Congratulations to WhySoSerious1992 for correctly defining glossophobia. Daughterofthe1king gets a shout out, too, because she got it mostly right. For those of you who don't know, glossophobia is the fear of public speaking. And without any further ado, here's chapter 29!


Toby was miserable, there was no doubt about it. Summer had begun less than two weeks ago and he was already certain that this would be the absolute worst summer vacation of his life. Unwilling to capitulate to his parent's demand for more information regarding Sarah and the mysterious crystal due to his loyalty to his older sister, Toby had been grounded from his school field trip to Greece and forced to spend the summer jealously envisioning all his friend's escapades overseas. He had even been denied access to any of the enjoyable camps offered by churches, schools and community parks services and had instead been forced to attend the dreaded music camp followed by basketball camp—his least favorite sport—and a rousing round of debate and math camp. Karen thought it would 'expand his horizons' in a way comparable as his trip to Greece would have—Toby was unconvinced and therefore miserable. Moms really didn't understand anything.

He stared out his window longingly at the children playing in sprinklers on their well-trimmed lawns, but he turned away disgusted because it reminded him of his other summer hobby: yard work. Unwilling to allow their son any free time to "learn any new bad habits," as they put it, Karen and Robert had hired their son out to the neighborhood families in any capacity his nine-year-old stature and strength could manage.

He mowed lawns, planted flowers, took out the trash, washed windows, and took care of animals while their owners went on vacation. Toby didn't mind the dogs so much, they were lots of fun to play with despite having to clean up after their messes; playing with dogs always reminded him of when he had been a toddler and his parents had owned a shaggy sheepdog named Merlin. They'd been best friends up until the day Merlin died of old age.

Toby even enjoyed watching a cat now and then—it wasn't much work other than scooping litter and pouring food into their bowls. Cats pretty much took care of themselves and although they didn't play fetch or run around with him, they did give him more free time to do other things. In all, taking care of cats really wasn't so bad. No, what he minded was taking care of Mrs. Ferguson's cats.

Mrs. Ferguson was the neighborhood widow and unofficial 'cat lady.' Her husband, an ex-marine, had died over twenty years ago and since they'd been unable to have children, Mrs. Ferguson had taken it upon herself to fill the void with every available cat that hadn't already been adopted from the local animal shelter. She was well over ninety by now and although she could survive fairly well on her own, she had long ago abandoned real housekeeping in favor of 'leaving things as they've always been.' Toby had once tried to throw away an old candy bar wrapper left on Mr. Ferguson's desk but had been severely scolded by Mrs. Ferguson for attempting to spoil her memory of her husband. Toby never touched anything but the cat food and litter box after that.

Toby hated her house. It smelled of cat urine and stale perfume mingled with the lingering odor of death that seems to cling to the elderly like a premature shroud. The atmosphere—and the pungent stench of the litter box—choked him every time he entered the house. Unluckily, Mrs. Ferguson was away on vacation with her nephew, Bermuda or St. Lucia or some such Caribbean place, for the whole summer, leaving Toby with the delightful job of caring for her fifteen mangy cats.

He sighed heavily and sank his head down on his desk—or what he used as his desk, it was, in reality, Sarah's old vanity (his parents were nothing if not frugal). The Parthenon stared back at him from the cover of the flyer for his school's trip to Greece and he shut his eyes tight against the reminder of his captivity. Fighting back angry tears, Toby withdrew an arm from under his forehead and pounded his tiny fist against the wood of his desk.

"It's just not fair," he hissed defiantly. He banged his fist harder, rattling the pencils on his desk and bruising his pinky finger.

"It's not fair!" He screamed, letting out the full strength of his disappointment. He wasn't worried about his parents; they were away for the afternoon shopping for a new car because their old Volkswagen had finally quit. He was free to vent his frustrations on the furniture.

He opened his eyes a second time and, confronted with the image of the Grecian temple to Athena he should be seeing in person instead of in a photograph, he lost control. He pounded both his fists and, throwing his head back, stood up and glared furiously into the mirror attached to his desk.

"Why does it have to be me? What did I do? I was only trying to help Sarah and Jareth and Hoggle and…all my other friends. Why? Why? WHY? I don't get it. It's not fair!!" His anger dissolved into sorrow and he wept into the desk, sinking back down to his chair with his head on his arms.

"Sarah, I'm sorry," he sobbed. "I didn't mean for Mom to find the crystal. I didn't mean for it to break, and now I don't know what to do. I don't know what I can do. It's been so long since I talked to you…you could be hurt or trapped or," he gulped, "dead."

The thought of his sister—her face pale, covered in blood, as her limp body sagged like a doll against the chiseled stone of Jareth's castle walls—made Toby shudder and a fresh wave of tears rained mercilessly down from his face onto the Parthenon. His memory told him that he'd spoken to her since that fateful moment when he thought she was dead, but his heart refused to accept comfort; he was convinced that some evil had befallen her during their long silence and nothing could persuade him otherwise.

"I just wish there was something I could do to help," he moaned softly, his voice barely above a whisper. "I wish I could do something, anything, but—"

"Uh, Toby?" The sound of a finger tapping on glass accompanied the familiar voice. "Is this thing working?" Another few taps. "Toooby?"

Toby lifted his tear stained face and saw someone he hadn't expected to see for the rest of his life. In the reflective glass of his sister's old vanity mirror, the round, slightly bulging face of Hoggle hovered inches from the glass, a finger poised to rap a third time against the glass. Through bleary, red eyes Toby could clearly discern that his friend was looking worse for the wear: his face was covered in dirt and sweat, his clothing rumpled and torn and a line of dried blood no more than a few days old marred his mottled forehead.

Hoggle took off his cap and rubbed his dirt-matted hair nervously, "Uh, Toby, d'ya think I could, you know, come in? We need a place to lay low for a while."

"Uh, sure, okay," said Toby, wiping his runny nose on the back of his sleeve. "But who's we?"

Before he could blink, Toby's bedroom was filled with noise: barking, stomping, wheezing, shouting, the clanking of metal and a loud bellowing roar. Toby felt himself picked up off the ground by a pair of hairy orange arms he recognized as belonging to his beastly friend Ludo. He watched his desk dwindle in size as he was hoisted into the air, his feet swinging freely and almost knocking a stack of books onto the floor.

"Let…me…go," he wheezed. "I…can't…breathe!"

He was set down on his feet and immediately rushed by other familiar faces; Sir Didymus bowed and doffed his cap deferentially as Ambrosius placed his forelegs on Toby's chest in order to lick his face repeatedly. Hoggle shook his hand, mumbling something under his breath about messes and loudmouths who don't know how to keep quiet before shrugging in defeat and joining in the hullabaloo with the rest.

There were a few scraggly goblins in the bunch as well, none of which Toby particularly recognized, but they ran up and shook his hand and clapped him on the back like old friends, so he had no choice but to smile and welcome them into his bedroom. When the noise had settled down to a dull roar, Hoggle motioned Toby aside.

"Your doin' us a great favor," he said in a muffled undertone. "Ya know, takin' us in like this."

"Sure," Toby replied lamely. "No problem. So what exactly are you—"

An angry howl cut Toby off mid-sentence and the two conversationalists discovered that in their absence, the goblins had decided to play poke-the-orange-beast-with-your-spear-and-run-away-so-he-doesn't-catch-you—a game that left Ludo frustrated and in pain.

"Shhhhhh!" Hoggle reprimanded furiously. "We're not in the Labyrinth anymore you numbskulls! This here is Toby's house and we ain't gonna make trouble for him while we're here. So quit bothering Ludo and do something useful for a change, like find a place for us to sleep."

When one of the bolder goblins made a dash for the hallway, Hoggle quickly amended, "In here! No leaving this room, any of you. If you do, I'll take you to the Bog of Eternal Stench myself." At the mention of the bog, the goblins rushed to comply—even goblins dreaded The Stench. Hoggle muttered, "Smelly half-brained nitwits," to himself as he withdrew again with Toby to the far side of the room.

"You, were saying?" Hoggle prompted.

"Oh, I guess I wanted to know what you were doing here, that's all," Toby replied.

Without hesitation, the dam burst, "Not that I'm not happy to have you, you have no idea how miserable my summer has been! I've had to mow lawns and plant flowers and take care of yucky Mrs. Ferguson's cats instead of going with my friends to Greece and all because I forgot to close my underwear drawer so my mom found the crystal Jareth gave me. And that wasn't all, not only did she find it, she had to go and tell my Dad about it because I wouldn't tell her about Sarah and Jareth being in the Underground. Then, he came—my dad, not Jareth—and tried to force me to tell him what was going on—but I didn't—and I accidentally dropped the crystal on the floor and it shattered so now I have no idea if Sarah is okay or if she's hurt or dead or—"

"Whoa, there," Hoggle interrupted, clearly uncomfortable with the boy's emotional outburst. Toby was breathless and fresh tears had begun to pool in the corners of his eyes. "No need to cry about it. Sarah's all right, so far as I know. She went off on a quest to get a couple things—scissors or some such stuff—to bring Jareth back. I'm sure she's fine."

"Back?" Toby parroted, wiping his face with his sleeves to erase the tears.

"He was banished because he tried to help you out. Not to make you feel bad or nothing', but that crystal you broke got Jareth into a whole heap of trouble with the Court of the Wise. Especially after Ammon took over; he was the one who banished Jareth, all because he used to be in love with Jareth's mother and she turned him down a long time ago. Sure makes you glad you don't believe in love," Hoggle snorted.

"You don't believe in love, why not?" Toby asked innocently.

"Bah! Too much trouble. Besides, not many dwarf women want a beardless coward who works for the Goblin King," he added gruffly and swiftly changed the subject. "How long ago was it that you broke the crystal Jareth gave you?"

"Oh, about seven months ago, I think," said Toby. "I hadn't really been speaking much to Sarah before that, but I'd just gotten in contact with her again when my parent's found it and then it broke. They tried to get me to tell them about Sarah—I guess my mom saw something in the crystal when she picked it up—but I swear I didn't say anything."

"Wouldn't have done much good if you did, the Underground's not safe for outsiders right now. Hell, it's not even safe for insiders," Hoggle replied.

"Why not? What's been going on? I know Jareth's in trouble but that could hardly mess up the whole place, could it?"

"You'd be surprised, kid," Hoggle quipped.

"If that knave had left our lands alone, we would not have been forced to flee like rabbits in the night!" Sir Didymus interjected; he and Ludo had ambled over to stand behind Hoggle once the goblins were safely ensconced in Toby's closet.

"Man bad," Ludo assented with a nod of his shaggy head.

"What man? Did he try to take over the Labyrinth?" Toby queried anxiously. The image of his beloved Labyrinth being destroyed or attacked in any way stirred up an unusual combination of fear and courage within his child's heart.

"Not tried," Hoggle replied. "More like succeeded. Ammon has a son named Danic and when Jareth was banished, Ammon sent him to rule in Jareth's place. He said it was to provide stability, but this guy ain't a stable kind of guy. Humph, he's worse than Jareth ever was."

"A knave and a scoundrel of the first rate!" Didymus cried vehemently. "If I had met him face to face, I would have challenged him to a duel to win back my lady's honor and kingdom. It disgraces the land to have a usurper on the throne in place of the rightful king!"

"Man bad!" Ludo agreed vigorously.

"Stinking bastard, Danic," Hoggle assented gruffly. "Only now he has control of the centaurs as well because his father put King Kyran and his wife in prison for being friend's of Jareth. Everyone else is running scared; they're trying not to get on Ammon's bad side, but Danic is mucking up the whole order of things, claiming that because he rules two kingdoms, he should have more power and respect. He's trying to amass an army to take over the other kingdoms—in secret, though, so no one will be ready for it when it comes."

"And that's not all," Hoggle added. "He absolutely hates the goblins. He tortures them with his magic and forces them to fight each other just to amuse himself."

Toby's fierce heart swelled with anger and he balled his little fists at his side wrathfully. "Who does this guy think he is? Doesn't he know how powerful Jareth is? Why if Jareth comes back, he'll mop the floor with him! And the poor goblins, how could he do that to them? Why don't they fight back?"

Despite being consistently annoyed by the ridiculous creatures, Hoggle jumped to their defense, "Oh, they all hate him, but they're too scared (and stupid) to know how to fight back. The goblins who came with us are the only ones with enough courage and brains to fight him, which is the reason they're on the run. We're all on the run actually."

"Friends in danger," Ludo moaned. "Friends need help."

"Thy order for retreat still sits ill with me," Didymus complained with a twirl of his staff. "Thy cowardice doth offend my sense of honor!"

"It's my cowardice that saved us, you mangy fox!" Hoggle retorted. "Danic was onto our schemes to raise a goblin rebellion and we needed to get out of there and stay out of his way for a while. He'll think we're gone for good and then, when the time is right we can jump back in and attack when he's least expecting it. Like I told you all before, now is the time when the coward's can win the rather than the heroes."

"Help friends," Ludo boomed.

"Yeah, we'll get back to them. I promise," Hoggle reassured Ludo with a pat on his arm.

Awkward silence descended on the room and no one seemed eager to break it. Toby shuffled his feet nervously, his mind viewing and reviewing the facts Hoggle had given him and what they meant for Sarah and Jareth. Where they really okay? Hoggle didn't have a concrete answer, which made Toby more anxious than he already was.

Fear consumed hope like a spider a trapped fly, sucking it dry and leaving only an empty husk in memorial. Try as he might, he couldn't share Hoggle's optimism without tangible evidence that Sarah and Jareth were both unharmed. And what about the Labyrinth? Would it really be safe in the absence of anyone to protect it from the cruel Danic? He pictured the walls crumbling to dust and the goblins screaming as an invading fire scorched the stones; fear gave way to fierce protectiveness and restless courage.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Toby asked, shattering the silence with the full force of his troubled spirit.

"Do?" said Hoggle. "There's nothing we can do now except wait."

"But I don't want to wait!" Toby stamped his foot impatiently. "We can't just sit here while stuff is going on, dangerous stuff, in the Underground. Aren't we going to do something about Danic?"

"At last!" exclaimed Sir Didymus in triumph. "Someone with the courage to stand and fight with me! Thy stout heart is to be admired, young Toby. Thou shalt make a valiant warrior when thou art a man. Come my brothers, let us to battle! Ambrosius, come here!"

At the word 'battle' Ambrosius had ducked for cover under Toby's bed and, seeing his steed thus shirking his duties, Didymus was forced to spend the next several moments crouched on the floor next to the bed in an attempt to coax the dog out from under it. Yet no matter how hard he whistled or how much he threatened, Ambrosius would not be budged.

"Hold on now, everyone," Hoggle commanded. "We can't just go charging straight back into Danic's hands."

"Sure we can!" Toby interjected. "Don't be such a coward, Hoggle. We have to help Jareth and Sarah!"

"But I am a coward!" Hoggle insisted, his ears turning pink.

"Like Sarah always said, Hoggle: No, you're not. You a lot braver than you think you are," Hoggle looked away, embarrassed and unconvinced. "Come on, Hoggle, she's my sister. You helped her rescue me and you helped me rescue her, even though she didn't need it in the end. Let's go help her rescue Jareth and save the Underground!"

A chorus of voices cheered explosively when Toby finished. The goblins, peeking out from behind the closet door, had heard Toby's impromptu inspirational speech and were clapping their hands and stomping wildly in assent. Ludo roared his approval and Sir Didymus left off berating his mount long enough to yell, "Tally ho!" with an elaborate flourish of his pointed staff.

"Well," Hoggle muttered. "Since yer all against me, I guess we'll see what we can do."

"All right!" Toby yelled, pumping his fist in the air excitedly. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Toby rushed to his closet but before he could begin to start stuffing tools and clothing into his backpack, he heard the front door slam shut, followed by the sound of two pairs of footprints on the hardwood of the entryway.

"Toby?" Robert called out from the bottom of the stairs. "We're home! We saw Mrs. Williams at the store and she wants you to come over this afternoon to help paint the garage." When his son didn't answer right away, Robert yelled louder, "Toby? Are you there?"

Upstairs, Toby was torn. Should he go downstairs and leave his friends to hide until they could get away without being noticed? Or should he go now, while his parents might think he was away at Mrs. Ferguson's? Go or stay? Hide or help?

He stood uncertain, as ten pairs of eyes stared at him questioningly; everyone was waiting on him.

The only thing he knew for certain was that Sarah was counting on him to make the right decision. In anguish, Toby wrestled with his conscience, What would you do Sarah?


Thanks for reading everyone! I'm sorry I don't have anything fun for you guess at or anything this time around. I hope you enjoyed it anyway! As always, reviews and comments are welcomed and much appreciated!