Triple Trouble

Chapter 2: An Unexpected Visitor And A Deal

Meanwhile, in the shower, Sarah was just standing there, staring at the wall opposite her, allowing the warm water to trickle down on her to sooth the fury and fear that was building up in her heart. Somehow, the mention of his name tonight brought on a new sense to the word worry. Usually she didn’t want to hear his name but tonight, the fear became more like paranoia. She had a bad feeling about tonight, a feeling she hasn’t had since she left Toby’s room and he stopped crying suddenly. It was only when the lightning was heard and the lights went out that she came out of her daze. For four years now thunder storms and power outages terrified her beyond belief. She had the worst feeling in the world right now, she was going to regret this night.

“Guys…?” She asked tentatively. “If this is a joke, I swear to God that your death will come quickly.” She yelled out into the emptiness of the room; no answer. She waited a while, in hope that her friends would answer her. She raised her hand to grab the shower curtain when she noticed that her hands were shaking like there was no tomorrow. She was now aware that there wasn’t one muscle in her body that wasn’t trembling in fear and covered in goose bumps. She gently nudged the shower curtain aside as she cautiously peered into the bathroom, unsure of what she was looking for. The sheer darkness of the room was enough to make her fear her situation but the thoughts that were clouding her mind made it even worse.

With nothing to fear in the bathroom, Sarah knelt in the bath and pawed at the floor to find her towel. Shortly after her search began, she found her towel, and wrapped it tightly around her body. Slowly and noiselessly, she unlocked the door and opened it just enough to see through it. Not seeing anything to alarm her, she ran into her room where she had carefully placed a flashlight in case of a situation like this.

Even in the darkness she knew her way to her room, around her bed and to her bedside table. “I knew I should’ve picked this up this morning. Why do I never trust my instincts?” she thought. After throwing object after object from the table to the bed she finally laid her hand on a big, round, relatively heavy object. The flashlight! She hurriedly put it on and turned herself around as fast as she could. She walked a few steps ahead of her to get some clothes out of the drawer on the opposite side of the room and, in her haste, tripped on a ball that had rolled off her bed.

In her fall, the flashlight turned off and rolled under the bed. She had fallen on her back and had whacked her head on the floor. She screamed out in pain while clutching the towel to her body so that no intruder managed to get a glimpse of anything. She shut her eyes tightly to prevent tears of royal pain from falling. With her eyes screwed shut, she managed to place herself on her hands and knees. As she forced open her watery eyes, they fell upon another royal pain, literally. Although the room was pitch black it seemed like there was one place illuminated and that was right in front of her. Shiny black boots appeared before her as dread crept through her heart. She continued her way up as the boots were followed by black breeches, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. This was followed by a white poet shirt accentuated by a leather vest, both buttoned halfway up. Through the hole left from the unbuttoned shirt, on his toned chest rest a crescent moon pendant. Then came the moment she dreaded the most, she looked all the way up and saw the smug look of self-satisfaction, silver eyes, piercing and shinning and finally, his wild platinum hair.

“Hello love.” Jareth, the Goblin King greeted. Although his expression was the same that he usually wore on his face, it looked as though he felt particularly superior today. Something about tonight didn’t feel right, it was intended. He had a plan and it seemed that it succeeded, if his look was to be trusted.

“Wh…What are you doing here?” she asked struggling to get up because of her throbbing head and because she was trembling with such force that her ability to stand was seriously compromised.

“Well I had some recruiting to do, your friends seemed more than pleased to be at my disposal when they wished themselves to my kingdom.” He smugly explained.

“No they didn’t.” she denied not completely convinced. “They wouldn’t, not after the horror story I told four years ago. Plus, there is no way they knew how to summon you, the book is well hidden, nowhere to be found.”

“Nonetheless, book in hand or not, they wished themselves away to me.” He contradicted.

“Where are they?”

“Have you not learnt by now? My, my…”he trailed off with an evil grin. She wanted to hurt him so bad, wipe that nasty smile off his face.

“Let them come back, they were under the influence of alcohol and will regret this when they are sober.”

“Must I repeat…What’s said is said Sarah. There is nothing you can do. So forget about your friends and don’t defy me.” He added with malice in his voice, this was a threat but Sarah didn’t deal with threats very well.

“Let me see them this instant!” she commanded.

“Well, well, you haven’t lost your fire but you must remember that I am king and I wouldn’t speak to a king in that manner, especially not I.” Sarah gritted her teeth. No matter how much his every word pissed her off, she had to keep it together for Kerri and Keaira. He could be cruel to her but no way would she accept his cruelty being directed at the sisters, especially not if it was her fault. They got themselves in a mess and now she had to fix it…again.

“…Please…Let…Me…See…Them……..Your Majesty!” she slowly spoke, with much trouble controlling her anger.

“I must say, the formality is quite a change for you…for that I suppose I can grant your request. You will see they are fine and afterwards, I shall return you here where you shall continue with your pitiful life...without them!” He snarled. Without further ado, he grabbed Sarah by the waist. Despite her slight struggle of being so close to her worst nightmare and enemy, especially as she was still in her towel, he held on tight as they disappeared, leaving a puddle of sparkles where they last stood.


When Kerri and Keaira finally opened they’re eyes after their wish had been granted, they were in the middle of a stone room, in a pit. The room had nothing special but a crescent moon throne. There were also a few hallways and staircases leading away from the room. They looked at each other and said: “It’s not so bad.” Their optimism was cut short when a band of loud screeching creatures were heard making their way towards them. They only had a few moments of calmness before they were overcome with the presence of hundreds of filthy little creatures. When the creatures noticed their guests, they automatically headed for them, curious about who they were and what they were doing there. In addition, they wondered how much fun they could have messing with the frightened mortals, at least until their sovereign returned.

The sisters backed away in fear of these grimy little bug-like things, which kept advancing on them, it was like the movements of the girls and the miniature beasts were in sync. The girls would take one step back and the creatures would take three forward, which was equivalent to one full human stride.

“I think this was a bad idea!” Kerri stated.

“It will only be a bad idea if we die or if Jareth and Sarah don’t realize what they have together.” Keaira replied, a little uncertain of what she had just said.

They finally backed away so far that they walked into the throne. Noticing that they had gone as far back as they could, they began to climb to the top of the throne. There was nowhere they could go anymore, they were stuck. As the creepy things were closing in on them and they were saying their goodbyes, something deterred all of their attention to the opposite end of the room. Kerri and Keaira started thanking god for his impeccable timing.
All stood frozen, as they awaited the identity of the newcomers to the room. Out of thin air, sparkles appeared followed by Jareth and Sarah. She was about to run up to her frightened friends, one hand clasped to the top of the towel she was holding but Jareth was a lot quicker and grasped her other hand with such strength that she was unable to move.

“Ah ah Sarah, I said you could see them. Now that you saw them, it is time to go back home and forget about them.” Jareth said.

“Wait a minute…FOREVER?!?!” Sarah asked.

“Why yes, when you wish yourself away you become mine to do what I wish… forever. There’s no way around it this time, they wanted to come here of their own free will, so they must now stay here.” The three women stood awestruck. After a few seconds of thought Sarah remembered something which led her to realize the only way to save her friends.

“How about I take their place. I stay here and” she takes a deep breathe “you send them back home.” Sarah offered.

“Well this is quite a tempting deal. You do realize you will have to obey my every demand.”

“Yes.” She answered defeated. He looked as though he was contemplating the offer, weighing it in his mind but in reality, he simply thought “Why Sarah you are playing right into my hands.”

“Alright, you should know that if ever you defy me and push me to the edge, the deal is reversed and there will be no return on my word. Now, I’m sending you girls back home right…” Jareth began, raising a hand to send them back to where they came but was abruptly interrupted.

“WAIT!” Kerri screamed as Keaira turned to her sister. This was quickly followed by the stares of Jareth, Sarah and the hundreds of Goblins in the room. She was surprised to see all these eyes plagued on her but she couldn’t waste time on this. Jareth then noticed the presence of his people so he made them disappear because they seemed to be a distraction to the important negotiations that were taking place. Kerri then stated her plea, “It’s not fair that she should take the fall for us.” The siblings felt guilty, they called this unspeakably horrible force upon them in a hope to reunite Sarah with her subconscious love and put her back to pieces. Although it had been a dangerous game to play they had still done it. Sarah wasn’t going to suffer the consequences of their mistakes for them and they were sure as hell not going to miss the romance they had a hand in creating; no way, no how!

“What is with you humans and your fairness?” Jareth asked exasperated.

“We challenge you to your labyrinth.” Kerri proposed.

“You care to venture through my labyrinth?”

“Yes we do.” Keaira answered. “If we clear your labyrinth within a reasonable time limit, all three of us go home as if nothing had ever happened.”

“And if you don’t?” Jareth inquired, positively intrigued.

“We all stay here to serve to your every command.” Kerri finished. Sarah’s jaw dropped to the floor. While she stood shocked that the girls were so stupid to offer a deal that they would never win, Jareth thought seriously about this and saw a great advantage of three servants versus one. Although he knew he might, a very slim chance yet might end up with none; he was a risk taker and saw this as an impassible opportunity. Sarah, coming back to life, opened her mouth to protest the illogical offer but Jareth was much quicker.

“I accept. Here are the rules, you have ten hours to defeat the labyrinth, and you will be both be placed at different ends. All those who helped Sarah last time will be locked in the castle so you will be on your own. Oh and you both have to arrive here before the time is up, otherwise you are mine.” He said with a smile of accomplishment on his face. With no time, to spare they were both sent outside the labyrinth completely on their own, with a shower of glitter.

“You know, you really have to stop it with the sparkles!” Kerri screamed into the emptiness.

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