And we're back to Elisa's Point of View! The travel through the Labyrinth is now underway as is this story! Thanks to my wonderful beta Sennethe.

And now - Chapter Four!

I was able to walk without limping too much towards the gates of the Labyrinth. I knew that evil, laughing Goblin King was watching through his perverted crystal balls. I had forgotten that but I had remembered now.

At this I yelled, "I hope they give you Tartarus!" but no reply came. I wasn't expecting one, but oh well.

Finally, I reached the stone wall of the Labyrinth. I looked around for the pool Hoggle had been urinating in or Hoggle, himself, but I saw no signs of life larger than my fist anywhere. I could see the little fairies around shrubs growing alongside the wall of the Labyrinth but other than that there seemed to be no one.

But that was no big deal, I told myself. Hoggle was a part of Sarah's journey – he probably wasn't a part of mine. Hoggle had always been one of my favorite characters, so I was still a little disappointed. If he had been here then at least I would have had more of a footing of where to start.

Or was I focusing too hard on Sarah's journey? If Sarah and Jareth ever did get together – but wouldn't he have referred to her as the Goblin Queen instead of The Last Champion? – she would have had to have gone through another, different adventure. Several fanfictions that I had read had Sarah going through the Labyrinth again, this time it being different. So I did have a footing in a way, I knew that the journey would sculpt itself to me personally and probably lead to self-discovery. I needed to just face what came at me with a clear head and remember nothing is as it seems in the Labyrinth.

I shook my head at this. I was wasting time now. First things first, I had to get in. I looked up at the stone wall. It was perfectly smooth and at least two feet over my head.

"Well," I said. "I can always do what Sarah did." I raised my voice, "Could you show me the way in please?"

Nothing happened. I waited ten seconds. "How do you get into the Labyrinth?" Nothing happened. Another ten seconds. Nothing.

"Damn," I muttered. A rock flew from the toe of my sneaker at a bush. A squeak of indignation came. "Sorry," I called. I hoped I hadn't killed it. Even if it did bite.

"You should be," came a motherly voice. I looked to see a little further to my right a face appear in the wall. "Those fairies have a horrible taste for revenge."

"You can talk?" I asked stupidly. Excellent impression on the first creature of the Labyrinth that I meet, I thought bitterly. "Sorry, that was stupid."

"It was," said the rock formation agreeing. "Now did I hear you say you wanted to know how to get in?"

"Oh, do you know how?" I asked eagerly. I rushed towards it. "If you could help me that would be really great."

"I do know how to get in," moved the mouth of the formation. "All you have to do is stick your hand in my mouth."

"What did you say?"

"I said you must put your hand in my mouth," said the formation sounding affronted.

"Are you mad?" I exclaimed.

"I may be blind but I know what I said." The formation said annoyed now.

It was then I noticed that the eye bulges of the formation were closed firmly. I took a look at her mouth. There were several sharp rocks – they must be her teeth, I thought – in it and there seemed to be a light emanating from it.

"Really, all I have to do is put my hand in?" I asked doubtingly.

"Oh yes," said the formation. "That's all you have to do. Then the door will open and you can go on your way."

"Well, alright," I said warily, not liking this. I raised my hand and was about to put it in when a fairy flew up and shoved past it into the mouth. The mouth slammed shut and a series of squeaks could be heard.

My jaw dropped. "You would have bit my hand off!" I gasped.

"No, I wouldn't have," the rocks said plainly.

"How can I believe you?" I challenged.

"Because you have no other choice," said the rocks. I noticed a wing stuck on one of the 'teeth'. "I'm the only being that can let you into the Labyrinth – if you walk away now you'll never get another chance." The way in comes but once, be steadfast, I thought vaguely, but shook that mangled quote out of my head. Now was not the time to be trying to channel Saidar.

"I don't believe you," I declared. "You must be lying – There must be a way that doesn't require me turning into Rand al'Thor."

"Fine then," the rocks said cheerfully. "I'll be laughing at you later when you can't get in."

I stared for a moment. She could be lying – or she could be telling the truth. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't give up now – I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did, and Jenny and Case must be terrified.

Actually I doubted that, Case was probably having the time of his life, running with the Goblins. Jenny might be scared but I bet she was playing dress up or something, while Jareth spied on me.

That resolved me. He was probably laughing at me this instant. I forced a smile, "I believe you." I said, wincing in preparation before shoving my hand into the open mouth.

The mouth closed around it though none of the rocks pierced my skin. They folded around my wrist and I felt as if tiny feet were dancing over my hand. The mouth opened and my hand came out automatically and I saw a gateway appear to the left of the rock face.

"What was that?" I asked the rocks. "What'd you do?"

"Who me?" it asked evasively. "Just a bit of Blind Faith, that's all."

I didn't quite get that, but I said, "Thanks!" and ran through the gateway. I heard it shut behind me and I was stuck in the never-ending corridor like in the film.

I looked left and then right. It looked perfectly identical. "Damn," I muttered. "I thought that everything that happened to Sarah only happened to Sarah." I looked both ways again. There still was no difference.

"Hmm," I mused. "Eeny meeny, miny, Moe, catch a goblin by the toe. If Jareth hollers let him go, eeny, meeny, miny, Moe!" I landed on the right. "Right it is then! And since I didn't get to say my picked out line before and it works just fine now, move along!"

I started walking humming the song by The All American Rejects. The walls looked slimy and there seemed to be eyes coming from dark chinks in the stone. I reached out and ran my hand along the wall, hoping I would come to one of the hidden breaks. It wasn't as slimy as it looked, though I had a vague premonition that my hands were going to be glittery after. But man, I was scared!

After I got to the end of the song (though I probably forgot some of the words) and hadn't found anything, I stopped. Maybe I had to run like Sarah did before finding the gap? I started to run while still brushing my hand across the wall, but after five minutes of that I had to slow down and catch my breath. I was so out of shape.

I leaned up against one of the walls and sighed. Where were the openings? Sarah had been right, what was the point to of a maze without turns? Was I searching on the wrong wall? But how was I supposed to check both at once? Where was that cute little worm when you needed him?

"Do yah mind movin'?"

I sprang away from the wall and turned. "Thanks," said the gruff voice from a niche I could now see in the wall, down about three feet above the base. "Yah was blockin' me air."

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "It's just that I'm trying to get out of this section of the Labyrinth and into the turning part of the maze and I couldn't find the way."

A pair of red eyes appeared in the gloom, looking eerie. "Stupid, it's across from yah."

"Of course it is," I said sarcastically. "Of course it shows up the minute I stop looking." I turn and walked towards the opposite wall, and like magic my hand went through. Probably because it is magic you imbecile! I thought.

I turned back towards the red eyes. "Thanks, do you happen to know which direction is the castle?"

"I might," the gruff voice said sketchily.

"Do you think you could tell me?" I pressed. "I could bargain with you or something."

"Can yah untie knots?" he asked in a hopeful whisper.

"Most," I said. "Would you tell me which way to go then if I could untie this knot for you?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

I beamed. "Great! Where's this knot of yours?"

The red eyes came closer and closer until a head and body came out of the hole. I was shocked to say the least.

It was a dragon. It couldn't be more than two feet long and maybe one foot high. His scales were of hunter green and he looked thin, though I really was no judge having never seen a dragon in real life before. I might have been afraid of him even though he was tiny except for one thing. He looked rather pitiful there, for the thing that completed his image was a rope tied around his right ankle that trailed back into the hole – which I now realized was his cave.

I bent down to look at the knot and he raised his foot in an almost embarrassed way. It seemed to be a normal figure eight knot and I wondered why the dragon hadn't been able to just slice it open – his claws looked really sharp – until I felt the rope. It was cold, cold like a chain would be, and when I tested it between two hands pulling at it, it didn't move. It collapsed like a rope did, but I could tell nothing would be able to cut through this.

I then met the eye of the dragon. "I will be able to untie this but will you promise to tell me which way leads to the castle?"

The dragon nodded fervently, "Yes, yes, yes, just untie! Please!"

"Okay," I said and set to work. It took about twenty seconds and then his ankle was loose.

"Free!" The dragon yelled. "I'm free!" He shot off flying, swooping and cackling "free!" every loop-de-loop or so.

He soared higher and higher up, and he did look amazing for such a tiny guy but I was on a schedule.

"Hey! Come back!" I shouted. The dragon turned and glided into a landing at my feet. "You promised you would tell me which way goes to the castle."

"I did, I did," the dragon nodded. He then flew up onto the top of the wall and pointed his snout to the left. "This is the way to the castle." He then nodded to the other way, "That's also the way to the castle. See yah!" He flew off and out of sight.

"What?! Wait!" I shouted. "You can't do that! That's not fair – oh, right." Those were the other words I wasn't supposed to say. That and the relative of pie. I thought for a moment. He had told me the way. My question hadn't been specific enough so it was my fault. "Damn," I muttered anyway. There was another lesson of the Labyrinth, chose your words wisely.

I sighed, and walked down into the gap, and headed right. I walked that way for about five feet before reaching a fork. I turned around and realized there was a dead end behind me.

"Of course," I rolled my eyes. I looked at my surroundings again. This place wasn't in the movie, there was a high wall on both sides, and the fork looked like they went on for a bit before forking again. It looked like dungeon walls or something, except there was a slight flickering of light way up there. I peered up, and it seemed the walls went upward forever. There were sconces on the wall every twenty feet or so, but it was dark. I couldn't see that well, and a twisting feeling began in my gut. The turn-y section of the maze where Sarah had used her lipstick would have been where this had been. I guessed this was my equivalent.

"I thought that the way it was set up was silly anyway." I told myself before heading down the left corridor. I took random turns after that – I had doubted a compass would work here amongst all the magic and hadn't brought one, so I had no idea which direction to go in. I tried to ignore the fear in my stomach but I pushed onward. I had to get through this maze – I couldn't give up now.

Now that I had actually wished away Case and Jenny I was only now appreciating the fact that they were my siblings – Jareth wouldn't have come to get them unless he actually thought I meant the words, right? I had meant the words at the time – my anger at them hadn't been fake - but deep down I was starting to realize though they did annoy the Hades out of me, I did love them.

I went on like that for a while and it was then that I heard the beats of a song I remembered.

In the words of some of my favorite fictional characters, "Give him hell from me, kiddos," I whispered with a sudden spring in my step.

And that would be Chapter Four! Who's ready for Dance, Magic? Next chapter we're back to Jenny's POV view as some people's favorite song will be sung by Jareth and the Goblins.

That actually sounds like a band...On a side note, there are two references to fantasy books in this chapter. If anyone can pick them out they'll get a special mention at the beginning of the next chapter. Good luck on that, and please review!

Posted: 4-17-08