Sarah's studio apartment in New York didn't have spectacular views like her grandmother's cabin did. It did, however, have a twenty-four hour cafe on the ground level that sold fresh donuts every morning. It was positioned conveniently two blocks away from the theater her troupe worked out of, where she sometimes managed to squeeze in a role or two. Most importantly, it was affordable enough that she could manage the rent.
The place wasn't a large one, just over two hundred square feet, with a kitchen that consisted of a stove, a refrigerator, and one countertop. On the long wall beside it was a closet that held a washer and dryer with enough space for her to hang her winter coat and a jacket. The only other door besides the one that led into the hallway was the one that opened into her three quarter bathroom. There was barely enough space behind the door for the shower, toilet, and sink that were in it.
As far as the apartments she'd had, however, she'd lived in much worse.
The one she'd lived in a year ago, her father had delicately described as "unpleasant", but the reality of the matter was it was a slum. She'd lived there because it was cheap, because they'd rent to her without concern for her finances, and she'd regretted it immediately after she'd signed the lease. Getting to go to her grandmother's cabin the last few months of it was a blessing in disguise, because her apartment had been broken into by some sketchy people who were after the landlord for loans he'd taken out.
The reason she was in a place as nice as this now was because her lover and fiance had worked some sort of magic on the property manager she'd met with. His first visit to her previous apartment had turned into a huge row that ended with the two of them nearly destroying the twin bed she'd been using at the time. In hindsight, he'd been right to be pissed off. The place wasn't safe, but she hadn't wanted to beg income assistance from her father in order to sustain the life she'd chosen. As it was, she knew her father had pulled her out of a lot of shady situations when she was younger. At thirty six, she didn't feel comfortable relying on him and Karen for monetary support any longer.
Jareth, however, had no problem twisting rules that annoyed him, and had ensured that she would live in an apartment that was at least safe. He took care of the problem, and told her that the future wife of the Goblin King would not be living in "squalor" ever again.
She'd had no choice when he'd said that to tease him about the state of his throne room and ask him if that meant that he'd been working on cleaning that up. His jaw had clenched, and she'd found herself heaved onto her bed, again. That time, they had managed to destroy the frame.
If one thing was true for her and Jareth, they had incredible chemistry - reactive and explosive. That particular part of their relationship was true in and out of bed. They teased each other, they fought with and for each other, and when they ended making love, it was hot enough she was amazed they hadn't singed her sheets.
Tonight, she sat in a chair by one of the windows, staring out at the street below, watching as people rushed around to escape the fall rain. The street lights reflected off the ground, keeping the city bright well into the evening. The city would never be like her grandmother's cabin in Ireland. If she was honest, she liked that about it. She loved the peace she found at the cabin, but New York was a city that never seemed to sleep. There was always movement and energy that seemed to beat close to the surface. The pulse was in the footfall of the people on the sidewalk, the car horns that blared on the street, the rumble of the subway, underground.
It was vibrant and exciting.
Ireland's pulse was different. Deeper under the earth, like some great beast slept beneath the land, waiting to awaken. She found peace and solitude there when she wanted or needed it. So, while she lived in New York most of the time, she would escape to the cabin in periods of high stress.
She didn't have to fly there, anymore. She just had to open a door.
Among the new tricks she'd picked up in the last year, since her adventure with Jareth in the fairy lands, it was one of her favorites. It took her a little while to get it right, but it was useful, and versatile. It also wasn't one that her lover really approved of. It seemed simple enough, to her. It shouldn't get her into unnecessary trouble, and it saved her both time and money to use. She also took great care about how and when she used it.
Most people and places wouldn't notice a random door appearing out of nowhere. But sometimes, people were more perceptive, and so it wasn't something she used to access public spaces.
A simple chalk outline of a door, a sort of knob to turn, knock three times while thinking of where you wanted to go, and then turn the knob. The door would open wherever she wanted, unless that place was the Underground. For whatever reason, the magic she used to create the doors couldn't breach the veil. He'd warned her that she shouldn't try to use that method to get through, that her magic wasn't faerie magic, and would result in unexpected reactions that could put her somewhere she didn't want to be.
She'd taken his word for that. She'd learned the hard way last year to trust the Goblin King.
However, her magic had changed since her trip to the Underground the year prior. Even with Jareth trying to keep her visits to that side of the veil down until they were married, she'd noticed that she attracted both magical creatures and items. Which meant she also attracted magical troubles. She wasn't certain how much of that was because of her relationship with Jareth, or because she was fae-touched, or because of her maternal line.
It didn't even matter, it was just a fact of her life, now.
Last winter, after a big snow storm, there'd been a nasty problem with a Wendigo just north of her parents house in upstate New York that she'd gone to deal with at her brother's request. He was someone she'd felt comfortable discussing the changes to her life with, in ways that she never would with her parents. Still, the creature had been crossing over from Canada and kidnapping and eating whole families in its hunger.
Jareth getting called through her mirror in her childhood home had almost sent him into a rage that reminded her of when they were first reunited, but he hadn't tried to stop her that time. He just dropped himself into the situation to make certain she got out of it in one piece. It helped that he was a proverbial treasure trove of information, so it was seldom that her lover didn't have answers when she needed them, and when he didn't he could get them. They'd managed to save the last family that was taken, and Jareth handled their memories of the events so they wouldn't fall apart. It had been touch and go, but everyone made it through that adventure intact, again.
Her trick with the doors wasn't the only new quirk she'd developed, either. She could see magic, now. Holes in the veil, Jareth had called them. Places where the magic poured through, sometimes for a moment, sometimes for longer. When she put doors in those spots, they needed less of her own power to work, so they were less draining.
Besides that, since the dream before she'd found her grandmother dead, she was having more and more dreams like that. Vivid, realistic ones that worried her that she was seeing more than just dreams. Lately, they'd been dreams of a never ending night, darkness that seemed to stretch on forever. Those ones worried her enough that she'd brought the dreams up to Jareth.
He'd said that if she was having prophetic dreams, they wouldn't be able to tell until something actually bit her in the ass - hopefully figuratively. So she tried to ignore them for the most part, though she did take the time to write them down in a dream journal, just to keep track of them.
He wasn't trying to diminish her worries. She knew that. Her magic wasn't faerie magic, it was earth magic, something that came from her mother's side of the family. From Rhiannon's side. As such, Jareth didn't understand all of it. All he knew for certain was that his own contact with her, her possession of magical items, and her more recent practice to hone the magic she had resulted in her powers growing.
When he'd admitted to that, there had been a troubled, tight expression on her lover's face and she knew he was worried about it, even if he didn't talk to her about his worries. She recognized that expression too well. She'd seen it often enough when they'd been together in the faerie realms last summer. He wore it whenever the thoughts he had weren't good ones. Like when he'd asked her why she wasn't afraid of him.
He seldom chose to share those thoughts. He preferred to trouble through them on his own, at least at first. She knew that. He also wasn't the quickest to share his inner thoughts. If they hadn't spent the previous summer together so often, she doubted he'd share any at all. It took a lot of patience and careful questioning before he'd open up about whatever concerns he had.
Which often were quite a lot.
She gave a quiet sigh, getting to her feet and setting the futon bed into a lying position, before getting ready for bed. It was getting late. Knowing Jareth, if he was coming by today, it would be after she was asleep. She seldom admitted to missing him, but today, she did. He'd been busy with something that troubled him in his own realm, another thing he hadn't shared with her. He'd told her it wasn't her responsibility to save the whole of two realms from whatever problems they had.
She hoped he'd come by, today, and figured if she went to bed now, she'd at least speed things up. So she brushed her teeth and hair, settling in for the night. She'd just laid down when her phone rang and she pulled it towards her. Her brother's name popped up and she gave a quiet sigh, looking at the time. It was almost midnight. If he was calling this late, it was important. So, she swiped a finger across the screen, answering it.
"What's up, Toby?"
"Heya, I got a package addressed to you," her brother's voice sounded perplexed, and she heard him grunt a bit, and she closed her eyes, rubbing her temple.
"Why are you getting my packages?" Her mail getting delivered to her parents house wasn't unusual. She'd made certain things like packages were rerouted there, to keep them from getting nicked when she'd lived at her last apartment.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Toby said, and he went quiet for a moment. "Looks like it's from your grandmother? Rhiannon? Wasn't she the one who died last year?"
She felt a pang in her chest at the mention of her grandmother, and then the words caught up with her. Sarah jacknived into a seated position, shocked. It took her a moment to find words. "What do you mean from Rhiannon?"
"I don't know? Maybe her lawyer mailed it to you?"
Fat chance. If Rhiannon had something to send to her, she wouldn't have bothered having Jareth do it. He hadn't wanted her to bother Sarah with the treasures the previous summer. There was no way in hell Jareth would have a hand in getting something mailed to her. Still, she shook that question off, for now.
"This is something you decided to put off telling me about until midnight?"
"I wasn't putting anything off, it just got here." Her brother's voice was curt, annoyed at the accusation. "Some guy dropped it off, made me sign for it about ten minutes ago. Didn't get a good look at his face, but he had some creepy ass blue eyes. I remember that much.
Sarah's anxiety started clawing at her and she bit her lower lip, rubbing her neck where it met her shoulder, trying to think. Something about this call was setting off her instincts. A mysterious package arriving at her brother's apartment in the middle of the night, addressed to her, from her grandmother? It was too late at night to deal with this, right now. She didn't have the energy and she knew it.
A sigh escaped her and she pushed her hand through her hair, thinking. "Alright. I'll come by and pick it up around noon tomorrow."
"You going to use that weird doorway trick, again?"
"If I'm picking up something sent by Rhiannon, caution and speed are warranted, Toby. It's the safest way to travel, and until I know what it is, we should treat it like a box full of anthrax."
"Yikes. Alright, Sarah. Just don't use the wall across from the front door. My TV is on that one."
"I'll keep that in mind," she said, her tone dry. She knew he said that because he could hear the pinch of anxiety in her tone. "I'll see you tomorrow, Toby."
"G'night, Sare."
She hung up the phone, set it back on the charge and stared at it for a long moment. A frown was still pulling at her lips. It was hard to not feel unsettled, right then. Getting a package from her dead grandmother, addressed to her brother, in the middle of the night? That was just the sort of coincidence combo that would set her teeth on edge.
She thought for a moment about calling Jareth to come to her, but she nixed that idea after a moment. He had his own work to do. Besides, he'd taught her how to get to sleep when she was stressed out of her mind. After their adventure last summer, he'd taken exception to her inability to sleep when stressed or frightened.
Laying down, she closed her eyes and forced herself to relax on the bed. Deep breaths, counting the beats of her heart, focusing on her physical being in order to cause a relaxed state. She felt the tightness in her shoulders ease, her exhaustion slowly sweep over her.
Whenever he showed up, she'd talk to him about this all, then. If he came by, tonight.
She took a long moment to really, sincerely hope that he would. She wasn't certain when, but she drifted off into a deep sleep.
One second she was asleep on her futon in her New York apartment. The next, she was standing on the balcony in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. Below her, the Labyrinth stretched out in all directions, almost blue in the moonlight. They were high up, she could tell that much. She didn't recognize the room behind her, it wasn't well lit enough for her to see where she was in the castle. It was silent, and so very still that it set her teeth on edge.
Turning, she saw Jareth standing on that balcony with her and she walked towards him with caution. He was staring up at the night sky, the moon making his beautiful silvery-blond hair shine brighter. He wasn't moving, just standing here, relaxed, and staring up at the sky. She could see his shoulders moving with his breaths, but that was the only sign of life, anywhere. Something about that, in particular, unnerved her, too.
"Jareth?" She forced a smile, moving around him in the silver light, until she was facing him. When she did, she felt horror creeping up her spine.
Jareth was staring up at the sky, his pose and demeanor relaxed and at peace. His face, however, was anything but. She could see lines of stress and fear on his face. His pupils were blown wide, and he seemed to be trembling. She could see the muscle in his jaw clenched tight. It looked, for a moment, like he was trying to tell her something, but he couldn't seem to actually speak enough to get the words out.
"Jareth," she whispered, grabbing his shirt in both hands, and giving him a shake. "Jareth what's wrong?!"
Even compelling him to answer didn't snap whatever sort of trance he was in. He simply stood there, and then, his expression changed. One of struggle, to one of placid peace.
"The moon is so beautiful tonight," he said, not sounding like himself, at all. His hands gripped her arms, and he started turning her to face it. "Look!"
Sarah woke with a start, drenched in sweat. The bed beside her was empty, and she got to her feet, pacing the floor of the apartment, trying to find the peace and relaxation she'd had moments before, when she'd forced herself to fall asleep.
What the actual fuck, she wondered, before going into the kitchen and pouring herself a shot from her bottle of vodka, drinking it down without a second thought. She wasn't certain what was going on, but she knew she needed to talk to Jareth as soon as possible. She didn't want to think that he was in danger, but right then, it was hard not to.
Rather than go back to bed, she grabbed her blankets, wrapped up in them, and got out one of her newer books on doorways, seeing if she could find one suitable for her purposes. She wasn't certain she'd need it, but it was better to be safe than sorry.