Nothing Is What It Seems

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Hoggle stood in his tiny private garden, frowning at a certain future queen. She was leaning against the front of his cottage, clearly not in a good mood.

"Why are you hiding out here? The orchard not to your liking today?"

She glanced at him, "don't you want to see me, Hoggle?"

Sighing, Hoggle began to walk towards her, "that's not what I said. What's wrong?"

Quickly glancing around, Sarah gestured inside, "it's best we don't talk about it out in the open."

Nodding, he followed her inside. This couldn't be good. Had she and Jareth had an argument? He really didn't want to become part of it, if they were.

Sarah moved to shut and lock the windows as he entered. She turned slightly towards him, "close and lock the door behind you."

He nodded as he quickly followed her request, "what's going on?"

Sighing, she turned completely towards him, "did Queen Evera ever banish anyone from the Labyrinth?"

"Why are you asking that?"

"Well, Jareth said he hasn't. So that leaves her or whom ever was ruler here before her."

Hoggle shook his head, "I can't think of anyone, but she can banish someone and not make it public."

Sarah frowned, "thanks, Hoggle."

"What's this about any way?"

"I was thinking that either someone was faked banished from another kingdom to be a spy or someone was banished from the Labyrinth."

Hoggle nodded, "make sense, but I'm sure he's already thought of that. Although, it would take time to find the records."

Sarah sighed, "I hate feeling so damn useless."

"You ain't useless and you know it. You think of things he might not have thought of. You as well as I are doing what we can to help the war effort."

Slowly nodding, Sarah sighed, "I just hate feeling so helpless."

"I know, but don't give up hope. We'll find the person and deal with them."

Sarah gave him a weak smile, "thanks, Hoggle."

Now he was worried. Had Queen Ever a banished someone and not announced it to the kingdom or had her father? It really didn't matter who had done it, but he knew that meant the person had done something horrible, if they had been banished from the Labyrinth.

XOXOXOX

Where was the damn book? It had to be there. Jareth scanned the shelf of yet another bookcase. His mother's royal log as queen had to be here somewhere. Every monarch of the Goblins kept a record of new citizens, harvests, births, deaths, important events, and of course any banishments.

The problem was the logs weren't in one particular area of the Royal Library. He had already collected his great-grandfather and grandfather's logs, but it seems his mother's was well hidden. He had searched almost every nook and cranny for it. For once, he was missing his mother just popping in when ever she wished. He needed to find the damn book.

"Looking for something, Jareth?"

Jareth looked down from the ladder he stood on to find his mother starring up at him.

"Mother, what are you doing here?"

She walked closer to the bottom of the ladder, "come down here. We need to talk."

Frowning, he slide down the ladder, "what is it? Has something happened?"

She quickly shook her head, "no, your father's fine."

"Then why are you here?"

Sighing, she turned away from him, "you won't find my log here, Jareth. It isn't in this library."

"What do you mean? It's here somewhere. Everyone else's is."

She turned back to face him, "not mine. My log as Goblin Queen is not here. It's in the Palace."

"Why?"

"Because it's safer there," she walked over to one of the large windows.

"Mother?" He walked towards her.

Queen Evera took a deep breath, "I know who's behind everything."

Jareth nodded, "good. How do we deal with them?"

She shook her head, "it's not that simple." His mother turned back to the window, "I only had to banish one person from the Labyrinth. He is the person in history to be banished from the Kingdom of the Unwanted."

"Who is he?" He moved to stand behind her. Only her reflection showed in the window.

"My brother."