Chapter Fifteen

Jareth

Are you lost, because I am too

Directions mean nothing in the dark when you don't know where you stand

- Brave, Riley Pierce

October 1st, 2002. Day 14 of quarantine.

Two weeks.

Jareth closed his eyes, letting the slight breeze ruffle his hair. Though he still worried about Sarah when she went into the Underground, the rhythm to the day was a soothing one. He checked on the Labyrinth, picked up a book, and went to the fire escape until she came home. The apartment was too empty without her in it, and it provided him time to speak with Hector or the other Palermo family. Dario had been out earlier, chatting his ear off about batmobiles and boomerangs until his father dragged him back inside to do his homework.

His ears were open, strained for any sound of Sarah's arrival. He did not have a time-telling device on his person, but he possessed a knack for it ever since inheriting the Labyrinth's powers. Two hours had passed already, and he knew that it translated to approximately five in the Underground. Sometimes it went faster, sometimes it went slower. The gods only knew why.

Jareth slid inside, closing the window to a crack to let the air in. One benefit to the quarantine had been the lack of cars clogging the roads below, belching their foul gasses. The streets were near-deserted now, so much so that people walking their dogs often strolled down the center lanes to keep room between themselves and other pedestrians.

He looked to the wall where the portal would be, but it was blank except for a thermostat he had been admonished not to touch.

Turning to the kitchen, Jareth began preparing the coffee Sarah would want. She was wise in not taking any of the food and drink Aldric provided. There was no telling if it would enthrall her to him in some way. Though, in truth, Jareth doubted his brother would take that route.

The coffee prepared, Jareth started up work on a new recipe he found in one of Sarah's magazines when he heard a faint pop, and the sharp smell of ozone came to his nose. He glanced over his shoulder to see the portal mirror back in the hallway, the gilt edges glittering a little in the mid-afternoon sunlight.

He waited, but Sarah did not appear.

Frowning, Jareth abandoned his ingredients and moved to the mirror, inspecting it. He sensed the magic coming off it, smelling of his brother and the Underground. He longed to step through it himself. As much as he enjoyed his time with her, this was not his home and never would be. It was a distraction and a diversion while his kingdom needed him. But he could not go through this portal or any other until the quarantine laws were lifted from this land.

And he was trying to swallow the sense that these were his last days, that the gods had granted him the gift of some time with Sarah before he met his end by Aldric's hands. He only hoped she managed to escape him, but that seemed increasingly unlikely. She was touched. She would only grow more and more enticing to the denizens of Faerie. And as much as he loathed Aldric, there were worse fae out there.

Jareth tapped the liquid surface of the mirror, sending a ripple through it. A moment later and his brother stared out at him, expression severe. He spoke in the language of the fae. "What?"

"Where is she?" Jareth demanded, speaking the same tongue. "Her time is up unless you found some other way to increase her hours in the Underground."

Aldric frowned. "What nonsense do you spout now, brother? Sarah left ten minutes ago."

A cold shock smashed into him, and Jareth turned from portal, trying to school his features. He let his senses stretch from him, double-checking what he knew to be true: he remained alone in the apartment.

"Are you saying she never made it back?" Aldric said from behind him, and a thread of fear tainted the words.

Jareth turned back on the image of his brother with a snarl. "You did not protect the portal?"

"Of course, I protected the portal. I—" he stopped, then disappeared from view. He came back a few heartbeats later. "There's a hole," he said tonelessly.

Jareth swore with abandon and shook with the effort not to slam his fist into the mirror. "Is she still in your camp?" he asked.

"No. I would have known."

He closed his eyes. She's in danger. He would need to tip his hand. "I can find her, but you'll need to retrieve her."

Aldric barked a laugh. "She could be anywhere. She might not be in Faerie, and who knows what grabbed her? She could be dead for all you know."

"She's not dead." He would have felt it if she perished. Pulling off his left glove, he looked down at the mating bond. It was just as dark as it had been when it first appeared.

Aldric let out a strangled sound. "That glyph—"

"As I said, I can find her." He summoned a spying mirror to hang next to the portal. His brother leaned forward as though he would push his head through the frame to see what he was doing, and Jareth bared his teeth. "Do not slip, or you'll be useless to Sarah."

"And you'd be dead," Aldric mocked.

"She's more important than our rivalry," Jareth growled and pressed his palm to the surface of the spying mirror, focusing his energies on the glyph tattooed on the back of his hand.

"Funny you would call such a thing which started with sororicide a rivalry. Blood for blood, brother. That is always how this was going to end. And your symbol will take that pleasure from me if you use it to find her." He laughed, the sound mocking. "I was taught by our masters, and with them to aide me, I would not be able to contain that power."

"That's because the glyph of the Labyrinth was not meant to be wielded by anyone but its rulers," Jareth said, unfurling his magic so it coursed through the bond and hit the silver surface. At once, he felt the pull of the Labyrinth from a world away. Home. And then he redirected that energy, that pull, seeking the one he had been branded for. An image began to form on the mirror's surface, and Jareth sagged in relief. "She's still in Faerie," he said. "In the wilds. I see a selkie and a lamia with her now."

"You truly can wield the symbol," Aldric said, his voice awed.

Jareth pulled his hand back and stepped fully into view. Now that he found her, he would have the mirror track her movements until his brother arrived. "We know where she is, and you know as well as I that she's in danger with those creatures. Time is of the essence."

Instead of disappearing or acknowledging this, Aldric tilted his head, silent and considering. "What will you give me?"

"What?" Jareth demanded.

"If I retrieve your mate, what will you do for me?" His expression darkened. "Would you slit your own throat? What is her life worth to you?"

Jareth took a step forward, stunned. "She is touched. You know how important she is for that alone. You would abandon her to the lamia?"

"True, she is valuable," Aldric conceded. "But more to you, I think." He paused, gloved finger tapping the faint cleft in his chin. "When you are released from this world, you will come directly to me. We will settle the feud between us."

"You're suggesting a duel, then? One on one combat?"

His brother nodded. "But you come to me, to my grounds, and there will be no side trips to your beloved Labyrinth. Straight here."

That would put Jareth at a distinct disadvantage. His power was great, but the longer he remained separated from his kingdom, the more his magic faded. It had only been a little so far. A faint drain that reminded him of the beginning pains of a headache. He had been counting on his ability to recharge prior to a confrontation, preparing mentally for the siege which would follow his return. What Aldric demanded would likely mean failure. It would mean death.

"Time is wasting, brother," he said, his voice mocking. "And I cannot hold myself in the between place forever."

Aldric was one of the best fighters the Seelie court ever produced. A warrior and a scholar, Jareth had never known him to lose a fight, either on the battlefield or in a duel. The strength and complexity of the Labyrinth's walls would keep him at bay, maybe even forever. Without its power, Jareth was lost, but...

I cannot abandon her.

His heart hurt, but he said his right words. "So long as you return Sarah to me, you will get your duel with the conditions you stipulated. This I vow."

Aldric's smile was sharp and sudden. "A bargain well struck, brother."

And then he disappeared, the portal fading into nonexistence. Jareth went to the mirror showing Sarah. She sat with her back to a tree, unconscious with her hands tied around the base of the trunk. He wished he could reach through the mirror and touch her.

The time discrepancy between Faerie and Sarah's world was such that his view of her sped up, the sky lightening as the sun rose in haste. Aldric would not find her immediately. It might take some time. The wilds were vast. If only he could make his own portal, Jareth could appear right next to her, but the pull of the bond was a magic he could not direct his brother with.

He watched for hours. He watched for what, for her, were days.

Jareth watched and despaired.