The Hearts of Goblins

Chapter V

Gwen turned to come face to face with the strange villain.
"W-what?" She stammered in shock.
Jareth sat atop the wall, propped up with one arm, with his legs crossed neatly and hanging over the edge.
"I'm not very fond of cheaters, Guinevere." He said calmly through his voice was laced with both sarcasm and malice.
"I wasn't cheating!" Gwen defended. Below her Lee stared up in horror.
"Oh, you weren't? Then tell what you're doing all the way up here." Jareth said.
Gwen glared at him and turned toward the sun. With her thumb stuck out in front of her and with one eye closed, she measured the distance from sun to horizon.
"What are you doing?" Jareth asked.
"I'm trying to tell what time it is." She said curtly. Jareth began to chortle. He blatantly laughed at her, finding some unknown joke to be hilarious.
"Well then, that sky will do you no good." He gestured broadly to the beautiful expanse of blue above them, "The sky will do as it pleases whenever it pleases."
Gwen stared at him as if he were insane. He had to be insane.
"So the sun will just set whenever it wants?" Gwen said incredulously, chuckling with amusement.
"As you may have noticed by now, this world is very different than yours. The same rules do not apply." Jareth said, "In fact just yesterday there were a total of four sunsets and two sunrises."
"But that doesn't make any sense!" Lee shouted. Jareth looked down at the boy disdainfully.
"It doesn't have to make sense to you, it isn't your world" Jareth replied.
Gwen frowned at the sky and her brows furrowed.
"If the sun doesn't tell the time then what measures a day?" She asked.
"Usually a clock," Jareth said. Gwen glared at him, sending him a look so cold that it would chill anyone down to the core.
Jareth rolled his eyes.
"Thirteen hours in a day. Thirteen hours in a night." He said as if explaining to a child.
"Great!" Gwen said angrily as she began to climb back down the wall, "So we'll just wander around this thing until we pass out! I can't tell what's day and what's night. I can't tell how long we've been here or how long we have left! We're rats in a maze trying to find cheese that doesn't exist!" She ranted in fury. Her chest felt as though it was full of lead and hot angry tears were burning at the back of her eyes.
Lee took a step back from his friend, fearing he might get hit if he stood too close.
"This is ridiculous!" Gwen shouted. She turned and looked up at the villain that was still perched up on the wall. "You can't do this to us! We've nearly died already today! It probably hasn't even been a full day and I'm already freaking out because of how stressed this makes me. You can't be so unfair!"
Jareth's eyes narrowed and he gracefully descended from the wall.
"Unfair am I? Unfair? I've done exactly what you asked, Guinevere. This is your noble quest." He now stood mere inches away from Gwen. She stood her ground and stared back in a challenging way. "I've even brought you a gift." He held out a simple silver pocket watch in front of her face. It swung back and forth like a hypnotist's pendulum. She stared passed the watch and directly into Jareth's eyes. "Are you so ungrateful as to refuse?"
Gwen snatched the watch from the man's gloved hands.
"Thanks." She said bitterly.
"Well, I guess this evens the odds a little," Lee said. Gwen tossed the watch to Lee without breaking eye contact with the villain.
She took it as a small victory when Jareth looked away first.
He turned his back to the two adventurers.
"This Labyrinth is unpredictable. Even I don't know all its secrets. If you think it's difficult at the beginning, then you may as well forfeit now."
"Well, I'm not gonna give up," Gwen said stubbornly.
Lee gave her a blank stare.
Jareth turned back to face her with a smirk on his lips.

Without a word, he was gone again. The pocket watch in Lee's hand was the only evidence he had been there at all.
Gwen rubbed her sore ribs and looked at Lee.
"Let's go." She said.
Lee rolled his eyes and said with attitude and irritation,
"Better complete our noble quest." Gwen looked at him and wondered about his sudden moodiness.
"Whatever. Let's just finish this."
The continued on. . .

Gwen and Lee stood, staring in awe at the sight that was before them. An overgrown thicket of vines that seemed to be slowly consuming the labyrinth. A thick jungle of dark green vines that seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Inside they could hear some occasional odd sounds coming from birds and animals. Lee gave Gwen a look that told her what he was thinking
Seems sketchy
Gwen shrugged and stared into the massive entanglement of green, she could barely see ten feet into it. They had come upon the thicket after they had gone in four different directions only having dead ends. To go weaving through the vines looked to be the only way. Both knew that they had no other choice, although Lee spent a good amount of time trying to think of another solution.
Gwen dragged Lee into the dense growth with some difficulty, but he eventually gave in and followed in calm annoyance.
The vines blotted out the sunlight almost entirely. Any light that entered was tinted a lighter leafy green than the dark emerald green vines that surrounded them. Gwen found the environment strangely calming and peaceful. They traveled deep into the green quietly.
"This isn't so bad." Lee shrugged.
Gwen turned sharply as she heard the sound of vines moving behind them.
Lee spun around only to be struck sharply behind the knees. A high voice yapped from behind them,
"HA! HEATHEN!"