Chapter 9 - Haven't Got All Day

Chapter Nine: Haven't Got All Day



Chantal looked at Serek in Stephanie's arms then turned to her friend. "Which way now?" she asked.

"Hmm, I guess this way," Stephanie pointed towards her left. "Since the way I came from ended up here."

"Okay, then let's get moving," Chantal said.

"Right!" Stephanie agreed with a smile.

Chantal turned towards her friend before they started off. "Do you have any idea how much more time we have to get through the Labyrinth?"

Stephanie looked up at the sky. "Maybe a few more hours...maybe seven at most," She grinned. "I think we got closer to the castle faster than Sarah did."

"I hope so! But let's not stand around here and waste any more time."

The two girls walked in silence. During the many silent walks, Stephanie had informed Chantal about the basics of the Labyrinth story. As they walked, Chantal began to think to herself. She then turned to her friend. Serek had crept up from her arms to her head where he sat, playing with one of her necklaces with his tail.

"Hey Steph?"

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering," Chantal started to say.

"Wondering about what?" Stephanie asked her friend as she kicked a small pebble, it bounced to a stop a few steps away.

"About the Goblin King. Is he human or is he a goblin? I mean, he doesn't really look like a goblin, well maybe he kinda does, with his wild hair and all. What I really mean is why would a human want to be king over goblins. And aren't there any other humans in the Underground?" Chantal paused and looked at Stephanie, who was trying to take all this in. "I now know that any human that arrives in the Underground only have thirteen hours to reach the castle before they turn into goblins. So if Jareth is human, why didn't he turn into a goblin? Is he special in some sort of way?" Stephanie shrugged, still thinking of a possible answer. "And if there aren't any other humans around, you would think Jareth would get lonely," Chantal continued. "What I mean is that goblins can't be that great company. I wonder if that is why he finds us so amusing?"

Stephanie pondered for a moment before answering. "Maybe Jareth inherited, to rule over the goblins and since he's the ruler over them. We know he has powers--so he's the one who turns humans that are wished away, into goblins."

"But why aren't there any other humans around. I haven't seen any. Have you?" Chantal asked curiously.

"No, but maybe there's other places in the Underground with human inhabitants," Stephanie trailed off.

"Oh! Okay! I'll stop rambling now!" Chantal giggled. Stephanie laughed. Chantal grinned as she continued to walk on.

"Do you have any water in that bag of yours?" Stephanie asked.

"I wish I did! I'm dying of thirst," Chantal sighed.

Stephanie frowned. "That bites."

Chantal nodded to her friend.

"Time out!" Stephanie called suddenly. "Stretch break."

"What?" Chantal asked confused. Stephanie sat on the ground and lay down as Serek jumped from her shoulder to the ground. She didn't care if she would get sand in her hair, it would match her clothes. A sigh of relief came from her. Stephanie smiled.

"Good idea!" Chantal exclaimed as she dropped to the ground. "That rest I had before you showed up wasn't long enough."

Stephanie giggled as she stretched out her limbs. She watched the thin clouds making their way across the sky. "My ankle is going to be sore tomorrow," she said as she sat up and rubbed her left ankle.

"I think I'm going to be sore all over tomorrow," Chantal said as she pulled of her blue backpack and unzipped it.

"That too!" Stephanie giggled.

"I have never walked so much in my life!" Chantal rummaged around in her pack, and then suddenly pulled a clear sphere out. "Hey! It's that crystal I found on the path."

"I thought that disappeared after we arrived here," Stephanie said intrigued.

"I thought it did too," Chantal said as she gazed into the crystal.

"Can I look at it?" her friend asked, her hand outstretched.

"Go ahead," Chantal said as she handed Stephanie the crystal.

"Thanks." Stephanie said, looking into the depth of the crystal.

Suddenly a white light that illuminated from the crystal blinded the two girls. Both girls blinked furiously, trying to regain their vision. Once their vision cleared, they noticed that they were sitting in a large fancy room, on a cold marble floor.

Stephanie was still holding the crystal in her right hand; she looked at her friend in amazement. "What the hell just happened?" Chantal asked shocked. "Where are we?"

Stephanie stood up and looked around. "We're in a ballroom."

Dangling from the ceiling was a crystal chandelier, a grand clock stood in one corner of the room. Several tables covered in silk tablecloths, were ornate with gold and silvers trays and bowls with intricate designs; they held various foods, none that the girls have seen before. Stephanie at that point, knew to stay away from food in the Labyrinth, not from experience but more as a caution. Goblets made from the same elegant material as the trays, glittered in the glow of slow burning candles.

Chantal screamed.

Stephanie spun around to look at her friend. "What?"

"How the heck did we get into these dresses?"

Stephanie looked down and shrugged. Chantal jumped to her feet and examined the dress. The dress was dark violet with silver beaded flowers around the trim. Stephanie had a simple dark green gown. In her long hair were silver vines that started above her ears and went past the ends of her hair. Chantal gazed at her friend. "Hey! Your dress is nice! Really nice!"

"This is so wicked!" Stephanie said looking at Chantal.

"Yeah! I'm still a little freaked out on how we got into these dresses though," Chantal said eyeing her own dress once again. She began looking around for her bag, spotted it on the floor beside Serek and picked it up as the dragon creature jumped up and sat on her shoulder. At her throat, Stephanie noticed that she had a silver necklace on. It was an owl in flight, holding a flat crystal. Stephanie then noticed something else too. The ballroom was quiet.

Chantal looked around. "Aww...we got all dressed up, and there isn't even a party," She said sarcastically.

"What should we do now?" Stephanie asked ignoring Chantal's comment.

"I don't know," Chantal said pausing. She thought for a moment. "Aren't ballrooms usually in castles? Or is this one different?"

Stephanie walked across the room. Her high-heeled black sandals made her footsteps echo throughout the room. Chantal watched her friend. Serek wrapped his tail around her neck and began playing with her chain and pendent. Stephanie reached a glass wall and looked out of it. "We're floating," She said. "We're in a crystal ballroom."

"I wonder if they have any refreshments around here. I'm still dying of thirst," Chantal said looking around again.

Stephanie was still at the crystalline wall, her palms pressed against the cool glass. She didn’t want to try any food within the Labyrinth lest it has the same effect as the enchanted peach that a certain girl had received.

Chantal walked up to Stephanie and looked through the crystal wall. "How do we get out?"

"We could always try to use Sarah's method," Stephanie said smiling.

"And what was her method?"

"Throwing a chair to break the wall."

"Oh! Worth a try!" Chantal looked around the room, spotted a chair, walked to it, and picked it up. She walked back to the crystal wall, lifted the chair and started swinging it at the wall. The chair shattered into a million pieces.

"Well, so much for that idea," Stephanie said looking at the broken chair on the floor.

"Yeah! Now what?" Chantal asked her friend as she stared down at the broken chair.

Stephanie looked up and searched the room. She spotted the clock. The time was not shown for the hands were missing, yet the pendulum continued to count the time. Stephanie frowned. The Goblin King must have found a way to hide time on the travelers. He really didn't like to lose, she mused. She started walking around the vast room for anything to help them find a way out, all while biting her lower lip in thought. Across the ballroom, after a moment of deep searching by pushing on walls, looking under tables, behind the clock, stopping the pendulum; Stephanie spotted a hallway. "Hmm, never noticed this before," she said. "Hey Chantal, I think this might be a way out."

"I sure hope so!" Chantal gripped her skirt and walked across the ballroom. Stephanie did the same and led the way for her friend. The two girls reached the hallway. It was dark, save from the glowing torches that illuminated the hall. The hallway was long and narrow. On both sides stood doors and all the way down the hall, between the doors, were long body length mirrors.

Chantal walked over to one of the wooden doors nearby, tried the finely crafted handle, and pushed on the door. It was locked. "Damn! Locked!" She exclaimed.

Stephanie walked over to the one across from Chantal and tried the door. "This one too."

"One of these doors must open," Chantal said as she tried another.

Stephanie then walked a bit farther down the hall and tried a couple more of the wooden doors.

"All right!" Stephanie said getting frustrated. "This is a waste of time! At least if there were music and dancers, I would've stayed a while. Pasta Vazoo!" She tried one more door.

Chantal gazed down the hall, seeing no end in sight. Another door and then another, all ending with the same results.

Stephanie sighed angrily. She then took some drastic actions. She started kicking down the door! With nothing to hold onto, especially with the high sandals she wore, it was a task keeping her balance. The wood started to splinter around the handle. "Ha!" Stephanie said and hit the door again with her high-heeled sandal. She then tried pushing on the door, it still wouldn't budge.

Chantal stared at her friend, mouth open.

"Okay," Stephanie said calmly. She walked over to the door across the one she was kicking. Did the gesture of pushing up her sleeves and started to run towards the splintering door, meaning to break it down.

"Steph!" Chantal yelled.

"Eh?" Stephanie distracted, ran towards the mirror beside the door instead. "Aah!" she let out a short cry as she vanished.

"Steph!" Chantal called again. She looked down and saw two hands gripping onto the mirror frame.

Chantal looked out of the mirror. They were still floating in the air; the ground lay below them, where they had only just been no more than ten minutes ago. Stephanie was hanging in mid air.

"Don't do that!" she said to Chantal. She looked down; she was fairly high in the air, in other words, too high to jump down. She looked up at her friend. "A little help here Chantal!"

Chantal knelt and grabbed her friend's hands. "Can't you push yourself up or something?" she asked struggling.

"CHANTAL I'M IN THE AIR!" Stephanie yelled, kicking her feet for emphasis.

Chantal gripped her friend's arms tightly and pulled as hard as she could. Stephanie came flying through the mirror and Chantal landed flat on her back. Chantal crawled over to the edge of the mirror and looked down. She let out a sigh. "We found the way out, but now how do we get out?" Stephanie got to her feet as Chantal stared down at the ground, thinking. "I wonder!"

Before Chantal could voice her idea, the ground below them started to move. Chantal quickly backed away from the mirror. "We are moving!" Chantal exclaimed.

"To where?"

"I don't know. I just hope not back to the starting!"

"We better not!" Stephanie clenched her hands into fists.

Chantal crawled back towards the mirror and looked over the edge. She backed away again. "We are moving to fast to see anything."

Suddenly the crystal came to a halting stop. Both girls let out a short cry, and Stephanie fell to the ground. Serek scrambled across the floor and jumped into Chantal's arms. Stephanie got back to her feet and walked over to the mirror, stuck her head through it and looked out.

"Hey, I can see the castle!" she cried out.

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