It was the middle of the day, but the house was still slightly dark due to the dark storm clouds outside. The gentle sound of rain hitting the roof filled the empty rooms.
Sarah was in the living room, slouched in front of the piano, experimentally testing a melody out in different keys, trying to recreate what she had heard on the radio. However, Sarah wasn't as focused on the notes as she normally was. Her mind was occupying thinking about her friends from her adventure two years ago.
She had taken up the piano just after returning home from the labyrinth. It helped her… not loose herself. It would be so easy to spend her entire life reading, obsessing and acting out stories, but Sarah wanted to remain in touch with what Karen called 'the real world'. Playing the piano helped with that. As a child she had taken lessons before her parents' divorce. Afterwards, she and her dad moved and they never bothered to find a new piano teacher. However, for her sixteenth birthday, her stepmother had bought a piano and found a piano teacher. It had been a little over a year and a half and Sarah had gotten pretty good.
To Sarah's right, the front door opened, revealing Karen and a three-year-old Toby. Karen was clutching an armful of groceries. Both wore disgruntled expressions.
"Hey," Sarah said, getting up from the piano bench, "Let me help you with those." She tried to walk up to her stepmother to take some of the grocery bags, but was interrupted.
"Sarah! Sarah!" Toby shouted as soon as he saw her. He ran up to her and clung to her legs. Sarah smiled down at her little brother. Gently untangling him from her feet, Sarah picked the little boy up, holding him up against her hip with one arm. With the other arm, she took the gallon of milk from Karen's hand.
"Thank you Sarah, as for you, Toby, its time out for you." Karen looked at Toby sternly. The three of them made their way to the kitchen.
"Trouble at the store?" asked Sarah as she put the milk in the fridge while Karen dumped the remaining groceries on the counter.
"Was there ever," she groaned, "he was grabbing things left and right, tearing them open and dumping them all over the aisles. He started crying when I'd try to put things back." Sarah grimaced as she looked at the toddler in her arms. His expression was one of perfect innocence.
"The piano sounded nice today, were you playing by ear or by sheet music?" Karen asked, changing topics.
"By ear, it's more fun that way," Sarah replied, smiling. Karen smiled back. Both of them had been enormously relieved at how drastically their relationship had improved over the past two years. The moment of reflection was interrupted by Toby tugging on Sarah's shirt saying,
"Sarah, I'm hungry." Sarah smiled.
"Alright, what do you want to eat, kiddo? Looks like we just got more cereal," Sarah said, pulling out the box from one of the grocery bags.
"Yeah! Yeah!" Toby shouted, his demeanor instantly changing from pouting to excited. Sarah helped Toby take off his rain jacket before setting him down in his high chair. Karen followed her with a bowl and spoon. On the table was Sarah's copy of the Labyrinth. She had been reading it earlier that day. Karen picked it up.
"Ah, your goblin book, it's been a while since I've seen you reading this, you used to read it nonstop," she commented. Sarah was saved a reply by Toby grabbing a handful of cereal and throwing it up in the air. Karen sighed, her patience with the small boy wearing thin.
"Sometimes I wish the goblins would take Toby away," Karen sighed. The comment was made perfectly innocently, but Sarah froze. Please don't say 'right now', please don't say 'right now,' Sarah thought desperately, but she was too petrified to prevent her stepmother from completing the magic words as Toby started to cry when Karen took the box of cereal out of his small hands.
"Right now for instance…." At Karen's words, Sarah closed her eyes, willing it not to happen. She opened them again when she heard a clap of thunder. All three of them looked outside of the kitchen window. The rain, which had previously been a gentle drizzle, started to pour down. The lights flickered and then went out. Toby started crying louder. Sarah came back to her senses. She picked her little brother up and held him close. His cries subsided a little. Another clap of thunder, and then Sarah heard it, the tapping on the window, just like last time.
"What's that sound?" Karen asked, seemingly to herself. The tapping was coming from the living room. Frowning, Karen went to investigate and Sarah reluctantly followed with Toby once again in her arms. It steadily grew darker as more clouds loomed outside. Karen tried turning the light switch on and off to no avail. The tapping started up again, more frequently. It was the barn owl. Before Sarah could warn her otherwise, Karen had opened the window to shoo the bird away. Instead of leaving the owl flew inside and in a flash lightning, there stood the Goblin King before Karen Toby, and Sarah.
"Well, well, well, this must be a wicked child, to be wished away twice…" Wind blew in from the window, making his dark, high collared cape billow threateningly. Karen was the first one to come back to her senses.
"Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" She shouted at the tall figure. Sarah remembered her own reaction to seeing the Goblin King for the first time. Having read the Labyrinth several times, she had immediately known who Jareth was. The person in question fixed Karen with a cold stare.
"Calm yourself women, I simply thought I should inform you and Sarah," he smirked at her as he said her name, "that as this is the second time young Toby has been wished away, there is no chance of getting him back." From the time her stepmother had opened the window, Sarah had felt as though her feet were frozen to the floor, now the sensation spread, and it was as though the very blood in her veins had turned to ice. Sarah buried her face in Toby's shirt as her stepmother continued to try to understand what was going on.
"Wished away? What do you mean…." Karen trailed off and then a look of horror appeared on her face, "You mean I… and the goblins… they're real?" For a second she was completely silent, but then the rational part of her mind appeared to refuse the idea of goblins and wised away children and she repeated her first question, "Who are you?"
"You mean to tell me Sarah hasn't told you about me?" The Goblin King's tone held no surprise, but Karen turned to look at her stepdaughter.
"Sarah? What's he talking about?" Karen asked, her voice filled with worry.
As Sarah replied her tone was devoid of emotion. "Two years ago I made a wish, just like you did a second ago, and the goblins came and took Toby. I may have been selfish and spoiled but I still didn't mean it. I… I solved the labyrinth to get Toby back, just like in the book and I thought… I thought that would be the end of it… I tried to change… I was careful what I said from then on…" Emotion crept back into Sarah's voice and she choked back a sob, holding her little brother as tight as she could. Toby started whimpering. Jareth smirked at Sarah. Karen looked from Sarah to Jareth, and her gaze finally rested on her son.
"And we can't solve the labyrinth again, to get Toby?" Karen asked desperately. The Goblin King looked at her with disinterest, instead moving toward Sarah, who was holding Toby.
"I'm afraid Toby is mine forever. If you would Sarah?" He put his hands under Toby's arms and tried to lift him out of Sarah's grasp.
"Wait," Sarah said, pulling Toby back. The King stopped. Sarah bit her lip. "Would you consider taking me instead?" she asked. Jareth's eyebrows rose.
"Are you offering?" He asked quietly, his mismatched eyes running up and down her.
"No!" Karen shouted, just before Sarah calmly replied,
"Yes." The Goblin King smiled a triumphant smile and he regarded her for a long moment before he spoke again.
"Done."
"No!" Karen repeated. "She's underage, I forbid it! Sarah, what are you doing, think you your father, and-" Karen tried to continue, but Jareth interrupted her.
"It's too late I'm afraid, as for her father and all her other acquaintances, they will forget about her the moment she returns to the underground with me," Jareth explained smugly, "All traces of her will be removed." At this, all eyes turned to the seventeen-year-old. Sarah looked her stepmother squarely in the eye.
"I've done too much to protect Toby to let him be stuck in the labyrinth now… besides, you, dad, and Toby will be just fine, happy, you won't know anything is different…" She trailed off. Tears streamed down Karen's face as Sarah handed Toby to her.
"I'm so sorry Sarah…" Karen sobbed. Jareth looked at the crying woman with distaste before turning back to Sarah.
"Shall we, my dear?" He asked, holding his arm out to her. Sarah bit her lip.
"Wait," Karen said, "Please don't make me forget her. Let her friends forget, and her father… but please let me remember her," she pleaded.
Jareth frowned, but then said, "Very well." The next thing Sarah knew, Jareth had taken her arm and they had disappeared in a shower of sparkles.
They appeared in the throne room. It was empty, save for several chicken feathers. Sarah immediately stepped away from the Goblin King only to find him watching her. Refusing to be unsettled, Sarah watched him right back. Several moments passed. Finally she grew impatient.
"Well?" Sarah asked.
"Well what?" Jareth replied. His face was entirely blank.
"Aren't you going to get on with it?" Sarah was annoyed at how obtuse he was being.
"And what, pray tell, do you expect me to 'get on with?'" he asked, a crooked smile playing about the corners of his mouth.
"Aren't you going to turn me into a goblin?" clarified Sarah, just wanting the whole ordeal to be over and done with. At Sarah's words, the Goblin King almost looked horrified.
"Turn you into a goblin?" He took a step toward Sarah, she took a step back. "No, precious, you're far too pretty to turn into a goblin." His voice got softer as he continued coming closer and she continued backing away.
"Stop that!" she said when he had her cornered against a wall. The stones were cold against her back. The Goblin King smirked.
"Stop what, precious?"
"Just get away from me." She pushed past him only to have Jareth catch her wrist and pull her back. "Why did you even bring me here if you weren't going to turn me into a goblin?" She asked, trying in vain to wrench her hand free.
"To make you my queen," Jareth answered softly, once again trapping her against the wall.
"Wh-What?" Sarah's face drained of all colour.
"I told you, I brought you here," His face drew closer to hers as he spoke, "in order," she could feel his breath against her skin, "to marry you," he finished saying just before covering her lips with his. For a moment Sarah went completely numb. He wanted to marry her? Finally she registered his lips moving against hers. She pushed him away.
"No! Hell no!" That was not part of our agreement!" Sarah tried to keep her voice steady and strong, but the dread pooling in the pit of her stomach made her feel weak. Jareth allowed himself to be shoved away and watched her in amusement.
"And what was our agreement, precious?"
"That… That I take Toby's place," Sarah stuttered, "That instead of turning him into a goblin, you turn me into one…" She trailed off. Now that she thought about it, the 'agreement' had been horrendously lacking in details.
"Well Sarah, I heard you offer to come to the underground if I let Toby stay, I don't recall saying anything about turning anyone into a goblin. In fact, the only detail I remember is the one where you agreed to stay here forever." Jareth smirked. Sarah spluttered.
"But… I… You can't… I mean, I refuse," Sarah finally got out the words out. Jareth raised one of his eyebrows.
"You refuse?" He asked silkily.
"Yes, I refuse; I won't consent, agree, or allow myself in any way shape or form to be married to you." Sarah jutted her chin out in defiance. Jareth's eyes narrowed.
"Whatever made you think I need your consent?" He grinned evilly. "You see, my dear, we are no longer aboveground. The laws are different; the wedding vows are different. The only people who need consent are the groom and the bride's guardian." Sarah opened her mouth to say her parents would never agree, but Jareth interrupted.
"And as a wished away child, your guardianship falls to me." His smile, Sarah thought, was utterly predatory.
"You sick bastard!" At Sarah's outcry, Jareth smirked and leaned down to kiss her again, but before he could, Sarah's foot collided with his knee. He was thrown off balance more by surprise than by the force of Sarah's kick. By the time he had straightened up again, Sarah had taken off.
Sarah darted out of the throne room as fast as humanly possible. She avoided going into the Esher room, and instead opted to take as many turns as possible. Left. Right. Right. Up a staircase. Left. She ran down a long corridor with identical closed doors on either side of her. She frowned and then stopped. Complete silence. Her heart pounded and she was gasping for breath. Feeling extremely exposed, just standing in the hallway, Sarah reached out, opened a door at random, and stepped into what appeared to be a guest bedroom.
Closing the door behind her, Sarah leaned against the dark wood, letting her heart rate go down. The room was light and airy, with tapestries covering two of the four walls and a large window. A large window that was open. Sarah immediately rushed to look outside. From the second story view, she could see that the only things between her and the goblin city were a narrow rose garden, a medium sized courtyard, and a low stone wall. And of course the fifteen foot drop. Jareth was much more likely to find her if she stayed in the castle, Sarah decided. The best possible plan was to put as much distance as possible between them.