Jareth's Return

Dori(7)

"This is cheating!" Dori screeched indignantly.

That absolute brute put up a brick wall in the hallway! She was running from him upstairs and then something whizzed by her head. Dori turned in time to see a marble sized crystal smash on the floor and pieces grow into a solid brick wall. It covered the entire hall, side to side, floor to ceiling. Then, Jareth decided it was a good idea to levitate her.

One minute, she's looking for a weak brick on the wall and then next, she's three feet above ground in a dead-man's float. "All is fair in love and war, and this, my friend, was war." The King of All Things Smug told her, grinning. To Dori, it was both.

"Oh, I'm gonna smack that smirk off your face, you damned Chesire Cat!" I, actually, probably won't, but I sure as hell wish I was brave enough to. Currently, they were in the living room again, he on the couch, whilst Dori was floating so high, she was pretty much on the ceiling and she was not happy about it.

Well, on the outside she wasn't. On the inside she loved the weightless feeling, like your insides are made out of helium clouds. Dori wished she could do this all the time. I wonder if this is how astronauts feel.

"So, when are you going to let me down?" She looked at the top of the ceiling fan and wondered if she should dust while she was up there.

"I'm not controlling it anymore." He looked at her knowingly. "You are enjoying the feelings levitating gives you, wishing that it wold never end, am I wrong?"

"No, but how do know that?" Don't tell me that ol' cat can read minds, too? I think I'd die. She blushed thinking about the things she's thought about him in the last twenty-four hours.

"I know because you wouldn't still be in the air if you weren't. It's one of the first things they teach all levitation-able beings in the Labyrinth. You took over around a minute after we came downstairs."

"Quit joking. I'm just a normal, boring, human teenager. Now, please let me down." There was no way what he was saying was possible. Let me down. Let me down. Let me down. Let me down. She wasn't normal, she knew that.

Normal girls had mothers.

Normal girls' fathers didn't hurt them the way hers did.

Aside from that, she wasn't magic.

She wasn't special in that way.

She start to hyperventilate.

"Theodora, look at me!" Startled by the shout, she opened her eyes only to find herself staring into fierce, icy blue ones. The owner of those eyes grabbed her shoulders and gave her a firm shake. "Calm down. You are better than this, braver. I'm right here, you are fine. I'm not controlling this and in order for me to help you, you need to be calm,"

Right. Sure. Whatever you say, Goblin Man. Then, Dori realized who she was talking to. This was Jareth. She had called him here, somehow, and she suspected there was more to it than the wish of an abused girl. She took a breath and looked at the king. "If I'm the one doing it, how do I stop?"

"Imagine yourself becoming heavier, slowly. Picture yourself lowering and the weightlessness slowly dissipating." Dori imagined herself filling with lead.

That's the way she fell to the floor .

Like a rock.

She landed on the couch with a grunt and a thud. "Well, we'll have to work on the landing." She wheezed and lay there for a few minutes to catch her breath. "I'm not doing that again for a long time. Nope, just no."