Sarah came to slowly, her creeping consciousness buffering the shock she was sure to feel upon fully awakening. Jareth watched her silently, his aristocratic face impassive and expressionless, observing the rise and fall of her chest and the faint movement of her eyes behind her eyelids as indicators of how conscious she was becoming.
Jareth disliked having to use such strong magick to whisk her away to his castle, but he'd been forced into it. All had stood on the edge of a knife for a moment in her room, when she had nearly wrenched herself free of his arms. Had she escaped him, gone into her parents bedroom, she would have found everything righted--Toby sleeping peacefully in his crib, the window unshattered, and the storm Jareth had created slowly blowing itself out. He'd had to call inside the wild and disorienting winds from the storm to keep her from escaping, a cheap trick he disliked using.
However, he admitted to himself silently, his brows drawing together, it did work. She is here.
And so she was. Sarah was literally in Jareth's lap. Upon arriving at the castle, Jareth had tried to disentangle Sarah's hands from their clutch at his shirt to no avail. He did not really mind the grasp on his shirt, a position she had affected when the winds picked them up and moved them through reality to put them Underground. She'd passed out as soon as her world dropped from her, but apparently unconsciousness did not work on her hands, for they had remained locked on Jareth's shirt even once they'd both been set firmly down in his throne room. Deciding to give her an easy metamorphosis from her old life to her new one, Jareth had sent all the goblins out of the throne room, then carefully settled himself--and Sarah--onto his elaborately twisting throne. They'd been there for nearly ten minutes, and Sarah was just beginning to awaken from her faint.
Suddenly, Sarah's eyelids twitched, opening partway, then sliding shut.
She's coming out of it. This should be interesting, Jareth thought, a wry grin twisting his mouth slightly on one side and his sharply tilted sarcastic brows lifting minimally.
"What a nightmare," Sarah murmured softly, sighing, rubbing her cheek against her pillow. She'd dreamed Jareth had come back and, instead of Toby, tried to take her.
Well, that's to be expected. It was just last night you beat him at his own game, Sarah thought, allowing herself a triumphant smirk. She yawned, trying to nuzzle back into her pillow, but her pillow wasn't giving under her cheek as it normally did. Immediately, she picked up on what she really should have picked up on sooner--the soft 'whooshwhish' of breath going in and out of lungs, and the thumping of a heart. With a gasp, she leaped back, eyes flying open. Quick as lightening, Jareth's hand shot out, catching Sarah by her upper arm, saving her from a nasty fall off the dais his throne rested on. Sarah jerked out of his grip quickly, her eyes flashing gray fire at Jareth. She stumbled back a few feet, her dark hair falling about her shoulders--the wind had torn it completely free of its bindings on her journey over.
"Where..." Sarah began, then stopped, looking around. She'd gotten only the briefest of glimpses of this room the night before, but she recognized it--Jareth's throne room. That monster... he'd actually done it. Kidnapped her into the Underground.
"Have you had a good nap?" Jareth asked, his voice dry and sardonic.
"Toby!" Sarah gasped in reply, looking around sharply. "Where's Toby?"
"He is fine, Sarah. He's back at home, in his crib."
"He's a baby! He has to be fed and changed and watched over at every second, Jareth! He can't just be left alone!"
"He isn't alone. If you'd just listen--"
"Send me back! I have to watch Toby!"
"Sarah, calm down and listen to me for a second. Toby is--"
"He needs me, Jareth! I'm the only one who can take care of him with Dad and Adelle gone! How long have we been here? How long has Toby been alone? Oh, God, he's got to be so frightened right now. Please, send me back!"
"That is enough." Jareth stood from his throne, stepping down off the dais and approaching Sarah with firm, steady strides, forcing her to scurry backwards from him until she ran into a wall. "Now listen to me. Toby is perfectly fine. Your parents received a call as soon as they arrived at your grandparents' house. A distraught 'neighbor' calling to inform them that you had apparently been spirited away by someone."
"A 'neighbor?'" Sarah repeated, frowning.
"Well, all right--it was me. But they were home in just over an hour after they got the call, and found Toby asleep and perfectly content."
"You monster," Sarah whispered, her features twisting in shock. "You've had this planned, haven't you?"
"Not really," Jareth replied. "I had a few details worked out, but I wasn't sure that your parents would even leave today. I had to work on chance, and hope that if they didn't leave, I could convince them in some way."
"You... convince... you monster! You gave Grandma Alice a heart attack!" Sarah found herself suddenly beyond words, her fury over-coming her common sense for a moment. She lunged at him, but Jareth caught her hands in his own easily, holding her by the wrists. She tried to kick at his ankle, but he quickly side-stepped her, avoiding the violence of her temper tantrum easily.
"I did no such thing. I don't go around giving old women heart failure for enjoyment--"
"No, you just steal babies!" Sarah snapped, jerking her hands away from Jareth's grip, glaring at him and panting.
"Toby is no longer your responsibility or your concern, Sarah. The only thing that should concern you now is your own pleasure. You are going to be a princess here--your every wish will be granted immediately, without question. You can do what you please and go wherever you want from now on."
"I want to go home!"
"Sarah... you are home." Jareth's smile was dazzling in its brilliance, much like new-fallen snow is dazzling when the morning sunlight hits it and sends millions of sparkling points of blinding brilliance into the sleep-hazed eyes of a young child. However, like snow, his smile was also cold, distant, and untouchable.
"No... you can't keep me here, Jareth. I won't let you!" Jareth was completely unprepared for the sudden fist to his gut--it was so out-of-character for the calm, rational young woman he'd watched last night. Of course, he should have expected it, as irrationally as she'd been behaving a few moments before. When her fist connected, it knocked the breath out of him, and he doubled over, arms wrapping his stomach as Sarah dashed from his throne room, her feet pounding the stones as she fled from him. After a few moments of gasping and coughing, Jareth laughed softly, going slowly to his window that over-looked the Goblin City. He could just see the glimmer of white and black as Sarah dashed through the gate and into the Labyrinth.
"Oh, Sarah, Sarah... you really think you can escape me like that? A promise made to magick cannot be so easily broken." Jareth paused, rubbing his chin lightly with one gloved finger. "Besides, just as I can twist the Labyrinth to keep you from reaching the Goblin City, I can also twist it to bring you right to my own castle door. Oh, Sarah... this isn't over yet."
Sarah had known she couldn't escape. After all, she had only made it to the Labyrinth with Jareth's help--she knew there was no way to leave the Underground without Jareth's magick. She didn't expect to escape, not really. Sarah needed a few minutes to herself. She'd had an awful morning, and it didn't appear to be getting any better.
Sarah stopped only a few turns into the Labyrinth, and collapsed onto the hard stones of the pathway, pulling her legs to her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees, and then dropping her head forward onto her arms. She gave a quick, soft sob, but no tears came with it. She sighed, raising her head to glance around. She didn't recognize this part of the Labyrinth at all.
"That's fine," Sarah sighed, pushing herself up and wiping herself off as she glanced around. "I found my way to the Goblin City once, and I can do it again. Besides, it might give me some time to think." She glanced down at her feet--still sore from all the trekking she'd done the night before--then sighed. "Sorry, feet... looks like we're going to be walking again today."
Sarah quickly found that the Labyrinth was a wonderful place for thinking, as long as one didn't have a pressing quest to complete. She moved slowly, head down, lost in thought, kicking fallen leaves and small stones ahead of her as she moved.
All right, Sarah... let's try and figure out exactly where we stand, Sarah thought to herself, wrapping her arms around herself wearily. Jareth has abducted you into the 'Underground,' as he calls it. What motives could he possibly have?
Sarah stopped walking to hold her hand up in front of her, counting off the possible motives on her fingers.
Number One: He wants revenge. Okay, if he wants revenge, why didn't he just kill me back in Daddy and Adelle's bedroom? Sarah paused, considering this, then shrugged and continued on her path. Maybe he doesn't want to kill me. Maybe he just wants to humiliate me. Well, if that's what he wanted, he got it--he made me cry, he made me beg, he even made me completely lose my temper. I haven't resorted to physical violence against another person since... since... well, except for defending myself against goblins, I can't even remember the last time I actually resorted to physical violence!
"Damn," Sarah muttered, realizing she'd walked into a dead end. She sighed, turned around, and headed back the way she'd come, still trying to puzzle out the mystery of Jareth.
Okay, if he just wanted to humiliate me, why hasn't he sent me back home? And why make all those arrangements for Toby if he was only trying to be cruel?
Sarah stopped short, glaring at the wall which had suddenly appeared before her. "Another dead end? Fine." She turned again, her steps getting harder, her feet pounding the stones. Her lips were pressed together in annoyance, and she glared at the cobbles beneath her feet, daring them to give her another blank wall. To try and break the silence, she spoke out loud, her voice seeming to shimmer in the still air.
"Okay, I'm not here for revenge or humiliation. I can't image Jareth bringing me here for anything nice, like a reward. Besides, I think my reward was getting to keep my life and Toby's life. So, if it's not for revenge, humiliation, or a reward, what did he bring me here for? What's left?"
"What about companionship?"
Sarah's feet skidded on the stones and she jerked her head up so fast that her neck smarted. Somehow, she'd managed to get out of the Labyrinth and right to one of the huge doors that led into the castle. Sarah looked around herself in a shocked silence for a moment, then stuttered, "I... I don't remember going through the Goblin City."
"You didn't," Jareth replied, his cultured voice soft. He leaned against one side of the arched doorway, arms crossed on his chest, one leg braced firmly on the ground, the other leg crossed nonchalantly at the ankle over the bracing leg.
"What do you mean, I didn't? I'm not an idiot, Jareth. 'The castle beyond the Goblin City.' Are you saying that I just passed right over the Goblin City?"
"No, Sarah. I've shifted the Labyrinth to bring you right to my back door. Look behind you."
Hesitatingly, Sarah turned, looking over her shoulder. Indeed, there was an opening in the wall, and she could see twists and bends leading off into the Labyrinth. As she looked at it, the opening seemed to shimmer, growing opaque, then solid. Between two blinks, Sarah found that the opening was gone--it was nothing but wall.
"That's a dirty trick," she snapped, turning to glare at Jareth.
"It brought you back here, didn't it?" Jareth straightened, taking a step down toward her. "You'll need to eat soon--you've had nothing all day, I'm sure."
"How do I know eating food here won't trap me here, like Persephone in the Underworld?"
"Because you've already eaten something from 'here,' and it didn't trap you."
"What? No, I didn't."
Jareth gave a little twirling shake of his hand, then smirked, tossing something toward her. Sarah caught it automatically, then felt her jaw drop as she looked down at the perfect, blushing fruit she held in her hand.
"Recognize it, Sarah?" Jareth's smile had turned cruel and mocking, and Sarah felt a flush going up her throat and into her cheeks. Her nostrils flared, and she flung the peach at Jareth's mocking face. He ducked, barely avoiding the flying fruit, his golden hair shimmering.
"You rat," she ground out, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides.
"Temper, temper," Jareth replied, trying to keep hold of his own. "Come inside, Sarah. It's time you had some breakfast. And it's time we work out the details of your new life here."
Sarah could think of nothing to say, and she stormed up the steps, brushing past Jareth, her gray eyes flashing at him as she moved. Jareth made a negligent motion, and the doors behind him responded automatically, slowly sliding shut. The boom of their closing chased the steel out of Sarah's spine, and the anger out of her heart. To her, they sounded like that gates of a prison cell slamming shut behind a condemned inmate.
Condemned, Sarah thought, her shoulders slumping in miserable defeat. Just like me.