Chapter 9

Izzy cried until she could cry no longer. She stayed in the shower for a long time, letting the water wash away her pain. He had done it again. Jareth had left her.

At least this time he hadn't erased her memory of him. She still wore the twin bangle bracelets he had given her as an engagement present.

Izzy reminded herself that he'd given his word that he would come back to her. She knew that Jareth did not take his word lightly. She was comforted by the thought.

She studied her beautifully, jeweled bracelets for the millionth time since they'd been given to her nearly two hours ago. Jareth had asked her to marry him. He would never simply abandon her.

After all, she reminded herself, he had watched over Izzy since she was 2 years old. She was stupid to be so upset. She knew he loved her, but he had responsibilities. She was being selfish.

To get her mind off of it she decided to treat herself for a change. It was the weekend. She was free to do whatever she liked.

After she had dressed and dried her clean, wet hair Izzy decided to take a walk in the park.

It was a beautiful, early, spring day. Although still bitterly cold, the sun was shining in the clear, blue sky outside the apartment window. It was perfect weather for early March.

Could it really only have been three weeks since Jareth had first told her he loved her? To Izzy it was as if she been with Jareth her entire life. She smiled to herself at the thought. She corrected herself, unbeknownst to her at the time, she had been with him her whole life.

Izzy threw on her coat over her black cable knit sweater and headed out the door. Sunny days were a rarity in the city of Seattle.

More often than not the sky was overcast with a constant drizzle. She was not going to stay inside on such a day. It could be weeks before there was another clear day like this one. If only Jareth had stayed to share it with her.

Izzy forced all thoughts of him from her mind. She was determined to be happy today. It was her first day as an engaged woman. Soon she would be Jareth's wife and the happiest she'd been since before her family had been killed.

She stopped by the small vegetable market to say hello to her downstairs neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Venti. They could be annoyingly invasive at times, but the past three weeks had passed without incident.

Izzy thought it was only right that she be polite to them. They meant well.

"Good afternoon, Signore Venti," Izzy cheerfully greeted the elderly Italian man who was bending over a cart of fresh asparagus out front of the market.

"Ah… Signorina! What a lovely surprise! Good day to you!" Mr. Venti's face lit up like a Christmas tree light. "Tell me, dear, how have you been, eh? And where is that handsome young man you've been seeing lately?" He inquired nosily in heavily accented English.

Izzy was taken aback by the question. So that's why they'd left her alone lately. They'd seen her with Jareth. Were they spying on her?

"My fiancé is out of town at the moment," Izzy replied after giving it a moment's thought. She was happily engaged. Why shouldn't she share her joy?

"Fiancé! Oh, mio Dio!" The little man exclaimed, his eyes twinkling. "Katerina, Katerina, come hear what news Izabella has come to share with us," he called to his wife in the back of the market. "She is engaged! She a-gonna marry that nice young man we saw her with!"

A frail little woman in a floral print dress came hurrying out of the shop, her hands raised. "Oh, Caro il mio! Congratulazioni!"

The tiny, olive skinned woman hugged Izzy closely, planting a kiss on either cheek before releasing Izzy from her grasp. Izzy blushed. She should have expected them to make a fuss about the news of her engagement.

"But, eh…. Where iz-a your ring?" Signora Venti asked, her thick, caterpillar eyebrows knit together in confusion as she stared at Izzy's hands.

Oh dear… Izzy thought with a sigh. She pushed back the sleeves of her heavy coat, revealing the beautiful, platinum bangles. Mr. and Mrs. Venti gasped, simultaneously, with looks incredulity on their faces.

"Such costly adornments, Izabella. He must love-a you, eh?" Signor Venti winked at Izzy, then said something to his wife in rapid-fire Italian. Mrs. Venti blushed, jumping slightly as her husband pinched her buttocks.

Izzy suppressed a giggle. "Grazi for the congratulations, Signor Venti. Signora," she acknowledged Mrs. Venti with a nod. "I really must be going now. Ciao!"

She hurried off as the couple went into the vegetable market, chatting animatedly in Italian. As she walked away she heard Signora Venti utter a line about something that sounded like "folletto" in a disturbed tone.

Izzy made a mental note to look up the meaning of the word online the next time she checked her email.


Upon leaving Signor Venti's vegetable market, Izzy had walked a block and half. The brisk spring air in her face had felt good. It left her face with a rosy glow.

She window shopped as she walked, admiring things she would have liked to buy if she had any cash to burn. Regardless of whether she had money to blow or not, it was simply nice to be out and about, enjoying the sunshine, watching passers-by.

Realizing she was hungry, but not wanting to return to her apartment for lunch, nor having much cash on hand, she hailed a taxi and stopped at a local ATM teller.

From there she asked the cab driver to drop her off at Pike Market. The underground market was famous for its variety of food markets, restaurants, and artisanal craft wares.

Today the market was not so crowded, which came as a pleasant surprise to Izzy, as the place was usually flocked with tourists and locals.

Izzy stopped to buy a bouquet of fresh flowers before picking up a mushroom and potato piroshky at the Piroshky Piroshky bakery. She sat at picnic table outside the market to eat her piroshky.

The buttery, puff-pastry crust of the Russian delicacy flaked all over the front of Izzy's sweater when she bit into it. Mingled with the cloying sent coming from her floral bouquet the aroma was heavenly.

When she'd finished the piroshky she couldn't resist stepping back in the bakery to pick up another one, along with a cup of borsht to save for dinner that night.

Izzy got back to her apartment later that night, tired, but happy. She had successfully managed to spend the entire day exploring the city and hadn't succumbed to her longing for Jareth even once. She knew he would be with her if he was able to be.

The taxi cab pulled up on the corner in front of the vegetable market to let Izzy out. She climbed out of the cab holding her bouquet in one hand and turned back to get her to-go bag of piroshkies and borsht.

She paid the driver his fee. As the cabbie pulled away Izzy unmistakably saw Signora Venti peering, half hidden behind a curtain of an upstairs window at her. The old woman vanished instantly.

Great. Spying on me again, is she? Nosy old busybody! Oh well. She must have nothing better to do than watch the goings-on of her closest neighbor, Izzy reasoned. Let her spy. What harm could she possibly do?

Izzy unlocked her apartment door, setting the bag of food on the entryway table. A note, written on faded stationary had been shoved under the door.

She picked it up, holding it unopened in one hand, while she took off her coat, then set it on the kitchen table next to her unplugged laptop pc. She popped the borsht and one of the piroshkies she had bought earlier in the day in the microwave.

Then sitting down and turning on her laptop she shoved her thumbnail under the tape that held the note together and read:

Izabella,

I do not mean to friten you, but you must pleaze be careful. I do not want to be in your bizness, but I feel I shood warn you that the man you love may not be what he seemz. I recognized the bracelets you wore today from a old story mia nonna told me when I was litel girl. I think they are magia. I do nott noe what your fiancé tell you about his contry, but he is from magia place far from here. He cood put you in danjer.

Un amico sempre,

Signora Venti