Jareth watched Sarah fade from his view, admiration and yearning mingled in his gaze. Even in this difficult situation Sarah was trying so hard to live up to the responsibility she has been handed, attempting to balance the needs of her kingdom and its subjects with her own. She was already Queen in all but name and she was everything he had ever dreamed of, so long he had waited for this dream to come to fruition...

He clenched a fist. Now... the dwarf was endangering everything with his meddling. All of the progress that he had made with Sarah was coming undone.

A huff of air escaped his lips as the irony of his situation struck him, of course it was the dwarf that had brought him back to the beginning so to speak.

Everything rested on young Toby's shoulders now.

...

Toby gulped as his skin crawled as his imagination offered more than a few unpleasant possibilities of what might be lurking in the darkness. After a few minutes of eery silence he sighed, shaking his head. Maybe he imagined the noise, maybe he was just doomed to be stuck here until his time was up.

But if he lost his parents would be trapped here, what would happen to them? That thought pushed him to struggle anew but he soon slumped in frustration, the web was just too strong.

A high pitched voice startled him from his glum ruminations. "Hi! Are you Toby?"

He turned his head as far as he could, out of the corner of his eye he spotted a tiny goblin with a flower pot on its head. It seemed to be eagerly awaiting his answer. "Yes?"

The tiny goblin grinned. "Me's Pottsy, are you really the Sarah Lady's brother?"

"Yeah." Toby mumbled, frowning a bit at the thought of his sister.

Oblivious to his mood Pottsy bounced with glee at his response and began tugging on his pajama hem. "Get you out."

Toby tried to crane his neck to see what she was doing. "Be careful or you'll get stuck too."

"No, me help." She pulled a colorful pair of scissors out of a dirty pocket in her tunic and began to snip at the web around his feet.

She worked quickly and soon grabbed his shirt hem to clamber up his back, snipping around him as she went. As she cut, the remaining threads stretched under their weight and his feet dangled, touching the floor.

A cold aristocratic voice rang out. "Cease meddling young one."

Toby's heart pounded, who was that? He sensed Pottsy hurry in her snipping.

The grating noise resumed and out of a black corner crawled a dark shadow. It dropped itself into the sunlight, revealing the largest spider Toby had ever seen. Swallowing nervously Toby asked, "H-Have you been there the whole time?"

A chilling chuckle echoed in the tunnel. "Of course. I always enjoy a bit of a show before dinner." The spider flexed its mandibles and Toby shuddered. Crossing it's foremost legs the spider addressed Pottsy. "As I said little one, best put away those scissors and quit meddling in other peoples business."

Pottsy pouted, "No, me help!" and scrambled higher onto his shoulder, brandishing her scissors.

The spider eyed the scissors warily, keeping just out of reach of the blades. Pottsy turned back towards Toby, hurrying to free his right arm.

The moment her back was turned the spider crept closer, tensing it's body to leap. Toby called out and set his feet, jumping forward as far as he could.

The few remaining threads stretched and gave way, sending him tumbling towards the steps. He was free! He scrambled to his feet ready to bound up the stairs...

...But Pottsy wasn't on his shoulder anymore.

He turned to look for her and his heart sunk. She had fallen into the tangled web snippings and was struggling to get up. Above her the spider dangled menacingly.

Toby hesitated only a second before lunging forward, ducking low to avoid the spider he grabed Pottsy, holding her to his chest as he bolted for the stairs without looking back.

Reaching the top they almost bowled someone over. An ancient looking creature in long draping robes and a very strange hat that looked like a red long necked bird-

Toby gaped as the hat turned it's head and snickered. "Well, what do we have here?"

Toby's mouth opened and closed a few times but no sound emerged..

The strange man wearily lowered himself into a large stone chair, his voice was dry but amused. "Speak up my boy."

Finally finding his voice Toby stuttered. "Um... sorry to have disturbed you... um... sirs." He put Pottsy gently on the ground and looked around them, it was another courtyard with various stone urns and sentinels. The leafy hedges revealed several openings.

"Would you happen to know the way to go from he-" Glancing at the old man he sighed, he had already fallen asleep in his chair.

The hat shook his head, "I think perhaps you should try again later."

Toby glared at the hat, he didn't have time for this. Leaning closer to the old man's ear he almost yelled. "Excuse me, but do you know where to go from here?"

Startled the old man opened his eyes and wheezed. "Well, that depends a great deal on where you want get to."

Toby rolled his eyes. "To the castle, duh!"

The man sighed dramatically. "Ah! See you must be specific!" lifting a finger for emphasis he added, "Sometimes dear boy, the way forward is the way back!"

Toby frowned, what was that supposed to mean? He opened his mouth to ask for clarification but shut it quickly. The old man was asleep again.

The bird/hat snickered, "I think that's your lot." There was a jingling and Toby noticed that the old man held out a little box, despite appearing to be still asleep. The bird piped up eagerly. "Please leave a contribution in the little box.

"Contribution for what? Wasting my time?" Toby scowled and stormed off. He found Pottsy a few feet away busy admiring the glittery threads stuck to her skin and tunic.

He knelt to her level. "You okay?"

Startled from her reverie she beamed, "Yes! You saved me!" she jumped into his arms. "Thank you!"

He awkwardly accepted the hug, straightening her flower pot he smiled. "Well, you saved me, I couldn't leave you behind."

"Good! Pottsy come with you!"

"Uh... okay... " He looked at her, she was so tiny, how would she keep up? "I guess I'll have to carry you."

She grinned as he picked her back up and put her on his shoulders. He scanned his options again before asking. "Which way?"

Pottsy licked a finger and raised it, excitedly she pointed left. "That way!"

...

Sarah appeared in the throneroom, her dad and step-mom were hunched over the crystal, oblivious to her arrival. The few goblins present were spread out on the floor and in the various niches in the walls, some napping, some drinking, one playing tic-tac-toe with a black chicken, and the chicken seemed to be winning.

She examined the rest of the room, she had been to much in a hurry to notice much of anything last time she was there. It was sparse and grubby, the only furnishings being the strange horned throne and the large clock. She bit her lip when she noticed the time, only six hours and twelve minutes left.

Off to one side a small bright white spot on the wall caught her eye. Coming closer she recognized it, it was a ceramic knob just like the ones in her kitchen. This must be the portal from the other side!

At the thought of her apartment Sarah's stomach dropped. "Oh... OH NO! Tiger!"

Karen and Robert looked up from the crystal. "What?"

Sarah grabbed the handle. "That door leads to my apartment, Tiger has been alone since Wednesday! And no one to feed him!" She pushed and pulled but it wouldn't budge.

The goblin looked up from his game of tic-tac-toe and shrugged, "Have to knock."

"But it's my apartment, it wasn't meant to apply to me!" Sarah slumped onto the bench, rubbing her face in worry and frustration at her own rules coming back to bite her.

Karen cleared her throat. "What about the phone?"

Sarah blinked. "What?"

"The one you conjured so I could call in sick earlier." Karen picked up the phone from where it had been left on the ledge near the throne, she handed it to Sarah. "Use it to call your landlady to check on Tiger."

"Good idea!"

Sarah dialed, it rang several times before an irritated voice answered. "Hello?" The sound of a TV commercial blared in the background.

"Hello, Mrs. Henderson? Yes, this is Sarah Williams from apartment 13. Sorry to bother you but I unexpectedly ended up having to stay a couple of days at my parent's place, could you please go and check on my cat?"

Mrs Henderson's voice was pointed. "You might reconsider having a pet if you can't care for it properly Miss Williams."

"You know that this is the first time that this has happened. All I'm asking is that you go put some food and water out for him, please."

A pause, "Very well, but I'll go after my television program."

"Thank you, his bowl is by the fridge and the food is in the cupboard right above it."

...

This part of the hedgemaze was serpentine rather than square and the path narrowed to the point that Toby was glad that Pottsy was perched on his shoulders. The foliage was so dense that he could never see very far ahead. Frowning and crossing his arms he stomped ahead, Pottsy clutching his shoulders.

After a while the path straightened, he squinted, further down the path was a red brick wall. He sighed. "Great! Another dead end!"

"No, keep going!" Pottsy called from above his head. As they got closer he realised that the path simply formed a T, he could go left or right.

As he deliberated he was startled by a high pitched squeal right behind his head. Pottsy was gesturing wildly at the corridor to the right. "Look!"

Lumbering towards them was a giant rusty haired beast with horns!

Toby turned left and bolted.

...

Author's Note

I apologize for how long it's been taking me to update, real life has been kinda hectic lately.

Thank go out to Gloria47, Guest 2021, mae-E, and Guest for the reviews and to all those who have faved and followed.