Chapter 4: Crystal Mornings

Next morning Sarah woke up with a smile and stretched sinuously, enjoying the feel of the cool cotton on her skin. She rolled over, listening to the rain patter on the roof and wishing she could go back into the dream. It wasn't every night she dreamed about the Goblin King! She tossed her head to the side and clunked it on something hard. Puzzled, she felt around and found it -- and her jaw fell. There was a glass sphere on the pillow next to her. With a gasp, she realized that not all of last night had been a dream!

She stared at the ceiling, trying to recollect what had happened. They'd danced for a long time, then gone for a walk in the moonlight where Sarah had watched with envy as he transformed into an owl and went for a five-minute flight just for the sheer exuberance of it. After that, they'd come back into the house, and Sarah had a dim memory of agreeing to meet him again the next day. Then she'd felt a great lassitude overcome her… and she remembered nothing more.

Wondering if the crystal he'd left behind would give her a clue, she picked it up and gazed into it. It looked foggy for a moment, then the smoke cleared and she gasped to see Jareth looking back at her out of the crystal. He grinned when he saw her and gave her a little wink, and then pointed to a 13-hour clock behind him. "One hour," he mouthed the words, winked again, and disappeared. Sarah was left blinking stupidly at her own reflection. One hour? What would happen in an hour?

Whatever it was, Sarah wanted to be showered and dressed before it did. She leaped out of bed and ran for the bathroom. Sarah realized as the hot water beat down on her soapy scalp that a 13-hour clock would give her less time in an hour than a normal, 12-hour clock would. Crap. Whatever Jareth had planned would happen in less than 55 minutes. How long had she been in the shower, anyway?

She dried herself and got dressed at lightning speed, not bothering to dry her hair. She quickly wove it into a braid and put it up with only a brief pause at the mirror to inspect her handiwork. Then she ran downstairs to make a pot of coffee and grab a quick breakfast.

Sarah had just finished stirring in her milk and sugar and was sitting down at the table when she heard a brief "ting!" of crystal and suddenly Jareth was seated across from her at the table. She jumped, spilling a little coffee on her wrist. "Ouch!" she hissed.

"Oh, let me," Jareth offered. He took her hand in his gloved one and tenderly pressed a kiss to the burn. To Sarah's surprise, it disappeared along with the pain. He looked up, smiling into her shocked face. "Good morning!"

"G'morning," Sarah said, staring at him for a long moment and then studying her formerly burned wrist. "Wow, and here I always thought 'a kiss to make it better' was just an old wives' tale."

"Well, my mother would have probably have qualified as an old wife," he murmured. "At least, to you she would. How did you sleep?"

"Very well, thanks, except for clonking my head on that crystal you left behind," Sarah told him with a grin. She sipped her coffee slowly, closing her eyes to savour it better. Ahhh. Nothing like a morning jolt of caffeine. Although Jareth's presence was proving to be an even better wake-up call.

"My apologies," he said. "I merely wanted to make sure you remembered our agreement to spend the day together. You were fairly tired last night."

Sarah nodded. "Yes, I remember. Want some coffee?" He made a negative gesture and she sipped her own again. "Okay. What shall we do today? My roommate will be out all day and most of the night at Raoul's party, so we have the place to ourselves. I'd been planning to go out for a walk, but with all the rain I'd be just as happy staying in."

"I am sure whatever you wish will be fine," her guest replied graciously.

Sarah grinned. "Well, I used to play a mean game of Scrabble with Sir Didymus when I was younger!"

"Yes, I know."

Something about his fond expression made Sarah suspicious, and she asked sharply, "What do you mean, 'you know'? Did you used to spy on me when my friends visited?"

He nodded, not looking at all contrite. "They were my subjects, after all, Sarah. What sort of ruler would I be if I allowed my subjects to roam about a dangerous world like yours with no protection? I know you thought me a bad man, but I assure you I do try to be a good king."

Sarah's outrage faded and she closed her mouth on her sharp retort. "I never looked at it from that point of view before," she said finally. "Thank you. On their behalf, and mine."

"So what shall we do today?" Jareth changed the subject graciously to a less charged one. "I should perhaps mention that if you do care to go out, I can improve the weather a bit."

"You can?" Sarah laughed. Teasingly she added, "So much for my plans of staying in and playing 'Truth or Dare' with a Goblin King! Come on, Your Majesty: clear up these clouds and we can go for a walk!" Too late, she caught the expression of avid interest on his face.

"What is that? Is it a game?" Sarah nodded, suddenly suspicious of his broadening smile. "I simply love games," he said. "How do you play?"

"Oh, it's not a real game," Sarah hastened to explain. "I was only joking anyway. It's not a competition, like Scrabble is. There are no stakes -- just..." she was at a loss to explain. "It's a game of questions. I ask you, 'Truth or dare?' and you have to decide whether to tell me the truth about any question I ask you, or to dare to do whatever task I come up with for you. And then you ask me 'Truth or Dare?' and I have to choose. And you don't know beforehand either the question or the task. It's kind of juvenile -- just a lot of talking, really, not a real game at... all..." Sarah's voice broke off when she glanced up to see the blaze of interest in Jareth's eye. She was suddenly very glad she hadn't joked about strip poker.

I just love a playful Jareth, don't you?