Closing her mouth she tried to avoid breathing in any more water. 'Which way's up?!' Opening her eyes she caught site of the last of her air bubbles floating down past her toes. Or rather up, seeing as she was upside-down. Lungs burning she surfaced, crawling to the side she felt darkness trying to claim her mind. Running a finger down her throat she forced her body to expel all the water she had taken in. Once she could breathe again she fell to the ground and rolled to her back. It was only then that she noticed the icy sheets of rain batting down upon her body. 'It would happen to me. Freezing rain.' She thought sardonically. Looking down from the midnight sky she tried to place her location, a tinge of a smile curling her lips when she set site on a quaint bridge. 'Home!' Getting up she raced over the rickety crossing of the water and made a mad dash away from the water bank. Slipping in the mud on more than one occasion she recalled doing this the very same day three months ago. 'Damn him.' She cursed making it to the road. 'When I get home I'll be a good girl.' She thought stopping beneath a street lamp, she fell to her knees trying to catch her breath. The cold was biting into her and sucking what little energy she had to spare. 'Hypothermia.' She thought distantly. Teeth chattering she felt slow and heavy, most of all tired. 'Oh no I won't.' She thought her stubborn soul aiding her struggle against the growing darkness in her mind. Pulling herself off her knees she stumbled to her feet. 'I did not escape that hellhole to die of a measly cold.!' But before she could make it more than a few feet she heard the heart stopping sound of an owl's screech in the sky. Glancing back she caught the brief show of whit feathers against a pitch black sky. Doing the only thing she could think of she ran.
Mismatched eyes widened as he felt the crossing, and who it was. Information of what portal had been used and where it went. Anger feeding his power he soon was flying to the above ground, creating his own portal to do so. He gave a cry of shock when he appeared in the sudden rainstorm. But he soon had righted himself and fought the winds. Looking down he spotted his prey, even if she hadn't been beneath the light-post he would have spotted her. The night was no mystery to him, and she ran from him like the mouse she was.
'Crap!' She would have voiced as much had her mouth not been so busy bringing air to her burning lungs. 'When did the street get so long?' She thought knowing it was always this way. 'Its only this way when I'm in a hurry, and if I'm not hurrying now I don't think I ever have.' Slipping she felt the asphalt bite into her skin, ripping her pants in the process. But she didn't have time to acknowledge the newest addition to her many scrapes. Getting up she caught site of her house. Colliding with the door she beat on it with one hand while the other pressed the buzzer frantically. Throat still choking in air she was unable to shout for demands of entrance. All the same it was not long before a light came on through the window and the sound of locks being undone met her ears. The moment the door cracked she shoved it open, falling atop her savor of the night. Going limp with relief she all but forgot the moving body beneath her. Hair sopping water onto everything her face was as the rest of her. Rolling over she looked to Karen, then the door. Rain was still pouring but the balcony above prevented it from streaming into the house. But she didn't see that, only the lone owl swooping low, and transforming into the all-to-familiar Goblin King. Her stepmother screamed but she hardly heard it. She only saw his fierce and enraged glare, directed solely at her. 'He can't come in.' She reassured herself, trembling in fear all the same. 'No ones invited him in.' But she scurried back just as quickly when he crossed the threshold and supposedly the invisible wall. Hitting the stairway she stopped, anger feeding her she pulled herself to her feet. Ignoring the protests her muscles gave her. "You can't come in here!" She shouted, actually stepping towards him.
"Once invited always invited dear Sarah."
"Well I'm uninviting you. Go away, drop dead, get lost, take a flying leap, whatever! Just, leave, me, alone!"
She was trembling as she stood before him, from fear, cold, anger, and exhaustion. But still she defied him. "Come along Sarah, you've played your game. It's time to come home now."
"I am home Goblin King. You know as well as I that I don't have to go with you. I stay away a month and you have to leave my family and I alone for the rest of eternity." He had to begrudgingly admit that she was correct.'
'But then again, that's what loopholes are for, there's always a way. I just have to find it.' Slowly he took in her body. Pants mud covered and torn. She had lost her vest at some point in her adventure, and her white shirt clung to her like a second skin. Running his tongue over his lips he met her startled gaze and glowing cheeks. It seemed she had just now recalled her bedraggled appearance. "No dear Sarah. I will not leave you. Now come!"
"Now!" She tried to strike at him but got nowhere near as far as she had the first time. Gripping her wrist tightly he forgot that she was only a mortal, and therefore easily harmed. Pulling her struggling figure near he ignored the earth that began to soil his clothes.
"You will not escape me Sarah. I will get you back, and you won't repeat thin venture." With that he left. Leaving her to deal with the mess of her family.
Sarah hadn't waited for Karen to come out of shock. Running up the stairs she made a beeline for her room. In a haze she grabbed a change of clothes and was soon stripping down in the bathroom. The water burned her chilled skin painfully but she was too cold to notice or car. Sitting in the tub she let the heated water push warmth back into her. All the while cradling her wrist. 'Damn him.' She repeated to herself, looking to her bruise, the purple and blue mark of his hand surrounded her own right palm. Leaving her to deal with the pain. Once she felt the beginnings of warmth begin to tweak into her bones she left the shower. Taking her time she dried off and put on her new clothes. Dry and warm she dropped her ruined sopping clothes into the laundry hamper, promising herself that she would deal with them in the morning. Taking long enough to tape a not of promise of explanation when she awoke to her door she soon closed herself in the bedroom that was hers. Falling to her bed she ignored the dust that rose around her, she was too tired to care at this point.
He watched her pale frame silently as she fell into her exhausted rest. His anger towards her and ebbed slightly and enough to allow him coherent thought. It was with a pang akin to guilt, that he looked to her hand. Without meaning to he had marred her perfect skin. Often as she had ire his temper and her having struck at him in her fear and anger he had never once raised a hand to her in return. Never having harmed her, merely frightened. Glancing about briefly it was evident not much had happened in her room since the absence of its occupant. Looking back to the peaceful dreamer he narrowed his gaze. He had not thought of her thinking to search for a means of escape from his library. Though he should have, he had underestimated her and was paying for it. He knew the rules, she had been right; he couldn't just take her and lock her in his tallest tower. He would have to work at getting her to return. But what was her use if she was of no amusement to him, he was far from pleased, but all the same excited at the prospect of a new challenge. 'You defy me little mortal, haven't you learned that it's the challenge that draws me to you?' Like a moth to a flame he was drawn to her inner fire. Forming a crystal he let it flat over to the dreamer, like a bubble in the air it flew. It paused above her brow before bursting in a shower of glitter, sparkles that vanished the moment they touched her. The beginnings of a spell were put into affect at that moment; slowly it would work its way into her mind. After completed she would never be able to even think a thought of escape without his knowing, or raise a fist against him. (Can anyone say lawyer?) Never would this embarrassment happen again. She would be defenseless against him and completely vulnerable to his will. He raised a brow when the door opened slightly, stepping into the shadows he watched as the tiny figure of Toby fell to his knees and crawled in. Not even disturbing the slumbering maiden as he, by some miracle, climbed into her arms and situated himself into her arms. Once in he embrace Toby fell fast asleep. Jareth couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy towards the young lad. To have her complete love and devotion, to have her arms wrapped around him lovingly. He could see, even in her sleep the girl protected him. Holding him close and safe to her body. 'Some day.' He thought, assuring himself as he returned to his throne. 'Some day she'll be in my arms, willingly, and lovingly. She'll be mine whether she wants to or not. Sarah will never again escape me.' It was as much a threat as a promise.
Well Creepy ain't he?
~BUM~