To my slight surprise Seth actually disappeared. Perhaps he was just trying to freak me out again. But wouldn't it have been more enjoyable for him to torture me by staying and making a big show about how the story wasn't real? Oh well, who could understand men, anyway?

Figments of the imagination, my brain immediately corrected me. Sometimes it was really hard to convince myself that Seth was a hallucination. After all, he seemed... well, solid. Or maybe it was just instinct to move away from anything coming towards you... like when people got scared by images on the giant screens they had at the movie theatres.

"He's not real," I whispered, laying down on the bed and pressing a hand to my temple. Great, now I had a headache. From an imaginary man.

There was a slight shifting noise behind me and then a voice that caused me to freeze up, "Oh, I assure you, Seth is very real, Karleigh." I turned my head and my stunned eyes connected with the figure I instantly recognized as Jareth.

He was donned in a spectacular red and gold outfit, a red poet's shirt with gold lacing down the front, and full length pants of the same fabric and style, and to top it all off a great red cloak. His hair was as magnificently windswept and blonde as it was in the movie. For the first time I could see the different colors of his eyes: one a harsh ice blue, the other a warm hazel.

There were various thoughts tumbling through my mind at this point, but only one prominent one.

No. Frickin. Way.

Okay, so what did I do now? There was a rather handsome blonde guy standing in my bedroom, who could probably take me in a fight if he really wanted to. And it wasn't like I had a baseball bat under my bed. So, like any good suburbanite kid, I recalled everything my parents ever told me about situations like this.

I screamed.

Jareth looked startled, and I took his momentary distraction to run past him and out of my room. The nearest door was my brother's, so I hastily turned the doorknob and launched myself into his room. "Thomas! There's a guy dressed up like Jareth in my room and.... and you're not in here."

The room was empty of any living being excepting myself. Tentatively I walked around, opened the closet just to check, and could not find one trace of my brother. And even after all that screaming, my mom hadn't come running.

So, next suburbanite step? Grab the phone on the floor and call 911, of course! So I picked up the phone and eagerly pressed call. Only to find that there was no dial tone.

"What the fuck is going on here?" I whispered, as Jareth appeared in the doorway. Okay, so the phone lines had been cut. Would that affect a wireless phone? Well, apparently it has... And since no one had responded to my screaming, this impersonator had probably killed them already.

Well, if he intended to kill me, I was going to go down fighting. Shaking slightly, I tightened my grip on the phone and held it like a weapon. "What'd you do with my family?" I demanded.

He cocked an eyebrow. "They are not needed right now, Karleigh," he said, taking a step towards me. "We have matters to discuss."

For every step he took towards me I took one backwards, until I was finally backed up against the wall. What kind of a sadistic freak dresses up like the King of the Goblins to breaks into a house and commit a multiple murder? Why'd he choose that particular outfit? Had he been stalking me? It wouldn't be hard for a stalker to realize how much I liked the movie...

"You seem surprised to see me," he said.

"No shit, Sherlock," I muttered.

An amused expression crossed his face. "Human phrases never fail to amuse me," he said, shaking his head slightly. "But your fear is starting to annoy me. You know why I am here, Karleigh."

For some obscure reason, I blushed. What did I have to be embarrassed about? "You can't be serious," I said, "You're not really him." Maybe he was on drugs.

Sighing, the man I had to call Jareth for sake of identification extended his hand. "Children today," he murmured, "do not even believe in their own fantasies. Such a pity." As he ended his little speech a crystal appeared in his hand, making me jump.

"Oh my God, you really are Jareth!" I yelped. This went against everything I was ever taught. Laws of physics, for one. Also the insistence I'd put upon myself that Seth was a hallucination brought on by stress and whatnot, which was a lot more startling. Breaking the laws of physics was cool. Having a 20-odd-year-old man able to pop in and out of my room, with full ability to interact with the environment, was not.

"So ... Seth is... real..." I dropped the phone and slid down the wall. My head was spinning. This was so not happening to me.

Naturally Jareth begged to differ. He made a point that yes, this was happening to me. Bending down so that we were eye-to-eye, he held the crystal a mere inch or two away from me. "All of your questions, Karleigh," he whispered, "the answers to all of them are in here."

Like hell they were. "I want to get Seth back," I murmured. That Muse... man... Muse-man-thing... had some serious explaining to do. And if my limited computer skills were any evidence, I would probably end up not being able to work the crystal. Having all the answers to my questions wouldn't help if I couldn't get to them.

Come to think of it, Jareth would probably find that hilarious. "I definitely want to get Seth back," I said, louder this time.

Jareth sighed heavily. "If that is what you wish," he said.

We were suddenly at the hill before the Labyrinth. Jareth summoned a gold pocket watch and dropped it on my head. Scowling, I opened it. There were two faces. Fashioned like a locket where you could put pictures in both sides, really. The right face had the numbers one through thirteen on it, the one on the left, one through twelve.

Smirking, Jareth pointed towards his castle. "Considering everything Seth has told me about you, I'm giving you thirteen days to reach the center."

"My, aren't you generous," I said, standing up. Thirteen days? Did anyone have any faith in me? "And what exactly has Seth told you?"

"Only enough to assure me that you will need every second, if you are to have any hope of coming near my castle," Jareth said. He began to fade away, which was a kind of disturbing sight. "I still don't think you can make it."

As I stumbled down the hill, I couldn't help but agree with him.

A/N: Wow! I have reviews! I wasn't expecting that, really. Thanks so much to BlueyChan, Lyss, Mab, Queen of Faerie, and Princess-RainbowRose!!!! Sorry it took so long to update. Maybe I'll revert to third person and do a Jareth-Seth thing next chapter. (Haha JS takes on a whole new meaning....maybe ::cackles::) Please review!