Sorry about the massive wait, was on holiday. It was great but there were no computers! Next chapter is nearly done but this is just an apology for the wait. Please don't give up on me!
Phoenix stood, looking out across the Labyrinth, her hair swaying lightly in the warm breeze from her open window. The darkness shone in the light of the stars, blackness gleaming against the silver of the moon. As though in a dream, she loosened the tie of her dressing gown, allowing it to fall open, her naked body becoming bathed in the bright darkness. She turned to the mirror and below her six eyes that had been watching her closely blinked shut.
Phoenix examined her body in the darkness, a pale silhouette. Her father's clean cut face looked back at her, though softer like the curve of her mother's cheek. Her blue eyes shone and her hair looked silver in the moonlight. She lay her hands against her chest, feeling the light swell beginning in her breasts, early at fourteen for one of fae blood. It must be her mother's influence, she mused. She allowed her finger to trace the line of her stomach which was hollowing now to the line of a woman, no longer the belly of a child. And the place between her legs. Lightly, she touched the entrance to her secret place and smiled at herself in the mirror. Her secret.
She shut her eyes, letting her head fall back so that she faced the ceiling, reaching her arms out to the sides and spinning slowly on the spot. Her body. Hers.
But then the feeling changed, like she was falling into blackness, through her open window and towards the ground. And then there was pain. And she could see her father, her mother and Nathaniel, weeping tears that forced themselves from their eyes and scuttled down their faces on eight hairy legs. But they were not crying for her, they had not even noticed her as their faces cleared in the moment of terror as a tidal wave of black blood forced itself upon them, engulfing them and tearing them away, and Phoenix was reaching for them, and crying and screaming, her hands over her ears as her tears solidified before her eyes, floating up to towards the sky, each containing a different member of her family.
Jareth's arms slid around his daughter as she crouched on her bedroom floor sobbing. He held her close, kissing her hair and murmuring into her ear. Slowly her legs gave way and she leant against him while the shuddering sobs subsided and she buried her face into the crook of his neck, inhaling the scent that was the safety of his magic. Gently he drew her to her feet and she wrapped her arms around his waist, her head now level with his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head again; placing his hands on her shoulders he pushed her back so that he could look at her. She was shivering and cold, and naked. Stooping, he retrieved her robe from the floor where it had fallen and draped it round her shoulders, fitting her arms into the sleeves the way he had when she had been tiny. In the moments before he pulled it shut he noticed something for the first time. Phoenix, his daughter, was no longer a little, but a young woman. He felt a lump rise in his throat and gathered her closer against himself as though wishing to cuddle her back into childhood. Picking her up, he settled her under the covers her bed, ones that were no longer pink, but a clean plain white. He held her until her breathing steadied.
Jareth rose and crossed to the window of his daughter's bedroom, standing in the spot she had held not half an hour earlier. He twisted his head, some sixth sense telling him he was not alone. He looked out over the grounds, and shook his head, wondering at the growing sense of unease that was nagging at him. What was he missing?
At last Jareth shrugged and turned, putting the worry down to his daughter's nightmare and his worry about her. He watched her for a few more moments. A horrible thought occurred to him. Phoenix was now the same age as Sarah had been when he had first touched her, made her run his Labyrinth, lusted after her. And he had been watching her for much longer, had seen her body change even as Phoenix's was doing now, seen Sarah examine her new body, discovering the life in it. He glanced quickly at his sleeping daughter, wondering. Eventually he turned and forced his shoulders to relax, exhaling gently. But before he left he crossed once more to the window and tugged the curtains shut, seeing not the Labyrinth and his daughter's bedroom, but the sleeping form of a fourteen year old Sarah, with himself perched just outside.