Makes No Sense For You

Quillan Timalus turned around for the fifth time, checking to make sure Sarah was following him. "Come on, Sarah," he called. "We have to go find Mommy and Daddy."

Sarah called back, "I don't want to go back to the Castle yet." She sat down against a wall, watching the sun sink beyond the Labyrinth.

"Sarah," Quillan said, coming back to help her up, "If I don't get back before dark, I'll get in trouble." Sarah looked up at the boy holding her hand, her eyes telling him to go ahead and leave then. "And I'm not leaving without you," he added.

"Quillan," Sarah said, exasperated, "I really don't need this right now." Looking down at her lap, Sarah started shuffling the slips of paper that the Fireys had given her with her thumb.

Quillan saw her thumb move and sat down next to her. "Don't do it, Sarah. I'll be quiet, I promise. Just don't do it," he said in a voice that reminded Sarah of Toby asking her to change the channel on the TV from a scary movie.

"Why not?" Sarah asked.

"Because it's bad," Quillan said, brushing his sandy hair out of his eyes.

"Is it really bad?" Sarah asked quietly, raising a slip to her lips. Quillan whimpered as she tentatively licked the darker side of the tiny piece of paper. The two sat still for a moment, waiting for any sort of reaction, Quillan hardly breathing. "I guess it takes a while," Sarah said standing up.

Quillan stood up, too, and breathed a sigh of relief. Sarah turned to take Quillan's hand, "Shall we continu…whoa!" Sarah shook her head.

Quillan whimpered again, "What is it, Sarah?" He turned around to look at the wall Sarah was looking at. There was…absolutely nothing. "Sarah?"

"Their…like…huge gummy bears." Sarah said, and pulled Quillan behind him.

"Don't worry, Sarah," Red Gummy Bear said, in an innocent voice. "We won't hurt him."

"That's right, Sarah," Green Gummy Bear said.

"Run back to the castle," Sarah whispered to Quillan. "Don't look back and keep running."

"All right, Sarah," the boy whispered, frightened. Then he turned and ran, not because Sarah was seeing six feet tall Gummy Bears, but because there was nothing there.

"Don't worry, Sarah," Purple Gummy Bear said, just as sweetly as the others. "We won't hurt you."

Sarah backed up a couple steps, terrified.

"Come, Sarah," Red Gummy Bear said.

"Play with us," Green Gummy Bear said.

Sarah took two steps backwards, turned and ran. She didn't care where she was going; all she knew was that there were huge Gummy Bears chasing her.

"Get her!" Purple Gummy Bear yelled.

Sarah looked over her shoulder, and immediately regretted it. The Gummy Bears' eyes were glowing orange. She turned left and ran into a dead-end, except for the door. Shaking the handle almost violently, Sarah realized the door was locked. She turned around and saw the Gummy Bears drawing closer. "Leave me alone," she shouted.

Just as Purple Gummy Bear was about to reach her, the door behind her opened. Hoggle pulled Sarah through, then slammed and locked the door.

Sarah looked around at Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo. "I'm so glad you got here in time," she said, almost crying. "The Gummy Bears were about to…" she paused, staring at the door.

Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus exchanged looks. "What Gummy Bears, Fair Maiden?" Sir Didymus asked calmly.

"Is that door breathing?" Sarah asked, almost to the point of hysterics.

Hoggle turned to his brothers. "Well," he said, "I's think we found her too late. Jareth's gonna kill us."

Sir Didymus turned to Ludo, "My Brother, have you still the crystal that his majesty gave to you?"

"Ludo got crystal," the Yeti said, showing it to his friends. Sarah was slowly backing up from the door. "Send to King?"

"I think that would be wise," Sir Didymus answered. Ludo raised the crystal and blew on it, sending it flying rapidly towards the castle. Hoggle was trying to convince Sarah that the ground was safe to sit on, and not crawling with worms.

Jareth stood in Sarah's room, Cattie and Llewellyn close behind him, staring intently at the new mirror. This one was shaped like a teardrop, showing Sarah sitting with Quillan close by. The Goblin King was trying desperately to figure out exactly what the papers in her hands were, and why she would be licking one.

Just then Quillan came running through the door. He stopped for a second looking around and catching his breath, then saw his parents and ran over to them. "Mommy, Daddy," he said, startling the two Felines. Cattie bent down and picked him up. "Mommy, Daddy," he said again. "Sarah's in trouble."

Jareth twirled around quickly. "What happened?" he asked, startling the already frightened boy.

"Sarah licked a piece of paper that the Bad People gave her, and now she's seeing things. Nummy Squares or something." The small boy said, trying to keep from crying.

"Who are the Bad People, Baby?" Cattie asked, afraid she already knew the answer.

"The Fire Gang," Quillan said quietly, afraid to speak the words.

Before Jareth could begin his angry tirade, a crystal flew in the window and landed at Jareth's feet. He blinked at the crystal a second before looking at Quillan and saying, "You must have run fast, Little One."

"The High King made me half Cheetah," the boy said, proudly.

Jareth rustled the boy's hair before bending down to pick up the crystal. As he raised the crystal to eye-level, everyone in the room suddenly knew exactly where Sarah was. A second later, the Labyrinth stopped moving, a magic much to powerful for the ancient maze controlling it. "Remind me to send a letter of thanks to the High King," Jareth said to Llewellyn before transporting all three Felines, the Fox, the Yeti, the Dwarf, Sarah and himself to the entrance hall of the castle.