Flogray led Sarah down the dark halls and into the constantly changing stairs. They both would pause at corners and make sure the coast was clear before running down more halls. They giggled when they hid in the shadows as Audra passed. They shushed each other when a group of Gargoyles came swooping over them.
Then Flogray grabbed Sarah's hand and dragged her under an archway. He ushered her into a small door—that she had to crawl through—while he stood watch. "It's too dark in here. I can't see anything." Sarah whispered to him.
"Good. That means there's no one here." He closed the wooden panel behind himself. Then pulled a strange item from his pocket. Sarah watched him put the pencil-shaped thing to his lips, lick it, then blow on it. A small flame that lit up, but the whole room erupted from the tip.
"Wow." Sarah looked at the rather large kitchen. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. Pots were not shaped the same way they were shaped back home. Here they had spiral handles and there wasn't a fridge, but just a very cold part of the room surrounded in ice. The sink had about twelve different spouts all labeled something else in a language Sarah couldn't read. There weren't cabinets, but floating packages. At least in the dim light they seemed to be floating, but up close, Sarah could see that everything was hung on an individual string. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break the string, so she concluded it must be magic—or something like that, she guessed.
She was amazed at all the floating ingredients and supplies everywhere. All were at different levels and sizes. Bowls hung near the floor, cups near the ceiling, cans were eyelevel, recipe books—she assumed that's what they were—were haphazardly hovering without a set level of string given. She looked up to attempt to find the source of the magic string, but they seemed to appear from then air right under the roof. Hmm. That was new.
"Sarah! Come on. We have to hurry." Flogray said as he moved to the center of the room. Sarah noticed a drain like thing under his feet and she was reminded of the movie 'IT'. She shuddered.
"What do you want me to do?" Sarah did a quick turn around to take in the room once more. The whole thing just mesmerized her.
Flogray was annoyed. "Sarah, start ripping down the stuff over there. I'm gonna hold the light for ya."
Sarah sighed. "I don't know how to take the stuff off the strings. They're too strong."
"You just gotta do the trick. Duh, Sarah."
"The Trick?" She eyed the objects suspiciously.
"Just punch them and say 'dinner time'." Flogray whispered very loudly. It was clear he couldn't believe he brought Sarah with him.
After a moment, Sarah did as she was told. She punched a bag of vegetables—or maybe it was a kind of fruit?—and said the magic words. "Dinner time!"
The bag dropped into her hands and then opened. "Hmm," she shrugged, "that's convenient" She tossed the bag to Flogray. He caught it easily with a smile.
"Sarah, try some of this before we throw it on the floor." He tossed her a piece then put a piece in his own mouth. She caught it easily and eyed the strange shape. It was all angles, no curves. She took a bite and was overcome with the sweetness of the device. It was a mixture of oranges, pomegranates, and something else. Possibly chocolate.
"That is good." She announced after eating the whole piece. She went back to getting objects off the strings and tossing them to Flogray who would then scatter it across the room.
This pattern continued for an hour until Sarah found a strange thing hanging in front of her. She paused, her heart racing. It was hanging eye level. She preformed the usual ritual and the object fell in her hand, the zip-block bag opening filling her nostrils with the scent of her favorite type of plant.
She didn't question the act of it being there, she just quickly stuffed it down her shirt since she had no pockets. "Flogray, I'm getting tired."
The goblin looked up to her from his pile of ripped pages from the books. "Yeah," he wiped his eyes, "me too." They scattered the last of the pages and took pride in the giant mess. Food was across the walls, the sinks were full of different types of plasmas, and the original color of the floor was nonexistent. Sarah pitied the person Jareth would force to clean up this mess, but it was so much fun to make.
Nevertheless, Sarah didn't dwell too long on feeling sorry for others, for now, her chest was burning with excitement. "Flogray can you take me back outside? I want to sleep in the garden."
The goblin shrugged. "Sure, I guess, but don't tell no one about what we did."
Sarah smiled, "Deal."
She waited until Flogray left her in the night before she smelled the bag again. Yep. She was satisfied. It was definitely grade A pot. She turned to the castle shrouded in darkness. Red stars danced and spun in the sky, but the moon was absent.
Sarah sighed and lowered her gaze to the faint path before her. "Sorry, Jareth."
It was somewhat ironic, she thought, how long ago, she tried to find her way to the castle and now? She was trying to escape it.
She took off in a dead run.
Jareth awoke just before sunrise. He wiped the sweat from his face as he recalled the most wonderful dream. He smiled as he thought it over now. Sarah was standing outside the fountain with her shirt thrown aside. That red cloth was still wrapped around her, but his time when Jareth went to remove it in the sunlight he didn't get distracted.
He had thought of her 'tattoo' for quite sometime. He thought it interesting she carried a labyrinth on her, but he couldn't help but feel as if he missed something within the design. He wanted to see the whole outline, but to do that he would have to have Sarah naked, and if he had that wish, he was certain the last thing on his mind would be her tattoo.
He smiled at that last thought.
He made his way to breakfast in his usual manner. His attire was casual—well, for him. Just a simple blue poetic shirt, his family heirloom, and some very tight leather pants. His boots were also donned as well.
His heels clicked the stone passageways as he entered the dining room. He was surprised at the hustle and bustle the goblins were causing at such an early hour. They usually saved their energy for nightly fun. He sat in his throne-like seat at the head of the table, which was decorated with designed candles and artistic placemats.
His plate was quickly set before him. An arrangement of meat grilled and steamed—just the way he liked it. He took a bite and was quickly let down by his favorite meal. Suddenly, he realized by a little Goblin forced into heading outside from the kitchen with a dustpan that the kitchen must have been torn up again.
He sighed, just as he thought, that's why they messed up his food. "Gobber!" Hissed the King. "This is missing my spices."
The tall goblin that always stood beside Jareth while he ate shivered. "Umm. Actually, it's Gofish. You can remember because my parents conceived me while playing a game of cards. You see my mother needed a two so she asked my dad—"
"I honestly am about to lose my appetite over this little story of yours." Jareth tapped his fork on the edge of his plate. "Seasoning. Now."
Gofish's eyebrow twitched in fear. Jareth didn't fall for his distraction. That wasn't good.
"Why, exactly, aren't you moving?" Jareth turned his head to the side. His food was growing cold.
Gofish stepped back. "Well, ya see sir; there was an issue in the kitchen. And a mess was made of it, ya see? And so, ya see, we had to clean it up. But it was a real mess, sir. So, we did all we can, but ya see—"
Jareth held up his hand to silence the blabbering beast. "If you say 'ya see' one more time I will let the cleaners have you." Jareth stood up. He knew the goblin was hiding something. Something vital. He grabbed the collar of Gofish's shirt and hoisted him up. "Tell me, Gofish, what is going on?"
The goblin winced. "It is missing."
Jareth laughed and placed the goblin on the ground. "Really? That's all? That's fine. We'll get more this afternoon." Jareth returned to his food.
"Well, no." The goblin took more steps back this time. "The captive," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "Sarah, she is missing also."