Sarah sat on the goblin king's throne with her legs pulled up against her chest, wide eyed, frightened, and looking around at the numerous goblins that filled the room, in shock that she was even back here to begin with. The goblins shuffled about but stayed quiet for the most part, casting side-long glances in her direction now and then. Some were armed with spears and daggers, and Sarah was sure she had seen one of the ugly little beasts carrying a battle axe twice it's own size.
After she had been taken back here to the king's throne room he had dumped her into the chair and had taken Toby out of the room with him, not saying one word to her or anybody else as he left her with the horde of gristly looking goblins.
She was shaking all over from her fear, confusion and the adrenaline that had flooded her system when he had grabbed her back at the house. What the hell had happened? She scarcely knew how she had gotten into this situation since one minute she had been in the kitchen with Karen and the next thing she knew she was surrounded by goblins for the second time in one night.
She was really scared now; she couldn't deny it. This wasn't supposed to happen. It wasn't part of her story book that she had read through all those times in the park. The story had ended with the heroine saying the words, reclaiming her child and then everything would return to the way it was before. There were no guidelines or any hint of what she could expect to happen now.
The sound of footsteps echoing in the stone hallway just outside the door had the goblins all rushing around instantly to make sure they would be out of the way of their master's boots. The goblin king came into view from the hall and in through the doorway. He had discarded his cape but the black armor still incased his body from toe to chin. He glanced at Sarah as though she was little more than just mere furniture before turning to look around at the goblins. "Leave," he commanded them. His tone hadn't been harsh, but rather bored.
All the same, they all ran for the doors and windows as fast as they could but not fast enough apparently because he repeated his command as he shoved one out the door with the heel of his boot. Sarah really wished they had stayed. As frightening as they were she was more afraid of the goblin king. He looked tired, but over all pleased as he turned back to her. "Get off of the throne, Sarah," he commanded, his tone even softer this time.
She didn't argue as he stepped forward. She would have gotten up anyway to be able to move away from him if nothing else. She climbed out of the seat as quickly as she could and rushed around the throne so it was between her and the tall blonde man before her. What had Karen called him again? Jareth? That was something else that was making Sarah's head spin like a twister, it had really seemed like Karen knew exactly who he was and what he was there for back at the house. But how would she know?
Jareth plopped down onto the throne where she had been sitting, not caring in the least that his back was to her. It was like he simply expected her to move into his line of vision to accommodate him. She stayed by the wall and well out of reach as she moved around to where she could see his face, this of course also meant that he could see her now but she had questions that she expected answers to. Jareth looked back at her in silent speculation like he was judging a dog at a show or something. She couldn't quite read his expression beyond that.
"Where is my brother? What have you done with Toby?" Sarah demanded, a bit of her anxiety at the present situation creeping into her voice.
Jareth swung an armor clad leg up onto the curved arm of the throne, getting to the point of completely relaxing. "I put him to bed, he should not be up so late and that wretched woman woke him up before we left," he said nonchalantly. "Sit down Sarah."
She wasn't about to sit down regardless, but she still pointed out to him that he had taken the only seat in the room just to be defiant.
Jareth spread his hands out with his palms up as if gesturing for her to look around. "There is plenty of floor for you in here."
Sarah glared back at him for that. He could go to hell if he thought she was going to sit down on the floor. "You can't keep us here. I ran the labyrinth," she insisted once more, "You have no power over me!"
Jareth's eyes narrowed. "I told you to sit."
She wasn't going to be bullied like this. Sarah held her head up high. "You. Have. No. Power. Over Me." She said each word clearly and with as much force as she could.
Jareth's legs swung back over onto the floor and he stood up and crossed the room over to Sarah before she had hardly realized what he was doing. He was right in front of her before she had even started to back up, gripping her upper arm and pulling her to the side. His foot shot out in front of her legs and she tripped over them, the only thing keeping her from falling flat on her face being that he still had a hold on her arm. Her hip still hit the stone floor with force though, causing her to cry out at the pain that shot through her torso. He let go of her arm but he had gripped her so hard that she was sure she would end up with bruises from his fingers digging into her skin. She cradled her arm against her body, staring up at Jareth in shock as he towered over her. His eyes were unyielding as he gazed down at her, completely unfazed. "I. Said. Sit."
She couldn't help but feel afraid of him then. Never mind the fact that he had just man-handled her, it was the look of anger and the promise of more force in his mismatched eyes that scared her more than anything. She staid where she was and kept her mouth shut, hoping that if she didn't say or do anything further to anger him that he would back off. After a couple seconds of his eyes daring her to protest further he moved back a couple paces and finally turned his back on her again, going back over to his throne and sitting back down. He leaned back but didn't get as relaxed this time.
"Stay there till I say otherwise," he drawled, "I meant what I said about intending to reward you but that does not mean I am entirely pleased with you right now. In all honesty Sarah from the very beginning it was my intension to have you wish away the babe to me. I simply never expected you to turn down my initial reward of your dreams, or to end up making it through my labyrinth. You did wonderfully I have to admit, but you did make quite a mess out of things," his face was serious but his tone was considerably lighter, like he was teasing her or something.
"Reward me?" she asked before she could stop herself. Why would he want to reward her? She had no idea what he was talking about.
"Yes reward you, I figure it is the least I can do for you after you gave me what I wanted most in both this world and yours. You practically served him up on a platter really."
Sarah could scarcely believe it. "Toby? What do you mean?"
"The child you call Toby was stolen from me," Jareth said in the same almost bored drawl, "Since it was you who returned him to me I see that to be fitting for a reward.
"No you stole him from me!" Sarah persevered, just short of yelling at the king.
She knew instantly that she should have kept quiet when his eyes darkened and he stood up from his seat again. "You have been trying my temper and now you insult me." Jareth's fists were clinched at his sides and he was tense all over. Sarah bit her lip to make sure she didn't say another word. "I am not a thief. To make such an accusation again would not bode well for you. I simply found a way to reclaim what was rightfully mine all along. You see the babe you think is your Toby actually is not. He is my Jareth, my next of kin and heir to the throne."
Sarah sat in stunned silence. He was nuts; Toby was the son of Karen and her father. She hadn't even been pregnant when she had met and married her father, though it had all happened extremely quickly. She sat up a little straighter in her spot on the floor, still clutching her arm but no longer because it was sore. At this point she just needed to hold onto something. Since herself was the only option she opted for that.
"You doubt my words do you?" Jareth smirked. "Your father knew Carrie for how long before they were married?"
Sarah frowned at that. Carrie? Her name was Karen.
Jareth noticed the confusion on her face and let out a sigh, relaxing just the slightest bit. "I forgot she had changed her name, but rest assure that I am speaking of your step mother. She had not been with him long before she found herself with child had she?" he asked in a mocking tone.
Sarah remembered it because she had been so mad at her father for being reckless and getting Karen pregnant just days after he had started dating her. They had eloped only another month or two after that before she had started to show. The whole thing had been very upsetting for Sarah. Her father had always warned Sarah since she had been fourteen about boys and she shouldn't ever have sex with a guy until after she was married or at least in love. Then he had started dating Karen and the next thing everyone had known they had had to get married. It had turned out alright she guessed, since her father was still very happy to be with Karen and she had Toby as a half-brother, but all the same she had not been at all happy at the time.
"Carrie, er- Karen was a young mortal girl when I first met her, a little like you in the sense that she too was a dreamer. She was a very charming girl though, very sweet." His voice was soft, barely a whisper, but there was a look of anger in his eyes. His head was turned away from her, like he was unaware he was talking to anyone at all. He looked back up at her and Sarah couldn't help but startle slightly at the sharpness in his eyes being turned on her so suddenly. If he had noticed he said nothing about it. "I took her as my wife," he continued, "Bringing her here to live with me in my world. Towards the very end of our relationship she started craving her independence and rebelling against me, but she was too reckless and naïve to be allowed the kind of free rein that she desired. She tried running away from me a few times, but I found her each time. The last time she found a way over into the aboveground to escape me. I couldn't follow her."
Something very dark and dangerous passed through his eyes and he let out a sigh like the mere thought was a bother to him. "I had not known she was pregnant when she escaped me, and I doubt that even she did, but she did find out soon after and then arranged to have that human man she had run into think it was his child. She knew it was my child though. I have planned for a way to get a hold of my son ever since so that I could be sure of my paternity to him and then usher him into his proper future."
Jareth smirked at Sarah then. "It just so happened that the human that my reckless ex-wife had left me for had a daughter of his own, an actress in fact. I watched both your father and you through my crystals. It was when I first saw you acting out a piece from Hamlet in the park that I knew you would be very special for me and my plans. It took time, but in less than a year I had crafted a story that I knew you wouldn't be able to resist. Then all I had to do was leave it for you to find."
He paused in his explanations and Sarah hoped it was an opportunity for her to speak again. She parted her mouth slightly and when Jareth simply waited for more she went ahead and licked her dry lips so she could speak. "I wrote the book for me?" she asked to clarify, thinking back to the day she had first found the little red book.
"And I had one of my goblins leave it in the garden for you," he nodded.
Sarah couldn't keep the frown off her face. "But I don't understand, why didn't you just come and get Toby yourself before this if you indeed thought he was your son? Leaving a book behind in hopes that I might find it, read it, then like it enough to act it out was a pretty big chance to take."
His eyes took on a much softer look then and a grim smile pulled at the corner of his lips. "I would have taken any chance I could to get my son back, and I am unable to pass to the above world unless I am summoned there. There are certain ties I hold between myself and the labyrinth that bound me to it."
Did that mean if she got back to her world she would be safe from him like Karen had been? She still couldn't see Karen ever being with someone like this man, but then again she knew nothing about Karen before her father had met the woman. No one had seemed to. She had said she was originally from overseas but little else. She hadn't had a job because she had just arrived days before and that she was without family of any kind. And her father had been so smitten with her that he hadn't really cared to inquire too much about her past. She'd never mentioned (as far as Sarah knew) anything about being married once, or that she had run away, or that she was from a world where goblins existed and she was two hundred years old. Something like that would have stuck out in Sarah's mind.
Jareth seemed so sure of it though, and as far as she knew he had never told her any lies nor did he have much reason to make up this wild story now. He had her brother… at least, what she had assumed was her brother… so he didn't need to make up a story about how Karen had run off on him with his son or anything. Then there was the fact that Karen had really seemed to know him right away when he had returned to the house. She had been the one to call out his name after all.
The more Sarah thought about it the more it seemed to make sense to her. She didn't understand all of it, but what she did understand so far seemed to not be as far-fetched as she had first regarded it to be. She looked at Jareth. Really looked at him; his eyes, facial structures, the color of his hair. Maybe Toby was his, he did look a bit like him. His hair was going to be the same shade of blonde that much she could see. She supposed she could kind of see it in the ears and lips too.
Jareth retook his seat, his eyes staring intensely at Sarah once again. "You played your part beautifully by the way, saying your right words to allow the travel of my goblins and myself to come and reclaim the babe. Truly I must thank you for that. I had been rather disappointed that you couldn't just leave well enough alone and insisted on running my labyrinth, however. While you were in the process of…" he paused on the word, "Cheating… your way through to my castle I was able to not only spend time with my son, but one of my physicians took some DNA samples to confirm my suspicions through medicinal magic."
This time it was Sarah who was offended. "I didn't cheat, I beat your labyrinth fair and square."
Jareth threw his head back and laughed so loudly and abruptly that it caused her to jump halfway out of her skin in fright. Jareth slowly got a hold of himself, still chuckling slightly as he placed his hand on his hip and summoned a crystal with his free hand, turning it around his fingers in a most bored manor. "Oh pardon me for laughing but that is far from the truth little one."
Sarah kept her mouth shut this time but still glared back at him.
Jareth raised his eyebrow in amusement. "Lets see, you first only got into the labyrinth because of that dwarf, Hedgehog, then you used him to also get you out of the oubliette by bribing him. Then there was that fox and great beast you also enlisted into your aid. Taking and turning my subjects against me for your own benefit, a gutsy move indeed. You would have never made it through on your own though." Jareth lifted his legs up once again to rest on the arm of his chair, something Sarah was suspecting he did often when he sat there.
She wanted to correct him for messing up her friends name, but thought better about it. What would it solve when she had done it before and he still hadn't bothered to remember? Besides, there was a more pressing matter that she needed answers to. "What are you going to do with us?"
"As I said, Jareth will be brought up in this world with me," he said, referring to the babe, "That much has already been decided by the counsel. It is what's best for him really. I would be damned before I allowed my child to live and grow in a world that is void of magic and where he would be a commoner. His royal blood demands respect and that is what he will have."
"And me? You said you only wanted Toby but-
"Jareth," Jareth said.
"What?"
"His name is not Toby like that wretched woman chose. His name is Jareth and I wish for you to address him as such." His eyes still held their intensity and Sarah really wished that he would look elsewhere, anywhere is but directly at her. It was almost too much to be looked at like that.
None the less she would hold firm on this, maybe he didn't know Hoggle's name, but he wasn't going to get her to start calling him 'Hedgehog' any sooner than he was going to get her to call Toby 'Jareth'. He had been Toby since he was born and that wasn't going to change in her opinion just because the goblin king wanted it to. "Why did you bring me here too if you only wanted my brother?"
"He is not your brother Sarah," Jareth sighed. He brought his long legs down so he was actually sitting on the throne. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "You remember the story you told him, right before you wished him away to me? About the girl who was over worked by her wicked stepmother and the king of the goblins fell in love with her?"
Sarah tensed up all over to the point that she barely dared to breathe. 'It was true?" she asked in barely more than a whisper.
Jareth chuckled again at that. "Of course not, why would I be in love with you?"
She wasn't sure what showed on her face but he smiled at her reassuringly.
"Don't worry Sarah, I had still found you to be a rather amusing girl… being pretty and sweet and all. In love with you though, no." The smile disappeared from his face then. "You had rejected my gift though. You were still upset with being burdened by the babe and you had many dreams that you wanted so bad you could taste them, but you still threw them away in exchange for the safe return of my son to you. I think it was then that I realized just what kind of girl you were, and that I'd be a fool to allow you to run my labyrinth. I tried giving you more chances to reconsider, I'm sure you remember."
Sarah let out an involuntary shudder at the memory of the snake he had thrown at her, but he had given her other chances beyond that. She nodded her head slowly to show that she was paying attention and understood what he was referring to.
He gave a short nod of his own. "So in the end I had no choice but to allow you to accept my challenge." He smirked at her once again. "In all honesty though I was a little happy you did accept, I love games you see."
There was something about the way he said that that made Sarah's skin crawl. She needed to calm down before her body started to shake uncontrollably from nerves and stress, as it was already well on it's way to that point. She was over exhausted and hungry and none of this was making it easier on her.
"You never gave up though, as I had expect you would. Every time I pushed you to a point where you should have fallen you got up again; not just because you have a fighter's spirit or a will for survival, both of which I admire greatly in a woman, but because you thought that that babe was in danger."
He gave her a genuine smile then and Sarah could only stare back in stricken awe and confusion. "I could plainly see then that my child meant more to you than yourself even. It was that knowledge that made me start to allow myself to feel you and ponder the possibilities. It was far better than I could have ever planned really, if I were to take you as my next wife not only would I assuredly have a fit mother for my son, but I would have taken the perfect revenge on both of the mortals that insulted me so with their love. After all, I would have the very things they held most dear to their hearts."
Sarah couldn't believe this, it was unthinkable. As his next wife? Mother to the babe she had known up until minutes ago was her half-brother? It was ludicrous. She needed to find Toby and get out of here. They needed to get back to their own world somehow.
Jareth scowled at her and all thoughts flew from her mind from the new malice she felt drifting about him like his cloak had. "But you had rejected me when I had taken the first step in showing you what it could be like between us Sarah, in the bubble. You would have become part of a world made up of the very finest things in life, a world of magic and wonder would be at your disposal and you would have had anything you wanted if in return I could have had you." His scowl deepened, "Again you threw away your dreams and I wanted and loved you all the more for it. When you reached my castle though it was obvious to me that you cared for the babe and the babe alone. Even still I gave you another chance to have both little Jareth and myself. I meant it when I said I had done it all for you, reordered time and the stars to bring you to me. Did you really think that you had battled the actual goblin army with your rag-tag friends and won? After the ball I was determined to have you reach me to the point that I would have happily just had you brought straight to this very room, but the story was also something that was important to you, so I allowed you to go on with it."
He let out a defeated sigh and looked down at the floor rather than her. "I gave you a second chance to have everything when I proposed to you, and you did more than simply turn down my offer; you practically broke my heart. The babe was safe and no longer an issue, but still you turned me down. I wanted you for my own so much and you had no reason to deny me, but still you had dared."
He stood up from his seat then and made his way over to her. Sarah felt her heart immediately speed up as he moved closer and she was powerless to do anything but sit there and watch him approach, like his eyes had hypnotized her to the spot. His movements were non threatening, but she still wanted to keep distance between them just in case. She had seen before just how quickly his moods could change.
She received the next big shock of the night when Jareth kneeled down in front of her, coming down to her level. His eyes were considerably softer as he stared at her this time. She couldn't help but think he looked the same as he had back at their final encounter, like he wanted something from her that she couldn't understand the dept of, and truly intended to have it.
"I mentioned a reward for returning my son to me," he said in a hushed tone since he was much closer to her. "I offer it to you now." His eyes were still just as intense as ever, but now they looked out at her from under heavy lids. Sarah had seen that look on men in magazines before and Karen had always referred to it as the models giving the camera 'bedroom eyes'. He reached out and she wasn't sure what stopped her, but she managed not to flinch as his gloved fingers captured a long strand of her hair that had fallen over her shoulder. She watched as he held the strand between them, his thumb rubbing over the strand like he was caressing it. "I am going to offer you a final chance to choose me as a king and husband to you. As I said before, all you have to do Sarah is love me, fear me, and do as I say. If you do that, I promise you that you can have everything you want."
He was truly and undeniably insane.
Husband? She felt stunned and was suddenly happy that she was indeed sitting. She didn't want him, she wanted her father and Karen and Toby and to be home with all of them once more. His brows came down just the slightest bit in light of her hesitance and uncertainty, making his expression look instantly sharper. Sarah gulped back her immediate and flat rejection at the thought of how he might react to it if he was getting upset again over a simple hesitation. "What if I say no?" she asked, her voice strained and coming out in hardly more than the whisper.
"You wouldn't want to do that."
"But if I did?" Sarah asked, despite her growing fear that now she was trapped in a castle with a madman and numerous goblins.
Jareth didn't let go of the strand of her hair, merely gripped it in his fist now, using it keep her from backing up any as he leaned in closer. Sarah startled and tried to pull back at first, only to stop at the slight pain it caused. She couldn't move back without pulling her hair from her very scalp. Jareth didn't stop until his face was only centimeters from her, close enough that she could feel his warm breath on her lips. His eyes were sharp as daggers as he looked down upon her. "Then it will be much harder on you when I take you as my queen regardless. I'm offering you the ability to choose this path, but in the end it is the only one you have."
Sarah's mouth gaped and she completely forgot about everything but what he had just said for an instant. She didn't have any say in the matter of her own marriage? She couldn't marry him, she was only seventeen besides the matter that she didn't love him at all. What kind of reward was this? The choice was to be forced to do something she didn't want to do or to do it on her own anyway despite that she didn't want to do it. Sarah couldn't stop herself from shaking her head at how ridiculous this was. "M-marry you? I don't want to marry you, I want to go home! I want you to give me back my brother and send us home!" she was starting to wail now but she didn't care, her mind was racing too fast for her to keep up with and it felt like the world was spinning out of control.
Jareth scowled at her then, leaning back only a scant inch or two. "Sarah, obviously you do not understand. You can't go back to Aboveground, I have met with the counsel and they have already agreed that since the babe is undeniably my son and that you would make the perfect mother to him that it was within my rights to use the window of opportunity I had to bring you both back with me. I was able to do so because when I had kept to the terms of our agreement and returned you both to your home after you ran my labyrinth, the gateway was still open to me for a little longer. It is sure to have closed up entirely by now. You are of this world now as much as I am. There is no going back to the Aboveground."
Sarah's mouth was still gaping, but now it was because she was trying to breathe past the lump in her throat. She could barely breathe through it. Her vision began to blur then from her tears and she immediately pulled away from Jareth with all her strength, not giving a damn if he ripped out all her hair as she twisted away from him. He let go of the strand of his own accord and said nothing as her body shook with the force of the tears now spilling down her eyes.
She was exhausted and distraught and she had just been told she will never see her home or friends or her father ever again because of some spat that this man had with her Step mother. It wasn't fair! Then on top of that he was telling her that he intended to make her his bride and he didn't give a rat's ass if she didn't like it or not. Her brother actually wasn't her brother at all but rather a child of the goblin king whom he now expected her to call Jareth and treat as her own son. IT WASN'T FAIR!
She was only seventeen, and it felt like her life was slipping from her at an alarming rate. She cried until she lost the strength of her arms and laid face-down on the stone floor, her only relief being the coolness of the hard stones against her heated skin. Her hair spread out around her head, creating a curtain between herself and her surroundings. The sounds of her sobbing echoed in her ears. What was she supposed to do? She'd never heard of something like this ever happening to anybody in real life. Girls were free to choose their own husbands, they were not kidnapped by goblin kings because their stepmothers were runaways. She wasn't being rewarded, she was being punished. Punished for something she didn't do. "I-it's n-not fair!" she choked out between sobs.
She felt a firm hand on her shoulder blade and her body stilled under the touch as fear crept into her sorrow. She continued to cry as she couldn't stop the tears, but she wasn't crying as hard or as loud, her attention split between her misery and Jareth. His hand lifted from her shoulder and she could feel it as his fingers raked over her hair softly and slowly. His voice was quiet, right next to her ear when he spoke again. "Hush Sarah, it is alright," he cooed. "I know you must be confused and a little overwhelmed with all of this, it is a lot to process."
What the hell, he was comforting her? He had just told her that she was to marry him and he didn't care if she didn't want to and now he was comforting her for it? Her body flinched involuntarily when his strong hands gripped her shoulders, pulling her up from the floor so that he could slip his arm in underneath her ribcage. She fought the impulses screaming at her to fight because she was sure no good would come of it as he shifted her around till she was sitting between his legs with her back pressed against his lean chest. She could feel now that his armor was smooth as leather but made of something a bit more solid and it encased her as he molded himself against her back, he was effectively making her feel trapped in every sense of the word.
He rested his cheek against the back of her skull and she cringed when his lips kissed the back of her ear. "Think on it Sarah, and give me your answer after you've had a chance to rest and take it all in a bit."
He was insane. She wasn't going to want him any more than she did now just because she got some sleep. She reached up to wipe some of her tears away but they just kept falling, soaking her fingers and cheeks. Jareth nudged her back and she gladly moved away from him so he could have room to get up. She wasn't full out crying anymore, but the tears were still falling. Jareth stood before her and offered her his hand. Sarah glanced at it before turning away, not wanting to get up yet because she wasn't sure for one that her legs would hold her right now and two, she didn't want to go anywhere with him.
Jareth scowled down at her before moving to her side and scooping her up off the floor into his arms before she could protest. "You really think acting like a child is going to make your situation better?" he sneered as he carried her out of the room.
She didn't look at him and she certainly didn't try to hang onto his neck as he carried her. She was fairly certain that if he dropped her she would at least take solace in the fact that he was no longer touching her. He carried her down a flight of stairs, which was just crazy in itself because judging from the view the windows provided they were getting further and further away from the ground. There was a short hall at the bottom… top… she had no clue, which led to a large painting of an empty mirror at the end. On one side of the hall was a single door, and then there were two more on the other side.
Jareth carried her to the closer of the two doors and glanced down at her. "Either you hang onto my neck so I may open the door or I will drop your head onto the stones." His voice was sharp to show he was annoyed with her refusal to touch him at all.
Sarah reached up and gripped his neck because she had a feeling he really would let her head drop if she didn't, even though she really didn't want to. She compromised with herself by continuing to not look at him, but straight ahead at the door. Jareth's arm dropped out from behind her shoulders and he reached out to insert a key into the lock, clicking it free and then turning the handle.
The door swung open to reveal a lavish room decorated in deep blues and glittering gold. The floor was darkened wood and the only rug was a very soft looking enormous fur that had been dyed (she assumed) to be dark blue in color that fanned out underneath the enormous bed that took up a good quarter of the large space. Dark blue velvet drapes created four corners of a canopy that hung down from the ceiling to the floor at each corner of the bed. Between those were translucent curtains of gold that she was sure probably glittered in the sunlight. Beyond the bed she could see the same setup of heavy blue drapes pulled back so that she could see the outline of French glass doors that led out to a balcony concealed under more golden curtains. The sun was just starting to rise, creeping into the room through the golden material.
There were a set of doors located to her right and she looked up at Jareth in question as he set her down on her feet. He pointed over to the two doors "The one with the golden knob leads to a washroom and the one with the silver knob leads into what will be your room once it is done," he explained, gesturing towards the bed then to indicate that now was not the time to go exploring.
"Where am I now?" she asked, looking around the room some more.
"My room," was his simple answer.
She didn't want to sleep in that bed. She was exhausted and the bed looked extremely comfy and soft. Her body was feeling heavier to hold up at the very sight of it but still she did not want to sleep there. She didn't want to chance sleep at all if this was Jareth's personal room. She could only stand there and stare like the bed was a snake waiting to bite her as Jareth stepped past her and pulled the golden curtain back for her. Never mind, the bed was merely the lair because the snake was staring back at her impatiently as she continued to just stare.
"You needn't look so worried," he sneered at her, "I wont be joining you, I have work yet. If you don't get some sleep soon though I will be sure to put you there myself. I wont have you over exhausting yourself so you can continue to be so cross with me."
Did he honestly believe she was cross with him because she was simply tired?! She wanted to slap some sense into his thick head but didn't feel she had the strength for it. She didn't want to be manhandled again though so she made her way over to the bed, keeping on her jeans and all as she paused just outside of his reach. To climb in would put her right next to him. She crept forward slowly, only to scream when he reached out and seized her shoulder, shoving her past him and through the curtains onto the bed. He dropped the curtain behind her and gave her one last annoyed sneer before he turned and stomped out of the room, muttering to himself about how silly she was acting.
Sarah rubbed her shoulder but in truth it didn't hurt. It was her chest that hurt more than anything and she rubbed the spot over her heart like that would help with the pain. She shifted around on the bed, only to comprehend that truly it was extremely comfortable and soft underneath her. Even the blue and gold speckled comforter felt like it was stuffed with goose-down. She let out a sigh and thought about shimmying out of her jeans to get comfortable, only to decide to leave them on when she laid back and noticed that there was a mirror the size of the mattress staring down at her from the ceiling.
She wanted to cry all over again.
X
Karen clutched her chest in light of the pain that caused it to feel like her ribcage was shrinking around her heart. She had thought she had escaped him for good when she had found her way over to the Aboveground, but she obviously had been wrong. Roger had called the police over to the house immediately upon finding her sobbing in the living room with both of the children missing. She sat back in her seat next to Roger at the police station across the desk from one of the sheriffs. She had been sitting here for the last couple hours trying to explain what had happened without sounding crazy. The police were a waste of time, a comfort measure for Roger really. They would never be able to find her children, and even if the local police department pulled a sideways miracle out of their asses and found them in the Underground Jareth would never give them up. This was silly and pointless and it was keeping her from finding out how she could really get her and Roger's children back. She needed to get home.
Instead she was stuck here making up stories to try to save everyone a lot of wasted time and effort. Roger hadn't known the truth about Jareth and she didn't know if she should tell him now. Well, certainly not now while they were in the middle of the police department in front of Sheriff Franklin.
"So you're saying that you woke up to get a drink, your stepdaughter was out in the hall and then you went downstairs and into the kitchen for your drink."
She nodded and turned to Roger, "You remember Sarah had startled me in the hall don't you darling," she sniffed.
Roger opened his mouth to answer but the Sheriff jumped in before then. "Now you sa after you went downstairs you heard the door open and close and you went to investigate but saw no one. Concerned, you went upstairs to check on your son and found he was missing and then found that your daughter was also missing. You then cried and your husband woke up to find you crying in the living room. He called us," Sheriff Franklin looked up from the notepad he had been reading off from. "And here we are, that about right?"
Karen nodded her head and dabbed at her tears with the Kleenex she had been given earlier. "Yes officer, I don't know what happened."
The sheriff scowled at her, obviously thinking she was leaving something out. She only cared so much though, her son had been stolen and this was keeping her from going out there and getting him back, and Roger's girl. Jareth was going against the rules by coming to their world uninvited and steeling two human children that were not wished away. Toby was his son, but there was no way he had any proof of that before he had come to take him. He had no claim at all over Sarah though.
He wasn't going to get away with this. She leaned back in her seat as Franklin asked her another question about what she had seen. She prayed that they both stayed safe till she could get home and contact the counsel.