Chapter 24 (A Chapter written whilst quite sickly & watching Herbie Fully Loaded… WHY?!?!?!)
The moment he was settled on her broom, Sarah walked towards the window, and jumped.
As the fell, Jareth opened his mouth and let out an ear-piercing scream. Sarah laughed the whole way down…
Sarah pulled sharply up on her broomstick and soared into the sky.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Jareth yelled into her ear.
"Loosen up a little! I'm just having some fun!" She cried, swooping around the towers on the castle.
"If you're not careful, we'll both fall off! Seriously, we need to get some work done today, Dumbledore wanted results in a few weeks, if you keep goofing off like this, you'll never master you crystals."
"I'm not the only one goofing off." She said, turning and flying towards the Quidditch pitch.
"Where are we going now?" Jareth cried in dismay.
"I don't know, exploring?"
"Sarah!" He yelled. "We need to do work!"
"Oh, right work. Ok" She turned around again, completely backtracking herself towards the opposite side of the lake. "I found this great spot by the lake. It's like, this completely flat rock right on the edge."
"Just hurry up, we'll need some lanterns as it is anyway." He said. Sarah hadn't noticed his eyes were shut, until she turned then to answer him.
"Are you afraid of heights?"
"No…" He said nervously
"But in the Staircase room you were totally hanging upside down and stuff."
"Yes, but then I had something under my feet, and I had control over whether or not I fell" He said, tightening his grip on Sarah.
"I see." She said, smirking. Subtly, she began making her broomstick fly up and down, 'losing her stomach' every time. She knew the effect would be even worse on Jareth
"What now?" he groaned, going slightly green. Sarah rethought her actions, hoping he wouldn't be sick. She smoothed out her course and sped up.
Eventually they arrived at their destination. Sarah slowly descended and landed softly on the ground.
"Ok, you can get off now." Jareth opened one eye, then the other. Slowly and shakily, he stepped off the broom, extremely stiff.
"I need to sit down." He groaned, his legs collapsing beneath him.
"That really was terrifying for you, wasn't it?" Sarah asked, conjuring him a glass of water and handing it to him.
He thanked her and gulped it down.
"I blame you entirely." They sat in silence while he regained his composure. "Right, let's get to work. First of all, let's get some light." He conjured a crystal, which emanated a soft white light. "To do this, you need to picture the crystal, but also think of what you want it to do. You have to… feel as though you're holding a crystal like mine."
Sarah tried that, and almost had it. Her crystal constantly flickered, and the light was nowhere near as bright as Jareth's.
"That's ok, that's ok. Try again"
She did. This time the light was brighter, but still flickered, changing colours as well.
"Well, it will be good for parties." Sarah said bitterly.
"Don't be like that Sarah. You had to work hard to succeed at Hogwarts, right?" He asked. She nodded, her chin in her hand. "Well, you've only tried this twice. Come on, keep going!" he urged.
After four more tries, Sarah finally had it.
"Excellent, I told you you could do it." Jareth disposed of her other failed attempts (which were all flickering, pale lights, which grew stronger and more constant as their numbers grew). "Now, make a few more so we can see." The sun had almost well and truly set by now. Sarah made five more successful attempts, with three failed crystals in between, until the surrounding area was quite well lit.
"Now, what do you want to learn to make?" He asked
His question was answered when Sarah's stomach began to growl
"What do you want to eat?" He asked
"Umm… I have a bit of a hankering for some Mongolian food." Sarah said.
"Uh, ok then… well, it's basically the same thing. Conjure a crystal and just imagine it's a plate of… Mongolian food."
Sarah did so.
The crystal disappeared, and in her hand was a plate of what looked to be brown lumps and rice… But which didn't smell anything like any sort of food.
"That smells horrible!" Jareth said, covering his nose and mouth with his hand.
"That's almost as bad as the Bog of Eternal Stench." Sarah said.
Jareth conjured a crystal and threw it onto the plate, which promptly disappeared. Sadly, the smell stayed in the air.
"Maybe we should move again." Sarah said, her hand now over her nose.
"Come on." Jareth said, almost running around the lake, moving upwind from the scent, Sarah followed, holding her broom.
"On second thoughts, let's try one to get rid of that stench." Sarah said.
"Ok, imagine a scent as you conjure the crystal. Please, make it something pleasant!"
Sarah tried her hardest, really she did. But she was nervous, and anxious to try and find something to cover the smell. But the scent that appeared once she'd thrown her crystal at the affected area, was anything but soothing.
"What is that?" Jareth yelled at Sarah.
"I don't know! It's like… it's like… rotten eggs!" Sarah cried, dismayed
"For goodness sakes!" Jareth cried, throwing another crystal into the air. The smell was gone, and replaced completely with a fruity scent.
"Much better." They both said, inhaling deeply.
"What a blessed release." Jareth said.
"Sweet, sweet freedom." Sarah said, laying back and looking up at the sky. "Woah, look at all of those stars!"
"Hey yeah." He said, leaning back and putting his hands under his head.
"The sky is completely different to America's stars."
"That's because you're in a different part of the world" Jareth said
"Well, duh!" Sarah said flustered. "I was just saying. You know, that scent seems familiar."
"Yeah, I know. I don't know where it came from, it just sort of… appeared in my mind."
"It reminds me of… my Mum." Sarah said. "I think she washed her hair with shampoo like this. I always wanted to find one like it, but I never could."
"What a pity."
"You say that so often."
"No I don't. That would be you, 'That's not fair!'" He laughed. "Was I really that scary back then?" He asked, rolling over and leaning on his elbow to look at Sarah
"Yeah, I was so freaked out when you appeared. I didn't actually believe you existed. I wanted you to, but I never thought that you would actually come and take Toby away.'
"That's the problem." He said sadly.
"What's the problem?" Sarah asked
"No one believes in the Labyrinth anymore, so less and less children are wished away."
"So why don't you give out more copies of the book or the movie?" Sarah asked
"Children don't read as much anymore, and Labyrinth doesn't sound like the greatest movie, sad as it is to admit. Plus, everyone's watching those action movies, where thing's are blown up and car's crash. We just aren't up with the times." He said.
"That sounds so clichéd." Sarah said, laughing.
"It isn't a laughing matter!" Jareth said angrily. "The less people who believe in the Labyrinth, the less powerful it is. As the Believers diminish, so does the Labyrinth."
"No!" Sarah said loudly, her voice echoing through the forest. "Wait, what's the time?" She asked.
As she did so, a small creature appeared, calling
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! You must come quick!"
A NOTATION OF A STORY FROM AN AUTHOR
Happy Saturday! Well, here it's technically ten to Saturday, but anyways…
This chapter is for my Beagle Basil, who I wish was a Fleagle, and I who almost entirely based Numair on (He's almost 3, but still acts like a puppy! He's so gorgeous!!!!!!!!!)
I hope you enjoy this!
THE QUEEN!!!!!!!!!
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