Count this tale as disclaimed.
Rated T
Genre: Romance/Fantasy
Author's Note: This is a one shot for now; it's just a little story of how Sarah came by that fateful book that changes her forever. I apologise for the ill placed humour, but it's all good, right? It is all in the spirit of the season, right? Anyway, I had fun writing it and I hope you have fun reading it. I tried a different technique in writing this and incorporated a number of PoVs. I think it worked but mine is not the final say. Anyway…. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving. Gobble gobble :)

Magic is a Funny Thing

'Magic is a funny thing', my father used to say.
When he told the goblins, 'come out and play'

He used to tuck me in at night, and tell me I'm the best
But then he got remarried and history is all the rest.

Sarah watched through the window as her father and stepmother left in the family station wagon. They were going out now that it was the weekend and she once more had to watch the baby. She bit her lip as a wail started up from the nursery. The baby was teething and it was getting tiresome. She sighed, pushed herself away from the windowsill, and did not looked up in the bough of one of the many oaks surrounding her home. She missed the sight of golden feathers of the barn owl staring into the lit window her bedroom. Her curtain fluttered as the window slowly and silently opened all the way, allowing the owl to swoop in just as she left and entered the nursery.

Sarah stooped and scooped up her baby brother, bouncing and cooing to him in a slim hope that he would be silenced once more. Toby cried, his cheeks wet with tears and drool and he gnawed on his hand. Teething hurt but at age one, it was only a matter of time until he would have a full smile of pearly whites and more chances to bite his older sister. She poked him and pinched him and it was only fair that he be given the chance to bite her, if only once…

A shadow moved silently just outside the door and a smirk cracked the mischievous face. He faded back into the girl's bedroom, digging through the drawers of her vanity. He looked into her mirror with a glance and froze, flicking a piece of flyaway hair back into its place in the disordered array. He wore a leather vest over his silk, pale grey shirt with breeches that moulded to his calves and thighs. His boots, stopping at mid calf, were made from thick hide of a six legged cow. He cocked an eye brow and smirked at his outfit before evaluating the smirk itself.

A change in atmosphere made the king cease in his inspection and listen to the change. It took the coming footsteps to alert him to the fact that the baby stopped crying. He dropped his package on the bed and changed from man to owl and flew out the window. He watched from his place on the branch as Sarah entered. She sat at her vanity and picked up her brush, staring at the pictures suck in the frame. She ran her brush through her hair, twisting and combing as she watched her movements in the mirror. Once again, she didn't notice the unblinking yellow eyes following her.

Inwardly, the king grinned. She paid the adequate attention to herself required for the one he sought. Sarah placed the brush on the tabletop and picked up a black and silver tube. She pulled the cap off and twisted the bottom until a well used red glossy stick came into view. She carefully applied the smudge to her lips and then blotted, pursing her lips and examining them. She smiled and winked to herself before standing and flinging open her closet door. Jareth hooted quietly as he surveyed her closet. It was covered in costume and dress from quite a few different backgrounds. He saw floor length gowns and short spicy salsa costumes. Those were explained by the worn pair of skates hanging from the door. Figure skating.

Sarah leaned back on one leg and looked thoughtfully at the clothing hanging from the rack. She tested one dress with her hand, feeling the material between her fingers. The tool of the skirt felt gritty and she winced, shaking her head. The next dress felt like satin and it flowed over her hands. She once more shook her head. She paused and bent down, digging through a box at the bottom of her closet until she came up with an off white, Avonlea style dress with lace and high collar and tapered wrists. She drew it out, the soft flow not smooth like satin or gritty like tool. In Sarah's frame of mind, it was perfect. She removed her black pull over and slipped the dress over her tee shirt. She fastened the zipper and ties and swished her way over to the vanity she sat and applied rouge to her cheeks and bobby pins to her hair.

"Hello," she breathed, her eyes locked on the mirror, her voice dropping an octave. "Would you grace me with a dance?" She placed one hand over her heart and sighed, "I would be honoured, kind sir." Her voice changed to a high soprano, higher then it normally was.

Jareth ruffled his feathers and shuffled nearer to the window, wishing he could be the one she imagined, but he was trapped, unable to approach until she called. Sarah rose up out of her chair and formed a lopsided circle with her arms. She began to perform one side of the very traditional box step. Her eyes were closed and her head tossed back, her reddened lips begging for a kiss. Jareth sighed and flew through her window once more, shifting into a man just as her back was turned. On her way around the room, he slipped into her arms and danced; his touch feather light and gently guiding her.

They danced; spinning and waltzing around the limited space. In Sarah's mind, she danced with a king around an immaculate ballroom, mirror's hanging in round curves on the walls and others, noblemen all finely dressed and smiling. Her king, he didn't have a face but then again, she couldn't dream up her perfect man. Would he be like a Harrison or a Matt? She couldn't think it but what did it matter. He knew how to dance and was currently spinning her through the vast crowd which parted with ease to accommodate the honoured couple. In her mind, she wore a beautiful white dress with coiled jewels in her hair. The ball was a celebration for something… her return! That was it. The ball was a celebration of her return and her acceptance of the king's proposal. It was an engagement ball. Sarah smiled and tilted her head back as she pictured it clearly in her mind. She continued to dance with her invisible lover.

Jareth watched, enthralled, as her pleasure and enjoyment flashed across her face. Her eyes were closed as they had been since she began dancing. She was envisioning a very real scenario and Jareth watched as she danced in a ball room filled with smiling people on the arm of a man cloaked in mystery. Very easily, he could have placed his own image within that shadowy form but he didn't, adhering to the laws that govern him. She must call him only once and then he was free to make his presence known.

Sarah leaned closer, pursing her lips slightly as if to kiss her phantom partner but she jerked back suddenly, even before Jareth had to decide if he should kiss or run. She opened her eyes, looking at Jareth but through him at the same time as if he weren't there. To her eyes, he couldn't be seen or felt except for feathery touches which were passed off by the mind as imagined. She looked out the window to see her father and stepmother drive up the driveway. Sarah shook her head suddenly and turned back, facing where she thought her dancer would have stood.

She curtsied. "Thank you for the dance, kind sir." She whispered, not wanting to be heard by the laughing couple just entering the house. "I had a wonderful time."

Jareth couldn't resist. He came up from behind her and leaned into her ear. "You're welcome," he breathed, placing a kiss on her cheek before transforming quickly and winging out the window. Sarah spun around, her hand pressed to her cheek and her wide, innocent eyes. Jareth the owl flew past the tree limb he had sat before and up to the moon, flying over houses and lamp lit streets for a time before winking out of existence in one realm and into one with more substance. The first thing he did when he returned to his kingdom was create a ballroom, one of crystal mirrors and chandeliers.

Sarah stood, staring at her window far longer then she normally would. She was still there when a knock came from the other side of the door.

"What?" she asked dazed. She was still pressing her hand to her cheek and feeling the lips that had touched her briefly.

"We're home now Sarah," her father called to her.

"Did you have a nice night?" She asked her mind still far away.

"We dined and danced." Her father laughed shook his head, gingerly turning his ankle. "My two left feet nearly killed me this time. I'm out of practice. How was your night?"

Sarah blinked herself back to the present and bit her lip. "I danced too, dad."

"Oh? And who was it with this time?" Robert stared hard through the door, wishing she would open it up and they share the closeness they once had as daughter and father. That time had passed, however and Sarah was chin deep in her fantasy, closing her heart to anything that was real.

"It was a king, daddy. A king with a castle made just for me."

"And what did this king look like?"

Sarah smiled. "I don't know but I know what he sounds like." The simple you're welcome resonated in her mind. "Well, I'm going to bed now. Good night, daddy."

Robert stood outside the closed door and waited until the light was switched off before returning to his room. Their relationship used to be so easy but now… now it was different. She was a young woman in need of guidance but she wouldn't accept Karen. The past three years had been hard and Sarah wasn't interested in anything that had to do with Karen until Toby came along. She would babysit and play with him but nothing too over the top. She wouldn't even let the baby into the heart that she fenced off from the world.

Sarah lied awake in bed, her cheek still tingling. She rolled on her side, stuffed one hand under the pillow and the other hand under her cheek, cupping the kissed flesh before closing her eyes and entering the ballroom with ease. She lazily watched the other couples twirling around each other and she watched, sitting on a soft fluffy cushion leaning against a hard, lean body. If she paid more attention, she would have noticed that this phantom had a bit more substance and a wisp of blond hair.

Her fantasy was interrupted when she shifted and something fell off the bed with a muffled thump. She flicked on her lamp and frowned, searching her clean floor. There was a small rectangle parcel wrapped in brown paper and secured with twine. She leaned over and picked it up, turning it in her hands. Where did it come from? She asked herself. She just shrugged and pulled the twine apart and letting the brown paper fall to her lap. A red book was revealed with shimmery gold lettering.

The Labyrinth

Sarah frowned and whispered that word out loud before shrugging and yawning. It was too late now; she would look at it in the morning. She placed the small book and wrappings on her night side table and turned the lamp back off. Getting comfortable, she drifted from fantasy into dreamland with ease, exploring a twisting and turning ballroom that was suddenly turned into a maze of epic proportions.

Jareth looked at the designs for the ball room when suddenly a voice filled the room with a single word. Labyrinth, it echoed and Jareth grinned. She opened the gift and all he had to do now was to wait for her call.