Hey guys! Long time no see! Lots of work, and now that I'm pregnant I've been busy preparing for the new baby! Fun times! This chapter is a long one to help make up for the wait. Lots of interesting things here and I really enjoyed how this and the next two chapters have turned out! The other two chapters are ready to go, so hopefully, reviews come quickly! For all those that reviewed and have to wait, I'm sorry :) Definitely not trying to make you suffer. I had a really hard time figuring out the name for the chapter. It's full of different elements, so if the chapter name is a little odd, I will fix it. ALSO! Please let me know if there are any grammar errors XP Enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter 15:

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The sun shone brightly into Sarah's room as she slowly woke up; blinking her green eyes open. It was Tuesday. Her 2nd day back in her own bed. She stretches a little, feeling relaxed and happy. Sleeping in your own bed does wonders for the body. She looked over to the white and black hair blob on her bed next to her only to get a huge puff of hot doggy breath right in her face.

"Agh! Merlin! WHEW!" She holds him away at arm's length as he tries to proceed from dog breath to dog kisses. Well, there goes my relaxing Tuesday morning.

She reluctantly gets out of her comfy bed to get ready for school and feeds Merlin with the kibble that Mark had brought over. As she walked with Merlin to the outside shed to lock him up for school, she heard an odd sound coming from the inside…

This time, she knew it couldn't be Merlin. Cautiously, she crept forward and pressed her ear against the door. A series of muffled rattles, squeaks, and thumps come from inside.

Please be a rat and not a monster…

Merlin can hear it too and he sniffs at the door. He was just curious though, not barking and that was encouraging.

Steeling herself, she counts to three… then shoves open the door!

"Yaaaaaaaahh!" She battle cries as she comes inside...

"SCREEEEEEEECH!" a white owl answers, raising its wings in warning!

"Aaaaaah!" Sarah yells and jumps back in response, surprised!

Stopping in her tracks, she stares at the little angry bundle of feathers standing on the dusty work table next to the things that she's gathered.

Wait a second…She takes a few steps closer and the white howl steps away, one of its wings dragging awkwardly. It was very white, with just the barest hint of cream color. It's little heart-shaped face watched Sarah warily.

"Are you the owl Jocelyn smacked? How'd you get in here?" She asked it, looking around. It's not like she expected an answer or anything. She just didn't know what else to do. She wondered if the sound of a human voice could be calming to an animal if it's scared, or if that was just a myth.

Slowly, she takes another step forward, holding out her hand. The owl puffs up his feathers, glaring at her suspiciously and clicking it's beak unhappily.

"It's ok, little buddy." She smiles at him, not showing her teeth so he wouldn't get mixed messages.

I should give him a snack. Digging through her schoolbag, she finds the little bag of trail mix she had packed for lunch.

"Hungry?" she asked. The young owl simply watches her. She set a peanut onto the table.

Sarah is beyond excited as the owl cautiously hops forward and snatches the peanut. It cocks it's head at her before ruffling its feathers. Then, as if making up its mind, it walks forward to Sarah, on the edge of the worktable. It's close enough to touch! She holds out a peanut in her palm and gasps as the bird's vicious beak snapped up the peanut from her hand.

Sarah had never interacted with an owl before. Of course, when you live next to the woods you're bound to see one every once in a while. But they're nocturnal, so it's a surprise to be experiencing this in the day.

She laughed nervously, "Looks like we've got a new friend, Merlin! What should we call him?"

The owl looks at Sarah.

Her.

Sarah stares at the owl, puzzled. The owl stared back. She got the feeling that it was not a male, but a female owl.

"Or...Her? Uh, do you have a name or shall I give you one?" She said.

The owl, of course, says nothing in response. Even if she could understand, she would probably be wondering why this human girl talks to animals…or inanimate baseball-bats.

Merlin wags his tail and comes up to the table to sniff at the owl. The owl hisses at him in the strangest hiss Sarah's ever heard, almost like a demented snake, and clicks its beak in a warning. She is reminded again that she doesn't know much about owls since she had no idea they made such creepy noises before.

"It's alright, owl. It's alright, Merlin won't hurt you." Sarah scratches the dog behind the ears.

She looks at the owl's wing, which is a little bent, and worries that Jocelyn hurt it really bad. But it got here, didn't it? It must still be able to fly. Sarah looked up around the shed and found a large opening in the top right corner. The owl must have come in through there.

"Poor thing. Your wing looks a little painful." She coos to it. "Want me to take a look?" The owl then making the hissing sound towards Sarah and clicks it's beak menacingly.

"Ok, that's a definite no, then. If you change your mind, let me know. Ok?" She raises her hands up in surrender, before suddenly remembering what she should be doing and looks at her watch with a gasp,"Shoot! I'm late!" She puts a handful of trail mix on the table in case the owl wants some later.

And with that, Sarah turns and heads back to the door. "Bye, Merlin! Don't be mean to our visitor here."

As Sarah reaches the door something makes her pause. She looks back and the owl is staring after her, with Merlin staring up at the owl. It was so odd having such a magnificent bird in such a drab shed.

"Thank you for yesterday," She nods at the owl. "If not for you guys… who knows what Cody and Jocelyn would have done."

Obviously, the owl doesn't respond…cause it's an owl. And Sarah closes the shed door behind her, puzzling over this mysterious bird and wondering what else was in store for her today.

The sun was about to set as Sarah joined the excited crowd of high schoolers heading to watch the basketball team play in the first game of the season. She walks along with the chattering herds, not really listening to anyone in particular while looking for one of her friends. The students seemed a lot more excited for this game than normal though. She spots Stacey outside the front doors with the rest of the cheer squad; jumping up and down and waving pom-poms into the faces of the people who walked in.

"Hey Stace!"

"Hey Sarah! Ready to watch the Westchester Wolves totally destroy the Anderton Cougars?" she beams and shakes her blue and white pom-poms in Sarah's face.

Sarah chuckles as she brushes the pom-poms away, "You know it! We're going to crush them!" she pauses, thinking, "It's weird because 90% of the time I really hate this school. But right now…"

Stacey grins, "Right now you kinda want to go find someone from Anderton High and tell them how Westchester is ten times better than their dumb school?!"

Sarah laughs, "Yeah, kinda. Is that weird? It keeps occurring to me that this is my very last year to be a 'wolf', you know?"

Stacey grins, shaking her pom-poms. "Yup! And getting you pumped up for the game means I'm just doing my job! GO WOLVES!" Her blond hair waves around as she bounces up and down.

"Have you seen Sean at all today?" Sarah asks, glancing around briefly at all the students passing them by.

Stacey smirked, her bright blue eyes sparkling mischievously, "Sure! Based on his face during warm-ups... I'd say he's running on, like, 70% excitement and 30% pure terror."

Sarah laughs, "Well, I can understand why. It's his first time on the team! But there's no reason to be nervous, he's just a stand-in if someone gets hurt, right?"

Stacey stares at her strangely.

"What?"

"You haven't heard?" Stacey cocks her head.

Sarah's puzzled, "Heard what?"

"About Ben?"

"Huh?"

"How could you not have heard, Sarah?! Everyone at school has been talking about it! They even announced it over the intercom!"

Sarah recalls that she had been busy texting Taylor during first hour, and didn't pay much attention to anything else. "Well, I haven't. Just tell me, Stacey. What haven't I heard?"

"Ben got attacked by a bear yesterday after school in the gym parking lot! And Sean IS playing tonight, to take his place!"

Sarah's mouth drops open. "WHAT?!"

Stacey takes a step closer to Sarah, her voice soft, "He was right there when the bear attacked Ben. You should talk to him. You've always been a good listener and he'll appreciate it. He thinks….." Stacey looks around and then lowers her voice even more, "He thinks that the Goblin King had something to do with it."

Uhhh, what? How? Sarah frowns and then nods. "I'll ask him what's up after the game."

Stacey clapped Sarah on the shoulder and then stepped back. Jeez, he's probably feeling a lot of pressure right now, stepping in for Ben, the Team Captain.

"You HAVE at least heard about what happened to Mr. Cooper, right?" Stacey suddenly asked.

"Mr. Cooper?" Sarah stares at her, feeling like a ditz. She just thought that he was absent because he was sick or something. How am I the last to hear anything?

"Really, Sarah?!" Stacey groans dramatically, "Mr. Cooper got attacked by a black snake in his office today just a few hours ago!" Stacey said, worriedly. "He was busy talking to Luke when a snake came out of his desk and bit him! He was unconscious by the time the ambulance came by."

First the owls, then bears, and now snakes!? Something's going on in those woods, and it's not good.

Stacey steps closer to Sarah, and touches her arm, "You don't think… I mean, could they be related? Like, what are the odds of two crazy animal attacks happening within twenty-four hours?" Sarah looked into her eyes and could see what Stacey was trying to hide. She was freaked out.

"Three."

Stacey reeled back, "Excuse me?"

"Technically, there have been three crazy animal attacks within the last 24 hours." Sarah bit her lip, trying to connect the pieces to the puzzle.

She then proceeds to tell her about the owls that attacked Joss and Cody yesterday. Stacey stares at her, her brow furrowing.

"And now there's an owl stuck inside my shed..." Sarah mused to herself with a smile as she wondered at the oddity of the situation and what it could mean.

Stacey's eyes were as wide as saucers. "2 weeks and Dan still hasn't woke up! And now Mr. Cooper and Ben are there in the hospital with him. This can't be a coincidence, right? It's got to be the Gobl—"

"STACEY! C'mon, the game's about to start!" Britney yells at Stacey, annoyed.

"I'll be there in a minute!" Stacey calls back.

"Ooooooookay, be late if you want but Coach Tanner told me to tell you that you're on thin ice." Britney grins at Stacey, taunting her. She skips away and Stacey glares after her.

"Have you STILL not figured out how to get that cellphone back?" Sarah asked, glaring at Britney's back as she strutted away.

"I gotta go." Stacey says dejectedly, side-stepping the question. Sarah could hear what Stacey wasn't saying. Basically, her friend was still at Britney's mercy.

"It's okay, we can talk tomorrow," Sarah says, not wanting her to get into trouble. With a grateful nod and a sad smile, Stacey hurries toward the gym.

Sarah starts to follow… when a strong hand clamps down on each of her shoulders.

"Hey, Sarah, long time no see." Jocelyn's angry voice has Sarah twisting around to face her.

Sarah's mouth drops open as she took Jocelyn's face in. "Not long enough," Sarah raised her eyebrows, processing what she was seeing. Dark angry scratches could be seen on her face, arms, and hands, while the deeper cuts had strips of gauze taped onto them. She looked like a badly put together mummy. Who knew that owl claws could do so much damage?

Sarah tries to move away, but is suddenly grabbed by Cody as well. He looked just as bad, if not worse. "Awww, don't be like that! We missed you!" Cody says, coming up beside Jocelyn.

"H-hey! Let go!" Sarah protests, scared.

"But we want to sit by you during the game! We can do the wave!" Jocelyn grins, sarcastically.

"Or, you know, talk about what you did to my car." Cody's face darkens. His grip tightens painfully, and Sarah's stomach fills with dread. How do I get them to leave me alone? Suddenly an idea came to her.

"Hey!" she laughs with relief and points to the forest, "Check out all those owls!"

Cody jerks his hand away, looking around.

"W-where?" He asks, scared.

"Kinda creepy right?" Sarah asked spookily, "It's like they're...watching us."

Jocelyn lets go of Sarah's other arm, scratching nervously at the red gashes that mar the backs of her hands.

"I….uh….I have to go…..over there." Jocelyn says.

She turns, hurrying away with Cody right behind her.

"Where are they headed in such a hurry?"

Sarah jumps as someone speaks up from beside her. She turns in shock to see that the handsome blonde Connor had come up and stood right next to her, looking after the direction Jocelyn and Cody had run. She suddenly feels nervous and silly to see him, and she tries to keep herself from fidgeting.

She flashes him a big smile, "Who cares, as long as it's away from here!"

"Hmmm, I'm sensing that you guys aren't exactly friends." He murmurs, looking back the way they went.

"Wow, what gave it away?" Sarah giggled.

Connor smirked. He gestures towards the door, and with a blush, Sarah walks with him through the doors of the gym…

They eventually find themselves seats among the crowd of rowdy Westchester High fans with a great view of the court.

"So what happened to Cody and Jocelyn? Looks like they both took a bag of angry cats to the face." Connor asked, holding out a bag of M&Ms for Sarah to help herself.

"Owls, actually. I think they're still a little freaked out about it." Sarah smiled, grabbing a handful.

His eyebrows shoot up and he ponders that for a moment before saying, "This whole place seems a little freaked out, if you ask me."

"Uh... what do you mean?" Sarah swallowed nervously.

"Dunno, just getting a weird vibe… like something's wrong but no one wants to admit it."

Sarah does her best to suppress a shiver. He has NO idea. She glances up at him, but he doesn't seem to have noticed.

"So, uh…how are things?" She tries to change the subject.

He smiled, and looks at her, "Well, today my boss hid in the back while I got rid of a spider."

Sarah giggled.

"…. except it wasn't a spider. It was a big dustball." He rolled his eyes.

"Wow. It's just non-stop excitement at Gunther's Hardware." Sarah smirks.

At the base of the bleachers, She spies Stacey standing with the rest of the cheer squad. Connor waves and she smiles, sticking her tongue out at him.

He smiles and shakes his head, "Heh. Brat."

"You guys are adorable." Sarah smiles, as she sees them banter back and forth. Toby and her were like that most of the time. She was beginning to miss the little squirt.

The game was about to start. Down on the court, the two teams got into position for the jump ball…she could see Sean clearly. The only Asian on the team and he looked jittery.

BEEEP! the whistle blows...

And their team takes possession!

"Yeah! Go wolves!" Sarah shouts, clapping loudly.

The Westchester player drives down the court but is soon trapped by an Anderton High defender.

"Drew! Over here!" Sean yells over to his teammate, completely open.

Drew looks at the spikey black-haired teen… then away. He tries to get past the defender, but ends up losing the ball!

"Are you kidding me?" Sean yells. He holds his arms open in disgust. What gives?

"What the heck? Sean was wide open!" Sarah frowns, annoyed.

The Cougars score an easy basket, and the ball returns to Sarah's team. But once again…

"Is it just me, or is nobody passing to your buddy down there?" Connor murmurs to Sarah.

"It's definitely not you…" I don't believe this.

By the middle of the second quarter, the Wolves are down by ten points.

"BOOOOOOOO! Someone score already!" Cody bellows out over the whole stadium.

"Come on, Wolves! You can do it!" Stacey cheers sadly, trying not to lose hope.

Britney, standing beside Stacey, huffed angrily, "Ugh. This blows."

Sarah's heart sinks as she watches Sean get angrier and angrier as his team still refuses to pass to him. His other friend, Tom, watches from the bench, shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I can't believe this…." Sarah shakes her head, angry. I'm about to go down there and slap someone!

Connor nods, "You're not the only one. Sean looks about ready to lose it."

On the court, Sean gets into a defensive stance, tracking the ball with the intensity of a shark, his face flushed with anger.

"Come on…please!" Sarah sees him mutter to himself quietly.

One of the Anderton players makes a cross-court pass… and Sean springs up, snatching the ball out of the air!

"Yes! Go Sean, go!" Sarah jumps up excitedly.

Sean heads for the three-point line, defenders scrambling to catch up! He shoots, just as an Anderton player slams into him from the side! Sean stumbles, nearly falling… but the ball swishes through the basket! Cheers erupt from the bleachers as the ref awards Sean a free throw, which he sinks easily! The crowd roars!

"Score!" Sarah screams as she hugs Connor! Her brain catches up to her actions, and she flushes as she slowly let go of him. Looking up at him, she's relieved to see that he's grinning at her, eyes sparkling.

The ref signals halftime! Sean follows the rest of the team off the court as the cheer squad jumps up to do their routine.

They both cheer and Sarah yells, "HELL yeah, Sean! You're the best!"

Sean looks up at Sarah in the bleachers. Grinning, he pumps his fist in the air.

"Hell yeah!" He yells back, running to go on a break.

"Come on Wolves! Let's hear you howl!" Stacey yells up to the crowd.

As the cheerleaders start their routine, Sarah noticed Connor frowning slightly.

"What's up?" she asks.

"Does Stace seem off her game to you?" Connor nods toward Stacey, who dances clumsily at the back of the formation. She looked so embarrassed.

Sarah realizes that Stacey hasn't told Connor about the blackmail.

"Maybe there's something going on with her," Sarah suggests, trying to ease him towards the answer without breaking her promise to Stacey.

"Must be. Stace wouldn't let any old stress interfere with her cheerleading." He says, worried. "Gymnastics, dance, cheer… performing was always the one thing that helped her escape from whatever other crap she was dealing with."

"Crap like your parents?" Sarah couldn't help but ask. She bit her lip, not wanting to overstep her boundaries, but wanting to understand Connor's background better. Get to know him.

Connor sighs, tapping his foot on the bleachers.

"Yeah… I gave up on my folks a long time ago. To me, they're just a couple of unpleasant strangers who happen to live with my sister. But Stacey… I don't think she could ever cut them out like that. She's too good a person."

"And you're not a good person?" Sarah asks. She's curious as to what he will say about himself.

He looks over at Sarah and gives her a half-smile, "Not bad, but not too good either."

The routine ends and the second half of the game begins…

During the third quarter, Sean sinks basket after basket! By the middle of the fourth quarter, the Wolves are only down by one point!

"Holy crap…" Sarah says, shocked. Sean is good…..almost too good! She never knew he could play like this! She couldn't help but get the feeling that there was more to meet the eye here. Sean had never made the basketball team, but now during his first game he scores every point? Thoughts of what Stacey had said about Jareth being the reason that Sean was here came back to her mind. What's going on?

"Huh! We might actually win this." Connor laughs and claps.

The cheering from our side of the bleachers gets louder and louder as Tom grabs a rebound and starts dribbling up the court!

"Whooo! Get 'em Wolves!" Stacey whoops, waving her pom-poms.

Tom stops, blocked by an Anderton defender. He spins, looking for an opening.

"SEAN!" He passes the ball to Sean with seconds left on the clock. Sean pivots, he shoots…

"Come on!" Connor pleads.

"Come on!" Sarah pleads.

….and the ball drops straight into the basket!

"BOOM!" Sean yells, throwing his arms out and turning towards the crowd as if he was a circus performer finishing an act!

The crowd roars, surging to their feet! Everyone rushes onto the court as a chant begins to rise over the noise…

"King Kang! King Kang! King Kang! KING KANG!"

"Whoo-hoo!" laughing, Sarah joins the group-hug that's rapidly forming around Sean. "You're number one! And also," Sarah turned to the other team who were shuffling their feet disappointedly, and yelled, "SUCK IT Anderton high!"

Sean looks like he died and went to heaven, "Yeah! Wolves rule!"

"You were incredible out there Sean!" Sarah yelled above the noise of the crowd, "I always knew you were the star of this team!"

"Yeah! Go Sean!" Stacey whoops and hollers

"That's my man!" Taylor tries to slap him on the back, but can't reach him because of the crowd.

"Yay." MJ claps politely from the bleachers, next to Emily.

"Thanks guys!" Sean looks like he's going to cry, but instead sucks it in and laughs triumphantly. Tom pushes his way through the tight knot of people and Sean hugs him, "WE DID IT!"

"C'mon, Sean, we've gotta hit the showers! Coach is taking us all out to dinner to celebrate!"

"You guys should come!" Sean looks to Sarah, Stacey, and Taylor. "Dessert's on me! I'm feeling generous!"

OOoooh dessert!

Sean follows the rest of the team to the locker room, and Sarah looks around until she spots Connor over by the doors.

"Hey, you heading out?" She asked him.

"Soon, yeah. Gonna see if I can talk to Stace for a minute first. You want a ride home? It's too dark to walk by yourself."

"Maybe." She smiled shyly. Forget dessert!

"It's a nice drive this time of night."

I REALLY really want to. "Ok. I'll take you up on that."

She feels giddy. He smiles, waving as he wanders through the crowd toward his sister. Excepting Dan, Sarah always felt like Luke, Sean, and Taylor were like her brothers and she didn't feel awkward around them. Especially Taylor when she was younger because of Jess. As I look at Connor she felt a tingle of excitement and attraction. He felt like an adventure. And Sarah truly… desperately missed the thrill of adventure. Only Jareth had ever offered her that, but he was as unattainable as a unicorn. An evil unicorn.

She went outside with Connor and they headed over to his beautiful black charger, talking excitedly about the game. Before Sarah got into the seat though, she sees Sean with his team about to get into a van.

"Hold on just one second," Sarah tells Connor before running over to Sean.

"Hey, Sean!" She calls out, reaching them.

He turns to her with the happiest expression on his face, "Hey Sarah, you gonna meet us over at the diner?"

"Actually, I'm going to head home with Connor." She nods behind her to where Connor is standing by the car. "You should go have fun with your team."

Sean suddenly looks a little uncomfortable. He looks around and leans over to Sarah and says. "Actually, I was hoping that you would come, Sarah, I need to talk to you about what happened with the bear." He looks spooked and confused.

She shakes her head no, "Not tonight Sean. Tonight, is all about your victory. Let's not spoil it."

Sean gently gripped her on the shoulders and whispered, "He's the reason I played tonight, Sarah. He HELPED me get the position..." Sean's small eyes were wide and scared, and seemed a little guilty as he admitted: "...and I-I think he's the reason I scored so many points tonight."

"But, Sean, why would he do that?" Sarah asked him, shocked.

"In return for his help...he wants...Sarah, I-I don't know what to do!" He shook his head wearily.

"What does he want?!" Sarah felt a tingle of fear shoot up her spine. Did Sean make a deal with Jareth in order to be a basketball star?

"C'MON KING KANG! Get in the van we're going to be late!" Tom called to him from the seat he was saving.

"Just a second!" Sean yelled. He turned back to Sarah, rushed, "I gotta go. When can we talk?"

"We're all going to the hospital to visit Dan tomorrow, Sean. You'll tell me and everyone else then, ok?" Sarah glared at him, determined.

"That's a good idea." Sean nodded, defeated, "We need to see Dan and figure out what our next move is. I'll talk to you later, Sarah." He turns and climbs into the van with the rest of the team. He waves at her sadly through the window as they drive away.

Sarah stood there for a minute, feeling cold. How could Sean have known that Jareth wanted something unless he talked to him? And the snake with Luke and Mr. Cooper...had Jareth been there too? Sarah suddenly realized that Luke hadn't been at the basketball game. Where was the school president?

A few minutes later and Sarah finds herself in the comfy passenger seat of Connor's sleek black Charger while Jazz play softly on the radio.

She didn't say anything for a while, just staring out the window watching the buildings and neon store lights go by. Lost in her confusion about Jareth and what his angle was, she considered confronting him alone and just asking him. It wouldn't be that hard. She knew his name. And somehow she knew that he was always listening for it. He wouldn't give her a straight answer, obviously. It was always puzzles and riddles with him. Shadows and smoke. But maybe she would get some sort of information out of it? But that was a dangerous...

"Uh, is the temperature ok?" Connor pulled her from her melancholy. She turned to him, embarrassed. He was probably wondering why she was acting like this. She reassured him. "Oh, it's alright."

Sarah sighed. She was going to have to figure this out later when she was alone.

"What have you been—" Connor begins.

"So, do you think—" She began.

They both laugh as they stop themselves from talking over one another.

"Did, uh, you get a chance to talk to Stacey?" She asks, thinking of something to talk about.

"I did, yeah. She didn't tell me what was up, but she was pretty excited about the game."

He looks over, his blue eyes sparkling, "I'm glad you guys are hanging out again. I can tell it makes her happy."

"I'm glad too. I don't know if it'll stick… but it's definitely nice having everyone together again. It's been kind of lonely without everyone." Sarah looks out the window again,

"I could see that. You guys were inseparable back in the day."

"Yeah, I remember you following us around with a video recorder trying to capture something funny to send to 'Funniest Home Videos'." Sarah turns to smirk at him.

He bursts out laughing, "Is that what you think I was doing?"

"Uhhh, wasn't it?"

Connor leans over to turn the music down so that it's only a faint whisper in the background.

"So, uh, how's life lately? Sounds like things have been pretty crazy over at the high school."

He totally changed the subject! I wonder what that means…"Yeah, things have been, uh, complicated…"

Sarah trails off, staring out the front window. Connor glances at her, one eyebrow raised, but he offers her the same courtesy she had offered him and he doesn't pry.

"Um, what about you?" Sarah asks him, "What's post-grad life like? What are your plans for the future?

"Post-grad life is awesome, Sarah. You'll love it. As for plans, I'm not sure actually. I got a few things I enjoy doing but I'm not sure if there's one thing I'm ready to do forever, you know?"

"Doesn't that scare you? Not having anything nailed down?" She asks, surprised.

"It's actually pretty awesome. Plus, it gives me more time to experiment…" He glances at Sarah, "I like to consider myself kind of an artist."

"Wow, cool! What kind?"

"I'll try anything, but mostly sculpture. Learned how to weld this summer and I've been trying my hand at scrap metal art." Connor glances over his shoulder to check for cars, smiling to himself as he goes to make a left turn. "I really just love working with my hands… there's nothing like it."

"I…wish I was that passionate about something." Sarah sighs, "Every class just feels like a never-ending snooze fest and after-school clubs feel like a waste of my time."

"Hey, it's no big deal if you don't have it all figured out just yet. I tried out a lot of things before I discovered sculpture. Graphic design, programming, ultimate frisbee…"

Sarah gave a small laugh, "One of those things is significantly less impressive than the others."

He smirks at her, meeting her eyes for a moment before turning back to the road.

"Do you still look for magic? Sarah?"

Sarah's mouth drops open. "You actually remember that?" She suddenly was hit with the rush with all sorts of childhood memories. Memories of searching around the yard at her house with the gang for elves and brownies... stories of how the pond in her yard had a mermaid in it... carrying her "magical binoculars" when they went into the woods so they could see "invisible dragons"... Planting TONS of flowers around her house with Jessica so they could attract fairies. We didn't attract fairies, but we sure got a lot of butterflies. We pretended that the butterflies were taking the nectar back to the fairies to store for the winter.

"How could I not?" Connor said softly, "I got it all on video."

"You…were following us around to find magic?" Sarah says, feeling a beautiful feeling inside.

He laughs self-depreciatingly, "Yeah, it sounds kinda stupid when you say it out loud..." He smiles over at her, "But if anyone was going to discover it, you were. You were just that kind of kid. And I could tell you actually believed it. You believed it so much that it was hard not to get caught all up in it too."

If only Connor knew. Sarah DID find magic. Or at least, Jessica had found it, and Sarah had to push the envelope too far. If there's one thing she learned it was that magic gives just as much as it takes. For all the sacrifice necessary to attain it, it's not worth it.

Sarah sighed, "I don't know who I am anymore, Connor. Magic is something I try to stay away from these days. When I was younger I went looking for magic. Now, magic seems to be always on the look-out for me."

Connor was quiet for a moment before he spoke. Probably not truly understanding what Sarah meant,"Well, You've got all the time in the world to find your passion. I'm one hundred percent positive that you'll figure it all out."

"You're pretty much into this whole 'I'm so much older and wiser than you' schtick, aren't you? " Sarah grins at him, "You're only two years older than me, you know."

"I know, I know. Honestly, Stacey always gets pissed when I tease her about still being in high school." He turns and smiles evilly at Sarah, "Which means I do it all the time."

Sarah laughs, "Best brother ever."

"Seriously though, you're gonna be fine. If a screw-up like me can get by in the real world, then you're going to take it by storm."

"Thanks, Connor. I really appreciate that."

They reach their destination and Connor pulls the car over. The inside of the car is dark, except the glowing dashboard on the couple's faces, but the lights outside are bright, lighting Sarah's path to the house. The night is dark around them.

"Thanks again for the ride. It was…. really nice. Also informative."

"Next time, let's talk about you. I'm feeling a little exposed." He feigns embarrassment, covering his face with his hands, and she laughs.

"Next time, huh?" She smiles really big.

"Any time you need a ride, Sarah, you know where to find me."

"Yeah. I guess I do…" Sarah wonders for a moment if she should kiss him on the cheek…but that seems a bit too tacky.

She gets out of the car and waves goodbye to Connor and his black charger disappear into the night.

She's hit with a cold rush of air, and shivers. Her hair stands up as she feels watched. Exposed. She nervously looks around her at the black night. Sarah looks up at the dark trees, wanting to hightail it to the house just thinking about it. And then she remembers that Merlin is still in the shed. She has to go through the darkness to go and get him!

She takes a deep, stabilizing breath and walks toward the shed. Why oh why does the shed have to be so far from the house, RIGHT on the edge of the woods? Curse you dad!

Sarah opens the shed door with a screech that grates her nerves, "Hey Merlin! How's it go….ing?" Sarah sees her owl friend on the floor, looking up at her. There was a crumpled paper, next to her foot. Merlin was in his bed under the table, watching the owl warily. She could barely see him because of the darkness. She quickly flipped the switch on, feeling relieved as the light chased away all the strange shadows.

"Merlin! Come!" She ordered, feeling angsty.

He stands up, watching the owl out of the corner of his eye, and presses against the walls as he tries to come over to Sarah with the greatest distance possible between them. Sarah can't help but laugh. Looks like they had a bit of a squabble while she was gone. Merlin probably tried to eat the owl, and she had put him in his place. Sarah checked his fur, but there are no scratches or bites.

"Did you make our friend feel welcome? Or did she have to make you behave?" Sarah asked him, petting his head. He closes his eyes, happily.

Sarah turns to the bird, who still was on the floor, and she again noticed the folded piece of paper on the floor. The owl's watching Sarah, and begins to bob her head up and down when she notices Sarah looking her way. Awww!

"Look, uh, owl. I don't have any more food for you, buddy." Sarah walks slowly in order to not scare her. "But can I get that paper from the floor without you attacking me?"

Surprisingly, she obliges and walks away a few paces on her long legs. She had such a pretty heart-shaped face. Sarah picks up the paper and looks at the owl thoughtfully.

"You are such a beautiful and graceful creature. I think I'm going to call you 'Daphnee'."

She cocks her head at Sarah and so Sarah keeps talking, to get her used to her voice, "The name comes from Greek mythology about a nymph, the daughter of the river-god Peneus. She escaped from the attentions of Apollo by being transformed into a laurel tree. And seeing how the Laurel in a symbol of victory, I think you definitely were victorious against Cody and Jocelyn even though you were hurt in battle."

She apparently got bored with Sarah's narrative because she began to fluff up and preen her feathers, ignoring her.

Sarah turns her attention to the paper in her hand, it feels old and brittle. She unfolds it. It's a letter! An old letter by the look of the cursive.

"Dear E.B,

I want to write to you from the car of a train bound over the Rockies, a feat of modernity so spectacular I reel to conceive of it!

Alas, my mind is preoccupied with my destination; one Westchester, Oregon and the curious package that started me on this expedition when it appeared in my university mailbox: a photograph of dark trees…an inhuman silhouette…and five hastily scribbled words.

"It lives in the woods."

The other faculty (and your father) think me mad to chase such nonsense. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps they've always been right. Or perhaps this time I shall prove them all wrong.

-Goddard E. Filleus

September 29, 1871

Sarah got a queasy feeling from the letter. It lives in the woods?...Does he mean Jareth? Who is the author of this letter? She checked the date.

"1871?! Where on earth did you find this Daphnee?" Sarah says, shocked. What's an owl doing, bringing me 200-year-old mail?

"I don't suppose you have an overdue letter from Hogwarts, do you?" Sarah asks her, joking but at the same time hesitant.

Daphnee tilts her head at Sarah.

"Well, I guess it would be weirder if you did answer." Sarah rolls her eyes. Reading over the letter one more time she concludes that she'll have to do some research into it. She walks to the table only to stop in astonishment. ANOTHER folded up old paper was on the table! The first one must have fallen to the floor and the owl protected it from Merlin.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Sarah reached for the paper. It was addressed to the same "E.B." by the same Goddard E. Fillius. Are these pages of someone's journal?

Sarah began to read.

Dear E.B.,

Do you recall our endless discussions beneath the old oak tree? As I settle in Westchester, your words echo in my ears, speaking of reality and ritual… known and unknown… and the ancient wilderness that lives between…

I confess I am bewitched by this somnambulant woodland town. But there is a supernatural "fog" of sorts here, E. B... the gradual tension of boundaries ill-defined and shifting of two realms. A dark current courses beneath this town. Every soul in Westchester seems to acknowledge it… but none dare speak it's name.

I mean to trace that current to its headwaters… and chart them for all the world to see!

Goddard E. Fillius

October 1, 1871

A supernatural 'fog'? Ill-defined and shifting boundaries of realms? A dark current?!

Shaking her head, Sarah takes both letters and pins them on her wall. She steps back and studies them for a moment, before rubbing at her tired eyes. This would have to wait until later.

"Come on, Merlin." Sarah sighs, slapping her thigh to get his attention. She doesn't want to turn the light off, but she forces herself to be reasonable and plunges the shed into darkness as she quickly closes the door and then turns to head back to the house. Tomorrow would hopefully bring more answers than today did.