Still don't own the labyrinth... But if anyone would like to buy it for me for Christmas...?

Chapter 4

Sarah couldn't contain her fear any more and she screamed out, "Toby!" As soon as the words left her lips, a small blonde figure no more than ten feet away from her and wearing all black popped his head up. She recognized the outfit and the carefully styled hair she had worked on for so long this morning and almost fainted in relief.

Several of the other heads also began to pop up and the ones that did had looks of amusement and irritation on their faces. Before she could run to her brother, a loud high scream pierced the air from the other end of the field saying, "Sunset!" All of the children jumped up in glee and began to run towards the figure, except for Toby.

"What's going on Sarah?" He asked her.

"Sunrise!" The figure shouted this time, causing all the children to fall to the ground. They all landed in crumpled heaps, looking just as they did when she had first arrived.

"What are they doing?" Sarah asked Toby.

"Why, they're playing Sunrise, Sunset of course," said a deep masculine voice behind her. Sarah immediately froze, every bit of her attention focused on the person standing behind her. But… Something seemed off. That voice… Why does it sound so different? "Why don't you go join them Toby?" The man behind her said.

"Yeah, ok!" Her brother said happily, rejoining his class.

Stealing herself for the imminent confrontation, Sarah turned slowly around saying, "I don't know what you're planning, but it won't work! And I won't let you harm those children…" The words that had started out so heatedly died on her lips as she faced the friendly and open face of Mrs. Henderson's son. Who just so happened to not be a certain King of the Goblins. "Oh," she said, cheeks flaming hotly. OMIGOD! Sarah Williams, you great big IDIOT!

While the man was most decidedly not Jareth, Mrs. Jacobs had been completely correct in saying that he was an extremely handsome specimen. He was tall and broad shouldered, athletic looking but not overly so. He had light brown hair, with matching chocolate eyes, his features were strong and handsome, and his mouth was curved into a broad grin, displaying perfect white teeth. He was, as the saying goes, the total package and Sarah wanted nothing more than to be swallowed up by a large hole in he ground.

"I'm very sorry for taking the children, especially your brother, away from the classroom, Mrs…?"

"Williams," she told him in a whisper, "Ms. Williams."

"Ms. Williams, thank you. I'm sorry that you were so worried about the children, but I assure you that I've been supervising them. I just thought my mother needed a few moments and the children needed to blow off some excess energy."

"Oh, Mr. Henderson, I'm very sorry. I-I guess I just over reacted when I saw all the children lying on the ground." He looked at her confused and she squirmed in place as she scrambled to come up with an excuse. "You know, because of their Halloween costumes… Ah, I, uh, just didn't want them to get dirty…" The words sounded lame to her and she could only imagine what he thought. Desperately she sought to change the conversation. "What are they doing anyways?" She asked him.

They both watched as the children again all fell to the ground, only to jump back up and run quickly towards the figure before falling again. "Well, it's just a simple version of Red Light, Green Light that I came up with for Halloween. They're suppose to be vampires and I thought the children would just freeze in place, but they took off with the idea to fall to the ground dead at each 'sunrise'." He explained the game to her with a grin, a bright twinkle in his eyes. As they continued observing the game, Sarah couldn't help but see how fond he seemed to be of them.

"Do you have children of your own Mr. Henderson?"

"Please, call me Christian. And no Ms. Williams, I haven't had the good luck to have any children yet."

"Call me Sarah," she said in reply. They turned to each other and smiled, for a moment caught up in each others eyes. Sarah opened her mouth, surely to say something witty or amusing, when suddenly she saw a white streak in the sky behind Christian's shoulders. It flew past almost too quickly for Sarah to identify it, but for some reason the image of an abnormally large white owl was burned into her brain. "Jareth," she mouthed, not even realizing what she was doing and forgetting that Christian was still there in front of her.

"I'm sorry?" He said confused, breaking the spell that seemed to have rooted her to the spot.

"Oh! I, ah just remembered something. I'm supposed to be telling the children a story now. Yes, that's why I came; I was going to be this afternoon's entertainment."

"Yes, I believe my mother told me about that. Well why don't you return to the classroom and let my mother know I'll be up shortly with the children?" He seemed puzzled by her sudden nervousness and withdrawal from their conversation, but covered it up nicely by allowing her to escape.

Murmuring a quiet thank you, Sarah quickly departed from the field, albeit in a much slower manner than she had first arrived. The sighting of the owl put Sarah back on high alert and her mind tried to make sense of what had been happening. I call for my friends and none of them come. Then I try for His High and Mightiness, but he ignores me as well. Now I see an owl, a WHITE owl no less, flying during the day. Something is definitely up and I am going to find out what that is, even if it kills me!

Arriving back at the classroom, she laughingly explained to Mrs. Henderson why she had taken off so quickly earlier, saying that she was worried that the children would run circles around her poor son. She had just gone to make sure everything was alright and she was pleased to see that he seemed to be doing just fine.

"Yes, my boy works very well with children. He worked as a camp counselor during his college years and now helps with a mentorship program in his spare time." The aging teacher spoke of her son with such pride in her voice, Sarah couldn't help but smile. The older woman continued saying, "He's such a handsome man, I'm sure he'll have adorable children some day. He just hasn't found the right woman yet, I'm afraid," she added, casting a sly look Sarah's way.

For her part, she couldn't help but blush once again, inwardly cringing at the older woman's attempts at matchmaking. While Christian was indeed a very good looking man, Sarah had yet to be able to hold any sort of stable relationship and had recently decided to stop trying for awhile. Between school and her duties as a stand in parent for Toby, she just didn't have time for a man.

Deciding to just ignore her old teacher's none too subtle hint and the subsequent ones, Sarah merely stayed silent while assisting the woman in pushing back the desks so the children could sit on the floor in front while Sarah told her story.

By the time they were all finished, Christian was escorting the children back into the classroom and overseeing them as they formed a circle on the floor in front of a low chair. When they had all been settled, he turned to Sarah and said with a wink, "Brought them back all safe and sound and I made sure none of them had a speck of dust on them."

Sarah smiled at his gentle teasing, but gave an exaggerated glance askance at the children directly in front of them that had small patches of grass clinging to their backsides. "Thank you, oh kind sir. It's so nice to know that they were in such good hands."

He grinned at her soft sarcasm, giving her a fairly well executed curtsy in return. It was just then that Sarah realized the costume that he had on and she couldn't help but burst out into giggles. When she had first met him down at the field, she had been so shocked to discover who he wasn't that she hadn't realized that he was dressed in a fairly good approximation of the cranky old principal. Ms. Collins was an extremely old and bitter woman that no one, not even the parents or teachers, liked. Mrs. Henderson must have told her son a bad story or two and he had chosen to dress up in imitation of the old bat. A hideous flower print skirt that fell to his ankles was accompanied by a mismatched lurid purple blouse. She wasn't sure where he had found such ugly heels and in that big of a size, but they truly completed the outfit. The fact that the outfit looked so much like the one the old principal loved to wear to important functions had to be on purpose. A coarse gray wig with a lopsided bun on top that he was just now placing back on his head sent her into giggles again and he smiled along with her.

"Where did you find all that in your size?" She asked in amazement when she had finally gotten her laughter under control.

"I have a few friends that work for a theater troupe and when I asked them for some help putting a costume together last minute they were happy to oblige." In a mock serious voice he also told her, "When I first arrived I received a very cold reception from my mother's boss. For some reason it only got worse when I explained to a passing parent that I was dressed up as a blind Mrs. Doubtfire." That set Sarah laughing again, which the children were only too happy to join in with. Even Mrs. Henderson gave a few chuckles as she shook her head at her son.

"That boy is going to get me fired," she said fondly to Sarah in a loud whisper.

Once everyone had settled down, the children all began begging Sarah for her story. "Toby said it's about this really scary king that steals away babies!" Lisa Jenkins said in a somewhat shaky tone.

"Nah," piped up Arthur Jacobs, "It's about a princess with special powers that makes friends with all these cool monsters!"

"Is it a love story?" One sweet little girl, who's name Sarah could never remember, asked.

"Maybe if you all let her tell the story you'll find out what happens," Christian told the excited children.

Shooting him a thankful smile, Sarah settled down into her chair, looking around at all the excited faces. Even Mrs. Henderson had pulled up a chair and looked attentive, sitting next to Christian. Forgetting her earlier anxieties about telling her tale, Sarah began to recite the story she knew by heart.

"Once there was a beautiful girl who was kind, loving, and loved to play make believe. However, life was not very good for the beautiful girl because she had a very cold and cruel step mother, who delighted in making her life miserable. The beautiful girl also had a baby brother whom the step mother made the little girl take care of all the time. The beautiful girl saw this as a punishment, but later on learned to love her baby brother very much." Sarah paused here for a moment to smile at Toby, who gave her a toothy grin in return.

"But what no one knew," she continued, "Was that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the beautiful girl and had given her certain powers…"


Ok, I know this should have been up on Tuesday, but for those of you that don't know, Southern California has become one of the pits of hell. There are wild fires everywhere, schools and business' are closed, 1500 homes have been destroyed, and a million people have been forced to evacuate. I've been stuck in the middle of it all, but have no fear, I'm perfectly safe. :) I've just had a little more on my mind than my stories. I'm going to make it up to you though by posting a second chapter later today and that will put me back on schedule. I hope everyone's had a better week that I have and if any of you live here in hell with me, I truly hope you and your families are ok.

Now as for the story... Well, all I can say is, where the hell is Jareth? Four chapters now and all that we've seen is a stinking owl... Hmm, it appears that our favorite leading man is a little shy in this fic. How many more chapters until he appears? Don't ask me, I'm just the writer. :)