It's Only Forever

The Escape to Hell

 "What do you mean he left?!" Sarah asked Bjorg angrily.

The dwarf flinched — in surprise at her extreme reaction from telling her that Jareth had gone from his mansion with strict rules to keep her there.

She'd awakened that morning — irritated after having to spend the rest of her time in the peach-induced dream barreling ballroom dancers down to get to the edge of the crystal to smash it with a chair again in order to escape — to find herself in the guest bed Bjorg had given her. She'd gone to give Jareth a piece of her mind only to hear from Bjorg that he had left.

Bjorg was holding a note out for her to take, but she didn't want to read it. If anything, Jareth should have talked to her about it rather than strand her even farther into the dream world. Now, she was definitely never touching a peach again. 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice... shame on me.'

"Forget that, I'm going after him," she said, storming past him toward the front door.

"No, you're not," Bjorg said gently as she tried opening it. Locked. "He left me in charge of taking care of you —"

Sarah began hitting and kicking the door in desperation, "No, no, no!"

Bjorg let out a soft sigh, looking as though he were trying to deal with a child having a simple tantrum. It felt utterly patronizing to Sarah.

She rounded on him, "We're supposed to be partners! We didn't go through the Labyrinth this far for him to just drop me like this!"

"He wants to protect you —"

"Protection?!" she scoffed. "That's a load of —"

"He left with Serboa and Ambrosias early this morning. You'd have a hard time catching up, especially since — you know — this is the Labyrinth."

'Should've guessed he and Serboa were planning something this cruel, as often as they spoke without me,' Sarah thought bitterly. "According to what you've just said, it sounds like I've still got Autumn —"

"Don't even try, my dear. There's not much she can do for you."

Sarah doubted that, but she decided to keep trying. It was just not fair of Jareth! "You can't honestly agree with what he's doing! Jocelyn could hurt him, or worse —"

"And you feel that would be impossible with you there? What could you really do against her? I told you, Sarah, he wishes to keep you safe... he really loves you."

She had no answer to that, giving only a screech of frustration as she kicked the front door again. Leaning against it, she slowly dropped down to the floor, feeling her heart sink... rock bottom. Asking for the key would do no good, and neither would fighting with Bjorg — he was just being loyal to Jareth.

"I will leave you alone for now," Bjorg said, putting the note on the table and slowly walking out of the room.

Sarah pulled her knees close and leaned her head against them, her thoughts spinning around through possible escape plans. Climb out her bedroom window? No, Bjorg probably thought about that. Find the key to the front door? No, he would have hidden that really well. She didn't really want to break through a window, and cause Bjorg the trouble of fixing it. She also wasn't sure, should he need to go outside for any reason, that she could slip through the door and outrun either him or his servants. There were far too many variables to consider, especially seeing as the mansion was his personal domain.

Something nudged her out of her thoughts, and she looked up to see Autumn. The Shakana had a worried look on her face. Sarah crossed her legs, glad she kept the shorts from the day before for the short blue dress she was wearing, and brought her hand up to scratch her chin, forcing a smile to her face.