| Jaden agreed to take them, but he told them to stay in the forest with him for the night. There was a hallow tree, and Jaden slept. Michelle didn�t want to sleep in the presence of a vampire, but she had a lot of running to do, so she decided to trust him. Dominic fell asleep first, none of his questions answered, and eventually Michelle fell asleep to, with the coats over them and arms around each other, though distant from Jaden. They must have slept for hours before Michelle awoke. She was uncomfortable, and Dominic�s weight on her arm was making it go numb. She gently pulled it out from under him, and sat up to look around. She was amazed she could have slept in such a place, in the darkness, with the strange shapes of the trees. There was now only the sound of wind and owls, with some insects. That�s why the noise of footsteps surprised her. She decided it was Jaden, because he had gone. She stood to investigate and saw Dominic rouse in his sleep. �Shh,� she said soothingly to the boy. She walked towards the trees where the steps seemed to be from. She walked through them into the darkness beyond. �Hello?� she said quietly. �Where have you gone?� She could see no one, and the footsteps had gone. �I heard your footsteps. Where are you?� A hand took hers, which made her jump. �Oh, you made me�� Jareth�s grip tightened as she looked up at him. She screamed from shock and fear. She struggled briefly, but Jareth grabbed her other arm. �Let me go,� she cried. �What did you think you were doing?� Jareth growled. �I said let me go!� �Why did you run?� She tugged harder, desperate not to face this line of questioning. �Why did you run?� He let go of her arm for just enough time to slap her face. She stopped moving and sniffed. He moved her face up to look at his. She was resilient. �Why did you run?� She paused for effect, and then treasured every word of �To get my son as far away from you as I could.� He slapped her again, and she thought she was going to be sick and she stared at the ground. She heard a small gasp that didn�t sound like her. �Where�s Dominic?� he asked, his voice sounding like nothing had just happened. �Through those trees,� she said. There was no point in lying now. �Stay here,� he said, and she didn�t move. She watched him go, sobbing, and waited for his return. He wasn�t quick, and she considered the possibility that he was just going to leave her here, and she shook at the thought. Then she considered the possibility that he had met Jaden, and that they could be fighting, but there wasn�t enough noise for that. Then Jareth stormed back. �He�s not there!� �What?� �Where is he Michelle?� She ignored him and ran past to where she had last seen her son. The coats were there on the ground, but nobody was under them. She looked again for Jaden but couldn�t see him. Now she really did feel sick, and she brought up the small amount of food she had eaten that day, while Jareth just watched. �Where is he?� she gasped. �You�ve got to find him!� She ran at Jareth and fell to her knees. She cried. �Please find him,� she begged, �you have to find him.� She sobbed loudly. �You�ve got to find my baby,� she said. Jareth looked at her in disgust, this sobbing wreck on the floor. �Get up,� he said. She couldn�t, she had no strength in her legs. �Get up,� he said again, and she clambered up quickly. He hit her in the stomach, and she welled in the pain for a while thinking she was going to faint. She didn�t. �I�m going to look for him,� she said and started to run towards the nearest trees. �You will do no such thing,� said Jareth, it was a statement of a fact, not a threat. �I have to find him.� She hit something solid and invisible in front of her, and she pushed on it trying to get through. She turned back to Jareth. �Please,� she said. �How can I trust you now, Michelle?� She sobbed and she felt dizzy. She shut her eyes, and held her head, and felt herself falling backwards. She landed on something soft and sat there waiting for her head to stop spinning. She opened her eyes in that room. That bloody room. �No,� she said to no one in particular. She ran to the door, and tugged on it. �No!� She banged on it. �Let me out!� she yelled. �I�ve got to find my son.� She fell away from the door, and sank down to her knees again. �Please.� She was answered by silence. She didn�t know how long she stayed there, though it seemed like days. She was scared, agitated, she couldn�t sit still. She prayed to God, something she hadn�t done in years. She didn�t know whether He would answer. She said the Lord�s prayer, followed by the Hail Mary, or what she could remember of it from school. She had never been catholic, but she would have prayed to Allah if she had known how and thought it would help Dominic. She paced, she panicked, she cried, she lay on the bed in self indulgence, she hit her pillows, she threw whatever came into her hands at the walls, the door, the window. It didn�t help. It didn�t even release her rage. She screamed: �JARETH!� Nothing. Did he know about Jaden? Did Jaden have Dominic? This could be Jaden�s big revenge, taking Dominic away. Jareth must have been panicking as well. But did Jareth know? �JARETH!� she screamed again. �I know where he is!� There was a short pause filled by silence. �Where?� �Jareth, I�m sorry.� �Where is he, you stupid girl?� Michelle sniffed. �I think he�s with Jaden.� Silence again. �I�m sorry.� �Jaden?!� She could hear him breathing loudly. �Yes.� She saw Jareth�s fists clench, but they stayed at his sides. �I�m sorry,� she said again. �He found us, said he�d take us home, but told us to wait until morning. I thought it was him when I heard you. He�d gone when I woke up.� Jareth ignored nearly all of what she said. �You have left my son, on his own, with a vampire that hates me so much he will stop at nothing to hurt me!� �He wouldn�t hurt Dominic.� �And how do you know that?� Jareth was shouting now. �He could have done anything to him. His hatred knows no bounds.� �But�� �But what?� he shouted. �You met him a few times when you were a teenager and now you think you know him.� He stopped shouting and continued in a more normal voice. �You�re still too innocent Michelle. It�s indescribable how innocent you are.� She looked away from him, tears in her eyes. It was true; she didn�t know what Jaden would do with Dominic. Jareth loved him; that was what mattered to Jaden. She thought she was going to be sick again, and put her hand to her mouth. Jareth surveyed her in anger, disgust and hatred. He could hardly believe this was happening, and certainly couldn�t understand why. Why Michelle still felt like this towards him, why it all felt like this, so painful, so confusing. Anger welled up inside him, and hatred got the better of him. He grabbed the young woman by the hair from behind, pulling her off balance. She fell on him, but he pulled her back to her feet. �What�What are you doing?� �If you�ve got my son into danger through your stupidity, I think you should be there to see every little detail.� |