Chapter 4. Gone
Jareth and the goblin ranks were suddenly there- summoned by the words as they always were, but this time it was different. Jareth was triumphant, now he would be revealed to her and she would be frightened, nervous, awed by him, this was how it should be. His carefully laid out plan was coming to ahead. The goblins entered slyly, now they had been invited in it was all they could do not to gleefully tear the place apart, they were destructive little things in their souls. He watched her, scared, unsure. She was shaking now, whipping backwards and forwards, hearing the goblins but never seeing them. The wind crashed against the house making the building shake, Jareth added just a little pressure and the doors shuddered violently before bursting open, revealing Sarah, standing in front of him, so small and yet so defiant. In her eyes he saw his own strength reflected back at him. Their first meeting face to face, Jareth was beside himself but held it together, drawing her to him as a bright light draws the unsuspecting moth. "You're him aren't you? The Goblin King, I want my brother back if it's all the same" Her eyes pleaded to him, he was impressed she managed to ask so forthright and knew he had chosen well but she was over estimating his humanity, "What's said is said" his silken voice echoing in the now silent room, "I didn't mean it" she stuttered making him laugh softly
"Oh you didn't?
"Please where is he?" Jareth sized her up, taking in her mundane clothing and the tears in her eyes, her lightly blushing cheeks that brightened when he looked at her, even though her brother was gone- she was not immune to his charms.
"You know very well where he is" she looked panicked, but she pleaded anyway- knowing the answer, "Please bring him back, please."
"Sarah" Jareth interrupted, he stepped closer till they were barely a breath apart, catching her off guard with his glowing eyes that bore into her soul, "Go back to your room, play with your toys, forget about the baby"
"I can't"
"I've brought you a gift" for a moment he saw her eyes grow wide as in his hands he produced one of his crystals from thin air, mortals were so easily distracted, "What is it?"
"It's a crystal, nothing more, but if you turn it this way and look into it it'll show you your dreams. But this isn't a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby. Do you want it? Then forget the baby" He urged her to take it, she didn't know of course that by taking the crystal she would be his, bound by the magic of the Labyrinth, if you take an object from the underworld it will never let you settle in the mortal world. She would be trapped, always yearning for this other world she didn't know, and couldn't resist. Then he would come to her again and this time she would accept. "I can't. I appreciate what you're offering, but I want my brother back. He must be so scared." Anger flashed across the Goblin King's pale face, his haughty good looks made terrifying, how dare she?, "Sarah...don't defy me"
The crystal, reflective of his anger flashed again and this time in its place was a Taipan snake, black and sleek and incredibly venomous, he tossed it at her and she shrieked, but a millisecond before it touched her his magic flashed again and it warped into a shroud of cloth, which when it fell to the floor wriggled, and out of it popped a mischievous goblin who cackled loudly at Sarah before running off. Sarah looked back at him, shocked eyes wide with fear, as the lightning flashed behind Jareth he whispered into her ear, "You're no match for me Sarah." She stood before him and he truly believed if only for the smallest of moments that she would accept. Then, "I need my brother back." Fine, she had signed the deal with the devil- it was the Labyrinth now.
Suddenly they were transported from Sarah's house to the outskirts of the Labyrinth. It stretched out gloriously before them looking pale and endless but still a part of the land, as if it had risen from the very desert below. It swirled endlessly around the castle which towered at its centre, dark and mysterious seemingly miles away in the distance. It was a daunting sight, the storm has followed them underground and the sky was black with clouds. The wind kicked the dust up around them as they stood on the precipice, the Labyrinth below them. He watched Sarah as she stared open mouthed at the challenge before her, she was in his world now the crippled trees and dry weeds around her made her seem totally out of place in her blue jeans and white blouse. Down here- she was the mystical creature, it was all Jareth could do not to whisk her away to his castle there and then but there was a story to be told, things had to be done a certain way and she was held by the Labyrinth now.
"He's there, in my castle. Do you still want to look for him?" it was a rhetorical question, she had no choice now but to enter the Labyrinth and Jareth couldn't interfer. Those were the rules, she would make it, he mused, she was strong. "Is that the castle beyond the goblin city?" she asked ignoring his question,
"Turn back Sarah, Turn back before it's too late" there was real pleading in his voice now, come with me he thought. She looked back at him almost mournfully, his soul leapt at that look. "I can't, Don't you understand that I can't?" I do he thought but all he said was,
"What a pity."
"It doesn't look that far," Foolish child, such casual comments had a way of coming back to you in the Labyrinth.
"It's further than you think, and time is short" weaving his magic was far easier in the underworld, Jareth's hands twirled and a majestic clock appeared on one of the emaciated limbs of the dead tree. It was large and ornate in the shape of a diamond with black hands that had already begun to tick down Sarah's 13 hours. "You have 13 hours in which to solve the Labyrinth before your baby brother becomes one of us, forever. Such a pity." Jareth stared into her eyes as he faded away into mist. Memorizing her face, her hair, her eyes, knowing that what had just begun would alter them forever.