AN: Thanks goes to Greenchimes for editing this and giving me ideas of how to make improvements. Please leave a review; it helps me to know if what I am writing is interesting or what type of situations my readers like. Thanks to BowieQueen for always leaving an encouraging review on each chapter.


Chapter 3: A Year Without

Had anyone taken the time to observe the dark haired freshman who lodged in Seneca Hall at the University of Albany by the name of Sarah Williams, they would say she was a pleasant sort of girl. She smiled when talked to. She wasn't a quiet wallflower nor was she the rambunctious life of the party. She was punctual to her classes and turned in all her assignments on time. She joined the theater club and landed a lead role on her first audition. She checked out sororities and joined the Student Association to do volunteer activities. She was a model student, an All American Girl.

No one would say she was barely holding it together. No one would say she was dying on the inside. No one would say she cried herself to sleep many nights. No one, except for Cassandra Wallard.

Cassie would say Sarah was a confident, capable woman who would never take crap from anyone, yet behind closed doors she would weep for no apparent reason at all. Cassie would say she was jealous because Sarah had a famous mother and said mother had bought her a car. Cassie would say Sarah was a pain in the ass who studied too much and never left their room at night long enough for her to have private time with her boyfriend. Cassie would say Sarah was a goddamn goddess who needed to flaunt her assets. Cassie would say Sarah needed to slow down jumping into her studies and should jump into somebody's pants. Cassie would apologize profusely for mentioning said jumping which had caused Sarah to immediately break down and cry her eyes out again.

Sarah would say the best thing to happen to her during Freshman year was being paired up with Cassie as a roommate.

Both girls were born and raised in New York, although Sarah was from Middletown and Cassie had moved around between her Dad in Manhattan and her Mom in Newburgh. So both had divorced parents in common. Both had younger half-siblings. Both girls were brunette, although Sarah's hair was more inky black to Cassie's chestnut brown. Both were minoring in Theatrical Arts. And both had a passion for the New York Renaissance Festival. In fact, they discovered they had both volunteered working the food booths during their high school years and had never come across each other's paths.

Since the fair ran through half of their first semester together, they went every weekend they could.

Cassie introduced Sarah to her boyfriend, Ryan, who had a booth at the fair. He and his brother created homemade soda and fruity wines which they sold in blue bottles that could be refilled at a very reasonable price. They were always looking for 'bar maid wenches' to help sell their product. Cassie had done it for two years. She was totally up for showing off her goods to get customers and only convinced Sarah to join in when she reminded her it would be free admission to the fair and they would split the tips.

"All you gotta do is flash your smile, wear a corset, and push up your boobs. The girls do the talkin' for ya." Cassie said, indicating her ample bosom. Then she winked at Sarah, "Remember, I saw how you were in "Lend Me a Tenor" last month. You've got a really nice rack. Plus, I know you can pull off that sultry air. "

"I don't know. I'm not as well-endowed as you. And my drama teacher made me really self conscious when he had us raise money for costumes by working a food booth at the fair. We weren't allowed to show any cleavage, but I didn't know that so I came in a typical peasant top and corset. I wasn't showing too much cleavage but he yelled at me, saying he didn't want to be responsible for any of us getting hit on by older men. He had me dress as a nun; that was not fun in the September sun." Sarah told her. "But I watched the performers and thought all the women looked so comfortable in their skin with their deep cleavage. If they were hit on by men and they didn't like it, they just belittled the man and walked away. I just don't think I could ever show that much skin."

"Even if you don't show skin, you would be killer as a damsel in distress. Fairest of the fair maidens of the land." Cassie teased.

"I'm no damsel. There isn't anyone going to save me. I save myself. Besides, guys don't go for girls who are self assured." Or at least, she thought, mortal guys didn't. Jareth seemed to love her for it.

'You wanna bet? That's what Ryan says he likes. He worries when I'm quiet and don't speak my mind. When you find the right guy, he'll want you for your mind, not just your body."

Sarah joked, "You find me one guy like that."

"You must have been blind to not see Jonathan trying to flirt with you between scenes during Tenor."

"What?"

"See, you're oblivious. You're the only girl I've ever seen who can flirt with the best of them on stage, but then in real life, you're cold as a fish." Cassie reminded her, "You said you don't have a boyfriend, so what's your deal?"

Sarah shook her head, "I'm not interested in dating first thing coming to college. I actually want to succeed in my studies."

"Yeah, Anthropology, big money maker there." Cassie chastised.

"Like a career in Social Welfare pays any better." Sarah scoffed. "How can you flirt with strangers when you have a boyfriend anyway? I mean, I know he's asking you to do it to bring in business, but doesn't Ryan care that other men oggle you when you 'show your goods'?"

"He knows it's acting, Sarah. You practically made out with Jonathan on stage in lingerie nightly for a week in front of hundreds of people, for Christ's sake." She reminded her. "How would this be any different?"

Sarah shook her head, not wanting to argue, "Look, just drop it. I'm not pushing up my boobs and I'm not flirting. I still want to help; maybe just pour the drinks, get the refills."

"Your loss. I'll get all the tips when I 'work it' this weekend. I'll have them drinkin' outta my hands." Cassie was very certain.

At the mention of tips, Sarah reconsidered. She could use a bit of extra cash. "Geez, fine, I'll do it. Just, don't expect me to be all flashy."

Sarah didn't want to give the wrong impression to anyone. Kissing for a role was nothing new to her, but in those scenes, she felt nothing for her costars. In her heart, she was spoken for and there could be no one other than her king that would take her attention. Even if she may never dream again, there would be no one for her but Jareth.

And, Cassie had a point: The purpose of the fair was to have fun, to be someone you were not and create who you wanted to be. So Sarah acquiesced and decided to give it a try. She was an actress, after all. She would create her role. Where Cassie was straight out crass and flashy, Sarah exuded an assured haughtiness, flirty but untouchable. And just as Cassie said, the audience loved it. The booth made quite a bit more than previous weekends with the girls as their sellers. The booth ran out of most flavors by the end of the second day, for which the brothers were grateful and asked the girls to come back every weekend for the rest of the season. Making $75 a weekend wasn't so bad, so Sarah accepted, with the stipulation that she got at least a break to be able to enjoy the fair for herself.

Sarah had fun in creating her persona. It was Cassie who gave her character the name "Peaches" because she noticed the colors Sarah wore, the scents of Sarah's lotions and soaps, the flavor tea she ordered at Olive Garden were always peach. Sarah thought it was only fair that if Cassie got to name her persona, she should name Cassie's….as soon as it came to her.


Working at the fair on weekends during her first semester of college was not something Sarah had shared with her parents. They knew she got roles in plays on campus and had even come to watch her first performance, so they assumed she never came home due to her practices and performance schedules for academia. Well, really it was just her Dad and his wife she didn't want knowing. She knew her actress mother would understand wanting to hone her craft through experimenting with a personally created character. Her father would tell her she was stretching herself too thin. Taking 15 credit hours four days a week was taxing on a new student as it was; to add the extracurriculars could burn her out. But Sarah wanted the challenge. She wanted to keep her mind focused on anything other than that which she couldn't have. Every day she struggled to not make a wish to the goblins.

Being away from home was a struggle. She missed her own bed; the mattress in her dorm room was stiffer and creaked when she moved. She missed tucking Toby into bed and telling him stories of the goblins and their handsome king. She missed sitting in her living room watching movies with her dog, Merlin, curled up against her and running her fingers through his fur. But she feared that if she went home, she would never leave, for she missed the mirror most of all.

At least Sarah still had Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo to keep her company while she was away from home.

She'd never stopped visiting with her trio of companions. It wasn't easy in the early days after her run because she'd have to call on them when her family wasn't home, which wasn't often. The night she had won Toby back, she'd discovered that their little celebration had been noisy enough to make her father knock on her door, telling her to keep her 'radio down.' Everyone held their breath and Sarah was thankful that her dad hadn't opened her door or she would have had a lot of explaining to do. Since that night, she would only have Hoggle, Ludo and Didymus join her; they were the real friends she had made in the Labyrinth and all of them were quiet. Well, Sir Didymus did get rather excited when he was winning in Scrabble but a quick brush of her finger to his nose reminded him to hush. Occasionally, they would come to her away from her home, when she was secluded in her favorite park or even in her high school theater, often at times she was feeling lonely or sad. It is like they could feel when she needed them. It amazed her they had never been caught, but she had a feeling that the magic that let it happen knew what it was doing. If only it would go one step further and let her visit them, and their king, in their realm.

During Sarah's first week of college, she had tested if the trio could come visit her when she was over one hundred miles away from the mirror. She drove around random roads off campus and found a secluded area in a forest just twenty minutes from her dorm. After parking her car, she walked down an overgrown path that looked less used and found a nice tree stump to sit on. Having not seen or heard anyone else in the forest, she called for her friends. Sure enough, they came.

Although she had been seeing her trio of friends since the moment she won her brother back, she didn't know how much they knew of the relationship she had with their king. She had never told them of the dreams and she had no doubt that Jareth never would. Early on, after she and Jareth had reconciled their differences and were amiable with each other and she had not dreamed with him in a few weeks, she decided to ask about him on her friends' next visit. She quickly discovered that asking Hoggle about Jareth was a sore subject and learned to not bring up the Goblin King very often. Hoggle practically spat on Jareth's name, calling him a no good rat and a bully. She and the king had been merely friends at that point; now, she dare not let Hoggle know she and the king had become more.

However, with the dreams not happening at all, she needed to know how her king fared and needed him to know she always had him on her mind. The trio was the only means for her to do so. Not wanting Hoggle to be upset, she started out the conversation with casual inquiries about the kingdom itself. Hoggle let her know of skirmishes the goblins had amongst themselves during Twark mating season fighting and making bets over who could collect the most eggs. Didymus told her that the Bandits waiting in the wastes outside the maze were trying to breach the walls again. The Labyrinth did well enough protecting itself from intruders, for which Didymus claimed he had all faith the fiends would never succeed. And with the rainy season ended, the temperature was getting hotter every day, which Hoggle hated since he mostly worked outdoors keeping the fairies from overrunning the place. And Ludo had a mate now with babies on the way. Sarah tried to not be jealous of her furry friend.

"If you see the Goblin King, tell him I said Hi." Sarah stated after they had said their goodbyes that first college visit. Sir Didymus vowed they would but Hoggle asked why, so she replied, "It's the polite thing to do."

That being the first time they met away from her home, she noticed that when her friends popped back to their realm, a fine glittery dust was left behind. Usually, they would fade away as they approached Sarah's vanity mirror, leaving no proof they had been there. But the glitter remained after they were gone.

Over the first few weeks of college, she met with her trio of friends more than she called her own family by telephone. She would call home maybe once a week, if she thought of it. She would make the drive out to the forest to meet with her friends every other day as she found she had a three hour gap between certain classes. When she asked if her friends had seen her king, Didymus affirmed that he had and that his Majesty returned her salutations. She became bolder with her questions about Jareth, eventually starting to address him by name and not title, to where by the second month, Hoggle had had enough.

"Why do you keep asking about that rat?" He snapped.

"Stop calling him that!"

"Give me one reason not to."

"I don't know what he's done to you, but Jareth has been kind to me."

"Kind? He took your brother, he made me betray you, he drugged you with that peach. He sent the Cleaners after us and nearly made you swim in the Bog of Eternal Stench. He nearly had our bodies hacked to pieces by Humongous and you say he is kind?!"

Sarah squared her shoulders and looked down at him, "I made the wish. I was cruel to my brother. I was cruel to you, too. We all make mistakes and bad choices. I forgave you, why can't I be allowed to forgive him? Jareth would never have let me get hurt."

"You don't know that." Hoggle growled.

"Yes, I do."

"No, ya don't."

"No fight!" Ludo cried.

Sir Didymus stepped between them, "If I may intercede, my liege has a message for Lady Sarah. He sends...his deepest love."

Tears formed in Sarah's eyes, because in all their time together, as much as she knew Jareth was hers, the words "I love you" had never been spoken between them; another thing taken for granted. "Please, tell him I love him too."

"Sarah…?" Hoggle looked at her with wide eyes.

"Oh, Hoggle, I miss him so much." Sarah collapsed to her knees on the ground and started sobbing.

Ludo placed his large paw over her head to soothe her.

Once she calmed, she confessed about the dreams she shared with Jareth, how they started out as acquaintances, then became friends, then over the course of four years, lovers. "And next month will be five years since I made the wish. Do you know how I can get to him?."

"Sadly, we don't know how we can come to you. We just do." Didymus answered.

"But, we will ask around," Hoggle reluctantly promised.

Sarah kissed his forehead. "Thank you."


The morning of October 15th, Cassandra was startled awake by the most horrific sound she had ever heard; one long agonizing wail. She discovered it was from Sarah screaming into her pillow. Cassie couldn't get Sarah to stop crying long enough to tell her what was wrong. Sarah just told her to go away and sobbed silently after. Sarah missed her classes that day.

Best friends know when they are needed, and for the first time, Hoggle, Didymus and Ludo joined Sarah in her dorm room without being called. It wasn't fair that they could find her wherever she went even though she wasn't near the mirror. She knew she should be grateful and not take for granted that they could come, but they weren't who her heart longed for. There wasn't much space for Ludo to maneuver around the room, so he ended up sitting on Cassie's bed. Hoggle stood by Sarah's head next to her bed, and Sir Didymus sat at the end of the bed over her feet, which remained under her comforter. They consoled her, told her their sovereign was also in a foul mood that morning, and just sat quietly with her, waiting for her to say something. She never did.

Hearing the lock on the bedroom door made the trio pop back to their realm in an instant. And in popping out, they left a light cloud of glittery dust behind.

Cassie was nice enough to let Sarah's professors know Sarah was ill and picked up any assignments for her. Sarah thanked her and started working on the assignments right away as if nothing had happened that morning. Even though Sarah was still in bed, Cassie figured she must have done something during the day, because Cassie found glitter sprinkled on every surface in the room, the finest iridescent dust speckles she'd ever seen. But nothing else in the room seemed to have changed and it didn't look as though Sarah had any art projects laying around. Cassie wondered where the glitter came from.

That night, Cassie popped in a chick flick in the VHS she had brought from home and made popcorn in the shared dorm kitchen down the hall. She picked "Say Anything" as their film. She recognized when a girl was missing her man; she herself was missing her own boyfriend, who was a year ahead in his education and attended a university downstate. They only saw each other on weekends, and that was only if there was a fair, as the fair was an equal distance meeting point for the two of them. Watching the movie was therapy for Cassie, and she hoped watching it would inspire Sarah to spill the beans. When it didn't, Cassie tried to pry it out of her as they settled down to sleep.

"Spill. Who is he?"

"Who is who?"

"The guy you're pining after. You were in bed all day with no explanation, so I can only assume: Guy troubles. You were fine last night when we got home from the fair. I even saw you smiling before you fell asleep. Then you woke up screaming and I want to know why. It couldn't have just been a bad dream."

Sarah let out a broken, "I didn't dream."

"What then? What has you so shattered?"

Sarah shook her head. "No, Cass. I can't. Please don't ask again."

Seeing the genuine hurt in Sarah's eyes, Cassie respected her request.


The next weekend was the last performance of the NY Ren Fair for the year, and boy was it crowded. Cassie kept her eye on Peaches, who was more overly flirtatious than she had ever been. Cass had been observing Sarah all week, ever since her breakdown. Sarah had acted as though nothing out of the ordinary happened, that is until Peaches came out. Peaches wasn't just flirty, she was foxy and self assured, things Cassie had never seen in Sarah before. And she was seeing more skin of Peaches, giving Cass a run for her money with showing as much cleavage as her. In the end, the tip jar for the booth was very full.

Their performance selling soda caught the eye of one of the production managers of the fair who encouraged them to audition for a role with the main cast next season, if they were interested. She even recommended they audition for the summer fair in Sterling if they wanted to get in some practice locally. She also suggested that they learned how to wield weapons; they would do well in the human chessboard for starters.


Going home for Thanksgiving was a welcomed break from Sarah's studies. She needed squeezing hugs from her five year old brother. She needed warm cuddles with her dog. She needed kind words of encouragement from her father. She needed wise counsel from her stepmother. The last surprised her, especially since she used to resent Karen.

This holiday was a week-long break for her college but not for Toby's elementary school, which only gave a four day weekend as time off. So while her brother was in school and her father was working, she had to choose to spend the day either hanging with Karen or finding something to occupy her time on her own. Sarah found she didn't mind spending the day with her step-mother.

After making the wish, running for Toby, and learning her lessons, Sarah realized she had never given Karen a chance. She had mentally projected a role upon the woman when Karen genuinely had concern for Sarah's well-being. Not that she wasn't bossy or opinionated at times, but Sarah was more open to trying to understand the woman her father had chosen to spend his life with. Though Sarah would never accept Karen as a mother to her, she knew Karen loved her father and was a good mother for Toby, so that earned her Sarah's respect.

As for her own mother, Sarah had resigned herself that Linda would always be distant; the most she could expect was a phone call. Sarah knew her mom must feel some guilt in not being a part of her life and Linda's way of compensating was by giving Sarah things she couldn't give herself, like her car and tuition. Part of her wanted her mom to grovel, but mostly she was apathetic after so many years.

The greatest disappointment of the break was that the dreams remained dormant. Being home and with the mirror for so many days, she had hoped that maybe she would at least have one dream, but nothing happened. When there were only two days left before she had to return to school, she called on her companions. They informed her that Jareth had ventured to a festival in another kingdom and would be gone for some time. He left the Goblin Council in charge of any happenings within the Labyrinth in his absence. Sarah was saddened and happy at the same time. She had been doing plays and the Ren Faires for her own amusement, why should she expect for him to not pursue his own interests? And if the dreams were over, to never happen again, could she expect him to not try to find love where he was? She forced herself to be unselfish, to think rationally on what he would want for her, and that was to live her life. She could want no less for him.

It had been over four months since the last dream.


Sarah had survived the week from Hell: her first Finals week. She was very pleased with her grades for her first semester. And she was rather relieved that she could be in plays and do the fairs and still be able to focus on academics. Before she bid her roommate goodbye, she and Cass had a decision to make, and honestly, it wasn't very hard. Their school gave them the choice of switching dormitories or roommates for their 2nd semester; she and Cassie agreed to stick it out and finish the year together. As they said their final goodbyes, Cassie urged Sarah to take up her offer to join her at her dad's apartment in Manhattan for New Years Eve. Sarah agreed as she had always wanted to see how busy Time Square got with her own eyes.

The schedule of a college student was off kilter from the rest of society: they started school earlier and ended earlier than primary education. This was great for students who had no siblings or older siblings. But for someone like Sarah, she got done with classes two weeks before Toby was let out of school for Christmas break. One good thing was that she had as much 'me time' as she wanted during the day. Another thing was that Karen let her be in charge of sprucing up the holiday decorations, which took up at least four days of Sarah's time; she surprised herself at how obsessive she was in making everything look perfect. When it came time for Christmas Day, Sarah dedicated her hands to Karen's cooking projects. It was fun cutting apples to make home baked pies.

At the end of the week, she realized for the first time she hadn't thought of Jareth and it devastated her. She felt like not thinking of him was akin to her betraying him.

She instantly called her trio of friends, but only Didymus came with his trusty dog-steed, Ambrocius. It was a time of winter celebrations in the Underground and Hoggle was spending time with his kinsmen in the dwarf kingdom and Ludo was caring for his pregnant mate. Didymus confided to her that Jareth was brooding and not making merry. This time of year, many young ones were wished away, and many hopeless either from loneliness or misfortune were wandering in, so this was the busiest time of year for the king. Jareth did his duty and did not accept the invitations to other kingdoms to celebrate and bring in the new year. Sarah was surprised to hear they had the same type of winter and rebirth celebrations. She told Didymus to make sure Jareth at least had a nice glass of wine to bring in the new year.

"Tell him to take care of himself, and that at midnight, it's his lips I will be thinking of."

Sarah had no problems in having Didymus share the mushy stuff; he didn't seem to care, unlike Hoggle who would have been appalled if such words had to pass his lips. Sarah was secretly glad that it was Didymus whom she saw most frequently; Hoggle was often too bitter and cynical to have a decent conversation with, and Ludo, though affectionate and a good listener, didn't ever have much to say. Didymus was courteous, a good listener, and reciprocated in kind.


The morning of December 31st, Sarah waved to Toby as he stood inside the glass front door, watching the taxi drive away that would take her to Manhattan. Before she got out of sight, she saw Karen pull him away to shut the door and keep the cold air outside. Sarah subconsciously pulled her coat closer around her, hoping it would be warm enough to stand outside to bring in the new year. For years, she had stayed up past midnight watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve from Time Square and now for the first time, she would actually be there.

If she could get there.

She didn't take her own car since Cass said that finding parking was hell and expensive. Eventually, the taxi got caught in standstill traffic five miles from the address Cassie gave her. The cabbi suggested she take the subway. Even though it was cold and she would have to lug her suitcase around with her, Sarah reluctantly agreed and paid the man. Although Sarah had only ventured onto Manhattan island twice in her life, both times being with her mother to see shows on Broadway, she knew most people who lived in actual New York Upstate avoided the island like the plague. Sarah knew she had to get to the Midwest Court Apartments on 53rd St., which was six blocks from Times Square. She found a subway entrance and ventured below to look at a map to get out of the biting winter air. Looking at the map, she felt so confused; it was a labyrinth in and of itself. She wasn't going to panic just yet; there was a pay phone near the map and she called the number Cass gave her. Cassie's dad walked her through what routes she should take. He told her, if anything, she could just ask how to get to Broadway, which was two blocks from his apartment. While on the subway, steadying herself against the sway of the car, she looked at the map provided to help passengers know where the stops were located. She started to recognize the name of many famous locations.

"Your Dad lives in the most famous part of New York State! Eight blocks from Times Square, minutes away from Central Park. Two streets away from Broadway. I don't care that I only brought clothes for two days, I'm staying a week!" Sarah told Cassie as soon as they were face to face.

The apartment had two bedrooms and one bath, so with Ryan also joining them, it was going to be a tight fit. To appease her dad, Cassie and Sarah shared the queen bed in the guest room while Ryan would sleep on the couch. But at the moment, everyone was excited to get ready to bring in the new year. Cassie already had it in her head they were going to be amongst the thousands lining Times Square to watch the ball drop in person.

Being in Times Square was nothing like seeing it on television. All Sarah could hear was screams and shouts and those annoying party horns. It smelled like sweat and alcohol and cigarettes. Bright lights were on the sidelines everywhere to add illumination for people to see and for all the TV cameras to pick up the activity for a better broadcast. Sarah was a little annoyed with Cassie and Ryan; they could hardly keep their hands off each other and barely acknowledged she was there once they hit Times Square. There were so many people. A bump here, a distraction there, and Sarah found she could no longer see Cassie or Ryan anywhere near her. She tried not to panic. She took deep breaths and closed her eyes to ground herself. There was nothing to be afraid of. Nothing was after her or chasing her here. There were no puzzles to solve or brother to save. All she had to do was stay where she was. That's what Lost Children were told to do, right?

"Sarah?" She heard Cassie's and Ryan's voices calling out her name and found them to be ahead of her and slightly to her left.

"I'm here." She raised her hands up and waved, not that she really expected them to see her in this ocean of bodies.

When they came into sight, Sarah was actually relieved to see Cassies' worry mirrored her own.

"I was thinking, maybe we can take a few pictures, say that we were here until Midnight, but I think we'll have more fun watching it on TV." Cassie said.

"Oh, thank God!" Sarah said. "This place is nuts!"

They all switched into their pajamas when they reached the apartment, having been chilled to the bone walking forty minutes in 30 degree weather. Ryan had brought some of his brother's wine. Sarah wasn't comfortable drinking when she wasn't legal, but this was a special occasion. It was lovely. She had a feeling the peach flavor was deliberate too, as Cassie immediately took notice when Sarah had finished her first glass and offered her a refill. Sarah cuddled into the couch, savoring the warm feeling the drink gave her insides. It also made her blinks longer as sleepiness washed over her.

Cassie and Ryan started making out twenty minutes before midnight. Sarah tried to imagine what it would be like if Jareth was there with her to welcome in the new year. She could just picture Jareth kissing various of her body parts when the countdown began, starting with her toes and making it to her lips in time for the traditional New Year's kiss. Sarah smiled, musing at the thought and must have dozed off because next thing she knew, fireworks exploding outside the window startled her awake. She looked over to find Cassie and Ryan not even paying attention to anything but each other. Sarah moved to the window to watch the fireworks. She could even hear the roar of cheering going on from Times Square over half a mile away.

Once the noise died down, Sarah went to brush her teeth and tucked herself into bed, wishing in her heart that Jareth had a Happy New Year too.


It was so weird to Sarah that she had three more weeks off before her next semester at college began. Christmas and New Years weeks were filled with meeting friends and family, attending holiday parties, and going to plays and museums. But other than that, everyone else in her family had school or work. She'd never had so much free time in her life.

And yet again, even though she was sleeping in her room with the mirror, there were still no dreams.

This time, her Labyrinthian companions informed her that Jareth and some goblin soldiers had gone to the aid of a neighboring kingdom that was wrongfully being attacked. In some good news, Sir Didymus was a proud uncle; Ludo's mate gave birth to eight pups. Didymus said one had fur the same color as Sarah's hair.


Second semester, Sarah and Cassie took the advice of the Ren Faire producer to take a course on weaponry. To their surprise, the university had a fencing class at the sport center and both jumped at the opportunity to sign up. As a requirement, all first years were required to participate in 3 credit hours of physical education and to be edgy, the school offered fencing as an option. Sarah was taking the class to improve her acting skills while Cassie just wanted to know how to fight with a sword since it sounded cool. Sarah, Cassie, and one other geeky girl more interested in snagging a date were the only females in the class. Sarah and Cassie ended up practicing a lot on their own to show up the men in class.

It was too cold for there to be any fairs, so they occupied their time with plays and musicals. If there wasn't a play going on for class credit, they would find community groups to join who put on smaller productions.

Other than that, second half of the school year was much like the first: Wake up, shower, eat, go to class, eat, study, go to bed, repeat. Cassie kept her eyes peeled for any reappearance of Peaches, but Peaches only came out to play at the fair. As much as she tried to get Sarah to go on double dates or show interest in the opposite sex, unless it was for a play or casual conversation due to boredom between classes, Sarah didn't talk to men.

"Fess up." Cassie cornered her one day after fencing class, "I'm only going to keep pestering you until I have answers. Flirting as part of your job or for a role doesn't count. I have never seen you flirt or take interest in a guy. So what's up. Are you Asexual? Are you a Lesbian? I just don't get you. I want to understand."

Sarah took a minute to reflect on if she could trust Cass with her secret and how much she was willing to tell. Out of anyone in her life, Cass was the only one she could possibly talk to about her situation, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to.

"Fine. There is a guy, and it's serious. I am keeping myself for him, but I have no idea if I'll ever see him again."

"Oh my god! What's his name? What does he look like? Do you have any pictures of him? What does he do? Where does he live? Why can't you see him?" Cassie didn't breathe the whole time she asked the string of questions.

"His name is Jareth. No, I don't have any pictures of him, but I can tell you he's taller than me by at least three inches, his hair is like the tips of wheat when it is ready to harvest, and his eyes are two different shades of blue. As for why we can't be together, it's complicated." Sarah was proud of herself that her voice didn't crack and tears didn't form as she spoke of him. "He has his own business to run and lives very far away. I am hoping after I am done with my studies I can find a way to be with him."

"That's it? That's what you've been hiding from me this whole time?" Cassie was extremely skeptical. "I would have thought you were hiding it because he was a criminal or mobster or something. Boring!"

Sarah was rather relieved that her story was underwhelming for Cassie; it most likely would mean she'd stop asking questions.


During the summer, Sarah decided to continue her studies to help her graduate faster, and to keep her mind occupied. There was no reason for her to be home as Karen was a stay-at-home mom anyway and had put Toby in his first summer of VBC so she herself could have some alone time. School during the week, the Sterling Ren Faire on the weekends. She wasn't just in Anthropology for the fun of it; it was the means to access folk stories and fairy tales about magic and magical realms. Cultures where magic was still believed in and the mystical was still feared. She hoped that she might find something in her studies that would help get her Underground.

One thing that was a theme in her studies was the power of magic and mirrors. Many cultures had stories of mirrors being gateways; this she already knew. That mirrors were a reflection of the heart's desires in dreams; she knew that too. And the size of the mirror wasn't relevant; some mirrors were the size of walls, and others were handheld. That is what Sarah needed of her own mirror: to make it the size of something she could take with her wherever she went.

While working the first weekend of the fall NY Ren Faire, Sarah came across the booth of two artisans that made her instantly know what she needed to do. One artisan made ornaments and wind chimes out of pieces of cut mirrors. The other made fine jewelry lockets. What better way to keep the mirror with her than to make it into a necklace?

When the idea to create the locket struck her, she didn't hesitate to make it a reality. She learned from the mirror artisan how to score and break off a piece of glass at the corner without fracturing it. And with the jeweler she got to help plan the size and desired design. Sarah knew breaking a piece off the mirror was an extremely terrible risk. If she made a wrong move and it shattered, she could be cut off from the Underground permanently, making her unable to see her friends or Jareth ever again. But with the dreams already being infrequent and unpredictable, she took a leap of faith.

She knew her Dad and step-mother were taking Toby to see his maternal grandparents before the new school year started, so she sneaked home while they were gone. She knew if they were home while she tried to pull her vanity away from the wall, it would cause noise and start questions. Plus, if something went wrong and she shattered the mirror completely, she wouldn't want them to see her reaction, which would probably be hysterics. So it was best to do it in solitude.

She cleared everything off the top of the vanity and took the photographs and articles off the sides of the mirror. She then pulled out the vanity from the wall; it was heavier than it looked so she had to pull one side, then the other out three times on each side before there was enough space for her to work behind it. She only needed to break a three inch corner off. She was told by the mirror artesian to use an exacto-knife and score one cut along the front of the glass, then use a towel to catch the piece as she gently tapped along the scoring line with her fingers until it broke off. It broke off cleanly, to her relief. She wrapped the mirror shard in a washcloth and placed it in a Tupperware bowl, then moved to push her vanity back into place. She was grateful it was less effort to put things back than it had been to take apart. She returned everything to its place on the vanity and covered the hole of the mirror with a photograph so her Dad and step-mother wouldn't see.

She then stared at her eyes in the mirror, willing herself to not panic, to not doubt or think she had made a mistake-she wouldn't know until after she tried to call her friends if she had been wrong to try.

"Hoggle? Didymus? Ludo? I need you."

Three minutes went by.

She started to see her body shake, her eyes start to shimmer as she fought back tears. It was too soon; they had taken a while to come in the past. They had lives too and couldn't always drop what they were doing.

Two more minutes and Sarah couldn't stop the tears from escaping her eyes as she closed them or the hiccuping sob from escaping her lips. What had she done?

"My lady, art thou not well?"

Sarah instantly opened her eyes and saw in the mirror the reflection of Sir Didymus standing behind her, looking very concerned. She turned and dropped to her knees, pulling him into her arms.

"Oh, Didymus. You're here."

"We always come when you call. Sir Hoggle is assisting His Majesty with a wisher as we speak and cannot come. And Ludo is watching his young while his mate forages."

"How is…" She stopped herself from asking about Jareth, realizing how selfish it was to inquire about him before finding out how the one standing before her was doing. "Is anything new with you? Is Ambrocious okay? I see you didn't bring him today."

"He is well. He was sleeping, so I decided to not disturb him for this visit." Didymus knew Sarah's original question, even if she didn't fully say it. She and her king were very much alike in mind. "His Majesty is sad. Vexingly sad. He asks about you often, though in truth, I told him you have been busy and not called upon us much this season, so I haven't had much to report."

"I'm sorry, Didymus. I stayed in school this summertime and my schedule changed. I didn't have any gaps for me to find time to get to the forest to meet you. Plus, I got a new place to live off campus with Cass and her boyfriend so a lot of time was spent moving. Things changed, but my desire to meet with my friends hasn't."

"He has been busy, as well. There have been many wishers, and other kingdoms requesting aid. And those fiends of the wastes bother him to distraction trying to breach the walls of the Labyrinth. We'd feared they nearly succeeded when two got through the outer wall, but the good 'ol girl stopped them."

Sarah smiled at the endearment he used to refer to the Labyrinth. "Well, tell him I am vexed with sadness too. He has my heart."

"As my lady wills, so it shall be done. Until next time we meet. Do not take so long to call."

Overjoyed that the connection to the mirror had not been severed, Sarah continued with her plan to keep a piece of the mirror with her always.


She had to borrow some money from her mom in order to make sure the locket was made from the finest materials: platinum with 14K gold accents. She gave the jeweler the design she wanted, Jareth's emblem on one side with a maze to fill in the spaces around it and a barn owl on the other. She let the piece of the mirror be cut further and shaped into a circle, not knowing even if this small shard would let her dream until she had gone away from the mirror in her home.

School started back, and she was antsy to have the locket. She tried to be patient and focus on her schoolwork and auditioning for plays, but she wanted her necklace done. The jeweler said the metals had to be especially ordered and shipped to her, then it could take up to six weeks to create because Sarah wasn't her only customer.

The jeweler had the locket with the mirror ready the second week in October. The times she previously had been home that summer, sleeping in the same room as her mirror, Jareth had been out of his kingdom, which prevented the dreams. She prayed that Jareth was not going to be busy this time. It was their fifth anniversary after all and she trusted it would happen

Three nights back at her apartment with the necklace, October 14th, she did dream. She was overjoyed when the next thing she realized after closing her eyes was that she was in Jareth's bedroom. She discovered her love asleep in his bed and had thought that she would surprise him. Perhaps covering his eyes was not the best idea.

She hardly knew what was happening when she felt him twist her wrist painfully behind her back and pinned her to the bed. He had physically hurt her when he put his knee into her back above her kidney and grabbed her neck so ferociously; she would have the bruises to prove it when she woke up the next morning. She could never tell him that he had injured her for real, though, for she knew he would hate himself. In fact, it was rather arousing to see him give such a show of strength. It reminded her that he was a formidable monarch, not just her lover.

His reaction to her being there was everything that she needed from him. Over a year without each other had been agony. She took in the smell of magic off his skin; the scent of sage, sandalwood, and petrichor. And having the feel of his hands as they roamed over her, gently but sometimes squeezing, testing to see if she was really there. The teasing of his lips against hers as they remembered how to move together in the ways they both enjoyed. And the overwhelming look of awe he gave her when he pulled back in wonder that they were finally together again.

Feeling his tears made her realize he needed her just as much as she needed him.


AN2: If you have never seen the play, "Lend Me a Tenor" by Ken Ludwig, I highly recommend it. You can find a few productions of it on you tube. I laughed so hard at the production I saw of it. I can just imagine Sarah as the character Diana.