Ch26 The Escher Room

Above, below, and possibly all around her - which, she could not tell - was a vast stone hall, with so many staircases, balconies, windows, and doorways at different heights and odd angles to each other that she had no idea what was up or down, near or far, inside or out, backward or forward. Planes reversed themselves as you watched them, receding corners suddenly jutted out, rising steps inverted themselves, floors became ceilings, and walls turned into precipices. In this room, it seemed that the law of gravity had been repealed, and perspective had seven dimensions. If there had been water, it would have seemed to flow uphill. She felt dizzy and giddy, and had to cling to a pillar to remain upright.

"It's amazing how the impossible is possible here. If only I wasn't afraid of heights," she whispered to herself. As long as she went on looking at the hall, it went on altering. *Does it still go on altering,* she wondered dizzily, *when no one is looking at it?*
With her back to the wall, she edged along the platform. If I take it step by step, she was thinking, I will get there, if there is a there. She edged along, hoping that it was along and not up or past or through, until she came to a point that she was quite certain was where she had started. Yes, there was the top of the staircase behind her.

She began to edge the other way, until she heard a voice from somewhere below. She knew whose voice it was.

"I've been expecting you," it said.

With a deep breath, she inched to the edge of the platform. She peered beneath the stairs and saw Jareth walking parallel to her, apparently upside down, like a reflection in ice or maybe she was upside down she couldn't tell.
"Where's Niki?" Cara asked.
"She's safe. In my keeping."
"You're not keeping her."
"Oh. And why not?"
"I'm here; I've come to get her."
Jareth chuckled. "Sheer luck."

"Give me my sister back please."
"You have understood nothing," Jareth told her. "You have answered none of the Labyrinth's riddles. You don't even know what the questions were."
"Perhaps but I'm still here, now please give me my sister."
Jareth threw back his head and laughed. "There, just as I told you. You have understood nothing."
"You're wrong, I have come to understand quite a few things very well. Like now, you're just putting on a show of confidence, you are frightened Jareth."
"So are you."
"Yes."
For a few seconds, they were watching each other's eyes.

Then Jareth began to move, all over the seven perspectives, and Cara watched him as he moved. He seemed to walk along ceilings and climb descending stairs. He danced on high walls. And as he moved he called to her, "You are cruel, Cara. We are well matched, you and I. I need your cruelty, just as you need mine."

"You're wrong," she whispered to herself, "I don't think either of us are cruel."
Watching him, Cara felt her knees start to wobble. She had fallen for his trick. She had no idea now whether she was looking up or down, whether the platform where she stood was solid or void. Everything switched continually, like a photographic negative at an angle to the light. She held her arms out for balance but it was no good she stumbled, her head spinning, and felt herself topple. She landed on a ceiling; shakily she stood up and tried to adjust her senses.

Then she heard another voice call out to her, "CARA!"

Her head spun around to see Niki running up a flight of stairs, apparently trying to get to her.
"Niki!" she called, "Hang on I'll be right there."

"Wherever the hell here is," Niki yelled back looking around, "What's wrong with this damn place."
"I don't know just try and stay put."

"It's ok I'll come to you."
Suddenly Jareth's laughter broke through their conversation.

"Shut up you jerk!" Niki yelled glaring at him as she ran.

Cara knew why he was laughing though, if the both tried to find each other they might meet somewhere or they could continually pass each other trying to reach the other. Somehow though, she had to reach Niki. She began to work her way down a flight of stairs. A movement below her caught her attention; it was Jareth he mirrored her wherever she went. She ran along a balcony, and suddenly he appeared at the far end of it, upright. She stopped and looked him in the eye.

"I will reach her," she said before turning around and heading through another passage. He simply smiled and sat on a nearby wall as he watched the two of them go this way and that trying to figure out a way to reach each other.

Cara began to wonder if they were going to be able to find a path to each other through the deceiving planes. Every time they got close to finding each other it seemed if they moved the path changed and the other disappeared. Suddenly, Jareth appeared behind her. He laid his hands on her shoulders and spun her around. She looked defiantly at him; his face, as he looked into hers, was amused. It said: It's been a fine game, Cara, and now it's time to finish playing, because you cannot ever win. In the corner of her eye, Cara saw a small movement. Niki ran out of a passage, stopping at a ledge across from them.

She shrugged Jareth's hands from her shoulders and called to her sister, "Niki!"

"Cara!" Niki shouted back looking about at where they were. There could be no optical doubt about it this time, between them was a vast space of the hall.

Cara doubted they could not run to each other, even supposing there was a way it would most likely change before they reached one another. It was possible, she could not be sure, that Niki's ledge was below hers, and that she could reach it with a jump; a jump so deep that she would no doubt crack every bone in her body. Jareth was smiling triumphantly at them; this was how her quest ended Jareth knew that if Niki didn't leave nor would she so the simplest thing was to keep them both here. Cara began to understand the nature if the game she was playing, she took a deep breath and, knowing there was no alternative, walked toward the edge of the ledge she was on.

"Niki stay there, I'm going to jump to you," she explained reaching the edge.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Niki shouted, not believing what was about to happen, "You'll die!"

"I'll be fine," Cara said fixing her eyes on Niki and the ledge before her. She felt someone grab her wrist and looked back at Jareth, he said nothing but she was certain his face held a worried look on it; she smiled at him and took her hand from his. Then fixing her gaze once more on Niki, who's face didn't hide her fear, Cara took a breath, closed her eyes, and jumped.