Disclaimer:
Check the first chapter.
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Sarah sat on her bed stuffing things into a big jeans backpack,
trembling with rage. A large purple bruise discolored her cheek. She had
already thrown in her mother's photograph, two changes of clothes and her
wallet. All my worldly goods, she thought ironically, looking over her room to
see if she had forgotten anything vital. Her glance fell on the crystal rose in
a vase on her bookshelf and she looked at it consideringly. Then, moved by an
impulse she did not recognize she grabbed it and stuffed it into her bag along
with the battered red book which lay near it.
She padded out of her room and glided past her parents room. Some
parents, she thought. A father who could not look beyond her resemblance to her
mother to see her personality and a step-mother, who could accuse her of trying
to harm Toby. Even now, she trembled to think of it. He had been playing with a
stuffed bear with loose button eyes and had bitten off and started to choke on
one of the buttons. She had grabbed him and attempted to perform the Heimlich
maneuver. Karen had run in, and seen Toby in obvious physical pain in Sarah's
arms. Karen had snatched Toby from her and slapped her violently, luckily not
before the button had popped up. Sarah had locked herself in her room and not
responded to any of Karen's apologies and entreaties to come out. She was tired
of forgiving the woman.
She paused at Toby's door. A year ago, only a few days after
"The Incident" as she thought of it, her parents had decided that
Toby was old enough to sleep alone. She hesitated, her hand gliding towards the
doorknob and then reluctantly away, knowing that if she went in, she might not
be able to leave. Reluctantly she passed by Toby's bedroom.
She dropped the two letters she had written on the kitchen table,
one for her father and one for her mother and left the house. She had spent
hours on those letters, unleashing for the first time the rejection she felt,
telling her parents how they had hurt her. They might worry, she reasoned but
both had their own lives and would soon forget her. "But what no one
knew," she whispered softly, her voice low but full of delight "Was that
the girl had saved enough money to leave home."
Dear
Father,
Please don't try to find me. I'm leaving
because if I stayed any longer I would kill either Karen or myself. A year ago
I resolved to put up with being treated like a maid to stay with you and Toby.
Now I'm not so sure. Karen treats me like a servant, and you always take her
side. Mom hasn't been in touch for ages and I'm sure she won't worry. I don't
think you will either. Don't feel guilty. I can take care of myself. I'll be
eighteen in six months and will try to call after that.
Sarah
She slipped out the back door, leaving the house she had grown up
in with some reluctance. She walked silently through the sleeping streets of
her neighborhood towards the bus station. As she padded through the streets, an
owl hooted. She glanced around, suddenly alert. Nothing seemed out of the
ordinary, but as she continued, an owl flew over her head. She whirled, hands
up to protect her head. A tall man suddenly materialized in front of her. He
wore conventional clothing, black pants and a black leather jacket. The dim
light from the streetlamps faintly illuminated the man's face. By the light of
the full moon, it looked very predatory, the jutting planes of harmonious but
fierce. The moonlight seemed to catch in his almost white hair and made it
almost glow. "Sarah," came the cruel sounding, slightly world-weary
voice.
Sarah recoiled. It was HIM. The man who had haunted her dreams and
nightmares for the past year stood in front of her and greeted her as if they
were old friends. "Goblin King," she hissed. "Up past your
bed-time aren't you?" he asked, his tone faintly mocking. "My
bed-time is no concern of yours, Goblin King," she said, assuming a false
air of bravado although she was trembling inside. What was he...Jareth doing
here? Her friends hadn't come when she had called them. The only thing that
kept her from dismissing the whole incident as a dream was the rose. He smirked
"of course it is" he said matter of factly "Eight PM until you
were eleven years old, Ten PM after that and lately One AM". Sarah
blanched, realizing that he must have been spying on her for years. How often
had he spied on her she wondered and blushed to think of what he might have
seen. She felt furious at this violation of her privacy.
She opened her mouth to make an angry retort but Jareth held up a
hand. "Please" he said in a gentle tone, one she had never heard him
use, "I need to talk to you. If you want me to leave after you've heard me
out, I shall." He looked at her consideringly. She had changed, but only
in good ways, he decided. Her face more than fulfilled it's childhood promise.
She looked beautiful in the moonlight, her face a contrast of dark hair and
pale skin. Her red lips were full and pouting and perfectly natural, he knew.
Her eyes still held that look of wondering joy in life which he had thought
would fade with her childhood. He
reached for her hand and began to lead her to a small park which lay to the
left. Jareth's ungloved hand was unexpectedly warm and Sarah felt strangely
light headed. "Is he using some sort of enchantment" she wondered.
It was a measure of how dazed Sarah was that she followed him
without protest. Once they were seated on the bench in the park he began
"Have you ever heard that the gods test their champions?". Sarah
glanced at him, unable to see where this conversation was going.
"Yes" she said hesitantly, her low voice sounding very loud in the
silence "but I fail to see...". "The Labyrinth is a test
Sarah" he interrupted impatiently. "For skill and courage among other
things. The fae have a very low birth rate and our subjects, the goblins, the
trolls, the fairies and countless others breed like rabbits and are immortal.
Human Children, who pass the Labyrinth, are invited to the underground as
administrators".
Sarah sat there in shock. A life in the underground she thought,
dazed, where Hoggle and Ludo and Sir Dydamus are. Where there is magic, where
there is ..Jareth. She caught herself at the last thought and began mentally
castigating herself. He's arrogant, and rude and thinks nothing of spying on
me, he's god knows how old and ran me through his Labyrinth like a rat in a
maze AND he's not even human. She snuck a glance at her silent companion. His
hair was as wild as ever and his face as beautiful. In repose it looked as if
it had been carved out of a block of marble, harsh featured but with a strange,
pale, beauty to it. The thin lips were strangely sensual and he sat silently beside her, giving her time to
think. "How do I know you aren't lying" she asked more harshly than
she had intended, angered at her own thoughts. The Goblin King laughed
"Come now, Sarah, if I wanted to abduct you I could do it any time. If you
don't want to come I'll drop you to that Greyhound station and leave".
He meant it she realised, looking at him. If she refused he would
walk out of her life and never come back. That thought brought an unexpected
pang with it. "If.." she began shakily "If I went to the
underground, what would I do?". He smiled, relieved that she had not
rejected the offer out of hand.
"There are twelve kingdoms in the Underground" he said.
" If you come to the underground you'll spend time in all of them,
learning from their rulers. At the end of three years you'll have a choice: to
stay in the Underground as a paladin and take service with one of the kingdoms
or to return to your world". He hoped she would accept. She was wasted in
this world.
"You belong in the underground" he said persuasively
"This mundane world kills you day by day. I've seen you lose the dreamer
inside you, the part of you that is Sarah, bit by bit, day by day". Sarah
drew back from him, studied his face, surprised by his passion. He had been
surprised himself and he frowned. He had not meant to reveal so much of
himself. "Why do you care?" she asked, slightly defensive "I've
had to accept the world. It has no place for dreamers". Jareth smiled
coldly "That's your step-mother speaking". He wouldn't mind killing
the woman at all, he realized. At the mention of Karen Sarah had involuntarily
touched her cheek. Jareth saw the bruise and scowled. Gently he touched her
cheek and trailed his fingers over it. Sarah shivered as the cool fingers
brushed her cheek. Inexplicably, she felt herself blushing.
"It's hard not to care for someone you have watched since
babyhood" Jareth continued. Sarah welcomed the outraged she felt at the
reminder that he had been spying on her. It helped dispel the curious sensation
she had felt at the touch of his hand on her cheek. "Spying, you
mean" she said bitterly. "Semantics" the Goblin King replied
"Now are you coming or not. We haven't got all night". The last bit
was said impatiently.
Sarah felt bewildered by all that had happened in the last hour.
"But.." she began, "What about my parents? and Toby?".
Jareth looked at her strangely "You were perfectly wiling to walk out of
their lives an hour ago" he said in a curiously hard tone "and you can
chose to return to your world at any period before three years are up".
Sarah looked at him consideringly. He was right, she realised. She had been
willing to leave everyone. And returning to the underground had been a dream
she had kept buried inside herself, not even daring to articulate it because it
had seemed impossible. "Done"
she said firmly, extending her hand. Jareth took it and smiled. Anyone
observing the park would have seen the seated figures on the bench vanish in a
swirl of white light.
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Please
review and tell me what you thought. I do plan to update this story but my
finals are about to begin so it could take a while. I should be able to get one
more chapter out by next week and then I'll have to stop writing for about a
month.