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OUT OF BREATH FROM running, Jareth leaned up against the wall and panted, his hands sweaty on his bow. Evanora stood in front of him, concealing him with her cloak as a gust of frigid air swept behind her back. Jareth could see them—a trio of elongated figures dressed in white who floated rather than marched, their gazes wandering back and forth throughout the hall looking for him. For some odd magic of Evanora’s, they couldn’t see him, but it was obvious they knew he was there. Evanora puckered her lips in a pout and let a quiet hushing sound ease out. Jareth scowled at her. Of course, he’d be quiet. What did she think he was going to do?
It took forever before the Influencers passed on to another hallway. Jareth waited for Evanora to lower her cloak, and that took even longer.
“They’re gone,” Jareth whispered.
“I know,” Evanora smiled.
“Then why are you still hiding me?”
Evanora dropped her arms, stepped back, and Jareth took advantage of the freedom by taking a deep breath. One more cell remained, its iron bars glistened in torchlight at the end of the hall. They had checked all the others and found nothing but bones, rats and unidentified debris that stunk up the chambers. No children were in any of them, but Jareth swore to inspect every corner of this dismal dungeon and so they passed through the Neverworld searching. However, they spent more time fleeing, and hiding from the Influencers.
“I don’t think your children would be locked up,” Evanora said, peering down the hall.
“Where else would these monsters take them?” Jareth asked. A lone torch burned on the wall. Jareth swung his bow over his shoulder and reached for it.
“Don’t! You’ll be a sure giveaway and how can I hide you if you’re carrying a flame?”
Jareth abandoned the idea and moved on through the darkness, opening his eyes wide in an attempt to see better. Fortunately, another torch flickered up ahead. In his haste he stumbled over something on the ground and fell. When Evanora gave him a hand, the wizard groaned. Jareth had stumbled over an iron ankle bracelet and chains—one end locked into the rock wall.
“You shouldn’t have come,” Jareth said, noticing how the wizard quaked. “There’s no reason for you to risk your freedom for me.”
“They can’t see me as Evanora. And you’d never find your children without me,” she reminded him.
“I’m not so sure I’m even going to find my children.”
“You’ll find them. Have faith. But it doesn’t seem like you’ll find them in one of these prison cells.”
“Where then?”
A contemplative look came across Evanora’s face. Jareth hated staring at Chase when he was female. She was too attractive for her own good. Or his good. Jareth looked away.
“They never told me all of their secrets, nor what they did with the children when they first arrived. But I’m assuming they would reeducate them somehow. I know where the closest camp might be.” She looked around and sniffed the air, then snapping her fingers she pointed. “To our right.”
She led the way so confidently it was as if the wizard had eyes that could see in the dark, and so Jareth stayed as close as he could to her.
“The Influencers would bind me to those chains. But you? I’m not sure what they would do with you. Maybe just kill you,” she said.
“Just?” Jareth asked.
“Better than torture.”
“Who would they torture? Evanora or Chase?”
“Oh, they would strip Evanora from me, that you can be sure. The magic once belonged to them, but I plan to take it so far from here they would forget it ever existed.”
“Stealing their magic seems extremely hazardous?”
She turned to him with a finger over her lips. “Do you want your children to get hold of these powers?”
“No, of course not. But you’re daft to risk your life by robbing them.”
“I’m glad you think so. After we find your children, you can help me get away.”
“To where?”
She shrugged and when she stepped up to the last empty cell she grasped one of the bars and shook it. “These cells aren’t like the one I was locked in. They must be new. If the children were in here, how would you expect to free them? There’s no rust eroding these chains?”
Jareth hadn’t thought of that. The bars were thick iron, spaced close together and locked into stone. Escape would be difficult, if not impossible.
“I guess we don’t need to worry since they aren’t locked up.”
“No. They aren’t their father’s protégé.” He grinned but Jareth didn’t see the humor.
“Let’s find them.”
Jareth moved too quickly. When he turned the corner, white vaporous hands burst out of the walls. Jareth jumped back but there was nowhere to run. The Influencer caught him. Jareth groaned as its slinky white nails dug into his flesh. Sharp, piercing pain tore through his body as if its nails sent a poison through his veins. Stars flashed before his eyes and his mind faded.
“I knew there was an intruder here,” the largest of the two Influencers growled, gripping Jareth’s arms, and holding him upright while the other pushed his head against the wall and stared into his eyes. The Influencer’s eyes were dark marbles in even darker sockets. It barely had flesh on its bones, spoke in a raspy voice, and breathed foul air that smelled like rotten meat. Jareth retched at the stink.
“Let’s teach this one a lesson,” his partner suggested. “We haven’t had any fun for a while.” He yanked Jareth toward a dark hallway and nodded. “In there.”
“You’re forgetting something,” a third voice interrupted them, snatching their attention.
Chase held his arms out as if he wanted to embrace the two.
“The thief! There’s a bounty out for you!”
In their excitement to capture Chase, they released Jareth, and the mercenary ran. He looked over his shoulder once, panicking for his friend. But the Influencers had been stumped again and Chase had disappeared. With angry shouts they turned and charged at Jareth who stumbled and fell. Before the brutes could lay their hands on him, Evanora dashed between them. Her cloak disguised Jareth as the two raced down a dark channel.
The Influencer had lost their prey. They thrashed about in anger and then turned on each other, hounding one another while running in circles and then in the opposite direction. Their voices echoed as farther and farther away they sped.
Jareth fell on the ground panting. Adrenaline sped through his veins. Evanora stood over him and peered the way they had come.
“That was close,” she said. “Are you all right?”
Jareth felt his wounds and wiped his brow. “I think. Do they secrete poison?”
“No. They cannot kill, but they could certainly torture you and make you wish you were dead. Let’s move on.”
Jareth got his footing again and dusted his boots. Surprisingly, the wounds the Influencers had made had already healed, but the terror remained, and that fear settled in his gut like a stone, hurting more than any physical injury ever could.
“I hope my children aren’t frightened like that,” he said.
“How obedient are your children?” Evanora asked.
“They’re good. They do what they’re told.” Jareth balked at the look Evanora gave him, and then thought again.
“All parents say that don’t they? Think again.”
He didn’t like that Evanora contested his opinion of his children, but when he thought about his boy, he had to retract. “For the most part, they’re obedient,” he added. “Sometimes Crispin argues. And Kandace has a mind of her own. But there’s room for that. It’s all part of growing up.”
“Well, perhaps you understand, but the people running this campaign are not so tolerant. They aren’t particularly fond of children either other than using them for their gain. They’ll want obedience with no questions asked, and no arguing. So, if you wonder whether they will be frightened, there’s your answer.”
Evanora took a torch from the wall and lit the way into another room, holding the light over large steamer trunks stacked against the cave. They’d been rummaged through, and items lay strewn on the ground.
“It seems some children were here recently. Whether they were yours or not, I cannot say.” She picked a doll off the floor and tossed it into one of the open chests. A faint squeal came from it as it flopped onto a pile of toys. Jareth’s eyes widened and he leaned over in time to see the puppet blink.
“They’re alive? These toys?”
“They absorb magic left in the atmosphere, probably from that attack.”
A rattle at his feet startled him. A snake made of wood, its parts hinged like skeletal bones slithered through the room, waking other playthings. Whirligigs began to spin, baubles bounced from the trunks they’d been sleeping in, and figurines danced about the ground. What startled Jareth the most though was a flying projectile that zoomed in the air from nowhere, spinning and hovering over them, it’s crystal chambers glimmered from the firelight.
“A landoline,” Evanora said and caught it. “A favorite child’s toy. When it travels it captures the images of things it passes, and often will follow them if they’re moving. It is especially sensitive to humans.”
She smiled and held the landoline in the palm of her hand. Jareth peered into the mirrors and blinked. He turned it around slowly, awed by the prisms that reflected the chamber they were in—the snake that had glided by their feet, a doll. As Jareth rotated it to see more, his heart stilled.
“What do you see?” she asked as Jareth leaned in for a closer look.
“I see...a boy. Two boys.” He looked up at Evanora. “I see my son.”
Evanora grabbed it out of his hands and tossed the landoline into the air. They watched it spin and hover over them as if deciding which way to go, and then, like a bee headed for its honeycomb, it sped into a tunnel. Jareth and Evanora ran after it, its light beaming down, illuminating the way.