Chapter nine is now up! Thanks so much to everyone who's been reviewing! You are awesome! Enjoy this chapter, and please let me know what you think!

Chapter Nine: Not Everything is as it Seems

Sarah had a miserable headache the next morning. She was in no good mood as she walked downstairs, still in her pajamas, and when Jareth appeared in the kitchen doorway, she let all of her frustration unleash itself.

"Good morning, Sarah. I trust you slept well?" Jareth asked.

Sarah turned to face him, a scowl on her face. She walked over to him, and without warning, grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him against the wall.

"Why didn't you tell me about my power?" she shouted. "I could have killed someone with that dragon! Or my stepmother! Think of how many times I wished she would fall into wet concrete or break one of her shoe heels!"

"Seems that you just need to control your thoughts more," Jareth smirked.

"You listen!" Sarah snapped, shoving her face into his. "This is the worst joke you've played yet, Goblin King! You know fully well I can't control that! What if I got really angry and flippantly wished someone was dead? What if I wished you were dead?"

"It wouldn't work on me, dearest. I am the gift-giver; therefore, your wishes would have no effect on me."

"Take your gift back!" Sarah shouted. "I don't want to see anyone get hurt!"

"I will teach you how to control it," Jareth said, putting his hands over her wrists. "You'll thank me for it."

"I will not!" Sarah growled. "Now let go of me so I can get some Tylenol!"

"I thought you were the one holding on to me?" Jareth smiled.

"Jareth!" Sarah shouted. "If you kiss me again, I will hurt you!"

"I'm not going to kiss you," Jareth said. "Let me ease your headache."

"You're just giving me a greater one!"

Jareth ignored Sarah's resistance and gently moved one of his hands to the back of her head. Sarah stopped struggling as he began to stroke the back of her head, fingers weaving softly through her dark hair. She closed her eyes slowly and then leaned her head back into his hand.

His touch was like soothing waves of the sea, sweeping silkily over her and pulling away every ache in her head. Sarah couldn't help but let out a sigh of comfort as the headache eased away with every touch of the Goblin King.

When Jareth stopped, Sarah didn't step away. She kept her eyes closed; her head tilted back into his hand, and took in long, deep breaths to fill her with peace.

Sarah opened her eyes slowly to find herself gazing right into the Goblin King's mismatched eyes.

"Jareth," she said gently, trying to step back but finding that his hand on her back prevented her from doing so. "I could…" she stammered uncomfortably, looking down to avoid his gaze. "I could almost…kiss you."

"Just for making a little headache go away?" Jareth asked, an eyebrow arched.

"Sometimes you make me so angry, and sometimes, you soothe my every worry and care. I don't know what to make of you, Goblin King," Sarah said, reaching back and putting her hand on his. "Would you please release me so I can get ready to go to the Reagans?"

"Not when we're getting along so well," Jareth said quietly, lacing his fingers through hers.

"What do you want from me that you've hunted me down for so long?" Sarah asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Your love. Only and always your love, Sarah," Jareth said, craning his neck and moving his lips to the corner of her mouth.

A warm feeling flowed through Sarah, and she found her eyes drifting closed again. She didn't notice Jareth shift positions so that she was against the wall with him standing before her. The only thing she was conscious of where his lips moving gently against the corner of her lips, not daring to actually give her a true kiss, but bordering on the edge of treason.

"Sarah," he murmured, relishing the scent of her skin as he raised his hand to her cheek. "My Sarah, how long you've been away from me. Don't leave me again. Don't break my heart in two. Let me love you, let me rule you, and you can have everything."

At that sentimental moment, the telephone decided to ring.

Sarah's eyes opened and she slipped beneath Jareth's arms and then ran to the phone. Her fingers trembled as she picked it up, and she had to clear her throat in order to keep her voice from quivering.

Jareth leaned against the wall, heart pounding wildly within him as he contemplated how close, how wonderfully close, he had come to getting Sarah to respond to him and return his affection. She was weakening to his tactics, was falling under his spell.

Once she was finished on the phone, Sarah raced up to her room, got into her work clothes, and then ran back down the stairs again.

"Grab a bagel for breakfast, Jareth. They're in the freezer," She said, pulling on her high heels and running to the door. "Jeremy has a baseball game in an hour and a half, so if I want to see the Reagans today, we have to get going."

Jareth wasn't entirely sure what a bagel was, but he grabbed two of them, one for him and one for Sarah, and then disappeared. He reappeared in Sarah's car, and she gasped with surprise.

"You have to stop doing that!" she yelped, starting the car. "You need to get into some different clothes, Jareth. Your Goblin King outfit won't work."

"I'm not going to change. Sorry," Jareth said with a small shrug and then bit into one of the bagels.

"What do you mean?" Sarah growled, starting to drive.

"If you want me in different clothes, imagine my outfit for me. It would be good practice for you. But be careful," he warned, mischief shining in his unique eyes, "Because whatever you imagine will come true."

"Are you indicating that I might just want you dressed in something entirely inappropriate?" Sarah scowled.

"Perhaps."

"Fine. I want you to be in black pants with a burgundy button down shirt. That should fit your coloring nicely. Your hair needs to be short again, like it was yesterday," Sarah sighed.

"Very good, Sarah."

Sarah turned her head to look at him and then gasped.

"I want the buttons buttoned, though! Good grief, Jareth!"

Jareth smirked as the shirt magically buttoned itself back up, leaving only a few buttons on the top undone.

"You choose what shoes you want to wear. I have no clue what to give you," Sarah said, cheeks red with embarrassment over her last mistake. "And don't take that button thing too seriously. I didn't mean to leave the shirt unbuttoned. I never said or thought that it should be that way."

The Reagan family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Reagan and their three foster children, Jeremy, Jessica, and Phillip, whom they had tried for years to adopt.

Each child greeted Sarah with excitement and Jareth with curiosity when they arrived. Apparently they hadn't heard of the Goblin King before, and Sarah determined to tease him about it later.

Mrs. Reagan spent several minutes talking in the kitchen with Sarah while Jareth and the children sat in the living room. Neither he nor the children spoke a word, for they were too busy observing each other to speak.

Phillip spoke, several minutes later, his top two teeth missing and making him speak with a lisp.

"Why is one of your eyes brown and one of your eyes blue?"

"My eyes are different colors," Jareth said calmly, "to show that I am of royal blood."

"What are you? A Sir?" Jessica asked, having recently seen that title in a book.

"No," Jareth said, shaking his head. "I am a king."

"Of what?" Jessica asked excitedly.

Jareth knew that he'd cause quite an uproar if he said where he was really from and what exactly he did, so he smiled and said simply, "Of stories. I'm the king of stories."

"Your teeth are pointed. You remind me a little of a…well…" Jeremy said uncertainly.

"Speak your mind," Jareth said easily.

"A goblin."

"So Jeremy," Sarah interrupted, stepping into the room. "I hear you have a baseball game in a few hours."

Jareth asked questions about the children as Sarah drove them away from the house forty-five minutes later. He was very curious about why they hadn't yet been adopted, and he frowned and stroked his chin when Sarah informed him that the adoption process was very long and strenuous. The Goblin King mentioned that he liked the children, and Sarah immediately became stiff.

"Come now," Jareth said, sitting back in his seat. "I have no intention of taking them to the Labyrinth. They were very happy with their parents. They have spirit, those children."

Elaine was waiting eagerly at the mall when Sarah and Jareth arrived. She immediately grabbed Sarah's arm and pulled her into the mall, Jareth following them from behind. Sarah was dragged into a bridal shop, and Elaine, in a whirl of activity, started throwing dresses at her.

"You planning on getting married this afternoon?" the store worker smiled at Jareth as Sarah nearly fell beneath the load.

"We are not getting married!" Sarah exclaimed, falling beneath the mound of dresses. "Elaine! I'm going to an orphanage, not a wedding! We're in the wrong store! How much do these cost anyway?"

She picked up one of the price tags and whistled, thrusting the dresses into Elaine's arms as she did so.

"Different store, Elaine."

"Might I have a say in your choice of garb?" Jareth asked as he followed Sarah and Elaine out of the store.

"Of course," Elaine nodded. "Since you and Sarah are going to the play and banquet together, you're going to want something that looks good together. Are you going to get a suit, Jareth?"

"I already have what I need," Jareth smiled, sitting down in another dress store and watching as Sarah went through a rack of dresses.

"Here. This is more in my price range and more fit for the occasion," Sarah said, pulling a long-sleeved purple gown off of a shelf. "I'm going to try this on."

Elaine watched as Sarah stepped into the dressing room and then turned her attention to Jareth.

"So, Jareth, what is like where you are from?"

"It's beautiful," Jareth said quietly. "There are rolling hills of green and meadows full of wildflowers and butterflies. It rarely storms, but when it does, the whole sky is illuminated and sparkles with color. There are gardens with flowers of all descriptions, and an immense white and gold castle that sparkles against the sunlight."

Sarah, who was listening from inside the changing room, scowled. So now he was resorting to lying, was he? The Labyrinth was nothing like his description, and she knew it!

"What do you think?" she asked, stepping out of the room.

Elaine clasped her hands together as she observed Sarah's beautiful dress, but Jareth looked her up and down for several seconds, his fingers to his lips in thought.

"No," he said presently, shaking his head. "It won't do."

"I like it," Sarah frowned, spinning in front of a mirror. "It fits my form nicely, and the color is gorgeous."

"But the color isn't you," Jareth said, folding his arms across his chest.

"What would you suggest?" Elaine asked, surprised that a man would show so much interest in a dress.

"I think," Jareth said, standing up and stepping past Sarah to look at another rack of dresses. "That this one would suit you much better."

He pulled a long black gown off the rack and then held it out to Sarah. She glared at him for a moment and then took the dress.

"Jareth," she said to him as she walked towards the dressing room. "Why don't you tell Elaine about the real part of your country? The part with a winding maze, and oubliettes, and dark corridors?"

"Whatever are you talking about?" Jareth frowned.

"You know very well what I'm talking about!" Sarah snapped and then disappeared into the changing room.

"I don't know why she loses her temper so quickly with you," Elaine said, looking at Jareth. "What was she talking about?"

"Nothing of consequence. Would you care to hear about the people of my country?"

Sarah listened, a frown on her face, as she changed into the new dress. Jareth spoke about the Labyrinth as though it was the complete opposite of everything Sarah had seen. The men and women were beautiful creatures, not some outrageous, crude creatures that stared at innocence as though it was the strangest thing they had ever seen. There wasn't a Bog of Eternal Stench, according to Jareth, but a beautiful sea that shone like a million diamonds under the sunlight.

Sarah looked up after she had finished getting her dress on, and observed herself in the full-length mirror that was hanging against the wall in her small changing room. Jareth had been right. The black dress fit her form nicely. It wasn't too snug, nor was it too loose. The sleeves were just barely draping off her shoulders. The dress was long and flowing and was made of the smoothest silk. The dark black brought out the coloring in Sarah's face and made her eyes more intense, darker.

"Sarah, how does it look?" Elaine asked.

"I'm not entirely sure what I think," Sarah said slowly, letting her hands run down the skirt of the dress, feeling the cool silk beneath her fingers.

"Come out and let me see it!"

Sarah looked at herself again and then bit her lip. She was not, was not going to give Jareth the satisfaction of seeing that he had been right. It was too embarrassing, especially not now when she was mad with him for lying about the Labyrinth.

"Sarah?"

"I'm coming," Sarah sighed and then opened the changing room door.

She walked out to where Elaine and Jareth were waiting, her head held high and a firm look on her face.

"Sarah!" Elaine gasped. "Look at you! You look fit for a queen! That's it! That's the dress!"

Sarah looked to Jareth, who was sitting back and had his hands folded together. His eyes again looked over her body, and then he looked up into her face.

"That fits you quite nicely," he commented simply.

All it took was his eyes looking into hers for Sarah's cheeks to catch on fire.

"I don't know that this is appropriate for tomorrow night," Sarah stammered as Jareth stood up, his fingers stroking his jaw thoughtfully. "Isn't it a bit too much?"

"It's perfect!" Elaine exclaimed.

Jareth started to circle Sarah, and she shivered for reasons that she didn't understand. She could feel his eyes on her skin, could sense his closeness.

"Were I to put your physical appearance into a description," Jareth said quietly so that only she could hear. "You, my dear Sarah," he said, stepping up behind her and whispering in her ear. "Would be a star-studded diamond on a blanket of black velvet."

Were they not in public, Sarah would have lost all restraint. A shiver, harsher than all the others, shot through her body, and she turned her head slightly to look at him. Her eyes met his, and she was stunned by the intensity and passion behind those usually reserved pools of blue and brown. Her mouth went dry as warmth flooded over her, threatening to carry her away in its wake.

"You're going to lose it!" Sarah panicked, forcing herself to come back to her senses. "Say something to save yourself! Elaine's looking at you with that gawky expression of hers. Sarah, do something!"

"Why," Sarah heard herself asking slowly, "Are you lying about where you live?"

Jareth didn't bat an eye, but stepped away from her and with all the poise of a tomcat said easily, "I am not lying. Perhaps you don't want to face the truth."

"I think I'm missing something," Elaine said, eyebrow arched as Jareth returned to his seat.

"Nothing," Sarah said, letting out a deep breath. "Let me get changed, pay for this, and then we can get going."

Minutes later, Sarah, Elaine and Jareth left the store, Elaine leading them towards the food court in the distance.

"Sarah, what happened back there?" she whispered, staying close to Sarah as they walked.

"What do you mean, what happened?"

"That look you gave Jareth. It looked like you wanted to devour him, and not in a mean way. Where is he really from? Why do you treat him so coldly when you're in love with him?"

"I am not in love with him!" Sarah exclaimed in frustration. "You're going to think I'm insane, Elaine, entirely insane, but I'll tell you the truth about him!"

Sarah stopped walking and turned to face Elaine, ignoring the interested look on Jareth's face.

"Listen, he's not from England, all right? He's the Goblin King from a place called the Labyrinth! He kidnapped my baby brother thirteen years ago and made me run through his world of mazes, confusion, and terror to save Toby! The Labyrinth was a frightening place with dead trees, wild creatures, and insolvable mazes. For some reason he let me defy him, and if it weren't for that, who knows where my brother and I would be now! Probably grasped unmercifully in his clutches, doing whatever he wanted us to do! He's come back, after all that time, to make me dream again so that all my waking and sleeping moments can be filled with him!"

Sarah was shouting without realizing it and was flinging her arms about dramatically. She didn't see a large group of shoppers gathering around, watching her performance.

"He wants me to love him, but I can't! How could I after what he made me go through?"

Elaine, thinking this whole thing was an act, decided to humor Sarah.

"You don't like him in the least little bit?" she asked, a small smile on her face as she saw Sarah's audience leaning forward to listen.

"How can I?" Sarah exclaimed, her face red with frustration. "That's what he wants me to do, but I refuse! I absolutely refuse to fall for him, and that's final!"

Cheers and applause suddenly erupted, and Sarah turned to see a third of the mall's occupants cheering her on.

"Good grief!" she whispered, her eyes widening and her cheeks turning bright red. "How long have they been standing there?"

"Ever since you started. Sarah, put aside the social work and go into acting! You'd be terrific!" Elaine applauded. "I've never seen such a vibrant performance. Well done, Sarah!"

"I'm never going to live this down. Jareth," Sarah said, grabbing Jareth's arm and beginning to drag him away from Elaine towards the mall exit. "We're going! How humiliating! How embarrassing! How awful!"

"If you want to save yourself, than don't run," Jareth said calmly.

"What can I do?" Sarah asked, horrified.

"Act your part. Show them you were just performing, like they think you were. Come now, Sarah. Use your imagination. You are a great actress, and this is your admiring audience. You've just performed the greatest act ever. How would you behave? Curtsy, bow, and act thrilled by their response!"

Sarah growled, but knowing that he was right, she stopped walking away and then dropped into a great curtsy.

The cheers got louder, and Sarah looked up at Jareth, her eyes glowing maliciously.

"Now what?" she silently mouthed.

"Let's go get something to eat," Elaine said, taking Sarah's arm and leading her towards the food court again. "Go back to your shopping, everyone! The performance is over!"

"Sarah!" Elaine exclaimed as she, Jareth and Sarah sat down several minutes later in the food court, each with a pretzel and a slushy. "I didn't realize you were in an acting group! That performance was spectacular! And that whole bit about Jareth being a Goblin King and being cruel to you was terrific! Jareth, what did you think of that description of you?"

"I thought it was quite accurate," Jareth smiled and then looked at Sarah.

The sly Fae almost appeared to wink at her, and Sarah's cheeks, still flushed and hot from her embarrassment, became even hotter.

"So you two must be the leads in this play! When is it going to be performed?"

"Elaine…" Sarah started, but Jareth interrupted.

"We don't act in an actual group, Miss Elaine. Sarah and I spend a great deal of time together alone, acting out our little skits. They are rather realistic to us, actually."

"Okay. You two aren't really just easy-going friends, are you? There's more behind your relationship, isn't there?" Elaine asked.

"I think Sarah's suffered enough embarrassment for one day," Jareth smirked and then took a sip of the awkward cold concoction in his hand.

"Ooh, how I'd love to shove that drink up his perfectly flawless face," Sarah thought to herself as she smiled slightly, sick to the stomach, at Elaine.

Jareth could feel the whirlwind of clashing emotions flowing through Sarah as he and she stepped into her house, hours later, just as the sun was beginning to set. The way she walked, with an irritated stalk in her step, and the way her hair whisked about her head, as though enraged, warned him to keep his distance.

As soon as the door was shut, Sarah let out an irritated groan.

"This has been one of the worst days ever! First I bring a man dress shopping with me! Then, he just has to pick out the perfect dress! He goes and lies to my co-worker about where he's from, convinces her that we're part of some crazy act, and then acts like nothing happened! Ahhh!"

"Sarah," Jareth said calmly, following her quickly up the stairs to her room. "The Labyrinth is just the way I described it."

"It is not!" Sarah snarled, turning to face him as she stepped into her doorway. "The Labyrinth is a place full of mazes, hence the name Labyrinth! I had to go through so many head-hurting experiences to get Toby, and you know it! There were the guards at the door, the talking doorknockers, the Helping Hands, the Fireys, the Bog of Eternal Stench, and the trash heap. Oh, and let's not forget about the big bronze guard that just about sliced me and Ludo in half, the ball full of frightening goblins, and the maze room where I thought for sure Toby was going to fall and die! I was there, Jareth! None of this is a dream! I know that now! I was in the Labyrinth, and you better believe it wasn't a thing like what you told Elaine!"

She pointed a finger accusingly at Jareth, and he caught her hand and stepped closer to her, lowering his face so it was even with hers.

"That, Sarah, is the Labyrinth you saw," he said firmly, eyes boring into hers. "Your imagination made things seem a way that they really weren't. You dreamed up that the heroine had to go through fire and water to get to her helpless baby brother. You decided that the Goblin King would be cruel and hard yet willing to drop down on his knees before you and grovel. The Labyrinth is nothing like what you imagined into existence. It is a place of beauty and a place of peace. Yes, there are women that surround me and adore me, and who can blame them? There are men that look wickedly at the women. Does not your own world have people like that? I am very much what you created in your mind."

Sarah looked away in exasperation, and he grabbed her chin roughly and forced her to look at him.

"I can be cruel," he said, moving so that his body was pressed firmly against hers. "I can be intimidating," he added as he grabbed the back of her neck with one hand and moved his other hand torturously across her lower back. "But you like me this way, and so I am," he breathed, lowering his mouth to hover only millimeters away from hers.

His warm breath drifted across her lips, tormenting her almost into a frenzy.

"My Labyrinth, Sarah," he whispered. "Is everything you've always dreamed for a place of beauty and love. You were only too blind to see it."

"Show it to me," Sarah whispered and then gasped as he brought his mouth viciously to her jaw.

"Not yet. You need to consider my words before I can show you my world," Jareth murmured against her skin. "I leave you to your dreams, my lady."

Jareth stepped away and then disappeared. Sarah collapsed against the doorframe, her hand moving to her forehead.

"Why am I so warm? Why does he affect me like this when no one else can?" she gasped, her heart beating so quickly she thought she might faint again. "Before he came, I had never fainted. I've fainted twice in the past few days. When I first saw him, I was terrorized and amazed, like Wendy when she saw Captain Hook, but now…" She stammered as she closed her bedroom door and then leaned back against it. "I can't really be falling in love with the Goblin King?" she asked herself. "I cannot fall in love with the villain of all my dreams. The story was that the Goblin King fell in love with the girl, not the other way around."

Subconsciously, Sarah traced the line of her jaw where Jareth had placed several brisk, feather-light kisses.

"I want him to be close," she whispered to herself. "I want him to hold me, to love me, to show me the passion he wants so much to show me, but I can't. It wouldn't be right. I cannot give him the satisfaction of seeing me submit to him. I won't!" She stamped her foot down hard, and much like when she was fifteen, twirled and then bashed her fists against her wall, letting out an irritated shout.

"Why do things have to be so complicated? Why can't I understand my own feelings? Oh!"

She jumped over to her bed and then collapsed on it, grabbing her pillow and then holding it over her head to try and block out her thinking.

Some things are just too complicated to be thought about on an intellectual level. Love, like faith, cannot be measured as much with the head as it must be measured with the heart. From an intellectual level, Sarah's growing feelings towards Jareth made no sense, no sense at all. But from matters of the heart, it was entirely, purely reasonable.

The Goblin King was the man of her dreams. He had been ever since she had first picked up the red and gold, leather-bound book. He was strong, cruel, passionate, and beautiful, and he loved her with an intensity too powerful to describe. He had been unkind, but it had been done entirely to grant her own wishes. He had been frightening, but only because she had wanted him to be.

Sarah came to understand that, as she lay quietly on her bed.

"Oh Goblin King," she whispered, turning to face the ceiling. "You did become my slave, even though I never accepted your crystal, never accepted your dreams as my own. How cruel I have been to you! How selfish and naïve! I'm sorry. I'm only now beginning to feel a trace of the love for you that you've magnified a hundredfold to me."

She turned onto her side and cuddled with her Ludo stuffed animal. Her eyes drifted shut, and as she was carried gently away to her world of dreams, a few last, whispered words spoke tiredly from her lips.

"I love you, Goblin King…"