Sarah sighed, there was nothing to do. The owlets did nothing except eat and sleep and since Mr Glitterpants had (thankfully) so far taken care of all the feedings, she served about the same purpose as a heated blanket. And she was stuck like this for nine weeks! Although begrudgingly grateful that the Goblin King was letting her keep her life at this rate she'd go mad from boredom before the chicks fledged. She sighed again and then jumped in surprise, one of the eggs had shifted! Jumping off to inspect she found a crack in it and sounds of movement inside.
What do I do?... Goblin King!
A moment later a heart shaped face appeared in the opening. Seeing the cause for her panick he chuckled. Ah little one, we shall meet soon.
The egg kept moving and the crack got larger, the tip of a little beak became visible. Finally a very scrawny, wet, tired looking owlet emerged from the shell.
Sarah watched in wonder, but then panicked again. What do I do now?
The owl/Fae hopped down into the hollow and touched the owlets beak with his own, it was suddenly dry, the remnants of the egg had vanished.
Keep them warm. He admonished before hopping out of the hollow.
...
Sarah managed to doze off again, although it was a bit harder with three owlets now mobile and increasingly vocal.
When the sun was high in the sky the Goblin King returned with lunch for them. Sarah's stomach churned at the sight of the two mice in his talons, she turned away, bile rising in her throat.
The owlets however screeched, clamoring for the chunks of mouse that he tore off for them. Once the food was gone, so was he.
Watching him fly off she pouted sullenly. The jerk traps me here and then ignores me!
A short time later he returned with something in his talons, he dropped it in front of her. Sarah inspected the colorful package. Peanuts! Awkardly tearing the package open she began to crunch on the contents. Belatedly she remembered her manners. Um, thanks, do you want some?
No, thank you. I have some things I must attend to, I shall come to relieve you at 4:30.
Before she could respond he was gone. She crunched some more peanuts and then clumsily used her beak to fold over the bag, tucking it into a corner for later. She returned to the clutch and settled in for the afternoon.
Some time later, she was nodding off again when she felt something soft nudging her shoulder. She blinked awake to see him gently head butting her. She yawned, Hi, is it 4:30 already?
Not quite, but I have found a solution for your schedule. Hedgewort will tend to the nest for the time we are gone.
You mean Hoggle? She spun around but didn't see him anywhere, instead she saw a small scruffy looking brown owl. He didn't look happy.
She frowned. Why can't I hear him?
The Goblin King tilted his head, Sarah could picture a raised brow. Because at the moment he is thinking expletives at me and I thought to spare you.
Sarah looked at the scowling owl and was tempted to laugh, she could very well imagine Hoggle grumbling at his king when he thought he couldn't hear.
Reality twisted again and she found herself human again, standing among the trees beside a young man. He looked to be about twenty, with short sandy blond hair. He was dressed in a violet dress shirt, open at the neck, paired with dark jeans. His eyes appeared uneven, one ice blue and the other a deep sapphire.
She gaped at him. "Goblin King?"
His head tilted, brow raised. "I know Heckle told you my name, why don't you use it?"
Shrugging she kicked a pebble. "I didn't know if it would be a faux pas," She looked up at him defiantly. "And I thought it best rather to irritate my captor."
The corner of his mouth twitched. "Tsk, tsk... now now Sarah. Just this morning you said we were friends."
She crossed her arms. "I said I had to claim you were a new friend to avoid suspicion from my family, not the same thing. Jareth."
He smirked, "We should get going to your appointment."
Sarah sputtered. "What appointment?" But Jareth had already taken her hand and was leading her into town. Sarah yanked her hand back but jogged to keep pace with him. They passed through an older section of town until they came to a faded hand painted sign. The Owls Den. A bell rang as they entered and she was embraced by the scent of old books and wooden furniture. Shelves and shelves of old books lined the stores walls, along with the odd old photo or antique. A few battered but comfortable looking armchairs were placed haphazardly around the room. It was quite homey and quaint.
Out of habit Sarah found herself scanning the shelves for treasures, she gaped at some titles that she had been searching for for ages. "Why have I never seen this place before?"
He looked at her as if the anwer was obvious. "Because it just opened today."
Sarah blinked, "It looks like it's been here for years!"
Jareth smirked and approached the counter where an old brass cash was sitting and rang a bell. Out of a space in the shelves appeared a wizened old man in baggy faded clothes, his spectacles were perched on his head and he walked with a staff. He looked very familiar.
"There you are Henry." Jareth nodded toward Sarah. "Here is the girl."
Henry squinted at her before smiling warmly. "Ah! Young lady! I see that you have found your way back, so to speak."
A high pitched "humph!" drew her attention to an antique brass birdcage in the corner that she hadn't noticed before, within an odd rusty colored parrot was pouting.
She turned back to the old man smiling. "I believe we have met before."
The bird in the cage cawed sarcastically. "Bingo!"
Ignoring the bird Jareth addressed Sarah. "This will be your official place of employment for the next nine weeks. You will report here every morning at nine and leave at five. If anyone ever comes to check on you here, Henry will tap the head of his staff three times and you will appear in the back room. That should be a satisfactory arrangement."
Sarah nodded, but added. "This seems an awful lot of work for you, just to fulfill my wish."
Jareth shook his head. "As I have said, it is up to me to decide how far I will go for a wish. Now, I shall escort you home."
Sarah balked. "That's not really necessary."
"Ah, but your stepmother did inquire of your new friends, should we not put her at ease?" His smile was sly.
Sarah knew that logically bringing the Goblin King to meet her family was on the list of no good very bad ideas, but he had twisted her own words against her. She pursed her lips and followed him out of the bookstore.
As they walked through town back towards her house she remembered who was stuck in the nest. "So, Hoggle did not seem pleased about babysitting."
"Not in the slightest, he assumes that it is some kind of punishment. And he does not yet know that you are you."
"Oh, he couldn't hear me speak earlier."
"No, I had masked both incoming and outgoing sound from him."
"You know, he could just break the remaining eggs to spite you."
"No matter how much he dislikes me he would not smite innocent creatures to spite me and I would never have left them in his care if I thought he would."
"But... he sprayed the fairies!" That had always been something that bothered her when she thought of her trek through the Labyrinth.
Jareth nodded. "Yes and you are fortunate that he does so, most humans are allergic to them. A single bite will not do much harm but a swarm could kill you. He sprays them when there is a runner to keep them from swarming."
That gave Sarah pause, she had never thought of it that way. She examined at her fingertip, it still bore a tiny scar from the fairy bite.
They arrived at her house before she knew it, taking a deep breath Sarah walked in with Jareth at her heels.
They found Irene in the kitchen, she looked up from chopping radishes and beamed. "Sarah, is this one of your new friends?"
Jareth extended a hand, giving a half bow. 'Hello Mrs Williams, I am Jareth ."
Accepting his hand Irene blushed slightly. "Nice to meet you." Her gaze flitted between them, as if trying to sum up their relationship.
Sarah, wanting to get this over with eagerly piped up. "Jareth helped me find a new job!"
Irene transfered the radishes into the salad and began tossing it. "That's nice, where will you be working?"
"Uh, Jareth's uncle has a bookshop in town, he has been looking for someone to help over the summer months."
Irene dribbled some vinaigrette into the mix. "That's wonderful!" She turned to Jareth. "Sarah just loves bookstores, your uncle's only problem might be getting Sarah to work and not read."
"I can imagine." Jareth smirked at Sarah with a twinkle in his eye.
Checking the clock Irene asked. "Supper is almost on the table, won't you join us?"
Sarah cut in, attempting to discretely glare at Jareth. "Isn't your uncle expecting you?"
Blithly ignoring her distress Jareth answered. "I would be honored."
...
Author's note
Thank you to Guest 2020, tonemara and Cassandra the Autumn Rose for the reviews.
I still don't own Labyrinth or its characters.