The Labyrinth on Bourbon Street 2

Three Is Company

"That's odd." Eidus pondered, mounting himself on a the ruins of a wall to see the sight. "I don't remember there being a towering cloud of smoke where I heard the song."

Lapis followed the source of the smoke. She mounted herself close to where Eidus was standing and looked down into the next layer. 

"Allie?!" Lapis called out, at the very top of her lungs. "Sebastian!?"

"Lapis?" Came a striking bajan accent, echoing from below the sewer lid. The volume and desperation of the voice struck a chord in Lapis's memory and she had to act now.

She barreled down the steep slope and skidded on her knees to the sewer lid. She closed one eye and looked through the slit, but was immediately flashed the light of a gradually dying fire. 

"It's okay Allie! I'm gonna get you out of here!" Lapis assured, seeing that the lid was just sloppily thrown over the hole without being bolted down. 

"Sebastian's down here too!" Allie called out. "He's hurt, he can't walk!"

"Oh no..." Lapis muttered, digging her fingernails into the mud under the sewer lid to get it to budge. 

"Phelous!" Lapis called out, looking directly at him. "Think you can help me lift this thing?"

Phelous skittered over to the opposite side of Lapis and jammed his fingers under the lid, flipping it up effortlessly. Once it was completely off and tossed to the side, Lapis smothered the fire with the damp mud and freed the iron bar for them to mount.

"Seb's coming up first, Lappy, be ready to pull!" Allie yelled.

Lapis saw Allie grabbing Sebastian by the waist and pushing him up just enough to be eye-level with the opening. Lapis threw her arms down into the hole and felt Sebastian desperately wrap his shaking arms around her shoulders. She stood up in place and used every ounce of strength left in her to pull him out of the hole.

Lapis set him on his feet and immediately sprung for a hug, though it was anything but warm and loving. It was more the embrace that you forced on someone when you knew that they were finally safe, like that momentary breath of relief when you know they were put in danger, but there was still more danger to come.

"You're okay..." Lapis panted, hearing Sebastian's racing heartbeat in his chest. Sebastian returned her affections and hugged her back, holding her protectively in the same way she was to him.

Allie jumped to the bar and hoisted herself up, finally seeing the light of the above. Lapis grabbed her under the armpits and pulled her to the surface. As soon as she had her butt firmly on the ground, Lapis tackled her into an embrace.

Neither of them spoke. They had so much to say to each other, so many stories to tell, but they just stood together, arms in arms, cheek to cheek, heartbeats gradually slowing in unison. They let the silence speak for them.

"It's good to be home." Allie added, breaking away from Lapis for a split second to look into her misty eyes. 

"Let's get you home." Lapis said with a nod of her head. Allie looked back to Sebastian, who was struggling not to topple over. Allie walked over to him and let him lean on her shoulder, slowly coaxing him back in to putting one foot in front of the other.

"So what's the plan?" Allie asked Lapis, who was already rushing ahead. 

"We get the fuck up outta here." Lapis answered. "That's it. We pass go, collect our two hundred dollars and get back in time to make the New Year's Riverboat Party."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Allie agreed. 

"What about the twins, are they coming with us?" Sebastian added, just then seeing the two familiar goblin-boys trailing along beside them.

"Oh no." Allie denied. She looked down at Eidus. "Eidus, you are to take your brother directly back to your mother. She's worried sick about you."

"You found our mama?" Eidus's voice cracked and the mention of their mother caught Phelous's attention.

"Yes." Allie said. "Go straight down that hole and yell out for her. She'll hear you. Run to her."

Phelous and Eidus wasted no time in jumping down into the sewer and started to scream for their mother. Allie could only hope that Mique and her sons would be reunited soon. 

"Alrighty then." Sebastian nodded his head. "That answers my question, let's get la dracu out of here."

With the company reunited, a lot got done to make up for the lost time. Lapis led, carrying the torch and Allie carried Sebastian, who was spouting information that he remembered from the way in. The three sped past all the convoluted crap with their new collective will to escape. The only rule was to stay on the trail and they would find their way out soon.

"Lapis..." came the sound of a familiar voice. Lapis, who had been running as fast as her legs could carry her, slammed on the breaks and stopped Allie and Sebastian from going behind her. 

Lapis was hearing something that Allie and Sebastian weren't. Lapis started to stray away, in the direction of a wall. Allie and Sebastian stayed close behind her, ready to attack.

Lapis could have sworn she heard Tia Sarah. It wasn't a few seconds later that the walls began to fade away and she saw her. She was young, couldn't have been a day older than sixteen. Her gentle doe eyes were brimmed with wonder and curiosity. She looked like a young soul finally freed after a lifetime of being trapped under cheap, shapeless clothing and anti-depressants.

"Has anybody seen my baby?" Allie heard and snapped her head around to attach a face to the familiar voice. "She's got curly black hair and beautiful black skin..."

Allie saw something different. She saw a tall, slender black woman with sharp cheekbones, fat red-velvet colored lips and an acute widow's peak on her forehead. She was standing on top of a pile of rubble, looking to be desperately seeking someone; her, that was.

"Mama?" Allie whined, starting to float off in the same direction. Sebastian knew something was up now. That was, until he heard his own name being called.

"You saved my life, Sebastian..." He heard Allie say. He saw, posing on the same pile of rubble, Allie herself. She was wearing a lacy black corset, matching black garters and her curls were bounding off of her head. She was toying with her curls with one hand and batting at her lips with the other. "How could I ever make it up to you?"

His first instinct was skeptical. There was no way that Allie could have been up there when he had just saw her in front of him two minutes prior. Sebastian shook his head and ducked behind a corner, seeing right through whatever it was Jareth was doing. 

Sebastian took out his phone and flipped it over, looking at the reflection of the pseudo-Allie on the back of the case. He saw, in the reflection, a little lump under a tarp that looked to be manipulating the pseudo-Allie's every move, like a puppeteer. 

He angled the phone case a little more and saw two more creatures under tarps, miming out actions that were meant to lure the prey. Sebastian picked up a flat rock and slung it through his fingers. The rock flew right through pseudo-Allie's abdomen and knocked the little creature right off the pile of rubble. 

He looked into his phone case again and tried to aim for the one right next to it. He had to guess, as it was invisible to his eyes. He took a literal shot in the dark and slung the rock as fast as he could throw it. It seemed to have worked, because Allie stopped in her tracks and gasped. 

Sebastian rushed to Allie. "Don't get sucked in." He grabbed her by the shoulders and bored into her eyes. "It's some kind of... er, sirenă!"

 Allie looked behind her at the state of Lapis. She was mumbling something in Spanish with tears silently ran down her plump, flushed cheeks. But then a hand appeared on her back. Jareth's silhouette started to fade in to view, cradling Lapis in his arms the way that whatever vision she saw had held her. 

"da-te jos!" Sebastian grabbed Allie's hand and pulled her down, behind the corner where he was hidden before.