Chapter Three: Under Pressure

The two images, trapped in their crystal balls, flitted around the room. In the one she could see a tall, blonde man striding down a winding passageway. In the other, a happy family involved in some sort of celebration. She sighed, her eyes moving from one image to the other, frowning in concentration, before suddenly springing to her feet. The room was comfortable and functional, but plainly furnished. So different from the luxurious, ornate chambers that she had grown up in. Her eyes wandered back to the image of the man – she had always watched him, but had done so more than ever over the past few days. She still couldn't decide what to do. The shrill shriek of the telephone brought her out of her reverie, and for a few moments she gazed around the room, trying to work out what the noise was and where it was coming from. There were still aspects of life here that she had never quite grown used to – and this, she suspected, was destined always to be one of them. She lifted the receiver; her eyes still fixed on the floating crystals, momentarily transfixed by the little boy with the blonde hair falling into his eyes.

ooOoo

Toby raised his eyes to meet his sister's as he licked the remnants of birthday cake from his fingers.

'What?' he asked.

She grinned at him. 'You have icing on your nose.'

'That's nothing,' he replied, scrubbing at it with the back of his hand. 'You've got some in your hair!'

He laughed gleefully as Sarah jumped up and looked into the mirror.

'Huh. Girls,' he said mockingly. 'Always fussing over what you look like!'

'How old are you? Eighty?' Sarah asked, making a face at him as she combed the flakes of icing out of her hair with her fingers.

He stuck his tongue out at her.

'I saw that!' Karen's voice floated in the air before she and Robert had even entered the room. Toby squinted up at her.

'How could you see me when you were outside?'

'Magic,' his mother answered.

'She could see your reflection in the mirror, brain-box!' Sarah muttered in his ear and ruffled his hair.

'Had a good birthday?' Robert asked him. Toby nodded his head enthusiastically and then, wiping his rather sticky hands on his jeans, launched himself at his new book which was lying on the table,

'You should wash your hands before you start reading that!' Karen warned.

'Just as long as you don't try to read and ride at the same time,' his father added. Their present to Toby had been a new bike. 'That's the sort of thing your sister used to do!'

Sarah smiled over at her father. 'Ha-ha.'

Toby's eyes strayed to the window, a new idea already taking root in his mind. 'Can I go for a ride now? It's still early enough…and I'll keep away from the main road!' he concluded, knowing the words that would automatically spring to his mother's lips.

Karen and Robert exchanged glances.

'Yes, all right,' Karen said. 'But don't be too long. And make sure you wear you reflector jacket!'

'Aw, Mom! It's broad daylight!' he groaned.

Karen started to clear up the dirty plates, but Sarah took them from her hands. 'I'll take care of these. Why don't you sit down and take a bit of a break?'

She smiled at her stepdaughter. 'Thank-you!'

Sarah took the plates and walked into the kitchen. Out of the kitchen window, she could see Toby wheeling his bicycle into the driveway. She smiled as she watched him: he examined it from every angle, gave the wheels a kick and then bent over it, his nose almost resting on its frame as he scrutinised one spot. The same way that their father examined his car, whenever he thought he could see a scratch. 'Men,' she thought, rolling her eyes. 'They're all the same.'

'I wonder what your basis for comparison is?' A mocking voice echoed through her mind.

Sarah shook her head. 'That's quite enough of that!' she said firmly, not fully aware that she had said the words aloud. She filled the sink with warm, soapy water and started to wash the dishes. The suds clung to her hands, catching the light and reflecting back a myriad of shimmering colours.

'Like so many crystals,' she thought.

Admittedly, Jareth had not been like any other man she had ever known. Then again, he hadn't been like any other person she had ever known. In her mind's eye she saw him again, looking as he had during their final encounter. And then when she had said the words… The look on his face. It was beyond disappointment. It was anguish. It was an emotion so strong that she couldn't put a name to it. Everything had gone dark around them and for a few moments, his cloak had billowed in the air before falling to the ground, empty. The scene played in her mind in slow motion, as though she were seeing it frame-by-frame. One second he had been standing in front of her, his eyes penetrating her soul, and then it was as though he had disintegrated. She couldn't have… Sarah swallowed hard. She couldn't have killed him. Surely not. On none of the occasions when she had seen her friends from the Underground had she ever asked about him – and they had never volunteered any information. She had assumed that he was still there, in the castle, spinning his dreams and posing his riddles. The riddles that, according to him, she had never answered and never understood. But now, for the first time, came the terrible thought that she may not have just defeated him, but destroyed him. Sarah felt sick. With both hands, she clung to the edge of the counter, battling for breath.

'You're behaving like a child,' a more rational part of her spoke.

A resolution that she had made, long ago, came back to her. That she would stop crying, gasping, shouting and generally going over the top. She had made it ten years ago, on the night she had realised that it really was time that she started growing up. Sarah righted herself and started drying her hands on the towel, scrubbing so hard that she grazed the skin. It was impossible. He was a powerful sorcerer. But she had said the words…

'He has no power over me. That doesn't mean that I took away his power over anyone or anything else,' she told herself consolingly. Sarah straightened a few things in the kitchen, giving herself time to calm down. She was not going to start with those childhood obsessions again. She was just a little overemotional, that was all. The thought crossed her mind that the break up with Sam had upset her more than she had realised, but she dismissed it with a laugh. It was being back home and seeing Toby again. That always stirred up memories.

Sarah re-entered the lounge and found it empty. Her parents had wandered out into the garden. She watched them for a minute through the open window. Her father had his arm around Karen's waist and was saying something to her. She turned to face him, laughing, and then they continued their slow circuit. Sarah turned away, her eyes travelling over the room; eventually coming to rest on the gift she had given Toby, still lying on the table. He'd be looking for it later. Sarah picked it up and decided to put it by his bed. As she mounted the stairs, she leafed through it idly, her attention caught every now and then by a word or phrase. She reread the inscription and smiled. Toby had gone wild with joy when he had seen it, and had made Sarah tell him every detail of the meeting. You could tell he was getting older, she thought with a wry grin, when one of the first questions he had asked was: 'Is she pretty?' He had then made a great show of pretending not to care in the slightest what the answer was. She turned the page and read the opening line:

'The way forward is sometimes the way back.'

Sarah snapped the book shut and stood, trembling.

ooOoo

The rain pattered against the windows in intermittent bursts. From the hallway, Sarah heard her stepmother's usually soft voice raised in protest.

'Oh, Toby, really! Take those shoes off before you come into the house!'

Toby pushed his hand through his wet hair, plastering it down to his head.

'Sorry, Mom. I went further than I realised and by the time I started back, it was already raining.'

'Your father and I have been worried sick!' Karen continued.

Toby raised his head to look at his mother, his eyes full of contrition. 'I'm really sorry, Mom.'

Sarah, who had risen from the settee and had been watching the little scene from the doorway, shook her head.

'And I thought I was the one with the acting talent!'

Karen's shoulders relaxed, and her scolding was reduced to a series of mutterings under her breath as she picked up the wet, muddy trainers and pulled Toby's cap off his head.

'You just get up those stairs and get washed. I want every speck of mud removed, Toby!'

Toby bounded up the stairs and Karen noticed Sarah standing there. She rolled her eyes.

'It's the Williams genes. It has to be,' she stated, remembering the countless occasions when Sarah had returned home, dripping wet and hours late.

Sarah knew what Karen was thinking and grinned at her.

Still shaking her head, Karen walked into the kitchen. Sarah was about to go back into the lounge when she heard her name being called.

'Psst! Hey, Sarah!'

Toby's head was poking around the corner, and he was beckoning to her. Sarah ran up the stairs until she was next to him on the landing.

'Well?'

He gave her a mysterious smile. 'Come in here. I want to show you something.'

Sarah followed him into his room. He slipped behind her and shut the door before bouncing onto his bed. He patted the area next to him.

'Come on. Sit down!'

Toby had drawn his jacket towards him and was fishing inside one of the pockets. He pulled something out and held it reverently between his hands. Sarah squinted over his shoulder, trying to see what it was. It looked like a dark, velvet pouch. Once again, he turned to Sarah, his eyes gleaming. He reached into the pouch and pulled something out of it.

'Look!' he breathed, and held it out to Sarah.

It looked like snow globe, mounted on a black base. Inside it was a set of intricately carved doors with minute gargoyles set into them, serving as knockers. Standing in front of the doors, on either side of the globe, were small figures wearing armour. Sarah took the globe from Toby's hands and peered at the tiny figures. Their faces were not human – they were a strange, mottled texture and looked as though they had been squashed.

'Where did you…?' her voice died away as she continued to stare into the heart of the globe.

'I found it,' Toby replied proudly. 'In the park.'

'The park?' Sarah asked sharply, her head jerking toward him.

'Yeah, you know where the bridge is? I go there quite a lot, it's really cool! Anyway, I rode up there and I was just lying on the grass and I heard this thud. So I sat up and looked around…'

Sarah groaned inwardly – it was one of those times when Toby had decided to give her every single detail of the story.

'But I couldn't see anything. So, then, I lay back down and hit my head on something – it was really hard as well, I mean, I could've cracked my skull open!'

'I'll crack your skull open if you don't get on with it!' Sarah replied, her patience fraying.

Toby rewarded her with an indignant glare and for a few seconds fell silent, thinking to punish her by not finishing the story. But that thought was soon overwhelmed by his burning need to tell Sarah what had happened, and so he continued with the tale.

'And there was this bag just lying there. And there really wasn't anyone around,' he added, a worried expression crossing his face. 'I didn't steal it or anything!'

'I never thought that you did,' Sarah replied. 'Go on.'

'Well, that's pretty much it, really. I picked up the bag and looked inside and that was in it.' He nodded toward the globe in Sarah's hands. She examined it again. On the one side of the doors were the gargoyles, and on the other a pair of guards. They looked a bit like playing cards. Toby was pressed up against her, staring intently at the tiny figures standing in front of the doors.

'D'you reckon that's what Goblins really look like?' he asked her avidly.

'Yeah.' Sarah wetted her lips – her mouth had, inexplicably, gone dry. 'Something like that.' As she looked at her brother, he turned to face her and she ended up staring straight into his eyes. The two different colours burned back brightly as her, the expression questioning, slightly challenging. The similarity, which was never wholly absent, now seemed overpowering. Sarah felt the urge to grab hold of her brother and shake him, until the memories that she was starting to believe were buried deep inside of him came out. Something of that must have been written in her face, because as Toby sat looking at her, his expression stopped being questioning and started being nervous.

'Are you okay?' he asked quietly, hoping that Sarah would stop looking at him like that.

'I'm just…' she began slowly.

There was a loud knock on the door, and before either of them could respond, it swung open. Karen stood in the doorway, her arms folded.

'Toby. Did I or did I not tell you to get washed?' she inquired.

Toby's eyes flickered toward his sister, but Sarah simply raised her eyebrows in mute apology.

'Uh-huh.'

'Well, in that case, would you please pick yourself up, take yourself down the hall, and take a shower? Or do you want me to do it for you?'

Toby hesitated for a millisecond.

'I'm going. I'm going! See?' He had started unbuttoning his shirt as he scrambled off the bed.

'You shouldn't encourage him, you know,' Karen added wearily as Sarah stood up.

She managed to force a smile onto her lips. 'Sorry. He was just really excited about his presents.'

Karen sighed. 'Yes. Thank God birthdays are only once a year.'

ooOoo

Supper had been a noisy, talkative affair. Toby, naturally, had had all of his favourite dishes served up and had given his parents a blow-by-blow account of the handling capabilities of his new bicycle. Minus his experience in the park. Every now and then, throughout the meal, he had caught Sarah's eye, and each time she had felt as though someone else was staring back at her. That penetrating, hawk-like stare. Or should that be owl-like? she wondered idly. For all that Sarah loved her family and loved being back at home, this had felt like one of the longest evenings of her life. She had kept smiling, laughing and joking – mainly for Toby's sake – all the while trying to suppress the maelstrom of thoughts that had been unleashed in her brain. Even after Toby went to bed, she had sat up with her parents, drinking the night-cap her father had insisted on making for her. It was with a huge sense of relief that she had finally been able to take herself back upstairs to her room.

'Goodnight!' she called cheerfully as Karen and Robert passed her room on their way to their own. With a fixed smile still in place, Sarah closed her door, and then slumped against it, all of the energy draining out of her. After a few moments in that position, while she had revelled in the sudden and complete silence, Sarah pushed herself away from the door, and walked across to her bed. It was still the same old bed with the canopy that she had had for years. It felt tiny compared to the double bed she had in her apartment, but there was always the sense that she had come home whenever she slept in it. She lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling. For the past few days, she had been fighting against the thoughts and memories that had assailed her at every turn, but now, at last, she gave into them. The familiar pictures drifted before her eyes, the sounds echoed in her ears. But it was different somehow. Or rather, to be precise, Jareth was different. No matter how she pictured him, he just didn't seem as evil as she had always remembered him to be. She recalled the moment when he had first appeared before her: commanding, intimidating. And yet the expression on his face had been one of amusement, almost fondness.

'Yeah, right before he flung a snake at you!' part of her subconscious grumbled.

Yes! He had tried to frighten her from the very beginning. But then again, the snake had turned into a scarf and a small, furry Goblin. Sarah rolled onto her side, drawing her knees up to her chest.

'And he stole Toby! He would've turned that sweet baby into a Goblin!'

But only because she had asked him to, Sarah thought. And if she were completely honest with herself, she hadn't thought Toby to be particularly sweet until she had lost him. Actually, he still drove her crazy at times, but she wouldn't exchange him for anything.

'Let me rule you, and you can have everything you want. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave!'

Huh! What kind of offer was that?

Another memory, this time of a friend's wedding that she had attended a few months before.

'Will you love, honour and obey?'

Sarah suddenly sat bolt upright. He couldn't have meant that! Could he? She leapt off the bed and began pacing the floor. He had held her so gently in the ballroom, speaking to her of dreams. And pain and sadness, she recalled. And love. What would someone like that know about love? He was every bit as evil, arrogant and selfish as you expect a Goblin King to be.

'I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me!'

Sarah paced feverishly; she was starting to feel claustrophobic in her small room. He had behaved precisely how she had imagined him to behave. She hesitated in mid-pace. Maybe he had behaved like that because it was the way she had imagined him to. She saw, again, his face when she had said the words – the longing and the frustration. The crystal, which had held her dreams, he had tossed into the air. She never had seen what was actually inside it. And then it had all finished. Sarah closed her eyes and remembered the sudden fear that had gripped her earlier. But Toby's globe… It was as though he had read her mind, and was letting her know that he was still there. But it could just be a coincidence, and the figures might remind her of the Labyrinth only because she wanted them to. And why should she care whether or not Jareth was still alive?

'Of course he's still alive!' the answer snapped back.

But the feeling of unease didn't leave her. Sarah moved across to her dressing table and sat down. As she looked into the mirror, inspiration hit her. She could call Hoggle! Then she could ask him what had happened to Jareth, and she could set her mind at rest. Although, she had to admit, that was dependent upon Hoggle actually answering her questions, instead of evading them. Perhaps Didymus would be better. But the chance of her being able to get a word in edgeways was debatable. Or she could…

She could call Jareth.

Sarah felt her breath catch in her throat at the thought. He would only laugh at her, mock her for it. But she would see him with her own eyes. But would he even come if she called him? The others always had, and she had confessed openly that she had needed all of them in her life. Except for Jareth. Yet he had always been on the edges of her thoughts, or haunting her dreams. The confused mass of thoughts that had been seething in her mind for so long suddenly united in one, resounding decision. She had to see him again. She had to call him. Perhaps he wouldn't answer, but she had to try. Sarah stared at her reflection, searching for the correct phrase that would summon him, waiting for the magical words to spring into her mind. Perhaps she should just say aloud exactly what it was that she wanted. Sarah took a deep breath. Something flickered behind her, and a breeze stirred her hair.

'Hello, Sarah.'

To be continued...