The goblins wasted not another minute, and their long, gangly arms reached out of the screen and latched onto different parts of Toby's body. Before he could gain a decent grip on the couch, he cast a fearful glance at Jareth and then was ripped forcefully from the living room and was sucked into the television screen. The screen went blank, but not before it spat out a small, old looking red book onto the ground in front of it.
The golden title read "Labyrinth".
Jareth faded into one of the more darkened corners of the room seconds before Sarah had leapt six steps from the bottom onto the ground and ran into the lightless living-room.
"Toby!" She cried, looking around in a panic, "Toby?!"
She ran to the side of the room and flicked the light switch repeatedly, but the lights merely gave a pathetic wink and then died again. Sarah sank to her knees and began hyperventilating. Where could he have gone? There wasn't anywhere for him to hide, thanks to Karen, the whole house was so goddamned spartan due to her clean streak.
Suddenly something caught her eye on the couch. She got up gingerly and made her way over to the piece of furniture. From the light reflected from the bathroom upstairs, she was able to make out the faint glimmer of glitter covering one of the cushions. Her eyes widened and her heartbeat began thumping uncontrollably. She knew only of one who'd use such an excessive amount of glitter.
The lights flickered and Sarah saw something red out the corner of her eye in front of the television. She approached it fearfully, as if it would leap up suddenly and attack her.
"Oh no. Oh, no way," The lights came on permanently and she saw the object for what it was. An instrument of the devil, the object from her worst nightmares, the reminder of excessive glitter use.
The book from her childhood, the exact copy she had owned, "Labyrinth", lay anything but innocently on the ground, the gold of the lettering shining at her, mocking her with her memories and story it held inside the cover. It mocked her like…something…really mocking.
She bent down and picked it up carefully, making sure to hold it at arms length in case it pulled a Jumanji on her and sucked her into its very pages. She stood up, so engrossed in what the reappearance of the book and the disappearance of her brother could mean that she hadn't noticed the tall, otherworldly man standing behind her.
Sarah turned and ran right into him. She stumbled backwards and landed unceremoniously on her backside while the big creature of the male persuasion grunted in annoyance. The book lay open at the few beginning pages of the story next to the couch.
The young woman inspected her hands for any damage and saw that they were covered in glitter, "Oh man, that's never going to come off!" she groaned miserably, "I hate glitter."
"I happen to find it rather pleasing to the eye," Came the defensive reply from the Goblin King, "But if you'd prefer it so, I could bury you head to toe in it."
Sarah stared at the boots belonging to the Goblin King and refused to look up or acknowledge him. She suddenly closed her eyes in the most stupid effort to become invisible ever displayed. She could hear the tap tapping of Jareth's boot as he tapped it in annoyance.
"I can still see you, you know."
"No you can't!" replied Sarah.
"Oh, but I can."
"I refuse to believe that you even exist, let alone that you can see me, you glittery freak!"
Jareth growled in irritation and before Sarah could protest, he'd picked her up and hurled her onto the couch. She hit the cushions and sat there for a while, seemingly in a daze of some sort. Jareth took a seat next to her and stretched his arm out behind her, playing with a lock of her long hair. The young woman felt his hand and shifted further along the couch, casting him a suspicious look.
"Where's Toby?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"Toby? Toby who?" he replied with a smirk, resting his chin on a fist.
Sarah huffed and crossed her arms, shifting so that she faced away from him. If he wouldn't answer her questions then she wouldn't give him the time of day, and he obviously wanted something from her…otherwise why kidnap her brother again?
Jareth, seeing he was getting no where fast, gestured with his hand. Suddenly the room was lit up with life, there were goblins on the stairs, around the couch, on top of the television and they were all dancing dizzyingly, laughing horrible laughs. Sarah's breath caught in her throat and she jumped from her seat, meaning to grab a solid object to protect herself with.
The Goblin King gripped her arm until she gritted her teeth and her face twisted into an expression of pain. He jerked her roughly back onto the couch and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, bringing her close to him. Sarah shuddered and turned away.
"Sarah! Sarah, help me!" came the sudden cry of her brother, and before Jareth could pull her back, she'd ripped free of his embrace and was running across the living room towards a large group of goblins. In the centre was Toby, curled up and crying.
She viciously kicked three of the goblins out of the way, one after another, and the others soon scattered, their laughter cut short. She'd almost reached Toby, who looked behind her in horror. Before she could ask, two larger and much stronger goblins had taken each of her wrists in hand, and she was thrown into the arms of Jareth, who curled his lips back in an animalistic display of triumph. Sarah gulped at the fangs protruding from his mouth.
Jareth forcefully took hold of one of her hands, and his other hand rested on her waist. To the jeering cries of his subjects, the Goblin King began a merry waltz across the room. Sarah kicked up as much a fuss as possible. But every kick she aimed at him, he happily switched feet and led her in a different direction, every insult she cast at him he shook off as easy as he would a leaf that had fallen on his shoulder.
They'd passed Toby three times, and each time Jareth had kept her just out of reach of her brother so she couldn't help him. The last time she had almost touched Toby, a pair of goblins came out of no where and scooped him up before whirling away with him.
Sarah was growing tired. How many rounds around the room were they on now? Was this just apart of Jareth's plan? Exhaust her so much that she'll just pass out and he could take Toby for keeps? She looked up into his eyes for the first time, and found that his had never left her face. They stared at her, cold and calculating despite the impish grin he wore.
"What do you want, Jareth?" She asked defeatedly.
"I want a rematch," He stated in an upfront manner.
"But I won, fair and square. You can't make me run the Labyrinth again," she tilted her head in confusion, "In fact, I never called for you…so how are you even here in the first place?"
"Why, Toby lost a little game," at his simple explanation, realization dawned on Sarah and she paled visibly.
"But he's only six years old!"
"Well he seemed to think that he was grown up enough, so who was I to deny him? Such a fair and noble King as myself…" He grinned at her wickedly and she glared back.
"Okay, Goblin Glitter King," hearing the strange adjustment of his name, Jareth tilted his head for her to continue, "I've got a deal for you. Give Toby back and leave now. That's the deal."
The Goblin King threw his head back and laughed. Sarah stared at him with wide eyes, wondering if he'd lost it even more than she'd ever imagined. She used this opportunity to untangle herself, she was getting rather dizzy from all the dancing round and round the room again. He stopped laughing abruptly and pulled her back into him, where he began their dance again. She nearly cried.
"But my feet hurt," she whined pathetically, dragging her feet in emphasis.
Jareth's only reply was to speed up the dance two notches, the goblin scattering every which-way to avoid a collision with the swift dancers. The room was becoming dizzying and Sarah couldn't keep track of all the Tobys they'd passed. Her head was swimming, and to keep her head on straight, she focused on Jareth's mismatched eyes. They were swirling in the most curious way…
For some reason her new focal point didn't seem to be helping her much. In fact, she felt even dizzier than before, and her movements were becoming sluggish despite her effort to keep up with the King's expert dancing. His strange eyes were swimming in and out of view and she had the vague feeling that she must've looked like a sloth at that moment.
Her eyelids drooped closed, and even though she could hear the panicked screams of her brother, she couldn't bring herself to open her eyes. She sighed softly and her legs gave out from underneath her.