Chapter Sixteen: Easy Come, Easy Go
Sarah's biggest problem, she decided, was that she had too many secrets. She had shared some things with Dinah, which had helped ease the pressure, but there were still too many secrets left untold—too many secrets that couldn't be told.
On the surface of things was the very existence the Underground. This secret must be hidden from her family and all friends but Dinah.
Secondly was the fact that she had gone to the Labyrinth and beaten it; this she must hide from everyone but Jeremy and Jareth, who already knew.
The third level of secrets concerned Jareth; that she had slept with him, that he had taught her magic, that she had become a being like him. These secrets she had to hide from everyone but Jareth.
Unfortunately, she seemed to have ditched her only confidant at the first opportunity.
Drat.
Advice would have been glorious, but she knew that any comments Jareth had to make would be biased. So she was left to muddle through her predicament on her own. All of her knowledge had begun to swirl continually through her head: the Daras were coming, Jareth was coming, she wasn't human, she could do magic.
The Daras could not be allowed to learn this information—that was self-evident. If she was a valuable brood-mare as a human, wouldn't she become astronomically more valuable if she were Jareth-kind, possibly immortal, and capable of great magic? She had learned a lot of things under Jareth's tutelage, but nothing to protect her from being married off and summarily raped.
Of course, this was assuming that Jareth had been telling the strict truth, or that he hadn't simply been lying. Angharad and her husband had seemed like perfectly nice people, even if their children had been snobs and Owain Dara had made unwanted advances. And, once again, Jareth's comments were probably biased, calculated to keep her in the Labyrinth.
These thoughts ran in a constant loop, argument and counter-argument, solutions and problems, pros and cons.
Her mind was full to brimming. In the eyes of those around her, Sarah became vaguer and more abstracted as the days wore on.
I need to get my affairs in order, she thought morbidly while considering her options. If nothing else was fixed and sure, she did know that she'd be leaving again soon. She needed to break up with Aaron, say bye to Toby... but what to say to Dad and Karen? A direct confrontation was out of the question. She could get them to believe her, probably, if she demonstrated her magic, but they wouldn't want her to leave and they'd cause a scene and... it would be altogether unpleasant. Sarah didn't want to get them involved.
She'd write a letter, address it to them, and put it on a bookshelf. They generally weren't allowed in her room without direct permission, so they'd only find the letter if she went missing. Maybe she could leave a crystal with it, to prove she was telling the truth.
Could I put some sort of activate-on-contact spell on it..? Research would be in order—she'd have to consult her red book, the magic-manual that Jareth had given to her.
With seven days left of freedom, Sarah gathered her courage and confronted Aaron. They went out for pizza at Dinah's family's pizzeria that night. It was buzzing with teenage life; hard to believe it had been so quiet at Sarah's birthday party a few months ago. Hard to believe that she had ever been that serene and carefree.
Sarah was anxious all evening, staring into the distance, fidgeting with her napkin, and only half-paying attention to what Aaron was saying. He was such a nice person, really, and he'd been an affectionate and attentive boyfriend. Breaking up with him seemed exceptionally cruel, but maybe that was just it. He was too nice. Sort of boring. He never yells, he's never sarcastic, he never makes me mad, never argues with me... So when she felt the need to yell, be sarcastic, be angry, or argue with someone, he'd just be nice and make her feel like a bitch.
You are cruel, Sarah.
Sarah wondered if it was a little twisted, to want someone to be cruel back at you.
"Aaron," she said abruptly during a pause in conversation. "Do you think this is working anymore?"
The youth sitting across from her set down his slice of pizza, looking puzzled.
"What?"
"This. This. I'm just... not sure..." Sarah trailed off. She could see wheels turning in Aaron's head.
"You mean, us?"
"... yes?" said Sarah meekly. She'd never broken up with anyone before. Hell, she'd never dated anyone else before.
"I..." He looked poleaxed, rubbing the back of his neck with confusion written across his face. "I've noticed you've seemed kind of distant lately, Sarah, but I didn't know you..." It was his turn to trail off. He looked at her beseechingly with big brown eyes.
"It's not you," she replied quickly, mentally kicking herself for the clichéd line. "I like you a lot, Aaron, you're one of the kindest people I've ever met. But I'm not sure... I don't think I really I like you that way..."
"Let me guess; this is the 'let's just be friends' speech," he broke in, eyes downcast and voice taking a bitter tone. There was a red flush on his cheeks. Sarah watched him wretchedly, wringing her hands in her lap.
"Please don't be angry," she pleaded.
"Angry? Maybe later. Right now and stuck in a sort of 'sad and bewildered' mode," he said sourly. "Don't worry, I'm sure anger will surface eventually. I mean, my girlfriend is breaking up with me totally out of the blue. Anger seems inevitable."
"Is the sarcasm really necessary?" snapped Sarah. "This isn't easy for me either."
"Ha. I'm sure. Did you meet someone else? Is that what this is about?"
"No!" she exclaimed, lying blatantly but remorsefully. "This is about me not loving you! It's about you deserving something better! It's about not selling ourselves short!"
This silenced Aaron for a moment.
"Love?" he said skeptically. "We're just seniors in high school. Are you expecting to find true love at age eighteen? Is that really important now?"
"Dinah and Ben love each other," Sarah pointed out. It was true. They'd been dating for years.
"They're not exactly the norm."
"No."
"So?"
Sarah considered this. It was an interesting question, but moot in these circumstances—her real reasons for breaking things off with Aaron weren't quite the ones that she had given to him. Love, or lack of it, had little to do with the situation. Or at least I'm pretty sure that it doesn't, she thought. It's not like I love Jareth. Or even want to.
Right?
Well, that was an unsettling idea. I really need to cut back on this self-examination.
"Look, Aaron, I'm sorry, but this is the way I feel. Nothing's going to change that. I know you don't agree, but, well, you're Ben's best friend and Dinah is mine. Could we at least try to be... cordial to one another?"
"We'll see," said Aaron stonily. Not likely, his tone said, but Sarah was optimistic. Aaron wasn't capable of holding a grudge for very long.
They left the restaurant soon after. The ride home was very long and very quiet.
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Unsurprisingly, Dinah practically tackled Sarah the next day.
"What did you do?" Dinah half-screeched, staring at Sarah incredulously. Sarah fidgeted with her clothes and pursed her lips.
"I assume you've heard?"
"Damn right I've heard! What's going on? Are you insane?"
"I broke up with him. People break up with their boyfriends all the time." Sarah made a lame attempt at humor. "Veronica Hinton does it at least once a week, if the school rumor mill is to be believed."
"You are so not Veronica Hinton. Why on earth did you do it? You and Aaron were so cute together."
"Cute?" asked Sarah disdainfully. She had no desire to be cute. "I felt that the relationship was missing something."
"Missing what? Aaron's hot! He's good-looking, he plays guitar, he's not a jerk... do you know how rare that is?"
"Maybe I like jerks," Sarah mumbled under her breath. But that's being unfair. Jareth's a bastard, not a jerk. There's a subtle difference.
"What?"
"Just drop it, Dinah," Sarah said irritably. "I have enough things to worry about already."
"Is this about—," the redhead lowered her voice after looking from side-to-side, "—is this about you-know-what?"
Sarah wasn't quite certain what "you-know-what" was, but she had a good idea.
"Partly," Sarah said truthfully. "Mostly not, but I still don't want to leave him hanging if I... if I don't come back."
Dinah raised her eyebrows.
"That's a bit dramatic, isn't it?"
Oh, like she was one to talk about being dramatic. Sarah had the distinct impression that Dinah did not understand the magnitude of the Underground situation.
"No, it's not," she replied. "These people, Jeremy's family, don't think like we do. They're not even human, much less modern or American. I'm going because I have no choice. I really don't want you to come with me, Dinah."
"I'm not going to abandon you," said Dinah stubbornly. Her brow had lowered and her lower lip stuck out, as fearsome an expression as she was capable of conjuring. A determined spark snapped in her dark eyes. No doubt that she was capable of impressive fireworks when enraged, but fury alone wouldn't protect them from anyone.
Six days, Sarah thought. Tick-tock, tick-tock.
Six days.
Her time was running out. Four weeks she had spent in the Labyrinth, four weeks that Daedalus had returned to her when he sent her back in time. Those four weeks were almost gone again.
The sixth day passed quickly, followed by the fifth day.
Sarah practiced magic feverishly in her room, conjuration and levitation and the summoning of fire. She studied the red book, looking for something useful, but it was a book of theory and not method.
Tick-tock.
The fourth day passed, and then the third.
Jareth and the Daras would both be coming after her—it all depended on who got there first. Who did she want to get there first?
The letter to Karen and her Dad, sealed in an envelope and addressed, had been placed on the surface of her vanity. Next to it was a crystal, full of swirling magic.
Sarah opened her closet doors and pushed aside the skirts and dresses and blouses that hung there, revealing the deep blue gown she had brought back from the Labyrinth. It shone softly in the artificial light, making the rest of her clothing look drab and cheap in comparison. The girl rubbed the fabric between two fingers, staring.
Did she want to go back? Did she want to stay here? The time for thinking was almost over.
Two days to go, and then one day.
Tick-tock.
Finally, the Day arrived. Sarah dreamed of bells chiming thirteen o'clock and awoke to the normal alarm clock buzz.
She prepared for school mechanically, brushing her hair and teeth without much thought. Breakfast lay mostly untouched on her plate. Every now and then she found that her hand had grasped the pendent of her necklace through the cotton of her t-shirt, quite of its own accord. Sarah was on auto-pilot.
She hugged Toby closely and kissed him goodbye. Toby, preternaturally sensitive, accepted the affection without his usual fuss.
"You okay?" asked Dinah on the ride to school. Sarah grunted, staring out the window. "What's the matter?"
When Sarah didn't answer, Dinah seemed to figure it out on her own.
"Is today... the day?"
Sarah nodded wordlessly. Dinah frowned at the steering wheel in front of her.
"You really are worried about this, aren't you?"
Sarah turned slowly, pale face becoming paler. Then she spoke.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" asked the girl, voice dripping with sarcasm. She swept a lock of dark hair out of her face and glared at Dinah with narrowed gray-green eyes. "This is not a game, Dinah. Today I am leaving. One way or another, if I like it or not. Maybe if they'd given me a choice, it wouldn't be so bad—my life wasn't particularly enviable before any of this—but nobody seems to care what I want. No one consulted me first, not my loving grandmother or... or anyone else. So forgive me if I'm being bitchy, but I think that I've earned that right."
The silence was suffocating in the small hot car. For once, Dinah seemed shocked into speechlessness.
"... that's not very fair, to yell at me," she murmured softly. "I didn't do anything to you."
"Well, life isn't fair, is it?" replied Sarah with a certain relish. Dinah looked askance at her and Sarah knew there was a manic gleam in her eyes.
"If you're trying to drive me away, it's not gonna work," continued the redhead quietly. "Don't you dare leave school without me this afternoon. Maybe I don't quite understand everything—I know you aren't telling me everything—but I'm going to stick with you. That's what friends are for."
"You can't save me," Sarah told her wearily.
"But I can support you. And I will."
It was a kind thought, Sarah decided, but not at all comforting.
So the day passed.
When will they come, she wondered as she sat through her classes. Will they corner me in the bathroom? March into my class? Wait until I walk out the door at the end of the day? Kidnap me from my bed at night? Sidle up to me in the hall?
That was the worst part, the merciless tension. At school, at least, she had something to occupy her time. But what to do after school? Just putter around waiting for the proverbial ax to fall?
Sarah didn't bother to listen to any of her teachers that day. She kept herself amused by levitating tiny pieces of paper across the floor; whenever one of her classmates tried to slide a note to a friend, Sarah gently nudged it in the opposite direction. It was entertaining in a mildly sadistic way. Jareth had been a bad influence on her.
Tick-tock said the clock that resounded in her head. She felt time slipping through her fingers, escaping from her grasp. The hours flew past her and no one came. The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day and the school week. Still no one came.
Dinah met her in the parking lot.
"What do you want to do?" she asked seriously. Sarah thought about it.
"I want a coke from McDonald's," she said. "And I want to go to the park."
"You're the boss," Dinah replied. They went through the drive-through before continuing onward; twenty minutes later, the two girls were sitting on Sarah's bench, under Sarah's tree, watching the carefree people playing on the grass.
It was a fragile moment of peace. Sarah almost felt calm. Almost.
Then she saw two figures walking up the slight hill, towards them. Aaron and Ben.
"What are they doing here?" Sarah asked slowly, watching them approach.
"Guess they were looking for us," said Dinah, a little too innocently.
"What are you up to?" asked Sarah suspiciously, eyes moving from the boys to the girl and back again.
"They were just worried about you!" Dinah exclaimed, exasperation clear in expression and tone. "The way you've been acting this past week, everything thinks you've gone round the bend. Especially after today. If you're not careful, the guidance counselor's going to call you up to her office and ask if your parents have been beating you."
"I guess she missed her chance," muttered Sarah, "Since I'm not going to be around anymore."
The boys reached the line of the oak tree's shade, saving Dinah the bother of replying.
"Hey," said Ben amiably, ambling up in his most non-threatening way. Aaron followed behind, sullen and perhaps a little wary of his welcome.
"What's up?" Sarah asked them. Trying not to sound belligerent.
"What d'you mean?" replied Ben with raised eyebrows. He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Dinah said that you had something to tell us."
"I had something to tell..?" Sarah repeated blankly. She turned her head to glare at Dinah. "What have you been saying to them?"
The redheaded girl wilted a bit at her friend's coldly furious tone.
"Look... Sarah... you said that I couldn't help, so I thought that if there were a few more people around, you'd be—safe..?"
"The hell you did. I thought we'd agreed to keep this between us! Listen to me—you are interfering in matters you don't understand. This is my problem, and I will deal with it the way I like."
"You aren't dealing with it at all! You're just sitting around, waiting for it to happen--"
"Whoa!" cried Ben, waving his hands in front of him, "Time out, time out. Explain. Now."
"There's nothing to explain," Sarah snapped.
"We're not buying that one," replied Aaron, leveling a reproachful gaze at her. "Cough it up."
"No. You two are better off out of it."
"Dinah?" prompted Ben remorselessly.
"Her stepfather's mother wants Sarah to come and visit her, but Sarah doesn't want to go and she's convinced that Mrs. Dara is going to take her by force and not let her go again."
Sarah opened her mouth to protest, but shut it angrily after Dinah blurted it all out. Ben and Aaron stood still, blinking, brains obviously trying to absorb this absurdly-phrased information.
Ben summed up his thoughts very emphatically.
"What the fuck?"
"I don't want to talk about it," said Sarah darkly.
"Are you serious?" queried Aaron.
"Deadly," responded Dinah solemnly. Sarah buried her face in her hands.
As if this weren't bad enough, she thought fiercely. Damn, damn, damn.
"There's someone walking toward us," said Ben calmly. Sarah raised her head, very slowly.
Yes, there was someone walking up the hill. Slim, average-height, dressed in black jeans and a close-fitting t-shirt—not Jareth, Sarah noticed with a twisting sensation in her stomach. A good thing or a bad thing? The figure did look familiar; it was a handsome young man with brilliant red hair a few shades redder than Dinah's.
A name popped into Sarah's brain—Gabriel. Gabriel Arian, dressed more casually than she had last seen him. Gabriel, the polite cousin who she had met briefly. Not, praise be to God, the one who had propositioned her in the hallway.
Sarah realized that she had forgotten to breath. She gasped in some air as Gabriel approached.
"Greetings, cousin," he said respectfully, stopping a good six or seven feet in front of them. His expression was friendly.
"Hello," said Sarah weakly. Out of the corners of her eyes, she saw Aaron and Ben move to either side of her like a pair of bodyguards. Dinah scooted closer to her on the bench. "Are you the one they sent, then?"
"Indeed." He glanced pointedly at Sarah's bristling friends. "Grandmother was disappointed that you didn't use the talisman to come to us earlier. She sent me to bring you myself; I apologize if I have come at an inopportune moment."
"What if I said that I'd rather not come with you?" asked Sarah, just for the heck of it. Gabriel smiled apologetically and shrugged.
"You can say it, if you wish, but I'm under orders. Even if I did let you go, Grandmother would send someone else to fetch you. Someone less sympathetic, might I add."
"I see," she murmured.
"What's the deal here, man?" asked Aaron, sounding more forceful than Sarah had ever heard him. Gabriel looked at him questioningly.
"I'm sorry?"
"If the lady doesn't wish to go with you, she's not going to go," said Ben. His voice was deep and quiet but very firm; no doubt it would have sent a human opponent running off, when combined with Ben's height and muscular mass. But Gabriel appeared unfazed.
"Are you threatening me?" he asked, amused.
"I would say so," said Aaron, chin tilting up. Gabriel appealed to Sarah.
"Have you explained the situation to your friends?" His tone was still genial. Sarah shook her head.
"Not in full. They know that I'd prefer to stay here, in the Aboveground. Or at home, rather."
"She told me," put in Dinah quickly. Gabriel acknowledged her with a polite nod.
"I respect your concern for Sarah," he said, addressing the boys, "But this is beyond your control. I am ordered to bring Sarah to our grandmother, and you cannot stop me."
Ben took a threatening step toward the redhaired youth, arm pulled back in preparation for a punch. Gabriel held up a hand and muttered something under his breath; Ben halted mid-step, frozen in position. The anger on his face melted away, replaced by confusion and rising panic.
"I can't move!" He was straining, Sarah could tell, but nothing was happening. She leaped off of the bench, followed quickly by Dinah.
"Stop!" she exclaimed. "It's okay, Ben—Gabriel, please let him go, I promise he won't interfere, please don't hurt them." She wrung her hands, desperation tinging her voice. "I don't want them to get hurt because of me."
"As you wish."
Ben fell to the ground, knocked off balance as his invisible bonds were released. Aaron and Dinah knelt down to help him, but Sarah remained to stare at the Shining One across from her. His inhumanity, his glow, like her own, was obscured by the sunlight and his Aboveground garb. But his magic was undeniable.
"What was that?" asked Aaron tremulously, wide-eyed and looking younger than his eighteen years. Sarah sighed softly, very softly, in resignation.
"That was magic," said Gabriel. "You'd do well to remember it, human."
"His name is Aaron." It hurt to hear the word put so harshly, to hear her friend so sharply divided from herself. Even if Gabriel thought that she, too, was a human. "And that's Ben, and Dinah."
"Aaron, then. And Ben. Bravery is admirable, but it will do you little good against the denizens of the Underground."
Faced with the boys' bewildered faces, Sarah explained in a few trembling sentences.
"Bullshit," Ben replied sharply.
"Excuse me?" retorted Sarah. "After the demonstration you just had? You better believe it."
"It's true," said Dinah, gripping his shoulder. "I swear, Ben. I saw fairies in the woods, that night during the concert. If I saw that, what makes this Underground so unlikely?"
"Convince him later," Gabriel said. "This has stretched on long enough. Sarah, if you will take my hand?"
"No!" cried Dinah. "Let us come too! Don't make her go alone!"
"Stay, Dinah, please," responded Sarah urgently. "It won't make any difference. Humans don't belong in the Underground—it never comes to any good."
"What about you?" Dinah's eyes were tearing up. "I will not abandon you."
"It's too late for me," she said, feeling a catch in her own throat. Years too late, even without the Daras. "I'm sorry."
"She's right," added Gabriel, his voice becoming gentle. "I really do apologize. Quick, please, say your goodbyes."
Sarah threw her arms around Dinah, squeezing her tightly. Then she moved to Aaron, then to Ben, hugging them quickly and fiercely before letting them go.
"I love all of you," she whispered to their stricken faces.
Will I ever see them again? she thought, dazed. If I do, though, will they ever look at me the same?
"Come," said Gabriel. Sarah grasped his outstretched hand, knowing that he would just grab her if she did not comply. She closed her eyes.
"Here we go," he said. She felt a cool tingle over her body, but she didn't see the world fade around her. It was just as well.
Goodbye, Aboveground, she thought. Maybe I'll return to you someday. Maybe this is being blown way out of proportion; maybe I'll have a nice three-day holiday in Idunn before going home in time for graduation. Maybe Angharad is a normal grandmother, and has no Machiavellian plot to marry me off for political alliances. Maybe this is all a bad dream.
Maybe the sky is green, pigs can fly, and Hell has frozen over. Maybe.
And then there was Jareth, who by now had certainly discovered her absence and received her note. Who was probably very angry, and who indubitably remembered that the Daras were expecting her to attend the opening ball of the Season in the kingdom of Idunn.
Life was complicated. The trend showed no sign of stopping.
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A/N: The plot thickens. As you see, Dinah does not go to the Underground. I did consider it for awhile, along with sending Ben and Aaron too, but in the end I decided that would be too many characters to juggle around. Leaving the three of them seemed to fit the story better; Sarah is becoming more and more distanced from her old life. As you see.
So, reviewers: Cariah Delonne, Velf, Moonjava, Anisky, Just a Starving Writer, Amora-Ryuko, Lhiata, Megan, Merryday, Midnight Lady, Lady Ione Athene, Solea, Bex Drake, Draegon-fire, GoldenUsagi, Sarin of the Night, Kaio, Ms. Briefs, Alissa7, Mag, Zephyrel, Innogen, Peppsy, and Mav1. Thank you all A LOT, and a special thanks to Peppsy, who wrote my 200th review—holy crap! I thought I'd be lucky to get 50 reviews. 200 is unbelievable. I'm so happy that all of you have enjoyed the story enough to stick with it through all of these weeks.
Since next Saturday's a holiday, it's doubtful that I'll have the next part by then—Happy Holidays to everyone, by the way. I'll try to toss some Jareth into the next few chapters as your Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus presents.