Aeris was wandering the castle. It wasn't her favorite place in the world, but she really didn't feel like she had a choice. The Goblin King had been mightily persuasive when he had invited her to the spring feasts-he had ordered her to go-so she felt she hadn't ought to push her luck. She was on good but delicate terms with Lucas after her last stay in the castle, which had resulted in her using her Herald talents to curse Jareth. Besides, it wasn't as if she had a lot to stay in her cottage for. It was almost unbearably lonely since her mother's death. She'd usually spend her day gardening and keeping the cottage up. When the work ran out, though, she was bored beyond belief.
She didn't even have any commissions. Aeris had hoped she'd proven herself when she'd painted the princes, Stephan and Jareth, a year ago. Obviously not. She was still considered "wet behind the ears" to the rest of the rulers in the Underground, and they hesitated to call on her at all. Only Peter had come to her, demanding to know where his rogue shadow might be found. Even then, he'd only hung around long enough to figure out she was painting the Aboveground city of London, and darted off into the sky. The silly boy probably wouldn't be able to figure out how to get the thing back on.
So there she was, strolling around the grounds, looking for someplace or something or even someone to practice painting on-not the Herald art of telling the future; she simply wanted to work on her skill. She aspired to be an artist as well as a Herald. Hoping to come across something of interest, she found a wide, open room, a gym of sorts, where two men were fencing back and forth. She watched them for a while. The smaller man was the better swordsman, lighter on his feet, almost like a dancer. It took her a few moments to realize who it was. Jareth.
Not that she'd been looking forward to seeing him again. She hadn't stuck around for the aftermath of her revenge on him, but she had heard. His love for the girl she'd painted hung over him, a true curse, repelling and drawing him at the same time. She had to admit, she had gone overboard in her anger with him, and now she repented it. The Goblin King, knowing the surrounding circumstances of her act, had forgiven, but warned her carefully: this was not behavior becoming of a Herald, and unless she wanted to see the other side of a banishing mirror, she'd not try anything like that again. The threat was enough for her. Besides, she thought, her mind turning to the painting waiting in her cottage; someday Jareth was going to thank her.
Well, it was better to do it and get it over with. She intended to clear her throat, but the sound was stuck. She tried again. Nothing. Suddenly, a small goblin came running down the hallway behind her, bumping into her. She shrieked in surprise as she tumbled into the room, her things spilling out of her bag and scattering away from her. She groaned and rolled over, too embarrassed to open her eyes. Why me, she thought.
"Why, what have we here?" asked a delighted, wicked voice. "Perhaps a Firey? An acrobat, come to entertain? Oh, I see. It's just a clumsy Herald." She opened one blue eye, then the other. Jareth was leaning over her, propped lightly on his foil, removing his mask. He'd changed his hair; his pale blonde locks, which had been tied in a low ponytail for as long as she could remember, were cut more like his father's; long and short. It was, in all honesty, flattering, but she sneered at him.
"What happened, Jareth? Get your head caught in the Cleaners?"
His malicious smile fell into a frown as his fencing partner laughed. It was Oberon, she saw, as he removed his mask. The King of the Fae was visiting the castle for the spring feasts with his new wife, Titania. He helped her to her feet.
"Herald," he admonished lightly, "Must you and my brother be forever quarreling? It is the time for celebration."
"I know. I'm sorry, Jareth."
His mutter was unintelligible.
"What?"
"My apologies, Herald," he said, through clenched teeth.
Oberon frowned at him. "I must excuse myself," he told them, ignoring the panic that lit Aeris' face as he did so. "Titania should be awake now. Excellent match, Jareth. Good to see you, Aeris." He nodded to her, then slipped out the door.
She sighed. "This isn't the way I hoped this would go."
"I hoped it wouldn't go at all," snapped Jareth, turning from her and taking off his gloves. "Why don't you go back to your cottage and paint some more wonderfully destructive pictures?" He placed his foil on a bench and laid his gloves and mask beside it.
"Hey!" she said, walking up to him. "You're not being fair. I was angry, Jareth." "Perhaps you might have gone just a bit far?" he answered, bitterness edging his voice.
"Yes, I know." She bit her lip. "But I want to apologize."
"Not accepted. Now, get out," he told her, the threat low in his voice.
She opened her mouth to say more, but he whirled on her. "Are you deaf? I said get out!"
Aeris stalked out of the room and through the castle. "Brat," she muttered hotly. "Insufferable brat! I hope he chokes on a peach!" She slammed the door to her room, tossing her painting bag against the wall. She heard her brushes and paint box break, and though she wasn't sure, her paper might have ripped as well. She threw herself on the too-big castle bed with its purple sheets and gauzy curtains and flipped over, staring at the carved ceiling. It was a huge mistake to come. She should have stayed back in her cottage. A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts.
"Herald?" asked a voice.
The title was wearing on her nerves. "What?" she shouted, sitting up. She caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror. It was twisted in fury, reminding her too much of Jareth's, and her expression instantly changed to surprise, then reverted to normal. "I mean," she corrected, "Come in."
Titania opened the door. She wore a long, flowing robe of deep green and a small tiara around her head. Her long red hair curled around her shoulders and down her back. "Oberon suggested that I meet you," she said.
"Of course. I've been looking forward to meeting you, Queen." The elegant lady walked closer to the bed. "Is it Jareth?" she questioned.
Aeris nodded. "I never meant to harm him. Things just got out of hand with the painting."
"It's beautiful. No wonder he loves her. But why don't you tell him the way it really ends?"
She glanced up at Titania. "You're kidding. How do you know?"
Titania smiled. "It's so obvious. The girl loves him too; she'll call him back. Pity he can't see that. So why not show him?"
Aeris thougth about it. "No. The punishment stays. It know it's awful, but he has to learn a lesson. Trifling with a Herald was a huge mistake, but it's more than that... I think he'll be a better person."
"I think I can agree. A curse, after all, is a curse." She looked at the thirteen-hour clock on the wall. "I must go and prepare. Will you be attending the ball tonight?" She shrugged. "I don't feel much like it. Besides, I've got nothing to wear."
"I'm not sure that's true." Titania opened her closet to reveal several glittering, gorgeous ball gowns that hung alongside pretty day dresses for her stay in the palace. "Lucas made sure your room was completely prepared. He likes you." She turned to leave, then looked at Aeris again. "A word of advice. Do not apologize for the curse you threw him. First, he deserved it. Second, boys are more resilient than you think. He will recover. Have courage, Herald." And she closed the door silently behind her.
Oberon had made one hell of a match. Aeris pulled a blue gown from the closet and began to prepare for the ball, smiling as she dressed in the mirror.
The Mirrored Hall had been renovated to serve as the dining room. It was a larger party than the Castle Beyond the Goblin City usually hosted, and only the hall could hold all the guests. It was entirely possible that every person of status in the Underground was there, but no goblins or children were to be found. The Goblin Ball-at which the children and goblins were the principal guests, and which Aeris always found more enjoyable-was to be held the following night.
Eleven-year-old Stephan, though, had managed to beg his way into the party, and was behaving quite well, probably because he lacked Jareth's influence to do otherwise. It seemed he had suddenly become an unbearable nuisance to his older brother, and though the situation puzzled him to no end, his only solution was to do nothing and wait it out.
"Would the lady Aeris care for some punch?" Stephan asked her, a grin lighting his dark features as he offered a cup.
She examined the red liquid carefully. There seemed to be no slimy reptilians in it. "Empty your pockets," she ordered. Aside from one small frog, there were no empty bottles of poison or bog water.
"You see?" he told her. "I'm being good. I'll be sent to bed if I'm not, and you're a tattle-tale."
"I'm much worse," she said, finally accepting the cup. "I'm the Herald. Be especially nice to me, or I'll curse you too." He made a terrible, but good-natured, face at her and wandered off, putting his little frog in his pocket.
The guests mingled for a while, then came to the long table, arranging themselves according to place cards. Aeris noticed, horrified, that she would be sitting right beside Jareth. She couldn't believe it. It was no doubt Lucas' doing. She made a mental note to avenge herself as she took her place behind her seat, waiting.
Jareth strolled up to the table. He gave her a startled look that slowly mingled with understanding and displeasure so great it bordered on wrath. He shot one furious glance at his father, who only smiled genially in return, then motioned for everyone to sit. Conversation around her lagged severely; Jareth wouldn't speak to her and where the Queen of Hearts was concerned, it was better to say nothing at all. Everyone exclaimed over the excellent meal, but to Aeris it all tasted the same. Little could be truly enjoyed in her discomfort.
Stephan, on Jareth's left, behaved until about halfway through he meal, when he could no longer contain himself. He decided to let his frog loose on the table. It hopped onto Jareth's plate. The older boy sat still, scowling, but unable to make up his mind whether to scowl at the frog or his little brother. He had no time to make the decision. The frog scampered off his plate, down the table past Aeris, and cunningly chose to leap straight at the Queen of Hearts. The large woman screamed with the impossible volume she had always seemed to manage, and pushed back from the table, swatting at the thing on her bosom amidst the laughter and shouts from the other guests. In the commotion, no one noticed the way the mirror at the end of the hall behind Lucas began to ripple, and certainly no one saw the young woman who entered the room. Jareth, though, perhaps because he felt it, or perhaps becuase of accident, turned slightly, and saw her. His eyes opened wide, and he stood, facing the blond girl. Aeris saw his movements, then looked back too, puzzled, then unnerved as memory flooded her mind. The girl was perhaps her age. Pale blonde hair fell over one blue eye and one hazel. The scornful smile, the aquiline nose, all reminiscent of Jareth's own face. It was Calypso, Jareth's banished twin sister. She wore a silver crown adorned with rubies around her head, and with a start of real fear Aeris recognized it. It was the Crown of Asteroth, the ultimate crown of power in the Underground. Thought to have been destroyed, it now sat on Calypso's pretty brow. Jareth saw it too, and unconsciously placed a protective hand on Aeris's arm and Stephan's shoulder. The commotion continued behind them as Stephan turned too, expecting reprisal, then seeing Calypso. He cried out, surprised and terrified, but it was lost in the Queen of Heart's furious shouts. Lucas glanced at the three, and twisted around to see what they were looking at, but Calypso had raised her hands, forming a white ball between them. Too late for Lucas to stop her, she threw it at Jareth, and the room exploded in light. When Aeris opened her eyes, she, Jareth, and Stephan were standing in a sunny meadow. The smell of flowers drifted on the light breeze blowing through.
"What happened?" murmured Stephan.
Jareth shook his head. "I don't know. If Calypso was involved, I can assure you it's no good."
A girl's laughter, high and almost manic, startled them. "Welcome to the Fay, my dear, long-lost... Wait." Calypso had strolled into the meadow, all confidence, but now she was frozen. "Where's Oberon?" she demanded.
"He's probably having dinner with Titania," answered Jareth. "So why don't you leave off this silly game, Calypso?"
"Yeah," said Stephan. "You'd better send us home right now, or you'll be sorry!" She glanced at him. "Brother, is that any way to talk to me?" Stephan looked scared in his dark eyes, but his face remained set and belligerent. Aeris stepped up beside them, putting herself protectively closer to the younger boy. "Send us home, Calypso."
She snorted her contempt. "Right. My old playmate, the child Aeris."
Aeris drew herself up to full height, which wasn't much, but she hoped it would be enough to intimidate. "I'm the Herald, Calypso."
Calypso began to laugh. "You?" she cried between chuckles. "You? Oh, you can't be serious! The Herald indeed!"
Aeris was not amused. "Send us home, Calypso," she repeated.
She stopped laughing and gave Aeris a dangerous look. "When I'm good and ready to, I'll ship the three of you back in pieces. Until then, you're mine."
Jareth scoffed. "You've no power over us."
"Nor you me."
"On the contrary, sister." He produced a crystal in his right hand. "I think my magic works as well here as anywhere. I always was the stronger magician."
"And I was the better one," she answered smartly, but she was considerably toned down as she watched the crystal, and Jareth let it fade out.
Stephan, still unsure of the situation, looked from one face to another in their group. "What's going on?" he asked in the tense silence.
They looked at him. Calypso smiled. "You see, I've been wandering around in limbo ever since your father banished me. Can you believe it? I was only twelve!"
"You were evil," broke in Jareth. "And you still are."
She ignored him. "Lucky for me I found something to get me out. Something very important..." She reached up and indicated the shining silver crown set with rubies.
"The Crown of Asteroth," breathed Stephan, remembering his schooling. Aeris looked at her, wondering. "What are you going to do with it?"
"I'm going to go home to stay," said Calypso simply. "And leave you here in the mirrors in my place. It's time I claimed what's mine. The Gremlin Kingdom, of course. That was always going to be mine. I'll also be taking the Labyrinth. And while I'm at it, the rest of the Underground."
"World domination? Really, Calypso. How passe," said Jareth, sounding bored.
"I want them, they're mine! You and my brothers robbed me of everything! I'm going to take it all back and run it into the ground! No more dreams, Jareth. And you can't stop me."
"I'm going to, Calypso. Make it easy. Give me the crown."
As Calypso grinned back at him, Aeris finally realized that this girl was completely insane and one hundred percent evil into the bargain. It was nothing new, but she had forgotten in Calypso's absence. After trying to kill her father, Calypso had been banished through a mirror. She had promised a return, and she kept that well. Aeris backed away a little, her hand on Stephan's shoulder, pulling him back with her. Something big was about to happen between the twins, and she didn't want to be involved.
Calypso fingered the crown on her head, the Crown of Asteroth, the lost circle of power. Whoever wore it was the most powerful person in the Underground, no questions asked. It was thought to have been destroyed ages ago in the Fay; it had been broken, by who or what, no one knew. Puck claimed it was what caused the Great Divide, when the Fay, on the western edge of the labyrinth, split into the two identical kingdoms, the Fae, still on the west, and the Fey, which appeared on the eastern border, pushing over Oz. Over time, they differentiated, becoming two separate lands under the laws and rule of the Labyrinth. Yet confusion still reigned in Aboveground stories, and many people considered the kingdoms interchangeable. Yet Calypso had the crown intact.
"I recovered the pieces bit by bit," she said, as if reading Aeris' mind. "It was shattered, you know. A ruby in the Fire Swamp, some silver points in Hook's treasure trove... I already had a little mirror, but it wasn't working without magic, but then I found one piece of crown in realm of limbo, and that was what enabled me to get out through the mirrors and find the rest," she explained gleefully. "Isn't it marvelous?"
"That wasn't the word I was thinking of," said Jareth. He could no longer affect boredom. He realized the magnitude of the situation.
She pulled out a piece of reflective glass. "Now I'm going home. Have fun being lost," she called, backing up to do her disappearing act.
Jareth, his quick reflexes acting for him, reached out for the mirror as she moved away. They struggled for it as it grew into the doorway it could become. Soon it was too large, and she slipped through, his fingers only catching the edge of her dress, her maniacal laughter echoing behind her. The mirror lay shrinking of the ground. Jareth gritted his teeth. "I'm going after her," he said simply, and plunged through.
Stephan jumped in too, surprising Aeris and leaving her alone. She had no choice. "Geronimo," she muttered, and stepped onto the mirror at the last second, as it shrank back to normal size. She was falling. Aeris looked around frantically as she went down. It was brown-black all around her, and there were... shelves? She reached out and snatched a jar off one shelf. Orange marmalade. It could only be the rabbit hole, the back door to the Underground, and more specifically, to Wonderland.
"Ooof!" she cried, though the leaves softened her contact with the ground. Ahead, Jareth and Stephan were running after Calypso, and she tried to catch up.
Wonderland stretched out for miles, but they knew where Calypso was headed; the little house and its pretty garden. "Why doesn't she use her magic?" demanded Jareth. "She's got the crown, she could just disappear if she wanted!"
"Maybe she's out of magic," breathed Stephan.
"Maybe she's playing with us," Jareth answered, his face darkening with suspicion.
Calypso's laughter floated from the upstairs part of the house. When they reached her, the mirror above the mantle was rippling. She was gone again. It took time to help each other through the mirror, and they found themselves lagging behind on the Yellow Brick Road. Jareth was faster than Stephan or Aeris, and he gained on Calypso rapidly. Suddenly, his twin changed course and veered off the road. She disappeared into the trees. The three of them stopped, looking around.
"Dammit," cried Jareth. "Where did she go?"
Stephan and Aeris were catching their breath. "Listen, Jareth, we have to find a way home. We've got to get your father," she told him.
"We can't do anything unless we catch Calypso. Don't you understand? She's got the crown, the mirror power, everything. She's got us in a kind of limbo Aeris."
"We're in Oz," she corrected.
"We have no power. You couldn't paint a bowl of peaches, my dear, and we certainly can't cross the borders of the Underground kingdoms."
Aeris bristled at this, but said nothing. "Also," he continued, "it's not like anyone in Oz could get a message in time. Until we have the crown, we're helpless."
"So we'll find her," said Aeris, taking one last deep breath.
"Where?" answered Jareth, gesturing towards the forest, stretching out all around them, dark and foreboding. She looked around. There was a conspicuous wrong in the landscape.
"Um, Jareth, where's your brother?"
Stephan was yelling at the top of his lungs, hurrying back into the shelter of the trees, covered in what appeared to be applesauce. Trees were hurling apples at him. Aeris and Jareth hurried to help, but Stephan bumped into them, and straight into Aeris. She fell back against a tree, but felt solid ground on her back and head. She looked around. It was the Mirrored Hall, but it was empty, no guests, no spring feast. Aeris stood, realizing that there must have been a hidden mirror in that tree she had fallen into. Calypso must have used the hidden glass to get to the Mirrored Hall, then escaped through one of the castle mirrors.
Then she almost fell back down. There had to be at least a hundred mirrors in that hall. She would have to check them all to see which Calypso had gone through, and by the time it would take to manage that, the magic that opened the mirror would have gone, and she would be unable to follow Calypso. Everything was lost.
"Ahem."
The voice belonged to a young woman with brown hair. She was standing next to…Lucas? No, it was Jareth, and the woman was Sarah.
"She went that way," said Sarah, pointing to the mirror at the end of the hall. Aeris smiled at them, wishing she could stay and talk to them, ask how they were, and when Sarah was due (she was very pregnant). But she couldn't wait. "Hurry up, Herald," said Jareth. "And take this with you."
He tossed her a small, round mirror that folded and unfolded, an old compact of Sarah's. "Thank you," she said, putting it in her dress, and then she dived into the mirror Calypso had gone through.
It was the meadow they had begun in, part of the Fay before the break. Calypso was sitting, braiding her untidy blonde hair and humming softly to herself. She still wore the crown. Aeris quietly maneuvered closer, praying she wouldn't fall, wouldn't do anything clumsy. She was so close. But then Calypso twisted around, facing her.
"Now, you don't want to go sneaking up on me, Aeris. We used to be such good friends. Don't you remember? Like when I tied you up on the vine above the Bog of Eternal Stench? And there was that time I threw you in the dungeon. How long did you stay down there before they found you? Two or three days, I can't remember..." She shrugged. "Anyway, I was just saying, you know, I was always the winner when it came to you and me. And I'm going to win again."
Furious, Aeris narrowed her eyes. "Over my dead body."
"That can be arranged," the other girl answered evenly.
She pounced on Calypso, struggling to reach the crown on her head. Calypso screamed, fighting back hard. Aeris finally managed to touch the crown; it was impossibly hot. Her fingers burned and she drew them away.
"Ha! You can't take it! You could never handle this power! Weak! You're just weak!" She was laughing and screaming at the same time.
Aeris grit her teeth and put her hands on it, deliberate in every movement, determined not to let go, though it felt like her hands were on fire. It began to move off, and she pulled it the rest of the way. There was a strange burn around Calypso's head where the crown had been, a perfect circle of burned flesh that even cut through her hair. Calypso was screaming.
Aeris made her way to her feet, running into the forest ahead. She heard Calypso's cry as she began to change her shape, becoming a falcon behind her. Aeris didn't look back, but kept racing through the trees, amazingly graceful. She realized that the crown wasn't burning anymore. The power was fantastic. She was so tempted to simply stop right there and put it on her head. She nearly did. Then she saw Jareth and Stephan running towards her. Their method of escape from Oz was evident; she could see the Good Witch's pink bubble drifting away in the distance behind them.
She waved the crown in the air. "I've got it!" "Not for long," said Jareth, pointing up to the sky. The falcon was above them, circling down through the trees. Aeris threw herself over the crown, huddling it close to her body. The falcon dived, her talons raking across Aeris' back, tearing her dress and her skin. She screamed, and felt the powerful claws pulling the crown out of her hands. Stephan came to her rescue, striking the falcon with a fallen tree limb. The bird flew back up, screeching triumphantly into the blue sky, the crown sparkling in her talons.
Jareth became an owl, the weaker creature in this form, but he knew he had to fight her down. He followed Calypso up into the sky, closer and closer, the beating of his wings against the wind loud in his ears. He caught her.
Aeris rolled over, pain screaming in her hands and back as she looked up. The sun was too bright; she couldn't see what was happening. Then she and Stephan heard the ear-splitting cry of the falcon, and the sky lit with a light brighter than the sun, an incredible flash of white. When it faded, they could see the falcon falling, spiraling down out of the sky. She plunged through the branches of a tall oak, and lay in a small heap under the shade of the tree.
Jareth circled down with agonizing slowness. When he reached them, he returned somewhat to his original form; there was blood on his clothes, and it didn't all look to be Calypso's. He grimaced, holding out his burned hands. A piece of silver and ruby lay in his right. "It broke," he said. "Dozens of pieces. They disappeared, and all I got was this one. And the ground…it…I don't know. Twinned," he said at last, hoping the word was adequate. "Puck was right. The Great Divide, when the crown broke."
"Look," said Stephan, pointing.
Calypso, no longer in falcon form, was moving. She stood weakly and gazed at them, her face full of madness and fury. Then she vanished. "Back into the realm of limbo," Jareth said. "She'll return, though. Count on it."
They used a single piece of the crown and the compact mirror to return, though Aeris never gave an explanation for where it came from. They stepped through the mirror. They hadn't been gone for more than a moment; the Queen of Hearts was still screeching wildly. Their reappearance ended her scene, and the mystified crowd looked on as Lucas quickly ordered goblins to take his son to be healed, and escort the Herald and Stephan to rest as Jareth, insisting he was fine, fainted.
He was better by the next night, putting in his usual appearance at the Goblin Ball, held in the Escher Room. The Lost Boys were dancing in wild circles around their leader while the goblins beat their drums in mad rhythms, all of it recalling some primitive celebration. Most of the other children were more civilized, but it was hard to avoid getting caught up in the merry circles of Peter's soldiers. Even Stephan was with them, hooting and shouting with the rest. Aeris had decided to watch from an upside-down staircase-or was it right-side up-and found herself joined by Jareth himself.
"Great party," she said.
He nodded absently. "Aeris, where did you get that mirror?"
She shrugged. "I just sort of… found it."
"I see. Do you still have it?"
"No, I lost it somehow, probably that last jump here. Do you have the fragment?"
"It's gone. I opened my hand on the other side of the mirror and…nothing."
She shook her head. "You dunce."
He glared at her. "You clumsy little fool, to think you could have done better!"
"At least my hair doesn't look like the Cleaners trimmed it!"
"At least I can walk properly down a flight of stairs!"
Old enemies again, they went on arguing, the party raging below them with their moods. Finally disgusted with her, Jareth threw up his hands and stalked away. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the stairs, watching his figure saunter over and under and upside-down across the room. "I wouldn't have him for the world," she reflected softly. "But how could I let him go?"
"At least I can walk properly down a flight of stairs!"
Old enemies again, they went on arguing, the party raging below them with their moods. Finally disgusted with her, Jareth threw up his hands and stalked away. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the stairs, watching his figure saunter over and under and upside-down across the room. "I wouldn't have him for the world," she reflected softly. "But how could I let him go?"