Chapter 4: Paparazzi Pests and Slippery Worms
Sarah ran as fast
as she could, looking for the crowds, and TV cameras that would
be surrounding the apartment building, when she got there, she
fought her way to the front of the crowd, looking up frantically.
"Where the hell is the fire department?!" she
screeched, watching Toby hug the owl.
Typical, thought
Jareth, looking down at Sarah, She'll get hysterical over the
SLIGHTEST thing...
Toby sniffled, hugging Jareth tighter.
That hurts... thought Jareth, seriously beginning to
consider wriggling away from the child and then going to bathe...
for hours.
Absently, he contemplated the safety of morphing back into his
human self infront of all those people.
Roo and Furtle, and
the others had finally evaded the mystery truck-like beast that
had chased them up the high way, poor Static only just escaping
by a squashed feather.
As they crawled off the intersection, Roo found the lichen, with
a brick still attached to it, and scooped it up, scolding it for
ripping a brick out of the Labyrinth.
"We have to find the others," said Furtle slowly to the
other Goblins, "Jareth will spare you if you find Alf and
Ralf, and THE WORM!" Furtle scurried after the worm, who
cried "'Allo!!!!" and tried to squirm away from the
Goblins.
Roo watched in disgust, Lichen in one hand and Static in the
other, as Furtle let the worm escape time after time.
"Furtle, close your hands around it!" she advised, as
the worm giggled in that accent and said "You'll
never catch me! Oi'm just a worm!"
"TOBY!"
called Sarah, looking up.
Sally Barnes, that infernal news woman, trotted over to Sarah,
and said "Are you the mother of the child?"
"No," replied Sarah flatly "He's my brother.
TOBY!"
"So, how did he get up there? Do you live in that apartment
block?" asked Sarah, as more cameras huddled around Sarah.
"No, I live across town,"
"How did he get up there?"
"Spiderman took him. Excuse me."
"The bitter words of a sister who endangered her little
brother," said Sally dramatically "If the child
survives, one wonders if this little girl will be left to babysit
ever again."
Sarah cringed at Sally's words, blushing furiously as she ran
into the apartment block, and up the stairs.
No no! Stay
down there you- Jareth groaned inwardly, fantastic, now
Sarah would be out on the ledge as WELL...
Jareth waited, and a few moments later, he saw Sarah step out
onto the ledge, trembling, and looking down every few seconds.
Stupid girl, she's going to fall to her death, thought
Jareth, watching as worriedly as an owl being crushed by a child
could.
Sarah almost toppled off of the ledge, leaning back against the
wall sharply, and gasping for breath.
Damn. Jareth decided there was nothing else for it, he
began to morph back to his usual form, the wings growing into
arms, and his neck becoming longer, and his face formed where the
owl was, eventually he ended up sitting beside Toby, and down
below, there were cries of awe from the crowd of stupid humans.
Jareth stood up, lifting Toby with him, and made his way calmly
along the ledge - when you can turn into a bird at the drop of a
hat, heights aren't exactly a bother - when he reached Sarah, who
was leaning back against the building, wishing she hadn't
bothered going up, a managed to get his other arm around her
waist, and pull Toby and Sarah back through the wall, deciding
that using his magic wasn't a problem any more, since SARAH had
forced him to morph...
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DECIDE TO DO THAT FOR?!"
demanded Jareth, the second they were inside someone's apartment
"Everything was FINE!"
Sarah looked at him, still shaking, and remained silent.
Jareth paused, it was becoming more apparent that she was utterly
terrified. Great. NOW he didn't know what to do.
"Look! A big
crowd of peoples!" cried Flopsy, as Mopsy stumbled over
every stone and twig on the ground, due to hair induced
blindness, "Let's go say he-llo!"
The pair made their way over, pawing through the legs of the
crowd to the front, stopping right in front of Sally Barnes and
her TV crew.
"He-llo Lady!" said Flopsy, pausing to make sure she
even had the gender right, since she was only the height of
Sally's knee, if even.
Sally looked down, and gasped, "What are you?"
"Me?" said Flopsy, looking around "I'm a
Flopsy."
"I'm a Mopsy!" chimed in Mopsy, grinning.
"Excuse me?" said Sally, kneeling down "Is that
your name? Flopsy?"
"Yes." said Flopsy, holding up her hand "I have
butter."
Within two seconds of that statment, there were buttery finger
prints all over Sally, and Flopsy was being told off for it.
"I didn't meeeaaan iiit!" she said tearfully, looking
up at Sally.
"Yeah! YOU MEAN!!" yelled Mopsy, and whacked Sally's
ankle with her crutch.
"You little freak!" yelled Sally angrily, standing up,
and raising her hand to smack Flopsy, or Mopsy, or both.
Either way, the both cringed below her, waiting for the blow.
"If you would be so kind as to not beat my Fireys ..."
To be continued again!