Nothing really to say this time around, except to beg for more reviews. But I do that every week, so you all are probably used to it by now.

Chapter 14

Sarah and her friends soon found out that the path they had chosen was not, in fact, a simple choice among many in the Labyrinth, but instead an actual tunnel that feigned the look of the night sky above them. Apparently, the glowing moss thrived off of starlight and so, within their shelter, it was permanently night time. Hoggle considered this a blessing of sorts, as he said he had difficulty sleeping during the day, but Sarah wasn't so sure.

So, that morning before they had settled down to sleep, Sarah asked, "But wouldn't it stand out, having a ceiling? Wouldn't they be able to find us easier?"

Hoggle had given an unthreatened shrug and a shake of his head. "Nah," he stated. "Nothin's like that 'ere. From above, all's they'll see is a clear walkway. Fer now, until we get outta 'ere, we're as safe 's we could get."

That's what he'd said, but though Sarah, relieved, quickly fell asleep after that, she was awakened a short time later by a chilling cry. It was low and ghostly and it seemed to come from everywhere at once so that it took Sarah a while to figure out what, exactly, it was. But she did figure it out, and the realization made her even more frightened than she had been previously.

Sarah scrambled from beneath the blanket that the overzealous Toby remembered to bring – along with five others as well as a down pillow for himself – and looked around the glowing hallway. The rest of her companions were all sleeping soundly and didn't seem to be disturbed by the owl's cry that she heard so clearly.

How could they still be sleeping? She asked herself. To her, the sound was as loud as if it was coming from a mere foot or two away.

Slowly, as if in a daze, Sarah backed away from her sleeping friends and further down the hallway. There was nowhere for an owl to perch, nowhere for it to hide, but the further away from her friends Sarah moved, the louder it became. Finally, out of the lichen that lined the walls formed the golden glowing eyes of an owl, then the face of the bird, then an entirely different face altogether – the face of Jareth.

It took a while, but eventually Jareth stood, fully corporeal and real, in front of Sarah. The last thing to change into their normal, human adaptation were his eyes, which remained glowing owl-gold for several seconds before reverting to Jareth's usual icy, mismatched gaze.

"What?" Sarah stumbled, much like she'd stumbled for words before in past meetings with Jareth. "You… you can't have found us yet! They said it'd take you at least a day or two to track us down!"

Jareth smiled, leaning against the wall with the sort of posture one would expect from someone who thought – or knew – he'd already won the game.

"Sarah, my dear… You've tried to outwit me, you've tried to escape me, and you've failed…" His harsh stare faltered a bit and his contemptuous smile softened to just the opposite – earnestness, sincerity, a plea for… something. Sarah couldn't quite figure out what, but it was there.

"Just give up," he said, echoing words similar to what he'd said five years past. "You can't go beyond the gates of the Labyrinth no matter if you win or not, Sarah… please, surrender."

For a fleeting moment Sarah wanted nothing more than to break down crying, fall apart and give in to something she'd wanted so much but had too much pride to accept. She wanted Jareth, she wanted the Labyrinth, she wanted it all, but she knew that Jareth would throw it back at her like he had when they'd kissed in the Tower Room. She knew nothing could be as simple as the way Jareth spun them and she didn't want to take the risk… Besides, that pride of hers hadn't disappeared just yet.

"No," stated Sarah simply. She knew if she kept things short it would lessen the chances of her voice breaking, or of her saying things she didn't want to say. The truth, perhaps.

Jareth looked at her with the same disappointment he'd showed when Sarah had rejected him five years ago and shook his head. Sarah felt the urge to run up to him, embrace him – something they'd never done before. They'd kissed, yes, but it was from a distance – there wasn't the warmth one received when they kissed the one they loved, and Sarah wanted that warmth. At that moment it didn't matter so much if they kissed, only if he held her, and it was everything Sarah could manage to stay put, to stay neutral and cold and uncaring.

"Then you leave me no choice," he said. "Continue as you wish, Sarah, but know this – I will not stop asking you, I will continue to try and persuade you to surrender… You cannot pass the Labyrinth gates without losing some part of you… Remember, my love, nothing is as it seems in this world… Not even me. Not even you. Not even this."

And Jareth began to fade away, back into the glowing moss behind him. Once again, the last things to change were his eyes. Though they disappeared well enough, their haunting sincerity remained branded into Sarah's mind. Full of remorse, like that night that seemed so long ago when she'd chosen to return home rather than stay with him. She remembered then, with cloth and the wings of an owl floating, swirling all around her…

Sarah awakened with a start, having just been hit about the head with a down-stuff pillow wielded by her six-year-old brother. The blanket she'd been using was tossed over her head, as well as the blankets of her friends and the two extras Toby had packed, and Sarah realized that the encounter with Jareth had been nothing more than a dream.

"Wake up!" Toby yelled. Hoggle shushed him and Toby repeated his command in a harsh whisper. "It's breakfast time!"

Hoggle and Thilly had set up a picnic for breakfast and, for the time being, were getting along pleasantly with each other. Toby ran to sit next to them as Sarah scrambled from beneath the weight of six blankets and a pillow.

"Where'd the food come from?" she asked groggily.

Thilly smiled, "Pri-… uh… Toby brought the big things – a wedge of cheese, a loaf of bread, and two canteens of water-"

"Yeah, how'd 'e carry all'a that an' thems blankets in that li'l sack, anyhow?" Hoggle inquired.

Toby's response, through a mouthful of bread and cheese, was "I pack good."

"-and while you were sleeping Hoggle and I went foraging for some things to add to the… menu, so to speak," Thilly finished, nodding encouragingly at Toby.

Sarah frowned, "Well… I feel sort of…"

"Lazy?" Toby offered, once again through a mouthful of food.

"Yeah, Toby… And don't talk with your mouth full."

Toby rolled his eyes and continued eating while Sarah moved to start on her own meal. She grabbed a slice (or, rather, tore a chunk) of bread and some cheese as well as some of the berries Hoggle and Thilly had 'foraged' for while she'd been sleeping and… dreaming.

A feeling told Sarah that her dream hadn't been an ordinary dream. There was a crucial message hidden beneath the surface of something she would usually assume was just stress and a poor diet, something that seemed more like Jareth warning her from a distance, being unable to warn her in person. He'd told her to give up the fight and turn back.

But Sarah wouldn't do that. He'd have to try a lot harder than some unnerving dream to frighten her off what she considered her mission – she wasn't fifteen anymore, she wasn't a frightened child. She was a strong adult, and she would do what was right for her and Toby and her friends.

But nothing is what it seems…