Chapter Seven
"Do you want me to do that for you?"
"No."
"Really?"
"I'm positive."
"You must be really desperate if you're choosing to turn down free labor."
Jareth gave Ravie a sideways glare. She was oddly pestering today- very, very pestering- and nothing could be more suspicious than a goblin pestering to help; especially if that said goblin happened to have green eyes.
"Why do you want to do my work so badly?" Jareth asked in a silky yet challenging tone.
"Um, because then I won't be forced to do them later. You know, after you leave for the ball." Came Ravie's quick and witty reply
"But I do believe that you had just said that I must be so desperate not to go to the ball that I'm not letting you do my work, in saying such that you believe that I am doing the work to prolong not having to go. So now, don't you think that it's rather contradicting for you to suddenly say that I'll just leave all this work for you to do when it's time for me to leave?"
Jareth grinned as Ravie winced from the logic of this statement; his grin of victory turned out to be short lived, however, as suddenly Ravie laughed:
"Ah, fine! You've caught me! I'll admit it, though I'm a bit ashamed of saying so, but I'm actually starting to like filling in the documents."
Jareth's face fell and Ravie's face beamed. She then rapidly went off about how much she now enjoyed the work, while Jareth could only chewed on the inside of his cheek; his annoyance kept building and building as Ravie continued to babble on and on and on.
It was when a yelp cut through the air and a goblin went flying up, passing by the Study's window, that the sudden realization hit him.
"Weren't you just saying the other day how much you'd rather jump out the window then fill in another trade report?"
Her face fell and Ravie bitterly exclaimed, "When did you start listening to what I say!"
"I've always paid attention," Jareth replied smugly, "but you've never seemed to have anything interesting to say."
"Fine, now I take back my offer!" Ravie cried out with a pout, returning to her paper.
But Jareth refused to let it go. Sliding the document away from her, he silky asked, "So, why is it that you keep offering to do my work, hm?"
Ravie just shook her head, mutely reaching for another document, but she found her way blocked off by Jareth's other arm. She gave him an icy look but he simply return it with an even icier one.
The two of them sat there, silent glaring at each other for what felt like an eternity. Finally, Ravie snapped and, with a sigh of defeat, admitted the truth: "Well, I knew how upset you were of going to the ball, so I thought maybe if you didn't have to work, you would be in a better mood..."
For once in his life, Jareth was complete and utterly speechless. He blinked confusedly at the little goblin who was looking sheepishly down at her hands; he was so taken by the gesture, that Jareth almost missed stopping a soft smile that almost made it to his lips.
Giving back the document, he then told her, "Yes, well, the only way for me to get in a better mood is to get distracted, and you are a very good distraction."
"So, you're saying that I made you feel better?" Ravie slyly said.
Flicking the back of her head, Jareth bitterly saw that he couldn't quite hit that smug grin off her face. He then proceeded to barked at her to get back to work, and, with a smarty reply, Ravie turned her attention back on the document before her. Then both goblin and fae fell into the peaceful working manner that had rapidly become their own.
In what felt as if it were no time at all, the clock above the fireplace mantle rang out a deep mellow note. Looking up, Ravie vaguely heard the Goblin King sigh as he then got up and cracked his knuckles.
"Time to go?" Ravie asked needlessly.
"Unfortunately." Jareth said, his voice sounding extremely miserable and so defeated, "Even the documents cannot save me from this vile obligation."
He took one last look at the clock, just to make sure that it truly said eight; right before disappearing from the room, he surprised Ravie by suddenly saying, "Be sure to not be a bother, hm?"
Turning her head to make her reply, Ravie then found herself to be completely alone in the room, not a single trace of the Goblin King to be found. Smiling while shaking her head, Ravie then sighed as she looked at the giant stack of unfinished work and began her slow attack on the mountainous pile.
An hour passed, then two, and Ravie still worked and worked and worked as the stack continued to loom above; three hours then inched by with seemingly little progress made while little yawns escaped from the little goblin; the fourth hour rolled around and the stack still towered while Ravie's eyes were fighting a losing battle of keeping open, but by the ringing of the midnight chime, the pile had been reduced to the size of an ant hill; but an ant hill it would remain, for the green eyed Goblin laid flat upon the Goblin King's desk, having lost herself to sleep.
"Noah!" Stacy hissed.
"What?"
"Don't go so close to the edge!"
"Why?"
"You might fall!"
"Are they gone yet?" Ravie asked, though her voice did not sound as squeaky as it usually did.
"I don't know...but let's wait here anyway." Stacy whispered.
"Oh, this is so stupid!" Noah growled quietly, "What did we ever do to make them chase us?"
"It's because they're jerks!" Ravie hissed, "They like chasing little kids around and making them terrified and climb up trees or hide in houses! It's all a game to them!"
"Oh, shut up!" Stacy whispered worriedly as they heard a crack.
"Oh raaats!" Came a call followed by a fit of laughter from a group of much older boys, "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
"Noah!" Ravie whispered worriedly as she saw him scoot closer and closer to the edge of the tree branch.
In his hand Ravie could see that he held a pinecone. He was looking down, scanning the ground for the bullies who had chased them. Spotting them, he pulled his arm back for the throw but before it could fly, there was a sudden sickening crack, and both Ravie and Stacy screamed out his name as he suddenly plummeted down with the rest of the branch.
Jolting awake, Ravie panted heavily. There was a heavy burning sensation in her chest quickly followed by the now familiar biting pain that coursed through her veins. This time she didn't even bother trying to stop the tears; in fact she curled up into a ball, letting them flow freely down her face as long as they liked. She let herself cry because of the pain, because the tears themselves wouldn't stop, and because of that poor boy who fell from the tree.
The poor boy...who fell...from the tree? Noah?
The pain, the tears, everything was momentarily forgotten as Ravie froze with fright with the realization about something terrible.
She had remembered the dream.
It flashed before her eyes as it had done in her sleep. Little Stacy with her black braid, her milky brown doe eyes looking abnormally huge as she leaned back as far as she could go against the pine tree. Noah, his thin light brown hair sticking to his freckled face; he looked rather like a ghost: all pale, thin, and sickly looking- barely any color except for the dark angry gleam in his bright blue eyes.
But how... how do I know them?
Ravie mind raced with this question as she thought and pondered and wondered how could she know two human children? What was she doing there? For she knew- just knew- that this dream was more than just a dream; it had happen; but the problem was when? How? She had never been in the Aboveground, not once in her life, and yet there she was among children; more than that, she knew those children; she was friends with them. How? How was it possible?
Another sharp pierce when through her and Ravie felt herself fall backwards and onto to the floor. Letting out a grunt, she found herself screeching as a pain that burned ten times worse than anything she ever went through before shot through her; it felt as if every cell in her body was being torn from each other. She curled put into a ball, her eyes squeezing shut, praying for it to go away and suddenly, with no hint or warning, it disappeared. Completely and entirely disappeared.
A eerie silence seemed to engulfed the room as Ravie laid there, focusing on her breathing. Then very slowly for fear of it coming back, she uncurled herself, wincing from the ache that remaining as a ghost. Feeling dizzy, she did not dare move from the floor, but instead laid there, trying to get her bearings. Finally, very carefully, she slowly opened her eyes.
It's strange, but the world looked a lot more smaller from the floor,
Realizing how absolutely ridicules such a thought like that was for the moment, Ravie couldn't help herself but to let out a laugh.
A laugh that sounded nowhere near the high pitched squeak that belong to Goblins.
In her alarm, Ravie rapidly sat up, coming to the quick conclusion that that was not a good idea. Squeezing her eyes shut in hopes to stop her head from spinning, Ravie also brought up a hand up to touch her forehead.
A forehead that was much smoother than what she could remember.
Wrenching open her eyes, Ravie continued to feel her forehead with increasing anxiety. Why does it feel so soft? She wondered. And so weird? It's like, it's like- wait. Where are my claws?
Quickly bring down her hand, all Ravie could do was let out a scream.
Not a screech, but a scream.
A human scream.