"And I feel it like a sickness

How this love is killing me

But I'd walk into the fingers of your fire willingly"

Indigo Girls "Ghost"

Jareth again, fading away to a shadow in her dream, no matter how she 
called out to him or tried to save him.  His face was so sad, his eyes 
were so haunted...  And then he was nothing.
Aeris awoke to a kiss.  It was passionate and demanding, but somehow 
pure.  Above all, it was frightening, because it came from a stranger in 
the darkness.  She bolted upright in the bed, arms reaching to push away 
the offender, but she touched nothing.  She fumbled for the light.
The wood walls of the cabin glowed a little gold in the flicker of her 
candle.  Around her, the comforting, gilded surroundings of the Jolly 
Roger's best guest cabin soothed her anxiety, and as she searched and 
found no one, the kiss began to fade into dream.  Had she been dreaming 
of Jareth kissing her?  Of course not, that was just silly.  But she had 
dreamt of him, fading away into nothing, and not for the first time.  
Still puzzling, she set the candle on the table and went to the round, 
porthole window.  Outside, dawn was coming slowly over the horizon, the 
sky going a pink-gray as the night died and smeared away the stars.  She 
sighed and opened it, smelling the clear sea air, and feeling little 
sprays of the salt water against her face.  She had seen so much beauty 
in this world in the few weeks she'd been there, she entertained the 
notion of changing her address.  No, she belonged in the Labyrinth.  She 
had been born of its own roses; how could she ever leave her home?  The 
sun broke bright and gold over the edge of the horizon, and Aeris smiled 
into the long rays of sunlight that shone into her face and her blue 
eyes.  Then all peace and quiet was over.
"Smee!!!!!"  The voice was so loud she heard the knick-knacks in the 
room rattle.  She rolled her eyes.  Didn't that man *ever* sleep?
As Aeris quickly dressed and braided her long, black hair, she heard 
the call come again and again, as she was trying to fix her hair, wash 
her face, put her dress over her head, each time interrupting the 
action.  Gritting her teeth against another day of painting the 
illustrious Captain James Hook, she bravely threw open her door and 
marched up to the upper decks.
"Ah.  Herald."  Even just speaking, Hook's voice was deep and 
reverberating.  "Have you seen Mr. Smee?"
"No, Captain.  I just woke up."
He frowned at her, forgetting all about looking for his pitiful 
sidekick.  "Well, blast it all, you should have been up a good while 
ago."
"What did you need him for?" she said patiently, fighting that urge to 
grit her teeth again.
He began pacing.  "Pan!  He was about earlier, I know I saw his 
shadow...and now Smee is nowhere to be found!"
She shook her head.  "Well, you kidnapped Tiger Lily again.  What *did* 
you expect?"  She ignored his angry glare and asked, "Where did you 
leave her this time?"
He shrugged.  "In the cave again, it's the rules, you know."
"Oh for heaven's sake!  She could have drowned!"
"Pan always saves her."
"So what's the point?"
Hook haughtily waved his hook at her.  "Women understand nothing of 
war."
"Well, you'd better go get Smee."
"Why?  Do you know where he is?"
"I guarantee you Peter made a trade, Captain.  Little boys have an 
excellent sense of fair play.  I'd check the cave."
Indeed, the rowboat Hook sent off returned with his first mate, cold 
and wet, but none the less snivelling for wear.  Smee had been full of 
apologies, and the Herald had been full of disgust with him and the rest 
of the crew.
The day had dragged by again, with a painful slowness, as she applied 
her painting skills to her live subject.  Hook had contracted her as a 
painter, not a fortune-teller (he had made that abundantly clear from 
the beginning) and without using her Herald powers, the painting was 
difficult.  However, as her powers had grown over the two years since 
she'd inherited them, unbidden images of Hook's future sprang to mind, 
as well as a few of Peter--as a grown man?  Ridiculous, but it had to be 
true...
"Enough for today," he told her, noticing the tired look in her eyes.  
The shadows in his cabin had grown longer until the day had slipped away 
from them.  Aeris looked around for the first time and noticed that 
night had come.  "I do appreciate your work, Herald."
"Thank you, Captain."  That was usually  how they ended their sessions, 
with Aeris stumbling sleepily back to her cabin.  In a way, Hook was 
like Jareth.  A charming man, really, but infuriating in all the most 
uncharming ways...and a villain at heart.
She undressed and unwound her braid, brushing it out as she stood in 
front of a mirror in her white nightgown.  The dreams she'd been having 
occured to her again, and she worried over them.  She'd been having that 
dream of Jareth for weeks now, ever since she'd left the Labyrinth.  It 
was disturbing.  She made a note to herself to look at that painting she 
still kept--the one of him and Sarah, when she would return to him--when 
she got back to her cottage.  It might reveal something of importance.
She went to bed, pulling the soft blankets over her against the chill 
in the room, and put her head on the pillow, but finding she couldn't 
close her eyes.  Her dreams still troubled her.  She sat up again, then 
lay back down, and then sat up again.  What if something was wrong with 
Jareth?  What if it was her fault?  Oh, that stupid painting!  Why had 
she shown him Sarah at all?  There he was, pining away for a girl that 
wasn't even born yet, when he already knew, or thought he did, anyway, 
that she would defeat him in the end and leave him alone and miserable.  
She wished she had known then what a powerful master love could be.  In 
her dream, he was so sad and weak, such a contrast to the boy she'd 
always known.  He could be so alive and full of fun, and always, even 
when they were desperate enemies, she could see that handsome twist of 
humor in his features and almost forgive him anything.  Almost, she 
reminded herself, and smiled.
Something grabbed her suddenly from behind in the dark.  Screaming, she 
struggled away from it, falling from the bed to the floor, still 
fighting.  Whatever it was held her, and no matter how hard she tried to 
get away, its superior strength won out.  "Aeris!" she heard it call 
over her screams.  She knew the voice.
"Jareth!"  She swatted at him, not seeing him in the dark, but feeling 
now what she knew were his legs, body, arms, shoulders...and head.  She 
clocked him soundly with her right on the side of his head, and he 
rolled off of her, groaning.  "Bastard!" she cried, standing up.
She lit the candle and gasped.  He was there, lying in the floor, but 
something was terribly wrong with him.  He had always been pale, with 
his almost white blond hair and fair features, but now...it was as if 
she could see right through him.  She knelt at his side.  "Oh God, 
Jareth.  What's happened to you?"
He smiled at her weakly.  "Aeris, you hit me."  The accusation in his 
voice was teasing, but put her on the defensive.
"Hey.  You scared me."
"After all I've gone through to get to you..."
"What in the Underground are you talking about?"
He sat up beside her.  "Aeris, I'm not exactly what you think.  I'm not 
Jareth."
"Let me guess.  You're his evil twin.  Well, forget it.  He already has 
one."
"You're closer to the truth than you know."  His serious face caught 
her full attention.  "Listen."
"I am, and it better be good.  Or else I'm calling for help, and I 
remind you, I'm on a pirate ship.  Not the most charitable of people."
"Do you remember when Calypso came...when we broke the crown and 
twinned the Fay kingdom?"
She nodded.  Jareth's mad twin sister had returned through the mirrors, 
and, in an attempt to destroy her brothers, moved them (accidently 
transporting Aeris in Oberon's place) to the past, the Fay kingdom.  She 
had used the ancient Crown of Asteroth to do it, and they had had to 
destroy it.  When they did, the Fay kingdom split into the Fae and the 
Fey, the twin kingdoms on either side of the Labyrinth.  It was strange 
to be such a large, if unknown part of the Underground's history.  
Jareth, in the end, had been the one to break it, fighting Calypso in 
their other forms, owl and falcon.
"Jareth suffered greater consequences from his dealings with the crown 
than he knew.  Much greater.  When he took it from Calypso, it shattered 
with the strength of both their powers.  Calypso was fazed, but 
generally unharmed by the crown.  Jareth's wasn't so lucky."
Her blood had gone cold long ago with the memory of Calypso and the 
race through the mirrors for the crown, and though she hadn't noticed 
it, her hands were shaking.  "What happened to him?"
"His shadow, Aeris.  It was given...well, life."
"Insane.  This is just crazy."
"It's not.  We were dabbling in some incredible power with that crown.  
Asteroth had used it to give life to his creations, the Fay creatures.  
Did you know that?"
"I've heard the stories."
He put his hands on her shoulders.  "Think, Herald.  It is possible.  
An unknown property of the crown."
She shook her head.  "I painted him as an adult, with Sarah, and I 
remember clearly his shadow--"
"You should check your paintings.  He has no shadow.  And he is 
fading."
"He was fine when we left the past.  If that's when you seperated, 
wouldn't he have been feeling something?  And Herald pigments don't 
fade!"
"Yes, he was fine.  I didn't part from him until you left the 
Labyrinth.  And Herald pigments do fade."
"Why did you wait until *I* left?  It doesn't make one bit of sense.  
And they do not!"
"They do when the future has been changed," he countered.  "And Jareth 
is dying."
"Just because he lost his shadow?"  She thought back to Peter Pan, and 
when she had helped him find his.  "Impossible!"
Frustrated, the young man who apparently was not Jareth let her go and 
stood, pacing.  "You weren't listening.  I didn't just wander away.  I 
took part of his soul, I'm alive, don't you see?  And growing more so by 
the minute.  I'm stealing his life.  I don't mean to; it's just 
happening."
"This is all madness.  Sheer madness."
"Look at me, Aeris."
He was right.  She stared at him for a minute, and then saw his eyes.  
Jareth's eyes were mismatched, one hazel and one a clear blue.  She 
gasped.  The man's eyes were mismatched as well...but in reverse to 
Jareth's.  It was a final, convincing proof for her.  "Why did you leave 
him?" she asked, quiet and resigned, still trying to deal with the idea 
of talking to Jareth's living shadow.
"I had to be with you."
"I don't understand.  What do I have to do with it?  I can't help him, 
and he'll certainly die without you, so why go at all?  Why didn't you 
just stay wth him?"
He sat down on the floor with her.  "Aeris.  Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."  She shrugged, feeling too overwhelmed to deny him.
"Why did you give him away?  When you painted that picture of Sarah, 
you knew he would fall in love with her.  It was your design, it was 
your revenge.  But why would you do it?  You love him, Aeris.  And he 
could have been yours."
She glanced up at him.  "Jareth?  He's a villain, a trickster.  He 
saved my life and Stephan's back in the Fay, but I assure you, he was 
only protecting his interests.  Typical Jareth.  He's cruel.  Now why 
would I want someone like that?  How could I love that?  It's as 
ridiculous as you being his shadow!"
"And as true, so why did you do it?"
She stared at him.  He was smiling at her, and she knew that she 
couldn't lie to that face.  She shook her head.  "I couldn't have had 
him.  Not ever.  I'm a Herald," she sighed.
His smile fell.  "Didn't your mother ever tell you?  It doesn't make 
you any less real or less of a woman just because you come out of a 
rose.  You may still choose a consort."
Startled Aeris asked, "Why didn't she have one?"
"She didn't want one.  She had offers, I know, but she didn't ever 
choose anyone.  My father told me, or, Lucas told Jareth," he offered, 
by way of explanation.  "She was a great lady, you know."
"Yeah, well, she didn't do much good as far as preparing me for this."  
She felt a wave of self-pity at her uncovered feelings for Jareth and 
her mother's memory and pushed it back.  "So where are you going with 
this, Shadow?"
"You can call me Corwin.  Jareth has several names; I don't think it 
could hurt to borrow one."
"Fine. Corwin."
"Jareth is young.  Sarah is far away in his future, but you're very 
close.  Do you understand?"
She frowned, her face a mixture of hope and disbelief.  "He loves me?"
"Well...yes and no."
"Explain."
Corwin stood again and moved around the room as he spoke.  She noticed, 
alarmed by the detail of her memory, that he moved nothing like Jareth.  
The prince walked like an elegant conquerer...Corwin was an upright 
piece of quicksilver, slick and catlike.  He was slinky, where Jareth 
was strong.  "Sarah is still so far in his future, and, well, you're 
here in the moment, so close and beautiful and smart.  You're basically 
everything he's looking for right now, and he's not even very sure why 
he's so in love with Sarah."
"In the end, he loves her, right?  I'm a passing infatuation."  She 
sighed, pushing down her disappointment.  As she had told Hook, what 
*did* she expect?
"Yes.  But not now.  I don't love Sarah."
"I don't understand.  If you're his shadow--"
"I'm not in love with a picture.  I couldn't be.  I watched him gaze at 
that painting and wonder and wish and wait, but I couldn't, Aeris.  I 
just wanted to be with you.  As he was torn when the crown was 
destroyed, so he is now, in a more fundamental way.  I love you, and he 
loves Sarah.  Because that has been his great dilemma, it is also the 
great line that divides us."
"You followed me because you love me?" she asked slowly.
"Yes.  I was that kiss in the dark, Aeris.  I love you completely, and 
I couldn't stay away from you.  But I know this is wrong.  I've tried to 
become him again.  I don't know how.  I need help.  I need an idea, an 
inspiration, something, anything.  Otherwise, you'll get everything you 
ever wanted.  The man you love and his love in return.  But the 
Labyrinth will be short one crown prince, and I don't know how I'm going 
to rule it myself."
"Okay."  She offered him her hands and he helped her off the floor.  
"We're going back to the Labyrinth.  Did anyone see you?  Does anyone 
know you're here or what's wrong with Jareth?"
He shook his head and smiled.  "I've only been visible for the last 
three hours, and the castle physicians are still thinking someone cast 
him a bad spell.  You're wanted for questioning on that painting, by the 
way."
"Great."  She thought for a moment.  "I don't think Hook is going to 
just let me go, do you?"
"Something about what I've seen of the man tells me he'd insist on you 
staying, by force if necessary."
She packed quickly, almost thoughtlessly, putting her things into a 
large, bottomless carpetbag, a gift from a friend of her mother's.  When 
she was finished, and Corwin (who she still thought of as Jareth first) 
was standing patiently by her bed, she took out a small leather bag.  
"Pixie dust.  Tink doesn't like other girls, but Peter made her give me 
some for the return trip."  She sprinkled it over Corwin's head, and her 
own.  He took the opportunity to kiss her.
"Hey!"
He grinned.  "Sorry."
"Just quit for a while.  I've got to think."
They walked quietly out to the upper decks and into the wide open 
night.  She concentrated.  Her happy thought.
"Your mother? he whispered to her.
She nodded with her eyes closed, trying to summon her favorite memory 
of the Herald Callisti, a sweet childhood moment when her mother had 
given her her very first set of paints.
"You," he said, "you're my happy thought, Aeris," and reached out to 
squeeze her hand.  She felt a little ripple of some nameless excitement 
(love?) shivering up her spine.  It was nice, but she commanded herself 
to stay calm as they took off into the sky.  Her happy thought had 
changed.  It was him.  It was Corwin.
"Jareth hated me after I painted that portrait," she told him, as the 
sea and pirate ship grew smaller and smaller under their feet.
"He was furious.  The thought that you might possess the power to 
avenge yourself never even crossed his mind.  And he also believed that 
it was proof positive that you didn't love him."
She turned to Corwin, now flying backwards.  He was still slightly 
translucsent, and she could see the stars through him.  It looked as 
though he was made of them.  "He was always so cruel.  How could he have 
cared about me?"
"You really had no idea?"
She bit her lip.  "I guess now I know why he's doomed to fail with 
Sarah."
Corwin smiled secretively.  "Or is he?"
"Someone's been peeking at my paintings."  She released his hand and 
turned around, dashing away from him through the air.  "Come on!"
He chased after her through the starry night, laughing and following 
each movement through the tiny points of light.  They arrived back at 
her cottage by daybreak.  Giggling madly, she ran into her cottage, 
Corwin chasing close behind.  He caught her inside, and pulled her 
close.  Their laughter died away.  Something was passing between them, 
something Aeris couldn't define, but it was there, holding her eyes to 
his.  She moved her face closer to his, her eyes closing involuntarily, 
her lips touching his.  He pushed her gently away.
"No kisses," he told her.  "Sleep.  We have something to do, Aeris.  
Please don't forget, the kingdom is in our hands."
She nodded sadly and laid down on her bed, wrapping her empty arms 
around a pillow unconciously.  "It's true, what you said.  You're the 
side of him that's just a man, none of the bad things that keep me from 
being close to him.  I could love you, Corwin.  I think I do."
"Shh."  Corwin stroked her hair, his whisper light on her ear.
"No, I'll be too awake tomorrow to say it all.  I'll be embarassed 
and..."  She yawned.  "He's always distant and hateful.  He never lets 
anyone close.  Lucas tries to open him up, but Jareth doesn't 
understand.  He'll always think Lucas is just thwarting him.  He never 
knows it's for his own good.  And me.  We've always been antagonists.  
Sometimes we're friends now, but it's still so distant, and he can be so 
mean.  You're not him anymore at all, you know?  But you're so close, 
just the same..."
"I'm only his shadow, Aeris."
But she didn't hear him.  She had drifted off to sleep.  Her dreams 
were the same, Jareth fading.  This time he called to her.
"Aeris!"  His voice was like a low whisper echoing through a dark 
tunnel.  "Aeris!"
"Jareth."  She reached out to him.  His eyes changed, and he became 
Corwin, reaching back out for her, smiling and sweet.  She moved towards 
him, but all of a sudden the world around them, a white mist, cleared.  
The destruction of the Labyrinth surrounded them.  The hedge maze, 
flattened.  The stones crumbling and broken around them.  The Castle 
beyond the Goblin City in ruins.  It was her home, dying around her.
She awoke to the late afternoon sunlight   Corwin was lying beside her, 
his skin no longer so pale, his face almost a healthy color.  She feared 
for Jareth suddenly, a chill sweeping over her even as she gazed at 
Corwin.  She moved his hair away from his face and woke him calling his 
name.
His eyes fluttered open to her and he smiled.  "Aeris."
She got up, and made him turn away while she dressed, her prudishness 
feeling a bit silly, but she was unable to disreguard it.  "We're 
wasting time," she told him.  "We have to find you a way to get back 
with Jareth."
"We don't *have* to," he told her.  She looked at him, turning as she 
bound her hair up into a bun.  "Well," he said, standing up, putting his 
arms around her, "Maybe ruling the Labyrinth wouldn't be so bad.  With 
you by my side--"
She wanted to stay in his embrace forever, and fought the urge.  "Oh, 
God.  Loving me is your guiding principle, isn't it?"
"Well, yes, since Jareth and I parted."
"You need each other.  My will would control you; you'd be unable to 
rule.  You're useless without the cold in you, did you know that?"  She 
almost laughed.  "You're nothing to your world or your duties if you 
don't have that.  It's so strange.  I always thought it was the other 
way..."  She leaned into him for a moment, then drew away.  "Let's go."
"Where?"
"I feel like the answers will be in the Labyrinth.  Usually if someone 
had a problem like this, they'd go to the Herald," she said ruefully, 
stepping from her cottage out into the bright sunlight.  "First, we 
should probably go to the castle.  Lucas needs to know what's going on.  
He might have an idea."
They walked through the Labyrinth, talking and learning more about each 
other (and the more she knew, the harder it was for Aeris to deal with 
losing Corwin), unassaulted by riddles or unfamiliar twists.  Their 
magic protected them.  There were some problems in the Goblin City.  The 
goblins were confused about just who this Jareth-looking fellow was, and 
tried to harrass him.  Fortunately, Corwin could do a reasonable 
imitation of the prince, and the fled from him in terror.  Stephan saw 
them first as they entered the gates of the castle.
The boy's eyes were haunted and sad, and Aeris knew instantly that 
things were bad with Jareth, perhaps worse than she thought.  He saw her 
and Corwin and realized with his usual quickness that something was up, 
possibly something to help his brother.
"Stephan," she began first.  "This is Corwin.  We have to see your 
father."
Numbly, the boy nodded.  "He's with Jareth.  I think he's going to 
die," he said softly.
She touched his shoulder.  "We're going to try to stop that.  Don't 
worry."  She had meant to inspire some hope in him.  She certainly 
hadn't in herself.
Jareth's room was crowded, even as big as it was.  She could hear him 
shouting from within.  "Get them all away from me!  I'm tired of them, 
they don't know anything!"  Castle physicians were healers, after a 
fashion, but they were limited in their power, Aeris remembered.  Of 
course they were useless in this situation, and in accordance with the 
prince's wishes, a group of different beings filed out of the room past 
her and Corwin, never noticing them; they were so concerend with their 
problem.
She entered the room first.  On either side of the bed, Lucas and 
Oberon stood watch over the prince, their faces lined with worry.  
Jareth was lying in his bed, propped on pillows.  He was frighteningly 
pale.  Shadows lined his face, and his eyes were sunken and dark.  He 
was angry, his hands balled into fists with his fury at the physicians.  
His eyes turned slowly to her.  She stepped back involuntarily; his face 
was terrifying.  "Herald," he growled at her.  "What brings you here?"
"I brought...I think..."  It was incredible.  Without Corwin, he was 
full of cold rage.  She wanted to turn and run from him.
Corwin stepped foward.  Jareth's eyes opened wide.  There was a kind of 
unspoken dialogue between them, their eyes communicating volumes of 
shock, dismay, wonder, and realization.  Jareth sat up, showing Aeris in 
even more detail how weak he'd become.  "Who are you?" he asked slowly.
"Corwin."
His eyes narrowed dangerously.  "That's my name."
"You have five.  I just took one you weren't using."
Jareth moved to get up.  Lucas came between them.  "Stop."  Jareth sank 
back a little on his pillows and Corwin relaxed his defensive posture.  
"Explain this.  Or I'll have you thrown in the Bog of Eternal Stench 
without so much as a wink as an imposter."
Corwin explained to them what he had to Aeris in Hook's cabin.  "I 
don't know how to get it back together," he finished.  "I've tried to 
find out, but I just don't know how."
Jareth was, of course, furious.  "You left me here to die to go chasing 
that...that...girl!"
Corwin shrugged a little, holding his hands palms-up.  "Well, I had to.  
She's the Herald.  I needed help and I couldn't communicate yet."
The prince roared an incomprehensible string of curses and fell back on 
the pillow.
"Ask Puck," Oberon broke in suddenly, his face telling all his 
embarssment at his brother's behavior.  "I'll summon him.  He knows more 
about the break between the twin kingdoms than anyone else.  He was 
there, and is still the servant of the rulers of the Fae and Fey."
She smiled and hugged Oberon, her relief phenomenal.  "Thank you."
He swept his midnight cloak around him, bowing, then straightened and 
opened it.  Puck stepped out from the folds.
Puck was short and handsome, in his faery way.  His face was clear, but 
held inummerable secrets.  His hair was light green, and his eyes were 
the same color.  He grinned delightedly.  He was a tease, but the 
servant of Oberon, and of Stephan.  He bowed low to the room.  "My 
Hearld, and each majesty, what is it you biddst of me?"
"Look around, Puck," Aeris told him.
"Ah, I see your princes four, when we know there should be three.  My 
magic is of no use here, a shadow with a soul is free."
"He has a soul?" asked Jareth.  "He's my shadow!"
Puck retreated from him a little.  "Prince, you handled the first 
king's crown.  You must have heard of its great renown.  When it 
shattered it released its powers, and reacted to your turmoil with these 
two flowers."  He indicated the picture on the wall--the painting Aeris 
had done of his confrontation with Sarah (which indeed, it was fading, 
and Jareth was almost invisible in it), and Aeris, who was blushing 
furiously.
Lucas held up his hand.  "I understand.  Do you know what we can do?"
"The great ruby had the reverse spell," said Puck.  "In the front of 
the crown as you should know well."
"We had the great ruby in the end, didn't we?" asked Aeris excitedly, 
then her face fell.
Jareth nodded.  "We used it to get through the little mirror you had.  
And we lost it in limbo."  He fell back on his pillow.  "We can't get 
it.  Eventually, Calypso will discover it, and use it to conduct that 
last caper.  It is the paradox of the mirrors through time."
She looked at him, suddenly touched by her old familiar mixture of 
feelings for him, animosity, friendship, and...though she could never 
say it, love.  "No.  That's not acceptable.  Puck, tell us what can be 
done to retrieve it."
"Dealing with the devil I must not advise.  Calypso is clever and 
wickedly wise."
"Bring her on," insisted Aeris, but Lucas touched her shoulder.
"Puck makes a point, Herald.  My daughter is a force to be reckoned 
with."
"And insane," offered Jareth.  She can be fought, dealt with, deceived 
if necessary."
Lucas sighed.  "I want my son, but the Labyrinth needs a ruler.  What 
say you, Puck?  Can it be done?"
The little man nodded, beginning to fade to a mysterious smile.  
"Through the mirror lies the key to rescuing your majesty.  Calypso's 
victory is yet unsure, but shadows may prevail, if they be pure.  
Accomodate the devil's whim, and find the jem you seek for him."  And 
then even the strange little smile faded away.
Oberon seemed apologetic.  "He has obeyed me this way since I took 
power, and probably will continue to do so--fufilling his orders, but 
little more."
Corwin turned to Lucas.  "We can try to get the ruby, but only with 
your power can we open the mirror to limbo."
Lucas nodded.  "Then we go."
Jareth was moving to get up again, and Oberon pushed him back down in 
the bed.  "Brother, I warn you, I will use force to keep you in this 
bed.  Stay here.  Trust them."
He scowled at Aeris and Corwin.  "Those two clowns?"
She scowled back.  "Look at it this way.  What choice have you got?"  
She fled Jareth's furious gaze and followed Lucas and Corwin as they 
moved through the halls.  Corwin took her hand, not without Lucas 
noticing, but the king said nothing.  They came to the mirrored hall.
"This one," he said, indicating the single, tall glass on the far wall.  
They walked up to it.
Aeris watched her reflection quietly.  The room was filled with 
shadows, and they seemed to gather around them as they approached.  They 
were long and black, and reached closer and closer to them.  Lucas lit 
two of the torches, but with the light, they only grew.  Aeris squeezed 
Corwin's hand once, then released it to touch the glass.  "Solid 
enough," she said, surprised at how her voice echoed back in the wide, 
open room.
"But it isn't," Lucas told her.  "It is merely a closed gateway.  Look 
closer."
She did.  The shadows in the mirror moved and slithered and gathered 
together in one mass as she watched, horrified.  It was a shape, a body, 
a face, and then she saw Calypso herself, screaming furiously out at 
them.  Aeris gasped and jumped back into Corwin's protective arms.
"I will open it.  But do not touch it.  Let nothing bring you any 
closer than you are to that mirror.  Or else, she will step through, 
using your power as the way.  Remember when you speak to her that she is 
in the past.  She has just been imprisoned, as far as she knows.  Time 
is nothing in limbo."  And with that warning, Lucas raised his hands, 
and Aeris saw the light sparking between them, and the shadowy image of 
Calypso in the mirror gain clarity, and soon she was able to make out 
the girl's face...and then her shrieking voice.
"Damn you, Lucas!   Release me!" the young blonde woman demanded, her 
eyes full of fire and hate.  "I am a queen!"
It was true.  She was the Queen of the Gremlins, but that dark realm 
lay on the other side of limbo, and she could not reach it.  Her power 
had no dominion in limbo, and she remained unable to cross into that 
land.  And until there was some restraint on her power, Lucas would not 
release her to her kingdom.
"So you curse your father again?  You will never be free."
Calypso looked into the scene in the mirrored hall.  "Aeris, my 
childhood playmate.  Why are you here?  Have you come to gloat with him 
and my brother over the captive queen?"
"We want the great ruby of the Crown of Asteroth."
She puzzled for a minute, looking carefully at the other girl.  "A part 
of the crown?  In here?  I don't believe you."
Aeris remembered she was speaking to a Calypso that hadn't yet 
conducted her most recent crime.  She hadn't even found the peice of the 
crown, much less begun to move through the different lands, assembling 
it.  "Yes.  Somewhere in limbo.  I'll give you the power to find it if 
you'll let us use it."
"Truly?"  Her eyes glittered at the thought of power.  "You would 
sacrifice that?  Why?"
"I need it.  Do you want it or not?"
"Give me your hand."
"No, " Lucas warned her.
Calypso hissed at her father.  "Don't meddle.  The gate has been opened 
and I am conducting business with another soul.  By rights you cannot 
close it until the transaction has been completed."
Aeris turned to Corwin.  "I'm going to do it."  Before he could 
protest, she pushed her hand at the mirror, and felt Calypso's cold 
touch.  The room was still as the image in the mirror came in and out, 
Calypso looking for the ruby in the endless realm of limbo.  She 
reappeared, stronger than ever, and Aeris felt the ruby in her hand.  
She drew away from the mirror, Calypso's smug face glaring at her 
father.
"You see?  As I said.  Done."
Aeris looked at the ruby in her hand, then at Corwin.  Tears threatened 
to rise up in her eyes, but she blinked them back and closed her hand 
around it.  "Let's go."
Lucas stayed behind, guarding the mirror and his daughter as they raced 
back to Jareth's room.
Jareth was sitting up straight in his bed, and Aeris noticed that in 
only a few moments, he had become worse, and Corwin healthier.  She 
opened her palm and showed the ruby.
"How is it used?" asked Oberon.
"I'm not sure," answered Corwin, looking a little ashamed.
"Herald?" questioned Jareth.
She paused, her mind filling with picuture she didn't want to see, her 
Herald power acting overtime, images rising unbidden to her mind.  She 
sighed.  "I have to do it."  She instructed them both to stand, and she 
closed her eyes, the ruby beginning to glow in her hand.
"What was once done, let be undone.  Make this spell as never spoken, 
in the name of Asteroth, the first, the great."  The words seemed to 
come from the ruby, not her mouth, and when she opened her eyes, Corwin 
again looked as he had that first night, as they had flown away from 
Neverland.  He was made of the stars again.
He moved, melting slowly into Jareth's body.  They both began to glow 
red, and the light filled the room, until the two figures couldn't be 
seen clearly for the light surrounding them.  But Corwin spoke.
"Aeris, I love you."
She let the tears spill over her cheeks.  "I love you," she cried, 
falling into the light, where she knew his arms would be, waiting for 
her.  He kissed her, and she closed her eyes again, feeling his lips 
against hers for the last time, falling apart between regret and love.
The kiss changed, but didn't end.  It was strange the way it went, from 
a pure love to a confused blend of emotions tied up in the act.  She 
knew they were joined again, and she was kissing the prince.  She 
stopped and drew away, gazing soberly into Jareth's astonished face.  He 
was well again.
"I have to finish it.  Calypso is waiting."
Jareth and Oberon followed her into the mirrored hall.  Lucas still 
stood, magically keeping back Calypso and she pressed teasingly against 
the mirror.  "Aeris!  You came back.  I knew you would."
"I brought it back."
"I know.  Come now.  Touch my hand."
Aeris reached through into the mirror, and Calypso grasped her hand.  
But instead of taking the ruby, she began to push herself through.
Surprised, Aeris cried out and tried to pull her hand away, but it only 
pulled Calypso farther into the realm of the Underground.  Calypso was 
laughing her insane laugh, and it echoed through the mirror, chilling 
Aeris all the way through.  She panicked, Calypso's laughing face close 
to hers, thinking of Puck's words: dealing with the devil.
Then, the flames of the lamps of the room jumped high, shattering the 
glass.  Behind Jareth's frame, they danced up and back, casting his 
shadow on the mirror.
Calypso screamed and shrieked, backing away, releasing Aeris' hand, 
though stealing the ruby from her in the process.  Lucas raised his 
hands and chanted, the mirror turning back into a simple reflective 
surface, the gate closing.
The sudden light died as quickly as it came, and Aeris turned around.  
Jareth was gone, walking slowly away from the scene, having lost 
interest almost as soon as it was over.  But in a mirror, she could see 
the small smile on his face.  She knew now what it meant to love a 
villain...and she hoped Sarah would be strong enough.

 



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