In less than a second Wanda got pushed away from Sarah causing her to fall to the floor. Wanda screeched as she was hurled away by Jareth. Sarah gasped for air as she watched the Goblin King loom over the witch who had now shrunk back to normal size.
"Wanda, what have I told you about teasing the mortals" he said so calmly.
Wanda scrunched up her face and crossed her arms.
"That girl shouldn't have come here in the first place to a house in the middle of a forest with smoke pouring out of the chimney, what is she stupid?" said Wanda.
Sarah could not see Jareth's face but she sensed that he was laughing.
"In my defence you seemed sweet enough at first" said Sarah, "who'd have thought that you would turn out to be such a vile, ugly witch."
"What did you call me?" shouted Wanda running towards Sarah only to be stopped by Jareth.
"Wanda" said Jareth, "you will not harm Sarah. Now go and settle down."
Wanda frowned at Sarah then walked off out of the kitchen. Jareth turned around to see Sarah lying helplessly on the dirty floor. He sighed as he held out his hand to help her up. She stood up and wiped the filth away from her clothes. Jareth shook his head and smiled.
"I leave you alone for a few minutes and still you manage to get yourself into trouble" he said. Sarah looked very relieved to see him. "Well, I hope you're hungry" he said.
Sarah looked around. They were no longer in the witches house. They were in a small room in the castle. The room was dimly lit by candles.The mood looked quite romantic and cosy. In the centre of the room lay a table with two seats. Sarah licked her lips at the sight of all the food that was placed in the centre of the table. There was a large scrumptious-looking turkey which was surrounded by all different types of mouth-watering vegetables. Sarah's stomach rumbled. Jareth chuckled and led her over to the table. He pulled out a seat for her, she smiled as she sat down. He then elegantly sat down in the other chair. He carved off a large portion of turkey onto Sarah's plate and then one for his. Sarah garnished her plate full of vegetables and started to eat. Jareth poured a glass of champagne out for her which she drank to wash out her mouth.
"This is delicious" she said.
As she ate, Sarah watched Jareth from the corner of her eye, as if curious about seeing a Goblin King do such an earthly thing as eating. Even the way he ate his food was done in such a stylish manner. He slowly chewed his food, bit by bit, unlike Sarah who ravenously stuffed the food in her mouth like she hadn't eating for days. But watching Jareth made her think more carefully about how she presented herself in front of him. It was almost like she was trying to please him but she didn't know quite why.
"Do you mind gaping at me while I am eating" Jareth said without even looking up at Sarah.
"I'm I'm sorry" she said looking embarrassed. "I just…didn't realise you ate…food" she said feeling mortified that she would ask such a ridiculous remark. Jareth looked up at her.
"What did you think I ate, Wanda's green slime" he said making Sarah laugh.
"No I guess I just always thought of you never having to eat. I always thought you were immortal or something." she said.
"I'm surprised you thought of me at all" said Jareth who wiped his mouth with a table cloth and put his knife and fork to one side.
"I didn't, I mean not very often, but its hard to forget a Goblin King once he has came into your life, even if you did defeat him."
"You did not defeat me Sarah, I'm still alive aren't I, you simply made it so I could never harm you again. I have no power over you and once these wishes are over with, you will have no power over me too." he said.
"So you're only being nice to me because you know I have no power over you?" she said angrily.
"Well what else would you want me to be nice to you for, hmm?" he asked daring her to answer. "Don't tell me you're actually starting to like me" he said.
"No of course not! it's completely ludicrous to even think that, I've never liked you! It was always you who liked me!" she retorted.
"Oh did I?" he said.
"Yes you did and you know you did. I could see it in your eyes at the masquerade ball. The way you looked at me, you wanted me didn't you Jareth?"
He seemed stunned by her forwardness, as did she.
"Well I suppose there is no point denying that the mood at the masquerade did make me feel that I wanted to take things further. I was curious! As I'm sure you were."
Sarah looked a little uncomfortable.
"No" she said quietly.
"Oh come, come Sarah. Don't deny that there wasn't a tiny bit of you that was curious about what it would have been like to be with a Goblin King. What it would have been like to have stayed and to have kept dancing with me. To see what would have happened after that, hmm?" His voice was deep and seductive.
"No! I was only fifteen then. I was too young." she yelled.
"Yes you were young, so innocent…naïve…childish…the Virgin Mary figure. I could see it in your eyes. There was such a sad love inside, one that yearned to taste the forbidden fruit for the first time. It was a good thing you were only fifteen and in search of your brother. Otherwise who knows how the night would have ended" he said as he smirked. They sat in silence for a while, reflecting on what could have been until Jareth spoke again. "But let's not dwell on the past shall we? What's done is done. We have both moved on since then."
"Yes we have moved on" she said.
"Speaking of which, have you managed to resolve your differences with your stepmother" he asked.
"Yes I have" she said, "I mean we still have our arguments sometimes, it's not like she could ever be my real mother." Sarah paused remembering the reason for why she came back to the Labyrinth in the first place, to recover from the loss of her real mother. Jareth noticed Sarah's sadness.
"Your mother" he said. "How did she…"
"…I don't want to talk about it" Sarah snapped.
"As you wish" said Jareth, "but I'm sure that she did love you Sarah."
"How do you know?" Sarah said trying not to cry.
"Well why wouldn't she love you. Sure you can be stubborn at times but that's no reason for a mother to detest her own daughter now is it" he said noticing that Sarah was clutching onto her locket. "What is that" he asked reaching for her neck to get a closer look at the old pendant.
"It was left for me after my mother ran away from home. Dad told me that she must have left it to show me that she still loved me and wouldn't forget me. I thought that one day she was going to come back for me."
Jareth twiddled the locket between his gloved fingers. He seemed strangely interested in such a rusty old necklace. Sarah pulled it away from him making him move away from her.
"Sorry" he said. "I'm sure your mother would have come back for you."
Tears welled up in Sarah's eyes. Jareth put his hand on her face to try and calm her.
"I'm sorry" she said. "I've been a bit emotional ever since Lysander told me that…
"…Lysander?" Jareth asked pryingly.
"Oh he's just a friend" she said. "My best friend actually."
"I see" he said.
"He's not my boyfriend!" she demanded.
"And why would I care if he was" said Jareth, "you're clearly old enough to be in a relationship, I'd be surprised if you didn't have a boyfriend." Jareth could see he was make Sarah feel uneasy. "After all you are a woman now" he said admiring her womanly figure.
Sarah felt uncomfortable with him looking at her, in truth she felt discomfited by the entire conversation they had just had. She stood up out of her chair to which he nobly responded by standing up also.
"I would like for you to show me my room now" she said.
"Very well" said Jareth.
Jareth led Sarah out of the small room and into the main lobby. They walked up a case of stairs which Sarah had never seen before. Sarah walked in front and was oddly comforted by Jareth's closeness. Even when they walked down a scary narrow corridor and passed creepy knights in armour, who Sarah was sure she thought she saw move, she felt protected with Jareth behind her. The castle was a Tardis, much bigger on the inside than it was outside. Magic, she thought. Sarah was too busy gazing around that she failed to notice the step in front of her and if it wasn't for Jareth's steady hands she would have fell head over heels and made a complete buffoon of herself. She already did kind of, as she realised that as Jareth caught her she had grabbed hold of his upper leg for safety.
"Steady there Sarah" he said as he helped her up, "if anyone saw us they'd think you were trying to seduce me." He grinned wickedly.
"Just keep walking" Sarah said as she marched off down the corridor indicating for him to follow. She realised that he was not following her so she turned around rolling her eyes.
"Are you just trying to annoy me" she said. "Come on!"
"Why would I want to go over there, this is your room" Jareth said standing by the door with a key shaped like a skeleton dangling from his gloved hand. "I don't know where you think you're going." he smirked.
Sarah awkwardly walked back up to him, her angry eyes staring at his face of amusement. Jareth unlocked the door and pushed it open. Sarah walked in astounded with the beauty of it all. She had no idea that such a dull-looking castle could enclose a room that was so enchanting. It was every girls fairytale. There must have been about fifty dazzling dresses which hung from butterfly pegs, waiting for Sarah to try them on. A large dressing table sat at the far end with a mirror and cosmetic case with only the finest brands of make-up. There was even a small hair salon where two friendly-looking female goblins awaited her arrival. Sarah exhibited a wide smile on her face amazed that she had her very own dressing room and would soon have her very own ball.
"This is amazing Jareth" she said but when she turned around she noticed that the King had disappeared.
"This way sweetie pie" said one of the goblins who clutched Sarah's shoulders and led her over to the dressing table. Sarah sat down in the salon chair.
Sarah looked at herself in the mirror. She was pretty but rough, her eyes were still a little swollen after she'd been crying all the night before.
"We'll get you looking like a princess for the ball" said the other goblin.
Throughout the rest of the afternoon Sarah could act like the diva she never was. She was spoilt and pampered, and she seemed to enjoy herself, even if she was being indulged by two unattractive goblins. First came the hair; her long dark tresses were washed in the finest herbal shampoo and cut into a sleek style with clips at either side. Then her came her make-up; elegant but youthful. She had chosen a crimson-coloured lipstick and classic black mascara to highlight her plump lips and luminous hazel eyes. But the most time was spent on her dress, for Sarah had to have the ideal dress if she were to have the perfect ball. She must have tried on at least twenty gowns before deciding on the right one. Some were too frilly and some were too revealing, but finally Sarah had found was that suited her tremendously. It was a long midnight-blue ball gown with a halter-neck which fastened with a small platinum owl brooch. It exposed little cleavage but a lot of her slender back and captured every curve of her lean figure. The dress showed Sarah's innocence in a whole new light, for even though she was pure she was no longer a child and the dress proved that fact. She smiled to herself in the mirror. Strangely she seemed very excited about going to the ball with Jareth. It was almost like she wanted him to like her. And why wouldn't he. Any man would be a fool not to find her attractive wouldn't they?
I decided to put two chapters up this time seeing as the last one was pretty short. God I wrote this story quite a while and looking back on it I realise that it's quite risque - for me anyway. Still, there's more chemistry to come I can tell you. This story is not finished yet so I'm still not quite sure where it will lead. All I know is there are still seven more complete chapters to come and by the time they've been added i'll have probably finished the rest of it so I hope you put it on your alerts as I will be updating regularly. Keep smiling and keep reviewing. Any questions? RK.