Disclaimer: Do I have to tack these on to each chapter? You know I
don't own anything related to Labyrinth.
The schedule for the weekend was pretty full Sarah realized,
looking over her itinerary. That morning at 11 there was the opening
ceremony, after which the guests were invited to roam through the
Labyrinth. Her interview was scheduled for that afternoon and then
that evening there was a dinner thrown by the mayor. Sarah was not
looking forward to that. Every event considered noteworthy by the
town qualified for a dinner from the mayor. She had sat through two
of these unfortunate meals so far during her career, and was not very
excited about her third. She imagined that once upon a time these
had been very elegant affairs, but since the number had increased
significantly over the years, the fare was little better than a day-old
buffet table.
"Guess I'll get some drive-through beforehand" she muttered to
herself. Saturday the Labyrinth would be open to the public and
Sarah was to escort the magazine's photographer around. That
promised to be fun, since she and Deborah had always gotten along
well. Plus it was an excuse to get away from the two men pestering
her thoughts: Matt and Jareth. She planned to spend Sunday writing
her article, and that evening was the ball John had mentioned. 'Oh
this has Jareth written all over it' she thought. Sarcasm didn't do
anything for the nervousness she felt at the idea of attending, though.
The last ball she had been to was seven years ago and it hadn't
ended well, she recalled. At least he wasn't holding a masquerade.
The memory of all those masks made her a little nauseous.
"Are you ready babe?" Matt asked as he came through the
door, apparently over his earlier embarrassment.
"Yeah, sure" she answered, still a little distracted by her
thoughts and the butterflies that were quickly multiplying in her
stomach.
There was a fair amount of people already finding seats when
they arrived. From what Sarah could see, which wasn't much, John
had only been half right. The 7 foot hedges were directly in front of an
8 foot wall. It had a fairly simple doorway made of oak (much easier
to find than the one to the real Labyrinth, she noticed), and there was
a huge red ribbon stretched across its frame for the ceremonial
cutting that would signal its official opening to the public. There was a
podium set up next to the door and rows of folding chairs set out for
the audience, but that was all there was to see until Jareth opened
the door. Finally, everyone found their seats and the mayor stepped
up to the podium. Sarah peered around the crowd but saw no signs
of the Goblin King. After the polite applause ended, the Mayor began
his introduction.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming out today to
welcome 2 new additions to our town: Mr. King and his Labyrinth. Our
guest has asked that you please hold all questions and flash
photography until the end of the ceremony. And now let me introduce
Mr. Jared G. King."
As he finished the podium was surrounded by a cloud of glitter
that, once settled, revealed the ever-impressive Goblin King. He was
wearing typical earth clothing – a black suit and tie, and his hair was
short, an appropriate business length, even though it was still a bit
unruly. Despite his clothing he maintained a regal look, with that
superior smirk on his lips. Sarah's breath caught in her throat, even
though he had yet to make eye contact with her. She had forgotten
how beautiful he was. He waited until the "ooh's" died down before
starting.
"Thank you al for joining me today. This Labyrinth represents
years of planning and patience, and your town helped make it
possible. I believe my work speaks for itself, so without further ado,
may I present the Labyrinth."
Applause followed as he and the mayor cut the ribbon, and
then hands shot up all over the audience as people waited for their
chance to ask a question.
"Excuse me, Mr. King, but why a Labyrinth? What inspired
this?"
He smiled at that one. "Not what, who. I built this for a young
woman I once knew." and there he looked directly at Sarah. Her heart
caught in her throat as he continued, "I suppose this is a
representation of both her and myself. The Labyrinth is a blending of
both the good and the bad. It can be cruel to those who enter, yet the
rewards of solving it can be priceless." Jareth's eyes never left hers
while saying all this. She thought about what he could mean by all
that. Obviously, the reward she had gotten from solving the Labyrinth
was Toby. She agreed, he was priceless, but what about her? Jareth
had called her a Labyrinth; what sort of reward came from solving
her? Had anyone solved her? she wondered. As she was thinking on
this, Matt slipped his arm over her shoulders. Jareth, seeing this,
frowned somewhat and quickly looked away. Sarah suddenly felt
guilty, like the kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and she
couldn't figure out why.
Jareth dismissed further questions with a wave of his hand. "I
will be available for questions throughout the weekend, but I
encourage you to explore it for yourself." Here his voice took on a
more commanding tone and Sarah found herself transported back to
a sandy hill facing the most amazing, terrifying scene she had ever
witnessed as she heard him say, "You have 13 hours in which to
solve the Labyrinth before…we are officially closed for the evening."
There was some laughter throughout the crowd at this, and slowly
everyone migrated towards the door. Sarah, who had sat in the back,
began winding through the throng of people hoping to catch another
glimpse of Jareth. Of course, he was nowhere to be seen. She could
hear signs of surprise and some dismay as she passed through the
door, and she quickly figured out why. Just like the first Labyrinth, the
passageway on either side of the door stretched out interminably.
People were wandering down in both directions and no one was
making any progress.
"What the hell? Guess he's not the creative genius everyone
said." Matt griped.
"Matt, come on, don't take it at face value. Things aren't always
what they seem" she told him. With that she began walking down the
passage to her right, running her hand along the wall until she found
an opening and then stepped through. She was tempted to leave
Matt to find his own way and traverse this Labyrinth by herself.
Without the threat of "certain death" or Toby being goblin-ized
hanging over her head, she found she was already enjoying herself.
"Sarah? Sarah where did you go?"
'I really should leave him' she thought, but knowing Matt he
would probably just go and sit outside until she came out.
"I'm right here Matt" she said, standing in the opening and
trying not to roll her eyes as his face took on a look of shock.
"Wow! That's amazing! How did you figure that out?"
"A little worm told me. Now are you coming?"
He bounded through the opening, but not before turning and
yelling to the others still stuck in the first passage, "Hey everybody,
over here! My girlfriend found a way in!"
'Great' she thought, 'not only am I stuck with him, I'm leading
the rest of these unimaginative yuppies around like sheep.'
"Gosh Sarah, you're so smart!" Matt continued gushing,
grabbing her hand and swinging it like a four year old.
"Shut up Matt" she told him while extracting her hand. He
looked hurt for a minute, then hurried to catch up, since it was
obvious that Sarah was not waiting for him.
don't own anything related to Labyrinth.
The schedule for the weekend was pretty full Sarah realized,
looking over her itinerary. That morning at 11 there was the opening
ceremony, after which the guests were invited to roam through the
Labyrinth. Her interview was scheduled for that afternoon and then
that evening there was a dinner thrown by the mayor. Sarah was not
looking forward to that. Every event considered noteworthy by the
town qualified for a dinner from the mayor. She had sat through two
of these unfortunate meals so far during her career, and was not very
excited about her third. She imagined that once upon a time these
had been very elegant affairs, but since the number had increased
significantly over the years, the fare was little better than a day-old
buffet table.
"Guess I'll get some drive-through beforehand" she muttered to
herself. Saturday the Labyrinth would be open to the public and
Sarah was to escort the magazine's photographer around. That
promised to be fun, since she and Deborah had always gotten along
well. Plus it was an excuse to get away from the two men pestering
her thoughts: Matt and Jareth. She planned to spend Sunday writing
her article, and that evening was the ball John had mentioned. 'Oh
this has Jareth written all over it' she thought. Sarcasm didn't do
anything for the nervousness she felt at the idea of attending, though.
The last ball she had been to was seven years ago and it hadn't
ended well, she recalled. At least he wasn't holding a masquerade.
The memory of all those masks made her a little nauseous.
"Are you ready babe?" Matt asked as he came through the
door, apparently over his earlier embarrassment.
"Yeah, sure" she answered, still a little distracted by her
thoughts and the butterflies that were quickly multiplying in her
stomach.
There was a fair amount of people already finding seats when
they arrived. From what Sarah could see, which wasn't much, John
had only been half right. The 7 foot hedges were directly in front of an
8 foot wall. It had a fairly simple doorway made of oak (much easier
to find than the one to the real Labyrinth, she noticed), and there was
a huge red ribbon stretched across its frame for the ceremonial
cutting that would signal its official opening to the public. There was a
podium set up next to the door and rows of folding chairs set out for
the audience, but that was all there was to see until Jareth opened
the door. Finally, everyone found their seats and the mayor stepped
up to the podium. Sarah peered around the crowd but saw no signs
of the Goblin King. After the polite applause ended, the Mayor began
his introduction.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming out today to
welcome 2 new additions to our town: Mr. King and his Labyrinth. Our
guest has asked that you please hold all questions and flash
photography until the end of the ceremony. And now let me introduce
Mr. Jared G. King."
As he finished the podium was surrounded by a cloud of glitter
that, once settled, revealed the ever-impressive Goblin King. He was
wearing typical earth clothing – a black suit and tie, and his hair was
short, an appropriate business length, even though it was still a bit
unruly. Despite his clothing he maintained a regal look, with that
superior smirk on his lips. Sarah's breath caught in her throat, even
though he had yet to make eye contact with her. She had forgotten
how beautiful he was. He waited until the "ooh's" died down before
starting.
"Thank you al for joining me today. This Labyrinth represents
years of planning and patience, and your town helped make it
possible. I believe my work speaks for itself, so without further ado,
may I present the Labyrinth."
Applause followed as he and the mayor cut the ribbon, and
then hands shot up all over the audience as people waited for their
chance to ask a question.
"Excuse me, Mr. King, but why a Labyrinth? What inspired
this?"
He smiled at that one. "Not what, who. I built this for a young
woman I once knew." and there he looked directly at Sarah. Her heart
caught in her throat as he continued, "I suppose this is a
representation of both her and myself. The Labyrinth is a blending of
both the good and the bad. It can be cruel to those who enter, yet the
rewards of solving it can be priceless." Jareth's eyes never left hers
while saying all this. She thought about what he could mean by all
that. Obviously, the reward she had gotten from solving the Labyrinth
was Toby. She agreed, he was priceless, but what about her? Jareth
had called her a Labyrinth; what sort of reward came from solving
her? Had anyone solved her? she wondered. As she was thinking on
this, Matt slipped his arm over her shoulders. Jareth, seeing this,
frowned somewhat and quickly looked away. Sarah suddenly felt
guilty, like the kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and she
couldn't figure out why.
Jareth dismissed further questions with a wave of his hand. "I
will be available for questions throughout the weekend, but I
encourage you to explore it for yourself." Here his voice took on a
more commanding tone and Sarah found herself transported back to
a sandy hill facing the most amazing, terrifying scene she had ever
witnessed as she heard him say, "You have 13 hours in which to
solve the Labyrinth before…we are officially closed for the evening."
There was some laughter throughout the crowd at this, and slowly
everyone migrated towards the door. Sarah, who had sat in the back,
began winding through the throng of people hoping to catch another
glimpse of Jareth. Of course, he was nowhere to be seen. She could
hear signs of surprise and some dismay as she passed through the
door, and she quickly figured out why. Just like the first Labyrinth, the
passageway on either side of the door stretched out interminably.
People were wandering down in both directions and no one was
making any progress.
"What the hell? Guess he's not the creative genius everyone
said." Matt griped.
"Matt, come on, don't take it at face value. Things aren't always
what they seem" she told him. With that she began walking down the
passage to her right, running her hand along the wall until she found
an opening and then stepped through. She was tempted to leave
Matt to find his own way and traverse this Labyrinth by herself.
Without the threat of "certain death" or Toby being goblin-ized
hanging over her head, she found she was already enjoying herself.
"Sarah? Sarah where did you go?"
'I really should leave him' she thought, but knowing Matt he
would probably just go and sit outside until she came out.
"I'm right here Matt" she said, standing in the opening and
trying not to roll her eyes as his face took on a look of shock.
"Wow! That's amazing! How did you figure that out?"
"A little worm told me. Now are you coming?"
He bounded through the opening, but not before turning and
yelling to the others still stuck in the first passage, "Hey everybody,
over here! My girlfriend found a way in!"
'Great' she thought, 'not only am I stuck with him, I'm leading
the rest of these unimaginative yuppies around like sheep.'
"Gosh Sarah, you're so smart!" Matt continued gushing,
grabbing her hand and swinging it like a four year old.
"Shut up Matt" she told him while extracting her hand. He
looked hurt for a minute, then hurried to catch up, since it was
obvious that Sarah was not waiting for him.