The goblins stared at her with gaping mouths. "But Sarah," Hoggle protested. "That's gonna be a waste of time! For all you know, he could b-"
Sarah turned to Hoggle and put her hands on her hips. "You dare question your queen?" she demanded, hoping she sounded more confidant than she felt. It must have worked, because the little goblins became terrified and began running in circles and shrieking. Hoggle looked away. "Well, if it's what you want… Of course I'll help you. But I still don't see why you'd want that rat back , anyway."
Sarah glanced out the window. The sun was already setting. "We can't go anywhere tonight, but we can start first thing in the morning. Can you guys get a group of goblins to be here tomorrow? The more people to help us, the better."
"Brax can come early and make breakfast for her majesty?" he offered as he bowed.
Sarah patted him on the head. "That would be great, Brax. Does anyone have a spare room I can stay in for tonight?"
Her question was met with blank stares. "The queen lives in the castle." the old lady said, almost indignantly.
"Oh." Sarah scratched her head. "I forgot about that.. Well, I'll see you guys in the morning, I guess."
She saw her guests to the door, and hugged her old friend one last time. She stood on the front steps watching them on the path to Goblin City until she could't see them anymore. The front doors were large and heavy, but she was able to close them. After she shut them and turned around, it finally hit her. This was her castle now, and would be until Jareth came back. If Jareth came back. She suddenly felt very alone. She walked to the throne room window and looked out of it. It was dark now, and small snowflakes were falling from the sky. She crossed her arms and shivered. Snow always put her in a wistful mood, she didn't know why, but it did. She stood there for a while watching it fall, and thinking about her life Aboveground. Did time pass differently down here? She wasn't sure. Was anybody up there missing her right now? She sighed.
The way she saw it, there was a 50-50 chance she would be stuck down here forever. What if she never found Jareth? She wondered what would happen if she just left, escaped to the Aboveground, and didn't come back. Would the labyrinth pick someone else? She decided those were things to think about in the morning, not now. Right now, she just wanted to rest. It dawned on her that in the entire castle there was only one room she had found with a bed. Jareth's bedroom. It couldn't be helped, really. It's not like there was anywhere else for her to sleep, after all… She trudged up the stairs, telling herself that it would be fine. When she got inside the room, she felt herself blushing fiercely. Sleeping in someone else's bed was so awkward. It didn't help that every little thing in the entire room reminded her of him. The fire was still burning, and she assumed it must be a magic fire. At least it was warm in this room. She walked over to the bed and shook out the sheets. She didn't know how it was possible, but they were even softer than they looked. After she had straightened them out, she realized that she hadn't brought any pajamas with her. The jeans and t-shirt she was wearing wouldn't be very comfortable to sleep in. Besides that, they were covered in dust from sitting on the floor. She looked around, not sure what to do. That's when her eyes fell on the smaller door near the bed. Was it a closet? She went closer and laid her hand on the doorknob. Should she look inside? It was so strange to be in someone else's room, especially this person's room. She felt like she was intruding, but at the same time, she was almost enjoying it in an odd way. The indecision of what to do was too much for her, so she decided to get some books form the library to read. She picked up "Labyrinth Magic" again, hoping it would make a little more sense the second time around. She picked up a few more as well and headed back to her new bedroom.
She set the books on the bed and turned to face the closet door again. If everyone was to be believed, this whole castle was hers now. That meant everything it was hers now, too. She took a deep breath and opened the door. She couldn't honestly say she had ever thought about what the Goblin King's closet would look like. But if she had to guess, she probably would have gotten pretty close to what it looked like. For such a little door, the closet itself was quite large. Sarah couldn't even see the end of it. It twisted and turned every which way, and every inch was packed with clothing and accessories. Sarah had to giggle as she looked around - Jareth owned more clothes than any woman she knew. The closet, like most of the rooms in the castle, was illuminated by magic, and everything glowed a pale blue. Many of the clothes were quite sparkly, and Sarah raised an eyebrow at a few of them. Finally she found what she was looking for. Just a plain, kind of long shirt. It seemed to be made out of silk. She took it with her and tried to find her way back to the door. She felt a little giddy. This was so unlike her! She normally was very respectful of other people's privacy, never going in their rooms without permission, and certainly never stealing their clothes and wearing them.
Well, she tough to herself, things change. The hard stone floor was cold on the bottoms of her feet as walked over to the bed. The shirt she had found went halfway above her knees, and the sleeves were more than a little long. But that was to be expected - he was taller than her, after all. She shook her head and smiled as she pulled the blankets up over her. If someone had told her just a week ago that she would be in the Goblin King's bed and wearing the Goblin King's shirt, she would have never guessed out of all the possible scenarios that this is what would have led up to it. She probably would have also thrown a coffee cup at the head of the person who told her. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but in the deepest, darkest corners of her mind, Sarah had always thought that the Goblin King was a fairly… Handsome man. That is, when he wasn't drugging her, or stealing her little brother, or basically trying to kill her. But still, there was just something about him…
She re-read through parts of "Labyrinth Magic" and understood a little more this time. It seemed to line up with what the old goblin lady had told her. It too stated that the labyrinth gave magic powers to whoever ruled over it. Sarah put the book down and closed her eyes, trying to picture what powers she would have. She assumed they would similar to Jareth's powers. Would she be able to conjure crystals? Would she transform into an owl? Would she be able to… Teleport? Sarah's eyes flew open. She had forgotten he could teleport. What if he just appeared suddenly in this room? She would have a horribly awkward time explaining what she was doing here. But, Hoggle had said he hadn't been here in a year. What were the chances he would just show up now? A very small chance, she told herself. She turned over to her side and pulled the blankets up to her chin. Telling herself not to worry about it, she closed her eyes again and drifted off to sleep.
Her dreams felt all mixed up that night. Scenes constantly changed and each one melted into the others. Images of her life Aboveground swirled with people and places from the Underground. Hoggle was one of her college professors, but he didn't seem to know anything about the subject he was teaching. Her boss at the restaurant was a Firey who insisted on taking the customers' heads off. Toby was in her apartment asking her if she wanted a cup of tea, but when he spoke it was the worm's voice, not his own. Suddenly she was in the middle of her high school gym room, doing the waltz with Jareth. They were dressed exactly as in her peach dream. "Sarah," Jareth cocked his head to one side. "Are you sleeping in my bed?" Sarah couldn't seem to focus her eyes. "Huh?" she said.
The first thirty seconds after Sarah woke up were very disorienting. It took her some time to remember where she was. She threw back the soft gray sheets and got out of bed. As she stretched out her arms and back, she noticed some clothes folded on top the dresser that hadn't been there the night before. She frowned as she unfolded them. If she didn't know any better, she would have said they had been tailor made for her. She looked around suspiciously before she put them on. A cream colored button-up blouse with frills on the front and elbow length sleeves, and a pair of soft tan fitted leggings. On the floor she found a pair of knee-high brown leather boots. They, too, fit perfectly. It wasn't that Sarah didn't like them, it was that she wondered who had found her clothes that fit so well? It made her a little uneasy. When she went downstairs she found a dozen or so goblins, all hard at work cleaning. When they saw her they shied away from her, as if they didn't want to get in her way. In the kitchen she found Brax and the old lady cooking some food. Now that the kitchen was clean, she could see that there was a table and chairs. She sat down in one of the chairs. "Now that everything is clean, it looks so much better!" she told them.
"Thank you, queen!" Brax said as he placed a plate of food in front of her.
The omelette on the plate looked delicious. After the first bite, Sarah told Brax how good it was.
Brax stopped what he was doing and slowly turned around. "Really, queen?"
"Yes, of course! It's wonderful."
Brax wrung his hands. "Oh! Thank you queen!" he cried. "KIng never like Brax's cooking." his eyes went wide. "Sometimes, king throw food back at Brax."
Sarah was appalled. "I'm very sorry he did that, Brax. It wasn't right of him."
Brax wiped away a tear. "It's ok queen." He went back to cleaning.
"Hoggle is still in town, gathering others who can help us." the old lady told her. "He should be back fairly soon."
"Ok. By the way, do you know who left these clothes out for me? I'm surprised how well they fit me."
The old lady just turned and smiled at her. "I told you the labyrinth would let you know!" she beamed. Sarah groaned inwardly. The labyrinth had brought her clothes because she was the queen now? Great.
After breakfast was over and Hoggle still wasn't back, Sarah went to the throne room. It was her throne now, after all. She sat down on it. "Ow!" she squirmed around. It wasn't very comfortable. She tried sitting up straight. She tired slouching. Everything seemed to hurt her back somehow. Finally, the only position she could find that was bearable was leaning back on one arm of the throne with her legs resting on the other arm. "That's more like it." she said to no one in particular. "A girl could get used to this." She put her hands behind her head. After a while, she noticed some goblins at the doorway poking their heads inside. "You can come in!" she called out to them. They slowly and nervously inched their way towards Sarah. "Um, um, we was supposed to tell you that, um, Hoggle is out in front of the castle…"
Sarah sat up quickly. The goblins fliched and cried out. "What's wrong?" she asked.
The goblins cowered and didn't say anything. "Oh, you guys! You didn't think…You didn't think I was going to hit you, did you?"
"You mean, you're not?" the goblins looked at her in disbelief.
"No, of course not!"
The goblins looked at each other and ran out of the room yelling their thanks.
Sarah put her face in her hands. What kind of legacy had Jareth left behind? All she had to do was not hit anybody, and she'd look like a saint!
She met Hoggle out on the lawn. He had gathered several dozen goblins, all of whom looked quite eager. "I explained what's been going on to 'em, Sarah." he told her.
"Hello everyone! Thank you all for coming. This really means a lot to me." she looked out at all the goblin faces. "The first thing I would like you to do is scour the labyrinth itself. Every inch of it. Look for clues of any kind! Also, I want some of you to go back to Goblin City and ask everyone you can find about Jareth. When was the last time they saw him? Do they have any idea where he went? Please write down what they tell you. When all this is finished, you can come back here and we'll decide what to do next."
"You heard the queen! Let's go!" cried Hoggle.
Sarah decided to go to Goblin City and ask around as well. She was quite surprised at the amount of chickens roaming free, but she truly enjoyed seeing everything. The sizes of the houses varied greatly, and the little goblin stores sold the most curious objects. But as much as the city itself filled her with joy, the fact that no one had any idea about Jareth made her a little scared. Some of the goblins hadn't even realized he was missing. When she got back to the castle, it was dark outside, and she was weary from the long day. No real information had been found in the city, except that a few goblins had seen an owl flying overhead last year. All of the goblins searching the labyrinth weren't back yet, and probably wouldn't be back until the next day. Exhausted, Sarah decided to sit in the library for a while before going to bed. She sat in the chair and pulled the boots off her aching feet. as she sat, she looked up. What kind of books were those, the ones at the top near the ceiling? She grabbed the rolling ladder and pulled it over to where she wanted to look. The ladder creaked under her feet, and for a second she wondered it was still strong enough to support her. But she climbed up anyway. Books were just too tempting for her. When she reached the top, she found some of the titles were in the other language she didn't know. She didn't let that stop her, though, and put a few under her arms. She awkwardly climbed down, praying that she didn't fall or drop anything. She took the books and sat back in the chair.
The first one seemed to be a collection of fairy tales. Sarah smiled as she flipped through it. Here she had thought she knew all the fairy tales… All these were new to her. The next appeared to be a history book. It was half in english, half in the other language, without any pictures, but full of dates and years. The third book was in the other language as well, but it looked like a book of poetry. Sarah wished she could read what the words said. Each paragraph was spaced just so, all hand written. The more she looked through it, the more Sarah realized that the handwriting was the same as what was on the parchments on Jareth's desk. Had he written these poems? Suddenly the book fell open to somewhere in the middle. A separate piece of paper was stuck inside. Sarah pulled it out to look at it. Her heart began to beat faster as she looked at it. It was a photograph of Jareth, smiling and looking happier than she had ever seen him. He had his arms wrapped around a girl, who also looked incredibly happy. This wasn't what surprised her, though.
What made her heart pound in her chest was the fact that this girl in the picture,
looked exactly like herself.
Author's note:
Thank you SO much to everyone who's been reading! I've been getting these chapters out pretty quick, but the next couple might take a little longer - sorry!
I had intended this to only be 5 chapters long but... Ideas take on a life of their own. *sobs quietly in the corner*
But that means an extra chapter about Jareth! Not too sure how soon, though. But it WILL be there :D