A/N: This short story is based on a very dark and vivid dream I had many years ago and wrote down, hence the illogical and oddly disjointed quality to the story-line. However, I think it adds to the atmosphere and tension of the story.
Sarah couldn't believe her family had sent her to a boarding school in England. How much rejection did one teen-ager need? First her own mother, and then her new step-mother and father. She had been packed off like an unwanted parcel.
The grounds of the school were huge and dotted with antiquated buildings constructed of ancient oak timber polished to a high sheen. The furnishings were all leather and brass. It was certainly a very old and prestigious school, and it was probably costing her parents a fortune to educate her there.
The teachers were welcoming but strangely thin on the ground. Sarah found it was very easy to ditch class and wander around the old, dark structures without bumping into anyone or being missed. She found the combination of the architecture, décor and dark rooms gave the buildings an odd atmosphere, as though the whole place was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen – and nothing nice or pleasant either. There was a heavy, brooding feel to the place not at all relieved by the wide green lawns and huge, ancient trees. It was a place of possibilities and Sarah felt oddly at home there, rather than intimidated.
Jareth felt at home there too which is why he had chosen this place to accomplish his plans and had drawn Sarah there. The very air vibrated with old magic and Jareth drew strength from it as a plant's roots soaked up water from a stream.
Hoggle had followed him there, much to Jareth disgust. He had given certain members of his court permission to come to this place – servants mainly, but that was for Jareth's own purposes. He had a feeling Hoggle wanted to be here for a purpose all of his own and Jareth wasn't having a bar of it.
In one sense, Jareth was perfectly correct about Hoggle's presence in the school. He had already been to see Sarah a few days after she arrived. She'd been ecstatic to see him and had given him a huge, enthusiastic hug. That hug sealed Hoggle's fate but neither of them had any idea at the time.
"What are you doing here?" she had asked him, smiling at her friend. Hoggle had suddenly appeared from a copse of trees in a remote area of the large campus where Sarah was relaxing with a book, ditching maths class.
"I'm heres to warn ya, Sarah. I think Jareth's up ta sumting but I dunno what," he said anxiously.
"Jareth? But I haven't heard anything from him since I defeated his Labyrinth a year ago," Sarah said doubtfully.
"Sarah, I know Jareth. He's up ta sumting." Hoggle said, nervously looking over his shoulder as though he expected Jareth to appear any second.
Sarah smiled to herself. Hoggle may know Jareth but she knew Hoggle. As Hoggle had once said himself – he was a coward and Jareth scared him! It wouldn't take much to make Hoggle this nervous of Jareth. And after a year, why should she be afraid of anything happening? If Jareth wanted revenge, he would have taken it by now.
"Okay Hoggle, I'll keep an eye out okay?" Sarah compromised.
"Please be careful Sarah. I'd feel terrible if anythink should 'appen to ya," Hoggle said, looking more worried than Sarah had ever seen him.
"I'll be careful Hoggle," she promised with a smile, then watched the ugly, little dwarf disappear into some thick shrubbery and picked up her book again. She frowned then. It was strange to see Hoggle now, especially when she hadn't called him. She had seen him and some of her other Labyrinth friends several times since leaving the Labyrinth but never in such an unexpected or clandestine manner.
Jareth had developed a distinct preference for one of the large reading rooms on the school's campus. It was dark and full of shadows, scattered with ponderous furnishings, and an air of things undisclosed and veiled clung to it like a garment.
In one of the long passageways that lead into the main reading room Jareth encountered Hoggle coming back from warning Sarah. Leaning with a dangerous casualness against one of the sills of the leaded windows, Jareth fixed the dwarf with a cold and distinctly menancing gaze.
"Well, well! And what have we here then? And, er – where did you just come from?" Jareth asked, something in his mellow voice striking terror into Hoggle's heart.
"Er….er… nowhere!" Hoggle stammered, looking around for an escape.
"Really?" Jareth replied, the two simple syllables making Hoggle's knees shake. "That's funny, I could've sworn that I just saw you talking with Sarah on the western side of the campus. But no – that would be silly, wouldn't it? Not after my warning…"
"Your… your majesty, I never meant no 'arm! I wuz jus' visiting Sarah, she is my friend after all," Hoggle stuttered, knowing full well that Jareth may have been able to see himself and Sarah talking but would not have been able to hear what they said.
Jareth's eyes narrowed and Hoggle clearly saw a dangerous glint there leveled directly at himself that he had never seen before.
"Really?" Jareth repeated. "Then why did she need to hug you, you repulsive little scab?" he demanded.
"Well… well… she's my friend," Hoggle reasoned. "She wuz jus' happy to see me, that's all."
Jareth's lips drew back in a sudden snarl of anger. "That girl is mine! I told you to stay away from her! Get your own girlfriend. One more suited to an ugly, little dwarf like you…." he sneered.
Hoggle gaped. Jareth was jealous – of him! Of him and Sarah! The idea was ridiculous. The King was unhinged. His obsession with Sarah had completely over-ridden his sense of reality. Suddenly Hoggle's stomach felt as cold as ice and he had a terrible sense of foreboding….
A couple of hours later Jareth called one of his goblin servants to come and clean up a mess he'd left in one of the room's alcoves. The matronly middle-aged woman took one look and ran out of the building screaming horribly….
Jareth paced restlessly in the main part of the old reading room. He needed to get off-campus in a hurry. He could feel his animus rising, wanting to transform but he didn't dare do it here on the off-chance one of the teachers or students caught a glimpse of him or worse - somehow got close enough to touch him. He quickly conjured a crystal and threw it across the room so that it landed in the middle of a grouping of deep, leather reading chairs. As it was about to hit the polished wood floor a gleaming motorcycle appeared in the spot.
The motorcycle had a snarling silver lion's head where the headlight should have been and black leather trimmings. There was something incongruous about it the way it looked. It was a strange clash of powerful modern technology and fanciful gothic art. A mixture of anger, sneering disdain, restlessness and an icy lack of regret lingered on Jareth's face as he stalked gracefully over to the bizarre machine and climbed on. Revving the formidable engine, the Goblin King sped out of the building with a roar.
He drove recklessly but with skill until he found a deserted park not far away. With a strong feeling of relief he transformed into his owl shape away from human eyes. He knew that if a human should touch him while he was in his animus in this world, the Snow Troll would be unleashed. He could not risk that.
He perched high in a laurel tree, his soft white feathers ruffling in the wind until his emotions had calmed somewhat. But something as biting as acid was still eating away at his soul, and against his better judgment, he flew off in search of Sarah.
He found her in a small deserted room on the second floor of a building in one of the remote areas of the campus, writing something at a table. He flew in through the open window and perched on a cabinet at one end of the room. She didn't look up, absorbed in what she was doing. Too restless to stay still for long, he swooped to the opposite end of the room and perched on a shelf there. But no sooner had his claws brushed the wood, then he felt his other animus stirring and in a split second in place of the colorless owl was a gorgeous snow leopard with brilliant blue eyes lounging indolently on the glossy timber.
The magnificent cat swished its tail and watched the oblivious girl with hungry eyes. He suddenly realized that the magic that hung over this strange school was affecting her and preventing her from seeing him immediately as she would anywhere else. With a snarl of frustration, he leapt down from the shelf but before his paws hit the floor he had transformed back into the owl. This time when he lunged over her head, she looked up and followed his progress back to the opposite end of the room with her clear green eyes. Her gaze pierced him like fine bladed sword. He watched her from his first perch and her eyes narrowed as she recognized him.
"Jareth!" she breathed and got up from the table. His head bobbed in sudden fear. She mustn't touch him in this state. The consequences didn't bear thinking about. But at the same time he felt frozen to the spot as she walked toward him. She stopped about a foot away. Every fibre of his magical being screamed at him to fly away before she could reach out and cause so much destruction, and every part of his human being screamed at him to stay put and allow Sarah to touch him – just once!
She reached out a pale hand – those beautiful, soft, white feathers were just too gorgeous to resist. Jareth was in agony! At the last second he took off, a wild hooting cry torn from his throat. He flapped around the room, completely torn and finally transformed into his human form - sweat beaded on his forehead. He leaned against the table, barely able to stand.
"Jareth!" Sarah said, alarmed. "What's wrong?"
"You can't… You mustn't touch me when I'm in my animus form," he said between deep breaths. "It's dangerous."
She simply stared at him for a moment. "Why?" she asked, frowning in distress at his state.
Why wasn't she afraid of him, he wondered…?
"Unleash a terrible beast… An ancient foe," he muttered and finally collapsed into a chair.
"What?" Sarah said, not very intelligently.
"The Snow Troll," he said wearily, one gloved hand running over his pale, fine-boned face in distress.
Sarah's eyes narrowed. "Another… er… animus of yours?" she asked hesitantly, unfamiliar with the term.
"NO!" he yelled violently. "A dangerous evil, Sarah. Very dangerous…"
"And what are you doing here anyway? I saw Hoggle earlier today…." Sarah began.
"What did he say to you?" Jareth hissed, interrupting her and pinning her with his mis-matched eyes.
"He warned me that you were up to something," Sarah replied proudly, not willing to be intimidated by the Goblin King any longer.
"Stupid dwarf!" he said scathingly and got up moodily. He stalked to the window and looked out.
"What are you up to?" she asked, calmly feeling very suspicious.
"That's none of your concern," he replied frostily, his attitude once more imperious.
"Well, what do you want with me? That is my concern," she asked bluntly.
He turned and looked her up and down, his eyes glittering unnervingly. He reached out one slender, gloved hand. "Come back to the Underground with me," he invited softly.
"Why?" she asked, just as quietly.
"Because I love you Sarah. I would kill for you," he said, his voice low and hypnotic. I have killed for you, he added in his thoughts.
Tentatively, she reached out her hand and took his. In the space of a nanosecond, the room was empty. And the buildings on campus had one more secret to brood over….
THE END!