Author's Note: Wow. I can't believe it's been over a month since I've updated. Ahh! I'm sorry! Blame school! Oh, and Lord of the Flies, too. That ate up a good two weeks of my life. Anyway. About two more chapters after this, maybe three. I'm so excited about the ending! I've been wanting to write it since chapter two!
l------------------------------------------------------------------------------l
Rachelle slowly shifted back into her natural form. It was a hard thing to watch, but Karleigh's eyes couldn't focus on much anyway, and so the girl didn't turn her head away. Her breath was shallow, slow. The silver snake lay curled at her feet, sleeping off its recent bout of work.
Lady Rachelle was extremely pleased with how quickly Karleigh had submitted to the poison. No struggle had been put up, no bitter tears of resentment had poured forth. Those things were too messy, in Rachelle's opinion. She never cried. It wasted time.
Now, time was precious. The poison would only last for so long. She ran a hand through her hair, to affirm that it was now again thick and black. It was. A smirk crossed her face. She stepped forward and cupped Karleigh's chin in her hand, turning her face to the side. The rest of the mortal's body was limp, and it was a wonder that she was even still standing. "Too bad you never got that meal you wanted," Rachelle said, even though Karleigh couldn't hear her.
A plan was taking form in Rachelle's mind. Up to this point she had not been sure if Karleigh would be subject to the venom. Seth could have put a protective spell on her, as most Muses did to their charges. Fortunately Seth seemed to be about as apt a Muse as Rachelle was a mother. She really must go down to the nursery one day soon and figure out if it was three or four children now.
Simplicity would be the best route to take. Simply have Karleigh ask Jareth to send her home. Simple.
And yet.... not at all satisfying. Rachelle gritted her teeth. The chances of Seth accepting that this girl had just given up were slim. It would be wiser, and infinitely more fulfilling, if Karleigh had the chance to talk to Seth. To tell him she didn't care anymore, while looking in his eyes. He would have no choice but to accept the fact after that.
Rachelle chuckled. She leaned down and began whispering instructions in Karleigh's ear.
l------------------------------------------------------------------------------l
Seth paced impatiently across Jareth's study. "Done primping yet?" he demanded, knowing the answer already and not bothering to look up from the floor. "Or can't you find the right chain to go with your damned pendant?"
Jareth ignored his friend. The alcohol hadn't yet diffused from his system. Besides, there were more important things to be concerned about. Lady Rachelle had taken control of Karleigh. Seth didn't know that, of course, and Jareth did not intend on telling him about it. But anything Karleigh did while under the Lady's control was, under the rules of the Labyrinth, completely valid. When the rules had been established, the writers had assumed that the Goblin King was capable of keeping bad magic from interfering in his game.
Rachelle was going to pay for making Jareth look like an idiot.
He hunched over the desk, trying to tune out Seth's obscene yells. It was only a matter of time before Rachelle tried to get Karleigh to send herself home. When that happened, Jareth would automatically be summoned to the girl's side. Going before then would only endanger Karleigh. Rachelle would try to transport the two of them away, and in the process Karleigh could be hurt. Worse than she already was.
"Are you listening to me?" Seth asked.
Jareth spoke without thinking. "Yes," he said. The Muse frowned at the King of the Goblins, sensing that he was being lied to. Jareth realized that this scene was extremely familiar. "I mean," he amended, "no. Not really."
Seth took a deep breath. "When are you going to take me to see Kar? I want... I need to talk to her." Worry clouded his normally bright eyes. He took a step towards Jareth, feeling oddly numb. "I don't care about any of the rules, either. Break them. You can do that for me," he said, leaning over the back of Jareth's chair.
"No I can't," Jareth said. "You should know that," he added darkly, slipping back into his noble air. Seth had thrown him off, made him act like a hormonal adolescent again. A King's speech should be eloquent and full of nice vocabulary words from advanced English. "The rules are absolute. If Karleigh decides to give up, there is nothing I can do about it."
"Why would she give up?" Seth asked, startled.
Shit, Jareth thought, in a very royal-sounding mental voice. That had been a bad choice of words. "Perhaps because of fatigue, a sense of despondency, or a lack of enthusiasm. She made her feelings towards you exceptionally clear earlier," Jareth said, slightly pleased with himself. 'Despondency' would have gotten him a happy exclamation point in an essay. "She didn't come across as a girl longing for her Muse."
Rolling his eyes, Seth sat down on the desktop. "Stop acting like a prick," he ordered. He had never needed nice vocabulary words in school to make a good grade, and didn't see the point of using them in real life. "And she was confused earlier."
l------------------------------------------------------------------------------l
Confused might have been a good word to describe my current position. Then again, it also seemed like an understatement. My vision had gone blurry, and I couldn't see Jareth anymore. I couldn't decipher the pain I had felt a few moments ago. If I had been able to raise my hands to my neck, I would have checked for blood. But my arms, along with the rest of my body, were frozen. In addition to being paralyzed, there was an unfamiliar voice floating through my mind.
Ask Jareth to send you home.
My bones ached. The cuts on my legs stung. Cold sweat was dripping down my forehead, and I couldn't wipe it away. And I was absolutely ravenous. Going home was an appealing idea. Too bad I hadn't been the one to think of it. I did not recognize the voice. It didn't sound like my own thoughts, though they did not seem to be spoken, these strange words. They just appeared, without any summoning from me.
But first, ask to talk with Seth.
Seth was the reason I was here in the first place. Heck, Seth was going to be the reason I'd be spending thousands of dollars on therapy a few years down the road. I'd probably get committed to an asylum if I started spouting off about him. The psychologist's report would make me look insane. 'Hallucinates... in love with an imaginary man...'
What? No. I wasn't in love with Seth... that thought must have been brought on by lack of food and water. If I had been able to shiver, I would have. A few drops of cold sweat trailed down my back from the nape of my neck. Something was obviously very wrong here.
Tell Seth that you hate him.
Wait. Did I hate him? I couldn't remember anymore. My vision went black for a moment, then quickly came back. For a second I didn't understand. Then it happened again. Oh, I thought, I'm blinking. Hopefully, I tried to will my eyelids down. They obeyed, and I let them back up. So I was regaining possession of my body. Good. I couldn't stand the thought of Jareth being in control of me.
Then wish to go home.
A hand trailed along my cheek. Suddenly my vision came back into focus, and I was looking into the mismatched eyes of a woman. She dropped her hand to her side and smiled approvingly. "Karleigh," she said, "tell me how you feel about Seth."
"I hate him," I said instantly, flexing my fingers. Now I remembered. This was the noble woman from the portrait gallery. Jareth was gone. This woman must have come here to help me. I ran my tongue along my lips, making a mental note to buy chapstick when Jareth sent me back home. If I got back home. "Are you going to help me solve the Labyrinth?" I asked. Now I saw my mistake. I needed the help of someone smarter, more powerful than that stupid Hoggle. After all, I was just a human. To solve Jareth's Labyrinth, I would need otherworldly aid.
The woman put a finger to my temple. I rolled my shoulders. It was good to have my body back. "Yes," she said, voice sounding like breaking crystal. "I am here to serve," she added, eyes lighting up. Whatever thought had just crossed her mind, it was amusing, that was for sure.
Languidly I stretched. Her finger stayed pressed to my temple. Feeling rejuvenated, I laughed, just for the heck of it. It'd been a long time since I could last remember laughing, and the act felt good. "That's nice," I murmured.
With a smirk, the woman said, "This may hurt." I nodded, took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. Strangely, I was reminded of old doctor's visits. How many times over the past year had I gone in? Over a dozen, at least. After years of carrying around bulging bookbags for school, I'd developed a slight case of scoliosis. No worries, the doctors had told me. But I was going to need surgery in the fall. Blood had to be drawn occasionally to make sure the pain medication wasn't making me subject to infections. How many times had Seth stood behind me, hand on my shoulder, whispering that it'd be okay as the nurse pushed the needle into my arm?
Exhaling slowly, I readied myself for the shock. Pain was nothing compared to the eternity I would spend at Jareth's mercy, or lack thereof, if I was not able to solve the Labyrinth. No pain, no gain, right?
"Here we go," the woman whispered.
A sharp spike of pain made my knees go weak, and I dropped onto the floor. Shocked, I put my hands on my head and pressed as hard as I could, as if by doing so I could push out the pain. My body throbbed for a moment. The pain began to ebb away, slowly though. A minute or two had passed before I was able to stand again. Crap, getting blood drawn had never been this painful.
When I looked up, the woman was gone. I turned around, and she was nowhere in sight. The last of my pain faded away. I looked down at the floor of the well, where the Hoggle-looking puppet had lain a little while before. It wasn't there now, but that was good. Suddenly I felt empowered.
I knew the way out of the Labyrinth. It was so simple! Why hadn't I thought of it before? Laughing again at my own stupidity, I kneeled down and felt around for the trap door I now knew was in the floor. The cracks around its sides were almost invisible, but they were there. If I had not been panicking before I probably would have found them after a good search. Already I thought I could see a square on the floor that looked darker than the rest. That must be the door, the way out of this hole.
Questing for just a few more seconds yielded the edge of the door. It came up easily. From now on everything was going to be easy. That woman, she must have been an angel. Only someone divinely endowed could have given me a mental map out of the Labyrinth.
I slid down into the blackness beyond the door. Now to the castle beyond the goblin city. To show Jareth that I was not an idiot, and to make him send me home. But most of all to make sure that pesky Seth was not going to follow me back to my world...
l------------------------------------------------------------------------------l
Author's Note: The scoliosis thing just came to mind because my brother's school was conducting it's annual scoliosis tests the other day. I hated those. Anyway. Sorry again about the time it took to update!
BlueyChan, thank you for waiting as patiently as you have! You've been a faithful reader, and I'm glad for that.
Princess-RainbowRose, you won't have to work too hard on your alternate ending. I think. Anyway, I promise to update quicker this time! Thank you for all the reviews you've given! sych77, Oooh sorry it took so long! The next one won't, hopefully. This one was hard to write, but I'm excited about the next one. Thank you for the review.
Lady Moofin, trying to predict the ending? I was startled by some of your guesses. Not telling which ones, of course. ::cackle:: I guess I've dropped more hints than I thought I was. Thanks for your review! Fou Fou, hate fest. Interesting choice of words. I hope I can make the hate go away soon ::sigh:: but I don't know how long it's going to take until the next chapter. Hopefully two weeks at max! Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews!