CHAPTER 2

After reviewing her notes from her talk with Red Thomas, Jessie was feeling very depressed. There wasn't much to go on – just a guy with a strange first name (who Jessie had found no trace of) and a history of some rather odd storytelling on the missing woman's part – but nothing else.

There was a bit of relevant information on Sarah Williams-Thomas available to her. Sarah was very active in community theater, mainly due to the fact that her mother was a big-name actress. The dramatically inclined mother had left Sarah's father when Sarah was eleven, and although there were no signs that it was a highly traumatic experience for her, Jessie couldn't imagine it hadn't left a profound effect on the young girl, especially considering what Red had told her about Sarah's stories.

She also found advertisements for Sarah's story time at the local library, which was apparently quite popular. The ads were bright and colorful and warned that timeslots tended to fill up very fast for Sarah. Jessie had also discovered that Sarah had been invited to perform story hours for other libraries in the area; there were ads for those, too, in papers from other towns.

So it seemed the best place to start with gathering information on Sarah's possible whereabouts would be at the library, where Sarah's coworkers might have heard something that Red had not. When Jessie's lunch break rolled around, she set off at once.

The library was about a fifteen-minute drive from Jessie's office. It was a pretty large building, but the parking lot was practically deserted. Jessie frowned slightly at the empty parking lot and slipped out of her car, studying the large building with wary eyes. It had been a long time since she had entered a library; she didn't have much time for reading anymore.

The library was still and hushed when Jessie entered it, almost like a church. There was a wide opening foyer into the library, tastefully and elegantly decorated with a large wooden counter at its center. At the counter stood a librarian, eyes focused on his work. He didn't look the way Jessie had pictured a librarian would look. For one thing, he was male, and there was something distinctly unexpected about a male librarian. For another thing, his hair was long, blonde, and pulled back in a ponytail. He was dressed in dark dress pants with no suit coat and his white shirt was unbuttoned at its collar.

Jessie blinked in surprise at him, then chided herself for stereotyping. She approached the desk with a calm swagger and laid her hand on the flat oaken surface. "I'm looking for the children's library," she said, a bit arrogantly.

The man looked up from his work with an amused grin on his face. "You look too old for story time," he observed.

Jessie flashed her badge. "I'm looking for information, not a story," she said, her voice chilly.

He raised an eyebrow. "In the children's library?"

Jessie cast him a withering glare. "A coworker of yours has gone missing," she said. "I'm here to get some background on her and see what was happening here the day she disappeared."

Suddenly the man was all concern. "Sarah?" he asked, getting up from his chair. "Sarah Williams?"

"She's the one." Jessie put her badge away and asked, "How'd you know?"

"She didn't come in to work today," the man explained. "And she didn't call in. She's never done that before. She loves her story time."

"Are you close friends with her, then?" Jessie asked, grabbing her notepad and a pencil.

"Yeah," he said with a nod. "The name's Ian Harrigan. We've worked together for a while now. She's missing?"

Jessie nodded. "So we believe," she said. "Do have any idea where she could be?"

Ian shook his head. "If she's not home with the kids, I don't know where she'd be," he said. "Nothing's going on at the community theater, as far as I know, and that'd be the only other place she'd go."

"Did she come into work yesterday?" Jessie questioned.

"Yeah, she did her story time as usual," Ian said. "I heard it was a really amazing one, too. Everybody was talking about it. We were all looking forward to her next installment today."

Jessie frowned. "Do you know what the story was about?"

"Nope. Wasn't there," Ian said apologetically. "I was working up here. But the other children's librarians are downstairs. I imagine they're not too happy right now – people were complaining and whining like their four-year-olds when they left."

"When was the last time you saw Sarah?"

"One o'clock yesterday afternoon," Ian told her. "That's when she gets off work. I'm not sure what she does after that, but I think she stays home for the afternoon and paints or writes or something like that. She told me she likes to read poetry sometimes, but that she's terrible at writing it." He shrugged. "I don't know what else to tell you. She didn't mention that she was going anywhere special. In fact, we barely talked. She seemed kinda preoccupied, actually. She just said good-bye and walked out the doors."

Jessie jotted down a few notes, and as she did so, questioned, "Do you know anything about a guy named Jareth?"

Ian blinked, then threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, sure," he said with a wide smile. "Jareth's a nasty piece of work. The people in the children's library don't like him much."

Jessie looked startled, and Ian laughed again. "Go downstairs and ask them about him," he suggested with a mischievous grin, pointing in the direction of a large staircase leading upwards. "They'll tell you everything you want to know."

Jessie got the idea he was making fun of her. She shot him a dirty look, but followed the direction in which he had pointed and followed the massive staircase up to the second floor of the library.

The door was decorated with small children's drawings. Jessie wasn't entirely sure what the drawings were of, but they were certainly bizarre. Some of them were labeled with scribbled toddlers' handwriting – labels that were obviously just random collections of letters, since they said strange things like 'Hoggle' and 'Ludo.' They were sweet, and Jessie paused to study them briefly, a small smile playing on her face. The last time she'd even attempted to draw something had been when she was about ten. After that she'd just lost interest in drawing and other artistic stuff; it just lost its magic for her. Anyway, it wasn't a great loss to the world; as far as Jessie could remember, even at ten her drawings had looked just as muddled and horrible as those these preschoolers had drawn.

Shaking her head quickly to clear the aura of nostalgia from her mind, Jessie pushed open the doors at the top of the stairs and walked into the children's library.

It was an almost breathtakingly magical place. There were huge, handmade paper trees hanging everywhere, creating the illusion of a forest, and the carpet was lush green so that it looked like she was walking out of doors. The room was lighted primarily by an entirely glass roof, which showed what the sky outside was doing. It was extraordinarily sunny out that day, and the light shining through made the room feel like an actual forest. Amongst the false trees, shelves peeped out, labeled with elegant calligraphy and pictures of oddball creatures. There were stuffed animals of every kind sitting on the shelves, holding up chapter books and playing hide-and-seek amongst the picture books.

At the far end of the library, there was a clearing amongst the shelves and paper trees. Jessie traced a path through to this open space. It was a blue-carpeted area with a comfy chair at its head – presumably to be used for story time. The checkout desk was to the right of this set-up, its front also smothered in bad but cute drawings of everything from cars to flowers to Big Bird to the Little Mermaid. Jessie was just kneeling down to look at these pictures when a librarian emerged from amongst the shelves. She was probably in her forties; her hair was the color of steel, but it was cut and curled prettily to frame a face that looked remarkably young. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and didn't look particularly severe or old lady-like at all. Dear God, I have got to stop stereotyping these people,Jessie told herself severely.

"Can I help you?" the librarian asked, sounding both pleasant and disgruntled at the same time – a very impressive feat.

Jessie stood up, blushing in embarrassment. "Um, hi," she said, pushing a stray strand of blonde hair from her face and holding out her hand to shake. "I'm Jessie. I'm looking for some information on a coworker of yours – Sarah Thomas?"

"Oh, Sarah," the woman said, her face clouding. "If you're hoping to hear the next installment in her Labyrinth story, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. She's not here today."

"I realize that," Jessie said, removing her badge and holding it out to the woman. "Her husband has reported her missing. That's why I'm here."

The woman's eyes widened at the sight of the badge, and suddenly she looked very stricken. "Oh, no," she said, pressing a hand over her heart. "Poor Sarah… do you have any idea where she is?"

"We're doing our best," Jessie said, putting her badge away. "She was only just reported missing as of this morning. But I need to talk to you about her. What's your name?"

The woman sat down on the edge of the checkout desk, still looking rather shell-shocked. "Oh, God," she murmured. "I'm sorry… I'm Shelly Smith. I'm the main supervisor down here. I run most of the children's programs."

"And you hired Sarah to work here about a year ago, yes?"

"Yes," Shelly said, nodding slowly. "Her stories were just… amazing. Everybody loved her instantly. And her enthusiasm for her stories was absolutely contagious. She was great with the kids, too. She's just… she's wonderful. And she hasn't disappointed us before today. But… but that's because she's gone missing, isn't it?"

"Yes," Jessie said with a nod. "She probably disappeared sometime last night, although we're not certain yet. I need to hear about her day at work yesterday – if she seemed agitated or upset or anything like that."

"Actually, yesterday was her best day yet," Shelly said, a smile breaking across her face. "When I first heard her tell stories – before I hired her – she was telling her twins about this place called the Labyrinth. Ever since everybody's wanted to hear more about it – but she's refused. But yesterday she started up about the Labyrinth again, and everyone was just… breath taken."

"Wait," Jessie said sharply, holding up a hand to stop Shelly from speaking. "The Labyrinth, you said?"

"Yes," Shelly said with a nod. "Have you heard anything about it before?"

"Well, it might be relevant to my investigation," Jessie said, chewing her lip. "What, exactly, is the story of the Labyrinth?"

Shelly pushed herself up from the desk and started to walk past Jessie. "It'll be a lot easier if I just show you the tape," she said. "We record all of Sarah's story times so we can have them on hand. We also like to send them out to other libraries to see if they want her to come visit. Everybody we've sent them to loves her, of course. You'll just have to see for yourself."

Jessie followed Shelly into a back room hidden behind some shelves. The room was small, but it had a couch and a TV in it – a break room of sorts. Otherwise it was unfurnished, and the floor was only hard, cracked cement. "I think the tape's already in," Shelly said as Jessie sat on the couch. "Hang on while I get it all set up… there we go."

The screen flickered, and Sarah Thomas, missing person, appeared in full view on the screen. She was quite a beautiful woman, Jessie thought in amazement; her face was a bright oval, her skin flawless, her eyes stunning green even through the grainy recording of the video camera. Her dark hair flowed elegantly all around her, framing her face perfectly. Jessie felt a momentary stab of envy – and then forgot everything as the Sarah in the tape began to speak…

Sarah had told herself multiple times that morning that she shouldn't say a word about the Labyrinth. She had berated herself for even wanting to while she fed Marie and Elizabeth breakfast; she had repeatedly warned herself of the consequences for even bringing it up in her story while she drove to work; and she had coolly resolved that nothing even remotely related to the Labyrinth would be brought into the tale of the morning.

But when she opened her mouth to speak in front of all those still, breathless children and their babysitters, grandparents, and parents, the words that came out were these:

"In the center of a Labyrinth, deep underground, there lived a Goblin King."

It had momentarily stunned her that she had spoken such words at all; but what had stunned her further with the squeals of delight from all the children, including her own, and the burst of applause from the adults. Even Shelly, from behind the camera, began to applaud and squeal just like the children. Sarah couldn't keep the smile from her face. And suddenly, she was far too involved with the story to stop.

"He was not quite what you would expect a Goblin King to be, for he looked nothing like the subjects that he ruled; he was tall and golden-haired and handsome, human in appearance yet unearthly. He struck awe in the hearts of all the goblins and every human who ever saw him – but those humans were few…

"The Goblin King spent most of his time amusing himself by kidnapping the children of the humans who lived above his kingdom and setting them to the challenge of his Labyrinth – for although he was handsome, he was twisted and cruel and cared nothing for the feelings of those who lived Above. For many long years, he kidnapped small children and turned them into goblins, watching as human after human failed to solve the great Labyrinth.

"One day, while the Goblin King watched the earth above through a magic crystal, he spotted a beautiful human girl walking by a crystal clear lake, looking mournful. Her beauty captured his attention, and he watched her for a long time. And soon he learned that the girl was the only child of the loveliest queen in the world, and that the queen had died and a wicked, ice-hearted, and ugly woman had taken her place on the throne. She enslaved the beautiful girl and forced her to work all day for her spoiled brother.

"As the days passed, he continued to watch the girl, and he began to fall in love with her. So once, when she was sitting alone by a well, he appeared before her. At first she was terrified of him, but he did everything in his power to calm her until at last she trusted him. Then he offered her an extraordinary gift: he told her that he would take away her brother and make him a goblin if she asked it of him, so that all her troubles would be gone and she would be free.

"But the girl loved her little brother and wanted to protect him despite the treatment of her stepmother, and she refused the Goblin King's gift. Angered by her rejection, the Goblin King disappeared and left her alone in the castle walls – but told the girl that should she ever change her mind, all she need do was call his name, and he would take away the baby boy.

"Yet the girl's willpower was stronger than the Goblin King had anticipated, and although he watched and waited many long days, she did not give in. Finally, he resorted to trickery to get what he wished – for he wanted to trap the girl in the Labyrinth, so that he could take her as his prize and keep her in his castle forever and ever. So he sent the girl a dream – a nightmare in which she was being chased by hundreds and hundreds of horrid goblins, and she couldn't escape from them. In the dream, it seemed to her that the only way to save herself was to cry out for the Goblin King – but some part of her resisted. And the goblins kept closing in… closer… and closer… and closer… until the word burst almost unbidden from her:

"JARETH!"

The scream made the children gasp and parents stumble backwards. For a moment, Sarah was completely still, staring at them blankly. Then, in a voice so low the camera almost didn't catch it, she whispered:

"And so the Goblin King's will was fulfilled, and the baby boy whom the girl had tried so hard to protect was taken away to the castle beyond the Goblin City, where Jareth would keep him forever and ever… unless the girl could find her way through the maze to his castle…"

She paused. The audience stared at her anxiously. Then a smile broke out across her face. "And you'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear what she does," she said with a grin. "Have fun today, everyone!"

A series of disappointed groans and cries met Sarah's announcement, but she simply waved them off. Then she sank back into the chair, leaning her head against the chair's back and closing her eyes tightly, her thoughts drifting to a certain Goblin King and his realm down below…

Jessie was momentarily stunned into silence when the tape shut off. She'd been so involved in the story that she'd completely forgotten her original purpose in watching it. She shook her head rapidly as though to clear the cobwebs and tried to get back to business. "That… wow. She's quite extraordinary," she said admiringly.

Shelly smiled sadly. "She really is," she said. "And I was really looking forward to finding out what she had planned next. But I guess… I guess that can't happen yet, can it? Not until you find her."

Jessie nodded, going back over the story in her head, sifting through it for important details. Suddenly, one hit her like a slap across the face: "Jareth!"

Shelly looked perplexed. "What about him?" she asked.

Jessie leapt up from the couch. "She said Jareth was the Goblin King," she said incredulously. "Is that… is that who he is?"

Shelly was looking both amused and perplexed now. "Yes," she said. "Interesting name, isn't it? Probably an odd version of her husband's name. At least, that would be my guess. Why? Have you heard of Jareth before?"

Jessie frowned darkly. "Her husband said she talked a lot about a guy named Jareth," she said. "He told me that he thought they'd been friends since high school days or something. Is it possible she based the character Jareth off a real person?"

Shelly shrugged. "It's not improbably, I suppose," she said. "But it seems more likely that it was just a name she made up to fit the story. Although…" She looked thoughtful. "She did talk about him with a lot of passion for a made-up character," she admitted. "I don't know. If he is a real person, we don't know him."

Jessie sighed in disappointment. "Well, I'll just work with what I have on him, I guess," she said. She glanced back at the TV, almost as though she was hoping the tape would start up again of its own accord. "After she told the story, did she seem… odd?"

Shelly nodded. "Oh, definitely," she said. "She was very much lost in space after that. She looked a little upset about something, too – I don't know what. She didn't socialize like she normally does after story time – she just came in here and sat on the couch, staring at the wall. I was a little worried about her. But I thought she'd probably be fine. I guess… I guess I was wrong." Shelly sighed. "I'm sorry, she wouldn't talk to anyone about what was bothering her. That's all I can really tell you."

Jessie nodded, chewing her lower lip again. "Can I borrow this tape?" she requested. "It may be of some use to me in my investigation."

Shelly popped the tape out. "Anything to get Sarah back," she said, but she still seemed reluctant to part with the almost magical item.

"I'll give it back to you when the investigation is over, I promise," Jessie said.

Shelly shot her a look that said, You'd better. "I… I hope you find what you're looking for," she said, wringing her hands a little. "Please find Sarah for us. She means a lot to this place… to us."

"I'll try, Shelly," Jessie promised. "I'll try."

Sarah was laying on Jareth's bed, flat on her back, green eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. She had noticed, after Jareth had disappeared, that he had had the arch above his bed painted with her picture – as she had appeared at the masquerade ball. She had been gazing at her mirror reflection above her head for the better part of an hour, staring into her very own painted green eyes and trying to avoid the memory that was persistently attempting to surface.

No, no, no, no! It's not his fault! He didn't say it! He can't have said it! He loves me, he doesn't believe in the Labyrinth, he doesn't believe in Jareth, he can't… no no no no no!

She gave a frustrated sigh and rolled onto her stomach, trying to avoid the eyes of her double. She closed her eyes tightly and cuddled against a pillow, halfway hoping to fall asleep again.

But if she fell asleep, she would dream of Jareth… and she didn't want to think about him right now, didn't want to think about what it meant when she dreamt of him, didn't want to think about how badly she'd missed him or how her heart had leapt when she saw him or how she'd been looking for him, hoping for him for so long…

No…

The memory was rising unbidden before her eyes. Her mind focused, the image sharpened, and she couldn't escape it…

"SARAH!"

Sarah's head jerked sharply towards the door. "Red's home," she said, turning to Jareth.

Anger momentarily contorted Jareth's features. "I'm not leaving," he said stubbornly.

"Jareth, you have to."

"I don't. I'm King of the Goblins. Mortals can't make me do anything."

"Maybe most mortals can't, but I can," Sarah said, going to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly. "Jareth, please… go."

He stared at her intently, touched her face with delicate fingers, and then murmured, "I'll be back for you, Sarah. I'll never let you go…"

Sarah understood that by these rather ominous words he meant that he loved her. She reached up to touch his hair, then turned and fled her studio, down the stairs to the kitchen.

"SARAH!"

"I'm COMING!" Sarah yelled, rushing down the winding staircase.

Red was waiting for her at the base. "We had an agreement!" he shouted the moment he spotted her on the stairs. "You promised me!"

"What are you talking about?" Sarah demanded, stopping on the stairs.

"You promised you'd never tell about the Labyrinth again!" Red exclaimed. "You promised me!"

Sarah glared at him and pushed past him, heading for the kitchen. "To them it's just a story," she said coolly.

"But not to you!"

Sarah turned on him, crossing her arms over her chest. "How did you hear about it, anyway?" she questioned.

"One of the ladies I work with takes her daughter to story time every morning," he said, anger edging his voice. "She came in raving about your story – said she couldn't wait to hear the next installment. She wanted to hear about Jareth." He glared coldly at her. "Why does it always come back to Jareth?"

"Because he's Jareth," Sarah said, turning away, "And I love him."

Red's eyes narrowed. "You what?" he repeated. "You love him?"

Sarah didn't stop walking.

Red suddenly started after her. "What about me?" he demanded, grabbing her arm. "What about me, Sarah? Do you love me? Does this mean nothing to you? I mean… I… God damn it!" He turned and punched the wall. "Sarah, how can you be in love with some imaginary entity when I'm here for you every single day?"

"He's not imaginary," Sarah said wearily. "He's a real being, whether or not you believe in him."

Red stared at her in disbelief. "You need help," he said, shaking his head rapidly. "You need to get help, right now."

Sarah turned on him in frustration. "Red, I swear to God, if you say that one more time I'll summon the goblins to take me away!" she said, a bit sarcastically – Jareth might love her, but she was fairly certain that didn't mean the goblins would come to her if she called them.

"I wish the goblins would take you away – right now!" Red exploded.

And suddenly the world was spinning, and everything was going dark…

Sarah's eyes snapped open. "Oh God…" she whispered.

He'd said the words. Jared, Red, her husband, had said the words. He had sent her here – albeit accidentally – and he had left her to Jareth.

Wait…

Sarah leapt out of bed and ran to the door. She threw herself against it, hoping it would open. It did, much more easily than Sarah had expected it would. She stumbled and tripped down the stairs, landing on her knees. "Damn," she mumbled, flushing darkly. She stood, hoping to recover some dignity, and started down the stairs as quickly as possible, hoping they would lead to the throne room – and Jareth.