Full summary:After she left the Underground, Sarah's life became a whirlwind of vivid dreams and so-called hallucinations, and she swore she would never return-or speak the name of The Goblin King if she could help it. But when a horrible accident threatens to tear apart the whole fragile balance Sarah created for herself, she is forced to relive buried memories and seek the help of the one she was running from, Jareth, the Goblin King.
A hunk of twisted metal. The salty twinge of tears. The detached sounds of sobbing, pleading. The bitter taste of blood. The dreaded, heavy silence that pervaded the passenger seat.
It wasn't supposed to happen. Horrible things like this didn't actually occur; they were only Hollywood sob stories, horror tales to warn stupid, headstrong girls. And that's what it all was at first-a scary story-the two oncoming orbs of bright white were just glaring spotlights, the horrifying splinter was just a soundboard, the tears were just eye drops, the crimson splotches just paint.
But then who was the boy, who was the actor next to her, portraying Toby in the throes of death? His face was smashed up against the airbag, a halo of indigo surfacing around his beautiful blue eyes. His eyes were fluttering in a half-lidded gaze as tacky red liquid seeped into his fair eyebrows. His hair was tousled, his arm at an odd angle. And with a sharp jab in her heart, she realized it was all real.
As her jade green eyes focused, everything was too clear. Too sharp. Too clinical, too cold. There were no tears trying to slide down her cheeks, her mouth was too dry. She swallowed.
They were too far away- the sirens. She knew they were trying to help, but she also knew they couldn't. They didn't reallycare. They didn't know Toby. They weren't coming fast enough. And then there was the slamming of a door. She turned her head slightly, her lazy gaze traveling up the trampled hill back up to the road. There was a man in a baseball cap and a stained flannel approaching her mangled Honda, which lay smashed and crumpled at the foot of a ditch. With a start she realized that this was the man that had hit them. He had caused all of this to happen. But he didn't care either. Not enough to stop in time, not enough to put snow chains on his big, slippery tires. And because of him, Toby was beaten and bleeding, breathing far too faintly for her comfort. She whispered her brother's name, her voice sounding like bone-dry leaves rattling across an autumn street. He didn't answer.
And then she knew. The sirens were too far, this man was too far, she was too weak-but there was one person who wasn't. There was only one person who existed in any world that could save Toby right then. So with a moaning sigh, Sarah said again the words that had changed her life forever.
"I wish the goblins would take you away. Right now."
