Jareth's Return

Jareth(14)

The thumping woke Jareth.

I really wish those two would keep their nighttime activities to themselves. He started to drift back to sleep. Until he heard someone scream his name.

"JARETH!" He was up, out of bed and stumbling to the door. Downstairs, Sally and Alex were hunched over a figure. "Dori, sweetie, wake up. Come on honey, open your eyes."

"What the hell is going on? What's the matter with her?" He rushed to kneel by her head.

"I don't know, there was a noise and she was just here. She won't wake up and her breathing is too shallow. There's a lot of bruises and bleeding. And I think-" Sally picked up Theodora's right arm and there was an unpleasant grinding noise. The girl whimpered and cried out in her unconscious state. "Her arm is broken."

Jareth was furious and confused, the emotions overwhelming him. Theodora's face was black and blue, with dark smears of blood. Her lips were swollen, and there were lumps in different places in her head, and there was small matts of blood in her hair.

"Wait a moment." Jareth leaned over the unconscious girl and grabbed a hold of her shirt hem. He pulled it up as much as he could without exposing her to the others.

His suspicions were confirmed. Her back was covered with bruises and welts. Her stomach was the same.

Every body part was covered with bruises, welts, and general signs of battery.

Jareth trembled with rage. Sally had tears rolling down her cheeks and Alex seemed to feel the same as his king. "Who could have done this to her? I need to call her father and-"

"No!" Jareth barked out. "He's perfectly aware of what has happened to her. He's the one who's done it, after all."

"What? That can't be-"

"Jeff would never-" the couple started at the same time.

"Silence! He very bloody well would do this. He's done it before. It's how I was called to this world. Saranda, you were a healer as well as a warrior, weren't you?"

"But, sire-"

"I am your king. As such, you will answer my question. Were you or weren't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Can you heal her? I've got crystals, as many as you'd need-"

"I would, sire, but I can't; not here. Even with the crystals, this world is insufficient. We would need to go home for that. The most we can do here is take her to the hospital and hope they can help her."

"That's not good enough. She could die here. The labyrinth is the only place she is guaranteed to survive."

"We have no way to get there! You can't Shift back, and Sally and I can't either. Theodora is unconscious, but she wouldn't be able to Shift there anyways, because she's never seen the place. The best chance we have, that she has at surviving this is to call an ambulance and get her to the hospital as soon as possible."

Jareth blew out a breath. The longer we argue, the weaker she gets, he realized. "Fine, if you are sure that's all we've got at this point."

"Thank god." Sally got up and ran to get the phone. "Yes, hi, we have an injured girl at 143 Clearwater Avenue. Yes, she's breathing, but it's shallow. She was beaten pretty severely and her right arm is broken. Sally Mardin. Please tell them to hurry."

While Sally answered whatever other questions the dispatcher asked, Alex turned to Jareth. "When they get here, they are going to take her from you. You can ride in the ambulance with her, but you need to let them take over, do you understand?"