Heard About A Place Today Chapter 7-10

Disclaimer: The characters of Jareth, the goblins, Hoggle, or any other related to Labyrinth are property of Jim Henson Productions. We are in no way affiliated with this company. However, new and original characters, places within the Underground and evolution of the Goblin King are ours. We do not own any other miscellenous affiliations such as from shows, books, movies, etc. This story is for entertaiment purposes only. So please do not sue.
The contents of the fanfiction is written with a mature audience in mind. Comments are welcomed. Enjoy!! ^_^

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Chapter Seven: Piece Of Cake!!

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"Ahhhhhhhhh!!" Stephanie screamed as she slid down the rough surface of the tunnel. Darkness filled the tunnel as the entrance closed behind her. Stephanie slid too fast to grab hold of anything, she flew out of the tunnel, and landed on a pile of old dry leaves. The impact was still hard.

"Oww!! That hurt!!" she rubbed her backside. Stephanie took a moment before she stood up and brushed the leaves off of her clothes.

"Ick!! I got leaves in my hair too," she said aloud as she pulled some of the leaves out of her tangled hair.

Stephanie looked up and took a look around at her new surroundings. There was enough light for her to make out where she was.

"Oh great!! I'm in an Oubliette," she groaned. "Thanks Chantal!!"

Muttering to herself she made her way through the cave.

"Now to find a way out. There should be one around here."

Stephanie leaned up against a wall of the cave, she hopefully looked up above her and spotted an opening, thick vines dangling down from it.

"Ah ha!! Piece of cake!!" She grabbed hold of one of the vines and began pulling herself upward. Suddenly the vine let go, and she tumbled back to the ground.

Stephanie began to curse. "Damn, I shouldn't have said that. Nothing is a piece of cake around here."

Chantal groaned.

"I'm all alone now," Chantal sighed. On her shoulder, Serek squeaked, and nudged his head against Chantal's cheek. "I'm sorry Serek, I guess I'm not really completely alone."

Chantal took one more look around. "I guess we should keep moving. I don't like the idea of going on by myself, and not knowing where Steph is, but I have no other choice. All I can do is hope that I meet up with her again."

Serek squeaked in acknowledgment.

Chantal stroked the furry dragon thingy's head as she took a look behind her, from the way they had originally came. Turning back, she then continued down the path.

Stephanie walked along the cave wall, still trying to find a way out.

"I wish I had a bit more light to see," She mumbled. "I bet Chantal has a flashlight in that backpack of her's."

Running her hand along the wall, she made her way across the dark cavern, suddenly she came upon a small opening.

Yes!!" Stephanie breathed. She stumbled over something.

"Ack!!" she landed on what felt like a large stone. She felt around more around in the dark. She had stumbled over steps made of stone.

"Even better than a ladder!!" she said as she started to go up, towards the tiny crack of light. At the top, she strugged to open a trapdoor above her for a good minute or so. She figured it hasn't been in use for a while.

The sunlight washed over her. Red dust stained her hands, due to the bar across the trapdoor.

"Finally!!" she started to climb out of a -

"A tree stump??" Stephanie said raising her eyebrows as she looked from what she climbed out of. She closed the trapdoor behind her, so no one would be able to fall in.

"Yeah, a tree stump!" a small voice squeaked.

The girl turned around. "Woah, creepy!!" A small faery hovered in front of Stephanie's face. It looked exactly like Jennifer, Stephanie's younger sister.

"Even in the Underground, I can't get away from her!!" she groaned.

The little faery looked up. "Get away from whom?" it asked.

"Jenn, my sister," Stephanie said looking at blue haired faery, she couldn't help but stare. Stephanie then turned to look at the castle and began brushing the dust and sand off her clothes.

The faery raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"

"To the castle at the center of the Labyrinth," Stephanie replied to the sister look-alike.

The faery giggled. "I know the way! I know the way!" she chimed.

"You do??" Stephanie asked.

"Doesn't every faery?" she asked in a bored voice.

"Um, I wouldn't know. I'm not one."

"I guess you aren't," she turned to fly away.

"Well, can you show me the way??" Stephanie said. "Damn. You and your big mouth..." she muttered to herself.

The faery turned back and smiled. "What will you give me to help you?"

Stephanie racked her brain for something.

"Well?" it asked impatiently.

"Hold on a second!!" Stephanie snapped. She dug into her pockets of her jeans and pulled out a penny. "How's this??" she asked holding it out.

The little faery flew over to the penny to inspect it, taking a hold of it she then smiled. "It will do just fine. Wait here! I'll be right back." she flew up into a tree to hide her new treasure.

Stephanie smiled. "Chantal's never going to believe that a faery looks like my sister and knows the way to the castle!!" she paused. "Well, maybe she will. Anything is possible in this place."

Chantal walked along the path, keeping both eyes and ears open for any signs of Stephanie.

She sighed. It had seemed like this path would go on with no end. She dragged her feet along the dusty trail as she walked along. Chantal looked up and spotted a large rock. She approached it and leaned against it to rest.

"It doesn't seem like I'm getting anywhere," she sighed again.

"What makes you say that, Chantal?" a voice said beside her.

Chantal jumped. She turned around and was face to face with the Goblin King.

"Don't do that!" she snapped.

"Do what?" the Goblin King asked innocently.

Chantal groaned. "Never mind. It's not important," She said as she began to move away.

The Goblin King looked up. "Hey, where are you going?" he asked.

Chantal turned around. "Now that is a stupid question. You already know where I'm going," she told him sharply. She turned away, but the Goblin King was standing right in her path.

"Excuse me! But can you move out of my way, please?" she tried to ask kindly.

The Goblin King just smirked, not moving out of the way.

Chantal sighed. "I'm not playing this little game of yours. I'm going to go look for my friend. Now please step aside."

The Goblin King stepped aside, letting Chantal pass.

"Oh her!" he said carelessly, as Chantal walked past.

Chantal turned on a dime. "You know where she is?"

The Goblin King smiled.

Chantal laughed. "But of course you aren't going to tell me," Chantal paused "Can I ask you a favor then?" she asked him.

"Oh I suppose," he sighed. "As long as it is not a big favor."

Chantal pulled off her backpack and pulled out a small blue notebook and a pencil. Flipping through the book she found an unused page and wrote something down on it. She ripped the piece of paper out and put the notebook back into her pack. She pulled out the Life Savers from her bag and placed one on the paper, then folding the paper so the piece of candy wouldn't fall out.

Chantal handed the folded paper to the Goblin King. "Since you won't tell me where she is, can you at least give her this?"

The Goblin King raised an eyebrow.

"Please!" she pleaded.

He sighed and took the wrapped up Life Saver.

"Thank you!"

"I'm not a bloody messenger..," he mumbled as he vanished.

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Chapter Eight: Pasta Vazoo!!

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"Are you sure you know where you're going??" Stephanie asked. She was getting tired, espicially walking under the warm sun.

The small faery buzzed in front of her face. "Of course I know where I'm going. I'm a faery!"

"Sorry, it's just that it seems like I'm not getting anywhere," Stephanie sighed as she stopped and rubbed her left ankle. She continued walking down a small path.

Stephanie was about to pass between some trees when a leg clad in black with a black knee high boot, shot out from behind a tree to another, blocking her way.

She looked to her left. The faery gasped and flew away to hide in the nearest tree.

There leaning against a tree, arms crossed, was the Goblin King; a small folded piece of paper in one hand. His face was expressionless as he tilted his head to one side.

Stephanie looked at him with her brown eyes.

He then tossed the piece of paper down at Stephanie's feet.

"What's this??" she asked.

"Something from your friend," he mumbled.

She looked at him questionably, and bent down to retrieve it. She quickly opened it and saw a red Life Saver. She then took a second look down at the piece of paper and saw 'Pasta Vazoo' written, in really large messy letters.

Stephanie smiled, and folded the paper with the Life Saver still in it, saving it for later. As soon as Stephanie had seen the letters written in that piece of paper, she knew what it had meant. "Pasta Vazoo" was her remark and Chantal had used it to tell her that she was alright.

"Thanks," Stephanie said as she tried to pass. She looked off to the side for another way.

"Where are you going?" he asked the girl, still standing in her way.

"To see the wonderful Wizard of Oz," she half sang trying to keep a straight face.

A puzzled look crossed the Goblin King's face.

Stephanie sighed. "To the castle, where else??"

"You will never make it there in time," he told her.

Stephanie looked up at him. "Oh really??" She said in a challenging tone, her humor gone. "You're not going to make things unfair, are you Jareth??"

The smile faded from his lips.

Somewhere at the other side of the Labyrinth, Chantal got a chill.

Chantal shivered as she felt a chill run down her spine.

"What the hell was that?" she asked aloud.

She looked off in the distance, but all she could see was more trees. She wondered if the Goblin King had kept his word and had given the note to Stephanie. She hoped so.

Serek unwrapped his tail from around her neck and sat up on her shoulder looking around. Chantal kept walking down the trail. She began to drag her feet in the dirt again, while staring down at the path as she walked.

Serek squeaked and Chantal looked up. Up ahead there was something that looked like a bridge over a canyon. As Chantal approached the bridge she saw that the road split in two. One lead to the left and the other across the canyon.

Before Chantal could decide which way to go, a bird like creature popped out, blocking her path. She stopped and stared at the creature. The creature tilted its head at her and stared back.

"The green moon is made of cheese," the bird like creature squawked.

Chantal's eyes grew wide. "What?"

"Fireys sometimes walk on their hands," it continued.

"Chantal shook her head. "You make no sense bird!"

"Beware the white owl," it said tossing its head from side to side.

"I could have told you that," Chantal sighed, then turned to Serek. "This bird sure is a pain in the a-"

"Pain is nothing a downpour won't erase," The creature cut her off.

"Hold up!" Chantal said glaring at the bird. "What did you just say?"

The bird just tilted its head and looked at her.

"If I just heard what I thought I heard, that was a line from a Delerium song," Chantal eyed the bird creature. She then looked up and across the bridge. Another section of maze could be seen on the other side. "Okay, this place is really starting to freak me out. I want to get out of here and fast."

"Shortcuts can be found in crystals," the bird creature began again.

"Yeah, yeah...whatever!" she said waving her hand at the bird as she walked past it.

"The unreal is the real and the real is the unreal," Chantal heard it say as she started going across the bridge.

Stephanie continued to stare at Jareth, the Goblin King.

"Unfair? I wouldn't dream of it," he replied in a dry tone.

Stephanie took one step forward trying to pass, but he still blocked her path.

"Let me pass," she said calmly. Jareth stepped aside and gestured for her to continue on her way. She glanced at him as she passed, not taking her eyes off him until she was in safe distance.

Taking a few steps forward down the path, she suddenly felt something behind her. Turning around, Stephanie realized that the Goblin King had disappeared. She shrugged, turning around to continue.

Suddenly a small object buzzed in front of her face.

"Whoa!!" Stephanie yelped.

"Are you crazy? That was the Goblin King!" the small faery informed her.

"I know that was the Goblin King," Stephanie snapped at the faery. "And where did you go??"

"Ummm..ummm," the faery stammered, trying to think of a reason while fiddling with her fingers.

"Lets just go," Stephanie groaned as she walked away. She walked down the path, the small faery right behind her. Slowly the path began to widen.

"Hee hee!" the faery giggled. "There is the bridge! We aren't far from the castle now," she pointed off in the distance.

"Bridge??" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, the bridge over the canyon."

"The canyon??"

"Yes!"

"Pasta Vazoo!!" Stephanie sighed.

Stephanie stopped and stared down the path. She wasn't afraid of heights but seeing the construction of the bridge ahead, made her uneasy, espicially one over a canyon. The faery buzzed in front of her face.

"Are you coming?" it asked. "Come on!" The small faery grabbed a piece of Stephanie's hair and started pulling her down the path.

"Ow!! Ow!! All right!! I'm coming. Just let go of my hair." the faery released Stephanie's hair and flew down the trail. Stephanie half ran to try and keep up with the tiny faery.

Suddenly she tripped over something and tumbled to the ground. She let out a short scream.

"Why does everyone keeps tripping me?? It's not fair!!" Stephanie whined falling onto her back.

"Clumsy feet! Clumsy feet!" squawked the bird like creature that Stephanie had tripped over.

"I don't have time for this. I have to get to the castle and find Chantal," Stephanie said as she got up and brushed off her clothes again.

"In case you are wondering, she went that way," it told her, pointing towards the bridge with a clawed foot.

"Who did??"

"The girl with the short curly hair," it said dancing around Stephanie.

"She did??"

"Did what?" the creature asked swinging its head from side to side.

"Went that way??" she asked pointing in the direction it had pointed before.

"Who did?" it asked as it began clawing the ground.

"The girl with the short curly hair!!" Stephanie said getting frustrated.

"Can you stand on your head?" the bird asked, actually taking off its head and standing on it.

Stephanie let out a scream of frustration.

"Why do I suddenly feel like Alice in Wonderland??" she asked and stormed towards the bridge. The faery was hovering in front of the bridge hands on her tiny hips.

"What took you so long?"

"Well, if every creature in the underground didn't trip me, I would've been across that bridge already!!" Stephanie snapped.

"I guess you don't want my help anymore. Farewell," the faery said as she flew away.

"Fine!! I've gotten this far without much of your help anyway," Stephanie said half annoyed. She turned towards the bridge and groaned. The bridge was just boards held by ropes.

"Oh man!! Do I really have to cross this??" she eyed the rope bridge wearily. The boards were in terrible shape, half rotted and broken in more than one place. As she placed on foot on it, it creaked.

"Oh man!! Oh man!!"

Stephanie took a deep breath as she began to cross the bridge. She cautiously and slowly took each step as it swayed back and forth, for the wind was blowing pretty hard and made the bridge swing. Once at the center of the bridge, she griped the rope tightly and closed her eyes for a moment.

Suddenly she heard a crack behind her. She turned around just in time to see one of the boards break free and tumble down into the canyon.

"CRAP!!" she cursed as she began to run across the rest of the bridge. All of the boards kept falling just as fast as she left them. "Why do these things always have to happen to me??"

On the other side of the canyon, Stephanie had stopped running and fell to her knees to catch her breath.

"No way I'm crossing that bridge again!!" she said, as she looked down the trail.

"Chantal can't be to far ahead of me." she told herself as she finally got to her feet.

Chantal let out a huge sigh.

"I swear we are going around in circles." She looked around at her surroundings. All the stone walls looked the same.

"I hate mazes!" she yelled out to nobody in particular. Serek launched himself from Chantal's shoulder and started gliding down the corridor.

"Where you going?" She asked him as she reluctantly followed him. After following Serek for several minutes, Chantal stopped and leaned against a wall to rest.

"Serek! Get back here. I need to rest. I haven't stopped since we got here. And you got to ride on my shoulder most of the way," she yelled after the dragon creature. "Gods! I need a drink!"

Serek came flying back around the corner and flew up to the top of the wall to perch. Chantal sunk down to the ground then looked up at him.

"Good dragon!"

Chantal closed her eyes for a few minutes. The sun was hot and she was really starting to get tired. She pulled off her backpack and dug inside the front pocket for another Life Saver.

"I wish I had a bottle of water in here!" She opened the large zipper and reached inside pulling out her black bandana with dragons on it, then put it on.

"Gods! Where is Stephanie?" She asked aloud.

"Right here!!" a voice said from around the corner. Stephanie came into view.

Chantal jumped. She then got to her feet.

"Woo hoo!" she cried excitedly, forgetting about her exhaustion. "How did you find me?"

"A bird told me," Stephanie replied, grinning.

Chantal shook her head. "Ack! You ran into that bird too?"

Stephanie nodded her head, then rolled her eyes.

"And what happened to you?" Chantal asked as she picked a dead leaf out of her friend hair. Her clothes were smeared with light sand.

"Apparently it's "Trip Stephanie Day' in the Underground!!" First I slid down into an oubliette, landing on a pile of leaves, then climbed some vines which broke, got tripped by that bird, not to mention all the other times I was tripped, then had to cross that bridge that was falling apart, which should have a caution sign by the way," Stephanie rambled in no particular order. "I encountered a faery that looked like Jenn, ran into Jareth, who-"

"Hold up! Who's Jareth?" Chantal cut in.

"The Goblin King, whom I have probably insulted by standing up to him and saying his name."

"Stephanie!" Chantal said as she shook her head in disbelief.

"By the way, how did you find crossing that bridge??" Stephanie asked her friend.

"No problem!" Chantal said as she bit her lower lip. "I just kept telling myself 'Don't look down! Don't look down!'"

Stephanie laughed. "Well, there is no way I'm going to cross it again."

"Me either."

"Squeeee!" Serek squeaked as he glided down to Stephanie.

"BOB!!" Stephanie giggled reaching out and hugging the dragon creature.

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Chapter Nine: Haven't Got All Day

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Chantal looked at Serek in Stephanie's arms. "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 anymore time."

The two girls walked in silence. During the many silent walks, Stephanie had informed Chantal about the basics f the Labyrinth story. As they walked, Chantal began to think to herself. She then turned to her friend. Serek had creeped 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 took a look 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 laid 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, 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 the two girls were blinded by a white light that illuminated from the crystal. 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 tableclothes were ornate with gold and silvers trays and bowls, all had intricated 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 crystaline wall, her palms pressed against the cool glass.

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 at the wall."

"Oh! Worth a try!" Chantal looked around the room, spotted a chair and 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 travellers. 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 bitting 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 lead 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 and 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! It was a task keeping her balance with nothing to hold onto, espicially with the high sandals she wore. 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 up, 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.

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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Chapter Ten: The Castle Doth Lie Yonder

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The Goblin King stared deeply into a crystal. He leaned back on his throne and grinned. The two girls who had entered into his realm were now trapped within a crystal. They had found themselves, wearing gowns, within a ballroom, much like Sarah had, only without the mass of ballroom dancers.

Jareth smiled as he saw the girl with the short curly brown hair pick up a chair and swing it to try and smash the crystal wall. The chair hit the wall and shattered into splinters. The girls looked around for another way out. It amazed him that the two girls had gotten this far. The Goblin King laughed as the two girls made their way down a hall and trying all the doors.

"What is so funny your Highness?" a small goblin asked as it came into the throne room.

"These girls. They're never going to give up, even when there doesn't seem to be a way out," Jareth told it as he watched the girls. The girl with the long straight hair had just fallen through a mirror. Stephanie, he believed that was her name.

"What will you do with them Higness?" the goblin asked as it tried to take a look into the crystal.

Jareth looked at the goblin and smiled with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. The goblin peered around it's master, looked into the crystal to see the hanging Stephanie being pulled up by her friend. Chantal then looked over the edge and down at the ground.

Jareth winked and the crystal started moving. It flew faster and faster away from where it had just been. Suddenly it stopped just outside the Goblin City gates.

He watched as Chantal figured out the crystal, jumped from it and the girls returning to their normal sizes.

"Do you want us to scare them away Higness?" The little goblin asked as the girls approached the city gates.

"No. Leave them. I want them to find their way to the castle," Jareth told the goblin as he watched the girls sneak past the sleeping guard. He must really find someone who would stay awake at their post for more than five minutes, he mused.

"Yes Master!" the goblin replied as it scurried away.

"The castle? You mean we moved closer towards the castle? Why would we be moved here?" Chantal asked confused.

Stephanie turned and looked at her friend. "Take a look for yourself!!"

Chantal got to her feet and walked over to Stephanie and poked her head out.

"The Goblin City!" Stephanie said pointing downwards.

"Ack! This can't be good!" Chantal said looking down. "We are high up too! How do we get down now?"

The crystal then started to slowly drift downwards closer to the ground.

"Wow! That was too easy!" Chantal told her friend.

"Yeah, I don't like this."

Three feet from the ground the crystal stopped, and just floated in mid air, like it was waiting for its passengers to disembark.

"Now what??" Stephanie asked her friend.

"Ummm...we use Serek!"

"Use him how??" Stephanie asked confused.

"Well, if I'm right, once we jump from the crystal, we should be returned to our normal size," Chantal explained.

"If you are right?? I'm not risking my life on your guesses," Stephanie told her.

"That's what Serek is for. Just in case I'm wrong. We send him out of the crystal and see if he returns to normal size before we jump."

"Well, what are you waiting for?? Do it!!"

Chantal looked down at Serek. "Sorry for using you as our guinea pig, but if I'm right..." Chantal trailed off. She then threw Serek out of the mirror.

"Squeeeeee!" The dragon creature screamed. He extended his wings and flew down to the ground, where he looked up at the girls and squawked again.

"I said I was sorry! But look, you are back to your normal size!" Chantal turned to Stephanie. "See! I was right!"

"I see!! I see!!" Stephanie said and she took a few steps away from the edge. She then started running towards the edge. "Out of my way!! I'm outta here!!"

Below the floating crystal Serek squawked and jumped out of the way, just as Stephanie changed back and landed on her feet, right where he had been a few seconds before.

Stephanie stared into the crystal at Chantal. "Coming yet??"

"Yeah. Move out of the way!"

Chantal lifted up her skirt and jumped over the edge. She fell to the ground and landed on her butt. "Ow! That hurt!" She jumped to her feet and brushed off her pants.

"Hey! We are back in our normal clothes," Chantal exclaimed. Stephanie looked down at herself and noticed she still had the owl necklace dangling around her neck.

Chantal turned and faced the floating crystal. She glared at it then ripped it out of the air. She held it in her hand and stared at it for a few moments. She then put it in her pack and turned to Stephanie.

"How did you know that once we jump out of the crystal, we would turn back to our normal selves??" Stephanie asked.

"Well, I figured that any other magical item that the source of power was central and while we were inside the crystal, we were controlled by its rules. Therefore once we jumped away from the crystal, we were away from its magic, which no longer had power over us." Chantal explained grinning madly.

"So when did you become a magic expert huh??" Stephanie asked smiling.

"I must have been watching too much Card Captors!" Chantal giggled.

Stephanie laughed and turned around and stared at the gates of the Goblin City. She sighed. One more thing to do before returning home.

"How do we get in there?" Chantal asked staring at the gates.

Stephanie walked over to the gates. She stood in front of a sleeping goblin guard. She waved her hand in front of its face, the goblin didn't flinch. She gestured to Chantal to follow her. They opened the small guard door and crawled through it. Serek scurried after them.

Even though the security had doubled since Sarah's or anyone else's visit, it was pretty much useless, Stephanie thought. The goblin guard snorted in its sleep.

Chantal got up from her knees. "Damn it's quiet," she said aloud.

"Too quiet," Stephanie agreed as they started walking down a main street of the Goblin City.

They made their way past several blocks, when up ahead in the middle of the street, the girls spotted a gushing water fountain.

"Ooh? Is that what I think it is?" Chantal asked skeptically. "I wonder if it's clean," she said as she ran towards it.

"It looks like it," Stephanie said peering into the clear water. Chantal cupped her hands, scooping up some water and gulped it down.

"Well??" Stephanie asked staring at her friend.

"Well what? Take a sip for yourself. You said you were thirsty,"

Stephanie tasted the water. "It's not bad," she said, wiping her hands on her dark jeans.

"PIKA PIKA!"

Both girls heads snapped up, they spotted a blurry yellow blob running across the street in front of them. Both girls turned to each other with puzzled look on their faces.

"Is that what I thought it was??" Stephanie said.

"I'm not sure, but I think that was a Pikachu," Chantal replied.

"How did it get to the Underground??"

"I don't know! How did we get to the Underground?" Chantal asked.

"Either by saying the words or by a new method, the crystals," Stephanie said with a shrug. "But does it matter?? We're here."

"I guess you're right," Chantal said still pondering as they walked towards the castle.

Stephanie stopped dead in her tracks.

"What? What is it?" Chantal asked alarmed.

"Why aren't there any goblins and why hasn't Jareth tried to stop us by now??" Stephanie was looking at the castle with a suspicious look on her face.

"He's up to something..." Chantal said.

"Yeah," Stephanie agreed. "But what??"

Chantal shrugged unsure herself. "Trouble that's what."

The two girls continued uneasily through the Goblin City towards the castle, Stephanie was still looking at the castle, in thought. After a few minutes, Chantal noticed that they haven't got any closer to the castle and pointed this out to her friend.

"You're right."

The two girls stopped beside the fountain again.

"Unless we're lost, but we shouldn't have, all we had to do was go straight and turn the corner," Chantal said.

Suddenly Stephanie ran down the street towards the castle and turned halfway around the corner. Chantal waited. Stephanie then appeared behind her friend.

"Just as I thought!!" she exclaimed making her friend jump. "No wonder there's no goblins or anything to stop us," Stephanie grinned. "We're in a loop!! Ha!! Nice try Jareth!!" She said the last phrase mostly to herself.

"I saw this episode of Card Captors," Chantal commented. "Sakura and Li used their swords to get out of it."

"Yeah, but were are we going to find a sword??" Stephanie asked sighing.

"I'm not sure," Chantal said. She turned to the fountain and stared down into the water. "We get so close and we get stuck in a loop. IT'S NOT FAIR!"

"I had no intentions of making this fair," Jareth's voice could be heard. Both girls spun around to see the Goblin King leaning against one of the buildings.

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Chapter 11-13 coming up.