NEXT CHAPTER AHOY!!!! *is having way too much fun* Sorry the last chapter was a little confusing. No, Sarah wasn't dreaming. Jareth just wanted her to think she was for…reasons of his own. (you'll find out later!) This one starts off on a happy note, then gets kinda sappy toward the end ;p So I hope you don't mind a little Sarah/Bryan stuff, cuz Jareth sure does!
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Sarah woke the next morning feeling strangely refreshed. Without her usual stalling and snoozing, she slipped out of bed and traipsed happily down the stairs. All memory of the night before had been wiped cleanly from her mind, thanks to Jareth. And though she still remembered everything previous to her encounter, her thoughts of the Labyrinth were pushed to the back of her mind. Her parents looked up as she bounced into the kitchen.
"Hi all." She proclaimed. Ignoring the dumbfounded looks from her parents, she sat down and reached for her stepmother's pile of pancakes.
"What have you done with my daughter?" Her father joked. He was quite pleased to find his little girl in such a good mood.
"Not telling." Sarah flashed a teasing smile across the kitchen table.
Toby was just learning to walk, so he was still not allowed out of his playpen without supervision. The little tyke whined and gurgled, begging to be let out. Sarah giggled and scooped him up.
"Gah…boo!" Toby reached up and tugged at her hair.
"Ow!" Sarah carefully untwined his little hand from her dark brown locks. "Don't do that, Toby!" She leaned forward and kissed his nose. He babbled and grinned.
"Bryan called last night," Karen called from across the kitchen. Seeing Sarah playing with Toby brought a smile to her face. "But you had already gone to bed. Do you think it's anything important?"
"Dunno. Didn't he leave a message?" Sarah bounced Toby gently, making the baby screech for joy.
"Nope. Just said that he needed to speak with you ASAP before school this morning. I told him you would, so make sure you drop by his house on the way to school. Oh, and Toby just ate, so don't bounce him too hard."
Sarah stopped the movement abruptly. No matter how good a mood she was in, baby vomit was still disgusting. She carefully laid Toby back in the pen. "Will do."
When she reached for the syrup, Richard willingly passed it over to her. With a nod, she splattered it all over her plate and took a soppy bite.
Richard laughed. "My dainty little daughter."
***
A few minutes later Sarah was out the door and bounding down the porch steps two at a time. She waved at Melissa, who had just come out of her own house. The tall brunette grinned and ran across the street.
"Hey there, Sarah!" She hugged the shorter girl, almost knocking her off her feet. "Good to see you're gonna walk with me today."
"Yeah, sorry about yesterday. I was kinda preoccupied."
"Forget it. Race ya to school!" Melissa ran a few paces ahead.
"Hold up girl!" Sarah shouted after her with a laugh. "I have to meet up with Bryan. He called last night, but I was already asleep. Gotta see what he wanted."
"Fine," Melissa said in mock anger. She jogged back to Sarah, and the two headed towards Bryan's house.
When they rounded the corner onto 31st street, something started nagging at the back of Sarah's mind. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it certainly was there. It felt like one of those times you had forgotten to study for a test but didn't realize it until it was sitting in front of you. But so far, that particular test, whatever shape or form it was in, hadn't shown up yet. Sarah decided to let it slip to the back of her mind.
Bryan was sitting on his balcony. He too, like Lindsay, lived in a rather large house. When he saw the two girls coming down the road, he immediately got up and gestured at them to hurry.
"What's his deal?" Melissa asked. "You'd think we were late or something."
"I have no clue." That irritating little inkling that she was forgetting something resurfaced again, and she couldn't repress it this time. "Come on, let's do what he wants." She broke into an easy run and quickly dispersed the distance between them.
"Hey." Bryan came up and gave her a hug. "I didn't think you'd ever show up."
"What did you think? That we were gonna cut class?" Melissa shook her head in pretend disapproval. "You know only Lindsay Marrin does that."
Lindsay… A little red flag had just gone up in Sarah's mind. Oh yeah. I told her about the Labyrinth…
Realizing that both of her friends were staring at her, she shook her head and spoke up. "What did you call about last night, Bryan?"
His lips pursed, and he shifted uncomfortably. "Nothing. It was stupid."
"No, I want to know. If it was important enough for you to call me at 11 o'clock at night, then I must need to know." She folded her arms across her chest and waited.
"I…well…uh…"
"Out with it!"
"Ok ok! I was watching you with that Jareth guy…and…" He kneaded his knuckles selfconsciously. "Well…you don't like him, do you?"
Sarah stared at him. She had been desperately trying to avoid this subject, for she wasn't sure about it herself. So she tried to make herself sound as confident as possible. "What do YOU think, dummy?"
"I…dunno. Why else would I ask?"
Sarah looked at her watch, then back at her friends. "It's almost 8:00," she said. "We'd better get going." As she turned to bolt down the steps, Bryan caught at her arm.
"Sarah…"
Her brown hair whirled as she turned to face him. "What?!" But she stopped when she saw the pained look in his eyes. More quietly, she said again, "What?"
"I guess that's my cue," Melissa murmured. "I'll see you two at school." She gave Sarah the look that said 'you'd better fill me in later' and walked off to school.
The moment she was gone, Bryan pulled Sarah into a tight hug. He bit his lip, as if to hold back an intense emotion. His voice nearly broke as he spoke.
"Sarah, what's going on? I've felt you…I don't know…drifting away. Ever since Monday, you seem to be off in your own little world, especially since he showed up. And…I MISS you, Sarah!"
This last echoed through the quiet morning. Sarah trembled, trying to sort through all her bottled up emotions.
"Bryan, I'm so sorry." She closed her eyes and slipped her arms around his waist. "I'm becoming something else, and I can't stop it. It scares me. Things have been happening lately…"
"Like what?"
Sarah was silent.
After a time, Bryan sighed, and held her at arm's length. "Sarah, I don't know if this is gonna work out if you keep hiding things from me."
She looked back at him, eyes shining. "The thing is, would you believe me if I told you?"
"I would never doubt you."
She gulped. Here we go again…
As the tale began, it was probably a good thing she didn't notice a pair of ice blue eyes watching her every move.
"So, this is Bryan," Jareth said softly. He fingered the crystal that showed a very frustrated Lindsay, who was still stuck hopelessly outside the Labyrinth. All goblins had been forbidden to help her. The image flickered away as the Goblin King focused his full attention on the boy holding Sarah close. His eye twitched. "Well, I hope he likes what I have in store for him. See you soon, Sarah." He shot a last menacing glance at the tall blonde boy, then took off at an inhuman speed toward the school.
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Just a warning; the next chapter will be mainly focusing on Lindsay and her predicament. So if you're wondering what Jareth has in store for Bryan, you'll have to wait. Nyah nyah.
