Ch 42

Sarah woke up early, despite having gone to bed so late. Her eyes felt like sandpaper, but she couldn't go back to sleep. Grumbling to herself, she stumbled out of bed and revived herself with a long hot shower. As she stepped out of the shower stall, she glanced around her tiny bathroom and thought of the huge, luxurious bathroom she used at Jareth's castle. She would not miss this place.

As she put on her robe and wandered into the kitchen, she looked around the rest of her apartment, and was surprised to see how little sentimental value anything in there held. When she had first moved out of her parents' house, she had gotten mismatched furniture from friends, and hung up a few pictures here and there. But it seemed like she had never really made it her home; it was just a place to live. Her home was at Jareth's.

"Oh, you're so pathetic," she groaned to herself. "Can't you go five minutes without thinking about him?" She resolved to concentrate of what needed done, instead of him. But then she thought, what exactly needs done? She didn't really care what happened to everything in her apartment, so it wasn't as if she had to pack. She didn't have a job to go to anymore, not that she would have gone anyway, even if she hadn't been fired. So what had she thought she had to do?

She wasn't sure, and she sighed, sitting down at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal. She ate slowly, trying to figure out what the heck she was going to do with herself for the next five days. It seemed that boredom and loneliness loomed no matter what she thought of doing.

She had been brooding for quite awhile, her cereal turning soggy in its bowl, when she was startled by the ringing of the telephone. She hurried to answer it, and was happy to hear her brother's voice on the other end.

He was talking a mile a minute, wanting to know every detail of the last few days. Finally, Sarah asked if he just wanted to come visit her. Of course he said yes, and ran to get his mother on the phone to talk to Sarah.

"Sarah?" Karen asked, picking up the extension.

"Hi, Karen," Sarah replied. "Would you or Dad mind dropping Toby off? He's pretty excited, and I have a lot to tell him."

Karen laughed. "I know, he's jumping all around the living room. He's thrilled about all this. I have to go out and do some running anyway, I'll be glad to drop him off while I'm out. Is it okay if we're there pretty soon? I was actually just getting ready to leave."

Sarah told her that was fine, and hung up the phone. She tidied up the kitchen and living room a bit, then went into her room to get dressed. She was combing out her hair when the doorbell rang.

As soon as she opened the door, Toby flew into her arms. She hugged him back, smiling at Karen over his head. "Thanks for bringing him over."

"No problem," Karen replied. "I'll be back for him in about three hours, is that okay?"

"That's fine," Sarah said. Saying good-bye to her stepmother, she closed the door and looked at Toby. He was looking at her expectantly.

"Well?" he asked impatiently.

"Well what?" she teased. He frowned at her. "Sarah!"

She laughed. "All right, Tobes, come here and sit with me, and I'll tell you everything."

Toby was fascinated by her tale, especially the part about being underwater with the mermaids.

"Do you think I can see a mermaid?" he asked with wide eyes.

"I'm sure it can be arranged," she said with a smile. He had a million questions for her, and he could barely contain his excitement. He thought he must have the coolest sister ever, no one else had a sister who was going to marry the Goblin King!

Eventually, though, he grew bored with talking, as most children tend to do, and he and Sarah passed the rest of the afternoon playing board games. They were in the middle of Monopoly when the doorbell rang.

"That must be your mom," she said to Toby as she went to the door. Sure enough, it was Karen coming back to collect Toby. Toby gave Sarah another hug before he left, telling her he couldn't wait to go visit Jareth.

"Me neither," Sarah said with a grin. She waved good-bye and shut the door.

She looked around and sighed. Now what? She reluctantly settled herself on the sofa and flicked on the television. She flipped through the channels until she came to a home makeover show, and smiled as she thought about how much Jareth liked this. Watching it made her miss him a little less, so she settled in to enjoy the show.

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While Sarah was enjoying her TV program, Jareth was engrossed in the pile of paperwork he had let slide during Sarah's visit. He hated this part of his job. He sighed and rubbed his eyes; he'd been working all day, and he needed a break.

He wandered into the throne room and lounged on his throne. Unable to resist, he produced a crystal and asked it to show him Sarah, and he laughed when he saw what she was doing.

"How I adore you," he said softly to the image in the crystal. He was still watching her when he was startled by a commotion in the hall outside the throne room. Suddenly, the doors flew open and Merelinda was running towards him.

He rose out of the throne, concerned by how upset she was. "Merelinda, what's wrong? What are you doing here?"

She closed her eyes, and a few tears fell out of them. She hated herself for what she was about to do, but she had no choice. "Jareth, I need to talk to you…" she paused, not wanting to go on.

Jareth had a heavy feeling in his stomach as he urged her to continue. She took a deep breath. "Jareth…I'm so, so sorry, but you can't marry Sarah. I need you to marry me, it's a matter of life and death."

Jareth's face turned pale as he realized what he'd just heard.