Chapter 1
"I wish the Goblin King would come take me away right now."
A rush of glitter, strong and strange winds, and an unsettling, mind numbing transportation later Sarah Williams was remembering why she had tried to put into practice thinking before speaking years ago. When it was all over, she felt herself no longer surrounded by warmth and soft plushy carpet. Instead, she was kneeling on hard, cold stone and it felt like the air was leeching something from her. Opening her tightly shut eyes, she was greeted with the unfortunate sight of grey granite, a black stone and white bone throne, and a lithe, darkly clad figure of a lounging Goblin King.
She instantly shut them again, tighter if possible.
'My my my." Each syllable was dragged out and hit her as though little pebbles were striking against her skin. "This is very unexpected but not at all unwelcome sight." Little sniggers could be heard all around as what could only be little goblins chortled at her misfortune, their king's remark, a mixture of both, and some out of pure instinct to laugh when the king said something.
"My dear Sarah, I do believe the last time we met you had learned the importance and power of words."
"The last time we met you were a conniving and evil bastard who stole my brother and tricked me into running your insane Labyrinth."
An instant hush fell over the room. She figured after the comment she just said, she should have the courage to at least open her eyes and face what was coming to her. Not surprisingly, the throne was completely empty now, devoid of any life except for her and the Goblin King. Whether the goblins had made themselves scarce or Jareth had done that for them she would never know. Speaking of Jareth, he did not look the least bit angry. In fact, he looked very delighted. Which just did not make sense. At all. He had leaned forward and was looking intensely into her eyes and searching her face. As he studied her, she studied him.
Jareth had not aged a single day it seemed. Four years and he looked exactly the same. No, she now noticed he had grown the shorter parts of his hair out and cut the longer sections so it looked more orderly and less chaotic. Somewhat. Although his hair may have become more controlled, his mismatched eyes were just as untamed and wild. They bored into hers, relentlessly staring her, making her aware that she was still dressed in the plaid brown and pink boy shorts and pink tank top she had worn in preparation for bed.
Sarah drew up her knees to her chest self consciously and wrapped her arms around her bare long legs. She was the unfortunate and unwitting picture of innocence in her dress and manner, down to the silver butterfly ankle bracelet and the way she held herself together, afraid she might lose a part of herself.
In a swift and startling move, Jareth was out of his chair and crouched in front of her, sitting on his heels so he was staring into her face even closer. This happened too fast for Sarah and she fell backwards landing on her back in half fright and mostly shock. She dropped with a squeak her arms still clutching her legs and she rolled like a potato bug in front of Jareth's feet. Now it was too much for Jareth and throwing his head back he let out his merriment in a mocking chortle, his laughter filling the throne room. Sarah scrambled to right herself and finally stood up for the first time and backed away several steps, away from the still crouching Goblin King.
He watched her with hooded eye and she fidgeted under his intense scrutiny.
"I-I, I think I should be going now."
He drew himself up to his full height in a leisurely fashion and stared down at her. "Oh my, precious Sarah." A full, smirking smile. "You're not going anywhere."