| "Well I think they still have the 13 hours thing, and before the end of it they have to say the lines." "What lines?" asked Collette. Ben looked at her as if she had something phenomenally stupid. "You know," he said. Collette shook her head. "My will is as strong as yours, and all that. Just not the beginning bit I spose cos they haven't fought their way there and he hasn't stolen a baby." "But do they know they have to say it?" "Aahh, probably not. They both think their like the baby and the other is doing the labyrinth. They think the other has to say the line when probably both of them do. Quite clever of Jareth I think." "Yes, very clever, but can we help them? Tell them what�s happening or something. Make them see each other." Ben pondered. He didn't want to get into even more trouble with Jareth, but there was something about Collette he just wanted to obey. He wanted her to love him for it. "There's one thing I can do, but after that they have to do it for themselves." They both looked at the crystals. Carol was sitting on the bed, worrying about her health and whether or not she was now actually dead and a vampire. She was very surprised when the door opened and of it's own accord. She looked around and tried to feel Jareth's presence. She couldn't. She took a deep breath and ran for it. Em jumped as the door crashed into the bed post next to it. Terrified of another of Jareth's attacks, she backed into a corner. When nobody came she looked around quickly before sneaking out of the room. Jareth swore and threw the crystal he was holding at a goblin. He would get revenge on his treacherous little brother, but for now he just had to stop the girls talking to each other. The first thing Emily saw when she got out of her room was a staircase. She ran up it - it seemed the only direction. As she reached the top she paused searching for a way out. That was when she saw it. There was a staircase at a right angle to the one she had just climbed. She followed it with her eyes and saw thousands of staircases - some sideways, some upside down. She looked around and saw Carol. She screamed her best friend's name. Carol appeared to be standing looking confused at the other end of this strange enormous hall, apparently standing on a wall. Carol heard her name. She followed the sound and saw her best friend standing at the top of what appeared to be a staircase at right angles to the wall. "Em," she screamed and ran in her direction. Up and down staircases the girls ran towards each other. Their progress was slow, but they made progress. Somewhere in the middle of the hall they both stopped suddenly and looked down. There was a short silence as they both tried to find the bottom of the drop. They couldn�t find it. Carol�s heart sank. She gave up. She leant back against the wall beside her, put her head in her hands and cried. Emily stayed where she was and looked down. She estimated the gap to be about 2 and a half metres. She tried to remember how far she had jumped last time they had done long jump, and couldn�t remember. She considered whether or not she had actually gone to the lesson, and then realised that it didn�t actually matter. She was going to jump, there was no other real choice, except stay in the castle forever as one of Jareth�s Goblins. �Carol, I�ve got to try,� she said. Carol sat up, new hope filling her face. She held out her hand as far over the edge as she could, to catch her friend if need be. Emily took a few steps back, and a few very deep breaths. She ran a few steps and jumped. Carol leaned further forward. Her hand was trembling. She could see Emily�s face, wearing her concentration expression. She tried to make her own look comforting and realised that she didn�t know how. She looked into Emily�s eyes, and then her visions swam. Everything went cloudy and swirled into one. Then everything went black. Emily didn�t know if she was going to make it or not. She didn�t know how far she had left, she just knew she had to do it. Then something hit her from the side. "They've given up," said Ben, "Both of them!" "Have they run out of time?" asked Collette. "I don't know." �OK, look into the crystal.� |