Chapter Three

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Sam set the book down with her back to the old willow tree and let out a sighing humph. She crossed her legs over the other and laid back letting the sun warm her face. Conner had been laughing madly for the last five minutes because Sarah tripped over a stone and fell in the lake. Her hair was now dripping with water and her pants were halfway soaked.

"You're such a prick Conner," Sam muttered and he tossed water on her. She growled at him, he was SO annoying sometimes! Sarah giggled a little, though Sam was her best friend, she really DID need to learn to lighten up a little. She was one of those people that won't miss school, even if on their death bed, for fear of missing a pop quiz. Or the kind of person that's going to die a workaholic unless something dramatically changed in their life. Sometimes Sarah worried about her, she almost never had fun and to tell the truth, she was kinda a stick in the mud. Sarah came out of her thoughts and Sam and Conner were matching, yet again, in a yelling contest.

"YOU'RE THE DULLEST, MOST UNENTERESTING, BORING STICK IN THE MUD THAT EVER GRACED THE PLANET WITH THEIR PRESENTS!" Conner's voice rose far above Sam's.

"You're the most annoying," she started "childish, ecstatic, infuriating, bothersome creature on this earth!"

"But you still love me," Conner teased and flicked her.

"By far!" she snapped. He didn't seem hurt, but his eyes raged a darker shade of gray it seemed, and he clenched his hands into fits.

"GOOD!" he snapped "I hate you too!"

"I wish the goblins would take you away," she growled and stamped her foot on the ground "right now!"

"Aw shit," Sarah whispered as Conner disappeared. Sam thought he was just kidding, trying to scare her or something at first, but when she saw Sarah's pale complexion she started to worry. "Shouldn't have said that Sam," Sarah murmured and Sam frowned.

"Why?" she asked "if it's not like he's really gone. He's just trying to scare me." Sarah pointed at something in Sam's direction and she turned around. Suddenly, her legs started shaking and her stomach clenched in knots. "Oh," Sam breathed "damnit." A platinum blond man with well drawn eyeliner stood before the girl with an amused smile on his face. He wore all black, and his clothing seemed terribly hot for the summer time.

"Samantha," he flashed a smile "do you know who I am?" She nodded slowly, still trying to take it all in. "Good," his voice was mocking "then you know why I'm here." Sarah got up out of the water and Jareth seemed to freeze like a stag in the wild and just watched her. "Sarah," he smiled "so we meet again I see, but ah, as you can see, I don't have time for formalities, time is short."

"Don't tell me," Sam's breath was short "that story you wrote about four months ago, you didn't base it on that book, did you Sarah?" She shook her head. "You actually WENT there, didn't you Sarah?" She slowly nodded again. "Figures, I'm the last to know."

"Sam," Jareth summoned a crystal in his hands and watched it endlessly "what you seek lies beyond the goblin city in my castle." Quickly he looked up "Do you wish to find him?" She opened her mouth but he cut her off before she could speak "don't be foolish now child. I am willing to make a trade, your muse for your dreams. I'll simply hand them over to you, if you forget about him." He held out the crystal and Sam eyed it for a moment. Almost regretting it she shook her head.

"I have to get him back," she breathed "he might be a pain in the ass but that's not reason to turn him into a goblin." Jareth's smile could not be contained, Sam feared that it might swell up off his face.

"You have one hundred and sixty-nine hours," he smiled and watched Sarah's face.

"Wait a second," she snapped "why is it that I got less than thirteen and she gets days?"

"Because," his low chuckle lingered long after the two had vanished "she's barely capable of walking down a sidewalk, let alone solve a Labyrinth. You on the other hand-" his voice trailed off. Sarah thought a moment, he gave her thirteen, thirteen hours. So it was about a week for her. She could get there in a week, no problem.

"Thanks a lot," Sam muttered and Jareth smiled gleefully at her. This would be his first win since after Sarah, and he was sure this girl would lose dreadfully, even WITH a week on her side. Sam looked around a moment, it was snowing.

"Your summer," Jareth shrugged "our winter." She shivered slightly and rubbed her arms and nodded. "Any questions?"

"I suppose it wouldn't matter if I did," Sam sighed as he smirked at her "I sorta figured the rules for my own so, I think I can handle it." Jareth simply disappeared and Sam shivered again. It just HAD to be winter, didn't it? "Alright Conner," she breathed "I'm coming to find you."

Author's note: Hi guys. Loved your reviews, hope you like my replies. Kinda sleepy, not enough time to get crap done. Not feeling to well either :hides from Conner's 'doctor' act: thanks for being so cool guys. :coughs: see, told you I was sick.

Conner:puts spoon full on medicine in front of authoress' mouth: open up girly.

:rolls eyes: See? He's trying to 'cure' me. And I am NOT drinking tha:gulp: ick :makes face: help! I'm being forced to rest and drink lots of liquids and take this really gross cough syrup.

Conner: tell her to get well! She's working herself to the bone between cleaning her house, homework and writing. Tell her she needs to stay home one day from school so she can get well, AND I know it tastes bad, I'm sorry love but you gotta take it.

Acantha Mardivey: Oh, you're welcome. Toby and Jareth:gulps: I'm sorry but, that's slightly disturbing.

Jareth: I belong to WHOM? I don't belong to anyone, Sarah belongs to ME.

There he goes again, acting all himself :sighs: he was just checking up on his goblins but HE'S LEAVING NOW:glares at Jareth: Ah, a muse. Well, there's one I'm sure you'd like, she comes from a girl named Kendal who hasn't taken much care of her at all and she needs someone good to take care of her. She's such a wonderful writer, her name is Sasha, I'm sure she'll like you. And I DO think that butt poking has gone too far, I think your just denying it.

Conner: My good woman, I tired of your constant personal attacks on me. And here's a thought, if you wish me away, MY authoress will not be able to write (or dance… though she's not too good at that in the first place), and wouldn't that be tragic? Though I do admire your love for your fiancé -. And I can't help it if I'm touchy about who touches my authoress, she's my friend, it's my job to protect her.

Isn't the opposite sex odd:shrugs: I thinks so. I don't see what he gets all worked up about, it isn't as if I've got a boyfriend or even potential boyfriend. He acts like I'm HIS or something.

ItsACrystalNothingMore: Jareth's here now, just for you. A muse, lets see. Kenia ran away from her human in hopes to find a better one. She's good with just about everything, take good care of her now. Poor dear. I need to start a muse adoption program.

Conner: Don't let her set me up for adoption!

NuPreacher: Well, Lora seems to be the one we can't find a home for. :hugs Lora: she was taken from a classmate of mine who doesn't even KNOW he has a muse. She's good at just about anything (even dancing if your into that). She's got brown hair, warm chocolate eyes and she is just about the sweetest muse. I wonder why we can't find her a home :frowns: Ah well, if your interested review.

Conner:ahem: and, if I can say something, muses aren't JUST to pull out when you wanna write, we're guardians, teachers and friends. So don't forget about us. Take MY authoress for example, she takes me to school with her and talks to her friends about me - I mean, you don't need to do all that, but we do work a little better when we spend some time with our humans.

Theshadowcat: Yes of course! Do we have anymore:coughs:

Conner: Uh, we got a lot of boys that need to go… but uh, Kala is back here.

Kala is a writer's muse. She's very shy and quiet, and has a fear of people. So if you'd like her, be very gentle. She needs a lot of caring for. If it sounds like too much trouble, we can wait until Conner finds some more abused muses. And we have about five guys left. Kala says she's good at poems too so if that's your game, she's your muse.

Hippie99: Thank you! And we got a few really good guy muses left, though it seems that all the girl's have been taken.

Conner:smiles: thank you, you're the first one to say anything nice to me.

LadyAniviel: Thank you, your too kind.

Conner: YAY! See people like me authoress -

Rosakara13: Thanx