Chapter 1, In Which Sarah Discovers the Past is not Behind her and a Goblin King is Pleased

Fear me. Love me. Do as I say and I will be your slave.

Sarah jolted awake. She hadn't heard that voice in six years. Not since her brother and she had returned from the Underground. It was also the first time she had slept in this house for three years. She shook herself. What was she thinking? Jareth had been defeated and that was that. Her imagination was what made her an amazing writer but it sometimes acted up in real life.

There was a timid knock on the bedroom door and Toby poked his head in. "Can I sleep with you tonight Sarah? There are strange noises in my room."

Sarah smiled. "Sure Toby. Close the door behind you." The six, soon to be seven, year old did as he was told and scampered into bed. Sarah wrapped her arm around him. "The birthday boy shouldn't be scared."

"Sarah it's not my birthday till tomorrow. Until then I can be as scared as I want to be." Toby curled up on his side and began snoring. Sarah shook her head. Toby had loved sleeping with her since The Night six years ago. Sarah closed her eyes, smiled, and went to sleep.

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Tomorrow the boy turned seven, a magical number in the Underground. He could easily be taken from his home and the girl would follow, as she had last time. Unlike then she would not leave.

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Sarah hugged Karen and Robert. "Don't worry about Toby. I have been taking care of him since he was born after all. Just get him something really special."

"I feel like it isn't fare to make you watch after Toby on your vacation." Her father grimaced.

Sarah smiled. "I wonder what your basis for comparison is." She had developed a habit of using lines that Jareth had thrown at her during the nine hours in the Labyrinth. "I really will be fine."

"Alright sugar bear. We'll be back at four." Robert smiled and led Karen out to the car. Both had 'forgotten' to get a present for Toby just so that the siblings could have some alone time.

Sarah closed the door, making sure to latch it firmly. She walked up the stairs and peaked into Toby's room. He was hiding under the bed covers, or had an elaborately made pillow trap for his sister. Said sister snuck across the floor and yanked back the bedclothes. Toby wasn't under the covers, there wasn't even a pile of pillows. Instead there was a perfectly round crystal. She had seen this type of crystal before and the only place she had seen them was in the Goblin Kings hand or by his doing. It seemed to pulse with an inner glow that made her worry, it seemed almost to be taunting her. Against her better judgment she leaned forward and picked it up.

As soon as her hand touched the crystal the world shifted and shimmered until Sarah was looking at a whole new landscape. Beyond her was a vast stone labyrinth with a castle in the middle that stood as a pinnacle of power.

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She had picked up the crystal and he was ecstatic. She was back in his realm after six years.

The sound of a scuffle broke through his reverie. Toby struggled against the chains that bound him to the wall. The boy's eyes were fixed on the crystal that held the image of Sarah walking down the hill.

"Why's my sister here and who are you?" The man braced a hand on the pillar above the protesting boy's head.

"I'm not surprised that you don't remember me. You were only a year old at the time. As to your questions, your sister is here because she has something that belongs to me, I want it, and she has a task to complete. You are here as bait. After I have what I want and my dear Sarah has completed her task then you'll be let go. As to who I an, just call me Jareth."