THE CONCLUSION
“I assure you, sir, there is no charade.” He’d said these words a dozen or more times since they’d arrived and he would continue as long as it was necessary.
Dinner was halted by a shout from the hallway, “I’m home.”
“Toby?” Sarah asked no one in particular.
“Dinner is on the table son. You’re an hour late.”
“Yeah, I had car trouble da…” Toby found himself slack jawed in the doorway to the dining room as everyone looked on at him. “Holy fuck...” he cried out.
“Toby...” Karen chastised.
The teenage boy shook his head. “Stop acting as if you’ve never seen your sister before,” his father said. “Go get a plate and join us. We’ll discuss your language later.”
As if he were sleepwalking with open eyes, Toby took his seat beside his mother, opposite Jareth. “You’re him.”
“Oh don’t you start,” Karen snapped.
“Start what?” Robert asked.
“You took me away that night. You took me back to that castle.”
“Toby, do you know this man?” his father asked.
“I thought I dreamt him.” Looking at Sarah and then back to the king he continued, “You called him, he came for me. Came as an owl and turned into a…a…whatever he is.”
“Fey,” Jareth interrupted.
“Whatever. Sarah had to come and get me. I had that dream so many times over.”
Robert put down his utensils and asked his son, “Toby, are you telling me you believe this man is the Goblin King as he claims to be?”
Sarah was on the verge of tears. “You remind me of the babe,” Jareth said, looking intently at the young man.
“What babe?” Toby asked, knowing it was the appropriate reply and mechanically offering it as if the king had begun a knock, knock joke.
“The babe with the power.”
“What power?”
“The power of voodoo.”
“Who do?”
“You do ”
“Do what?”
“Remind me of the babe,” he and Jareth said in unison. Almost as soon as they’d spoken their rhyme Karen passed out, lying spread eagle on the floor without so much as drawing the attention of anyone else at the table.
“Holy fuck ” Robert heralded his son’s earlier remark.
“I can’t believe he’s real Sarah,” Toby said.
There he sat, the infant child who’d begun all this with his incessant wailing, grown now, tall and handsome. For a moment she admired him and then she warned, “He’s real and his magic is real and if I were you I’d think long and hard about keeping girls out to their curfews when they politely ask you to be taken home.”
For a moment he sat silent in shock, “How did you? Never mind, I’ll think twice.” Looking back at Jareth he added, “I’ll think twice about a lot of things. May I be excused ?” he asked his father.
“Yes. And wake up your mother before you go.”
The boy knelt and tapped his mother’s hand, then her cheek until she came to. “Mom, you okay.”
“I fainted.” It was half a statement, half a question. Wobbly she stood and took her seat.
Sarah hadn’t thought of it until now. True she could no longer see the future, but she had seen the present while she wasn’t here to really see it and that worked as well as being able to predict events. “You and daddy were arguing over me. Karen you said I was just like my mother and daddy, you said you were willing to remove the traces of mommy in your life for Karen, but that you didn’t…you didn’t realize it would include me.” She choked back the sobs.
“How could you know that?” Karen asked.
“When I go to the Underground, I won’t be coming back. Well I will, but it will be rarely and most probably not to see either one of you. While Jareth and I are there, we will be able to keep tabs on you only by using crystals. I can see you in them, what you’re doing, what you say,” she added poignantly. “While I’ve been away, I got home sick and had Jareth let me look in on you. It just so happens that’s what I saw.”
Robert looked at his daughter, her face stained with tears. “I believe you.”
“Sir?” Jareth asked in surprise.
“I believe you,” he repeated.
“Robert, she could have easily supposed those things,” Karen insisted.
“Karen, I have always done as you’ve insisted. This time, I’m confused. You want her gone. You signed the papers days ago, but yet now when I’m ready to sign them as well you want to talk me out of it. You don’t just want her gone, you want her miserable. You’ve always wanted her miserable. What I don’t understand is why?”
“If I may,” Jareth interrupted and then waited patiently for Robert to nod to him indicating his opinion was welcome. “Your wife is so grounded in reality she’s forgotten what elation comes with having fantasies. When she sees your daughter, she sees the embodiment of all she wishes she could be. We often reject that which we envy because to have it near us is a constant reminder of what we cannot be or have. I did the same thing when Sarah bested me, beat my Labyrinth and returned to you with your child. She was strength and independence, defiance at it’s best and to rule her would have been to rule the universe.” He tenderly wrapped an arm around Sarah, leaving his other hand on her thigh. The gesture did not go unnoticed by the girl’s father, but he let it pass without comment. “It took me a long while, but eventually I’ve grown to see letting her light shine over me, sharing in all her fantastic qualities is more important, more rewarding than owning her. I’ve become a little more like her. I’m better for that. You could be better too, Mrs. Williams, if you’d let yourself be more like her. If you let yourself believe that a little fantasy is better than none at all.”
Robert left the room. Karen remained, unable to comment, staring at the man who’d managed to touch on something she thought she’d buried deep enough inside no one would ever see it. When her husband returned he had the scroll, signed, which he handed to the king. “If you take this,” he warned him, “you take it on the condition you care for my daughter, protect her, provide for her. Be honest with her, appreciate her and if you ever hurt her, I don’t care if your king or not, it won’t matter how far Underground you go, I’ll...I’ll...”
“So noted, sir.” Jareth took the scroll with his left hand and extended his right one for Robert to shake.
Reciprocating, Robert shook his hand asking one more thing of him, “May I sing to my daughter one last time before you take her from me?”
“By all means,” Jareth agreed.
“Robert?” Karen called. “You’re just letting her have her way again.”
“Yes, Karen, yes I am, but then I think it’s about time I do.” Folding her napkin, Karen slammed it to the table and with even steady steps, stalked from the room. “I’ll be back,” Sarah’s father continued as if she’d never thrown the tantrum at all.
“Jareth,” she wept as she embraced him. “We’ve done it ”
“We’ve done most of it love. We’ve still got your mother to find.”
“Don’t ruin this,” she pleaded as she kissed him.
“I’m not trying to ruin anything, Sarah, we’ve got only a week to find her and win her over.”
“Win her over? She’s had nothing to do with me since I was an adolescent, what could she want with me now?”
Jareth caressed her face, “What has Karen ever wanted with you love and look at the fight she’s put up. Let’s not dwell on what we’ve yet to do, instead, let’s celebrate what we’ve accomplished.” Jareth took her cheeks into his palms and kissed her passionately.
As Robert returned with his guitar, he let out a tiny cough to interrupt them. Jareth broke the kiss and apologized. “No need,” her father replied. “My daughter is a beautiful woman as was her mother and I loved her deeply, until she left me.”
“Oh daddy,” Sarah said hugging him. “I’m so sorry.”
“For what darling. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t even my fault.” The soothing hand only a father could provide smoothed down her hair. “You look like your mother, but you’re not her. You understand that don’t you? You mustn’t be afraid to fly. Because you do it once, doesn’t mean you’ll feel the urge to do it continually. And much as I hate to say it, even though I’m proud to call you mine, you are not exactly me either. You won’t allow yourself to be controlled. You won’t force yourself to love someone simply to avoid being alone. Somehow I think you were smart enough to take the best of your mom and me and make yourself from that.”
“Oh daddy,” she cried, burying her head in his shoulder.
Motioning her into the living room, he told her, “Come here, let me sing for you like we used to.” Sarah sat with Jareth on the loveseat this time. Robert stood, his right legged propped upon the coffee table. “Now take it easy on your old man. I haven’t played much since you’ve gone. I’m rusty.”
“Then come in out of the rain,” Sarah squealed just the way she had when she was young and he would pretend his skills had somehow deteriorated.
The first notes of the song left the hollow of the guitar as Robert cleared his throat. His voice shook with emotion as he began to sing, “I’m a tangled up puppet spinning round in knots and the more I see what used to be, the less of you I’ve got. There was a time that you curled up in my lap like a child. You’d cling to me smiling, your eyes wide and wild. Now you’re slipping through my arms, wave a passing hello, twist away and toss a kiss, laughing as you go. You used to say, read me a story and sing me songs of love, for you were princess paradise on the wings of a dove. Now I chase you and tease you, trying to remake you my own, but you just turn away and say please leave me alone.” Sarah’s eyes filled with tears as he began the refrain, “And I’m a tangled up puppet all hanging in your strings. I’m a butterfly in a spider’s web, fluttering my wings. And the more that I keep dancing and spinning round in knots, the more I see what used to be and the less of you I’ve got.” Jareth held Sarah’s hands when he saw her shoulders begin to shake. “You are a drawer full of make up and rinses and thing. You keep changing your moods like your earrings and rings, but tonight while we play tag for five minutes in the yard, just for a moment, I caught you off guard. And I’m a tangled up puppet all hanging in your strings. I’m a butterfly in a spider’s web, fluttering my wings and the more that I keep dancing and spinning round in knots, the more I see what used to be and the less of you I’ve got.” Robert’s eyes were wet now and he could barely continue playing.
Jareth stepped up and took the instrument from him. “Please,” he said softly, “allow me.” With the same skill he’d shown the first time he’d played, the king was easily able to pick up where Robert left off and play the song for him.
Sarah rushed into her father’s arms. “Dance with me daddy,” she said through her tears. “Dance with me one last time.”
Pulling her close Robert held out her right hand, his arm about her waist. “Now you write your secret poems in a room just for your dreams,” he sung. “You don’t take time to talk to me about the things you mean, but I mean it. I have watched you take shape from a jumble of parts,” his voice was shaky and earnest, “and find the grace and form of a fine work of art. Hey, you brand new woman, newly come into her own. Don’t you know that you don’t need to grow up all alone?” Jareth continued to play, fading out softly as father and daughter swayed in a strong embrace, taking advantage of the last moments they shared.
Sarah backed away from him slowly. “I would have liked to hear those words from you sooner,” she sniffed.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t say them to you any sooner,” he told her.
“You didn’t let me finish,” Sarah went on. “I would have liked to hear those words from you sooner, but I’m glad you waited until I was old enough to understand them.”
Even Jareth’s eyes were wet by then. Robert looked at him. He finally saw what his daughter saw. Maybe he was a king of some fantastic realm, maybe he was an actor, playing a role. What he was no longer mattered only that his daughter loved this man and, for what it was worth, he seemed to love her. “Thank you,” Robert mouthed over Sarah’s shoulder.
The king set down the guitar and folded his hands together, “Thank you,” he mouthed back.
Pushing back her father to arm’s length, Sarah said sadly, “I’m sorry to do this to you daddy. The first time I’ve wanted to stay in as long as I can remember and I’ve got to go. I’ve got to find mommy and get her consent too.”
“Wait a minute,” he said. “I’ve got an address. It’s the one from when she first left. I’m willing to bet she’s moved since then, but I’m sure she left a forwarding address, a number, something.”
“Thank you,” she said hugging him once more.
From the stairs she heard, “Got one of those for your little brother.”
Running into his arms, she found herself lifted and spun around. “I’m glad I got to see you,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a prick to you all these years.”
“Toby ” Robert chastised.
“Sorry, been such a jerk, I mean,” he corrected.
“Yeah, well, you can change that you know. I shouldn’t have given you Christian as a role model.” She held his handsome face in her hands. “You, you are so much more than I dreamed you’d ever be Toby. Don’t worry about being like anyone else. Be you, not what everyone else expects of you, not even your mother.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re going back to where there’s magic, Sarah. Magic can make life a lot easier.”
“It can,” she admitted. “It can. But believing is sometimes a very powerful magic. Believe in yourself and you’ll find it will be easier for others to believe in you. And try looking at other woman like they’re your sister.”
Toby rolled his eyes, “Hell, if I do that, I’ll never have another date ”
“Well, at least look at them like there somebody’s sister.”
“I’m glad you’re real,” he said to Jareth.
He reached to slap Toby on the shoulder, “So am I.” He smiled as he shook the boy’s hand. “Sarah we really should get going.” Sarah nodded and they headed toward the door where their bags waited with Sarah’s father.
“I love you baby,” Robert told her.
“I love you too, daddy.” She kissed his cheek.
“And you’ll be okay. You’ve got money?” he asked.
“Yes sir,” Jareth promised.
“And a car?”
“We’re headed to pick up a rental now.”
“I’ll drive you,” Robert offered.
Sarah sighed. “Daddy, don’t take this the wrong way, but if I don’t walk away right now, I’m going to consider not leaving and I don’t want to do that.”
“No, I don’t want you to do that. Now both of you go,” Robert opened the door. “And remember to love each other.”
“Not something I think I could forget,” Jareth told him, reaching to shake his hand.
Sarah’s father grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug. “You’re going to be my son-in-law Jareth. I only regret this being the one and only time I’ll get to do this.”
‘A regret I don’t happen to share,’ he thought as he patted the other man’s back.
***** ***** *****
The rental car purred as they parked it in the lot of the Hertz dealership. Sarah stretched her neck as she shifted the Toyota Camry into park. “I can’t believe you drove all this way without letting me help you,” Jareth complained.
“For the fiftieth time, you haven’t got a license.”
“I find it debatable half the persons on the interstate had one of these licenses you speak of,” he pointed out defensively.
Sarah popped open the trunk before she looked at him, “Be that as it may, the point was to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible, remember?” The king wore a hurt expression on his typically ignited face. “Do you even know how to drive?”
“Please Sarah,” he spoke “I do work in your world after all.”
“I know, but I’ve never really considered you much of a driver.” Cracking the door, Sarah headed for the trunk to get her bag. “When I wondered how you and your gaggle of goblins showed up at my house that night I thought is was more like some metaphysical mass transit.”
“Clever,” Jareth winked as he slammed the trunk. Stepping into the booth at the far end of the parking lot, Sarah settled up the fees for the loaner vehicle and their search began.
New York City had a kind way of enveloping them when they left the safety of their hotel, naturally assuming them into the wild disorganization that, for its inhabitants, was nothing more than another weekday afternoon. Soho, Broadway, all the haunts where the eccentric liked to mark territory, their search for Linda Williams had lead them to the upper west side of Manhattan on a tip from one of her former agents that she was staying somewhere in the Bronx. As sunset came to end their seventh day Aboveground, Jareth and Sarah headed for their suite at the Excelsior Hotel, just ten minutes out side of the suburb they planned to scour in the morning.
Sarah looked around their room. Aside from the time they had spent in her parents’ home, they’d found economical accommodations. What surrounded her now was a bit more posh, with it’s crown moldings and patterned wallpaper. In the farthest corner of the room, the headboard of a king sized bed was accentuated by two posts which reached almost to the ceiling. A small writing desk in the corner opposite the bed and on the side of the room closest to them a garden style Jacuzzi, a fridge, a mini bar and a hutch which Sarah only assumed contained a television set. “We can’t afford to stay here for three more days,” she told the king.
“Nonsense,” he replied. “I have a particularly good feeling this will be our last night here.” Taking her bag, he stacked the cases against the wall. “Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, we’re going to find your mother.” Sauntering to the tub, he turned the faucets, “Then I shall charm her, as I did your father,” he slid his arms free of the frock coat he wore. In the mirror to his back, Sarah watched as a wool sports coat fell to the floor. Next his gloves left his hands, his fingers interlacing, bending back before Jareth turned his palms to Sarah and stretched his arms before him. “She will be unable to disapprove of our union,” he told her as his hands massaged her neck. “And at last,” Jareth told her huskily, his lips grazing her ear, “I shall take you back to the Underground, where saying goodbye to you is a threat I shall never face again.” His lips smoothed over the hollow of her collarbone.
Smiling she asked him, “And you think your mother will approve?”
“Of you?” he asked in surprise. “I believe she will. Of what I’m about to do to you, I hardly think.”
“Jareth ” Sarah squealed.
His roaming hands snuck beneath the neckline of her dress exploring the soft, unrestrained mounds of flesh which rose from her chest, “Sarah,” he replied breathlessly.
“No Jareth ” she called out. “The tub, it’s flooding ”
“Damn,” he grumbled turning his wrists, calling upon magic which never came. Sarah in the meanwhile grabbed handfuls of towels from the bath and began sopping up the water. On her knees beside the tub, she laughed at him as he cursed her world and his inabilities to use his magic when he wasn’t ‘working’ there. “Do you find me amusing?” he queried.
“Um, huh,” Sarah nodded from her hands and knees. Something flashed in her bright green eyes when she looked up at him.
“Stop,” he said quietly.
“What was that?”
Dropping to his knees, he repeated, “Stop. Leave the water lie.” Sarah looked at him, her hands full of wet towels seeming to not understand his plea. Further bewildered by the idea that he hung over her in a way which left her no choice but to drop her backside into the spreading pool. Pulling Sarah into his arms, Jareth kissed her, the wet towels falling between them and saturating their clothes. Now very aware of the eager way in which his lips massaged hers, Sarah’s hands did their best to undo his shirt. The king lay her back against the floor where her dress soaked up more of the now cold water making her shriek. Jareth only laughed. She smiled back, melting his heart, making it as vacuous as the puddle they were lying in. He opened his hands to her and lifted Sarah to her feet. The simple dress Sarah wore clung to her in the most flattering way. Gathering the hem in to his hands, Jareth continued to lift the dress up to her hip. Pressing close to her, Sarah could feel his straining breeches against her lower abdomen. Warm hands kissed her cool skin as the dress hiked further up her body freeing her bosom and finally finding its way to the floor. “You’re freezing,” the king noted as his hands roamed her bare skin.
“Tile floor, cold water, wet dress. It happens,” she admitted seemingly unconcerned. Jareth lifted her easily into the Jacuzzi, sending more water cascading to the floor. Sitting on the edge he began removing his boots and breeches, while Sarah let out the stopper to keep from having more of a mess to sop up when they were through. When the water reached a more reasonable level, she turned on the jets, their mad whirring forcing Jareth to pay attention. Laughing at his quick response, Sarah explained what she had done.
Sinking into the tub with her, Jareth sighed as the jets pulsed against his neck, shoulders, back, thighs and feet. Until his finger broke the surface of the water, Sarah was content to let the forced water work her over as well. But as he beckoned her, she was powerless to resist him. Fitting herself between her knees, Sarah relaxed against his chest and shivered as several of the bottom jets blasted against her most forbidden places. Massaging her breasts, the king only succeeded in further arousing her awakening senses. His fingers lagged over her erect nipples, taking time to work each one into a frenzy with firm caressing and a gentle pinch. Her arching back urged his hands lower where his tender stroking alternated with the pulsing jets to evoke a moan from low in Sarah’s throat.
Rising higher, the sound echoed when it was emitted as he pressed two fingers inside her slick opening. His jagged teeth gnawed on the taunt flesh of her neck as her head lulled against his shoulder. His free hand kneaded her thigh as Sarah’s reached up to fill her fingers with his hair. Eager to be filled by him in a more intimate way, she wriggled around until his hands fell loose from her and they were face to face. Hungrily she kissed his lips, his throat and his chest. As he closed his eyes, resting his head back against the side of the tub, he could have never anticipated the delightful warmth he felt as she eased his engorged member between her swollen folds and lowered herself to consume him.
The sweet combination of the pulsating water and Sarah’s slow, purposeful undulation quickly increased his level of arousal, so much in fact, Jareth found himself thinking of other things to keep from disappointing the woman he held dear. As he brought his head up once more, he found, to his delight a creamy white breast to either side of his fervid lips. Voraciously his tongue lapped the moisture which fell from her hardened nipple, concentric circles radiating out to the farthest outreaches of her areola. The stimulation growing more severe as her reactions grew and by the time Sarah’s body filled with enough irresistible abandon that she threw back her head and dug her nails into his shoulders, Jareth’s teeth were edging carefully over the stiff end of her breast as he sucked at her. Her satisfaction was quick on the heels of his talented mouth causing him to hold her hips still as he thrust into her until he too was satisfied. When their love making ended, Sarah rested peacefully against him and let the warm water continue to massage them until they were both nearly put to sleep by the calming waters and the comfort of each other’s closeness.
***** ***** *****
Several hours later, they awoke to find the timers gone off, the water in the tub chilled and the floor surrounding them nearly dry. Jareth woke Sarah gently and guided her to bed where they could continue to sleep off the exhaustion of their passions. Outside all the calming sensations of arm water and pulsing jets, the woman slept restlessly at best. Even as he held her close, she tossed and turned, sleeping first with her cheek above his heart, then turning round so her form was spooned to his and back again before the king could even attempt to keep up. At times when he thought for certain she was resting comfortably, Sarah would surprise him by moaning or calling out. For a moment he considered resetting the tub and putting her back inside, but a glance at the clock, reminded him there was no time for such an extreme lullaby.
Through barely opened eyes, Jareth watched her yawn and stretch as if Sarah had slept quite satisfactorily. She dressed and pinned up her hair only to take the pins out, undress and get a shower. When she came back from the bathroom, Sarah dressed again, re-pinned her hair, changed her dress, took up a few pieces of hair, chose another dress, let down a few pins. When he could stand to watch her agonize no longer, Jareth threw back the covers of the bed. His warm hands encircled her neck as his lips fell upon the stretched tendon that ran along her neck. “You’re perfect,” he told her softly. “In any color, in any style, with your hair up, with your hair down, perfect. If your mother doesn’t see that, either by choice or by ignorance, it’s her shortcoming love, not yours.”
“I just want to look nice when she sees me. It’s been such a long time, I don’t want her to think...”
“What do you care what she thinks?”
“I do,” she looked away embarrassedly. “ I know I shouldn’t, but I do.” Jareth took her into his arms, “Sarah darling, after today, you won’t be able to see her again, so why do this to yourself?”
“You’re right,” she barely whispered into his neck. A part of her had been hoping her mother might have some of the same instantaneous parental feeling her father had mustered, but in her heart she knew better. Knew that Linda had chosen to leave her, abandon their family years ago, whereas Robert had only allowed it to become a secondary importance to a wife he thought loved him, at least a woman willing to stay. “I know you’re right.” Her words were louder, carried more conviction this time as she informed him, “If you’re ready, I think this dress will do fine.”
“I’ll be ready in five minutes,” Jareth told her as he headed for the bath.
Looking in the mirror, Sarah found herself repulsed by her reflection. Her raven hair flowing around her shoulders, long and thick. She could see how Karen could have grown to hate her, she was, after all, the spitting image of her mother. Funny phrase, spitting image, Sarah wondered briefly where it came from before the disgust in her stomach brought her mouth to watering. Linda stared back at her. Sarah wondered if she could ever be so cruel, wondered if the power existed within her to wake up one morning and walk out on Jareth, leave everything she had proclaimed she wanted for some temporary fancy that made her feel youthful. ‘No,’ she thought as she reached for the pins on the dressing table. Once last glance in the mirror and pursing her lips, she spit into the face that looked so much like Linda Williams’. She knew now exactly where that saying had come from and she knew she would never be the woman she saw in that reflection.
***** ***** *****
Suitcases in hand, the king and his mortal entered the apartment complex where it was rumored Linda Williams was living. A quick run down of the mailboxes easily revealed the number of her apartment. Up the stairs they went, side by side. Three doors down they saw apartment 6C and knocked three times on the front door. “Who is it?” Linda asked in a hurry without looking through the peephole.
“It’s Sarah,...mom,” the girl answered. “It’s your daughter.” The woman who answered their ratatat was far from the glamorous woman Sarah remembered as her mother, nor the rising star the press remembered. Her hair was matted, knotted and clumped, her face stained with smeared mascara.
Once she noticed the suitcase in Sarah’s hand, Linda moaned, “Christ Sarah, if you’ve come begging for a place to stay, you might as well know we’re barely making it as it is so unless you’ve got money to pitch in for rent and expenses, you can’t stay here.” Slowly Linda began to close the door in her daughter’s face.
Jareth’s hand kept the door from making contact with the jamb. “Excuse me, Ms. Williams, but we’re not here to stay. You’re daughter has something to say to you and my suggestion is for you to hear her out.”
Backing away, she let him enter, Sarah at his heels. “You part of a local show,” she asked the king.
“I’m part of no show,” he huffed.
“Mother,” for Sarah felt uncomfortable addressing her as Ms. Williams and even more odd referring to her as Linda, “this is Jareth, the Goblin King.”
“Good Lord,” Linda sighed as she poured a drink for herself and offered to do the same for either of them. “Really Sarah, this is why I left in the first place.” In utter disbelief, Sarah stared as her mother. “You and you’re eternal fantasies. I indulged you at first thinking it was just a phase, but this is too much.”
“You don’t seriously expect me to believe the woman who left behind her home and family for a starry eyed actor in tight pants did so because her twelve year old daughter escaped to those same fantasies.” Pulling the scroll from her bag, Sarah continued, “If that’s the case, then indulge me one last time. Sign this,” she practically demanded as she thrust the scroll at her mother, “and I’ll be out of your hair forever.”
Linda read over the words on the parchment, snickering at what it implied she was to do. “You expect me to believe this,” she snorted. “This stage prop,” she said scratching at the wax seal, then suddenly her demeanor changed. “This is real wax,” she proclaimed.
“What of it?” Jareth asked her.
“On stage it’s too hot, too hot for real wax. It would be plastic, but this is real.” Stalking over to Jareth, she asked, “What game are you trying to run?”
“I'm not much in the way of games, he answered. “I play but one, the Labyrinth and even that is solely because I'm the master of the game, but I'm telling you nothing you don't already know. The scroll says all this. The question is do you believe?”
Linda stood numb before his critical stare. Crocodile tears welled in her eyes, “But surely you don’t assume I’ll just sign over my only child to you Why, Sarah’s all I have.”
“Please mother,” Sarah muttered.
“Ms. Williams, assuredly were it you who was asking to go and were it your mother standing in your way, would you want her to claim hold so steadfastly to her only child, especially given consideration that child were well since of age?” He began to stalk around her the way he did when he meant to intimidate someone. “You were an only child, weren’t you Linda? Mommy’s pride and joy, Daddy’s littlest little girl,” he spat.
“I want...,” she began sternly without meeting Jareth’s deliberate gaze while Sarah looked on, shocked at the tone the king was taking with her mother.
“I think I know what you want, Ms. Williams,” snapping his eyes back on Sarah he asked as kindly as he could without slipping from the brut character he’d been acting towards Linda, “Would you excuse us a moment love?” With no audible reply, Sarah went into what was thankfully the kitchen and sat at the table there her teeth beginning to wear back the edges of her plain fingernails.
“Is that what this is about? You get to play king and order my daughter around as if she were one of your servants?”
“I believe you mean subjects.”
“Regardless,” she snapped at him. “Let’s just say for a moment I believe you are this Goblin King fellow.”
“Linda Williams, do you mean to pretend not to know me?” Mismatched eyes leveled with hers, a trademark sneer thinning his lips. “Was it so very long ago I spoke the rules to you, late one night, in your little sister’s nursery? Let me help you remember. You were fourteen years old, mommy and daddy had just had, what was the euphemism you used, ooops baby was it? Regardless, your sister was seven and one quarter months old. You were left to baby-sit while your father rushed your mother to the hospital for pains she was having. Her gallbladder, if I remember correctly. You resented that child, as you have resented everything which dared to turn the follow spot from you for even a moment. So you went to your room, ignoring the crying child, and you began to read, the same leather bound fairytale you gave to your own child when you were too mature to believe in fairytales any longer. Do you recall the title of that book?”
“The Labyrinth,” she whispered weakly.
Jareth’s spun on his heels, “The Labyrinth,” he sang. “The Labyrinth. I still remember the look on your face when I appeared as if from no where on the sill where the white owl had been only seconds sooner. Utter disbelief. Like the others, you bargained with me, attempted to appeal to my more benevolent side, swore your words were without meaning, but we know that was just for fear your parents would scold you or look upon you without favor. ‘In my castle,’ I told you, ‘the child is in my castle.’ What was her name? Katlyn, Katherine, Kristin...”
“Karolyn,” she said stopping his list of similar names.
“Karolyn, that was it. Karolyn made the most homely looking dwarf. She was christened so many years ago, I barely remembered what you used to call her.”
“How do you call her now?” Linda asked, a hint of lamentation in her query.
Jareth made his posture more rigid, “She goes by Drema these days. If it eases your mind any to know, she’s married with a child of her own. A child, oddly enough named after your daughter.”
Linda was sniveling, her arms hugged around her body, trembling with fear, not of Jareth, but fear of facing as an adult the foolishness we engage in as children, fear that came with finding out the line between fact and fiction was a hazy shade of grey. “I haven’t thought of Karolyn in such a long, long time. Haven’t thought of you, or that place.”
“There wasn’t much for you to think of. You never left the nursery. You didn’t even try to find her.”
His pointed reminder sent her to her knees where she remained wailing for several minutes. Sarah’s hands pressed against the swinging kitchen door when she heard the tiny cries, but hesitated long enough to recall Jareth had asked her for privacy.
“Sign the paper, Linda. Do as your daughter asks. Think of it as freeing yourself of one more in a long chain of responsibilities you’ve been burdened with and I will make it worth your while.” Interested in his offer, she stopped crying and looked up. From his interior breast pocket he withdrew a pen and a bill fold. His nimble fingers counted out five thousand dollars and dropped it to the ground, together with the implement, beneath the woman’s nose.
“Five thousand dollars?” she questioned. “For my child,” she said in disgust.
“Five thousand now, another ninety-five thousand once we’ve returned home. That ought to be enough for you to fool yourself into believing you’re a star again.”
Suddenly filled with confidence, Linda rose from the ground, straightened her dress and wiped her eyes. “Think what you want Goblin King, but I was born a star. I know no other way to live.”
“Such a pity,” he said before calling Sarah from her hiding place, just in time for her to see Linda Williams finishing her signature at the foot of the scroll.
After taking the scroll from her mother, Sarah threw her arms around Jareth’s neck. “I don’t know how you did this,” she said, “but you have. Just like you’ve made every other wish of mine come true.” Having expressed her appreciation in words, Sarah pulled him close, craning her neck to press her lips to his as Linda looked on stuck somewhere between disapproval and jealousy. “When can we go home?” Sarah asked when their kiss was broken.
“We should have gone home the moment your families were notified of your intentions. Is there anyone else who thinks your someplace other than where you are?” Jareth asked.
It was difficult to tell if the sick in her stomach came before or after the bitter taste in her mouth as she admitted, “Christian.”
***** ***** *****
Nothing changed in the neighborhood Sarah had once shared with Christian, as nothing about their building had changed and as nothing about the location of the spare key had changed. Sarah’s hand dragged along the edge of the door jamb until the tiny metal key fell into her palm. Sliding it into the keyhole, she was more than a bit surprised to see he hadn’t bothered to change the locks since her departure. Inside the lights were all off. Instinctively she reached for the switched and bathed the entry way in 60 watts. Making her way to what had been their room, she saw nothing of hers remained. This was not a surprise, but rather precisely what she had anticipated he would do after she left. There were a few ladies’ items trailed here or there, making Sarah wonder if the girls he dated were all naive or just exactly alike enough not to notice.
“Might as well have a seat,” Sarah told Jareth after she completed her investigation. “He’s not here.” And so they got comfortable on the sofa and Sarah introduced Jareth to the many wonders of daytime television. Court TV, Soap Operas, pet programs, health and fitness shows, and the king’s personal favorite, game shows.
Laughing robustly, he would remark, “There aren’t anymore vowels you twit,” or the one Sarah could never resist chuckling at, “I’ll take civil engineering for 1000 Alex.” For them the hours passed like wind, until Sarah heard heavy footfalls and a key in the door. Then she began to fear how Christian would react to finding them in the apartment.
“What the hell do you two think you’re doing here?” he asked as he came in dressed in what was rather obviously a wait staff uniform.
“Before you go getting all excited,” Sarah cautioned him.
“It’s a little late for that isn’t it. I mean, I come home, after a long day at work and I find my ex-fiancé,” before he could continue, Sarah corrected him, being sure to point out that neither did she wear his ring, nor did they have any plans to wed. “Fine, my ex-girlfriend and her new piece on my couch, probably going at it like last time.”
“Must you continually be so vulgar ” Sarah shouted.
Frantically, Christian began to pace the floor before them, “You know, I thought more of you. Everyone told me to change the locks, just in case you came back like a Tasmanian devil in the night and tried to kill me or something, but I gave you the benefit of doubt. I said you would never do anything like that and how do I get repaid? Here you are? What is it you want?”
“Were I to wager, it would be more because of the other woman in your life and less because of what you thought I might do,” Sarah declared.
Eager to put an end to the cat fight, Jareth interceded. “If I may. We’ve come to explain Sarah’s whereabouts so we might return home and continue on with the plans being made for us there.”
“If I may,” Christian mocked the king. “You may not. I don’t know you, I sure as hell don’t like you and I don’t want to hear anything from you.” Shoving the king aside, he began to address Sarah, “So what, you’re going to marry this guy and you come to rub it in my face? He got money or something?”
Calmly, Jareth tapped his shoulder. “Perhaps we’ve stumbled upon some failure to understand each other’s articulation. Allow me a second attempt.” The king cleared his throat, “Sarah is going to return to my kingdom, with me, where she will become my queen and together rule over the Underground. You neither have to accept this fact, nor do I anticipate your being pleased with it, but you must understand it if we are to return home.”
“What kind of freak are you?” Christian asked. “Sarah really, is this the best you could do once I let you go.”
“Let me go?” she repeated.
“Best she could do?” Jareth asked. “She’s going to be a queen.”
“Yeah, buddy I get it. Look if you knocked her up or something, don’t go letting her convince you to marry her and give away half of everything you’ve got. You can take it to court. Insist on a paternity test. Hell, for the right, let’s say donation, I’ll testify she cheated on me. I’ll be your character witness.” A growl began in the king’s throat. “That’s it buddy, get mad. Don’t just believe everything a woman, tells you. And use a fucking rubber for Christ’s sake. I got a whole drawer-full in there. I’ll get you a handful to get you started.” Jareth stilled him as he attempted to pass. Making love to Sarah had been one of the most beautiful things he had ever done and were it that she were with his child, it would have filled him to overflowing with joy, but this mortal had taken all that and succeeded in cheapening it without so much as a second thought.
“The contents,” the Goblin King began, “of your drawer are of little concern to me.” Taking Christian by the shoulders, Jareth pressed him to the wall, holding him in place by squaring his forearm just beneath his chin. “Not that is any of your business,” he spat, “but in defending the honor of the woman I love, let me make you aware that Sarah is not pregnant. I am to be united to her in love and I gladly give her all I have to have her with me, for all I own and all I am, I am nothing without her. Furthermore, our relations require no accouterments which you could provide, for there is nothing evil or lurking or distrustful between us, but little did I expect you would understand. As I have tried patiently to explain and what I need for you to understand, neigh what I am willing to take great and painful lengths for you to understand is this. We are to be united. We will reside in my home. Whatever excuses Sarah has made in the past have all been to cover for the fact that she was coming to my world, a world which few believe truly exists and hence the reason for her lies. You will never see her again. Do you understand?” through gritted teeth he asked the question.
“Yeah, yeah, I understand. You, her, marriage, far away land, happily ever after. I get it.” Jareth eased off his hold on the young man as both he and Sarah began to feel the familiar tingle of magic pulling them home. “What I don’t understand,” Christian added with renewed vigor, “is why you thought I’d give a fuck if you took the little slut back to your place and tried to pretend she was a queen or whatever little costume got you through it.” To punctuate his comment, Christian gyrated his hips, indicating the king in some way would have to pretend Sarah was someone else in order to make love to her.
Grabbing the king’s arm, Sarah attempted to stop him, “Forget about him. They’re bringing us home.”
It was too late to halt what Christian’s careless words had put in motion. Jareth’s fist was balled waist high and his legs fought against magic’s tug like a locomotive out of control. He was on the mortal man faster than Christian could breath. Drawing back his fist and fluidly sailing it towards the mortal’s face, Jareth delivered a blow which not only broke his nose, but left him out cold lying on the floor.
Taking up Sarah’s hand, he then allowed the magic to drag them back, satisfied he had evened the score and left Christian with a truth he’d be too afraid to tell, hoping the lies would be more flattering to his beloved. “Now we may go.”
“Home,” Sarah finished. “Now we may go home.”
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