Ch6

Adele and Sarah were now in a long hallway with no doors but many windows and a glass ceiling. When most narrators say "a long hallway" the measurement usually can be said in feet or yards. This hallway though was much longer. The last time someone tried to measure it they stopped at 4 miles and they weren't even close to halfway. It is lucky for Sarah that Adele wasn't taking her all the way to the end, just too somewhere in the middle.

The windows in the hallway were very close together. When running this gave the effect of being outside. Which was exactly what Sarah and Adele were doing. More like Adele was running and pulling Sarah behind her. I am sorry to say I can not give you the entire conversation these two had. It was far too long, spanning over 5 hours. So I shall tell you Sarah was upset with Adele for pulling her away from her friends. This convinced Adele that Sarah was brainwashed. Somewhere in between there they stopped for dinner. I now shall give you the end of the conversation.

"How did you even get that far so fast? That is more then 50 miles away from here!" Adele basically yelled at Sarah.

"Hester showed me how to get to her house by jumping into water. That if I jump in after her holding her hand then I end up where she is going. You have never heard of that?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah you are talking crazy talk! Do you realize that?" Adele stopped running and faced her, "Are you sure you are feeling alright?" She asked while putting her hand on Sarah's forehead. Sarah pushed it away.

"I feel fine. Where are you taking me again?" Sarah asked

"To see the King. He should know that you went gallivanting off with some crazy person. After this I highly doubt he will let you out of my supervision. That dwarf must have rubbed off on you with the way you are talking." Adele said now running down the hallway again with Sarah in tow.

"He can't do that!"

"Oh yes he can." Adele said. They stopped in front of what appeared to be crystal doors. Sarah tried to see what was passed them but it was hard because light seemed to illuminate from them, covering every surface with rainbows.

"Oh don't you look a mess!" Adele said to Sarah, "Your dress is all dirty and look it is torn in more then one spot. And your hair! Darling when did all this happen?"

"When a crazy woman dragged me down a hallway!" Sarah said sarcastically.

"Oh good dear you are finally realizing those people are crazy." Adele said, patting Sarah on the shoulder, completely oblivious, "Oh well looks like we really have no choice, he will have to see you this way." Adele pushed the doors open to reveal a huge study. You would think that with the way I described the doors that this room would be filled with light. But it was quite the opposite. It was a dark room. A few candles were lit here and there but most of the light came from a fireplace in the middle of the room. The carpet was dark red along with the drawn curtains.

Adele led Sarah to the middle of the room where just to the side of the fire sat a huge desk. When Sarah focused on the desk she could see that Jareth was sitting in it. He was staring at a feather pen that seemed to be moving back and forth on its own across a sheet of paper. He was concentrating so hard that he didn't even notice Sarah and Adele standing directly in front of him.

"Your majesty," Adele said. Jareth didn't hear for he was still concentrating on the pen. "Your majesty?" still no response. At that Adele yelled, "King Jareth!" the pen then fell over.

Jareth was still staring down at his paper, "This better be important, for I usually severely punish those who disturb me in my study!"

"It is your Majesty, believe me." Adele said.

Jareth then sat up a little more and looked Adele over and then looked at the state Sarah was in. "Good God Sarah what happened?" Jareth asked with a laugh in his voice.

"Nothing I am fine." Sarah was acting as calm as she possibly could. Her heart was still racing from all the running she just done, and she was basically swimming in a pool of her own sweat.

"Your Majesty she is lying. This morning I only permitted Sarah to go to breakfast with you. Not to go running around the village. By the time I found her she was with that crazy family of dwarfs who spray the fairies. They must have rubbed off on her because she kept telling me she got there by jumping threw water! Because of this I think she should be restricted to the grounds for her own protection," the words just seemed to come rushing out of Adele's mouth as if they were rehearsed. Not like they couldn't have been. Like I said before, it was a long hallway.

Jareth started to laugh, "Excuse me Adele but I really don't want to, nor would I be able to, keep this girl in the castle against her will. Thank you though for that interesting bit of entertainment. I needed a break from my work. But now I must ask you to go back out the way you came." He said signaling to the doors behind them that just flew open.

Sarah groaned at the thought of running back down the hallway again. She was still trying to catch her breath after her last trip. She turned around and headed for the door.

Jareth's voice then followed behind them, "I didn't mean you Sarah. That was meant only for Adele. I know there is something you want to talk to me about."

Adele then gave Sarah a weird look as she turned back around, "Your highness if she is staying, then I am staying," Adele said.

"That is where you are wrong Adele," Jareth stated, "For I think this will be a private matter. Now leave." You could tell Adele was upset by the expression on her face but she left all the same.

"Follow me into the next room," Jareth said as he headed off into darkness. Sarah did her best to follow him. She could hardly make out Jareth's shape but managed not to bump into him or any thing else.

Sarah then heard something like the turning of a key in a lock. After that she was blinded by light. Jareth then took her hand and guided her to a large leather chair. Sarah sat down. Her eyes had adjusted enough for her to see that this room was a library. She realized that the source of all the light was coming from a huge bay window with green curtains.

Jareth then sat in a chair right next to her, "I must apologize for the trip you just took. But it was necessary. Making people walk down that long hallway in order to get to me is the only way I can insure that I am only interrupted with matters of importance. Not stupid things like, 'Your Majesty what napkins should we use?' which use to happen before I moved my study all the way out here," Jareth's voice still sounded a little amused.

"That is understandable. I would get annoyed with stupid questions too." Sarah said, "But when I leave do I have to go back out that way? I will most likely end up sleeping out there for the night if I do."

Jareth just looked at Sarah for a second, "Well actually there is a short cut. I will see if I want to tell you it at the end of this conversation. Now what is it you want to ask me?"

Sarah knew she now had Jareth's full attention unlike before, when Adele was with them. He was looking directly into her eyes, instead of at the paper in front of him or at her clothing. Sarah remembered all the hateful things she wanted to say to Jareth when she found out about what had happened to her friends. But she could not bring herself to say them now that she was standing in front of him. Even thinking them, at that time seemed blasphemous to her. The only thing she could get herself to ask was, "Do you know exactly what happened after I beat the labyrinth?"

"I do know what went on," stated Jareth, "The labyrinth was destroyed and rebuilt, which I knew would happen if it were ever beaten. That happened so it could clear off any markings you made, such as footprints, that would give any sort of clue as to which way was the right direction."

Sarah was confused, "What good would my marks do? When I went through it every time I turned around things were different."

"Well the brick walls in there never stay still. They love to sneak up on people. But the bushes and forests near the end of the maze take a little bit longer to change. Most likely your markings would have still been true for the next person who went through labyrinth, had they made it as far as the woods. That is why it had to destroy itself," Sarah believed Jareth so far.

"Did anything else happen?" She still couldn't bring herself to come out and ask why he erased everybody's memory in The Underground that she knew of except for herself, Sir Didymus, Ludo and Hoggle. But Jareth knew what she was getting at.

"Yes Sarah," he said with a laugh, "people's memories were erased. That is something I did not know would happen. My theory is that it is also apart of the labyrinth's self-defense mechanism. You know to prevent an uprising. It would be complete anarchy if they found out that someone beat the 'All Powerful Labyrinth'. That is my best explanation of it."

"But why did Hoggle, Sir Didymus, Ludo, and I get to keep our memories of it?" Sarah finally got some part of her question out even though it wasn't exactly pointing the finger at Jareth like she wanted it to.

"I don't know. I really had nothing to do with the events that took place after you beat the labyrinth and me," Jareth said this while never losing eye contact with Sarah. She felt this over whelming urge to believe him. Before she could give in to it though, Sarah had to ask one more question.

"Were you the one who sent Sir Didymus away?"

"Yes I was. I sent him along with that beast on a 'secret mission.' I told them I wanted them to find out why everything happened after you beat the labyrinth. I even gave them powers so they could jump threw to different dimensions." Jareth seemed amused with something, "I really do think my explanation is right. All of the signs point to it. I just felt bad for them because they were being called insane for telling the truth. I figured sending them away was the best way to keep their pride intact. I just told them I had a mission to give them so they wouldn't feel like cowards for going away." Jareth said.

"But why didn't you let Hoggle go? Do you know what he has gone through?" Sarah asked.

"I told Sir Didymus to invite him. But Hoggle declined. He said something about how he needed to stay behind for his sister."

"Jareth I hope you are not lying to me!" Sarah wanted to believe what he was saying.

"Sarah I will let you in on a little secret," Jareth then leaned in and whispered to her, "I couldn't lie to you in this room even if I wanted to. It's even hard to think untruthful thoughts in here." Jareth then sat back in his chair with a smile.

Sarah thought for a second and then said, "So that's why I couldn't blame you for what happened?"

"Exactly Sarah, because I didn't do it. You have to be able to back things up with facts in this room before you can say them. It doesn't mean you can't say something that isn't right. It just makes you think twice before saying something that can't be proven." Jareth said.

"So I guess it only works in here and not in the other room. Adele was definitely lying before. You know that because you were the one who told me that jumping threw that stream was the only way I could get out of that scene."

"I don't see how Adele could not know about that," Jareth said while leaning back in his chair with his hands clasped in front of his mouth. He sat like that for a second, "Only the older families know of that way of travel. They are very stubborn about who they share it with. I know for a fact though that Adele can trace her lineage here farther back then mine. I really don't understand what she was getting at."

"I don't know either." Sarah stood up and walked over to the window. It had a gigantic tree just outside it. Sarah knew it had to be night by now, but out this window it appeared to be noon. With the way the sun was shinning down in made the leaves of the tree look pink. "So how are my Aunt and annoying little brother doing?" Sarah asked while still staring out the window.

"They are doing fine. Oh that reminds me, Toby wanted me to give you this." Sarah turned around just in time to see her old bear, Lancelot appear out of thin air in Jareth's hand. "Toby is really desperate for you to forgive him."

Sarah walked over and gently lifted the bear out of Jareth's hands. She cradled it in her
arms, remembering all of the fun adventures they had before she gave him to Toby. "Well do you think if I wrote him a letter that would calm him down?" Sarah asked.

"I think that would be a good idea Sarah. You should do that before you go to bed. I will deliver it to him after breakfast tomorrow. But I must get back to work now." Jareth then headed for the door.

"Jareth what about the short cut?"

Jareth quickly turned around, "Forgive me Sarah, I forgot." He then walked to the bookshelf and scanned over it. When he found the book he was looking for he handed it to Sarah.

The book had a black leather cover. The title was etched into it in gold. "Secret Passages? What am I supposed to do with this?"

Jareth explained, "Inside this book are hundreds of pictures of different libraries, all of which carry this book. When you find the picture of the place you want to be just say, 'This is a really good book' and you will end up there." Jareth went to leave again but then turned around and said, "By the way Sarah you left your school books with me at breakfast. I put them on your bed. It might be a good idea to start going over them after you are finished writing that letter to Toby." Jareth gave Sarah a quick smile and then headed for the door.