Author's Notes: I am so sorry this took so long to update. Between my school work and my other story, this one was sadly put on the wayside. Once finals are over, however, I can dedicate the proper amount of time to it!
Also, I recently was able to trade a bunch of old items for commissions, so expect some Alice artwork on my profile soon! And, if the site actually fixes my image uploader, hopefully a cover pic soon...
Annibale: Hopefully I do not disappoint~ I have so many plans for this. ^^;
Lady Ravanna: Next chapter, I promise! And I hope to have that up this weekend so it won't have to wait till after finals.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Labyrinth.
Chapter 5: Sarah's Friends.
Sarah could not sit still.
A night of worrying and thinking had left her with little sleep, and the moment her husband woke up to get ready for work at the office, she knew that sleep would elude her that night. So, rather than follow her usual routine of sleeping in on the weekend, she got up after her husband entered the shower and headed downstairs. He later entered the kitchen and watched his wife with unbridled shock as she fluttered about the kitchen, muttering to herself about goblins as she cooked a nonsensical amount of food.
The goblin muttering did not surprise him: she read so many fantasy stories and studied so much about the 'Fae World' that he had grown used to it long ago. But her early morning energy surprised him, having known her to be the type to sleep in till the last possible second during the work week, barely making it to her classes on time, and on the weekends, nothing short of a disaster could move her from bed before at least 10 o' clock.
Yet here she was, searching cupboards and cooking food at six in the morning, a large mug of coffee in one hand and a full near full pot resting in the coffee machine.
Which was an even bigger shock due to him rarely ever give up her tea for any other form of caffeine.
After her assurances that she was 'fine' and that she merely had 'too many story ideas bouncing around in her head,' her husband reluctantly left after having her promise to call if she needed anything. So, Sarah found herself alone in the kitchen, surrounded by mountains of food, before she worked up the nerve to call.
Not her husband, though. No, she was calling some old friends in hopes that they could lend her advice on her current houseguest.
Standing in front of the floor length mirror she had insisted upon in the front foyer, Sarah called out, "Hoggle, are you there? I really need to talk to you."
Though the response came slower than usual, a familiar, grumpy looking face appeared in the mirror. "Sarah, you have some bad timing. Things are a mess over here."
"This wouldn't have to do with a girl running the Labyrinth last night, would it?"
His eyes widened in shock. "What exactly do you know about the runner?"
"Only that she is one of my students, very shy, near obsessed with learning about Fae, and one of the goblins called her 'the-girl-who-wished-herself-away.'" She paused as Hoggle's eyes somehow managed to widen even further, before adding, "Also, she is asleep upstairs in my daughter's room."
"I will get Sir Didymus and Ludo and be back as soon as possible."
Ten minutes and the passing around of Sarah's copious amount of breakfast foods later, Hoggle demanded, "How do you manage to get yourself dragged into these messes?"
Sarah groaned, running a hand through her hair while the other used her fork to poke at some scrambled eggs. "Its my fault, really. I accidentally brought the Labyrinth book to school."
"You did what?!"
"Hoggle!" Sir Didymus cried out. "That is no way to speak to a lady!"
"She ain't a lady, she's Sarah."
Ignoring the grumpy dwarf, the fox knight politely spoke to Sarah. "My Lady, forgive my comrade's lack of manners. Do continue!"
Smirking at the familiar antics, she continued. "Well, it must have gotten mixed up in all of my Fae lore books. Alice, my student, had been very interested in the lore, so I had already told her to take books whenever she wanted, just to return them when she finished. Normally, she finished the books in a day or two."
Sighing, she slumped down into her chair. "Then, last night, I was leaving school for the evening and felt a pulse of magic. I acted before thinking, running out to the source and just moments later, Alice appears out of nowhere."
Hoggle scrunched his brows together. "Did she have dark hair like yours and a whole bunch of speckles on her face?"
"They are called freckles, and yes."
Ludo seemed to light up at this, pausing in his devouring of the stacks of food in front of him. "Ludo remember girl! Human girl have Fae eyes." He smiled and added, "Girl sweet like Sarah. No take help like Sarah, though."
Hoggle huffed. "She refused help from me too."
"As did she from me," Sir Didymus chimed in. "I tried insisting, but the lady purposefully lost me. She insisted upon no help for fear of the Goblin King's retribution."
Sarah frowned. "Well, that makes me feel bad for accepting your help."
"Sarah," Hoggle began with a sigh to his voice. "You know that Jareth favored you. That's why he tolerated our help and gave you such an easy run. Also, this girl seemed to know a lot more about Fae than a normal runner, making her far more prepared for this than you. She knew that accepting help had the possibility of making the maze even harder than it already was."
She went quiet at this, inwardly contemplating things as she sipped on her mug of coffee. Then, she softly stated, "I asked her if she won."
They perked up at this. "Surely she came out victorious if she returned to the Aboveground," Sir Didymus declared. "Afterall, she had wished herself away, did she not?"
Hoggle harrumphed. "Yeah, for a girl who knows so much about Fae, that had been a stupid decision on her part. And of course she won."
"She told me she did not know."
They all tensed, panic setting in their eyes at the implications. Why would the girl be here if she had not won? She ran for her freedom: should the answer not be clear? Before they could discuss it further, however, they were interrupted by the small sound of someone clearing her throat in the doorway.
There stood Alice, who nervously fidgeted from one foot to another, all while fiddling with the hem of large shirt she wore. Her pale blue eyes were cast to the floor, and awkwardly, she stated, "I should start from the beginning."