CHAPTER TEN

Author's Comments: This chapter is a bit short, but for good reason. This chapter has a few surprises, but it also answers a lot of questions. Unfortunately, not a lot of action as this chapter is more about the revelations. Hopefully, you all still like it!

Jareth's POV

Waiting on my father, the High King, to greet me was like sitting in a pot of boiling water. It would only be a matter of time before the water became to hot to live in. Sarah was growing weaker with every passing hour and I powerless to help her. I could only hope that my father could supply answers.

"What's taking him so long?" I gritted my teeth and punched the wall.

"Jareth," my mother said calmly. "Please be patient. He had a very important meeting."

"Sarah is on her death bed and you want me to be patient?" I couldn't help but grown at my own mother. "You of all people know how much she means to me."

"Jareth, I promise you I wouldn't sacrifice Sarah's health if it wasn't important."

I paced back and forth in front of their throne, tightening my grip on my cane.

"Jareth," Hoggle's voice echoed in the throne room. He stepped out into the opening and bowed before my mother. "Excuse me, I mean Your Highness, Jareth."

"Hogwart, what is it? I told you to stay with Sarah."

"Sir Didymous and Ludo are still with her. I came to give you an update."

"How is she doing?" I said with angst. "Has she gotten worse?"

Hoggle's foot dug into the ground and his eyes cut to the floor.

"Lady Sarah has started to have night terrors and screams constantly. I don't even know if they are premonitions anymore. She keeps talking about Dee and other goblins who we don't even see."

The ground started shaking, the lights rattled above us, and dust from the ceiling fell.

"Another one?" I asked.

"Every time she has a nightmare, she causes an earthquake. I don't know how, though. She is super weak. She can't even lift her head."

"Get the High King now!" I turned around and started to scream at my mother.

"Jareth! Please," She stood out of her chair. "We are all trying to help her."

"I'm tired of waiting! She needs help now!"

"Stop!" I deep voice resonated. I turned on my heel, finding my father entering the throne room.

"It's about time!" I stomped toward him. "Why you were busy in meetings, Sarah is growing weaker."

My father threw his palm in the air and passed by me as if there was not a single need for haste.

"She isn't growing weaker." He said, turning and taking his seat. "She is growing stronger."

"What do you know?" I asked.

"I don't know a lot," he said, lowering his head, "but someone has came to me with all of the answers."

"Who?" I asked, raising my brow.

"Me," a feminine voice cut in. Hoggle and I turned to meet the face, only to be shocked by it's owner.

"Karen?" I asked. "What in above and below are you doing in the underground?"

"I know this is going to be hard to believe, but I am very aware of your world more than you and Sarah know." Karen walked to the front of the throne and proceeded to explain.

"You see," she started. "I am a guardian of the above ground, charged to help with it's protection."

"I don't understand?" I narrowed my eyes on her, unsure if I should trust her. "You drugged Sarah. You sent her to a hospital for the mentally ill? Why if you knew she was perfectly sane?"

"What he said!" Hoggle stepped out from behind me. "You ain't never acted like you knew of the underground."

"Believe me, it was hard. Especially with how daring she is." Karen went on. "Years ago when Sarah was still a baby, it was brought to my attention that the Gossamer line had been found. We have one of Aeona's journals and are aware of the danger the Gossamer child can have on both worlds. I was charged to keep an eye on her."

"So you married her father to keep tabs?" I asked.

"No," she admitted. "Actually, that was against the rules. You see, I had been watching her and her father for years from afar. I watched him raise her and care for her while her mother went off and played celebrity. It hurt me watching his heart break. After they divorced, I was ordered to become a part of her life somehow as the rest of the guardians realized that somehow her wishes were coming true and they wanted me to learn more out of fear that her powers would no longer be dormant. I started out trying to act as a friend to her father, but it was so hard not to fall in love with him. So I left the guardians so that I could marry him."

"Why would it be such a big deal for the guardians to marry?"

"It's not a matter of marrying in particular as it is about marrying a charge. When it gets down to it, our personal feelings can't get in the way of saving the entire world."

"So why send her to an institute?" Hoggle interrogated.

"Because I realized that her powers had been returned to her. According to the book we have from Aeona, once she runs the Labyrinth the prophecy will the rest of the guardians found out, they would have had her destroyed. Luckily, since she wasn't aware of them yet, I could suppress them while they were still weak. Anti-psychotics work well on weak powers. So I convinced her father to have her institutionalized."

"So you mean we can give her those drugs and she will be better?" Hoggle asked.

Karen dropped her head and released a heavy sigh. "I'm afraid not."

"Her powers," My father cut in. "are too strong now. Nothing will make them dormant again. Not even our own powers could bound them."

"I didn't expect them to come back so forcefully." Karen explained. "Her powers are coming in so strong that they are destroying her mentally and physically."

"You mean to tell me that her magic is going to kill her and there is no way to stop it!" I hovered over Karen. "You did this! You could have said something six years ago when her powers were still fledging! You could have prevented this all. If she dies, it's on your hands!"

"Jareth!" My mother spat. "We are all concerned about Sarah, even Karen! This was unpreventable from the start. It's in the prophecy."

My eyes continued to burn into Karen's. Fear flashed in her eyes, but it wasn't until I heard my mother's words that I realized that it wasn't fear from me, it was fear that Sarah will actually die.

"I didn't want the rest of the guardians finding her." Tears formed in her eyes and fell down her cheek. "Then over the years after she was locked up, they started to suspect something was up and started digging through her files. I was afraid, so I pulled her out in hopes that she would take her medicine on her own."

"But she didn't," I said. "We both know how strong willed Sarah can be."

"I'm sorry. I'm just a little over whelmed." I admitted.

The ground shook again and I lost my balance.

"Sarah," Hoggle gasped. After the earthquake stopped, I sat on the steps of the throne.

"I wish there was a way to help her." I dropped my head into my hands.

"But there is one way…" my mother suggested.

We all turned to look at her.

"You're not saying…" My father said hesitantly and my mother nodded. "But there isn't anyone who would be willing to do such a thing."

"What?" I asked, standing to my feet. "Tell me now."

"Well," my mother started. "We can't bound Sarah's magic, but we could link her with someone else. Share her magic."

"But that would means whoever is linked with her could only control their magic with her and vice versa. Their magic would be shared between them." My father explained.

"It's also the worst pain imaginable," My mother added.

"There isn't anything more painful than what she is going through now." I stepped forth. "I will do it."

"Son," my father said. "You will be defenseless."

"My heart is defenseless without her."

"Her power is so strong that it may not even work. It could kill you!"

"I would be dead without her anyway."

"There is no way for me to talk you out of this is there?" My father asked.

"Never." I said.

"If you do this," Karen went on. "You would be saving both of our worlds. There would be no reason for Darth to need Sarah if her powers are bounded to you. He couldn't use them, then."

"Good, then it's settled then. I will bound Sarah's magic to mine and stop this once and for all."

The ground rumbled and the entire kingdom shook. After everything came to a still, I walked out of the room. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach. Bounding magic to another Fae is not an easy task. In fact, with powers as strong as Sarah's it could be enough to kill me. But for the first time I felt powerless and if this was the only thing I could do for her, then so be it.

Sarah, I will save you. Even if it's the last thing I ever do.