"Sky's Eclipse"
Chapter 19
By Aiijuin
*Disclaimer: I don't own anything Jim Henson or Labyrinth. Gröeg was originally designed by Brian Froud and catalogued by Terry Jones in Brian Froud's "The Goblins of the Labyrinth". This fanfiction is rated M for some harsh language (which is, really, mostly used by Toby) and adult situations.
PS: Please let me know if I messed up anywhere with the grammar. I proofread about a dozen times before I post my chapters on fanfiction. net, but sometimes I still miss a few flubs. Thank you! And yes, I know my historical accuracy is a bit off. Please forgive!
**Revised 09/10/2009: Chapter number continuity problems fixed, Irene was changed to Karen, and major grammatical errors were repaired, as I promised. Thank you!
Chapter Nineteen: Dream Girl.
Saturday morning rolled around, and Sarah was putting the top down in her dad's convertible, black BMW. The sun was shining brightly overhead as Sarah pulled out of the driveway from Jessica Lewshaun's house.
Gavin was sitting happily in the passenger seat next to Sarah, who drove the quartet upstate to the infamous O'Connell's Captivating Carnival, which occurred every year just below Buffalo. It was late spring, but the weather was still cool up north. As a result, everybody dressed in appropriate clothing. Gavin wore a white, silk scarf wrapped around his neck and his tailored black trench coat with matching black slacks and shiny boots. His long, strawberry-blonde ponytail was draped loosely off to one side of his head. Sarah thought he looked very handsome, except for the fact that a rather large bruise on his forehead shone brightly in incandescent purple and blue colors.
Gavin said that he had dropped something under his desk and hit his head while standing up again. As Jareth, he probably could have used his magic to heal it instantly, but Sarah arrived too early the next morning at the Henkies Mansion before he noticed the mark had developed. She had given him such close attention, that he decided it was more enjoyable to receive her sympathies. As a result, he didn't allow the injury to heal as quickly as it might have. He wanted to milk Sarah's affections and attentions for as much as he could get.
Sarah was dressed in a warm, oversized, olive-green, turtleneck sweater and tan, khaki pants. Her chocolate colored hair hung low with loose curls and was parted in the center. She smiled as she thought about how easy it was to finagle the car from her father. He hardly put up an argument when she asked him for it. Even Karen seemed unusually pleased that Sarah was taking her brother out for the day. Sarah was even more amazed that Jessica's parents didn't even question Sarah or Gavin as they arrived and gave a bogus story about how Jessica had a photo-shoot at ten a.m. in the city.
The day almost seemed magical, because everything had been turning out so perfectly. It was nearly too good to be true! Sarah figured Jareth had been behind this, and wondered what he had planned against her to make everything run so smoothly. If she were right, then she would probably have to pay severe consequences later on.
It hardly mattered to her, now. The carnival was one hundred fifty miles away, and the traffic was light on the interstate. Toby and Jessica were beaming in the backseat of the car as they held each other's hands endearingly.
Sarah noted that Jessica was a rare, tall beauty. Her ethereal splendor made her seem almost dreamlike. She had the whitest platinum hair, which was straight, layered, and hung past her waist. Her skin was the fairest that Sarah had ever seen, with the exception of Jareth, of course. But what made the girl unique to any other blonde teen-girl were her piercing, catlike, ebony-colored eyes. Jessica was sixteen years old, but looked much older than she said she was. Sarah thought that Toby was dating a college girl, when Jess had initially entered the car. Toby said that Jessica was employed as a catalogue model for underwear and swimwear.
Sarah was amazed that her brother had managed to capture the heart of such a beautiful girl, especially considering his low-class mouth and hotheaded temper. Toby saw the look on his sister's face when Jessica first entered the car, and whispered, "What? All girls love a musician, you know."
Sarah could only smirk and reply, "Since when have you been a musician?"
"I play first guitar at B-man's house. We have a band. Where have you been the last three years? Oh! That's right! You've been away, playing 'house' with goblins."
Sarah set her jaw and glared at her brother threateningly in the rearview mirror.
Jessica elbowed Toby in the side, "Leave your sister alone, Sir Laugh-a-lot."
Toby pouted jokingly and replied, "Well, look on the bright side, Sar…"
Sarah interrupted, "Oh, there's a bright side, now? Oblige me."
"Yeah," he continued, "at least Jareth won't have to draw you a roadmap of his castle once he makes you his queen."
Gavin raised his eyebrows at Sarah, as if to ask, "You're just going to take that insult lying down?"
Sarah took her empty Starbucks cup and tossed it behind her, hoping to hit Toby. She didn't get him, because the wind blew it to the floor. Toby mockingly joked, "Missed me! Ha!"
He turned to Jessica, and commented into her ear, "Looks like Sarah isn't going to be creating a goblin sports team either, since she can't toss or pitch!"
Sarah wanted to get angry, but laughed at the thought of having the goblins play professional baseball in the Yankee's Stadium. Then, she paused for a moment and grew serious. Again, peering into the mirror, she asked, "Toby?"
"Heyup?"
"Have we been telling everybody about my fiasco with the Goblin King and such? Hmm?"
"Well, not everybody on the planet, but I'm pretty sure most of my friends know all about him and his royal obsession with you."
"Toby," Sarah said in a threatening voice.
Toby interceded, "Hey! I figured I had better warn my friends not to make stupid, random wishes, because the guy is watching me pretty closely. He's probably going to be using me as bait, in order to get you back. Until then, I, personally, don't feel like running through a freaking Labyrinth just to fish out all of my band members. Maybe for Jessica, yes, but not for those mooching losers. Hell, no! They can stay there and rot in Jareth's oversized maze for all I care."
Again, Jessica nudged Toby as he jumped to the far end of his seat, pretending he was trying to escape her. The teen girl cried jokingly, "You're so cruel! You would actually leave Brock Manner, your best friend, behind in a maze of ghouls and goblins?"
Toby blinked overzealously, "Yeah, 'cause once the Goblins had a really good look at B-man's hideous face, I think they would be wishing for the Goblin King to take him to the other castle-beyond the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. Don't you think? Hell, or they might revere him and Jareth will toss him out due to disruptions in his rule. Either way, B-man won't be there for long."
Sarah looked into the rearview mirror at Jessica and said, "Don't worry. I forgive my brother on the account that I'm convinced he's still a two-year-old baby."
Toby made a funny face and shouted, "Hey! I resent that remark! I'm, at least, four or five…mentally!"
Everybody laughed while the car continued on its northbound journey towards the carnival.
Oddly enough, Jessica never asked Sarah about any other details regarding Jareth or his Labyrinth. Sarah figured it was for the best anyway. She didn't want to bring her curse of the Goblin King down on any other teenage girls.
From time to time, Jessica exchanged nervous glances from Sarah to Gavin, until finally, Gavin turned to gaze into the girl's eyes. Jessica looked to the ground as if she were afraid to make eye contact. Without a word, Gavin smirked and turned back around to face the open road.
Toby began pecking Jessica's ear and neck, until finally he shouted to Sarah, "Yo, Sar! How about you crank on some tunes?"
Sarah fumbled with the radio, but none of the songs really interested her. She had been away for a long time, and the top forty rock stations played music that annoyed her, rather than relaxed her. She wasn't in the mood for soft, weepy, love songs either, and was concerned that Gavin might get the wrong idea if she tuned to one of those stations. Every now and then, Sarah would flip the station again, until finally, Toby hounded her, "Sarah! Do you think you might pick one station and stick with it? Hey, Here! I've got an idea! Dad keeps his Nano in the glove compartment. Just pull that out and plug it into the adapter."
Sarah had no idea what Toby was talking about, but Gavin opened the glove compartment of the BMW and pulled out a thin little electronic device. It was black, just like the car. Toby shouted to Gavin, "Yo, Mr. King, would you plug it in, and I'll hook us up with some proper music?"
Gavin nodded. Sarah grimaced.
If her brother's taste in music was anything like the radio stations, then she was in trouble. Luckily, the 'Nano', as Toby called it, was her father's and he 'downloaded' mostly classic rock tunes.
Sarah just shrugged. Toby might as well have grown a second head with the way she gaped at him in confusion. Gavin laughed at Sarah's dilemma. Even Jareth was more up-to-date on technical terms than Sarah these days. The tables had greatly turned in his favor, as he understood how people in this age thought and behaved, while Sarah remained clueless to the simple everyday lingo of the twenty-first century. She had been left behind from 1995, where the Internet was still catching on, and AOL was the predominant provider. iTunes hadn't been invented yet, nor the Nano, nor were downloads a mainstream thing at this time. Sarah didn't even understand what someone meant when they said, "Google it!"
Jareth believed he was going to win this time, as he had the upper hand in the mortal world.
He was given a whole new perspective from indulging in modern human books and watching modern human culture flourish around him. The mortals had greatly advanced, since before he approached Sarah some years ago.
He recalled that the last time he visited the mortals, before Sarah, they were still using horse and carriage for road travel. Women didn't remove their gloves, nor were they allowed to show their ankles, and they never-ever traveled with a strange man unless they were chaperoned by a nanny or their mother. Electric hadn't been developed yet, and buildings didn't extend high into the clouds.
He observed, in this culture, that women had become more liberal, and less dependant on men. Public affection and partial nudity was no longer frowned upon, nor deemed vulgar on display in polite society. He noted that many of the status quos had been removed and new rules were forming in partner and mate selection everyday. In this particular western continent, where Sarah Williams resided, it was, now, considered illegal for older men to pursue girls before they were eighteen. In fact, he noted that girls weren't even promised, prepared, and pushed away for marriage anymore in most cultures. Instead, parents insisted their daughters attend universities and colleges to take careers that were once reserved for men only. Women were even allowed to make executive decisions and join the militia to fight as soldiers. Even the average number of children in the common household had dropped significantly from ten to two-point-five.
Now, he understood why Sarah had done what she had done long ago, but it didn't make his sense of rejection any easier to bear. He continued to plot his revenge against her once all obstacles were clear.
It was only a matter of time, he thought deviously.
Just then, Toby flipped on his father's iPod Nano. The stereo blasted and filled the entire car with an array of classic rock.
Sarah smiled. Gavin frowned.
It was the music from that famous rock legend, David Bowie. Jareth didn't know why, but something about that man and his voice made him terribly uneasy.
What was worse, was the entire Williams family seemed to be obsessed with his music, Jareth grimaced.
He looked to Sarah, hoping she would tell Toby to change the music to something else, but much to his chagrin, she turned up the radio and stepped on the gas peddle, as the speakers blared, "Queen Bitch" all over the highway.