Chapter II. Connections

Feels like I'm falling, into a world
Into a world I can't control
I hear it calling
Down in my soul
Gripping my bones
It won't let go

Ruelle. Bad Dream

Sarah was standing by the door and looking frantically around her apartment. She already tried to leave twice, but each time had to run back: the first time for the coffee mug, and then – for the car keys. The worst part was that she had to jog the stairs back from a garage and now was breathless and definitely late. The week which started bad was going to end even worth.

"Ah, my card!" she grabbed a white plastic card from a bowl and dashed out with a loud bang from the closing doors. "Add a few disgruntled neighbors to the equation," she thought without any humor while trying not to lose any of her stuff and jump two stairs at a time.

This week was awful. Her application for research project funding was rejected by the board of her institute on Monday, she was stood up by her date on Tuesday, and her mother suddenly decided to visit Boston on the way from New York. Sarah was stressed and angry and all she wanted to do was to crawl back to bed and sleep for 24 hours. Or even better, binge-watch Netflix. But now she was late for the appeal hearing of her project and that was obviously a poor tactic if you still want to get funding.

Actually, it seemed that everything was going not to a plan since she left a hospital. All kinds of problems, set-backs and obstacles started to appear without warning and were pushing her to the limits. To top it all off, she was sleep deprived, exhausted from now regular nightmares and only functioning because of the dangerous amounts of caffeine she was consuming every day. This was indeed an unfamiliar territory for Sarah, since normally she was not the one to lose her mind, temper or anything else for that matter. All her life Sarah was actively seeking challenges and problems, and accompanying stress and thrill. She was feeling infinitely alive and exited, when there was a problem to solve, a competition to win, or a glass ceiling to shatter. But this time the stress she was feeling was not good. She was used to winning and being in control of her life, and now she felt like losing.

The underground parking garage was pit black. Sarah tried to wave with her full hands, then jump, but lights were stubbornly not cooperating. Apparently motion sensors were down again though they were working just fine a minute ago. With a sigh, Sarah dropped her stuff on the ground and after a few attempts turned on a flashlight on her phone. It was a juggling exercise to move with full hands and not to lose the phone and that miserable light it was exuding.

Phone flashlights have this tendency to make every place look creepy, except maybe for the concert halls where people waving with their phones can create a magical view. Strange and distorted shadows formed by a flickering white light made the familiar parking garage suitable for a horror movie.

"That's stupid. What am I, five?" Sarah thought angrily when a feeling of uneasiness and mild fear started to squeeze her chest half-way to the car. She felt a sudden rush of adrenaline and turned around at the same time trying to figure out which was closer – the exit sign or her car. But unsteady flashlight revealed nothing, just ghostly shadows of parked cars and concrete columns. She cursed under her breath and put on pace.

Sarah was literally running before she scrambled up her car, dropped everything without looking somewhere on a passenger seat and pushed a lock button on the closed door.

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK IT!" the terror she felt while running to the car was overwhelming. It washed through her like an unstoppable wave, threatening to seize her and drag to the dark abys of the unlit spaces of the garage. The blackness was narrowing around her and taking hold of her throat, choking her and stifling a scream before it was able to come out of her lungs. The only thought she had was to run as fast as she could.

"Fuck…", Sarah exhaled looking at her trembling hands. "It's a panic attack all over again. I cannot be losing my shit for real", she thought trying to calm down her breath and heart rate. "Suck it up!" after a few moments Sarah mentally kicked herself and pushed start button of her car when suddenly all lamps in the garage went on.

"Oh, come on, you've got to be kidding me!" Everything looked perfectly normal under the warm lighting except for the fact that there was nobody to activate motion sensors.

Still, if by any chance there had been someone witnessing this scene, most likely they would have been frightened to death by it. They would have seen a woman chased by darkness – by fast moving, almost tangible shadows, narrowing and threatening to engulf everything in their path. They also would have been surprised by her naïve hope to find refuge in the car, which was swallowed by black shadow the moment she locked the door. And then they would have been surprised even more when barely visible silver halo appeared to emanate within the car and spread through the space chasing shadows away and activating lighting above the head.


Jareth jolted as if someone kicked him in the stomach with a full force. It was morning and sunlight was trying to squeeze through the heavy curtains inside his bedroom. Half-asleep and disoriented Goblin King rolled out of bed and decidedly non-regally flopped on the floor with his legs entangled in the sheets. It took him a few seconds to get free and prepare to fight. It took another three to realize that he was naked and there were no intruders in his room.

Then also without any reason a dull, pulling ache started to form inside his abdomen and crept up to his throat. Jareth instinctively looked in the mirror and checked his neck – there was nothing wrong with it. But the ache intensified and developed into a choking feeling, like something is lodged inside your throat and you might lose ability to breathe any time. He dashed towards the curtains, tore open the balcony door and leaned on the railings trying to fill his lungs with the fresh and cold morning air. Jareth took a few wheezing breaths before his throat was suddenly released without any effort from his side.

Jareth's mind was running as a herd of wild horses. "What for the sake of gods has just happened to me?" Slowly a word materialized inside his head.

"Sarah…", he whispered to himself still standing naked in the balcony and oblivious to gaping goblins below. Surprise, hope and terror shot through his face. For the first time in many years he felt a connection to Sarah, though fragile and unsteady, like a flickering candle light. The last time he was able to feel it was more than ten years ago, after she, still a teenager, defeated him in his own wicked game and then gradually and for the most part without realizing the real implications shut down all her links to the Underground. Sarah effectively built an impregnable wall around her own magic core, which she did not know she possessed.

Goblin King was defeated and even more, he lost his ability to enter her dreams, to know her desires and feel her presence anywhere in the Above or Underground. All his careful work, which was so successful with impressionable and easily manipulated teenager, was lost. He had to start all over again, but he did not know how. Yet.

The woman she became was strong, smart and rational. There was no place in her mind for magic - Sarah deleted her experience, and memories of the Underground became some old nightmares from the childhood she vaguely remembered. Goblin King could not find a path back to Sarah and had to resort to stalking her from a far just to know what she was up to. Her mind and her heart were terra incognita for him and Goblin King had no weapons against her. Everything was going not to his plan.

But now the situation had changed - he felt Sarah. It bothered him slightly that he had no idea, why did this happen – all his previous attempts to break through her walls were unsuccessful. He wasted many hours studying ancient scripts, seeking advice of wise men and women, but to no avail. All his attempts – for the most part, dangerous, opportunistic, and foolish attempts – were embarrassing and frustrating failures to make even a small crack in her defense system. And now she started to open up, but it was not his doing. "I'll deal with it later", he thought and let his mind wander to potentially more pleasant consequences of this new development. A plan started to form in his head.

Goblin King turned around and briskly walked back to his room and strait through the door without stopping to take care of his appearance. His strained and determined face made goblins brawling in the hallways to run from his path and quell any astonishment about the naked state of their Master. But he was not inclined to try the limits of goblins' ability to keep their mouth shut – halfway to the Throne Hall with the flick of the wrist and not losing his stride he covered himself in black armor and billowing cloak. And then all hell broke loose in his castle.

"War!"

"War!"

"Master go to war!"

"Death!"

"We be dead!"

"Please, Master!"

"No war!"

"War no good!"

Screeching and commotion stopped Jareth in front of the Throne Hall.

"War! War?!" he laughed. "I am not going to a war!"

"Your king is going on a date!" A predatory smile slowly twisted his mouth.

Jareth shut the door on bewildered goblins and concentrated on a crystal which appeared in his hand. Somewhere in his head a nagging voice was trying to break through to him. She is in danger. You know it, it was His doing. You almost choked to death, you fool! "Shut up," Jareth hissed. "I'll deal with it later".