Chapter 10 - Fainting Spell

Chapter Ten: Fainting Spell



Stephanie let out a short frustrated scream. "Pasta Vazoo!! It just couldn't get any worse right??" Her hand was grabbed and she was pulled back.

"Wha-!!" she squeaked out as she vanished into a wall.

Stephanie blinked as she stared up at Jareth. He had a finger over his thin lips telling her to be quiet. He looked ahead of him where Stephanie had stood a moment before. Several of the creatures were looking around, they were sure that the girl had been around here.

"They'll see us!!" she whispered. He shook his head.

"Trust me." he whispered back.

They watched through what appeared to be a dusty window; as the creatures walked around the dead end, still looking for Stephanie. One of the creatures came to where they stood.

Stephanie backed away, she felt Jareth's hand on her arm. The creature sniffed the air, snorted and left. The others followed the "leader" and soon all of them were gone.

Stephanie and Jareth let out sighs of relief.

"Where are we??" Stephanie asked the Goblin King.

"We are in a wall structure. It has the same concept as the hidden passages. It's different, for we are walking between walls, we are unseen and sometimes unheard. You've seen that we can see and hear the outside while within the walls. It's good for situations such as this. Not everyone finds these you know, perhaps only by chance."

"Oh. Well I'm glad that this was here." Stephanie replied.

"Where is Chantal?" he suddenly asked the girl.

"Well, I've lost her." she replied.

"After I specifically told you not to get separated." the Goblin King said turning around and walked away, going down the hidden corridor.

"Well it's kind of hard to follow when you're being chased you know." she said following him.

He sighed angrily. "Now, they will be after her." He tried to sense where Chantal was situated within the Labyrinth.

"Look," Stephanie said. He turned around and waited for her to finish. "I'm sure she realized that I'm not there. She can take care of herself."

Jareth did a irritated sound. "Unlike some people."

"What's that supposed to mean??" Stephanie asked.

"You know very well what I meant Stephanie." Jareth said crossing his arms over his chest.

"So I get myself into a bit more messes than Chantal does, big deal. It doesn't mean anything, I still make it in the end. You've seen that yourself. At least the mess I'm in is not as bad as this; losing your throne and not knowing what happened." she shot back.

"I think that's hitting it a little under the belt don't you think?" He said as he came closer.

Stephanie took an unvoluntary step back. "It's your realm, you should know what's going on."

Jareth snorted, clearly annoyed. "I should've just asked someone else to help me get the castle or better yet, done it myself." he said.

"Well why didn't you??"

"At the time I thought that you could proven to be useful, but I must not have been thinking clearly. Thinking someone like you can traverse my Labyrinth."

"Probably not the first time that you haven't thought clearly either." she snapped.

"I've had enough with your insolence. Do not try my patience Stephanie." he threatened icily, walking towards her, making her back up into a wall. He placed an arm on the wall beside her and stared at her.

"Or what Jareth?? You'll throw me in the Bog of Eternal Stench?? Put me in an oubliette??" she said disliking the intimidation she was feeling. She clenched her hands into fists.

"I'm not one of your servants you can threaten whenever you please," Stephanie narrowed her eyes as she took a step forward, making the Goblin King back up. "I'm not afraid of you." Stephanie said, her brown eyes not blinking.

Jareth's eyes narrowed and became cold. He lowered his face and said in a husky tone in her ear.

"You should be."

Stephanie got a chill. The Goblin King smiled dangerously at her reaction.

"Look, just because you're king doesn't mean you're better than everyone." Stephanie said, getting angry.

"Ooh. Big comeback." he replied sarcastically.

Stephanie let out a frustrated sigh. "Whatever. Let's get your stupid castle back so I can go home."

"I'm surprised you even made it through the Labyrinth in the first place." Jareth said dryly.

Stephanie stopped at the Goblin King's comment. She turned around, amused was not an expression on her face. She stepped closer to him.

And in one quick movement, Stephanie punched Jareth in the jaw.

She was about to say something, instead she turned around and stormed away.

As Stephanie stormed off, Jareth's head was facing the wall to his right. He opened his eyes and licked the corner of his lips to see if there was any blood. Luckily there was none.

"I think I deserved that." he said rubbing his throbbing jaw as he watched the eighteen year old girl walk ahead of him, her waistcoat flowing as she walked angrily. He slowly followed her. He smiled still rubbing his jaw.

"The girl's has a bloody good arm!"

"Stupid jerk," Stephanie said shaking her right hand. It hurt. "I think I should've taken off my rings first." she mumbled to herself. Her knuckles were red, she blew on them to cool them off. She had never actually punched someone before, she hoped her fingers wouldn't swell.

"He deserved it anyhow," she said. "Someone was bound to hit him one of these days." she wished she had one of the water bottles from Chantal's pack to place over her fingers.

O O O O O O O O O


Chantal ran as fast as her legs would let her. She could hear sounds of the creatures behind her. Chantal turned a corner and ran on.

Suddenly she heard something behind her. She took a quick glance and saw that Stephanie wasn't there.

"NO! Steph! Not again!" she cried out as she skidded to a halt. Stephanie had been right behind her and Chantal hadn't seen any forks in the maze, then again she was just running and not paying much attention to her surroundings.

The sound of one of the creatures' howling could be heard not too far away.

"Damn, they are too close for my liking. If Steph can survive two falls into an oubliette, she can survive this. I hope. Jareth isn't too far away either. He will protect her."

She heard the creature howl again, this time even closer.

"Right now, it's me I have to worry about," Chantal said and she started running again.

"This feels like a bad dream. Please let me wake up in one piece!" she begged some unseen force.

Slowing down just a bit, Chantal rounded a corner then picked up speed again. It was amazing how fast you could move when you were this scared for your life. Chantal was breathing heavily now and knew she would have to stop soon.

Serek chirped in her ear, but Chantal ignored him. So he tried a different method.

He bit her ear.

"OW! Serek! What was that for?" she asked the dragon as she came to a stop. He had bitten her ear enough for it to hurt, but not hard enough to pierce the skin.

Then she heard it, some of those viscous creatures were in front of her as well as behind.

"This is not good!"

Serek chirped again.

"Psst! Over here!" she heard a voice from the hedge. "Before they come!"

Chantal looked over to her left and saw three small faeries beckoning her to follow them. They then disappeared through the hedge. Chantal looked over at Serek who chirped reassuringly. She took a deep breath and walked forward and through the hedge like it wasn't even there.

Once on the other side, Chantal's eyes grew wide with wonder and amazement. She had just stepped into a hidden garden, filled with every other color of flowers and large green trees. Everywhere Chantal looked she saw faeries. A small stream flowed through the garden, making the air feel cool and refreshing.

For a moment Chantal wondered if this was a trap, and took a step backwards. In the movie, Hoggle had referred to them as being bad creatures and he would kill them. Chantal eyed Serek who was sitting calmly on her shoulder, tail wrapped around her neck. Seeing how calm he was, she knew that this wasn't a trap.

One of the faeries that had called out to her, approached her. She had long dragonfly like wings and purple hair. She carried a orange colored flower that seemed to be almost too heavy for her. Serek unwrapped his tail and chirped happily at the approaching faery.

"You safe now," the purple haired faery told her. "Those monsters bad. They eat us."

The faery flew over to Chantal and placed the flower in her hair. Its sweet fragrance smelled like peaches.

"Never had monsters like that before here," another faery told her.

"Came from the castle," a third said.

"The castle?" Chantal asked. If those creatures had come from the castle. She wondered what other bigger monsters had been set loose that they might end up running into. She could have just been killed out there if this hidden faery garden hadn't been here.

Chantal couldn't take it any longer, she sunk down to the ground and started to cry. She didn't want to die. All this just to help some Goblin King get back his throne he should have been watching more carefully.

Tears rolled down her cheeks, into the scratches and cuts, causing them to sting. Serek's eyes whirled sadly, as he wrapped his tail around her neck. He almost made a purring sound as he rubbed his furry purple head against her cheek. The faeries looked at her, confused by the tears.

Chantal took off her glasses and wiped away her tears.

"Get it together Chan," she told herself. "Crying won't get you anywhere, Especially not back home."

Chantal took and deep breath and exhaled loudly. "It's a good thing Jareth isn't here. He would probably never let me hear the end of this."

The purple haired faery approached her, a worried expression on her face. "Are you all right?"

Chantal nodded. "I think I needed that. My cuts and scratches hurt now though."

"You got from monsters?" The little faery asked. "Drink from stream."

Chantal put her glasses back on her face then got up and walked over to the spring. Crouching down and cupping her hands she dipped them into the water then brought it up to her mouth to take a sip. Once she had swallowed, she started to feel a tingly sensation all over her skin. Chantal looked down at her arms and saw that all the scratches had disappeared.

"A healing spring!" Chantal exclaimed, smiling. "I wonder if Jareth know about this."

The purple haired faery shook her head. "Secret!"

Chantal laughed, her mood obviously improved. "Can't let Jareth know everything about his kingdom, now can we?"

Serek chirped in reply.

Chantal turned towards the faery. "Do you mind if I take some of this water with me? My friend Stephanie was hurt by those monsters too. I promise not to tell anyone where the garden is."

"Take water, but must not tell," the faery told her.

"I promise!"

Serek jumped to the ground as Chantal pulled off her small bag. She opened it and pulled out the two water bottles. Both bottles were a little less than half full. Uncapping both, she poured the water from one bottle into the other, nearly filling up the bottle.

"Good ol' KL water," She said with a laugh.

She recapped the bottle and put it aside. Taking the now empty bottle, she dunked it into the stream filling it up to the top. Recapping it, she took both bottles and replaced them in her bag; placing the spring water in the front pouch. Once she had re-zipped her bag, she turned to the faery who was still fluttering close by.

"Thank you!"

The faery smiled at her. "Come!"

Chantal picked up Serek and followed the purple haired faery. As she walked through the garden, other faeries began to follow, dancing around in the air around her. After walking several minutes, the faery stopped at what looked like an old rock wall.

"No monsters here," she was told as the faery flew through the wall. It was another hidden entrance, or an exit in this case.

Chantal stepped through the wall and out of the hidden garden, back into a section of the hedge maze. Chantal took a look around and that is when she noticed that she was closer to the castle, Much closer.

Chantal smiled. She had lost track of how many hours she had been here, but she was looking forward to going home.

"Now we find Jareth and Steph," she said aloud.

Serek chirped in agreement.


O O O O O O O O O


Stephanie sighed. She would have to ask Jareth for help on which way they should go. She was getting tired of the noise he made in his throat whenever she picked a "wrong way".

"Well if you think you could do better, why don't you lead??" Stephanie said turning to face the Goblin King. The left side of his jaw was still red where she had hit him.

"Very well." he said and passed her with long strides and walked quickly ahead of her.

"Jareth can you slow down a bit before-" Stephanie said as she walked into another forest.

"Great!!" Stephanie muttered as soon as she lost sight of Jareth. "He goes off and doesn't wait. Typical." she sighed. "He did this on purpose I suppose." she added with another sigh.

She chose one path and continued to head towards the castle with or without the Goblin King. "Either way I'm going home and he could deal with this realm taking over himself." she walked silently, stepping over fallen branches. Even though she was still mad at him, she wondered if he was doing all right by himself.

After several minutes, she looked at her surroundings, she lost sight of the path and was now walking in uncovered ground. She pushed branches away from in front of her and stepped over a large rock.

Suddenly something grabbed her wrist, she expected that it was Jareth again.

Stephanie was pulled roughly and was now face to face with a strange looking plant. It was attached to a tree, tentacles, just as the same ones around her wrist, was wrapped around the tree. As the plant pulled, it opened its mouth.

Her eyes widened when she saw that the plant had sharp needlepoint teeth. She struggled to free her hand.

"Let go!!" she cried out. She gripped the tentacle, trying to free herself. The creature pulled her roughly.

"Ow!!"

It had bitten her. It stung like a small cut. She glared at the plant and placed a foot on the tree and pulled a few times.

"Stupid plant!!" Stephanie said and yanked her hand free. She tumbled to the ground and half rolled onto a path.

Stephanie looked up when she heard:

"Tsk tsk tsk. Clumsy." Jareth said with a smirk, he tilted his head to one side still looking down at the girl.

Stephanie sat up, expecting him to help her up, instead, he walked away. She let out a frustrated sigh.

She stood up and brushed off her clothes. She winced. She looked at her left hand. At the base of the thumb, were three puncture marks. The skin around the wound was red, the plant had drawn a little bit of blood. She felt fine, considering she was 'afraid' of her own blood; then again it wasn't a great amount.

"That hurt!!" she mumbled, she lightly rubbed her thumb. She sighed and glared at the fading Goblin King.

"The least you could do is wait for me!!" she said quickening her pace.

"You've gotten yourself lost again." he said after a moment, not bothering turning around.

"Only because you practically went at your own pace and didn't wait for me." she replied.

"Me? Oh no my dear girl. Actually it was you, your pace is extremely slow." he said turning around and stopping. "As I've mentioned before; it was clearly a mistake having you here."

Stephanie let out a frustrated sigh. "Listen you egocentric butt-head, you're the one who asked us for help. And plus you came to me first," then added to herself. "I can't believe I accepted."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Either wait for us or do it yourself. Or the least you can do is 'try' to help us and not make us do it all ourselves because of your damn ego. But no. Now I'm stuck here helping your sorry @$$ and wondering if it's worth it." she fumed.

"A pity I can't bring you back home." he snapped. "It would save me on wasted time."

A short frustrated sigh escaped from her and she then pointed to the Goblin King. "And you know wh-" her eyes rolled up in her head and she started to fall back.

Jareth caught her; an arm around her shoulders, the other had grabbed one of her upper arms. Her skin was ice cold, her lips suddenly started to have a blue tinge to them. It was unusual due to the fact that it was a warm day in the Underground.

Jareth set her down to the ground. Her eyelashes fluttered rapidly.

"Stephanie?" he said.

No response. He looked at the fingers in his hand, her fingernails had a slight purple tinge to them.

Suddenly a soft gasp came from between her lips and a slight twitch of her head made the Goblin King glance back at her face.

On her forehead, under her bangs, a strange neon blue like vein seem to slither under her skin. One line trailed from behind the top of her ear and stopped at her cheek.

He quickly looked at her face, neck and finally her arms. He saw only scratches, the same that he had. Wondering what could be the problem, he was still holding onto her left wrist when something cold passed under his fingertips.

He gasped at the shock of the cold and quickly turned her arm over. He saw three puncture marks below her thumb, in a sort of triangle. Blue vein like lines started from each mark and were connected in a strange pattern. The lines seemed to glow in time with her pulse. 'It seemed to be stable but for how long?', he wondered.

"Pasta Vazoo!" Jareth cursed, a little of Stephanie's expression rubbing off on him. He started rubbing her hands, trying to warm them and moved to her arms. The girl remained cold. Jareth took off his coat and placed her arms into the sleeves.

'At least she'll have something to warm her and to perhaps slow the process,' he thought. Obviously she was in no state to walk, so he had no choice but to carry her. Even though she was fairly light, he decided not to carry her in his arms. An idea came to mind as he thought of a another way.

Jareth knelt on one knee beside her right side. His right hand grabbed her frigid hand, pulled it over his head and with his left he grabbed her other arm, pulled her closer to his back so that her arms were hanging loosely over his shoulders. He slowly stood up.

Stephanie was now in a piggyback position on the Goblin King, his arms were under her legs, holding her up. His coat on her, hung loosely behind her. Her hands with her now light violet nails hung in front of him. He watched as another line trailed up her wrist.

Stephanie's head was on his right shoulder, her lips slightly parted, a few strands of hair was in her face. Her long dark hair mixed with his light colored strands that flowed down his neck. Jareth shivered at Stephanie's cold face upon his shoulder. He had to find an antidote for the poison coursing through her veins.

The castle would have to wait.

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