At first, everything was black. My arms and legs felt as heavy as lead, but I was very, very warm. I could hear the muffled sound of a fire crackling somewhere. Slowly I began to see shapes around me, which grew clearer until I saw a table, a comfortable-looking chair, and an enormous fireplace. I lay in a handsome mahogany bed with forest-green curtains, quilt and pillows.
I looked down at myself and panicked; I was no longer a falcon, but an elf once again. My mind ached with questions; where was I? How had I gotten here?
As I pondered these questions, the double-door swung open, and a funny-looking little goblin shuffled in pushing a trolley. "Care for some tea, dearie?" she said. I cautiously eyed the tea-tray perched upon the trolley. "No, thank you," I said, desperately searching my mind for any memory of what had happened after I had fallen from the skies.
"I'll just leave it 'ere, then", said the goblin, and then she left.
Light streamed in from behind a pair of green velvet curtains. I rose blearily from the bed and pushed them aside to reveal two enormous gothic windows. Perhaps it was little more than the effects of the night before, but a truly strange feeling engulfed me what I saw what was outside the window. The labyrinth stretched out before me as far as the eye could see, and far below me I could see the crooked little houses which formed the goblin city. Beside me was a tower with a window much like my own. It then occurred to me that I was inside the castle.
I started towards the door, but stopped just as quickly when I remembered that I was dressed in nothing but a nightgown. I searched the room for a closet, hoping that whoever this room belonged to wouldn't mind if I borrowed something. Despite this, I couldn't help marveling at the taste of the room's owner; everything was as if I had designed it myself.
The closet was impressive. It was almost another room in itself. The walls were lined with beautiful clothes, including gowns in every style and colour, and with some relief I guessed that it couldn't be Jareth's room that I had ended up in. I felt a slight twinge of envy as I wondered who else might be living in the castle. I selected a beige silk medieval-style gown, got dressed and ventured out into the hallway.
At every corner, I could see two or three goblin guards slumped against the wall, snoring loudly. I jumped in surprise as one of them murmured a few unintelligible words, but was relieved when he rolled over and began to snore again. They carried their hideous weapons but instead of armor, they wore ill-fitting, colourful finery. I turned back to return to my chamber, but when I turned around I was in an empty hallway. It occurred to me that I had not paid any attention to which way I had gone, and now I was completely lost. The hallway was dimly-lit, and no goblins guarded it. It stretched straight ahead until it disappeared into darkness.
Suddenly overcome by curiosity, I began to walk down the corridor. Extinguished torches lined the walls so that the only light came from the occasional window. In the dim, bluish light I could see ancient-looking tapestries on the walls. Cobwebs stretched themselves across the windows. I stopped to look outside, when I saw it; sitting on the windowsill outside was the mask which I had left, in my haste, after the ball the previous year.
Before I had a chance to think about my situation, something rolled over my bare foot. Looking down, I saw a small crystal ball rolling across the floor. Hoping it would lead me out of the corridor, I followed it to a stone archway covered by a tapestry. Standing in the shadows beside the doorway, was Jareth.
He stooped gracefully to retrieve his crystal, and then looked at me.
"Hello, Evangeline," he said softly an amused smile adorning his lips. He stepped out of the shadows and twirled the crystal around in his hands.
"I can see you've found your way across the castle," he took several steps towards me.
"Impressive." His voice was barely a whisper now. It was giving me goose bumps on the back of my neck.
"I….I got lost…" I murmured. It was hard to focus when he was standing so close to me. With a flamboyant wave of his hand, he tossed the crystal into the air. It burst into a fountain of glitter.
In an instant we were standing in front of my chamber door.
"Welcome to my castle, Evangeline," he said. "I won't confine you to your room…but I advise you don't go wandering too far. You wouldn't want to get lost again, would you?" He smiled, and leaned in closer to me again. I tried to think of something to say or do, but my mind was a blur. He smelled of sandalwood. "Until next time, Evangeline,' he said quietly, his face close to mine. An odd, floating sensation had begun in the pit of my stomach…
Jareth stepped back to take my hand and press it to his lips. Then, he took another crystal and vanished in a swirl of glitter, leaving me standing dumbly outside my room, trying to re-gather my thoughts. One thing was for sure; Jareth knew I was there. He also didn't seem to want me snooping around in his castle. I remembered the great shadow which I had seen so long ago. Was there something Jareth didn't want me to know about? Or was he trying to protect me from something? I walked into the room and sat on my bed, my head still spinning from the encounter, and took a sip of the tea that was still sitting on the trolley. I was still aching from my flight through the storm, and starting to feel irresistibly drowsy. I lay back on the sumptuous pillows and slipped into a fitful sleep.
I awoke with a start to the sound of my door opening. I peeked between the forest-green curtains to see a goblin in a maid's uniform bustling around the room dusting random objects with a big feather duster. All the while she was muttering to herself about different rooms and corridors and how nobody bothered to dust them. It then occurred to me that this goblin might know the passages of the castle.
"…..excuse me?" at the sound of my voice the goblin stopped dusting the windowsill and looked at me. I paused to remember which direction the window in the shadowy corridor was facing.
"Might you by any chance know what's in the far west corridor?" she hesitated, and quickly said,
"You're daft….we don't have a far west corridor…and even if we did, we wouldn't have anything in it…" with that she turned and hastily left the room.
I tried to think of where else I might have been when I had lost the mask, but after years of flying, my sense of direction couldn't be fooled. The goblin was hiding something. As quietly as I could, I slipped out of the room after her. I was just in time to see her disappear around another corner, but I quickly followed her on her path through the castle.
After a long and complicated walk through the castle's many halls and passageways, I finally lost track of her. We had entered a circular room with stone walls, lined with more doors than I could count. She went through one of them, but they were all identical to me. Choosing the door I thought she took, I wandered through.
On the other side of the door was an immense circular room. The stone floor was covered with small piled of dead leaves and moss. Tarnished silver tables had been pushed aside, and cold, clear morning light streamed in through tattered walls of pale-green cloth. A stone fountain babbled and gurgled in the centre of the room, and tall, tree-shaped columns were scattered throughout the room, shedding their once-green leaves. Suddenly I knew where I was.
The ballroom, once so majestically beautiful, had been badly neglected since the masquerade. Suddenly I felt weak, bombarded by memories of the ball, and sat down against on of the columns. I was trembling, and my reason for running away in the first place came crashing back to me. Sarah. Jareth. For all I knew she could be right here, in the castle. Abandoning my pride, I buried my face in my hands and wept.
I heard the door open, and a familiar voice say, "is anybody here?" Jareth was standing in the doorway, looking over the piles of dead leaves and discarded furniture. I quickly turned away to hide my tears, and in doing so I managed to rustle a nearby pile of leaves.
"Evangeline?" said Jareth. It was pointless to try hiding; he had found me. Anything more would seem childish. He knelt beside me.
"Evangeline, where were you? I've been looking all over the castle…"
"Why?" I said bitterly.
"Well, to make sure you were safe, and…"
"And?"
"Well, I was hoping you might accompany me to lunch in the gardens…"
I turned to glare at him. This was too much, even from Jareth. "Why don't you ask Sarah? I'm sure she'd be happy to dine with you," I spat.
"Sarah? After returning my letters unopened, and avoiding my masquerades, I doubt she'd even agree to speak to me!" he replied.
"So that's why I'm here, isn't it! Because Sarah won't cooperate? Well in case you haven't noticed, I don't think you'll be needing my help!" I shot back, and then got up to leave, but Jareth held my arm. "Evangeline! Wait!"
The frustration in his eyes faded as quickly as it had appeared. "There's been a misunderstanding," he said softly, his eyes pleading with mine. "I never meant for this to…"
But he was interrupted by a loud scraping sound, as one of the silver tables was pushed aside. He looked up in alarm as a great, shadowy creature lumbered into the room.
"What is that?" I asked cautiously.
"A mistake," muttered Jareth, taking a step toward the beast.
"Jareth…" I cried, as the creature tore down a cloth wall.
"Run, Evangeline!" he said.
"But…"
"I'll meet you later! GO!" I took a step backward, then turned and ran as the creature sent an enormous tarnished chandelier crashing to the floor. The moment I stepped through the door it vanished behind me, leaving me standing in the wild woods where I was raised…