both of us so he can do me a favor and make her think he's doing her a favor."
"No," Alia whispered starting to believe despite herself.
"Alia, use your brain, girl," Arten'barad hissed into her ear. "That is not your Tieran. That could never be Tieran. Listen to him. He would never say anything like that."
"No," Alia said with more assurance. Arten'barad was right. "Tieran doesn't manipulate people like that. That's not Tieran. You're not going to fool me."
"People change," Hadrian reminded her, letting the scene fade.
"How can you know the future anyway? You can't predict the future."
"I do it all the time. I did it for Cara not too long ago. She believed me. There's more. Watch."
"I don't want to see anymore of your lies."
"Oh, you won't want to miss this," he told her with a feral grin as he turned her and shoved her toward the next scene.
Alia stumbled blind through the dark and then the sounds of a party deafened her as she stumbled into the light again. People in fancy dress surrounded her. Dazed and confused by the change in surroundings, she looked around for something familiar. At a short distance she saw Tieran conversing with a group of people.
She started to make her way toward him, but then saw a fleeting expression of distaste move across his features as he noticed her. She stopped and began to turn away from him when his expression hardened and he excused himself and made his way toward her.
"What do you want now?" he demanded. "Can't you amuse yourself at a simple party? Everywhere I turn you're there dragging at my heels." His voice rose a little louder than the surrounding conversations and began to attract attention. Alia stared at him, stricken by the accusation.
"Just once I'd like to be able to enjoy myself without you tugging at my sleeve. It's nearly impossible to persuade you to do anything and then when we do go somewhere and do something, you make me miserable the whole night. Your clinging is suffocating me." The silence had spread through the whole hall making them the center of attention. "I've had enough. I don't ever want to see you again."
Alia just stood in front of him, stunned, trying not to cry. She could not believe he really felt this way. He had said he didn't enjoy parties.
"Stop being foolish, Alia," Arten'barad told her again. "I told you that is not Tieran. If you would listen to him, you would know it, too. It is Hadrian playing with you. Find your backbone and tell him so."
"But I am listening to him. I heard what he said. He doesn't love me."
"Go on run back to your little mousehole," Tieran taunted.
"No, not that. His words. Listen to his words."
"Don't let me keep you from your precious history and books. All your friends are dead and gone, maybe you should join them. Yes, why don't you join them?"
Suddenly Alia understood. She heard what he was saying, realized what the dragon was telling her. She stiffened with outrage.
"Get away from me, you impostor." She advanced on him. "How dare you play with my emotions? How dare you presume to try to speak his mind?" He started to back away from her now. "You know nothing about him. Get away from me and take your offer with you. I want no part of it."
The figure of Tieran standing before her melted into Hadrian and the party disappeared.
"So be it. You've had your chance. May you live to regret your choice," he declared as he faded, taking the light with him. As the last of the light and his voice disappeared the floor fell out from under her and she dropped again.