Labyrinth Fan Fiction ❯ Project: Underground ❯ Chilly down ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
Chapter Five: Chilly Down

"We have no clue how we are going to get into the castle but we sure are going to try. Right Steph?" Chantal asked, she turned to her friend.

"Yeah," Stephanie agreed.

"Let's get moving." Chantal said to everyone and Serek chirped on her shoulder in agreement.

"About bloody time," Jareth said as he walked past the three girls. They followed him, and Chantal rolled her eyes. The group walked down the corridor until it suddenly came to an end.

"What now??" Stephanie asked looking at the dead end. The brick wall was covered in vines that twisted all over the place.

Chantal narrowed her eyes. "How come a shortcut through creepy, touchy hands would end in a dead end?"

"Ah well, who cares. Let's just turn around," Bianca suggested.

Chantal walked up to the wall and stared at it. She moved some of the vines away and noticed something. "Hey! There is a door under here!"

"Wicked!!" Stephanie said as she neared Chantal.

"Help me move these vines out of the way Steph," Chantal told her friend as she grabbed some of the vines and pushed them aside.

"All right," Stephanie said mimicking her friend's movement.

As the vines were pushed away, a large wooden door is revieled. There was no door handle, only a weird looking doorknocker in the center of the door.

Bianca approached and stared at the doorknocker. "It looks like a face," she pointed out.

"You're right," Chantal replied looking at it more closely.

"Wicked!! Let me see!!" Stephanie exclaimed pushing her way between Chantal and Bianca.

Chantal stumbled out of the way. "Ack! Careful Steph!"

"Sorry," Stephanie giggled. Chantal looked back at Jareth and rolled her eyes.

Stephanie looked at the strange looking doorknocker.

"Maybe you should try using the knocker," Bianca suggested. Stephanie smiled at Bianca and turned back to the door. She reached out for the ring. She knocked three times. The knock echoed throughout the door.

Suddenly the doorknocker let out a huge snore, and Stephanie burst out laughing. Jareth gave her a strange look. Stephanie just grinned at him and turned back to the snoring doorknocker. Stephanie tried knocking on the door again. No avail.

"Hey!!" Stephanie started yelling. "Hey!! Wake up!!" she continued yelling and smiling, amused by all this.

Stephanie turned to Chantal and grinned.

"Doesn't look like that is working," Chantal commented. Stephanie then poked the doorknocker, right on its big round nose.

Chantal raised an eyebrow. ‘What were they getting themselves into this time?', she wondered.

Stephanie then sighed, and pinched the doorknocker's nose.

Chantal's eyes grew wide as she watched Stephanie. "Hey Steph, don't kill him or else we might not be able to get through the door."

"I'm only trying to wake him," Stephanie said.

"I know!" Chantal giggled, "Just be careful."

Stephanie let go of the doorknocker's nose and it gasped for breath. Chantal stared at the doorknocker.

"Hello?" She said aloud to it. The doorknocker opened one eye and stared back at Chantal.

"What do you want?"

"We want to go through the door." Chantal replied staring back.

"Well I can't let you pass," it said.

"Why not?" Chantal said glaring at it, starting to grow impatient.

"I was told by the Goblin King, not to let anyone pass," it snorted and started closing its one opened eye.

"Well we are in the company of the Goblin King, and you don't want to get him mad now do you?" Chantal asked as she stepped aside to reveal the Goblin King behind her.

"Oh, um, no," it stammered as Jareth stared at it. A click of a lock was heard and the door slowly swung open.

"Thank you," Chantal smiled as she walked through the door.

Stephanie gave one last look at the doorknocker. "Sorry," she said.

Jareth followed Stephanie and Chantal to the doorway leaving Bianca behind with her dog. As he held the door, he stared at the doorknocker and grinned. ‘At least some of the creatures here were still loyal,' he thought.

"Come on Bianca!!" Stephanie called out. Bianca snapped out of a daze and turned towards Stephanie.

"Coming!" she said as she headed towards the open door.

Jareth stood in the doorway, letting Bianca pass before he continuing through the door himself. Once on the other side, the door closed solidly behind the group, locking with a click. There was no doorknocker on this side of the door, therefore no way back, only forward.

Chantal twirled around to take in their new surroundings. She couldn't believe the change in scenery. They were now in a forest, the light was dimer and the air damp. A well worn path lead through the forest, with tall leafy green trees on either side.

"Wow!!" Stephanie gasped, then she began to giggle. "This place looks familiar."

"Familiar how?" Chantal asked, still looking around. Serek scrambled on her shoulder and climbed up on her head to get a better view. Before Stephanie could answer, two bright furry red and orange creatures jumped out in front of them. Bianca, who was right behind Chantal and Stephanie, took a step back, holding on tightly to Bebe's leash.

"Fireys!!" Stephanie giggled.

"When the sun goes down, " one of the creatures began to sing.

"When the sun goes down, " the other echoed.

The Fireys began to move around the three girls. Serek climbed back down to Chantal's shoulder and watched the creatures cautiously.

"And the bats are back to bed," said one.

"And the bats are back to bed ," echoed the other.

"The brothers come 'round ."

All of a sudden, two more Fireys jumped out of the bushes, in front of the girls and begin to sing.

"The brothers come 'round," they sung.

They all began dancing around the three girls, grabbing and poking at them as they continued their song.

"I get out of my dirty bed (my dirty bed),

I shake my pretty little head (I shake my pretty little head),

Tap my pretty little feet (tap my pretty little feet),

Feeling brighter than sunlight (oh),

Louder than thunder (oh),

Bouncing like a yo-yo, wooh (oh)."

Chantal pulled away from the Fireys, while Serek hissed at the creatures from her shoulder.

"Don't got no problems (no problems),

Ain't got no suitcase (no suitcase),

Ain't got no clothes to worry about (no clothes to worry about),

Ain't got no real estate or jewelry or gold mines to hang me up."

Bianca held Bebe back as the Fireys danced around. The dog barked and growled at everything that would pass by.

"I just throw in my hand (throw in my hand),

With the chilliest bunch in the land (in the land),

They don't look much (oh),

They sure chilly chilly (oh),

They positively glow glow, huh (oh)."

Stephanie's eyes grew wide in facination as she watched every movement of the Fireys.

"Chilly down with the fire gang (Hey, I'm a wild child),

Act tall with the fire gang (whoo, walk tall),

Good times, bad food (yeah),

When your thing gets wild,

Chilly down, chilly down."

All of a sudden the Fireys popped off their heads and started throwing them back and forth amongst each other. Catching, dropping and throwing. Stephanie giggled a little while Chantal rolled her eyes and Bianca held Bebe so she wouldn't start chasing the Fireys. Stephanie caught one of the singing Firey heads and grinned..

"Can you dig our groovy feelin'?"

"AHEM!?" Jareth cleared his throat loudly.

All the Fireys grabbed a head and stuck it on their bodies, one of them roughly grabbed the one Stephanie held, then looked up to where the voice had come from. Jareth stepped out of the shadows and glared at the fox like, red and orange creatures. Their eyes grew wide and suddenly they were gone.

Chantal turned on a dime and looked at Jareth. "Woah, they sure seem to be scared of you," Chantal giggled.

Jareth didn't reply, only grinned.

"You are just jealous that they were singing and not you," Stephanie accused Jareth.

"Am not! They were an annoyance," Jareth said glaring at the eighteen year old.

"Admit it!!" Stephanie said glaring back.

Jareth quickly looked around and spotted Bianca holding back Bebe, who looked very uncomfortable.

"I think your friend might want to go home," Jareth said changing the subject.

"Huh??" Stephanie said and turned to look at Bianca.

Bianca stood there, the expression on her face showed that she was a bit frightened. She kept shifting her weight from foot to foot looking in Stephanie's direction.

"Bianca, are you all right??" Stephanie asked, worried.

"Um, yeah...I-I'm fine," she replied.

Chantal looked over to Bianca. "You don't look all that well. Maybe we should get you home." Chantal turned to and looked at Jareth. "Can we do that and not lose ground?"

Jareth looked at the frightened girl. "If my magic still works."

"That's right. You said that you had trouble with entering the castle so that means...it's worth a try." Stephanie said trailing off.

Chantal began playing with her necklace as she thought. "I wonder if you use us as a kind of anchor, maybe you can return right to this spot. If that makes any sense to you at all," Chantal suggested, looking up at Jareth.

"We won't know until we try," Jareth replied.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Chantal said, her hands on her hips.

"I can't just go and drop her off anywhere, now can I?" Jareth countered. "Especially not in the middle of a busy street. People might wonder."

Chantal turned to Bianca. "Where were you when Bebe got away from you?" she asked.

"Um, I was at Gilies Lake, it's close to my house. The park is sort of secluded." Bianca said looking at the Goblin King.

Jareth nodded. "Good enough."

Jareth walked over to Bianca extended his hand to her. Bianca eyed him shyly, not sure whether she should take it or not. She extended her hand and Jareth took it. Bianca blushed furiously. Jareth then turned to the girls. "I'll return in a few minutes." Suddenly they were gone.

Chantal looked over to Stephanie. "And now we wait and hope he can make it back."

"Yeah, who knows what is happening in this place." Stephanie said.

"Yeah! And it seems like almost anything can happen in this place," Chantal replied, looking up at the trees. There was no way to see the castle from this place, or any other part of the huge maze.

Serek jumped off of Chantal's shoulder and glided over to where Stephanie was standing, landing on her shoulder. He squeaked in her ear.

"Hmm?? What is it Bob??" Stephanie said, looking at Serek and petting his head. Serek rubbed his head against Stephanie's hand, trying to get more attention.

Chantal looked down at her watch. "Gods, I keep forgetting time flows differently here." Stephanie laughed. Chantal stuck her tongue out at her friend, laughed, then sighed. "Where is that guy?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I don't know. Do you think he couldn't return??"

"I don't know, but if he uses us as an anchor, or even a beacon, he might be able to get to us. From what I understand, the closer to the castle you get, the stronger the magic force. We aren't that close yet."

"No, we're not close enough," Stephanie sighed. "Well, if he doesn't get here soon, we might have to continue without him."

Suddenly they heard rustling in the bushes behind them. Both girls spun around, but the noise stopped.

"Oh no! Not them again! I don't think I could put up with more head popping songs," Chantal said, rolling her eyes. "Jareth better get here soon."

"Oh, so you missed me, eh?" Jareth said from behind her.

"Ack!" Chantal spun around quickly. "Well maybe not that much."

Stephanie smiled. "It worked!!"

"Indeed it did," Jareth said with a half smile.

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I was certain that I had corrected this. I dont' think I have updated it yet. Must find corrected version. And I think I had an apology that I was borrowing the original cast from the storyline. Sorry once again.