Your eyes can be so cruel Pg28

Maniel and Lucious were watching over the surrounding parts of Warboroth from the highest room in the tower of Lucious' castle, the lands were darkening and it was becoming hard to see. 'Something's coming.' Lucious said mysteriously, squinting into the distance. Maniel held the stone windowsill firmly with his hands, crushing some of the stone. 'It's him, isn't it?' He said shortly, looking up to the sky, away from Lucious. Lucious looked to him, rolling his eyes, 'What do you have against him? Is it because he was human?' Lucious said, his eyes burning a hole in Maniel's head, he turned to Lucious, 'It has nothing to do with that. I'm far better looking than him, anyway.' Maniel said, stroking his cheek and feeling satisfied with his own soft skin. Lucious disappeared, down to the entrance hall. Maniel felt a stab of jealousy in his heart.

Lucious flung open the doors to the outside, expecting to see Toby on his doorstep, instead he was confronted by Toby, Jareth, Sarah, Evey, Viktus and Berylla, all dressed in their finest clothes. Lucious almost not seeing the entourage behind Toby, flung his arms around him and embraced him for what seemed to be minutes, he whispered in Toby's ear, 'I missed you, Toby.' He let go of Toby and took a step back, eyeing the others. 'Are you not going to invite us in then?' Berylla piped up, hands on her hips, 'I taught you better than that.' she invited herself in and beckoned the others to join her, they all entered past Toby, who seemed rooted to the spot, after they had entered, they proceeded to the ballroom, where Berylla summoned some guests and music, leaving Lucious and Toby together at the door. 'I'm sorry for leaving.' Toby said, looking down at the floor, shuffling his feet. 'I don't care that you left, you came back.' Lucious said, approaching for another embrace, Toby held his hand out on Lucious' chest holding him back. 'I came back, not because I want to live but because I love you.' Toby looked deep into Lucious' eyes, feeling his heart flutter against his hand. Lucious traced a vein on Toby's arm all the way to his fingertips and removed his hand from his chest, pulling Toby close to him and landing him with a deep kiss on the lips, holding the hair at the back of his head. 'Are you coming to dance?' Berylla called out from the ballroom, disturbing the two lovers, they broke their kiss and smiled at each other, walking to the ballroom, arm in arm. Maniel stood watching from the top op the stairwell, he dressed himself in white with a black poet and black boots, his hair was immaculate and his markings prominent, against his strong brow, he descended the stairs, swiftly, to join the other guests.

~~~~~~~~~~~

'Karen, I haven't heard from Sarah or Toby, I'm calling the cops.' Robert said bluntly, across the dinner table, Karen broke down over her meal. Robert got up and sat in the chair next to her, trying to calm her from her bawling. 'Come, darling, don't cry, I'm sure he's fine. You know Toby; he's always playing the fool.' Karen sobbed and sobbed, trying to speak between her weeping. 'It's as if he's dropped off the face of the earth...'  This bothered Robert as he sat comforting his wife.   'Surely not...Those were just fairytales Irene used to tell Sarah...Before she...Disappeared!' Robert thought, slightly holding his breath, thinking of Sarah's mother still hurt him, in his mind's eye he could see her, turning to him and smiling, her piercing, green eyes and black, raven hair, Sarah was the image of her mother, apart from her hair colour that Robert had provided. 'Darling, why don't you go to bed, I'll be in soon, and I have some things to do before bed.' Robert said soothingly to Karen, who was now calming down. 'Okay, Robert, I'll see you soon.' She said and kissed him, departing from the table, her meal uneaten.

Robert sat in his study, staring at a sturdy metal box that hadn't been opened for seventeen years, the sides were rusting from being in the garage for so long. It was Irene's possessions, the ones he had chosen to keep after she had disappeared, she was assumed dead by the authorities. The hinges creaked sharply as Robert lifted the lid slowly, wondering what he would be confronted with. In the box were some of Irene's clothes, some family pictures of Irene, Sarah and him, a few baby books from when Sarah was small and some clear orbs, the size of apples. He wondered why he had kept them; they were as Irene would have said 'dust collectors' as she always wanted a minimalistic decorative theme in their home. Robert could just never bring himself to throw them away. He picked one of them up with a little red book, much like the one Sarah had, called 'The Labyrinth of Wormwood', the cover was curled upwards at the corners, the leather broken in many places. He opened the first page and began to read aloud to himself, feeling the orb in his hand, he suddenly felt very angry as he read the line 'The King of Wormwood was in love with the young girl he had never met, only in his dreams, as she had him.' The small orb fell out of his hand, gracing the floor with a watery splash as it spread like he had knocked a glass of water over. In the small pool stood a small worm, it's back green with an underbelly of a yellowy-beige. He had wispy hair in three fans, two on the side of his head and one at the top; he wore a small, mustard coloured scarf. 'Allo.' The worm said, looking up at the giant man, who looked as if he had seen a ghost. 'Allo.' He said again, winding towards Robert. 'Don't come any closer, you little thing, or I'll kill you with this here book!' Robert said, standing and stumbling backwards, waving the book in the air. 'I'm sorry, mate,' The worm said, winding backwards, away from Robert. 'I don't like to invade people's personal spaces!' the worm looked down to the floor and back up at Robert. Thy stared at each other for a moment until Robert mustered a sentence. 'Where did you come from?' He said, looking down to the small worm that looked up at him with big, wide eyes. 'I came from the King's crystal, mate.' The worm said, smiling. 'I don't suppose you'd let me have a cup of tea?' He continued, rambling about his 'missus' and looking at the old fashioned decor in Robert's study. 'Er...I'm looking for my son and I think my daughter is missing too, have you heard of them?' Robert said, seating himself again, assuming the worm was harmless. 'Well, what are they called?' The worm said, still fascinated with the decor. 'Sarah and Toby' Robert said, examining his decor, as the worm had been looking around for some time. 'Well I only know one Sarah and one Toby, well, I don't know them but I know of them. The Sarah is engaged to the Goblin King and the Toby is living with the King of Warboroth, my cousin lives in the Goblin King's labyrinth, he sends me telegrams by moss once and again, they say she's a human you know, the Sarah, not seen one of them for years! My cousin saw one ten years ago, but nothing since apart from her.' The worm said, remembering when he had received the letter from the moss. Robert looked at him strangely, 'By moss...never mind, where is the Goblin King's place, I'd like to look there.' The worm let out a few tuts, each in quick succession of the last. 'You won't want to go in there, it's not a very nice area, my cousin moved there and there's always trouble! But it's over there.' The worm turned and the wall of his office had disappeared, as had his garden, there stood the vast expanse of the Underground. 'What, oh my god.' Robert said, looking out into the lands. He gathered the other crystals in a rucksack with his reading glasses and the small 'Labyrinth of Wormwood' book. He wrote a note to Karen, which he left on his desk, saying he had driven to stay with Sarah for a few nights. He picked up the worm and took him into the Underground with him, he stepped out onto the dusty plane that surrounded Jareth's labyrinth. Outside, Hoggle stood, spraying fairies as he did for his own pleasure. To Robert's dismay, the worm had disappeared and left only some glitter on his hand that he had shaken out of his hair when he was looking back at the decor. 'Excuse me, sir.' Robert said, standing behind Hoggle. Hoggle spun round, pointing his sprayer at Robert. 'Who are you and what do you want from me?' Hoggle said, shielding his jewels from view. 'I'm looking for someone, how do I get in?' Robert asked, looking at the wall that seemed to have no opening. 'Who are you looking for? How do you get into what?' Hoggle asked, returning to his work but keeping an eye on Robert. 'I'm looking for a woman called Sarah, I'm her father.' He said, continuing to look at the wall. 'Sarah? You mean Jareth's Sarah?' Hoggle asked, dropping his sprayer and turning to Robert. 'Erm, I'm not sure, she has brown hair, green eyes and she's quite pale.' Robert said, looking down as the noise of the sprayer hitting the floor had startled him. 'I know Sarah! She was here when she was fifteen; her brother got taken by Jareth, Toby I think he was called, he's here too, but trouble's afoot!' Hoggle said, twitching his large nose. Robert looked alarmed, at hearing both the names in one sentence, without having to say them first. 'How do I get there?' He asked, rummaging in his bag for something to give Hoggle, for his help. 'Here, use one of those crystals, that's what Jareth and Sarah do.' Hoggle said pointing to the crystal that was rolling out of Robert's bag. Robert snatched it up and shook it, nothing happened. 'You've got to drop in on the floor, stupid.' Hoggle said, gesturing the action Jareth used to drop them, 'Ask whatever turns up to take you to Lucious' castle in Warboroth.' Hoggle said, stopping his gesture, he felt like Jareth, which disgusted him slightly. Robert found a small plastic bracelet, of which he had many as he noticed he had Sarah's bag from when she was younger. 'Here, thanks for your help Mr...' Robert trailed off, not knowing Hoggle's name, 'I'm Hoggle. Tell Sarah I sent you, and be careful of that Lucious.' Hoggle said, picking up his sprayer. Robert dropped the crystal on the floor; it made the same pool like puddle and out of it came a large creature. 'Take me to Lucious' castle in Warboroth!' He said to the huge beast, and they both disappeared before Hoggle's eyes.