Ch5

"Hoggle!" yelled Hester, "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that in our water supply?"

Hoggle then turned around to zip up his fly, not even glancing up at his sister, "Well Hester I am older, this IS my house, and..." Hoggle stopped as soon as he saw who was with his sister, "Sarah?"

"HOGGLE!" Sarah said as she ran out of the fountain to give him a hug, "I have missed you so much!"

Hoggle was still in shock. He just stared at Sarah. When she hugged him he seemed frozen in place.

"You will have to excuse my brother," Hester piped in as she climbed over the fountain, "Even though he is not much of a coward any more he does get stunned very easily, age does that to you. He will get over it in a minute or two."

Sarah did not know what to make of that. "Hoggle hadn't been that old when I first met him and that was only about 3 years ago." She thought. And then she remembered, "Three years my time that is! That is like 12 or 13 years here." As Sarah looked at him she realized he was much older. He had more wrinkles, a few age spots, and he was hunched over a little bit.

Hester then got Sarah's attention, "Well while we are waiting for him there's no need to waste time. Come join me inside and I will make some tea. He will know to come in when he gets back." Hester headed toward a house a few yards away from the fountain. It was no castle in fact the roof looked like it was about to cave in and it was in desperate need for a paint job. But Sarah knew spraying fairies couldn't rake in that much money. Besides Sarah thought the house looked quaint in strange way. Oddly enough if asked she would not change anything about it.

In order to get in the house Sarah had to duck. It was definitely built for people like Hester and Hoggle in mind. When Sarah found a small comfortable chair to sit in Hester handed her a cup of tea. Hester then took her cup over to the fire place and began to knit in her rocking chair. A few moments later Hoggle came in. He had a bit more of a limp but it was still the same Hoggle.

"Sarah I can't believe it! I haven't seen you in forever. I was beginning to think it was all a dream." Hoggle said smiling at her while he went to sit down in another chair.

"A dream Hoggle? You would call that a dream? It was more of a nightmare then anything." Sarah said with a laugh.

"You know what I meant. With us being the only ones who know it happened that's what it seems like." Hoggle said slouched in his chair not necessarily focusing his attention on anything.

"Hoggle," Sarah said, "Are we really the only ones who know what happened? By we I mean you, Sir Didymus, Ludo, Jareth, and I. There were so many other people at my house that night celebrating. How could they not know?"

He then leaned forward and looked her, "Sarah when you left a lot of strange things happened."

"Like what?"

"Well to start a little while after you left us at the bottom of the stairs, to face Jareth alone, Didymus, Ludo, and me saw the destruction of the whole labyrinth. Right in front of us. Pieces of wall were flying all over the place. It split exploded. I swear it was completely destroyed. And then a few seconds after that I found myself in your room having a party."

"Yes I remember that. Everyone there was congratulating me. So a whole bunch of other people have to know!" Sarah said.

"You would think but that's not true. The moment you went to bed I woke up in my own bed. Well not woke but prodded up. Hester thought it would be amusing to wake me up by jabbing me with one of her knitting needles."

"It was 1pm! I tried everything from hitting you to pouring cold water over your head. We had to get to work in clearing out the fairies from the labyrinth. That's a hard job! You constantly get lost!" Hester piped in from across the room.

"Will you shut up? I am trying to tell Sarah here exactly what happened."

Hester glared at him, "Well I was just coming in on my own defense!"

"Good well are you done now? Can I get back to the story?" you could tell Hoggle was frustrated with her.

"Mother would not approve of the way you are treating me!"

"Well Mom died 20 years ago! So can I get on with my story?"

Hester crossed her arms in resignation, "Yes."

"Good! As Hester said that day we were scheduled to clean out the labyrinth. After yelling at her for waking me up I told her there was no need to because it didn't exist any more. She thought that what I said was just the remains of some drunken fantasy. I told her everything that happened the day before. How we beat the labyrinth and it exploded. She thought I had gone mad!"

"Well wouldn't you?" Hester yelled from across the room, "Hearing that someone beat the labyrinth, not only someone but teenage girl no less. Does that not sound like crazy talk? No offense Sarah, I believe it now that I met you. But at the time he sounded insane." Sarah nodded. She would have thought the same had she been in Hester's shoes.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SHUT UP HESTER!" Hoggle was on his last nerve with her.

"Fine I will go knit elsewhere! You would think that you would be a little bit more grateful that I brought her to you. But no! I don't even get a thank you!" Hester said glaring down at Hoggle.

"Thank you," Hoggle said, "Now leave."

"I am!" Hester yelled at Hoggle. She then turned toward Sarah and completely changed her tone of voice, "Before I go can I get you anything?"

"No but thank you Hester." Sarah replied. With that Hester left the room. Sarah couldn't help but think of how Hoggle and Hester's fighting reminded her of the quarrels she and Toby had.

"Finally!" Hoggle said, "Now back to the story. So Hester thought I was crazy. I walked outside to show her that I wasn't lying and there it was. The labyrinth was completely re-built. At that I thought it was just a dream. So I set off to go to work. The whole day I ran into people we met the day before. They were all going about their schedule as usual. That is until I went to The Bog of Eternal Stench."

"Did you see Sir Didymus?" Sarah asked.

"Yes and he was going crazy. He ran after me and pinned me to the ground. Can you imagine that?" Sarah began to laugh, "Any ways he said something like, 'Hoggle I am Sir Didymus! We beat the labyrinth together with Lady Sarah and Sir Ludo! I know it sounds insane but we did!' At that I knew it wasn't a dream. I threw him off me and told him that I remembered and also never to pounce on me like that again. When I finally got him to get away from his post so I could breath clean air while talking to him he told me that after you went to bed he too woke up in his own bed. That everything seemed normal. Remember that bridge that went across The Bog of Eternal Stench? You know the one that collapsed while you were crossing it?" Hoggle asked.

"Hoggle how could I forget it?" Sarah pointed out.

"Well Sarah after we left it, it was destroyed remember. But when Didymus looked out his window it was as if nothing happened. The bridge is still there by the way. But anyways eventually Ludo joined up with us. We tried telling our story to people to see if someone would remember something. But we were just branded as crazy people." Hoggle was now looking at the fire.

"Well where are Ludo and Sir Didymus now? Is there any way I can talk to them?" Sarah asked.

"No." Hoggle said still starring into the fire, "Soon after Didymus was reassigned to some top secret duty. Ludo went with him. I have not heard from them in years. That's why it all started to seem like a dream. There was no one else around who knew what happened."

"This is so strange how is it that we are the only ones who remember? Do you think Jareth is covering things up?" Sarah asked

"That was our theory. Didymus thought that maybe Jareth used is powers to clear the minds of those we met along the way. And that Jareth could not erase our minds because our memories were so vivid." Hoggle was now standing up to get some tea.

"Or maybe he left you memories with you for revenge." Sarah said.

"Revenge?"

"Yes! He left your memories with you in order to seek revenge for you helping to beat his labyrinth. It makes perfect sense!" Sarah said.

"No it doesn't. How would that be a way of revenge? It shows that he has a weakness. That he can be beaten. That he is not as almighty as everyone else thinks."

"Exactly! People believe he is almighty! If someone told them that a teenage girl, a cowardly dwarf, an old dog knight, and a strange gentle beast beat Jareth's labyrinth they would brand them as insane for the rest of their lives." Hoggle's jaw dropped. "It's worked hasn't it Hoggle?" Sarah looked him right in the eyes, "People think you are crazy don't they?"

"Yes that they do," Hoggle's voice was with drawn.

"God that bastard! I truly believe he did set this up. He must be seeking revenge on me as well now. I wish I knew what he was up to!"

"Be careful Sarah!" Hoggle said, "Don't go looking for trouble."

"I won't. I just want to find a way to keep trouble away from me." Sarah bolted up out of her chair because she wanted to start pacing but she ended up hitting her head on the ceiling and getting knocked out.

Sarah woke to water being splashed on her face. "Sarah? Sarah? Are you alright?" she heard Hoggle ask from a distance. As Sarah came to she realized she was still on the floor. Hoggle and Hester were sitting over her.

"I am fine." Sarah said, "My head hurts really badly though. I think I need some of that miracle potion my care taker Adele gave me in order to get rid of this one." Sarah joked as she sat up.

Hoggle then said, "Well you did hit..." he was unable to finish for at that moment Adele magically popped into the room with a goblet.

"SARAH! I gave you permission to leave your room for breakfast! Not to go around visiting commoners! Now drink this!" She said snapping a sharp look at Hester and Hoggle while holding the goblet out to Sarah. Sarah took it and drank it down as fast as she could. "It's a good thing I have that tracker on you! If you hadn't needed something I might not have found you! You would have been stuck out here!"

"Adele I a sure you I am fine." Sarah said in a calm voice, "I was just visiting with some old friends."

"Friends Miss? Friends!?! That man is crazy Sarah!" Adele said pointing and Hoggle, "He could have hurt you! Oh my goodness he did! Look at that bump on your head!"

"Hoggle is not crazy and he would never hurt me." Sarah said.

"I have heard enough Miss. We are going back now!" At that Adele grabbed Sarah's hand and they were gone.