CHAPTER ONE

TIME WILL CRAWL

Jareth was not romantic, he did not want to be the knight in shining armour and rush of to protect Sarah from anything bad, and he did not want to protect her from the evils of the world. He wanted her to fear him and more importantly to need him, and in return he would give her all the protection she needed. He had tried to forget her, but the words she last spoke to him whirled around in his head;

"You have no power over me"

Jareth slammed his fist down on his knee as the words echoed in his head.

"How dare she" he said suddenly, waking a few goblins who were sleeping at his feet. For the rest of the goblins, Sarah had just been another girl to mess with, some entertainment. The name had stuck in their minds, because no one had ever beaten Jareth before, their own sisters had not quite managed to beat the maze, or indeed even to come close. But they did not speculate that he… their king was so infatuated with her.

Jareth stood up suddenly, kicking away the goblins below him. He paced the hall as he often did with a determined look on his face. He came to a conclusion that he must visit her. He had often visited Sarah, always in the same way and always at the same time, she of course was never aware that she had a visitor, and slept on without a care. He waited until the darkest day of the month, and changed to his owl form. He never had any problems, the branch was still there outside Sarah's window and the curtains were always open, inviting him to look in. Sarah had even moved her bed to the opposite side, making it so easy for Jareth to watch her sleep until it began to get light. Sometimes he had waited too long, and she had begun to stir as the sun threw light upon her face. He feared being seen by her, he did not know why, but every fibre in his body stiffened at the thought at being noticed. On those particular occasions he had been close to being sighted, but had been lucky. That's why he limited his visits to once a month, and made sure that the darkest night would help conceal him. He always took a chance however, watching Sarah was the only thing that kept him sane in a world of insanity.

But this was not the darkest night – indeed it was a full moon, and he had visited once already. But Jareth's mind was full of only one thing, Sarah. Indeed, instead of fading, he found himself more obsessed as every day passed. Every creature around him had so easily forgotten her that they made him sick. This whole place made him sick, he was a prisoner here he loathed it. There had been times when the Goblins, in search of fresh entertainment had wandered off and took a baby without Jareth's knowledge, just like when they took Toby. But Jareth had simply told them to return the babe, he had no interest. So the baby was always returned, without anyone knowing just where they had been.

Jareth thought back to the day the Goblins had came with Toby, he had recognised the child at once, because he knew Sarah, and he secretly thanked the Goblins for taking him. Yes, he had indeed known Sarah. Jareth threw himself back on his throne, and remembered the day he first set his eyes on her.