Rites of Passage by Betty Bokor
Jareth/Sarah. When Sarah is called to save the King, her life takes a whole new course, again.
Spoilers: The movie, the book, and some of the Return series.
Disclaimer: The Labyrinth original characters belong to The Jim Henson Company and Lucasfilms Ltd. This was written strictly for the purpose of entertainment. No attempt at copyright infringement has been made.

Rites of Passage

Chapter 2

Sarah found the book among many others in the attic. She was a regular there. Her mother had stored many of her possessions in old boxes and Sarah had asked permission to rummage through them after she had left. She felt closer to her when she chose something from one of her boxes to take to her room.

First, she had chosen some old clothes that seemed to be in great condition. Wearing one of her mother's shirts or vests or even an old costume gave her self-confidence. She felt more mature, ready to face her new family.

Then she had found the toys. They were all together in one big box. There was a reddish figure with a long nose and button eyes, a chubby stuffed monster with fangs, a little dog with a patch on one eye, and a bookend in the shape of some kind of dwarf. There was also a poster with a strange artifact and a famous Escher print.

She had chosen a place in her room for every object in that box, even the strange figure of the man with a cape and the rustic wooden maze.

Now she had found the book. She had not seen it before, but its red leather cover with golden letters had caught her attention as soon as she had lifted the book on top of it. She had run immediately to her room to start reading it. Not much later, she had begun to understand that all those objects she had brought to her room many months before were related to the story.

It did not take her long either to identify herself with the heroine of the story. Like her, the girl had an obnoxious stepmother, an apathetic father, and a noisy baby brother. And she was fiery, strong, and independent, everything Sarah chose to think herself as these days.

As she read the new book, she was unaware of the owl settled on a branch outside her bedroom window. He watched her with satisfaction and relief. It had been difficult to ensure a copy of his book found its place among the attic stuff. It had required the innocent cooperation of the lady of the house, who, upon finding the red book atop the garden table, had returned it to its rightful place, the attic, where all of Linda's belongings were.

A few weeks later, Sarah had already memorized many scenes from the book and had made it a habit to spend her free afternoons in the local park reciting the lines under the attentive look of Merlin, her dog. She was still oblivious to the continuous presence of the owl, high in the trees, observing her.

He was pleased with the scene in the clearing below him. The book the girl was holding in her hands was the one he regularly used for spreading word about the Underground and its inhabitants. If the King expected mistreated children to be wished away to him, the humans needed to know about him and his world. But the Wiseman had taken care of modifying the book to make it more appealing to Sarah. The King had been adamant about the role she was destined to play in his life and the Wiseman had agreed that what the monarch had felt seemed to be the call of his soul mate. So the heroine in the book had now many characteristics in common with Sarah. Some, at least, because the King was certain that Sarah was not capable of wishing her own brother away like the girl in the story. As Toby was a loved and well cared for child, there was no danger.

Hopefully, over the years, the knowledge Sarah had gained from the book would subtilely shape her beliefs and make her more capable of accepting the King when he finally considered her ready to be his queen. Since she was now just close to sixteen years old, he thought she would need at least eight or ten more years to be mature enough. She would probably choose a career, finish her studies, and even find a job. That was fine with the King. When she realized what she was being offered, all those achievements would pale in comparison and, after becoming queen, she could use her skills for the benefit of his subjects. It was a perfect plan.

He never imagined that less than a couple of hours after he had last checked up on her in the park, she would be summoning his goblins to take away the child.

The first seconds after the call, he was paralyzed by the surprise. Then, he swiftly took his owl form and flew towards her house. He had to try to do some damage control.

A. N.: If you would like to see the pictures that accompany this story, though they are not all up yet, you can find them at BettyBokor at Deviantart. The right link is on my profile.