Sarah knew that she shouldn't have done it. She shouldn't have bought it.
But Toby was being such a brat, and both of her parents were so busy trying to appease him, that she was once again being ignored.
When she saw the crystal ball in the stall at the fair.
The masked shopkeeper had waved the clear orb in front of her as she walked through the grounds.
Once the orb had passed from her face, she expected to see the Goblin King, standing before her in all of his glory. The girl would never admit to the disappointment she felt when the shopkeeper was shorter than Jareth, shorter than herself even.,
The boy, for he must have been a high schooler like most of the other shopkeepers at the fair, had short curly dark hair. He chuckled once he had her attention, the sound nearly like a cough. "Like what you see?" He asked her, tossing the ball in the air.
Her memory resurfaced, of how the Goblin King had slid the ball over his arms, as though it was drawn to him like a magnet. The same way she had been drawn to him.
She was not, however, drawn to this child in his baggy jeans and t-shirt.
"If you look into the crystal," He continued speaking, "you can see your wildest dreams."
Her eyes slipped into the Crystal, but she didn't see anything.
"Sarah?" Her mother called from a few stalls away.
"Coming." She called back.
As she stepped away, the boy waved the ball in front of her again. "Come now, Sarah. Your wildest dreams, isn't that what you want?"
She paused, looking at the crystal again. She would have sworn for a moment that she could hear goblins laughter bouncing off of stone walls. "Yeah, wildest dreams." She scoffed.
"Sarah!"
"In a minute!" She reached into the pocket of her jeans and handed the kid $20.
The boy reached around the table and pulled out a velvet bag, dropping the crystal inside.
Sarah glanced up into the shop, noticing briefly that there were no more crystal balls on display.
The kid slipped that into a small paper bag with handles. "Here you go, Sarah."
"Thanks." She took the bag and took of to go find her parents.
She caught up with her parents as the concession where Toby was demanding funnel cake, and fries, and cotton candy, and soda.
"Would you like anything, dear?" Her father asked.
"Just cotton candy." She answered.
Her father passed her a fluffy cloud while he took cash out of his wallet.