Chapter 14. Dreams and nightmares

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Author's note:

Portions of this chapter are taken from the AC Smith novel

They are taken out of context as needed.

Thank you AC for fleshing out the events.

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It was dark when Sarah opened her eyes. She took a deep breath, half expecting to find herself on the windswept hillside outside the Labyrinth. Instead, she found herself on an expensive leather couch. Leaning up, she looked around; "What happened?"

"You fainted." A voice with an amused sounding tone spoke.

Sarah turned and before she could stop herself, uttered the damning words again. "Goblin King?"

Mayfaire pursed his lips. "That's not very nice, after all I did carry you all the way back down here." He rose from his chair and moved to where she was lying and took a seat on the couch beside her.

Sarah looked at him, panicking. "Your secretary must think I'm…. I should go apologize to her."

He placed a hand in her way, knowing she'd not go past it. "Agnes left just after you bolted for the roof."

"We're alone?" She asked in a tight little voice.

"Very much so," he sighed.

Sarah pulled back as far as the couch would allow, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I'm sure you don't," he agreed. "But, here we are." He placed a hand to the back of the couch and looked at her with dark, menacing eyes. "Twice now you've called me Goblin King. Would you care to tell me why?"

"No." She gulped.

"No?" He rose from the couch and went to the desk. He picked up a book and tossed it to her. It was her book; the little red leather bound book that she'd put away months ago.

"Where did you find this? Have you been in my room?" Her voice was full of alarm, terrified of having been found out. Alarmed, she dropped it onto her abdomen. "I put this where no one would ever find it."

"I found that copy in a shop, Rizzoli's, in New York City and a hell of a time I had finding it!" He said coldly. "Now, start talking."

"I didn't mean it, you know I didn't mean." Sarah closed her eyes and lay back down. "I was angry, and it just came out."

"Angry about what," he sat down just out of eyesight of the girl. "What were you angry about?"

"It's not fair," she whimpered foolishly. "I'm… He's not my child, why should I have to stay home with him? I'm young; I'm the one who should be going out on dates, not them! For God's sake, they're already married." She bellowed.

He pulled out the tape recorder while Sarah was in her faint, after checking her vitals. When he noticed that she was starting to stir, he pressed the buttons to start the recording. Now, he glanced over covertly to assure himself that it was running. "Go on Sarah, what happened? Once you say it, it will be over and you can face it."

"I had been in the park," she began remorsefully, wringing her hands as if facing it yet again was almost too much for her. "Mother had given me a lovely old costume, so wonderful. And a book, the red leather book about… The Labyrinth." She picked the book up from where she'd dropped it when she'd laid down again. "Do you know the story?" She asked, but there was no answer; she had not really expected one. "It's the story of a beautiful girl whom the Goblin King has fallen in love with, and her wicked stepmother and the baby she's forced to care for." Sarah paused.

With barely a moment's thought, she picked up on the thread of The Labyrinth "Once upon a time there was a beautiful young girl whose stepmother always made her stay with the baby. The baby was a spoiled child who wanted everything for himself, and the girl was practically a slave girl. But what no one knew was this: the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with her, and given her certain powers."… "One night," Sarah continued, "when the baby had been particularly cruel, the girl called on the goblins to help her. And they said to her, 'Say your right words and we'll take the baby away to the Goblin City, and then you'll be free.' Those were their words to her…"But the girl knew," she went on, "that the King of the Goblins would keep the baby in his castle forever and ever, and he would turn the baby into a goblin. And so she suffered in silence, through many a long month ... until one night, worn out by a day of slaving at housework, and hurt beyond measure by the harsh, ungrateful words of her stepmother, she could bear it no longer."…

"Goblin King! Goblin King! Wherever you may be, Come and take this child of mine Far away from me!"

"Oh, Toby, stop it, you little monster. Why should I have to put up with this? You're not my responsibility. I ought to be free, to enjoy myself. Stop it! Oh, I wish ... I wish ..."

Anything would have been preferable to this noise, anger, guilt, and weariness in which she had found herself. With a tired little sob, she had said, 'I wish I did know what words to say to get the goblins to take you away.' Lightning cracked. Thunder crashed. In the nursery, Sarah was saying, 'I wish ... I wish ...' Toby's tornado had blown itself out. He was breathing deeply, with a whimper at the end of his breath. His eyes had closed. Sarah put him back in his crib, not too gently, and tucked him in. She walked quietly to the door and was shutting it behind her when he uttered an eerie shriek and started to scream again. He was hoarse now and louder in consequence. Sarah froze, with her hand on the handle of the door. She had moaned helplessly. 'I wish the goblins would come and take you away...' She paused. ' ... right now.' Her mind was spinning wildly as she retold the tale.

Her voice halted. Doctor Mayfaire sat in his seat, listening, nearly spellbound by the little storyteller. "What happened next, Sarah?"

"I don't know," she lied, unwilling to share.

"Sarah, what happened next?" His tone demanded an answer.

"He came." Sarah clutched the book desperately.

"Who? Who came?"

"Him." Sarah whispered in an almost fearful or reverent tone, "You…The Goblin King."

There was a sudden crash and both Sarah and the doctor were startled. He rose to find the source of the sound, but Sarah had jumped off the couch and was looking for a place to hide. "I knew I shouldn't have said anything," she looked at the doctor with apprehension. "Look what you've made me do." She heard the furious beating of wings. "No, you can't take him back…"

Mayfaire grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "Sarah, it's just birds on the roof. There's nothing to fear."

"Nothing to fear? You've no idea of what there is to fear!" she shouted back at him. "You've no idea of what you put me though the last time!" She heard the flapping and her eyes went glassy as she began to speak. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City, to take back the child you have stolen…." Her voice faltered as she was thinking of what words to say next.

"Stop," Mayfaire ordered. When she pulled into herself, he led her back to the couch; "Sit," he ordered. It was disturbing how traumatized the girl seemed to be. She seemed to believe this 'Goblin King' was angry at her and after her. He tapped his chin, "Sarah." He said thinking out loud. "You say he showed up? How, what happened?" He sat down beside her, placing a gentle hand over hers in her lap. "Tell me, Sarah, tell me what happened. I can see it's eating away at you."

She looked at him. "I said those terrible words, and it went quiet in the bedroom. I went in to make sure Toby was alright, but the lights wouldn't work, and I heard strange noises." She closed her eyes remembering the storm and the events that changed her forever. "The storm raged on over the house. The clouds boiled, Rain lashing the leaves on the trees. With all that bluster and blow all I could hear was an unnatural silence within the room. Toby had stopped crying, so suddenly it scared me; right down to my bones it scared me." Her lips trembled and her eyes looked as if she'd seen something more terrifying than war. "I was frightened, by a soft, rapid thumping on the windowpane." Her hands clenched so tightly, her fingernails scored her skin. "A white owl was flapping insistently on the glass. I could see the light from the landing reflected in its great, round, dark eyes, watching me. It was watching me! The whiteness of its plumage was illuminated by lightning flashes that seemed to never end. Behind I heard a noise and thought I saw shadows of creatures in the room with me but I couldn't look, not really I could only look at the window, my eyes were fixed on the owl's eyes. As if we knew each other's soul." She felt her pulse race, heard the roar of blood in her ears. "There was lightening, and thunder, and the room seemed to be closing in on me and that owl, beating and beating against the window, a blast of air blew the window open. Between the fluttering curtains the owl entered. I wrapped my arms around my face, and screamed, and screamed and screamed again, petrified that the flapping owl would brush across me. I thought I would die if it touched me. It all happened so fast." She whispered, "I could feel the wind, but the noise of the wings had ceased, I didn't even worry about Toby at that point, just me… I opened my eye to see where the bird had gone. When I opened my eyes," She gulped down the fear. "He was there. Looking at me… no, smirking at me."

Sarah remembered that first moment, and his appearance. "Silhouetted against the stormy sky was a man. He wore a cloak, which swirled in the wind. I could see that his hair was shoulder-length and blond. Something glinted about his neck. More than that I could not see in the dim light. Lightning traced the veins of the sky and lit up his face. He was not smiling, as one might smile on greeting a stranger, nor was his expression fierce. His eyes were fixed upon mine with an intensity I found compelling. When he took a step toward me , into the light shining from the doorway, I did not retreat. If his eyes had not hypnotized me , the golden chain around his neck might have. A sickle-shaped ornament hung from it, upon his chest. His shirt was cream-colored, open at the front, loose-sleeved, with silken cuffs at the wrist. Over it he wore a tight, black waistcoat. He was shod in black boots, over gray tights, and on his hands were black gloves. In one of them he held the jeweled knob of a curious cane with a fishtail shape at the end."Sarah felt the fires that his memory always brought and whispered; " Jareth."

Mayfaire was silent, studying the face of the girl. He'd seen women wearing the same look as Sarah wore now, and it worried him. She was too young and innocent to be looking so obsessed. "Sarah, you say there was a storm, and the storm blew the windows open… Just how close to the windows were you?"

"Close enough to feel the spray of the storm when the owl flew in." Her whole body began to tremble. "He took Toby…"

"Who took Toby?"

"The Goblin King, aren't you listening to me?" she looked at him quite put out that he was not paying attention.

Mayfaire stood up, "Sarah, the Goblin King is a character of folk lore and fiction. He's not real."

"That's what you want me to think, so you can trap me again and steal Toby! Well it won't work!" Sarah looked up, raised her brow and snickered. "You care to lay odds on what is and isn't real?"

Something in her tone told him not to. "You say an owl flew in the room when the windows burst open…?"

She nodded.

"And you claim the Goblin King then took your brother…"

"I asked you to give him back! I begged, I told you I didn't mean it." Her voice rose to fever pitch. "You laughed at me, told me I knew very well where he was. Then you made me go there and enter the Labyrinth." She covered her face with her hands. "You would not believe what you made me go through. Sometimes, I don't believe it."

"Did you ever tell anyone about this?" Mayfaire asked softly.

Sarah looked at him, "I get into hot water drawing a picture; do you think I want to be sent to a nut house? If I told anyone about this I'd be sent to the booby hatch! Who's going to believe that I've battled the Labyrinth and the Goblin King and lived to tell? Is that why you're back here? To make people think I'm nuts?"

Doctor Mayfaire sat down beside her, "I'll tell you what," he said in a friendly tone. "You tell me what happened and I'll tell you why."

"Why what?"

"Why you think this happened."

She glared at him. "It happened. I was there, and so were you."

"I think you're wrong." He said. "And, I think I can prove it."

Sarah narrowed her eyes, "I don't trust you!" she declared. "I know you're him trying to trick me again. The way you did with the poisoned peach, or the stone maze or…"

"I would never give a lady a poisoned peach." He quipped. "I think apples are more Freudian." His eyes danced with a sensuality that was ever present in their discourse.

Sarah opened her lips to protest, and then just as quickly, shut them. He was making fun of her, mocking her! Standing up, she glared at him. "You are the Goblin King!" She affirmed.

Mayfaire smiled at her coyly. "Care to wager on it?"

Sarah backed up. "I won't let you have him. You cannot have Toby."

"I don't want him," the man said. "I want something you alone can offer."

Sarah backed up again, this time right into the doctor's desk. "I don't have anything you could want, Jareth." She looked down at the crystal orb sitting there. In some way she felt it was mocking her. She looked at the doctor and repeated, "I don't have anything you want, Jareth!"

"Tut tut," he teased. "Let me be the judge of that." He took her hand into his. "I'm going to prove to you that none of this happened. You imagined the whole thing, and I'll find out the reason you concocted this story." He pulled her back to the couch, "Do we have a deal?"

"What's the stake?" She asked.

"If I prove that this was all a dream, you stay in therapy with me." He said, thinking he had the upper hand.

"And if you don't?" she began to wear a smirk of her own. "What then?"

He looked at her, tempted to toss out the rule book. "Then, your wish is my command."

"Deal." She held out her hand. As he placed his in hers, she gloated. "I beat you once, I'll beat you again. And when I win, this time I'll banish you from my life forever!"

"Big talk, from so little a girl," he teased. 'And when I win,' he stopped himself knowing he was in too deep already. Keeping her in therapy would test him to his limits, he was sure. He tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her forward. "I don't like to lose, Sarah." He warned.

Brazenly she moved closer, raised her chin and gave him her most defiant smile. "Neither do I, Goblin King. Neither do I."

"That's the kind of look that gets little girls into big trouble," he warned, but didn't pull away. She was seeing who would flinch first, and he'd be damned if it would be him.

"Trouble is my middle name." She goaded. She could feel heat pouring off him, and was half tempted to push this little game of chicken even farther.

Mayfaire read the thought; he could see it in her eyes. "I'm warning you, little girl, I bite."

Under her breath, Sarah whispered in an aroused tone, "Bite me."

A voice in the outer office called out. "Hello, anyone here?"

Mayfaire didn't move, but Sarah pulled back; she recognized her father's voice. "That's Daddy." She said.

Mayfaire walked to the door, opened it, and looked at the girl with practiced calm. "Next week, the same time," he watched her exit and fought the urge to give her a sound smack on that lovely little bottom of hers. Closing the door, he went back to the recorder and to rewind the tape and listen to it. He was sure the clue he needed was there; all he had to do was find it and get the girl to unweave her tale. He made a note to look into having a shower put into his private 'loo.