A Prophecy Speaks

Author's Note: I do not own anything having to do with Labyrinth.

Chapter 3 –or – Hoggle Makes a Delivery

Sarah stepped from the shower, grabbing a towel along the way. The white, fluffy weaveabsorbed the water that was clinging in droplets to her soft skin. She stared at the woman in the mirror, surprised at how old she seemed to have gotten since the events of her middle teens She had been thinking a lot about her time in the labyrinth lately. Sometimes the memories were clearer than crystal, sometimes they were as dulled as a dirty stone.

Sarah laughed as she thought about the one vision that never faded, no matter how hard she tried to force it away from her mind. Her first glimpse of the Goblin King. He looked so primal, so cold, and so cruel. Smug, too The mismatched eyes, the lithe body, and the untamed hair. He was her fantasiesand nightmares rolled into one. He was dangerous. And yet, his was the only voice he heard in her dreams, and the only face she saw when she closed her eyes.

Sarah pulled on some simple white panties and satin pajamas in a brilliant sapphire shade. She braided her thick hair and secured it, wincing as the cold, wet length brushed the back of her neck.

The labyrinth had changed her somewhat. Sarah was never able to relate to people her age when she was in school, though the labyrinth had only made a bad situation worse, in that regard. She always got the feeling her fellow teenagers were all about as deep as a puddle. She was right. That situation probably was part of the reason that Sarah was still a virgin. She just did not want to share something that deep with someone until she was in love, and love would not come easily to a person trying to fit in with people she did not respect.

There was only one person that she had ever thought she could fall in love with, and his portrait was hanging in her apartment.

Sarah sat down at one of her two vanities. One held assorted makeup and jewelry. The other held nothing but pads of paper and pens. Her work was done here, the only place she was truly at peace.

"Hoggle, I need you," Sarah recited into the mirror, like she had countless times before for nine years.

Hoggle appeared at the edge of her bed. Sarah hurried over to give the gruff dwarf a sisterly kiss on the cheek. Her friends always gave her the best ideas. They had always been her dearest companions. Their visits had long been the source of her inspiration.

"How's the new play coming along?" Hoggle asked her.

"Good, good. My muse has been a little quiet as of late, though." Sarah sighed.

"I can't stay tonight, Sarah, much as I'd like to," Hoggle assured her, "But I do have a letter for you." He placed the letter on her vanity, and he disappeared as quickly as he had come.

"Bye, Hoggle," Sarah said sadly to the bed as she examined the letter on her desk.

Oh, she knew whom it was from. She had known as soon as Hoggle pulled it out of his pocket.

Sarah sat down at the vanity again and smelled the parchment. It smelled like the air after a rainstorm, all light and dewy. The black visage of an owl glinted back at her as she cracked the seal.

In flowing script it read:

"Sarah,

I need to speak with you. It is urgent. You have my assurances that this is no trick.When you are ready, speak my name to your mirror and I will appear. Do make haste, though. – J."

Sarah sighed. She certainly did not look the part. She was tired. But she had nothing to fear from the Goblin King. Now was as a good a time as any. She looked into the old mirror and spoke the name.

"Jareth." The name felt like a caress on her lips, and he was suddenly in the apartment, filling it with his presence. He was wearing the same black boots she remembered, and dark brown breeches that looked so soft as they enclosed his slender legs. His white shirt was soft and loose, exposing the medallion of the Goblin King lying at his throat. His hair was slightly tamer than when she last saw him. The black gloves were on, as they always were, and Sarah immediately put her guard up when she felt the sexual tension in the room. When he was around it was nearly palpable.

"Hello, Sarah," Jareth simply said to her.