Underground

XV

As Jareth and his goblins vanished out of sight, it left you sitting with the forgotten feelings of what Harry had done. Again.

You were furious, of course, that he had betrayed you so easily again after promising not to. But, you were angrier at yourself for believing him to be capable of change. You had always believed that a cheater would always be a cheater, and you wish you'd have stuck to that the first time around. It would have saved you a lot of heartache and tears.

You wanted to drop any thoughts of Harry for good, but the silence of the room was all too perfect to try and imagine how he was reacting at that very moment.

Was he upset that you'd gone back to Jareth? Was he feeling guilty? Was he bawling his eyes out that he'd lost you for good?

You leaned back into the curved throne, eyes staring blankly ahead at the stone wall. A tapestry hung over the cracked stone, and you blinked slowly at the reds, greens and blues of the woven design. It was of a butterfly; it was frozen in time, flying over a field of flowers, and there was a shimmer of glitter imbed into the stitches. It was a beautiful piece of art, and you briefly wondered what other tapestries hung around Jareth's castle——

"Oh!"

You jolted in surprise as a head flew past the window. It was bright red and covered in feathers. Perhaps, you wondered, it was an odd bird that lived in the realm, with the capabilities to speak?

Though, you were stunned into staring with wide eyes as the head returned. Its pointy ears flapped fast to keep the head in the air. The creature had a very long nose, one that practically scraped against the window, and its eyes were wide and rather beady, like it was hunting for something.

Then, the window was pushed open. You startled yourself to stand up, your entire body rigid with a mix of fear and curiosity. You hadn't seen a creature like it before, so you were unsure whether or not it would be hostile.

"Uh, hello..." you warily said, maintaining a safe distance from the floating head.

"Hey, man! C'mon and look at this!" The head called out, and in flew another, similar yet not identical, head. It's ears flapped wildly like wings.

"A girl!" the second head yelled.

You looked to the door where Jareth had left through, wondering to yourself at what point he would return. There were none of his goblins in sight, either, so you were truly left to deal with these mystical creatures by yourself.

"I don't mean to be rude, but..." you trailed off, shifting uncomfortably under the wild, excited stares. "What are you exactly?"

Adding to the bizarre situation, decapitated body parts began climbing in through the open window. You stared in amazement as the headless bodies wandered around before eventually finding the heads. In seconds the two creatures were reattached, and you noted that they looked very much like overgrown chickens.

They exchanged fumbled words with each other, sounding akin to stoners from a cringey teen-coming of age movie. The situation was unlike anything you had encountered before, and you were slowly starting to realise that perhaps this was the sort of thing you should expect from the Underground now you were going to be there forever.

"How did you do that?" You asked, interrupting their jovial banter. You made a small gesture to their limbs, which continued to pop out of their sockets, like the bone and skin wasn't attached at all.

"This?" one of the creatures repeated, pulling its hand from its wrist. You blinked rapidly as the fingers continued to move, however.

"Yes," you confirmed, nodding slowly. "Is it some sort of magic trick? How is any of that possible?"