A/N: This chapter is written by a friend who will be collaborating with me on this story. Send comments to her at Delphi_silverhawk@yahoo.com.

Disclaimer: I still own nothing, except myself. Delphi, of course, owns herself. :)

Aboveground, a listian was working on her latest J/S
fanfiction story, Second Chances. She had not
uploaded a new chapter in a while, and was sure that
waiting fans were anxious to read the newest
installment. Cursing herself for writing two stories
at once, she sighed and shook her head, trying to rid
a bout of writer's block.

She stood up and yawned, it was early morning after
all. Or perhaps the better description was late
night?

'Whatever' she thought to herself.

Walking to the fridge, Delphi looked for something,
anything to eat. She needed energy right now.
Grabbing a vitamin water, she popped a container of
pasta into the microwave. Looking in the drawer for a
fork, she found that there were none.

Darn.

Reluctantly, Del, as many of her friends called her,
turned to the sink. She had neglected her chores
today, thus the fork shortage.

'Drat.' I'll have to wash a fork myself. Way too
much physical effort. Oh well.' She thought.

Opening the drawer next to the sink, Del went to get a
sponge when a voice interrupted her.

"Here's a fork."

"Thanks." She muttered, not turning around. "I
thought there were no clean forks in this house. It
is partly my fault. I am behind on my chores today."
She laughed, jokingly.

Suddenly she paused. That voice. That voice! It
was?

Del spun around, still holding the fork.

"Who are you?"

She narrowed her eyes at this stranger. It was
impossible. But it was true.

Jareth.

"I really need to get some more sleep. I am
hallucinating." Del muttered, rubbing her eyes as if
to snap out of it.

Jareth smiled. They write stories about him and wish
he were real, but when he visits them, they don't
believe him. The irony of it all.

Jareth took the few minutes that Del was using, to
apparently will him away, to study her.

She was about 5 and ½ feet, with shoulder length black
hair that was currently tied up in a messy bun. Her
eyes, when they were opened, were completely black,
like liquid ebony. She had a pencil behind one of her
ears, which at the moment, had amethyst studs in them.
She was in a black t-shirt and royal blue jeans.
Typical Aboveground clothing for a teenager.

Del looked up at him again.

"You're real." She stated.

Jareth smirked.

"Of course I am real."

Del studied him. She was not dumb. He wanted
something.

"What do you want?" she asked, hands on her hips.

Jareth widened his eyes innocently.

"What?" he asked. "I cannot just pay a visit to a
listian without getting such a hostile reaction?"

Del smiled.

"Yeah, right. I know people like you. You are only
nice when you want something. So spit it out." She
finished.

Jareth laughed, genuinely.

"Actually, Del, I DO want something."

Del arched an eyebrow.

"I need help." Jareth confessed. Then paused.

How was he ever going to explain his situation to a
loyal listian? That he, King of the Goblins, High
King of the Underground, is being threatened by a...
What? What was his name again? But if he wanted
control back, he would have to spit it out.

"There is a creature that came to the Underground that is
threatening me. I am almost powerless against him,
and I need your help in defeating him."

There. He said it.

Del arched an eyebrow again.

"Oh, really?" she asked.

Jareth nodded. Gods, this was embarrassing.

"Why MY help? What is so special about me?" she
asked, genuinely confused.

"Because Del, you are the listian with the most
knowledge of mythology of all different cultures
around the world. I need to know WHAT this enemy is,
before I can even think about defeating him."

"Oh, okay. I see that now." Del answered. "So, what
did this being call himself for starters?"

"Gin." Jareth answered her.

"Gin?" Del repeated. "Like a drink?"

"Well, it sounds like that." Jareth said.

Del just looked at Jareth. She chewed her lower lip
in thought.

"Oh! You mean a djinn. Like the jinni, or jini, or
aljunno. Right?"

Jareth looked lost.

Del smiled and explained.

"A djinn is like a genie. In the old Hausa myths, the
djinn were powerful magickal beings. Mostly they
played evil tricks on people, and most djinn were
malevolent creatures. The myths were twisted through
the ages, and nowadays most people know these djinn as
playful genies, like in Aladdin. Is that what you
mean?"

Jareth shrugged. "I guess. You are the world
mythology freak, not me."

"Okay, then." Del continued. "Did this djinn give you
his name?"

"DJinn." Jareth answered.

"Djinn?" She repeated slowly and carefully. "But the
race is djinn. I was wondering about his name."

"DJinn. Capital D and J. The I and two Ns are
lowercase." Jareth explained.

"So his name is DJinn." Del wondered aloud. "Well,
unfortunately, that does not help me much. But I can
give you some pointers. I'll have to go research it
more."

She shrugged. "Who knows?"

Jareth nodded. "Give me whatever you can. I need
it."

"Okay. Well, first the whole genie in the bottle idea
is not completely false. In the old myths, the
shamans would try to imprison the djinn into a small
enclosed space. Then, they would close the door and
use the rune Nauthiz to prevent escape. Nauthiz is
the rune of restraint if you have not figured it out
already. Once you get the djinn into the small
enclosed space, like a closet, close the door and
carve Nauthiz into the wood, then trace the symbol in
the air with your hands. That ought to do it."

"And this will work?" Jareth asked her.

Del shrugged. "I have never tried to imprison a djinn
before, I am just going on my knowledge of world
mythology."

Jareth smiled. "Thank you Del. I appreciate it
much."

And with that, he disappeared in a flash of glitter.

Del stood in place, watching him. The fork was still
in her hand.

"Good luck Jareth." She whispered. "I think you're
gonna need it."

Looking at the fork, she smirked.

She had a mental image of Jareth battling a djinn.
My, my. Two magickal beings in combat. That would be
interesting.