Chapter Twenty
The next morning dawned bright and early but only one person was awake to enjoy it. Toby had awakened only minutes before sun started to shine through his parent's window. This was the usual occurrence for the little boy. His eyes would open and he would lay there until he couldn't see the pretty pictures that he came to associate with sleep. As soon as his little limbs would hold him, he crawled to his hands and feet and climbed to his feet, using the bars of the crib to his advantage. This way, he could peek outside and he was in luck! His parent's had forgotten to close the curtains and he could see right out into the yard- there was no yard! No yard existed. All that was there was white! Toby looked around his parent's room but it was just the same as it was and his mom and dad were still sleeping in their bed. Was it colder than usual too? He looked out at the white and shook his head hard and screamed at the top of his lungs, ending in broken sobs.
Mom was the first out of bed, racing to his side. She picked him up and held him to her, making nice shushing sounds. Toby clenched to her chest, trying to gather material but his hands were shaking too much. He was so scared. The outside was gone! The brown and the green were gone! He hid his face in mom's shoulder and slowly relaxed. He was cuddling in her warmth and he was already drifting back to sleep when she tucked him in to bed between her and dad.
GOBLINKINGxGNIKNILBOG
Jareth jerked awake when Toby screamed. He tried to ease his over reactive heart that was trying to beat itself away even after Toby was quiet again. He took a deep breath, looked at the clock and groaned. It was only five thirty! He could either try to go back to sleep or wake up someone else to keep him company. He grinned. He would wake up Sarah!
He swung the blankets off himself and nearly shivered with the cold. Wow, the temperature sure dropped quickly last night. He was in the process of changing into day clothes when he happened to look outside. The sight made him cry out and fall into the nightstand and knock over the lamp. At five thirty in the morning, it was a rather loud awakening.
He was still staring unblinkingly outside when, twenty second later, Sarah burst into his room. "What?" she demanded. "Is the trickster back?"
Jareth looked at her, then at himself and she blushed, seeming to notice the fact that he was bare chested and covered in boxers only. She spun without a word and marched down the hall and stairs. Jareth just grinned, stood and pulled up his pants, pulled on a shirt and followed half blindly.
He found her in the kitchen looking out the window in wonder. Jareth cleared his throat lightly and said, "See! The world was swallowed up last night- I don't think we'll have to go to school today."
Sarah turned suddenly, a blush still colouring her cheeks. "You yelled because of this?"
"Well, yeah." Jareth shrugged. "The world is gone."
"You haven't seen snow before?"
"Snow?" Jareth through about it and yes, he heard of snow, briefly as a white substance that falls from the sky but this wasn't falling. This was covering!
Sarah's eyes glinted with something sinister and she adapted an innocent expression. "Come here." She said, taking his hand in hers and leading him to the front door. Merlin blinked sleepily from his place on the area rug and just laid his head down again. Jareth scrutinized the dog once more and finally laughed. He was going to ask Sarah something when a blast of cold air blew in his face followed by freezing wetness! He shivered and scraped the stuff from his face to glare at Sarah. She grinned, backing away and said, "That's snow." She ran upstairs and Jareth could hear a door slam shut.
Jareth groaned, shut the front door and went into the kitchen to dry his face. On his stumbling way to the sink, he bumped into a solid body. Hands eased him to a chair and a towel was given to him. "Thanks," he mumbled.
Robert was standing at the coffee maker, putting water and coffee together and letting it heat. "What was all that raucous before?"
"First time seeing snow." Jareth shrugged and looked away when his face was dry but still stinging with cold. "Hey, Robert? When exactly did you get Merlin?"
"The dog? When Sarah was about four, why?" Robert sat beside Jareth, leaning back and picking up Friday's newspaper.
"You did know that he's one from Ambrosius' litter."
Robert chuckled. "Yes. I knew that. He was a gift to Sarah from your father. The sheepdogs bred in the Underground are exceedingly loyal to their master and Sarah loves him. Kendrick also believed that by the time Sarah realized that her dog was well past the time they usually died here, she would already be down there. I'm surprised you didn't notice it before."
"I think it was the trickster. I wasn't seeing anything for what it truly was but her hold on me is broken I think. She's won't be back for a while." Jareth rubbed at his cheeks a bit to get the blood flowing again. "Are we going to school today?"
"It would be best." Robert replied, flipping a page. "I want you to see if Kyle is there. If he is, he might not know what was happening and you should probably modify his memories."
"Me? That's only the power of the Goblin King!"
"I'm sure your father would help you. It is rather important. Someone was impersonating Kyle for a long time, and he might not have been returned before today. If he's not there, I'll take you to his home after school."
Jareth agreed, then turned away. The coffee pot gurgled, indicating that it was hot enough. The room filled with the scent as the pot slowly filled. It was just after six in the morning now. "I think I'm going to take a quick shower. For all I know, I still have dreams in my hair!"
"Jareth?"
He stopped just inside the door. "Yeah?"
Robert cleared his throat uncomfortably before saying, "You said last night that you were in possession of Sarah's dreams. How did you get them?"
Jareth sighed. "It was part of the challenge. I offered Sarah her dreams in the beginning for Toby. She refused them and when she won I tried to barter with her again. I was only bugging her! There was no way that my dad could have kept Toby because of who he is. I don't even think he could turn into a goblin since he's already halfway there!"
"You tried to barter a last time?" Robert prompted, reminding Jareth of what he asked.
"Oh yeah, well, I offered Sarah her dreams back and she refused so I tossed them at her and she shattered the crystal. Once they were loose, I had no choice but to look after them. Granted, I could have probably given them back one way or another but I hadn't gotten that far in training yet."
Sarah's father nodded. "So you have her dreams and last night you released all of them, correct?"
Jareth bit his lip, trying to remember. "I included only the one I gave her in the Labyrinth and one of mine. I also put some other stuff in there that I don't really remember. Why do you ask?"
"The dream material we saw last night, I think it was a combination of your dreams and Sarah's dreams. You know what will happen now?"
Jareth winced. That was why he didn't dream last night! Sarah didn't dream.
"Yes, I see you do. Go shower, Jareth. We'll talk to Sarah about this after you wake up." Robert straightened his paper and went on reading.
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Jareth showered, dressed again and went downstairs for breakfast. If was even colder down there than upstairs! No one was in the kitchen but when he went out to front entrance, the door was wide open and Karen was standing just inside while Robert was handing bits of the fluffy white stuff to Toby. He was giggling and giggling, letting the snow melt in his fingers. Karen turned when Jareth entered, smiled briefly before calling Robert in again for breakfast.
"Here." She said, passing a blanket bundled Toby off to Jareth. "Make yourself useful. I'll start boiling water. Soft boiled or hard boiled?"
Jareth shrugged and Karen waved him off, bustling to the kitchen. Jareth bounced Toby before looking into the baby's face. "Well, my little goblin, did you have fun?"
Toby giggled again and clapped his hands, his fingers still slightly damp and said, "sn- sn."
"Snow? Can you say snow?" Jareth asked, amazed.
Toby gave a wide mouthed grin and gripped Jareth's hair, tugging hard. "Jare!"
"Ouch! You little- very, very beautiful child, you..."
"Are you battling with my brother?" Sarah asked from in front of him, hands on hips.
"Uhh." Jareth said but was interrupted, thankfully, from having to say much of anything.
"Come in you two, eggs and toast for breakfast!" Karen called.
They followed their noses and sat down in their usual places. Jareth tucked Toby into his highchair and took a piece of buttered toast for him to chew on before sitting next to his betrothed. Karen was just setting plates in front of the teenagers when Robert entered. He set down a wooden box on the corner of the table.
"Well, Sarah," Robert began. "Do you remember any dreams last night?"
She looked suspiciously at Jareth before turning back to her dad. "No, not really. Why?"
Jareth answered, "I didn't dream either. Robert thinks that, since I blew up the crystal with a mixture of dreams yesterday, they- uh," He looked to Robert and received a slight nod to continue. "They combined, linking our dreamselves together."
Sarah raised her brows and shrugged. "And so..."
He took a deep breath and winced, saying, "When we dream, it will most likely be combination dreams, meaning what I dream, you'll dream and vice versa."
Sarah narrowed her eyes slightly, "And will we actually interact in our sleep?"
Jareth gulped. He wasn't sure if he like there that tone of voice was headed. "I think it might be a possibility."
Sarah sighed and looked towards Karen as she placed two plates down, one for Sarah and the other for Jareth. She looked away almost at once and stood up. "I'm not hungry." She said to no one in particular. "I think I'm just going to lie down."
Karen turned with hands on hips, scrutinizing first her step daughter than the young goblin prince. "Alright, go. I'll check on you a bit later."
Sarah nodded and left the room. Jareth groaned and buried his head in his hands. This was going to be a long day.
GOBLINKINGxGNIKNILBOG
He was right. Sarah, backed by Karen, was able to stay home for the day because she was not feeling well. Jareth had the pleasure to explain his findings and his concerns to Hoggle when Kyle didn't show up for school either. That wasn't the only stress of the day, however, because everyone who was at the party on Friday night thought that it was their duty to come up to Jareth, slap him on the back, give high fives and whatever else moronic teens do in order to congratulate him on the successful party. Apparently everyone loved it.
The toppers on this very sharp and spiky poisoned cake were the posters all over the school. Apparently, the dance he hosted was such a hit that they wanted to do it again, for Halloween. Jareth backpedalled so quickly that he almost ran over Hoggle when he first saw that flimsy piece of paper.
It seemed as though the only part of school that went semi smoothly were the classes... until he realized that he forgot to do homework.
Robert pulled his car up to the curb of the school and Jareth climbed in, fastened his seatbelt and huffed. "Are you ready?" Jareth's sharp nod was all that was given.
They drove through town, down a small stretch of highway and into a rural neighbourhood that was fairly close to the hall of Friday night. The two goblin's walked side by side to the front door. Robert rang the bell.
An aged man answered the door with a polite 'yes.' Jareth felt something cold trickle down his spine.
"Mr. Long?" Robert asked after a pointed look then said. "I'm Robert Williams, and this is an exchange student from England. Jareth and I would like to thank you for the use of your hall the other night." The man simply blinked.
Another trickle of ice trailed down his back followed by something thicker; suspicion. "Is Kyle home?" He asked suddenly.
Mr Long frowned. "Kyle?"
"Thank you Mr. Long. We apologize for taking up your time." Jareth gripped Robert's arm and lead him away, leaving a pondering Mr. Long behind.
They were safely back in the car and driving down the street of slush. Robert flicked his eyes to Jareth. "Kyle Long doesn't exist?"
Jareth nodded. "He never existed. He was just a disguise." Jareth stared out the window for a long while before asking randomly, "So how much snow are you expecting this year?"
Robert grinned at Jareth and he suddenly realized where Sarah's veiled evil comes from.
A/N: Hello. I would say sorry for the absence but I'm not. This semester was one step away from being hell, fire and brimstone inclusive. I hope this chapter is well accepted because I don't know when the next will be coming. Happy Holidays! And thank you for the reviews!