Ch 1
Hoggle cursed under his breath as he slipped off a polished wood surface and landed on the hardwood floor below. Rubbing his bottom with a wince, he climbed to his feet to examine his surroundings. He was in an Aboveground living room. The portal he had just exited was a hallway mirror placed over a long wooden table covered with white envelopes and a flower pot containing orchids that did not smell real.
The table did not look particularly study.
"Ludo!" whispered Hoggle under his breath. Sir Didymus's face appeared in the mirror, and the little knight clambered out. "What's that, my good man?" asked Didymus, brushing dust off his arms.
"Keep it down, we have to stay quiet," Hoggle hissed through his teeth. "Stop Ludo, he'll smash the table and we'll get caught!" Didymus looked with alarm at the mirror, where Ludo's enormous shaggy leg was already peeking out. He grabbed the mirror, and in a feat of surprising strength, he removed it from its perch on the wall, precariously carrying the odd configuration of hallway décor and emerging red body over to Hoggle, who grabbed the bottom. Didymus, holding the top of the mirror, hopped to the floor and the two of them hurriedly carried the mirror a few feet to the right. It was growing heavier by the second as more and more of Ludo emerged, and they struggled to lower it to the ground. At last, Ludo's face and body emerged and he clambered out of the portal safely. The red giant shook dust off his shaggy fur as his eyes wandered around the living room, where he stuck out like a sore thumb against the elegant décor.
"Find Sawah," he announced softly. With that, the three of them began to search for their friend. Surely she was close by; emergency portals led to the closet mirror in range of the person sought after. The house was dark and silent in the dead of night, except for a light on in the kitchen. That was where they headed.
They quietly peeked inside the kitchen from the doorway. A young woman was carefully opening drawers and poring through the contents as though in search of something. She would occasionally lift a butter knife or an appliance and peer at it before quietly settling it back in its drawer in disgust. She was wearing a white bathrobe over blue pajamas and stood in a pair of bedroom slippers. Lifting the plastic cutlery tray that organized the forks, butter knives, and spoons, she slowly drew out a small carving knife hidden underneath, raising it her eye-level. It gleamed ferociously in the clean kitchen light.
"Sawah," said Ludo, ambling into the kitchen almost helplessly, like a moth approaches a flame.
Sarah's head shot up and she froze like a deer in the headlights. She blinked, knife still in hand, and her wide eyes traveled over the three figures in the doorway. "Ludo?" she breathed, setting the knife down. "Hoggle? S-Sir Didymus?"
Sir Didymus removed his hat with a flourish and bowed deeply. "My lady, a thousand apologies for our intrusion, but we are greatly in need of thy aid. Wouldst thou help us in our time of need?"
Sarah only blinked, then looked down at the knife. "I'm imagining things," she said softly. She shook her head as though trying to shake something out, and then slipped the knife into her robe pocket. "I'm imagining things," she repeated uncertainly, and began shutting all the drawers that hung open. Still, she glanced periodically at them from the corner of her vision as she worked.
"Sarah, you ain't dreaming," insisted Hoggle, stepping fully into the kitchen from behind Ludo. "Please, you's got to believe us. We need yer help."
Sarah bit her lip, shook her head, and furrowed her brow in turmoil. Still ignoring them, she began to stash the last pile of cutlery on the counter back in its drawer the way she'd found it.
Ludo took another step forward, tentatively placing his enormous hand on Sarah's shoulder. When he spoke, his great rasping voice was hopeful. "Sawah fwend? Sawah help fwends?"
The faith in his voice- the absolute, puppylike certainty that she would come through for her old friends- was her undoing. Her resolve seemed to crumble, and she shuddered, then turned fully to face her friends in the doorway.
"So… then it did really happen," she whispered. Her voice sounded preternaturally old, like it had rusted over and become overgrown with weeds. "The… the l-labyrinth was real."
"Yes, my lady!" exclaimed Didymus, only to be kicked in the shin by Hoggle. "Yes, my lady," he repeated in a hushed tone. "Indeed, it was." At that, Hoggle nodded.
Sarah hesitantly raised her hand and delicately rested it on Ludo's where it still lay on her shoulder. "Hi guys," she said weakly. "What… what brings you to my neck of the woods?"
Her sleeve slipped down as her hand raised, and they could all see the white gauze bandage around her wrist. With that, Hoggle snapped out of the haze of joy at seeing his first friend and scrutinized her fully.
Sarah appeared to be a fully grown Aboveground mortal now with the requisite curves and height, and she had clearly blossomed into a heart-stoppingly beautiful woman. But she looked… sick. Her skin was pallid and clammy, like a corpse flushed with only the faintest glow of life. Her hair hung in limp, defeated strands, and her eyes were strangely glassy and feverish.
Sensing a shift in the room's atmosphere, Sarah nervously licked her chapped lips and lowered her hand to hang at her side. "What?"
"My lady, art thou well?" asked Didymus delicately. "Your wrist…"
"Oh, that," Sarah said hurriedly. "I got into a little accident is all."
"Sarah, you look real pale," said Hoggle worriedly. "What-"
"I've been sick," said Sarah, with an edge to her tone now that marked the end of that line of conversation. "But I'm getting better. So," she softened again, "you guys said you needed help with something?"
"Sawah tree dying," rumbled Ludo, shaking his head. "Tree sick."
"My tree? What tree?"
"Please, Lady Sarah, you must return with us to the Labyrinth. Time is of the essence, and we can explain the details in transit. But please believe me when I tell you that our kingdom is in peril and only you can save us."
"Yeah, Sarah. You've gotta help us."
Sarah's voice was flat and disbelieving. "Go back to the Labyrinth?"
"Save Sawah tree," added Ludo helpfully.
"Well, what about…" she swallowed. "What about… Jareth?"
Hoggle hesitated. "Sarah, he ain't gonna harm a hair on your head. In fact, no one's even sure where he is. That's part of the problem we needed to talk to you about, in fact."
"Wherever he is, I doubt very much he'd want me back in his Labyrinth."
Hoggle and Didymus exchange a glance. How could they explain that whole can of worms to her? Didymus looked up at Sarah pleadingly. "Please, my Lady, we would not disrupt thee in the dead of night after all these years were it not a most grievous emergency."
Sarah paused for a long moment, staring down at her feet in thought. She glanced back over her shoulder at the empty stairwell, which continued to do an excellent impression of an empty stairwell. She turned to her friends, and peered at each of them in turn.
She laughed softly, then shook her head and then laughed again. "Sure, why not," she said. There was something a bit off about her voice. "Sure, I'll go. Let's all go back to the Labyrinth.
A combination of fatherly concern and gut-gnawing fear crept over Hoggle, but before he could voice his unease, a woman's voice could be heard from upstairs. "Sarah? Where are you?"
"Let's go," whispered Sarah, "Right now."
Didymus hissed excitedly, "Come, my lady, let us make haste!" He shepherded them all over to the hallway mirror that still leaned against the wall. Footsteps could be heard now, thumping down the stairs. "Sarah?" called the voice, louder now. "You aren't in the kitchen, are you?"
Ludo, defying all laws of physics, clambered into the tiny mirror and disappeared into the other side. Hoggle soon followed, as did Didymus, and then eventually Sarah, who had resigned herself to the inherent weirdness of the situation. Karen's footsteps were approaching, and Sarah hurried into position. The cool, liquid surface of the mirror was bitingly cold at first touch, but she acclimated to it surprisingly fast. It felt a little uncomfortable going up her nostrils, but she shut her eyes and climbed into the other side, where her feet found purchase on a stone floor.
She opened her eyes.