Okay ok, so the delusions are making me do weird things right now. I want people to tell me where they want me to go with this story (now I may not do as you say, but I will certainly listen to advice.) I kind of have an idea of where I want this to go, but to be perfectly honest, I just write what the hallucinations tell me to. (Ok… that sounded really incredibly insane, but I swear I'm not… the way I see it, since the hallucinations are born from my subconscious, the delusions must simply be my subconscious telling me what it wants written….) ok ok, so that does sound psychotic. But I swear I am not ready for the mental institution yet! As soon as sleep comes, I should be back to my regular own writing self again…

I don't own it… in fact, I don't own anything… except for my computer and a printer, but every time I hit print the computer screen flashes with a big sign saying "Ha ha, you loser, I won't work for you" (and no, that's not a hallucination, that's my brother's fault…) So sue me if you will, I have nothing for you to take….

* * * *

            Sarah lay in her bed for a long time, slowly trying to regain her breath. The dream had made no sense… In fact, it had to be one of the strangest dreams she'd ever had. The fact that the goblin king was in it didn't help at all either. Sure she'd had dreams about her trip to the labyrinth, and sure many of them had included the goblin king. But never as a rescuer. In her dreams he was always either the villain… or… but no, never as a rescuer.

            Ok Sarah, relax, she scolded herself, You're just stressed about college tomorrow. It's the big day, and you're just a bit nervous. It's no big deal.

            But somehow she couldn't bring herself to believe that. The dream had meant something to her. It had a meaning behind it. Dreams were where people worked out inner conflicts. Without dreams, problems would just escalate till the point of a mental breakdown. She would look up a dream diary when she got settled. In the meantime, she needed to sleep. This was her last night in her own bed, in her own house. Tomorrow everything would change.

            She closed her eyes, and lay back into the bed. It was then that she felt the fingers touch her cheek. Her eyes shot open and were greeted with the sight of….

Nothing.

There was nothing there. She was alone. Sitting up though, she found what had touched her cheek. A long, glistening white feather lay against her chest. She examined the feather for a long time, running it up and down the side of her hand, as she played with it. The barbs were all tightly knit together, meaning that the bird had to be in excellent shape, and also very clean. One could always tell about a bird from the state of its feathers. A feather that was raggedy and pulled apart easily meant the bird was in poor health. A feather that clumped oddly meant that the bird rarely groomed. However this long, perfectly pristine white feather spoke aeons to Sarah.

            It also left her without a single doubt in her mind as to who had left it there. It had been him, the goblin king. She remembered how he had transformed into an owl during their last encounter. A large white owl to be exact. Looking at the feather, she could only come to the conclusion that it was a wing feather… probably from him changing has he had touched her.

            The thought thrilled and angered her. He had been in her room. He had been watching her as she slept. In fact… he had probably been the one to send her that dream! Sarah flung herself out of bed, and stalked towards her mirror. She stopped halfway there, and debated over what she should do.

            Hmmm, confront the Goblin King, or go back to sleep…she was seriously tempted to do either one. Finally common sense won out and she returned to her bed. He won't bother me anymore after tomorrow. If he does I'll put a stop to it.

            Closing her eyes once again, she drifted into a dreamless sleep.

* * * *

            Jareth smirked as he watched her from within his crystal. He could almost hear her thoughts as she examined his 'gift' to her. She would only realize too late tomorrow that it was meant as a warning of what was to come. He had warned her of his presence, now she had no excuse to be surprised of what was to come.

            "Oh Sarah, you shall play my game. And you shall play it well…" he sneered at her sleeping form, "I could never lose an opponent like you. Not after I have waited so long…"

            Tomorrow… it couldn't come too soon….

* * * *

            Ok everyone, unfortunately I have to go tour colleges tomorrow, so I won't get much opportunity to write for the next few days. I should have the next chapter up by next Wednesday though. (Alas I made the mistake of scoring high on my SAT's. Now I actually have to look at colleges, and you know… try. Which seriously interferes with my laziness rule… but ah well, c'est la vie)