Chapter 13: Michael Goes Underground

By Emer

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Jareth. Guess I didn't offer the Hensens enough. Just wait until I'm rich.

Pocketing the piece of Mireia's shirt, he cautiously peered over the edge and hoped that he wouldn't see a crumpled body below. But there was nothing. A clear cobbled street ran below the tower, eventually going into the goblin city. Breathing at bit easier, he chose to think that she must have gone back inside. So he turned to do just that except his foot caught on a loose brick. When he knelt to inspect it he found that not only was it a loose brick, but it was large enough to be covering--he pried it up--a passage.

It looked dark and deep, but Michael wasn't the same boy who'd entered the Labyrinth more than thirteen hours ago. He'd been in an Oubliette and the Bog of Eternal Stench, and now he was determined to get his sister back. That meant going down into the hole since there didn't seem to be any other way she could have gone.

Taking a deep breath, he turned over on his stomach and eased himself feet first down into the hole. Just as he was feeling a little bit panicked, his feet brushed solid ground. And he realized, once his eyes adjusted, that the walls were glowing ever so faintly. They were covered in glow-in-the-dark fungus. With eyes. It illuminatied the shallow spiraling stairs that stretched out below him. Feeling vaguely creeped out and relieved all at the same time, he started down the stairs under the eyes of the fungus.

It was a long way down. After a while, Michael looked up to find the top was only recognizable as a tiny point of light far above. Looking back down, he couldn't see further than the next spiral. Sighing rather, he continued. A few minutes later it seemed to him that he had to have descended from the castle by now and any minute he'd be underground if he wasn't already. The thought gave him a rather creepy feeling. What would he find? Did Jareth keep a crypt? A dungeon? An underground river? All three?

It couldn't be any worse than the Bog, he assured himself. With that firmly in mind, he stepped too hard on the last step and felt as if the stairs should have had one more. A room opened up from the bottom of the stairs. It was rectangular and more like a long hall than a room. Michael saw no other way to go.

The first voice nearly scared him out of his mind.

"You're going the right way!" boomed a voice from the wall. Michael jerked towards it. Stern and gravely, he recognized the face of a false alarm. At least, he thought it was a false alarm, but it's message threw him off. Shrugging, he continued. He jumped slightly less at the next.

"Don't turn back now!" it said.

"You're so close!" another proclaimed. Something definitely felt very wrong about this.

"You're not actually encouraging me, are you?" asked Michael. "Aren't you false alarms?"

"Of course we're encouraging you," one rumbled. "Why would we do anything else?"

"I don't think that's the question at all," said Michael. "You're supposed to warn me off when I get too close." He paused and thought about what he'd just said. "Except, now you're egging me on. I--" something occurred to him. "You're not sending me towards a trap, are you?"

"No, no!" blustered another one. It wasn't so much the possibility of walking into a trap that concerned Michael, it was more who might have walked into the trap before him.

"You didn't see a girl pass through here a while ago, did you?" asked Michael.

"How long's a while ago?" asked one further down. "There've seen all manner."

"Look," said Michael, seeing he wouldn't get far with that line of enquiry. "Can you just tell me if there's anything dangerous at the other end of this room?"

"Er...no. Nothing dangerous. That was the right answer, wasn't it?" the big face asked anxiously.

"I think so," said another face dubiously.

"I don't hold with this reverse psychology stuff," asserted another voice. "Give me good old doom and danger any day."

"Do you mean to say you're trying to scare me away from the right track with reverse psychology?" asked Michael, fascinated.

"New fangled ideas don't do any good," agreed another voice as if they hadn't heard him.

"Right. I say we go back to the standard."

"Hear, hear!"

"Right!"

"That's the spirit!"

"Don't go on!" boomed one with enthusiam.

"Go back before it's too late!" said another, obviously enjoying itself.

"The path you choose will lead to utter destruction!"

Well, thought Michael, that solves it. False alarms after all. He continued between them, trying not to jump as each voice sounded, gleefully predicting armageddon and worse.

At the end of the room was a plain, ordinary door with a small grate at eye level, though all was dark behind it, so Michael couldn't see into the room. The only strange thing about it was it's lack of a door knob.

"How do you get in?" Michael wondered out loud.

"Give us the password, o'course," said a voice.

"Who said that?"

"Oy did."

"Where are you?"

"Royt in front of your nose!" it chuckled. And then Michael saw it. A small blue worm was twined around one of the bars of the grate.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Ain't you inquisitive," it laughed again. "Oy'm just a worm. But I'm taking a turn as gate keeper. If you want in here you've got to say the password."

"Am I allowed a hint?"

"Oh, 'course." The worm cleared its throat.

"What builds up castles

and tears down walls

Makes some blind

and helps others to see?"

"So it's a riddle," said Michael with a sinking feeling.

"Sure, it is."

"Okay." He sat down beside the door and began to think. Rocks could tear down castles and build up walls, maybe even blind some one, but he couldn't see how it would help others to see. Wood? Concrete? No. So, try it from a different line. What makes some blind? Lots of things. Tumors, chemicals, birth defects. That obviously wasn't going to get him any where. So the last line. What helps people to see? Glasses. Glass doesn't tear down walls. So go further. What is glass made of? Sand. Bingo.

Michael stood up.

"Got it then, 'ave you?"

"The answer is 'sand'."

"Oh, a smart one. Right you are. Come on in." The door swung open of its own accord, and after a moment's hesitation, Michael stepped through it.

Hey Larry(ee). Finally, I updated, with another chapter already almost completely done and ready to post. Happy? I thought so.

Kristi, Thanks for reviewing. Yes, isn't it nice to get a whole bunch of chapters and once? It's like christmas :) Very glad you like my version of Jareth (I'm just channeling, I swear) and also glad you like my other characters, since they've gown on me.

DarkAngel-Hotaru: Hi! thanks for the review and the encouragement. I'm just glad you're having fun reading the story. Yes, non Jareth/Sarah plots are a little hard to sell. I find it sort of strange, since most other fanfic catagories have some of the WEIRDEST pairings. Man, some of those LoTR ones have made me feel positively naive!

SilverQuick! You are the reason this chapter is up! I swear I really was going to finish it someday, but you gave me a the prod I needed to get...er...on my lazy ass and type the next chapter. The problem was, I had another Jareth/Mireia one but no Michael one. That has been remedied as you can see. Tomorrow, I'll put up the next one.