The Little Goblin Girl

5 Years Later

Anabel was running around a beautiful garden and laughing. She was out of breath and leaned against a large shrub.

"Boo!" An armadillo popped out of the shrub, and she screamed with laughter.

"Gotcha, silly!" The armadillo waddled over to her. Anabel picked him up.

"Sam, you caught me off guard, next time there's no way you will find me!"

"I will always win my dear, for I can roll into a ball, and you cannot! So, ha!" Sam replied.

"Hey Sam, what's that over there?"

"That's the exit to the Labyrinth dear. You don't want to go there, Jareth wouldn't be happy with that." Sam said.

Anabel pulled him closer to her and she made for the exit. She peered around the edge of the wall and hugged herself against it, scared she may fall out. She heard a woman's' voice calling her name. "Mom?" She said a loud.

Jareth was beside her the next moment.

"Annie?"

Anabel jumped, startled, and headed towards him, hiding her face into his side.

"Are you unhappy here with me Annie?" He asked softly.

"No. I just was curious. What's out there?" She asked him.

"There's a whole big world outside my Kingdom. One day you will see it, but I need you to stay inside the walls here for now. You will be safe inside here; the Goblins will protect you from the big scary world."

Anabel nodded and turned back toward the garden with Sam. Jareth remained at the exit gate a moment longer. He looked out into the distance and felt that Sarah was growing nearer with every moment. He wasn't ready to lose Anabel, she was his now. He needed a plan to keep her.

x.x.x

Sarah woke violently after the loud crash of a car backfiring. She was having the most vivid dreams of her little 5 year old girl, reliving the night she disappeared. The dreams were slowly getting clearer, but she was still so very confused about where she could be. She saw in her dream a mountain of walls and tall grass, and a small fox riding a white dog…it more like a memory and less like a dream…but surely she had never been to this outlandish place before…

"Mom?" Darren appeared at her bedroom doorway, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Hi honey. I'm awake now. Overslept." She said.

Darren was too familiar with oversleeping. He never told his Mom, but their dreams were very similar these last few years.

Darren couldn't even remember what part he played in his sisters' disappearance. They were living in a haze of fuzzy memories, like ghosts just getting by day to day.

But that was about to change.

"The Labyrinth." Sarah stated suddenly, as if unaware her mouth was moving at all.

Darren noticed the unnatural way his mother spoke and took note immediately. It was as if Anabel was trying to communicate with them…

Darren spent the rest of the day at the library, searching for a meaning. He stumbled upon a small playbook that looked used and damaged. He felt silly thinking he could find any answers in it, but he checked it out anyways and brought it home.

Darren placed the book on their kitchen table and stepped over to the fridge to prepare some food for his mother. That's when he heard her scream. He spun around and she stood pale faced, screaming on and clutching the old playbook.

"Where did you get this?" She shouted.

x.x.x

Anabel and Sam were heading into the Castle after another long day of playing around with the other Goblin kids and running around the Labyrinth, of which she had memorized. Anabel wanted to find Jareth; she hadn't seen him in a week, ever since he found her at the front gate of the Labyrinth. She was worried that he was angry with her.

His office was guarded by the 4 headed knight, and she became worried.

"Where is Jareth?" She asked them all.

"Who wants to know?" The top right head asked, looking right over her.

"There's a little girl down here!" The bottom left head said.

"Why does Jareth need to be guarded?" She pressed.

"I cannot tell you." The lower right said.

"Well, what about the rest of you?"

"I only tell lies." Said the top left.

"I don't recall." Said the top right.

"That leaves you, bottom left!" Sam said.

"Um, asparagus."

"Asparagus? Honestly. Let me in right this instant." Ana demanded, letting Sam loose so that he may bite at their faces if they didn't let her through.

"Master Jareth said no one is allowed in except Mistress Anabel and so we do not budge for you Miniature Goblin and Armadillo!" Top Right asserted.

"I AM ANABEL."

"Right O then….pass then Madam…" Bottom Left smiled and they all pushed aside for her and Sam.

Anabel's concerns were confirmed when she could see Jareth sprawled out on a large cushion on the floor. She gasped and asked Sam to stay behind while she spoke to him.

"Sir?" She whispered as she neared him.

"You may come join me." He said weakly.

Anabel lay down beside him and cuddled softly against him.

"What's wrong?" She asked. She had never seen him weak like this.

She could remember seeing him for the very first time. She was in a strange round hall and he stood towering over her, intimidating and powerful. He kneeled down to her level and she could see his sparkling eyes up close, and she had never seen anything so beautiful. She was instantly in awe of him and longed only to obey him and have him trust her to be around.

He was always strict and somehow kind at the same time. She always felt nervous around him and unsure of herself. Now that he was in a position where his power was compromised for some reason, she felt the need to take care of him, the best that a 10 year old could.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it. I'm going to fix everything." Jareth replied, somewhat unconvincingly.

In reality, the moment Sarah had mentioned the Labyrinth, Jareth fell ill and suffered a heart rupture. The glaze he had put in place to keep Ana protected was sliding away and it was physically hurting him. He was powerless unless we went himself to the Human Realm to stop Sarah from remembering him and finding her daughter.

Ana's eyes swelled up, but she did not cry. Jareth looked at her a moment more and realized what he must do.

"I must leave." He said.

"When will you return?" She asked.

"Soon. Remember what I have said Annie, while I am away. You are safe in these walls, please don't stray."

x.x.x

Jareth left within the hour. First he appointed Sir Didymus to keep watch on Ana, and then he transformed into a while Owl, and flew high above the stone walls of the Goblin City.

He could see Anabel watching from below. He could not have known that the city he was leaving behind would not be the same city he would return to.

The moment he touched ground outside of Sarah's home, he changed back into himself and hid amongst the trees, blending in. He would need to recast the glaze and lead them off of Ana's trail.

The moment he lifted his hand to summon his crystals he knew something was wrong. The crystals did not appear. He tried to become an owl once more, still nothing. Panic rose within the Goblin King.

The winds changed direction and picked up speed. The sky grew dark and there was nothing he could do about it. He was powerless, and Goblin City had a new leader….

x.x.x.

Please review!