Sarah dreamed of the Labyrinth that night. She'd been so busy with settling in and starting the theater club that, after saying her goodnight to Charlie, she'd always gone right to bed and fallen into a dreamless sleep. However, that night she'd tried her best to lose herself in housework and homework to try and forget the disaster of the play choice. For a while, she managed to put aside all her earlier panic. Her subconscious, however, was more than happy to remind her once she'd finally managed to drift off to sleep.
In the dream she was back in the Labyrinth, running desperately as a clock chased behind her chiming its thirteenth hour. "Too late! Too late!" it chimed at her. Sarah kept running, knowing that if the clock were to ever catch her, she would lose and Toby would be claimed by the Goblin King forever. As impossible as it sounded, she had to stay one step ahead if she was going to win. However, Sarah was just running in circles. She knew she had to escape; had to find the way out. There was just one exit—dark and forbidding—and Sarah somehow knew that if she ever went down it, there would be no returning: she would never be the same. She didn't even know if that change would be bad. Yet, it stood and waited as though knowing someday she'd be tired enough to give in. Sarah, however, was nothing if not determined. Though she never stopped her futile running, one thing was missing. Where was the leader of this beguiling but incomprehensible place? Where was Jareth? Why was he not here to lord over her, offering one of his beautiful and deadly deals? As she thought that, Sarah could have sworn she heard a light shuffle somewhere in the distance. Turning towards the sound, she trained her eyes, waiting for him to materialize out of the darkness with more shimmering promises. There was no one.
"You owe me two hours!" she called out toward the noise, though she saw nothing. "I want my brother back!" Still nothing, though Sarah was certain she heard a light chuckle just before she woke up. Or, the more frightening notion, the chuckle was what woke her. Jolting straight up in bed, Sarah glanced around the room desperately. She was alone, always alone. Sighing to herself and employing the breathing exercises she'd practiced for the last two years, Sarah managed to calm her racing heart.
Slowly edging out of bed, she walked over to her window and threw it open, breathing in the cool night air. The dim light of the clock read 2:00 and she felt exhausted. Sarah wasn't sure she could get back to sleep, but her tired mind prevented her from registering the ease with which her window slid open. It had not always been that way, nor could she remember if the window had been unlocked normally or if she'd simply forgotten to lock it. In the end, Sarah supposed it didn't matter. On the second floor it was unlikely that anyone would be using it. Besides, the nighttime visitor she feared the most would be undaunted by that simple of an obstacle.
Sleep did not come easily after that, and what little she did catch was haunted by goblins, chickens and helping hands. But the Goblin King remained surprisingly, worryingly and blessedly absent.
Tired and hardly functioning, Sarah was immensely glad she had the snow chains already on her truck. She couldn't imagine going through the hassle of it while so tired or attempting to drive safely without them. After last night she almost considered skipping school and calling Charlie to say she was sick, but he'd come to check on her and there was no way she could explain the reality of what happened. Her father hadn't believed it, why would anyone else.
The school day went by in a haze. Several of her classmates had approached to ask if she was alright and she brushed off their concern with friendly smiles and assurances that she'd just had trouble sleeping. That much was the truth, after all. Sarah long ago realized people did not need much explanation for things in general. They were used to simple answers and would accept them easily. Few people had much to be paranoid or suspicious of, Sarah supposed.
It was the talk of the Labyrinth that finally woke her up properly, the dread settling on her like a bucket of ice. She'd been too tired to come up with a decent rationale for swapping the play, so Sarah found herself spending part of lunch in the library making copy after copy of the script. At first they'd tried to look it up online, but as far as anyone could tell, the book either did not exist outside of her copy or was extremely rare; a fact that only fired up enthusiasm even more. Bundling up the copies of the script, she handed a few out to the people at her table, saving the rest for auditions.
"Are you going to be auditioning for the lead?" Sarah heard Eric ask, and—after lifting her heavy head—noticed he was directing the comment at her. A few curious glances came from all around her, including not quite so pleased ones from Jessica and Lauren. Raising her hands innocently, Sarah was quick to shake her head. Had it been any other play, she would have at least considered it, but this was already unfortunate enough as it was. She could wait for their next production.
"Definitely not," said Sarah, trying to laugh her nerves off. While she knew they couldn't read her mind, Sarah still felt as though she was being watched too closely like they were waiting for her to make a mistake. "Since I was the one who started this, I thought it might be better if I put all my effort into organizing it. Maybe as the director, if no one minds." No one did, causing Sarah to let out a long sigh of relief. The farther she could distance herself from the play, the better. It was never going to be comfortable, but at least this way it might be easier.
Listening to the chatter of her friends as the topic was dropped and looking around the cafeteria, Sarah wondered at her situation. Living a magic-free life was never something she'd envisioned for herself, even before the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth had just given her new ideas of what magic was. There were plenty of things in the normal world that Sarah had once considered magic—snowfall on a cloudless night, the moment the sun broke free from behind the clouds to shine its light on her, songs from birds that seemed to disappear into the trees they perched on—but, after seeing real magic, she had lost that innocence. Ordinary life lacked the majesty of real magic, but real magic was too dangerous and changeable to be safe; just like Jareth….
These thoughts dogged Sarah all the way through lunch and even as she took her seat in biology, much though she tried to put them out of her mind. She could feel exhaustion returning and her mind having trouble tearing itself away from thoughts of the Labyrinth. It wasn't until Edward sat in the chair next to her with another seemingly open smile that she could force the thoughts away. Something about Edward made them disappear, and so she looked back at him curiously. Maybe it was that he was yet another mystery begging to be solved; maybe he was a sign that ordinary life didn't have to be as boring as she thought. Regardless of what she thought of him as a person, Sarah felt the strangest vibe from him that begged her to know more. While she was trying to formulate a question to help her understand, he beat her to it.
"Did you get much snow in Phoenix?" Edward asked. Sarah blinked at him, wondering where the question had come from. Maybe he was making small talk or maybe he was genuinely curious. A small voice in the back of her mind wondered if he knew more than he was letting on.
"What?" she asked on instinct before she shook her head slightly to clear it. "Oh no, about as often as we get rain." Sarah laughed, hoping the comment and laughter would cover up her limited knowledge of the subject. Hopefully Edward was making small talk and had no real intention of learning about her supposed home state. He nodded as if she'd confirmed something he'd been wondering for a while. Sarah tried not to imagine what.
"You seem at home in it," observed Edward. Though it was not meant to be an accusation, Sarah's shoulders tensed and her eyes all but squinted at him. He was paying too much attention and seeing things Sarah would have rather kept hidden.
"I went skiing a couple of times when I was younger," said Sarah. When in doubt, the truth was the best way to go. She'd be less likely to forget it later and it rang truer than most lies. For small things it did. The devil was in the details after all.
"And you like it?" Sarah shot him a look, but nodded. It was odd for her to be so defensive about such a benign topic, but something about his attitude made her wary. Maybe exhaustion had heightened her feelings of paranoia, but Sarah was certain every word out of Edward's mouth was a trap.
"Sure, I'd take the snow over rain any day. Except for the sound rain makes on the roof, I like that." Sarah wasn't sure why she was offering him more information, but she half-hoped he'd give her something in return, not just another question.
"Then Forks must be an interesting change." It was not a question, but Sarah could tell Edward was probing for more information. Maybe he'd sensed his questioning was causing her to close off from him rather than open up.
"You could say that," replied Sarah, keeping her responses short now, but as honest as possible. The change was interesting, but it had nothing to do with the weather.
"Then, why here?" Another question. Sarah sighed. It wouldn't be long before she'd have to resort to lies if this kept up, and Sarah didn't particularly want to do that. She would, but she didn't want to. Charlie had accepted her suggestion of adopting Bella's identity, but how much more embarrassing would it be for him if she was outed? It was that thought that caused Sarah to put up a polite, if insincere, smile.
"It's a family thing." In Sarah's mind that was universal code for 'do not ask me anything more', and that's where she figured the matter would end. Everything from her body posture to her cagey answers strongly hinted at her reluctance to share any of this with him, particularly the more intimate details of her life. The only way it could have been more clear was if she said it outright.
"Did you get sent here?" Edward was undaunted. Looking at him with clear skepticism, Sarah was silent for a moment.
"You're very chatty today," she commented. "Are you writing an article on me for the school paper or something?" Her words were harsher and more pointed than she meant them to be, but she was purposefully deflecting. At first he seemed taken aback, but then his eyes narrowed as if he was aware there were things she wasn't telling him and it bothered him. Sarah supposed she hadn't been subtle in wanting to change the subject.
"I'm just making conversation," he assured her, though Sarah knew there was more to the questions than that.
"So…" began Sarah, drawing the word out, "since your transfer didn't go through, you decided to befriend me instead of run away?" The grudge was still there. Granted, it was muted since he'd been friendlier of late, but not forgotten and certainly not forgiven. She was still waiting for an explanation. For his part, Edward looked abashed if not apologetic.
"I'm sorry," he said, for once having the grace to look uncomfortable and maybe even embarrassed. It still wasn't an explanation, but something told Sarah she wasn't going to get one.
"I'm over it," she said to him; she wasn't. "But I'll answer your question," she continued. "No, I was not sent here. I chose to come. There were things I wanted to escape and things I needed to find. The whole… cliché new start thing. Not really exciting. You on the other hand, I bet your life before was much more exciting." Vague was good, as was trying to turn the conversation back around on him. There were still no lies to be found in her words, though she had answered his question. If the answer wasn't completely satisfactory, it was enough to imply that he should stop asking. Or that's what Sarah thought, anyway. Why she expected Edward to follow any of those social rules at this point, she didn't know.
"Escape," he wondered aloud, purposely ignoring her final words about him. "Escape from what? A person? A situation? Something dangerous?" He'd put a hand to his chin as he looked over at her. The part that disturbed her more than his continued questioning was that he'd more or less correctly surmised her reasons from the very little she'd said. Sarah swallowed and tried to figure out a way to word the truth to make it reveal nothing. Jareth wasn't human, so at least she could feel justified in not describing him as a person.
"Not really," she finally said. "It's complicated." This time, despite her tone and words that clearly said not to ask, Sarah was not surprised by his insistence.
"I'm sure I can keep up," Edward said with confidence. Sarah rolled her eyes, torn between annoyance and respect for his persistence.
"You're not used to being told no, are you?" It was the first time she acknowledged openly that she was refusing him, and Sarah could see a look of intense frustration cross his face. Perhaps he was banking on her being polite enough to keep giving him vague answers as long as he kept asking.
"Do you always avoid answering questions this much?" Part of Sarah wanted to point out that most people didn't ask such pointed questions or that they didn't make her feel like they were waiting to pounce on her for any slip of the tongue, but she didn't. Instead she tilted her head at him.
"You're one to talk," Sarah responded, shooting him a look, but only barely containing a smile that threatened to break out on her face. "Do you always answer a question with another question?" Edward himself couldn't help but look amused.
"Maybe," he hedged.
"What about you? I heard you moved from Alaska, how do you feel about the snow?" Like Edward, Sarah decided that she would not give in. If he wanted to deflect from answering questions about himself to talk about her, Sarah would deflect his questions to ask about him. Maybe neither of them would ever get anywhere, but maybe that wasn't the point.
"Are you interested in me?" The smirk hovering around Edward's lips was a little too reminiscent of a certain king Sarah was trying desperately to keep out of her mind. Something about it threw her off.
"You're doing it again," she pointed out before shaking her head. "Maybe I'm interested in Alaska." Looking over at him innocently, Sarah really thought she wasn't giving him any headway, but Edward had caught on to what she was doing. He didn't even try to hide his deflections anymore. It was kind of fun, this game they'd fallen into.
"You've never been? How far north have you been?" And that was where Sarah gave up. The conversation was not only spiraling in circles, but she had the feeling he was getting more out of it than she was. Besides, it really was time she started to pay attention in class. Part of her figured she could always ask Edward about anything she didn't understand, but another part hesitated. She didn't know if he was easy to talk to or incredibly difficult.
"I think the interview is over for today," was all she said, giving him one more look out of the corner of her eye as she turned away. Of course Sarah could tell that he was interested in continuing his line of questioning, but she was finished answering them. At least for now. Much as she wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine and badger him with personal questions, Sarah had the feeling he'd find a way to turn it back around on her again. And Sarah had already said too much. The more she tried to push Jareth and the Labyrinth out of her life, the more they seemed to come up anyway. It wasn't f…. Sarah cut herself off from even thinking that word and let out a long sign. She noticed Edward's attention flick back to her with a look of frustration on his face, but Sarah pretended that she hadn't seen it. Her attention stayed forward until class was over and Edward made his usual dash out the door.
"Cullen seemed friendly enough today," Mike commented on their way to gym. Sarah made a noncommittal noise. She didn't know if friendly was what she'd call that. While he smiled and made conversation, it felt more like he was baiting her. In some ways it made her feel just like having a conversation with Jareth: as though no matter what she said, she'd always be wrong in some way.
"Talking to him is a bit like a good cop, bad cop routine," Sarah decided with a laugh. "Even when he's the good cop, I still feel like I'm in some kind of trouble." Mike laughed along with her and let the matter drop. They traded banter the rest of the way to gym and even during class though the comments quickly turned to companionable taunts and insults as the two of them chuckled and smiled at each other through the volleyball net.
The snow was more of slush by the time school had ended. Sarah made a mental note to take off her chains when she got home. What little energy she had left had been worn out in gym and she slogged through the parking lot, feeling dead on her feet. Maybe it was just a trick of her tired mind, but Sarah saw a small, dark shape moving swiftly across the lot. Her mind screamed one thing: goblin.
With only that thought in her mind and no others, Sarah dashed after the creature. Cars honked, tires screeched and people shouted, but Sarah heard none of it. Skidding to a halt as she grabbed the rear of her truck for support, Sarah leaned down to look for the shape. It had to be there; she wasn't crazy. If there really was a goblin, then that meant Jareth would not be far behind. The thought caused her to wobble back from her truck, still lacking any awareness for her surroundings. What was better? To be going mad from stress and exhaustion, or to know that she had been found? Sarah couldn't even say herself.
It was a deafening commotion that finally pulled her out of her own head, turning to see that her unsteady legs had taken her a bit too far into the parking lot. She cast her eyes around for familiar faces. Jessica. Mr. Banner. Edward. Tyler. Sarah's scanning eyes stopped at him and the van in which he sat, now careening right towards her. Sarah wanted to dive out of the way, but her jelly legs refused to move. Sarah couldn't even close her eyes.
Tyler, the minivan driver and friendly acquaintance, stared back at her in horror. He was tugging at his steering wheel and slamming his foot down on the breaks, but he'd completely lost control of the vehicle. Sarah had spent most of her life dreaming of living an immortal fantasy, so the idea of death had never really crossed her mind. Now that she was starting it in the face, Sarah just laughed. After the cleaners, a goblin army and the Bog of Eternal Stench, she was just waiting to be crushed by a van. How anticlimactic. Why was it when things were all trying to stop her, she felt in little danger but it was the real world that was out to kill her?
"A piece of cake," she muttered to herself.
There was no pain. That's what Sarah noticed first, though the throbbing of her head quickly followed that thought. The sound of metal as it scraped together tore at her ears, but she was in too much of a shock to do anything about it. She was still laughing. The world seemed to be moving impossibly fast and only she was stuck in slow motion. It was only once the world stopped that she noticed she was not dead and instead held in a pair of impossibly cold arms.
Her eyes refocused slowly and she found her gaze leveled to the bottom of her truck. What was first just a fuzzy black blob came into focus, and Sarah found herself staring at one of the creatures from her nightmares.
"Go away," she hissed, reaching out a hand to shoo the goblin. Edward's eyes followed the gesture with confusion. "No one invited you here. No one wished for that."
"There's nothing there, Bella," the melodic voice told her quietly. Sarah was certain she saw the creature mouth 'Bella' before it disappeared. She sighed. Part of her wished that her head would stop hurting so she could understand what had happened, but another part was grateful for the headache that prevented any clear thoughts from running through her mind.
"It never goes away," she mumbled to herself. Running might have distanced her from Jareth, but the Labyrinth never seemed to go away. And, where the Labyrinth went, so did its king.
"Help will be here soon, hold on," the voice urged, growing ever more concerned. Sarah shook her head, only causing it to pound harder.
"It's too late," she said, seeing the clock dance before her eyes. The dream filled her mind and, in that moment, she felt as though she was talking to Jareth himself. All that she could think was that she wasn't ready to give up this freedom. Not yet. "I want my two hours." With that, Sarah slumped back unconscious.