Hi all! I hope most of you get to see the Reviewer Responses, because they were delayed when I went to work. I put them at the end of the chapter this time - tell me if you like it better that way!
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: I want to start posting on Friday mornings or Thursday evenings, so either you'll have a very early update this week, or a semi-late update next week. Probably the latter, but you'll have a good update either way!
Please enjoy the fluff - there is a lot of it. Also, yay! We broke 50 reviews! It may be a baby landmark but it's my first! Thanks you guys!
Concerning the last Challenge of the Chapter: Only three people guessed, and two of those guessed it correctly (or, at least, semi-correctly). Guess you'll have to wait for the reveal!
Chapter 4 - Dance Magic
"People learn twenty-five percent from their teacher, twenty-five percent from listening to themselves, twenty-five percent from their friends, and twenty-five percent from time." – Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello
oOo
Where there are puppets, there is a puppet master.
"Jareth!" she called into the empty room. She waited expectantly for a poof of glitter or a dramatic owl flapping at the door, but… nothing. She gritted her teeth in irritation and felt the childish urge to stamp her foot.
What do I have to do, wish for him?
The thought gave her pause. Actually, come to mention it, that was probably exactly what she needed to do.
"Jareth, the Goblin King, I… command you to appear… right now!"
She waited. The stillness of the room taunted her. Just as she thought.
Damn. I really do have to use the words 'I wish'.
Somehow, she could not bring herself to say 'I wish Jareth, the Goblin King, would appear right now'. It would have sounded too much like she… missed him, or something. Sarah wrinkled her nose in distaste and began scuffing her feet on the carpet, avoiding the inevitable. Her hands pinched at her lips as she wracked her brain.
Think, think… how do you get what you want out of this without sounding like a clingy fool? If political science has taught you anything, Sarah, it is that there is always a loophole...
"I wish… that Jareth, the Goblin King… would obey my summons to appear before me, right now."
"Not quite what I was hoping for, precious, but close enough."
She spun on him.
"Hah! It worked!" A triumphant smile was stuck to her face, and for a moment she forgot the actual reason why she had summoned him in the first place. It did not help that he seemed as though he had been undressing, with only a very open poet's shirt and soft grey breeches. He was not even wearing gloves or shoes. Sarah felt her mouth water.
If he noticed her distraction, he paid no attention to it. He only smirked his customary smirk and placed his hands on his hips. On any other man, it might have seemed effeminate, but he somehow managed to make it look lordly.
"Indeed. How very ingenious of you, my dear." His mischievous dimples said that he thought his goblins could have done much more 'ingenious' things in their sleep. When Sarah thought about what she had read just a few hours ago, she had to admit that it was a possibility. Then he shifted his hips, and she stopped thinking entirely for a few moments. "Now, what have you 'summoned' me for?"
Sarah stopped trying to imagine what his reaction would be if she raked her nails over his toned, smooth, impossibly perfect chest and was reminded of her purpose.
Oh, right. I'm supposed to be mad at him. Oops.
She attempted to throw back her shoulders and look every bit as regal and imposing as His Majesty of Tight Pants, but he only seemed mildly amused. She kept it up anyway and pursed her lips in displeasure. Fake it 'till you make it, right?
"I think you know what I called you here for, Goblin King." When he remained impassive, she continued. "The wish?"
Instantly, there was a drastic change in his appearance. Before she could draw a full breath, he went from laid-back and alluring to rigid and with forbidding intensity in his heated gaze. Sarah almost took a step back in surprise, but she held her ground - although she did lose her 'regal' composure. She now saw why he had only been slightly amused when she had tried to imitate him. If she was in the presence of someone who could radiate this kind of power so easily, it was no wonder that her attempts at importance seemed like child's play.
"Sarah." His voice cut through the air like a dart through tissue paper, and she was forcibly reminded of their first encounter. Nervously, she wondered if he was going to throw a snake at her. With unease washing over her, she realized that she had forgotten that Jareth could actually be dangerous - he possessed power she had no way of knowing and had been dealing with humans like her for millennium. How had she thought that this was at all safe? It was hard to believe that she had so severely pushed one of his buttons, but some primal instinct told her that now that the line was crossed, she must tread very carefully.
"I had hoped that you had not retained such childish, spoiled insolence. You made the wish, and I was simply gracious enough to grant it."
The panic edging through her system froze. What did he just call me?
Sarah bristled as all of the adrenaline fueled by fear was instantly redirected, wariness thrown to the wind after such a personal attack. She had not been called 'childish' and 'spoiled' since she had been fifteen, and it stung like a slap in the face. She was caught between wisely holding her tongue and giving him what-for. The effort of wanting to scream insults and swallowing the words at the last minute was making her cheeks puff and flush with a mixture of indignance and anger. Her fingernails bit crescent moons into her palms.
How dare he? They had only had one night together and he thought that he had the right to throw those kinds of assumptions in her face? Deal or not, dangerous or not, if he thought that his intimidation show was going to cow her into submissiveness, he had another think coming!
Her instinct was to follow the anger biting into her veins, but she knew that doing so would only prove him right. She knew that, dammit, but she really should have taken those anger management classes when Karen had suggested them!
Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep breath. No, Sarah Williams does not need an anger management class. Because she was a mature and level-headed adult, she would try to defuse the situation rationally right now and make him beg for forgiveness later.
But damn, how much I want to kick his ass right now!
Thinking back to his words, she tried to look past the insults and understand what was making him look at her with such hostility.
"You made the wish…"
Her eyes snapped back up to his with sharpness to rival his own. If she was right, there was only one thing she could think of to say.
"Do you really think I'm that stupid?"
He opened his mouth as if to retaliate, but she cut him off before fuel was added to the fire. "I may have been young, Jareth, but I do learn from my mistakes! I know that it was my wish and you were only doing your job!" When he still looked like he did not believe a word she was spouting, she got frustrated and stamped her foot. "Dammit! I am not going to pointlessly villainize you anymore - so stop making me want to!"
The wild look in his eyes dissipated a little. He actually seemed surprised, Sarah noticed, and she felt more than a little offended. Then again, she supposed that there really was no reason for him to trust her any more than she trusted him. As she had thought before, all that they had had was one night - neither of them owed the other anything.
Now that neither was radiating unadulterated animosity at the other, Sarah actually felt just a tiny bit guilty for getting so angry in the first place. Maybe Jareth was right and she still had…childish qualities. Like a short temper. She sighed and rubbed at her eyes, taking a few steps closer to him in order to sit herself down in the professor's vacated chair.
"Look, maybe you should take me home first and we could talk this out there? I did call you for a reason, but I could make some tea first or something, you know?"
Jareth's intensity had waned, but he had not yet again become the impish Goblin King. Instead, he was looking at her almost unblinkingly, as if to catch her every movement, and Sarah fought the urge to fidget. The carefully masked attention on his face made her wonder what was going on inside his head - she wondered if he wondered the same thing about her.
He nodded slowly and closed the distance between them with measured steps. "Tea sounds… appropriate."
Sarah felt her heart speed up a little despite everything as his proximity and scent invaded her senses. It took her a moment to realize that he was reaching a hand out to her. As she watched, he gave a fluid turn of his wrist and his hands were suddenly encased in soft grey kid skin gloves, and she refused to feel disappointed. It dawned on her that, even in sex, he had worn similar gloves - she had just been too preoccupied with other parts of his anatomy to notice.
Swallowing thickly as she shooed away such memories - they were very unfitting for the current mood, after all - she slipped her hand in his and stood. They had not been this close since that night, and she could feel waves of warmth coming off of the flat planes of his torso. Whether from his cooling temper or otherwise, it was enough to jack up her pulse another few notches.
"You may want to be a bit closer, precious." When Sarah tore her gaze away from the rise and fall of his chest with wide eyes - caught in the act - she was relieved to see that he looked in better humor. She was also a little unnerved to see that he looked like he was laughing at a secret… at her expense. "This may feel a little… odd for you."
She opened her mouth to question him, but only gasped when a lithe arm snaked around her waist and pulled her flush against his frame. Her palms came to rest on the bare skin where his collar bones met his chest, and the top of her head stopped just under his chin. She could practically taste his scent now, and it was going straight to her head (and other choice regions). Conscious of the high color on her cheeks and the exhilarating sense of adrenaline spurring through her body, she was unable to stop from inhaling deeply. She wondered if all Fae smelled like this, but she had a hard time believing that any other being could make her blood feel like lava just by his smell. Licking her lips, her eyes locked on the movement of his Adam's apple, and she wondered if it would be terribly inappropriate to taste the skin there. This smell, wild and smoky, filled with power and the sharp spice of magic, was quickly becoming addicting.
Before she could do anything too embarrassing, however, Jareth flicked his wrist and summoned a crystal. With one arm still firmly around her waist, he chuckled and rolled it tauntingly across his free hand, as if to say that he did not need it to see what her 'dreams' were. She would have been insulted, but the vibrations of his chuckle in her chest were rather distracting.
"Prepare yourself, precious," he whispered close to her ear. She shivered and obligingly sidled closer, though she was not sure if it was simply to 'prepare' herself. "I need you to think very intently about your living room. Just close your eyes, and clear your mind of anything else. Breathe, and clear your mind..."
Sarah, for once, obeyed without objection. His voice was uncharacteristically hypnotic, and she felt no reason to fight it. Behind the dark of her eyes, she could only feel the warmth of his skin and the occasional tickle of his hair against her cheek. She breathed in and imagined her stunted 'living room', filled with books and an old mismatched loveseat and futon. Her thoughts were miraculously uncluttered, the mental image surprisingly vivid. Distantly, she wondered if his weird hypnotism had something to do with it. Somewhere to the left of her head she heard Jareth whisper some foreign-sounding words into the silence.
When she heard the crystal crash, it instantly felt like her body was being encased with shards of liquid glass, sharp and fluid at once. The air around her was crushed and her thoughts were crystallized. She tried to gasp and her lungs felt like they were shrivelling - she tried to scream and all she got were tears pricking her eyes. It felt as though she were plummeting into a void, her body wired with tension, waiting for some sort of impact. She strained with the need to hold on to something, anything, to gain her feet or to at least stop this acceleration into nothingness.Her tears and thoughts alike were ripped from her by snatching tendrils in the void, taking apart everything she was and putting her back together like a ragged jigsaw puzzle. It felt as though every hair on her body was sticking up on end, skin tingling with the raw intensity of the space around her and the … magic. It was painfully bright, like opening her eyes to the high noon sun after years of pitch black darkness. Every nerve felt riveted, crackling, and alive. Painfully alive. It was breathless in every sense of the word. Magic.
Then, as soon as it had started, it stopped.
Sarah sucked in a lungful of air and swore that it had never tasted so good, despite the fact that she was forced to cough it out a moment later. The colors around her seemed brighter, and it was as if every one of her senses were hyper-aware after such an onslaught. She was shuddering, but now that she could breathe, the waves of electric magic washing over her body seemed strangely exhilarating instead of threatening. Her heart was pounding with the force of a bass drum, blood roaring in her ears, hands clenching instinctively into threaded silk and smooth satin…
A deep reverberating laugh made Sarah's insides feel molten all over again. Lean hands came up to her shoulders and began rubbing slow circles to ease the tension away. The sensation made her groan, and she dropped her head forward, loosening her death grip on Jareth's hair and shirt.
"I am impressed. Most humans would have been reduced to a boneless, sobbing mess right about now."
Sarah laughed, perhaps a bit too loudly, because she felt a little too close to tears for comfort. She began to disentangle herself, trying to act as though she had not been through the most terrifying, thrilling experience of her life. Somewhere down the line, she had latched on to Jareth as though he were a lifeline, but his arm was still in the same relaxed position around her back as it had been. Although she was huffing as if she had just run from an army of Cleaners, she could feel his heart steady as a metronome. If she was honest with herself, she was in fact veryshaken… and it irked her. She latched onto the emotion, using it as a guide away from the feelings of weakness that were threatening to destroy her ego.
"Would you like a reaction more to your expectations? I'm sure I could arrange something."
As if the Agents of Murphy's Law had been listening, the moment she edged herself two inches from the Goblin King, her knees started to give. Cursing, she reached out for the nearest support, but Jareth was already guiding her to the loveseat. She sat with as much dignity as she could muster and avoided meeting his eyes, trying not to feel like a fool while hiding her shaking hands in her lap. Her breathing and heart rate were returning to normal, and with them the feeling of exhilaration. All that was left was the odd sense that she had been put up to a trial and had somehow fallen short.
Two soft gloved fingers pressed under her chin and lifted her head until she had to look purposefully away to not meet eyes with the man before her.
"Precious." There was no condescending tone that she had been expecting - only a term of endearment spoken with enough force to make her eyes flick upwards instinctively. Potential mistake or no, she found that once their eyes met, her gaze was locked. For once, Jareth's eyes were not mocking. In fact, he was the most sincere she had ever seen him. "You have no idea how proud you should be for the power you hold."
Sarah's brow pursed, puzzled. As far as she knew, she had exemplified no such power - but Jareth did not seem to be about to let her go until she agreed, so she nodded her head. He released her slowly, and she finally did begin to fidget with her hands, feelings oddly like a child. How had they gotten into such a serious, awkward situation? What was he even here for?
Ah, yes. She still had a bone to pick with him. Yet, as he flicked two crystals into existence and turned them into cups of steaming tea, she felt like their conflict had taken place hours ago. Still, she had questions… but the words stuck in her throat.
Thankfully, Jareth beat her to the punch, settling his own cup in his lap as he sat naturally on her coffee table.
"Well, now - I believe you had something to discuss about your wish?" He took a sip and arched a brow ironically. "I need not tell you that there is no 'return policy', correct?"
Sarah nodded quickly, anxious to avoid the same misunderstanding twice. "Of course. And I do know that it was my mistake in the first place to make the wish… but I can't really say that I agree with the way you granted it."
Jareth pursed his lips and gave her a look, as if to say 'And your point is…?'.
She huffed and put down her tea, forcing herself to face him directly and openly. "I wished that I wanted more time to read those books, right? And you obviously sent the goblins so that I would get out of class early and have more time. Am I correct so far?"
He nodded, leaning forward on his elbows with a slightly mocking air. Sarah felt it tug at her nerves, but ignored it.
"What I don't understand is why you went through all that trouble. I know for a fact that you can reorder time and all that - why cause havoc in a poor English class for nothing? I mean, isn't it just a waste of energy in the first place? And for that matter," she continued, getting more heated as the words came pouring from her mouth. "Why did you have to grant the wish immediately? Of course, I knew that you were going to, but why? You could have just as easily waited until I got home and then done something to cancel my next class to give me more time, or something like that! Not only would it have been less disruptive, it would have been massively more efficient on your end, because it wouldn't require much magic or energy at all! Just...Where is the logic?" When she finally looked him in the eye again, he seemed to be smiling an odd kind of smile. Somehow, she felt encouraged. She almost wanted to brush his wild blond hair back to see his eyes better. "What in the world is going on in that ridiculous head of yours?"
Jareth smirked. "Funny, I was wondering the same thing."
When it was Sarah's time to give him a 'look', he put up his hands in surrender. "Your questions are valid, precious. The truth is, although I am the King of Goblins, I do not always have ample amounts of time to respond immediately to the thousands of wishes I hear - whether or not they are useless or valuable. In fact, it is because I am king that I often am preoccupied with attempting to hold the kingdom together. My goblins, on the other hand, find nothing so pleasing than to take hold of a particularly bright wish and run to its call at the drop of a hat. If my assistance is needed - as it was with your first wish, if you will remember - then I will come to clean up the mess behind them."
Sarah squinted, processing this information. "So… what you're saying is, goblins use magic and energy heedlessly and obey any wish that catches their fancy?"
Jareth considered. "More or less, yes, I suppose that is correct."
Now it was Sarah's turn to smirk. "Then you admit that you have no control over them?"
"I -" Jareth stopped, looking slightly stunned for the first time that evening. "Pardon me?"
"Just admit it, Jareth!" Sarah exclaimed, feeling slightly victorious now that she had found a weak spot. "The goblins are about as controllable as small children! And, no offense, but you seem to be a really bad parent figure."
Jareth looked positively miffed, and Sarah was eating it up. "I will have you know that I am an excellent disciplinarian."
Sarah snorted. "Oh, you mean by kicking them out the window? That's rich."
He sputtered, looking more insulted by the minute. "I would love to see you do any better!"
"Jareth." Sarah rolled her eyes for emphasis. "You can't teach a creature with fear alone. That's not how it works. You need to gain their trust, make them understand the rules and reasons you're laying down in front of them. Have you ever tried explaining to them why it is important for the Goblin Kingdom to conserve magical energy as much as possible?"
The king scowled, looking for all the world like a sulking teen who was being proven wrong and did not want to admit it. "No, of course not. They would never understand such a complex issue."
"See, that is part of the problem!" Sarah exclaimed. When he only shifted in his seat against her coffee table to face more away from her, she leaned back and forced herself to relax. "All right, look at it this way. Obviously goblins have the potential to be crafty, cunning, and wise, because they have been in the past - in fact, I'm not even sure why they stopped. I don't think you're giving them enough credit. I know goblins from the Goblin City, and I know how much they love their kingdom! They wouldn't do anything to harm it if they knew all the risks of taxing the magic supply of the land."
Jareth arched an eyebrow. "Are you quite finished?"
Sarah huffed. "Yes, fine, I suppose I can stop lecturing you for now. But this conversation is not over, mister." She punctuated her words by poking him playfully in the arm. "I love the Goblin Kingdom too. If I can help it by giving you a new perspective, then I'm going to lecture you to my heart's content." She gave one last poke for good measure. He gave her a warning look, but she could have sworn she saw his lips twitch at the same time.
"Very well, precious... I suppose you will do what you will. After all, as has long since been established, I have no power over you," he jibed back at her.
She gave a little theatrical gasp and held her hand over her heart. "Ouch. You wound me to the quick!"
He rolled his eyes and pulled himself to stand, whisking his teacup away with a flick of his wrist. "Oh, I am positive you will recover. Now." He offered her a hand, and she accepted it and allowed him to pull her up with him. "Are those all of your questions, my dear? I would hate to keep that inquisitive mind in the dark."
Just as she was about to respond in the affirmative, she remembered something from earlier. She frowned and bit her lip, pondering for a moment.
It's probably a stupid question anyway…
"Forget it, it's nothing."
"Oh, no." Sarah was startled by the sudden shift in Jareth's tone from playful to serious. "Mortal women may be able to fool their men with that, but I have been alive for thousands of years, precious. Now I must insist that you ask me that question before it becomes an accusation."
"I - well, I mean - you don't know that I would -" Sarah stuttered, trying to defend herself, but she knew he was right. She groaned, hoping that what she was about to say wouldn't sound as bad as it did in her head. "Fine. My question is… well… why me?"
Nope. It sounded worse.
"I mean, there are literally billions of people on this planet, and I know that you said that belief is at an all-time low, but come on! I am not going to lie - it has been more than frustrating to not be able to use the word 'wish' in common conversation. Do you realize how often people 'wish' for things? Just simple things that don't make any difference - things like Jill wishing she had an umbrella, or Jack wishing he didn't have to take a math test. Yet, I know that if I was to say such things, I would end up with a horde of goblins at my feet!" She realized that she had been flailing her arms around in her tirade, and let them flop to her sides with a defeated sound. "I guess I just want to know why, that's all… but now I just sound like I'm whining, and I wish I never - I mean, I should have never said anything, because now -"
"Sarah."
"What?"
"Stop talking, if you please."
She clicked her mouth shut but pouted mightily. Jareth was back to looking regal and self-assured, and Sarah wistfully placed the memory of her one-upping him in a cherished place.
Instead of laughing at how self-absorbed her question sounded, however, Jareth simply gave her that curious look that she had seen on him before. In a moment, she was transformed once again from woman to puzzle beneath his eyes. This time, she chose to meet his gaze instead of fidget… and she realized that he was just as much of a puzzle to her.
"You are right."
Sarah blinked. Whatever she had been expecting, it had not been the quiet, thoughtful admission she had just received. "What?"
"You are right - there are at least thousands of others who have retained their power of belief past childhood. Granted, it used to be millions… but you are not alone even now." Unexpectedly, almost… tenderly, the Goblin King brushed her hair aside to tuck it behind her ears, as if to look at her the better. Her breath caught in her throat and she could not have blinked if she wanted to. The sensation of soft kidskin against her cheek, feather light, made her have to resist leaning into his touch. "All the same, I think you do not understand the power of your belief. Even I do not yet know what makes it so potent, but I am... drawn to you. To be utterly honest, I do not believe that I could ignore one of your wishes if I wanted to."
If this had been any other time, Sarah would have been skeptical. Yet, the look in his eyes made her as sure of his truthfulness as she was of her own. He looked vulnerable and conflicted in a way she had never seen, and she knew that it probably frustrated him to no end that, for once, he was just as clueless as she was. In that moment, she thought she understood him with a new clarity that made her wonder if he could see through her just as easily. Then, because she knew better than anyone how it felt to not have the only answer she wanted, she took his hand and smiled.
"I am exhausted from living up to your expectations," she quipped with a grin.
Slowly, he returned it, and scoffed a little. "How generous of you."
They shared a comfortable silence and an inside joke, letting the confusion of life melt into the past for the moment. Absentmindedly, Sarah let her gaze wander down to the pendant that was perpetually around his neck, feeling the urge to trace it. She wondered if it had any function, like his gloves obviously seemed to have.
Just as she was about to reach out and touch it, Jareth gasped into the silence, making her hand lose its path.
"Ah! I almost forgot." Jareth took a step back and made a series of complicated movements with his hands. When he finally opened them to her, he was offering her a crystal. "Your wish."
"What?" She stepped forward to get a better look at it, confused. "I thought that was taken care of when the goblins canceled my class?"
She gave a huff when he took a step back for every step she took forward, never allowing her to see or touch the crystal too closely. He ignored her irritation flawlessly.
"That was only one part of the wish, as it obviously has yet to be fulfilled. You asked for more time to read your books: this is a Time Crystal. Once it is broken, it will freeze the time within your sphere of existence for - "
" - Let me guess. Thirteen hours?"
He pinched her nose. "Stop trying to be smart, precious, it ruins my speech."
Smacking his hand away, she rolled her eyes. "Fine, then. Please continue, Your Majesty."
He grinned. "Gladly. As I was saying, time will stop for exactly thirteen hours. But beware - it can only be used at once, and as soon as it is cracked, the time will begin. Only the person who cracks it will be able to control its time, and it can be cracked by anyone. Furthermore, if you activate it while in another person's presence, they will be frozen in time, but alive."
Sarah nodded uncertainly, trying to commit all of what he was saying to memory. "But… what exactly does that mean, 'frozen in time, but alive'?"
"It means that their bodies will still be active, but their minds will be instantaneously shut off."
She frowned, first at the crystal, then at him. "Is that dangerous?"
He shrugged. "It is possible that there could be adverse effects. Memory loss, a spout of dementia, fainting due to lack of nourishment… the possibilities are simple endless."
"Oh. I, ah… I see." She eyed the crystal a little more carefully now.
He smiled, as if reading her thoughts. "I would not fret, precious. The bubble of time you have to yourself will be in your immediate area. Time outside of the bubble will play on as it would have, although no one will come looking for you because of the redirectional magic of the crystal's spell. Once the spell ends, however, time will reverse itself to accommodate it, and you can resume your daily life as it would have been from the moment before you cracked the crystal."
"Now how does that not have any 'adverse effects'?"
"For all the others around you for whom time is reversed, they will simply feel the sensation of what humans like to call 'deja vu'. Quite harmless."
"Okay…" Sarah nodded. "That sounds… well, perfect, actually. I'll take it!"
But just as she stretched for the crystal, he held it out of her reach and tutted.
"Ah-ah-ah, not so fast." He held the crystal just out of her reach. The look in his eyes dared her. "What will your payment be?"
"My… payment?"
He nodded. "Every wish comes with a price… that is, unless, the wish is the payment, as it was with your first wish. In fact, my goblins have already taken the time and energy to come to the Aboveground for your sake. Whether or not you take the crystal, you are already in my debt."
Sarah grimaced and thought. If there was anything that college had taught her, it was that 'debt' was a very nasty, ugly, dirty word.
"Um… I don't suppose you'd accept a kiss would you?"
When Jareth actually threw back his head to laugh, Sarah giggled awkwardly, wondering if he was laughing at her or with her. Even when he stopped, his grin was practically feral. "Oh no, my dear. I'm afraid that department has already been taken care of with our deal."
Sarah threw up her hands, exasperated. "Well… I'm a college student, Jareth! Unless you want some chemistry textbooks - "
He faltered for a moment, baffled. "Chem - what?"
" - then you're kind of barking up the wrong tree! I really don't have anything of value right now!"
Any of her mother's jewelry that had been handed down to her was away with her father and Karen, who were keeping it safe. Almost all of her clothes and furniture was secondhand in some way or another, whether it hailed from the Goodwill or a generous garage sale. Probably the only thing of value she had at the moment were her textbooks, come to think of it, considering that they cost her hundreds of dollars by themselves. The more Sarah thought of it, the more she began to get depressed. She stopped thinking about it.
"I mean… what do you want from me?" she asked hopelessly.
Jareth seemed to consider for a moment, but the twinkle in his eye said that he knew exactly what he was going to say.
"What about… a dance?"
"... Excuse me?"
He held out a hand to her, with the other juggling the crystal effortlessly. She eyed it hungrily. "You heard me, precious. One simple dance, and all of this time is yours."
Her eyes tore away from the crystal to regard him beseechingly. "You're kidding, right? I can't dance."
He raised his eyebrows in feigned shock. "I'm surprised at you, Sarah. You seemed to dance quite perfectly during our first encounter."
Sarah tilted her head at him. "What are you - oh. Oh." She flushed. "Well, that can hardly be considered my dancing. I don't have the benefit of an enchanted peach right now, now do I?"
The Goblin King only chuckled and offered his hand more insistently. "Like it or not, you will be required to dance at the ball in two weeks. Really, I am doing you a great service by magnanimously offering you something you want for something that you already need."
She balked at him. "No one said anything about dancing!"
He gave her a pointed look. "Sarah, love - it is a ball."
Even as she drew in breath to retaliate, Sarah deflated when she realized he was right. She grumbled. She hated him being right almost as much as she hated being wrong. She eyed the crystal ball in his hands, knowing full well how much of a treasure it was. But did the price have to be her dignity? Magical peaches aside, Sarah was known for having two left feet. That had been part of the reason why the belly dancing had been so short lived. Then again, what she had said before was completely and depressingly true - she was the definition of starving college student. She had little else to trade.
"I really don't have much of a choice, do I?"
Jareth looked positively wicked. "That would be the idea, precious."
She sighed, and finally took his hand, allowing him to help her up. "Alright, alright, fine. But give me that crystal first. I will not stand for any goblin trickery with this."
"I would not dream of it, my dear." He smirked and lightly tossed her the crystal. Caught off guard, she yelped and fumbled, nearly dropping the damn thing before recovering her footing. When she had it safely cradled in both hands, she glared at him. He shrugged innocently as if to say, 'It's not my fault that you're a klutz'.
Grumbling, she went to quickly stash the crystal in her super secret hiding place (a hollowed out book that she had found at a yard sale… go figure), making sure to bury it as far back on her bookshelf as possible. Standing back to survey her work, she felt satisfied that neither thief nor goblin would think to dig under her tomes. Now she just had to hope that she didn't forget where it was.
Dusting her hands of the situation, she resigned herself to dance lessons with Mr. Magic Pants. When she came to the threshold that was supposed to go back to her living room, she stopped short. She had not resigned herself to dance lessons with Mr. Magic Pants in an actual ballroom.
Where her mediocre accommodations were before now stood a luxurious, wide open ballroom that looked to be larger than the entire expanse of her apartment combined. Sarah was frozen. She blinked, pinched herself, and rubbed her head, wondering if she had slipped and fallen and was now in a bizarre coma dream. Then, however, she looked to her left and saw, next to a majestic marble pillar, her beaten loveseat… which was being lounged upon by an delectable, sly, arrogant, insufferable -
"Jareth! What the hell is all of this?"
He looked around him with a serene smile plastered on his infuriatingly gorgeous face, as if just noticing his surroundings. "Like it? I figured it would do much better than that other, er… venueyou had."
"Venue - ? Jareth, that was my apartment! You had better change it back!"
"Do not fret, my dear. Your… living quarters will be returned to you as soon as you fulfill your payment." Jareth came to stand with ease and grace that Sarah was instantly envious of. When he lazily sauntered in front of her, she noticed that he, too, had made a wardrobe change… and that he looked damn good in an old fashioned coat and tails. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her chin defiantly. He was trying to distract her, and it would not work. She may have been easily swayed when it came to his physical presence, but she had will power, dammit.
"This is ridiculous, Jareth. How much magic did you even have to use to expand this space, anyway? Maintaining distortion of the physical world doesn't come cheap, you know!"
For a moment, Sarah felt smug with success when the suave smile he had was wiped off in the face of surprise. Take that, fancy pants.
"How did you know that?"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Come on, Jareth, you were the one who gave me those books in the first place. One of the first things it talks about is the price of Underground and Aboveground interaction. You keep talking about how the Goblin Kingdom is doing so poorly, but then you go and spend whatever energy and magic you have like this? How does that make any sense? No wonder the goblins use magic willy-nilly!"
Jareth frowned, but looked around with a more thoughtful air instead of sulking like the last time.
"I suppose it is a bit… grandiose."
"Good, yes, thank you!" Sarah felt like she was making progress. "Now what are you going to do about it?"
Taking a few steps that echoed around the opulent vaulted ceiling, Jareth surveyed the setting like an artist about to make a monumental change to his masterpiece. Sarah felt like tapping her foot, but let him take his time. Hopefully, this would yield some less ridiculous results.
Jareth raised his arms and began to murmur foreign incantations, pulling his arms as though he was manipulating puppet threads woven into the room. Sarah gasped when she began to feel the silk and electricity of magic sliding over her skin once again, similar but different from the transportation experience. This time was not quite so soul-shatteringly intense, but simply… breathtaking. She watched in awe as Jareth's magic swam and danced in ribbons of light, his concentrated baritone incantations an undulating background noise. Slowly, the vaulted ceilings and chandeliers dissolved into light and bubbles. The walls glided inwards to form a more intimate acquaintance, but the large, arching windows continued to flood the room with sunlight. The unnecessary furniture in the room was whisked away in a sparkling smoke, and Jareth seemed to be putting the final touches on his creation. With a final gesture, all of the magic that had been flirting with reality came to return to its source, forming a whirlpool of light and color in front of the Goblin King. For one instant, Sarah had to shield her eyes from the near blinding effect - but then it all receded into his hands, and the glow diffused to normal.
She gaped even as he turned around and dusted his hands, as if to say 'Well, now that that little chore is taken care of -!'.
"Jareth, that was beautiful."
He raised his eyebrows when he saw her, then covered his mouth as if to keep from laughing. "I daresay it is."
Sarah looked at him in confusion, until she noticed that he was staring pointedly at her clothes and not her face. For a panicked moment, she worried that she may have even drooled while she was gawking in amazement. When she looked down, however, it became apparent that a stain would have been the least of her worries.
"Jareth, absolutely not. Take it off right now."
"With pleasure," he purred. His advance was cut short when Sarah finally snapped and threw a temper tantrum, slapping his hands away, feeling an angry flush work its way up from her chest.
"Not that way, you idiot! Change it back! I refuse to wear this dress again!"
Her rage was significantly less impactful in the white poofy ballgown that she had worn so many years ago. Jareth was laughing by this point, and nearly doubled over at that. Despite the scene he had just gifted her with only moments ago, she felt the uncontrollable urge to rip his hair out.
"Jareth, this is not funny!"
"You - you look - sorry, a moment…" he tried to choke out words between laughter. If she had not felt so close to spitting, she would have probably joined him. His laughter was more free and full than she had ever seen it, and it was contagious. Fortunately or unfortunately, her wrath gave her immunity better than any vaccine. Instead, she simply ground her teeth, marched up to him, and grabbed him by his flawless lapels.
"Listen to me, you overblown 80's rock persona - and if that is too difficult, then read my lips." She growled. "Change. It. Back."
His laughter had now contained itself to an irritatingly wide smile, and he gently grabbed her wrists and eased her out of attack position.
"My apologies, precious - truly." The grin in his voice spoke otherwise, and she glowered. "I simply got carried away… but you do look lovely."
"Jareth…" she snarled a warning.
"Of course, precious." He laid his gloved hands to hover mere centimeters from her shoulders, and in the next moment, his whispered words trickled over her skin like rivulets of that same addicting feeling of magic. The frigid heat of the spell stripped away her anger almost instantly, replacing it once again with wonder. Distantly, she thought that she ought to try to memorize this feeling so that she could write it in a story one day, despite the fact that she was unsure if it could be captured in words.
So, she closed her eyes and coveted every fleeting moment like jewels slipping through her fingers. She could feel her skin bloom with a map of gooseflesh where the magic touched, could see unnatural, beautiful colors rush behind her eyelids. Familiar adrenaline ignited in her pulse as if to sing back to the tune of the spell weaving around her, with none of the pain of the transportation. Every hair stood at attention, every sense invigorated and alive. She could even smell the faint scent of what she recognized as the fresh tang and spice of magic. It whispered in her ears, and she could have sworn that she heard the beginning of the most delicate, heartrending aria she had ever heard.
Then, all too soon, it dissipated, leaving her feeling oddly refreshed and, at the same time, wishing for more. It even took her a moment to realize that the cool, smooth fabric against her skin was not her ordinary jeans and T-shirt that she had thrown on to go to class in.
Looking down, she was surprised to see that Jareth had replaced one dress with another - but where the last one was a humiliating reminder of one of her weakest moments in the Labyrinth, this one was simple and elegant. In fact, if she was honest, it was probably the most beautiful thing she had ever had on her body. It conformed to her natural curves but almost seemed to have a life of its own, shimmering gossamer shifting over sea-green silk like a mist. The neckline was a V-neck that swooped downward, but stopped at a surprisingly decent length, and the skirts flowed around her legs uninhibiting lightness.
Not only is it the most beautiful, she thought, it's probably the most comfortable thing I've ever had on my body. I feel like I'm being hugged by a rainbow. Still, she raised an eyebrow at him.
He raised one right back. "Were you under the impression that those who attend Underground balls wear jeans?"
Sarah flushed, feeling oddly defensive. "O-of course not, but -"
"I want you to be as prepared as possible, precious." Jareth cut her off, not unkindly. "Fae in general cannot be considered the most… accepting of beings. The Fae Court is even less so. Therefore, if you just happened to trip and fall in the middle of a dance because you were unused to the sensation of skirts, the reception would not exactly be pleasant."
In her head, Sarah admitted that this sounded at least a little bit logical - It was basically a dress rehearsal and a lesson at the same time. But of course, she could not have the Goblin King thinking that she thought he was right.
"You just wanted to see me in a dress, didn't you," she accused good-naturedly. He grinned in response.
"It is a bonus, perhaps."
Sarah snorted and held up her hands. "Alright, Goblin King. Show me what I have to do."
What she had to do was, apparently, much more difficult than she had expected. The Goblin King had taken her hands in his and placed them in the standard position - her left hand on his shoulder, her right hand clasped in his. Strangely enough, the hand at her waist never strayed… and she soon found out why. When he had said that she needed to learn to dance, he had not been exaggerating - and he was not exactly the most patient of teachers.
"Ow."
"Sorry, sorry!" A mere thirty minutes into their impromptu lesson, Sarah had already formed the bad habit of stepping on her partner's unfortunate toes. The first few times she had laughed, but as time passed, the joke grew weary for the both of them. By this time, which Sarah estimated to have been at least an hour or two, she just felt like burying herself alive with embarrassment.
To say that Sarah was out of her element would have been an understatement. She was frazzled and tense, even though Jareth said that he was going less than half the speed that the dance steps would actually be performed in. Her earlier doubts about being able to fulfill her end of their bargain returned with full force, weighing more heavily on her shoulders with every misstep and head bump.
This was why, as Sarah ended up stepping left instead of right as she should have, and her nose unceremoniously bashed into the Goblin King's arm, she lost what little control she had on her growing temper.
"That's it!" Her eyes watered in response to her tingling nose, which she was massaging. "Jareth, I obviously cannot do this! We'll just have to make an excuse, like I'm an invalid, or something. This is not going to work!"
Sighing with a little more force than was necessary, the Goblin King regarded her with hands on hips. "Unfortunately, we are going to have to make it work. Nobility in the Underground are going to expect much more from the future 'queen' of the Goblin Kingdom than a simple dance. This dance happens to be the most important and formal - it has been a part of Fae history since… its beginning! All of the others, you may be able to get out of, but never this one. Every Fae in the Underground is taught this dance, no matter their rank or standing."
"Well, I guess it's too bad that I'm not exactly a Fae, then, isn't it?" Sarah shot back, eyes blazing.
Jareth pursed his lips. "It is not something that can be learned in as little time as we have been working on it. We simply need to go through the whole thing until it becomes more natural."
She groaned, sorely wishing she had her loveseat to flop down into. Unfortunately, it was across the room, and her feet were not about to let her take that journey. When Jareth had provided her with her dress, she had discovered that she had low-heeled slippers to match, but they had not exactly agreed with her feet. Despite the luxurious fabric, she could already feel a blister forming on her right foot, and the arch of her left foot was tingling with pain from the lack of support.
Just as she was considering flopping to the ground in lieu of her favorite chair, she heard a crash coming from her bedroom. Her head snapped in that direction, but she heard little else.
"What was that?"
"Come now, precious, you cannot distract me so easil - "
"Hush!" She stuck a silencing hand out to him, eyes fixated on her closed bedroom door. "I just heard it again. I think that there's someth -"
Before her suspicions of a break-in could go too far, however, she shrieked in surprise when her bedroom door finally burst open to reveal… a horde of guilty-looking goblins.
She gaped, sore feet forgotten. From the look of them, they had been spying on them this whole time, pressed into each other and now in a tangled pile.
"What the devil -?" Jareth's attention had been caught now. "What is going on here?"
One of the more daring - or stupid - goblins scampered up from the heap and tutted its way all the way up to the king.
"This not dancing! Where's the musics?" The goblin hopped from foot to foot, dancing around the two of them to provide his example. "How the Lady supposed to learn with no musics?"
Unexpectedly, a chorus of agreements issued from the heap as goblins began detaching themselves. Soon enough, Jareth and Sarah were surrounded by a circle of obnoxiously singing, twirling, hooting goblins. One of them grabbed her hand.
"Come on, Lady!" invited the goblin. It looked vaguely female. "You can learn to dance with us!"
"Silence!" Jareth looked like he was about to blow a fuse. The girl goblin eeped and scurried behind her partners. "Fine then - if you lot think that you can do such a better job, then have at it!"
"Wha - I -!" Sarah sputtered. Before she had a chance to articulate any form of protest, the goblins had already begun whooping and hollering.
"Bring the musics!" One of them yelled.
Without hesitation, one of the older looking goblins snapped his fingers, and a little ball of light about the size of a crystal floated above their heads. Sarah gasped, but not just because it looked like something out of a dream, but because of the music it was emitting. It tugged at her memory, and she finally recognized it as the melody she heard briefly when Jareth had changed her wardrobe. Only this time, it was much more than a brief whisper - it was a symphony that instruments could not imitate. At turns it rushed wild, filling the room with its own energy, and then it would taper back into something more intimate. The goblins, for one, never missed a beat, and their ordinarily random movements pulsed with purpose in time to the music. Sarah felt like she could not sit still, felt like she needed to dance - but only stood in discomfort because she did not know the steps. She glanced guiltily at Jareth.
"The music is beautiful, but…" She shrugged helplessly.
Jareth, on the other hand, blinked in surprise. "You mean, you hear this?"
She tilted her head. "Shouldn't I?"
As an answer, she only received that ever-more-frequent look that made her feel like a puzzle. The only problem was, the more she got it, the more she felt like she should not have been.
Is something wrong with me? She wondered suddenly, worried.
The goblins never gave her a chance to think more on her fears. While neither of them had been watching, three goblins had formed a small goblin tower by sitting on each other's shoulders. Sarah was briefly reminded of a scene from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and could not help a burst of laughter.
"Come dance with us, Pretty Lady!" the bottom goblin cried as they lurched their way over to her. She noticed that it was the same smooth-skinned goblin who had been talking to her in the chaos of the classroom. They all looked so joyful and hopeful that she gave in with a chuckle, taking the top goblin's hands in her own. This goblin was like a round version of the bottom goblin, short, smooth-skinned, and green. Without the sharp features of the first goblin, Sarah was inevitably reminded of a pea.
"Let me guess - brothers?" She asked, gesturing to the two top and bottom goblins. The middle goblin looked a little put out, his shrivelled brown skin creasing more with a frown.
The bottom goblin snickered. "We is all brothers, Lady! I is Kitik -"
"I is Binib!" piped the top goblin.
" - And I is Trash Muncher," the middle goblin said, with a voice that sounded like a garbage disposal. When Sarah looked taken aback, Trash Muncher shrugged, jostling Binib in the process. "Pappy got to name me. Call me Munchie, Pretty Lady."
Despite everything, Sarah could not help a giggle at Munchie's comically sour expression.
"Well, Sir Munchie, it is an honor to make your acquaintance," Sarah replied. Munchie looked so startled by her formality - joking though it was - that he gaped enough to show three missing teeth. Shaking his head, Munchie shook Binib upon his shoulders.
"What're you just sittin' there for? We hafta teach Lady how to dance!" He proclaimed, suddenly sounding much more enthusiastic. Sarah laughed and obligingly took Binib's hands.
Dancing, she knew, should have been impossible. Her feet were sore from two hours of intensive training, she was dancing with goblins awkwardly sitting on top of each other, and there were more goblins running around and enjoying themselves at her feet. The odds, like the goblins, were stacked against her favor.
Yet, something was drastically different in a way that defied those odds. She did not step on Kitik's feet once, nor those of any of the goblins surrounding them. Even as she twirled in Binib's arms with more than a little difficulty, given their length, she felt like she… belonged. The time spent toiling with the Goblin King over what feet went where at what time simply melted into the background, and she felt like she knew exactly where she was going.
It's the music, she thought suddenly. Every twist of the tune emitted from that strange ball of magic told her how to turn, as if it was some secret language that she could not have understood before. It was impossible not to dance when this music was in the room. All she had to do was let her mind be filled with that tune and everything melted away.
She threw her head back and laughed when Kitik suddenly broke into a jig complicated footwork, with Munchie and Binib bouncing around as a result. Just as she was backing herself up to catch one of them if they fell, however, she felt herself bump into something.
That's strange, she thought. I didn't think we were so close to the wall…
The hands steadying her shoulders, however, did not belong to a wall. Surprised, she craned her head backwards and discovered that she was receiving a very arched eyebrow from His Majesty. She gave him a cheeky grin.
"I've found a wonderful dance partner, Jareth, you really should meet him… er… them."
Jareth gave a pointed look at the goblin brothers. When Sarah looked back, she had to cover her mouth to resist laughing - without her support, the three were quickly losing their balance, too caught up in bickering with each other to realize the problem. Sarah flinched when they came crashing down, yelling at each other and shaking fists in their new heap. In the end, she could not help chuckling a little, even as they were shooed away from the dancing circle by others to take their squabble elsewhere.
"May I have this dance?" Jareth's voice was low and his lips brushed against her ear. Sarah gasped, cutting off her chuckle almost immediately. The mirth bubbling in her chest instantly took on a different agenda, and she found herself turning in Jareth's grasp to face him.
"How can I say no to royalty?" She smiled slowly. He rolled his eyes at her, but took her hand and pulled her closer by the waist. Sarah could suddenly not make her lungs work correctly. Even though it could not have been half an hour since they had last been in this position, it could not have felt more different. There was a new something that sparked between them, and for a moment Sarah wondered if she was the only one who felt it. When she looked up into Jareth's eyes and found them riveted to her own with that increasingly familiar puzzled aura, and she knew that she was not. Given the Goblin King's incredulous expression, she also figured that it probably was not normal… but once they took the first step and got swept away in the music, she could not find it in herself to care.
"Incredible," he whispered. "If I had not seen it, I don't think I would believe it."
She blushed under his gaze, but held her eyes to his own. "What? Is me dancing really that incredible?"
"Yes!" he burst. At her withering expression, he attempted to correct himself. "Well, no… not exactly, at least. I just… you should not be able to hear this music. And it certainly should not have affected you like this."
"And why is that?" She asked, curious. He stepped and she twirled, breaking the conversation, but when they returned, his expression had not changed.
"It is… difficult to explain." He said finally. "This music is meant to be for Fae ears only."
She put her hands on his shoulders and he lifted her by the waist, neither noticing that their actions were mirrored by a dozen goblins.
"And why is that?" She smirked. "Your music is too good for us humans to hear?"
Although, she had to admit as she listened to the honeyed notes, she would not have wanted to share it either.
Jareth shook his head. "You don't understand. This music is meant to be heard only by those with magic."
Sarah almost froze in surprise, but her partner and the crystal-clear notes that sang through the air kept her going. Despite her shock, Jareth continued.
"That was why I never bothered to try teaching you with it, because I thought it was pointless. That is why this song and dance is so important to the Fae - it has been our custom since the beginning of our kind, the one and only thing that has truly ever been ours, separate from humans. I thought that I could teach you the pattern of the steps and that that would be enough to get us through the ball, but… obviously, I was wrong."
"What are you telling me, Jareth?" Sarah asked with wide eyes. Cold surprise and trepidation were gripping her insides, dulling the effects of the music. She stumbled a little. "Are you saying that I'm really a Fae? That I'm not human?"
He shook his head quickly. "No, of course not. I would have been able to sense it within you had you even had Fae lineage. No, you are quite human, Sarah, but… I am beginning to think that your power is more than even I had expected."
They fell silent after that, even though Sarah felt questions simmering just beneath the surface from both of them. Jareth, for once, seemed just as new to this as she was.
Well then, she thought, trying to tamp down her unease. Might as well enjoy it!
A swell in the music seemed to comply to her wishes, and Jareth held her a little closer than before as they took off with the current. Unlike the first time they had danced together, she did not feel the magical haze of a spelled peach fogging her brain. Unlike the second time they had danced together, she did not feel the frustrated haze of incompetency fogging her emotions.
Third time's the charm, she smiled.
Jareth's hands were warm on hers even through his gloves, and his gaze was warmer. Though he dipped her and twirled her and swept her away in time to the music, she never faltered. Before, she had been lost in a maze of complicated moves and sequences, but now… the music was like a compass and he was her guide. With the both of them, it was impossible for her to get lost.
The music slowed and she rested her cheek on his shoulder. He did not seem to mind. They turned a few times together, and Sarah found her eyes closing, humming along with a tune she had never heard before and trying to memorize this experience. His hair brushed like feathers on her cheek, and his scent embraced her even as his arms did. Vaguely, she realized that they were in a very similar position as when they transported here together… and the safety she felt made all the difference. She felt his chin against her head - not quite nuzzling, but enough pressure to let her know he was there.
"Precious…"
She began to look up, distancing herself a little from his chest so that she could see his eyes. Instantly she wished she had not.
Instead of the mismatched eyes she was so used to, she met gazes with abnormally large green ones with a cat-like pupil splitting them down the middle. Sarah stiffened in shock. Seeing agoblin instead of the Goblin King made worlds of difference.
The goblin, on the other hand, simply held his perch on Jareth's shoulder and cocked his head at her. Like a child, he reached up and tugged on Jareth's ear, making the man jump and look down, startled. "What the devil - !"
"Kingie find a new Queenie?"
The question seemed to shock both of them, if Sarah was judging Jareth's sudden tenseness correctly. He eyed the goblin at an awkward angle. "In a manner of speaking…"
Sarah thought of their deal. She blushed, thinking that that was definitely not what the goblin was talking about.
The goblin, on the other hand, was oblivious. He (she thought it was a 'he') nodded. "Good. Pretty Lady should be Queenie Lady too!"
"Um…" Sarah started uncomfortably. Just as Jareth opened his mouth to respond - whether it was a reprimand or a otherwise - the magical atmosphere was broken by the foreign sound of metal scratching against metal. The music stopped, and everyone froze. Even Sarah could not figure it out for a moment.
Suddenly, she gasped. "It's the door - someone's trying to get in!"
The goblins, apparently of like mind, all began scurrying and scrambling for her bedroom. The wizened goblin that had released the music earlier recollected it, and they all took off for what she assumed was her vanity mirror. Jareth had long since released her, but he stayed put.
"Do you want me to - "
"Sarah! Are you home? Let me in! This stupid spare you gave me isn't working!"
Sarah breathed a sigh of relief and exasperation at the same time.
"It's a friend of mine - I'm safe. But you need to go!" She pushed Jareth towards the bedroom with the rest of them. "Like, now!"
"That won't be necessary, precious." He eased himself out of her grasp. When she looked at his hands again, she realized that he held two crystals. One he threw into the air, and there was a strange sucking noise, as if a void had been opened up in her living room. The next moment, she gasped, realizing that everything was suddenly back in its place - her books, her futon and her love seat. She was even wearing her jeans again.
Jareth gave her a wink and swooped forward to give her an unexpected, heated kiss. "Try not to miss me too much, precious," he whispered in her ear. Her cheeks were flaming.
Without further ado, he whispered words into the crystal and in a flash of blinding light… he was gone. The silence from her bedroom door indicated that the goblins had made it out too.
She touched her lips in a daze. What the hell just happened?
She did not have time to answer her own question, however, for her apartment door swung open just then, delivering her best friend in a heap in the doorway. With a spew of curses, she picked herself up and dusted off her sundress. When she saw Sarah, she gawked. Sarah panicked for a moment, wondering if something was out of place, or maybe she was covered with glitter -
"You were here the whole time?" Amanda sounded outraged. "Why didn't you help me?"
I was trying to buy time for the goblins and their king to get out before you got in. Sarah remained silent.
Thankfully, Amanda's one-track mind had her hurrying forward. "Never mind, it's whatever. But Sarah, look what I just found in a discount bin!"
She was excitedly waving around a skinny rectangle that could only have been a DVD case. Sarah had a sinking feeling in her gut.
"Amanda, don't tell me…" When her friend only stared at her, Sarah brought a hand up to scrub her face. "I thought I said that the spare key was for emergencies only?"
Amanda looked indignant and hurt at the same time. "But Sarah, this is an emergency. You've never seen The Neverending Story! Besides," she let her lip tremble, ever the Theatre major. "We haven't had a movie night in weeks!"
Sarah glanced longingly at her bedroom door, where creatures from an entirely different realm had just scurried off to their homes. She sighed, and snatched The Neverending Story from her hands.
"Fine. You go make the popcorn. I'll get my computer so we can huddle around it."
Amanda squealed in glee and raced to the kitchen with all the buoyancy of a puppy. Sarah dutifully retrieved her laptop and settled herself on the futon with a nest of blankets and pillows, setting up for movie night. She mentally prepared herself for what she knew to be a trippy 80's children's film that her friend just happened to be obsessed with.
She snorted, thinking of her latest house guests.
As if I hadn't had enough of that already. She heard a ding from the kitchen.
"Popcorn's ready!"
Reviewer Responses:
LovelyAmberLight: Thank you for your kind words! I'm glad you found the "fun" in the "function" of the last chapter, because I know that some of it was tedious to read. ^^ Hope you continue reading/liking! (And reviewing)
screamersilent: I still can't get over the fact that people think I'm humorous... and you're one of them! *squee* Thank you!
comical freaka: Yay! Someone caught and commented on Saint Jareth the Unicorn Taimer! I was hoping for that! Hugs for you, you precious thing! ;)
Saphira: you nailed That on the head perfectly. Was it too predictable? I mean, I left quite a few Easter eggs, so I'm glad someone got it... but I don't want to be thinking I was clever when really it was obvious. In any case, Sarah thanks you for your well wishing! ;)
crystalballenvy: And I'm so happy that you're so happy that I updated! Yay yay yay! ^^
Guest: I don't know who you are, but you wrote me two paragraphs of in-depth, structured praise. My heart goes out to you, Nameless Reviewer. I agree with most of what you said - although Sarah is definitely not the only successful runner in Labyrinth history, she IS the only one within this century... but she's also 'rare and unique' for other reasons yet to be revealed. ;) Thanks for reading and reviewing, and I hope you continue with it!
lanthe: You have some good insight, my friend! Sarah, and all of her mystifying human powers, will definitely shake up the Labyrinth! ;) Hope you like what will happen!
Flower: First of all, your review was 100% NOT flames, and I greatly appreciate your critical feedback. Secondly, I know exactly what you're talking about because I was actually conscious of it while I was writing - the pacing and delivery of the Labyrinth history was something I was really nervous about in the last chapter. However, I simply think I'm too young and inexperienced a writer to work around it - I didn't know how else to deliver it, without the information being spread over a long succession of much more subtle chapters... and I didn't think that that would fit the plot flow as well. But, with your feedback, maybe I'll be ale to think of something in the future! Other than that, I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and sorry that the last chapter wasn't very engaging - hopefully this one was better! I hope you continue reading. Since this is gonna be a long story, I'm sure to develop as a writer on the way. :) Thanks!
Honoria Granger: We've already chatted about how amazing your review is, and how amazing YOU are! :) :) :) And I'm glad you like the Biological and Physical Magic stuff... I'm going to have lots of fun with it.
Junia Grey: Thank you for appreciating the books! And I'm really glad you thought Jareth was in character... sometimes I worry that I write him too much like I write Sarah. Sadly, your guess atThat was incorrect... but thanks for trying! You were one of the brave few! :) Look forward to your feedback in the next Challenge of the Chapter!
Shiro Anubis: I can't believe I made you purr! XD That's so exciting! I feel so accomplished! I also 100% agree with the way The Labyrinth sets itself up for all kinds of backstory potential - it is like a petri dish for developing stories! I'm super glad you think I took advantage of this, because that is definitely what I was aiming for. I mean, it's an entirely different magic realm - how can I not have fun with it? ;) Hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much! ^^
** Also, apologies to those of you who read this chapter before the edits... I left an author note to my editor in there! BTW, if you guys ever see bolded script in the writing, please let me know... it's not supposed to be there!
**Challenge of the Chapter**
Send me a favorite quote of yours, and I'll work it either into the story itself, or the chapter quotes that I put at the beginning every time.