It's Only Forever (a labyrinth fanfic)

Chapter 14

Sarah POV:

After sending a few goblins out to deal with the fireys, Jareth had carried me in his arms and gently laid me onto my bed. He sat with me, fetching books when I asked and occasionaly exchanging my double layer of blankets. All the while he had a look on his face as if he was mulling something over and over, going back to certain details but shaking his head when something didn't fit.

Eventually I got fed up with uselessly lying on my bed and watching him, "Jareth what is going on?"

The Goblin King was sitting sideways in the midnight blue chair by the window, one leg thrown over the arm. He frowned, "Sarah, I never asked you how you got here."

Jareth looked up at me, "How did you do it?"

I shrugged, "I went to a place with very low gravity, sprinkled this little mixture I had read about on the ground, stepped on an owl feather, and said 'I wish I would take me away right now'. Was that wrong or something?"

Jareth placed a hand over his eyes, "Why didn't you just call me to bring you back?"

Now that I thought of it, it seemed childish, "I didn't think you'd take me back after I left you and I figured that if you could do it than so could I."

Jareth didn't move and I thought he hadn't heard me. I looked at him, "Jareth?"

Jareth removed his hand, "You didn't think I would take you back? After all that I did?"

"Well I didn't really see you jumping for joy when I told you that you had no power over me. I don't know, I just figured that," I shrugged, "I don't know."

Jareth swung his leg off of the chair's arm, "Why don't you get it? I've told you again and again. I even offered you the world. Do you just not accept it? Am I confusing you? What is it?"

I stared at him, "What are you talking about?"

"How do you not understand?"

I felt anger rising in my chest,"Well all you ever do is talk in riddles. I still don't know what your concerned about. Am I dying? Do I have a disease? And what's this about me not understanding? What do you want me to understand?"

Jareth's face was and angry expression of hurt,"What do you think?"

Tears sprung into my eyes, "I don't know. Don't you get it? I don't know what you want to tell me because you never come out and just say it! If you want me to know something tell me, explain to me. Talk to me! What don't I understand?"

Jareth was standing now, "That I love you damn it!"

His words hit me like a slap in the face. Jareth's mismatched eyes searched my mine before he collapsed back into the chair. I watched him bury his face in his hands and take a deep breath. I pressed my lips together and looked away as I wiped away my tears, "What's wrong with me then?"

Jareth didn't look up, "Hmmm?"

I glanced at him, "Why do I need to stay in bed? Why is it important to know how I got here?"

The Goblin King still didn't look at me, "Since you're from the above ground, you don't posses the kind of magic that is needed to transport you. What you did is considered dark magic, or sacrificial magic. This means that in order to gain something, you must give something up. The larger the thing you get, the larger the thing you must sacrifice. Traveling to the underground is very, um, taxing. It would cost something huge like..."

I swallowed, "My life?"

"You could say that. Yeah." Jareth looked at his boots. There was a dense silence as the two of us contemplated this. I tried to sound nonchalant, "So how long do I have?"

Jareth's eyes didn't stray from his shoes, "I don't know."

I nodded. Was I really going to die? What about Toby? Would anyone but Jareth care? What did the great Goblin King think of all this? The quiet humidity hanging in the air became unbearable and I fianlly bursted out, "Isn't there something we could do?"

Jareth thought for a moment before muttering something about books. I leaned forward, "What?"

He started and looked at me, "Wha- hm? Oh, just.... nothing. Um hey, hmmm... you didn't- hold on."

He lapsed into another bout of silence before finally saying, "Did you have a talisman with you? When you came here?"

I thought back, "Well, I was holding my copy of The Labyrinth but that's it."

Jareth nodded, "Was there anything special about it?"

I leaned forward, "Special?"

I watched him wave his hand in the air, "Yes, something different about it. Was it missing any pages, were there any misspelled words that stood out?"

I bit my lip trying to remember, "It was a used copy so someone had written on the inside 'six for two, the trial anew'. Does that mean anything?"

Jareth made a face but straightened it out when he noticed I was watching, "You like adventures don't you Sarah?"

"Why?" His tone made me worry.

A tired smile fell over The Goblin King's face, "Because this is going to be quite..." his eyes searched my face before he breathed, "an adventure."