Chapter Four: A New Journey Begins

A sluggish breeze crawled through the pitch-black chamber, trembling as though it were afraid. The shadows stirred, stretching themselves thin in the solid darkness. Their ends tingled with feeling. They knew they were waking, that their long dormancy was nearly at an end. The shadows didn't keep time, so they didn't know how many hundreds of years they'd been asleep. They only knew that they were waking.

***

Jeremy tripped on a rock and fell against the wall he was following. He leaned against it for a while, breathing slowly. There has to be a way in, he told himself, the wall can't go on forever. He stood and began to continue, but stopped short when he found himself staring down at a dark-haired, pale-skinned woman in a long green renaissance-fair-dress.

"Who're you?" He asked quickly.

"Jeremy, it's me." A familiar voice answered as the moon rose higher. "Sarah."

Jeremy blinked, squinted, and bent lower to get a better look at her face. "Sarah? What are you doing here?"

She took a deep breath and considered saying several things. "I'm here to help."

Something deep within the ground rumbled.

"What was that?" Jeremy demanded, looking all around him.

"It's nothing." Sarah promised. "Come here." She reached out and grasped his arm. "I'm going to fix this." She closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Um, Sarah?" Jeremy coughed. "What are you doing?"

The Goblin Queen opened her eyes and looked around. They were still standing outside the wall of the labyrinth. "Why didn't it work?" She took her crystal out of her pouch and focused on Jareth, but it remained dark and empty. "What's wrong?" She whispered to herself.

"I lost Brian, that's what's wrong." Jeremy took his arm back and covered his face with his hands. "Tiffany is going to kill me."

"No! Jeremy! This is not your fault!" Sarah reached up and moved his hands away from his face. "Look. I'm here to help you."

"The Goblin King said that Brian was in the castle beyond the goblin city, but I can't even get into the labyrinth around the goblin city!" His hands balled into fists.

"It's okay." Sarah tried to comfort him, going to the wall and placing a hand on it, "I couldn't find the way in on my own, either." She started to walk forward, trailing her hand along the bricks.

"What do you mean, either?" Jeremy asked as he followed her.

So, Sarah told him all about her first adventure into the labyrinth to save Toby. It helped to pass the time, and just as she finished, her fingers stopped rubbing the wall and fell into space. "Oh!" Sarah yelped, and immediately turned to step into the opening, "I found one!"

"One what?" Jeremy inquired, going into the labyrinth behind her.

"An entrance into the labyrinth." Sarah smiled to herself, looking down either end of the passage she was now standing in. "Things are not always what they seem around here."

"Yeah." Jeremy agreed with a yawn, "I'd believe that."

Sarah herself had to stifle a yawn and looked around more carefully with bleary eyes. "Oh, no," she murmured, "not the mist!"

"The what?" Her step-father was leaning against the nearest wall.

"Don't go to sleep!" Sarah grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the wall, setting off down the corridor at a jog. "Stay awake, Jeremy!"

"Why?" He said through an enormous yawn.

"Because if you fall asleep here, you'll stay asleep forever!"

***

Jareth stared into the crystal, fighting heavy eyelids. "I'm so sorry, Sarah. The labyrinth is just doing what it has to do to protect itself, and everyone who lives within it, including us."

"Sire?" Middleweed bowed before her king.

"Yes?" Jareth glanced up from the crystal momentarily to acknowledge the goblin woman's presence.

"The baby's asleep and safe in the crib, sire." Her purple horns glowed slightly in the candlelit room. "And all the city goblins have cleared out of the castle."

"And the castle goblins?" Jareth asked while looking into the clear bauble.

"They've all gone to bed, sire."

"All but one," the Goblin King corrected her, with another glance up, "and she should also turn in."

"Yes, sire, but," Middleweed hesitated, but only for a moment, "I had planned to stay up with the child."

Jareth smiled. "Yes, if that's what you want. But take a blanket or something with you."

"Yes, sire!" Middleweed bowed hurriedly and scuttled through the door.

The Goblin King's smile faded. "Run, Sarah," he whispered. "I can't do anything for you this time. You've broken the rules. Not even the labyrinth can help you."