Chapter 11 - Reverie and Catastrophe
******
Trin wasn't sure how to deal with the boy who had wished away his friend. He
decided that it would be best to just repeat what Jareth had said to him five years
previously when Hilarity was being held prisoner in his castle. He still felt a little
peeved at how his entire journey was completely unnecessary. He should have known
that his cousin would have been able to get out of that place. She had a rare talent for
seeing the good in people and sparked little friendships all over the place because she
could always find something to talk about. She had even impressed the notorious Dr
Diabolicous with her knowledge of heavy artillery. Heaven knows where she had got
that piece of useless information from. He had not expected her to carry on seeing the
Goblin King after the thirteen hours she had spent with him. Still, they would meet up
every Friday and stay out until the sun was close to rising (or if they were on Hilarity's
home planet it would sometimes bob lazily across the horizon then go back the way it
had came). Trin wasn't sure which one of them was the bad influence, in fact he
suspected that they were as bad as each other, a terrible twosome, partners in crime. If
partying in the student world was a crime of course. It was really the most unlikely
friendship he could think of, a supposedly fictional monarch and a trendy alien
urbanite. For a while he had been deeply concerned for Hilarity's safety as he wasn't
sure if the Goblin King's intentions were particularly honourable, but, as she had
reassured him, they were from different species, how would that work? Nevertheless,
they just seemed to click because they were intellectual equals and they were both
great fans of the planet Earth. Sarah's appearance onto the scene had seemed to settle
down Hilarity and Jareth's slightly impulsive relationship. By "settle down" he meant
that neither of them had been arrested or hospitalised in the last four years. In truth, he
liked Sarah a lot, and if there wasn't the risk of a very angry Goblin King to take into
account, he might have asked her out himself. Danny had also begun to join them
every Friday but Trin had a sneaky suspicion that he was only friends with them
because he wanted to please Hilarity and in any other situation he would have run a
mile...
He snapped out of this reverie and prepared himself for his grand entrance to the
human's room.
******
Hilarity awoke with a start. In her dream, she had fallen of a cliff while trying to save
Spiky Norman and she woke up as she hit the ground, sending a terrifying spasm
through her body which caused her to bite her tongue.
"OWWW! BUGGER!!" she shouted. She picked up her hand mirror to check if she
was bleeding. Blood soon became the least of her worries when she noticed what had
happened to her teeth. What had once been perfectly straight and slab-like were now
yellow and pointy and just a tad crooked. "Holy crap!" she cried "Trin was right, I am
turning into Jareth. Eww! Eighteen months of painful orthodontic work, all for
nothing!"
Just then, Trin walked into her room and handed the crystal back to her. He no longer
had the mysterious box full of leaflets that he she had seen him with before.
"What's up?" he said. Hilarity opened her mouth to show him her dental monstrosities
"Bloody hell!" he also noticed that Hilarity's hair was beginning to resemble Jareth's
unruly mop more and more and only showed a few traces of her original raven black.
"So I take it you're not feeling any better."
"Nope. The phrase : "pain in the arse" springs to mind as does "Oh God, I want to go
home.""
"Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?" said Trin nervously.
"Good news?"
"Well, the good news is that I have completely modified the Labyrinth so that's its
impossible to get killed, maimed or generally buggered within its walls."
"What? How?"
"It's amazing what you can do with twelve boy scouts and a bottle of cider. Anyway,
I've seen this place's potential so I've decided to open it up as a temporary theme park
and holiday resort."
"That explains the leaflets! As long as it's back the way it was in three weeks I have no
objections, just as long as you leave me out of it. I will not be held responsible if
anything goes wrong." she said diplomatically "What's the bad news?"
Trin took a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. Hilarity's eyes flashed
white with horror when she saw what it was. It was a movie poster...
"Frikin' eck!" she said "They've only made a bloody film about this place!"
"I think I've figured out why we've been getting so much business." said Trin trying to
lighten the mood.
"Oh Bugger! Why does everything have to happen to me? Just three weeks, nothing
was supposed to happen. I was supposed to research my book, get some info on the
surrounding kingdoms, but noooo, they have to release a stupid, pissing movie and
now thousands of children are going to get funny ideas and they're all going to wind
up here!" she angrily kicked her chest of drawers and several Goblins fell out and
scurried off.
"Well, that's life I suppose." she said after she had calmed down. "I always get the
impression that life's a bit like an incense stick. You light it, it stinks and then it burns
out."
******
Trin wasn't sure how to deal with the boy who had wished away his friend. He
decided that it would be best to just repeat what Jareth had said to him five years
previously when Hilarity was being held prisoner in his castle. He still felt a little
peeved at how his entire journey was completely unnecessary. He should have known
that his cousin would have been able to get out of that place. She had a rare talent for
seeing the good in people and sparked little friendships all over the place because she
could always find something to talk about. She had even impressed the notorious Dr
Diabolicous with her knowledge of heavy artillery. Heaven knows where she had got
that piece of useless information from. He had not expected her to carry on seeing the
Goblin King after the thirteen hours she had spent with him. Still, they would meet up
every Friday and stay out until the sun was close to rising (or if they were on Hilarity's
home planet it would sometimes bob lazily across the horizon then go back the way it
had came). Trin wasn't sure which one of them was the bad influence, in fact he
suspected that they were as bad as each other, a terrible twosome, partners in crime. If
partying in the student world was a crime of course. It was really the most unlikely
friendship he could think of, a supposedly fictional monarch and a trendy alien
urbanite. For a while he had been deeply concerned for Hilarity's safety as he wasn't
sure if the Goblin King's intentions were particularly honourable, but, as she had
reassured him, they were from different species, how would that work? Nevertheless,
they just seemed to click because they were intellectual equals and they were both
great fans of the planet Earth. Sarah's appearance onto the scene had seemed to settle
down Hilarity and Jareth's slightly impulsive relationship. By "settle down" he meant
that neither of them had been arrested or hospitalised in the last four years. In truth, he
liked Sarah a lot, and if there wasn't the risk of a very angry Goblin King to take into
account, he might have asked her out himself. Danny had also begun to join them
every Friday but Trin had a sneaky suspicion that he was only friends with them
because he wanted to please Hilarity and in any other situation he would have run a
mile...
He snapped out of this reverie and prepared himself for his grand entrance to the
human's room.
******
Hilarity awoke with a start. In her dream, she had fallen of a cliff while trying to save
Spiky Norman and she woke up as she hit the ground, sending a terrifying spasm
through her body which caused her to bite her tongue.
"OWWW! BUGGER!!" she shouted. She picked up her hand mirror to check if she
was bleeding. Blood soon became the least of her worries when she noticed what had
happened to her teeth. What had once been perfectly straight and slab-like were now
yellow and pointy and just a tad crooked. "Holy crap!" she cried "Trin was right, I am
turning into Jareth. Eww! Eighteen months of painful orthodontic work, all for
nothing!"
Just then, Trin walked into her room and handed the crystal back to her. He no longer
had the mysterious box full of leaflets that he she had seen him with before.
"What's up?" he said. Hilarity opened her mouth to show him her dental monstrosities
"Bloody hell!" he also noticed that Hilarity's hair was beginning to resemble Jareth's
unruly mop more and more and only showed a few traces of her original raven black.
"So I take it you're not feeling any better."
"Nope. The phrase : "pain in the arse" springs to mind as does "Oh God, I want to go
home.""
"Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?" said Trin nervously.
"Good news?"
"Well, the good news is that I have completely modified the Labyrinth so that's its
impossible to get killed, maimed or generally buggered within its walls."
"What? How?"
"It's amazing what you can do with twelve boy scouts and a bottle of cider. Anyway,
I've seen this place's potential so I've decided to open it up as a temporary theme park
and holiday resort."
"That explains the leaflets! As long as it's back the way it was in three weeks I have no
objections, just as long as you leave me out of it. I will not be held responsible if
anything goes wrong." she said diplomatically "What's the bad news?"
Trin took a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. Hilarity's eyes flashed
white with horror when she saw what it was. It was a movie poster...
"Frikin' eck!" she said "They've only made a bloody film about this place!"
"I think I've figured out why we've been getting so much business." said Trin trying to
lighten the mood.
"Oh Bugger! Why does everything have to happen to me? Just three weeks, nothing
was supposed to happen. I was supposed to research my book, get some info on the
surrounding kingdoms, but noooo, they have to release a stupid, pissing movie and
now thousands of children are going to get funny ideas and they're all going to wind
up here!" she angrily kicked her chest of drawers and several Goblins fell out and
scurried off.
"Well, that's life I suppose." she said after she had calmed down. "I always get the
impression that life's a bit like an incense stick. You light it, it stinks and then it burns
out."
