Chapter 3: Unusual Events and Unpleasant Memories

The baby screamed.

Andrew, Sarah's eighteen-month-old son, was not happy. Sarah had told Alex that at nine o'clock Andrew was to be put to bed. A routine had been followed and now he was supposed to go to sleep. Emphasis on "supposed to". Alex winced as a particularly loud shriek echoed down the hallway yet continued with the drawing she was working on. She only had a few more minutes before Sarah and her husband came home.

Lightning flashed outside the window, the thunderstorm she had predicted was under way. She shuddered as the thunder resounded throughout the house. She had always thought of thunderstorms as nature getting angry that a door to another world had been opened somewhere. It was foolish, she knew, but that thought had always been with her ever since she was very small.

Another shriek echoed down the hallway, but this wasn't anger or resentment, but fear. Andrew's cries had turned from screams of rage to terror. Alex dropped everything and dashed down the hall to the baby's nursery. She flung open the door and stopped dead. There, in the middle of the room, holding the screaming baby was the man from her dreams a few nights back. There stood the man that Sarah feared. There stood Jareth.

He was insane! He had to be! She had never seen him, except in her dreams. Now that she got to see him, all doubts had been removed. He was wearing an elegant black shirt that was left unbuttoned at the chest and whose sleeves ended in tatters. Black leather gloves covered long, slender hands and high-heeled, black leather boots tapped on the floor in time with a lullaby he was humming. His erratically styled hair blew gently in what little wind came through an open window. But his eyes… his eyes mocked her. He wore a friendly, yet distant, smile on his face. A smile which never touched those frosty eyes.

"Who are you?" she breathed, not trusting her own voice.

"You know very well who I am." came the whispered reply. "Hush, now. The baby's sleeping."

Alex stared at Andrew. The baby wore a peaceful smile on his face now and Jareth swayed side to side, still humming that lullaby. It was beautiful! An ancient song that humans had never heard, yet different, as if he had changed it from that long ago tune. He watched the baby in his arms with an unreadable expression, probably because so many emotions fought for control of his face.

"Jareth."

He looked at her with an evil gleam in his eyes. "Wish him away."

"What? Why?"

"Because I said so," he replied matter-of-factly.

She laughed, "Oh, really?"

He sighed and suddenly seemed very old. His shoulders slumped and his head dipped just a tad. He seemed so… alone. Whispering a few quiet words he set Andrew down in the crib.

"He'll sleep all night through. Do not be alarmed, I mean no harm." He whispered as he watched the baby sleep. "I've never meant any harm."

"Why do you look at him that way?" Alex asked.

He returned back to his cold, hard appearance, any sign of old age forgotten. "That is not for you to know, child."

"No need to get snappy."

He jerked his head and donned an amused expression, "Oh, really? I apologize, my lady." He made an elaborate bow then flourished his hand as he stood back up. There, on the tips of his fingers, sat a crystal ball about the size of a billiard ball. He smiled and tossed it up in the air and disappeared.

"You'll want to catch that, girl. It could make a nasty mess." Said his voice from the air he had just vacated.

Alex jumped to catch the shining object, but missed and watched as it shattered all over the floor. "Oh, sure," she muttered, "it breaks on the carpet. You made that happen you lousy goblin! How am I supposed to clean this up before Sarah gets home?"

She reached to pick up a thick shard and gasped as it melted into a small pool of sticky goop that wouldn't come out of the carpet. The same thing happened with all the other shards she touched until Sarah walked in the door.

"Alex? What are you doing?"

Alex spun around, but her hand was stuck to the stuff on the floor, "Umm… Sarah, I didn't hear you come in…"

"What is all over the carpet? Is that…"

"Crystal is not supposed to break, not even glass breaks on carpet. That guy would have had to throw it down on the floor, but no. He tossed it up it the air! I swear it shattered before it touched the ground!"

"But what is that… stuff?"

Alex glared as she tried to get her hand unstuck, then screamed as she realized that her other hand was stuck. She didn't care if Andrew woke up; she just wanted to clean up this mess! With a sudden jerk, she fell backwards and hit her head on the wall behind her. As a result she didn't see Sarah staring at the spot on the carpet where the goop had been but was rubbing at her head to see if she was bleeding.

Sarah bent down and picked up the little crystal globe that was sitting innocently on the carpet and turned around to look at Alex. She held the orb out to the teenager and Alex reached to take it. It was nothing special, just a glass ball. A crystal, nothing more. She frowned at it and flourished her hand like she had seen Jareth do and watched in amazement as it disappeared.

"How did you do that?" exclaimed Sarah.

Alex gave another flourish and a crystal ball sat in her hand. A flourish sent it away again. "I have no idea."

"Was Jareth here?" Sarah asked anxiously.

"Yes," Alex said as another flourish made a crystal appear in her hand. "Yes, he was here. He sang Andrew to sleep, said he meant no harm He had never meant any harm. Then he got snappy at me, so I got snappy at him and he dropped this little toy and it shattered and…"

"Yes, thank you, I can figure out the rest, Alex. Why don't you go home and get some sleep. Jareth can scare anyone…"

"No. He didn't scare me. I rather liked him."

"Go home, Alexandria." Sarah said sternly.

The girl frowned, but stood up and started to get her things together. She sent the little crystal away, hoping she'd be able to reach it again in the morning. Praying that this wasn't just a dream. She accepted her payment for baby-sitting, snickered that she had been paid more than she had been promised, said a warm goodnight to her neighbors, and set off home. Upon arriving at her house, she went straight to bed and slept peacefully through the night.

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Jareth chuckled to himself. He had shown that girl what it meant to chide him. He watched as she vainly tried to clean up the sticky mess on the floor and only succeeded in making it worse. He laughed out loud as he watched Sarah come in and begin questioning her. He became worried when he felt a tugging on his magic. He openly panicked when, when a shriek and a mighty tug, she got herself free of his spell and fixed the broken crystal. And he became enraged when she started toying with his crystals!

She was doing exactly what he would do when bored. She pulled the crystal to her, and then pushed it away again. No one could touch those crystals that were in his realm, no one! How did she have the power to bypass all the wards and tricks he had set up over the centuries? By what right did she toy with him like this?

Tied to him? What did that mean anyway? Did it mean she could use any of his magic that she wished, or only certain spells? Did it mean she was his slave, or he hers? Did it mean that… fates above, that was impossible! He would never fall in love with a mortal. He refused to. It was outrageous! It was preposterous! It was… completely within the realm of probability.

Jareth, the goblin king, threw the crystal ball at the wall of his bedroom in a fit of rage. Then raged some more when he realized that all the shards of glass had landed in his bed. He needed a break. He needed help. He needed… sleep. That was all. He just needed to go to sleep. He mended the globe of crystal and sent it away. He screamed at a few goblins, kicked a chicken or two, and went to bed feeling superior. Which was how it was supposed to be.

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"Jareth, what has gotten into you? You look like some psycho on a warpath!" Luc observed.

"Thank you, Luc. I really needed that. D'you want some ale? 'S really good. Dunno why I never drank any before… Oh! Righ' My fazzer wouldn't lemme." Jareth slurred drunkenly.

The mousey-haired mage shook his head in disgust. "What's happened to you, my friend? Where have you gone?"

"Gone nowhere! Not for daysssss. Been… oof… been righ' 'ere fer… oof… daysh…" Jareth hiccoughed and swayed dangerously in his seat, ale frothing everywhere. "Where'sh me ale gone to? Oy! OY, goblinsh! Get me more of thishtuff!" He shouted.

Deram forced the doors of the room shut and wouldn't allow anyone to enter. He watched Jareth stare lazily around the room, try to stand up, fail miserably, and return to staring lazily around the room. He thought back to the prophecy he had heard just days before and had refused to believe.

The strange seer had come to him and had told him that his friend would lose himself. She had also predicted about the mortal girl who would restore him. Luc had set out for the goblin city only to find that Jareth was forcing everybody to run the Labyrinth. He had finally summoned the drunken king and convinced him to revoke the law and take him to his room. From there they had shared barely intelligible conversations. Luc had mostly just studied the drastic change in his friend.

Jareth had put on some muscle. He had grown a few inches since claiming the goblin throne and his hair had grown even longer. Some bits of his hair dangled in his eyes, some stuck up barely an inch above his head, some bits draped down to his shoulders, but all of the bits poofed out in odd directions. Some had even been dyed blue or purple. His eyebrows were painted in exotic arches and his eyes lids were painted a baby blue. He wore glitter all over his face and his taste for clothes had gotten ever more extravagant. He had also donned a pair of black leather gloves and had started playing with crystal orbs at odd times.

Luc was worried. He knew the Jareth from only a few months ago was gone forever, no matter what the seer had said. However, he also had hope that some semblance of him would return soon. Until that time, he could only wait and give his support. He also intended to keep him from remaining drunk, like his father. Jareth could go insane, if he wished, but he couldn't become a drunkard. He had to remain competent at ruling the Labyrinth, or Deram would claim it as his right. That would be a glorious mess. So Luc resigned himself to helping Jareth as best he could. That was what friends were for, right?

He sighed as his gaze returned to the madman sitting in the chair. This was going to be really hard. Jareth smiled at him, and then screamed angrily for more ale. Luc watched as he tried to stand and storm toward the door. Jareth collapsed in a drunken stupor before he had gotten halfway across the room. This was going to be very difficult.