She had been having the dream again. The same dream that came to her at least once a month. The one featuring that moment when she had faced Jareth, the Goblin King, in his own palace. The words that had been spoken. Those terrible, wonderful words.
"Just let me rule you, and I will be your slave." That was what he had said.
"You have no power over me," she had realised, recalling that it was the final line from her book.
Now, having had the time to re-live, and re-consider, the same dream on an almost regular basis for five years, Sarah realised a few other hidden meanings to the words Jareth had spoken to her that night.
He had offered to be her slave at that point. He wasn't before, and he had not become since. Just as he had no power over her, so she had none over him. He had done everything that night, every single thing, that she had expected of him. Not exactly what she had wanted, but certainly what she had expected, and all because he had wanted her.
Now she wondered if she had hurt him, when she said those words, the words that had destroyed his castle around her, the words that had brought her, and her brother, home to boring old Aboveground once more.
Well, at least she knew that Toby had no memory of his time in the Goblin palace. If he had, he wouldn't grumble so much when, at bed time, she suggested reading him a fairy story. Stories about cars and trucks, that's what he wanted.
She supposed it wasn't too bad for her either really, since she got to see Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Diddymus any time she wanted. Right now though, she was searching for an apartment, or a small house she could rent. It was time she moved out of the house her father, step-mother, and half-brother called home. She was sitting on her bed, legs crossed as she searched the real estate paper and the 'for rent' section of the classifieds with a pen in her hand, when a tapping sounded gently through her room. A tapping, not a knocking, but a tapping, on glass.
Sarah looked immediately over to her mirror. It was possible one of her friends had come to see her, and were trying to get her attention. The mirror only showed her own room though, and the tapping sounded again. Movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned further to look out her window. It was a barn owl, a perfectly white barn owl, tapping on the glass with its beak and staring at her.
Sarah got up from her bed and, feeling as though she were dreaming, went over to open the window and let the bird in. It hopped down from her windowsill into her room, and when its clawed feet touched the floor, the bird stretched up until it was Jareth standing before her.
She'd had plenty of time to think about Jareth and the way they had treated each other the last time they had met, and this time she was determined that she would handle things better.
"Hello," she said, looking up at him. She had gotten taller since their last encounter, but not quite as tall as the Goblin King. "How've you been?" Sarah honestly wasn't sure if she expected him to answer her or just stare at her, but she guessed from his expression that he hadn't been expecting her to say that.
"Bored," he said at last.
"Oh," Sarah said, chewing on her lower lip. "I'm sorry to hear that. Uh, would you like to sit?"
"Thank you," the vague bewilderment was still creased across Jareth's forehead, almost hidden by his glorious crown of golden hair. "I've been keeping an eye on you," he admitted tentatively, hoping she wouldn't be upset with him about it. "You're planning on moving away."
"I don't think I could stand Karen for much longer," Sarah answered. "And just me? You don't have your eye on Toby at all?"
"I think there's a goblin assigned to keeping him out of serious trouble, but I have only been watching you," Jareth confirmed.
They sat in silence for a while, Sarah trying to think of something to say, Jareth trying to remember what it was he had come here to say. It was Sarah who found something within her first.
"I've been thinking about it, you know," she said, breaking the silence and capturing Jareth's attention. "At the time, I didn't really understand what you were saying, what you were asking me. I was a stubborn and naïve teenager who was angry because you had taken something seriously that I hadn't really meant."
Jareth felt his cold heart thumping fit to break itself within his chest.
"And now?" he asked, hesitantly.
"Do you still want to marry me?" she asked, smiling lopsidedly at him as she wrapped one of her hands around his.