The Hearts of Goblins

Chapter II

"What the hell was that?!" Lee exclaimed as there were scuttling and giggling noises coming from under Gwen's bed and various other places in the room.
Gwen shrieked in surprise as she thought she had felt something moving under the sheets of her own bed.
A dresser drawer slammed shut while the closet door swung open.
Lee and Gwen could do nothing, frozen in shock and confusion.
Thunder clapped outside.
The window rattled.
There was giggling and scuttling all over the room.
Gwen gripped Lee's hand.

"Who's doing this!?" Lee shouted, "What's going on!?"

Gwen and Lee both sprung up off the bed as they for sure felt things moving under the sheets.
The window flew open.
Gwen nearly screamed due to the shocking noise and the sudden wind dancing against her back. A chill shot through her and goosebumps appeared on her arms and legs.
They both spun around, looking at the window.
The storm seemed to stop, as did the giggling and strange noises.

Everything went still.

A man stood in front of Gwen's window. He held an estranged elegance and grace. He wore makeup around his different colored eyes, one blue the other green. His long light blonde hair done up in a peculiar fashion. He smirked at the two and adjusted the sleeves of his long elegantly strange black coat. The material shimmered when he moved and looked as if it had been stitched from the night sky.

"Not going to invite me in?" He asked cheekily with a voice like velvet.

Lee raised an eyebrow and the man and glared at him.

"It looks like you already let yourself in," Lee said, his words thick with a now heavy accent.
Gwen bit back her fear.

"Who the hell are you, and why are you in my house?" She demanded calmly. She put on the role of a brave soldier. Fearless, battle-hardened, intimidating.
Despite the brave façade, she couldn't quite keep her knees from shaking.

"Now now, not very polite are you?" The man said.

"I asked you a question." She replied. She eyed up the man's weird anime hair.
The man rolled his eyes.

"I... Am Jareth, I'm here because the two of you wished that my goblins would come take you away."
Lee glared at him.

"We were joking."

"And you were eavesdropping," Gwen added.

"It's not like we meant it," Lee exclaimed.

"What's said is said." Jareth told them, with a pause for dramatic effect, "You made a wish. I intend to grant it."

"Alright psycho," Lee growled, having grown tired of the man's fantasy babble.
"You need to leave." He walked over to the mad man and attempted to grab him in order to drag him out.
Jareth grabbed Lee's wrist tightly.

"It would be best if you did not attempt to defy me," Jareth said darkly.
Lee grunted and tried to pull his arm away.
Gwen's eyes widened as Lee's wrist seemed to glow red in Jareth's tight grip. Lee groaned in discomfort but would not cry out. Seeing her best friend in pain, filled Gwen with a sudden fury.

"I think you'd best learn some manners. You know naughty children get taken away by things like me." Jareth mocked, gripping Lee's wrist tighter.

"Let go of him, you fucking creep!" Gwen yelled.

Jareth released Lee instantly as he drew back in shock from the girl's small fist collided harshly with his bare cheek.

Gwen rubbed her fist gently as the pain slowly seeped through her knuckles. She'd never hit someone before.

Jareth rubbed his cheek and looked at the small girl as though he were both angry and rather impressed.

"Get Out!" Gwen ordered.
Jareth took a small step back and placed his hands behind his back.

"Yes, I must be leaving." He said. The strange man turned back to the window where he had come from, gazing out at the storm clouds brewing in the distance.
"We must all be leaving now." He said.

The world felt as though is fell away around them. Some gut-wrenching feeling of falling reached into Gwen's chest and made her head spin.

There was a change in the air.

That was the first thing that Gwen noticed. She could no longer feel the moisture of the coming weather nor smell the metallic scent of electricity that came with a thunderstorm.
Gwen had squeezed her eyes shut, but still, she knew that their surroundings had changed and that they'd come to rest in some new place all in a bitter instant.

Lee's hand was shaking in Gwen's grasp. Slowly she opened her eyes and blinked at the brightness of the new world surrounding them.

Instead of Gwen's neatly organized room, they stood in front of a great stone wall. Behind them was only a grass field that seemed to go on endlessly. The surrealist beauty of the landscape was enough to make Gwen believe they had just fallen into an oil painting. She gaped at it all. She could feel the dry grass and wheat brushing against her legs with every whisper of the wind. The air was cool with the arrival of Autumn.

Gwen almost fainted as she slowly realized; this was happening, this was the truth.

This was real.

"This is what you asked for." Jareth said from where he stood on the small hill beside them. Gwen no longer thought about making fun of his hair or clothes. She got the sense that questioning him was an unwise decision.
Up there he looked less like some creep that stalks people at ComicCon and more like a villain.
He looked and sounded powerful and Gwen began to realize, he was.
"This, you're... Noble quest... Is to solve my Labyrinth."
Lee looked at Gwen for direction. His dark eyes asked her a simple question.

What now?

Gwen took a deep breath gave him a look of brave assurance.

She turned back to Jareth with fire in her blue eyes.
She truly hoped that he wasn't one who could sense fear.

"Alright, we'll play along. What are the rules?" She asked. Lee gripped her hand.

"They're simple. You solve the Labyrinth, come find me in my castle in the center and I'll reward you and return you safely home." 
Lee shrugged,
"How hard can it be?"
Jareth chuckled.

"For the two of you, I predict it may be very hard." He said, "So, I'll be generous. I shall give you three full days to complete your noble quest."

The great stone wall in front of them and after a brief moment of hesitation, Gwen and Lee walked into the Labyrinth.
There was no other way home, it was clear.

"Best of luck," Jareth said as the doors began to close behind them.

The suddenness and peculiarity of it all put both Gwen and Lee on edge.

There was no turning back.