Jim Henson - Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: The Novelization

LABYRINTH

THE NOVELIZATION

Published by

ARCHAIA TM

LABYRINTH

THE NOVELIZATION

Based on the Jim Henson film

Adapted by

A. C. H. SMITH

Illustrations by

BRIAN FROUD

Labyrinth is based on the movie produced by Jim Henson, George Lucas, and Eric Rattray, directed by Jim Henson, with George Lucas as Executive Producer, David Lazer as Executive Supervising Producer, screenplay by Terry Jones, and conceptual design by Brian Froud. The screenplay by Terry Jones is based on the story by Jim Henson and Dennis Lee. With a special thanks to Laura Phillips.

Type Layout by Scott Newman

Cover Design by Faceout Studio

Additional Design by Emi Yonemura Brown

The Jim Henson Company Archivist, Karen Falk

Assistant Editor, Archaia Edition, Cameron Chittock

Editors, Archaia Edition, Stephen Christy & Rebecca Taylor

ROSS RICHIE CEO & Founder JACK CUMMINS President MARK SMYLIE Founder of Archaia MATT GAGNON Editor-in-Chief FILIP SABLIK VP of Publishing & Marketing STEPHEN CHRISTY VP of Development LANCE KREITER VP of Licensing & Merchandising PHIL BARBARO VP of Finance BRYCE CARLSON Managing Editor MEL CAYLO Marketing Manager SCOTT NEWMAN Production Design Manager IRENE BRADISH Operations Manager DAFNA PLEBAN Editor SHANNON WATTERS Editor ERIC HARBURN Editor REBECCA TAYLOR Editor IAN BRILL Editor CHRIS ROSA Assistant Editor ALEX GALER Assistant Editor WHITNEY LEOPARD Assistant Editor JASMINE AMIRI Assistant Editor CAMERON CHITTOCK Assistant Editor HANNAH NANCE PARTLOW Production Designer KELSEY DIETERICH Production Designer EMI YONEMURA BROWN Production Designer DEVIN FUNCHES E-Commerce & Inventory Coordinator ANDY LIEGL Event Coordinator BRIANNA HART Executive Assistant AARON Ferrara Operations Assistant JOS MEZA Sales Assistant ELIZABETH LOUGHRIDGE Accounting Assistant

Special Thanks to Brian Henson, Lisa Henson, Jim Formanek, Nicole Goldman, Maryanne Pittman, Melissa Segal, Carla Dellavedova, Justin Hilden, Jill Peterson, Karen Falk, Ashley Griffis, and the entire Jim Henson Company team, Forrest Lighthart, Charles Brock, Torrey Sharp, Kelly Vlach, and the entire Faceout Studio team.

LABYRINTH: THE NOVELIZATION, April 2014. Published by Archaia, a division of Boom Entertainment, Inc. LABYRINTH 2014 The Jim Henson Company. JIM HENSONS mark and logo, LABYRINTH mark & logo, characters and elements are trademarks of The Jim Henson Company. All Rights Reserved. Archaia and the Archaia logo are trademarks of Boom Entertainment, Inc., registered in various countries and categories. All characters, events, and institutions depicted herein are fictional. Any similarity between any of the names, characters, persons, events, and/or institutions in this publication to actual names, characters, and persons, whether living or dead, events, and/or institutions is unintended and purely coincidental.

BOOM! Studios, 5670 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 450, Los Angeles, CA 90036-5679.

ISBN: 978-1-60886-416-4, eISBN: 978-1-61398-270-9

CONTENTS

LABYRINTH TM

THE NOVELIZATION

THE WHITE OWL

Nobody saw the owl, white in the moonlight, black against the stars, nobody heard him as he glided over on silent wings of velvet. The owl saw and heard everything.

He settled in a tree, his claws hooked on a branch, and he stared at the girl in the glade below. The wind moaned, rocking the branch, scudding low clouds across the evening sky. It lifted the hair of the girl. The owl was watching her, with his round, dark eyes.

The girl moved slowly from the trees toward the middle of the glade, where a pool glimmered. She was concentrating. Each deliberate step took her nearer to her purpose. Her hands were open, and held slightly in front of her. The wind sighed again in the trees. It blew her cloak tightly against her slender figure, and rustled her hair around her wide-eyed face. Her lips were parted.

Give me the child, Sarah said, in a voice that was low, but firm with the courage her quest needed. She halted, her hands still held out. Give me the child, she repeated. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City, to take back the child you have stolen. She bit her lip and continued, For my will is as strong as yours... and my kingdom as great....

She closed her eyes tightly. Thunder rumbled. The owl blinked, once.

My will is as strong as yours. Sarah spoke with even more intensity now. And my kingdom as great... She frowned, and her shoulders dropped.

Oh damn, she muttered.

Reaching under her cloak, she brought out a book. Its title was The Labyrinth. Holding the book up before her, she read aloud from it. In the fading light, it was not easy to make out the words. You have no power over me....

She got no further. Another clap of thunder, nearer this time, made her jump. It also alarmed a big, shaggy sheepdog, who had not minded sitting by the pool and being admonished by Sarah, but who now decided that it was time to go home, and said so with several sharp barks.

Sarah held her cloak around her. It did not give her much warmth, being no more than an old curtain, cut down, and fastened at the neck by a glass brooch. She ignored Merlin, the sheepdog, while concentrating on learning the speech in the book. You have no power over me, she whispered. She closed her eyes again and repeated the phrase several times.

A clock above the little pavilion in the park chimed seven times and penetrated Sarahs concentration. She stared at Merlin. Oh, no, she said. I dont believe it. That was seven, wasnt it?

Merlin stood up and shook himself, sensing that some more interesting action was due. Sarah turned and ran. Merlin followed. The thunderclouds splattered them both with large drops of rain.

The owl had watched it all. When Sarah and Merlin left the park, he sat still on his branch, in no hurry to follow them. This was his time of day. He knew what he wanted. An owl is born with all his questions answered.

All the way down the street, which was lined on both sides with privet-hedged Victorian houses similar to her own, Sarah was muttering to herself, Its not fair, its not fair. The mutter had turned to a gasp by the time she came within sight of her home. Merlin, having bounded along with her on the shaggy paws, was wheezing, too. His mistress, who normally moved at a gentle, dreamy pace, had this odd habit of liking to sprint home from the park in the evening. Perhaps that owl had something to do with it. Merlin was not sure. He didnt like the owl, he knew that.

Its not fair. Sarah was close to sobbing. The world at large was not fair, hardly ever, but in particular her stepmother was ruthlessly not fair to her. There she stood now, in the front doorway of the house, all dressed up in that frightful, dark blue evening gown of hers, the fur coat left open to reveal the low cut of the neckline, the awful necklace vulgarly winking above her freckled breast, andwouldnt you know?she was looking at her watch. Not just looking at it but staring at it, to make good and sure that Sarah would feel guilty before she was accused, again.