Ch 28

"Oh my God, what happened?" Sarah cried as she rushed to where Julie lay. She didn't look like she was breathing, but Sarah felt for a pulse. She found it, steady but very faint. "We need to get her to the hospital now, someone, call for an ambulance." She turned back to her friend, too shocked to cry.

"We don't need an ambulance," Jareth said. Sarah looked up at him. "Are you nuts? She's dying, she needs to go to the hospital!" Before she had even finished speaking, she found herself standing in a large room; it looked like a bedroom, with sand-colored stone floors and walls. Sarah looked around to see Julie tucked into a huge four-poster bed. As she watched, two women rushed into the room and started attending to her.

"Don't worry about her," Jareth said, putting his arms around her. "These are the best healers in the Underground, and I know they can help her."

"Are we in your castle?" Sarah asked. "Yes," Jareth replied, "and I promise you Julie will receive better care here than in a hospital Aboveground."

"But what the hell happened to her?" Sarah asked angrily. Bayron was standing next to the bed, holding Julie's hand. He looked up mournfully at Sarah's question. "I don't know, Sarah." He sounded like his heart was breaking, and it was. He had finally found the woman of his dreams, who he had fallen hopelessly in love with, and now she was lying here fighting death. "We had just finished dinner, and she said she felt strange. Then she started breathing funny, like she was choking or something, and the next thing I knew, she had collapsed on the kitchen floor. I thought she was dead!" he cried with tears in his eyes.

Sarah's heart went out to him. "But she's not, you know Julie, she's a fighter. She'll be back with us in no time," Sarah said with false enthusiasm. Then she realized what he'd said, and something clicked in her brain."Bayron, what exactly did you have for dinner?"

"I don't know, she said she liked fish, and I can' t cook, so I had my cook at home send me a seafood dinner, I'm not really sure what was in it. Why, does it matter?" he said.

Sarah thought she understood what had happened. "Bayron, it matters a lot. Julie does like fish, but she absolutely can't eat shellfish. She has a really awful allergy to shellfish; she practically gets sick just smelling it. That must be what happened, there was shellfish in her dinner. I should have guessed before. I saw her have an allergic reaction once and it was terrifying. But I've never seen her this bad before," she said, fighting tears. Julie's food allergy was a potentially deadly one. From the looks of it, Julie had gone into shock, and it was very possible she could die.

Jareth was speaking with the healers, letting them know what Sarah had said. Of course, they had known immediately what was wrong, and were already hard at work at healing her. Jareth was relieved to have them there; he knew Neela and Shira were the best healers the Underground had, and they would do everything they possibly could for Julie.

"Is she going to live?" he asked them quietly. The two healers frowned. "Right now, it's hard to say, your Majesty," Neela replied. "She is not so far gone that there is nothing we can do. If she were Fae, she would definitely pull through. But she is mortal, and without the magic that would make a Fae naturally stronger against sickness, it's not clear yet whether or not she will live."

"Be assured, your Majesty, that we will do everything in our power to heal her," added Shira. "We have already seen some improvement since you brought her to us."

Jareth nodded at them. "Thank you. I know you will do your best."

Sarah and Bayron had been watching the exchange. "Is she going to be okay?" Sarah asked, fearing the worst, as Jareth walked back over to them.

Jareth hesitated. He pulled Sarah into his arms, wishing he could fix this. "It's uncertain as of right now. My healers say she is already improving, but she has a long way to go. Sarah, Bayron, just please be assured that they will do everything in their power to help her live." Bayron nodded numbly and moved back to keeping his vigil at Julie's bedside. He felt awful. Now he knew this was all his fault; he had given her the poison that could kill her.

Sarah cried as she clung to Jareth. "Damn it, we were so happy, everything was going so well, and now this. God Jareth, I don't know what I'll do if she dies, she's my best friend, she's like my sister!" She buried her head in Jareth's chest and sobbed.

Jareth gently stroked her back, trying to comfort her. He knew how he would be feeling if it were Bayron, or Merelinda, on their deathbed, and the thought made him hug Sarah even tighter. Jareth led her out of the room, giving the healers more privacy, and walked her to a room down the hall. He opened the door to reveal his bedchambers.

"You should lie down and try to get some sleep, my love, you need some rest. This has been a long day for both of us." She nodded her agreement, suddenly feeling exhausted. She climbed into Jareth's bed and he arranged the covers over her. Her eyelids felt like weights were pulling them down; she couldn't keep them open. Her head had barely hit the pillow before her eyes closed. She felt Jareth kiss her gently on the cheek, then begin to walk away.

"Jareth, please stay with me" she murmured sleepily.

"Of course I will, my love," he replied. He climbed into bed next to her and pulled her close to him. He wanted to take all the pain out of her heart, and it hurt him that he couldn't. He just held her tight as she drifted into sleep, knowing sleep was a long time away for him.

A/N: Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, I'm glad you like this. As you can see, I am already on chapter 28, with many more chapters ahead...this story sort of took on a life of its own, and I'm doing my best to get it under control! But I think it's safe to say that there's still a long way to go, so if you like this story, yay! You can enjoy it for many more chapters. If you don't like it, then... what are you doing reading all the way up to chapter 28? Anyways, just letting you all know I appreciate you reading this...thanks!