A/N: Look! Another chapter! Yay for me! Once again, thanks to everyone who reviewed. I hope you like the story so far.

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Sarah looked around at the pile of boxes that still lined her living room. She had been in her new apartment for nearly six months now, and still had unpacked less than half of her belongings. She wanted to unpack, had tried to several times, but how did you find a new place for something that had sat in the same spot for twenty-three years? Sarah sighed heavily and pushed yet another box aside. She had been looking for one special item for most of the morning, and had yet to find it. Exhausted, she rifled through a smaller box that had been hiding from her behind other larger boxes. Reaching the bottom of the box she spied the object she was looking for and raised it triumphantly over her head.

She stood up and walked back over to the couch to admire her trophy. She ran her fingers over the rough red cloth that covered the book, and then over the golden letters embossed on the front. Somehow, she just hadn't slept well without the little red book in its rightful place next to her bed. She clutched the beloved volume to her chest and walked it ceremoniously to its new home. Her room here bore very little resemblance to the one she had grown up in. The furniture was different of course, and the décor. The frilly pink canopy bed had been replaced by a much more mature queen size bed covered with a blue quilt. The stuffed toy collection that had once lined every nook and cranny of her room had been downsized to a much more modest number of two, and these sat guarding either side of her dresser.

She liked the change; it made her feel independent and mature. There was such a thing as too much change, however, and she reflected on this as she laid the precious book down on her night stand. At least it wouldn't be lonely, for next to it stood an eight inch statuette of a cloaked figure with wild hair and flashing eyes. The morning after her trek through the labyrinth, Sarah had moved this object form her dresser to the bedside table. She didn't know why she had done it, but it had seemed important at the time, and she had left it there for all these years. And when she had moved into this new apartment, the statuette of the Goblin King had been one of the first things she had unpacked.

She sat now on the edge of the bed and lifted the figure gingerly. She turned it over in her hands, admiring the likeness. How well she remembered it all now, when she had almost forgotten. She could still see him, if she closed her eyes, standing on the hill at the start of the labyrinth. She remembered how the wind had moaned as it whipped through his hair and kicked up his cloak. She remembered too, how he had held out his hands to her, offering in one her dreams, and in the other her fears. Most of all she remembered his eyes, (The Eyes), how they had flashed with power and arrogance and something else, something hidden from her. Perhaps this is what she was searching for in the figure, the secret that had been hidden in his eyes.

Sarah's growling stomach woke her from her daydream and reminded her that she had not eaten at all today. She stood and went to the kitchen to find something for lunch. It was as she was cutting up an onion to put in her tuna salad that she suddenly realized it had been nearly a week since she had called home. When Sarah had first moved, she had called nearly every day. Karen would keep her up to date on how everyone was adjusting without her around. Toby regaled her with stories of frogs that he had almost caught, or trees that he knew he could climb if mom would quit being such a spoil sport and just let him. And Maya, her sweet gentle little Maya, would explain that she had helped the frogs get away, because she couldn't bear the thought of Toby keeping them in a tank and away from their mommies. Then she would tell her jokes, the kind of jokes that only a four year old can tell, that go on and on and have no meaning and no punch line whatsoever. And Sarah would laugh as though she had never heard a funnier thing in her life. She laughed to hear Maya laugh, because when Maya laughed it sounded like angel wings brushing against crystal.

Sometimes Sarah would even talk to her father. The conversations were never very long; they generally kept to small talk about the weather or current events. She may have gotten over what Richard had done to her, but she hand never fully forgiven him. There would always be that ominous past between them, no matter how much Sarah wished it could be different. But at least they had learned to be civil to each other over the years, if not for their own peace of mind then for Karen's. She never found out what had transpired that night so long ago, or all the other nights before it. If Sarah could help it she never would find out. She wanted things to be better for Toby and Maya then they had been for her, and if that meant making small talk with the father who had taken her innocence, then so be it.

Sarah brushed her hands off on her jeans and picked up the telephone. She dialed the number and after only a few rings she heard Karen's voice on the other end, "Hello?"

"Hi, Karen, how are you?" she queried.

"Sarah! Hi, honey, I'm so glad you called! It's been a while!"

Sarah smiled at the affectionate greeting. Things had certainly changed over the years. "Too long, I meant to check up on you guys more often," she said.

"Now Sarah," Karen chided, "I don't know why you always feel like you need to check up on us. We're doing fine. We miss you, but we're fine. That's not to say we're not happy to hear from you, though."

"Who is it, mom, who is it?" Sarah could hear Toby's voice in the background, and Karen's slightly annoyed response, "It's your sister, now hush so I can talk to her."

Toby's pleas only got louder when he heard who it was "Lemme talk to her, I wanna talk! Lemme talk to her!" he cried.

With an exasperated sigh, Karen handed him the phone. "Hey Sarah! Why didn't you call?"

Sarah laughed. "Hey to you too, kiddo. I thought I was calling, "she answered.

"Aww, you know what I mean; you didn't call for a long time. I missed you!"

"I missed you too, Tob", Sarah said, "But you have another sister there to harass, you shouldn't be missing me that much."

Sarah could actually hear Toby pout over the phone. "I didn't harass you. Just 'cause I put worms in your bed, you think you know so much. And anyway, Maya's no fun anymore, she never wants to play anything good. She just sits in her room all the time and plays with her dolls by herself."

Sarah sighed. So her outgoing baby sister was turning into a recluse like she was at that age. That was a shame; she would have to talk to her. "Where is Maya now, Tob, put her on the phone."

"I don't know," Toby whined, "she's probably upstairs again. When she's not in her room she's in your old room."

"Well go get her and tell her I want to talk to her," Sarah said, "and give the phone back to your mom."

"Mom, she wants you again," she heard Toby say and then he was gone, and Karen was back on the line.

"Karen, is everything alright with Maya?" Sarah asked. Somewhere in the darkest, most buried part of her mind a voice was nagging at her. Like a worm it was crawling its way through her brain, trying to make its way into a conscious thought.

"Oh, she's fine." Karen reassured her, "I think it's just some delayed depression now that you're gone. She'll get over it soon, I'm sure."

"I hope you're right…" Sarah's sentence was cut off by the sound of Toby's voice, "Maya's coming."

"Okay Sarah," Karen said, "Here's Maya. I have to go finish lunch so I'll talk to you later. I love you!"

The next voice Sarah heard was Maya's soft baby voice, although today she sounded so distant. "Hi Sarah." She almost whispered the phrase.

Sarah frowned, but tried to be upbeat. "Hey Maya-bug! How's my little sugar pie today?"

"I'm okay..." no jokes, no stories, just two words. Sarah was beginning to feel very uneasy. "Okay, huh? Toby says you won't play with him any more. What's up?" She asked.

"I just don't feel like playing," Maya said, and added, "Sarah, why did you leave me?" Sarah felt a tear run down her cheek. Maybe Karen was right, maybe she was just missing her big sister. "Aww, baby girl, you know I didn't want to leave you," she said, "but I had to move away to get a job. I promise I'll come back and visit just as soon as I can, okay?"

"Okay, but it won't be the same," Maya said, "Nothings the same anymore. I love you Sarah." And before Sarah could say another word Maya hung up the phone. She stood there for a few minutes with the phone in her hand, trying to make sense of the conversation. She couldn't believe how depressed Maya seemed all of a sudden. She didn't realize how big an effect her moving away would have on the little girl.

That's not it, the small voice that was Sarah's subconscious self cried from behind the closed door in her mind, you know what's wrong, you have to do something! But Sarah's conscious mind didn't hear the voice, and so its warning went unheeded. Still, Sarah's uneasy feeling wasn't as easily dismissed, and she wandered into her bedroom, deep in thought. As she walked into the room she heard Crackle! Whoosh! When she looked up Hoggle was standing in front of her, having just come through the mirror.

"Hoggle!" she cried, running to hug her favorite dwarf. "I'm so glad to see you! How are things in the Underground?" Sarah longed to hear Hoggle's tales, knowing that they would get her mind off of the nagging worry that was still building. But no stories were forthcoming. Instead, Hoggle looked at her gravely.

"I ain't come to talks to ya, Sarah," he said, he eyes serious, "I gots a message for ya."

Sarah was intrigued. "A message, Hoggle, from whom?" she asked.

"From HIM." Sarah felt her blood run cold, then hot, then cold again. She knew exactly who HIM was, and for some reason the thought of him sending her a message after all these years filled her with cold dread. "What did he say, Hoggle," she asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"His Majesty says I should tells you 'GO HOME NOW!'"