OK here is the third instalment. I tried to move the story on a bit faster in this one. As always I hope you enjoy please read and review.
PS I don't own the labyrinth (such a pity)
Chapter 3
It was unusual for little Jay to wake up so early from his nap, especially with tears, so when he began bawling his eyes out at three that afternoon, in the middle of his nap, she almost ran to the side of his cot to soothe him. In her arms he automatically quietened but there was still fear in his large blue eyes, his hands reached up to hold her dark tresses . She wiped away his tears and sang to him quietly until he closed his eyes and nodded off again. Then she heard the whispering and the quiet laughter of the goblins.
"You know I can hear you and you broke the arrangement." She began when Jay was settled back beneath his covers. "I let you follow me as long as you don't bother me and in return you can come to the parties I hold every year at home. You wake Jay up again with your tricks and you won't be invited." She threatened, Sarah wasn't sure whether the Goblins had ever understood the agreement that she'd decreed at the age of 16 after they had trashed her room for the umpteenth time but for the most part they'd stuck to it.
"Wasn't us, little lady, we promise." A small voice ventured for the first time.
"We protect little lady, little ladies things." another voice announce and Sarah heard the others murmuring in agreement
"Then why was Jay crying?"
"Kingy flew in the window, woke little man up." The first small voice whispered before the small band of Goblins scuttled off.
The Goblin King was satisfied with his trip above, he had taken a good look at the child, Her child, soon to be in his possession. He was pleasantly surprised when he had taken the boy into his arms for those brief moments before he'd started to cry. Jareth had felt the undeniable power of a past wish hanging over the child, a wish that should have called the goblins to take him. The girls magic must have protected it from him somehow, because it wasn't her wish, she wouldn't be that stupid.
He would have to wait until the child was no longer in her immediate presence, till he was no longer protected and her concentration would falter sooner or later. Then he would take her "little Jay", he would have the beginnings of his revenge.
Jareth found himself smiling at that thought. If he took the child Sarah would come back to the Underground to find him, she would agree to run his Labyrinth, much improved since her last run, and this time she would lose and he would send her back, without his previous offers or affections and without her son.
"Such a pity." He thought, laughing to himself.
Toby hated that Sarah lived so far away, he missed her and her stories. She'd always told him the best stories, the ones she told of the underground and the goblins were his favourites. She would tell Toby about the friends she'd made there and said she talked to through her mirror. He still went into her old room, a room unchanged by time, everyday when he got home from school just to feel closer to her. He would stare into her mirror even though her friends wouldn't appear for him. Except for that day.
Hoggle and Sir Didymus had been waiting in the mirror for hours, waiting for anyone to enter the room so they could pass on their warning. Soon they knew it would be too late and Jareth would have set whatever nefarious plans he had made in motion but still the faithful friends waited silently, fear and anxiousness making conversation between them impossible. It was another two hours before the boy entered the room.
"Young Master Toby." Sir Didymus called to the boy as he enter his sisters room.
"You're him, you're Sir Didymus, and you must be Hoggle. You're just as Sarah described." The boy was grinning as he ran over to the mirror placing a hand on the glass.
"Sir Toby, you must contact the Lady Sarah, your sister, urgently. She is in terrible danger." The fox continued
"Why would Sarah be in danger? She's always careful, she never gets in trouble"
"She's in trouble 'cause that rat Jareth has lost 'is head over her again." Hoggle angrily chimed in.
Toby just looked confused
"The King has seen that she now has a child and has grown angry. Please there is no time for further explanations. You must send word to my Lady Sarah, immediately. Tell her that the news comes from us."
"Tell her not to let the babe out of sight." Hoggle added
Not quite understanding Toby ran to ask his mother if he could call Sarah.
It was a little after six that evening when the telephone rang, Sarah hadn't left Jays bedside for most of that afternoon. When the Goblins had disappeared she'd been too shocked to move, then her mind kicked to some higher gear. On auto pilot she had gone to her wardrobe and changed out of the fashionable slacks and fitted T-shirt that she'd been wearing.
From the dark recesses of the large closet she pulled out a white linen poet shirt and a silver coloured brocade waistcoat along with a pair of jeans. Moving to her vanity she took an amber broach out of its box and pinned it to her chest before pulling on a pair of flat boots. Then she moved a chair to the side of Jays crib and sat staring at his face, too absorbed in trying to figure out why Jareth would choose now to appear, to do anything else but sit by the boy she called her own. Jareth had stayed away for nine years, he'd shown his indifference for nine years, why reappear now?
The phone roused her from the circles her thoughts were flowing in and she had to run to get the phone before the answering machine picked it up.
"Sarah, it's Toby." His voice on the other end of the line jumped in before she could say anything, he sounded a bit afraid.
"Hey Tobes. Now isn't really a good time buddy." She tried to keep an eye on the cot through the bedroom door.
"But it's important, Hoggle and Sir Didymus, they were in your mirror, they said you were in danger." He rattled it off so fast Sarah could barely understand him.
"Toby slow down, what was that about Hoggle?" She turned away from the door and pressed the phone closer to her ear.
"They were in your mirror, they said Jareth knows about Jay and that he's angry. That he's gonna do something bad."
"What?" Sarah was still trying to keep up.
"They say not to let Jay out of your sight. Sarah what's going on? Why would the goblin King want..."
The line went dead and the lights went out. Sarah dropped the phone on to the floor not bothering to put it back in its cradle. In a panic she ran to the bedroom both knowing and fearing what she would find.
The crib was empty.
A sob escaped her lips hastily smothered by the hand she brought to her mouth.
"We meet again," The Goblin King announced from the shadows behind her, "Precious!" he spat.
"Why do this Jareth?" She she asked dropping the hand from her mouth but not turning around, she didn't have the yet have the courage to turn and face him.
"The Child was wished away by someone and I always collect what I'm owed, even if it takes time to find the child. You have 13 hours in which to solve the Labyrinth and when you fail your son becomes mine forever."
Sarah could hear the anger in his voice. She finally turned to face the man who had haunted her dreams and nightmares for so long. He hadn't changed. He wore the same armour with the stiff leather collar just as he had all those years ago. His white blond hair still stuck out in all directions, his face was still painfully beautiful, his pants were still dangerously tight and his eyes, his mismatched eyes were still compelling.
"What no offering me my dreams this time?" she kept her voice light playful but her green eyes flashed with inner fire.
"You gave yourself to someone other than me. You had a child by someone other than me. You don't deserve your dreams." He lifted one hand, a crystal appeared balanced on his fingertips.
"Wait," Sarah began, understanding dawning in her mind, "please you don't understand about Jay, he's..." But Jareth didn't wait, and before she finished, in one smooth movement he smashed the crystal onto the plush carpet of the bedroom floor.