Chapter Six
Sarah
September 22nd, 2002. Day 5 of the quarantine
The ballroom was much as she remembered it. Awash in bright light, glitter and streamers and candles and masked figures all shimmering and twining and vying for her eye. Rich fabrics and lush furnishings caught and held her gaze. Yet she knew there was something—someone—she needed to find, and she grew increasingly frustrated as she pressed and wove her way through the throng.
The dress she wore was a more subdued affair than many of the partygoers. A creamy white, her slinky low-cut top gave way to pleated folds of silken fabric that brushed her ankles. A strappy heel short enough to dance in was bedecked in crystals that caught the light as she moved. Strings of small crystals kept the edges of her top together, crisscrossing over her chest and down her back in alternating silver and gold. Something about it, when she caught sight of herself in a mirrored silver vase, made her think of Jareth's talisman.
Music like the sweetest of wind-up boxes joined in with the visual stimuli to create a dreamlike quality. Or is that what this is? A dream? It feels so much like that time I danced with Jareth.
Jareth. The name reverberated through her mind, seemed to echo throughout the space.
As though she had summoned him, Jareth was just there, in front of her. Resplendent was the word that went through her head as she catalogued his color choices. Reds, this time, encased in black and shimmering silver thread. If he were one of her clients, he would be the colors of powerful firms and authoritative agencies. And Jareth looked every inch a creature of immense power.
Her throat tightened, and for a moment she forgot how to breathe. How to think. Sometimes his effect was like that.
Taking advantage of her stillness, he prowled forward and took her hand and waist, pulling her a step closer. The heat coming off him was incredible. A little more and it would be uncomfortable, but it was perfect.
Jareth started the dance, and she moved with him with as much ease as she had the first time, if not more so. There were subtle changes to his body she paid much more attention to, and she saw his smile grow as she began to anticipate his motions. Where his hand rested above her hip, and where she touched him on his shoulder, it was as though two pulse points had come alive. Every beat of her heart echoed in those warm places.
"Is this a dream?" She asked, dipping into a half-twirl.
"What do you want it to be?"
"I asked first."
A smirk and he pulled her off the dance floor. They stood near the edges of the room, where a silvery sheen obscured anything beyond a few more tables and chaise lounges. "Even here you would hold to our bargain?"
She blinked and watched as Jareth took her in, at last, his gaze traveling down her body and back up with a heat she could feel pool in her middle. She licked dry lips. "Even here? What do you mean?"
"This is a dream, Sarah. Your dream. You invited me in. At last."
Her face flamed as she recalled other dreams. Other scenarios that were less tame than this one. "Is this the first time you've been here?"
His gaze darkened, and her heart stuttered. "Yes, though I have the feeling you have seen my facsimile?" His eyes flicked down her front and he smirked. "Interacted with it?"
She wanted to push him away. He was too close. But when she placed a hand on his chest to do that, it rested there instead, fingers curled against the thick fabric of his jacket. "No. Nothing happened with you in old dreams."
"A lie," his smile widened. "You know what that means."
"I—"
She did not have a chance to formulate a thought before his mouth came down on hers. For a stunned few seconds, she simply reacted, opening her lips to his teasing tongue and letting him taste her. Both her hands were curled into fists against his jacket, but as the kiss continued she realized I have to kiss him back. And the kiss had to matter. Damn him.
She stepped into him, pressing their bodies together, and began taking back control. Jareth growled when she nipped his lower lip, but she was able to taste him right back. The heat radiating from him loosened every muscle she had, and she wanted to keep going. To keep kissing him, endlessly, until their clothes were off, and they became nothing but breath and—no.
Sarah pulled back. Jareth began to chase her, but she held up a hand. "No."
He went still, and only then did she register one of his hands had been cupping her left bottom while the other was buried in her hair.
"Do the rules of our bargain extend to when we're in a dream?" She asked as he disentangled himself from her.
He did not meet her eye.
"Jareth? Do they?" She reached for him, to do what she was not sure, but he disappeared as her hand neared him. Sarah let out a frustrated sound.
And opened her eyes.
Her bedroom was bathed in light. She had cleaned everything, even the baseboards, and the surfaces gleamed. Her sheets were tangled around her legs, and as she struggled to free herself she heard the sounds of Jareth moving around in the living room. That bastard.
She could still feel it. Heat between her thighs, and a sensation she only associated with Jareth. A mixture of longing and fear. Her lips trembled a little in remembrance of the kiss.
Sarah stood and did a quick check. She wore pajama pants with little hearts on them—a Valentine's gift from one of her ex's—and a black tank top. She put on a bra, uncomfortable being around him with the girls free-flying, and ran a hand through her hair. I am going to kill him. If she were a betting woman, she would put money on the fact that the agreement didn't hold in dreams. He had kissed her—and it had been him, not a dream.
The door bounced a little off the wall when she threw it open, striding past it into the main living area.
"Jareth! You—"
She choked on her words, her eyes taking in the impossible.
The ocean was in her living room.
Jareth, wearing loose linen pants and a billowing cream-colored shirt smirked in satisfaction as she remained speechless, her gaze jumping from the hallway behind her to the shaded jungle she stood in, to the white sand beach beyond and the crashing azure waves. Her hallway opened up behind her like a rip in the fabric of reality. She backed up a few steps and glanced through her bedroom door to the windows still streaming with midmorning light.
Yup, we're still on the fifth floor, Sarah thought to herself before turning back to the steamy tropical scene, so much different than New York in early autumn.
"Well, Sarah? What do you think?" Leaves rustled as he walked toward her. "Each day can be a different place. The beach, the mountains, fields of glaciers, an endless winter wood. I can show you all the little hidden places of the world." She could feel the heat radiating off him which, even in the tropical warmth, was still not too much. Just enough. "Do you like it?"
Sarah stared at the crashing waves and jumped with a little gasp when gloved fingertips touched her chin. "Jareth," she breathed, meeting his gaze at last. "Is this real? Are we really here?"
"I can only summon forth places I have walked before. Places seared into my memory. I have to be able to recall every sight, sound, smell, taste, and sensation. We call them aisling, Celtic for dream. Do you like it?"
There was an eagerness to his tone, but also a hesitancy. As though he were unsure. How could he not be? She thought. This is incredible. "So we can swim in that ocean there?" She pointed to the line of blue and white foam lapping up the white sand beach. "And feel the sun? Can I get a sunburn?"
His smile was wider than she had ever seen it, his canines glinting in the dappled light through the many intersecting branches above. "I've rarely utilized an aisling, so I do not know about the sunburn. For the rest of it, yes. These are places for us to enjoy."
She reached up without thinking, placing her hand over his, fingertips touching down on top of where he still held her chin. "This is amazing. Thank you."
He cupped her cheek, the motion convulsive. "Sarah."
Sarah looked at him. Really looked at him. Standing close enough she could brace a hand on his chest if she wanted to, and with an expression—she could not stand that look. Not from him. Not when her stomach was still in knots over the kiss they had shared in the dream.
She pulled back, and his hand fell away. Her bare feet crunched on dead leaves and palm fronds, the insects buzzing and singing. "I'll just get changed." She wanted to tug on the hem of her top, wanted to fidget, but she forced herself to stay still except for her careful steps back. Back into reality, into her apartment, and into what used to be a busy New York life. Before the pandemic. Before the lockdown and the quarantine and—him.
Yet even then, she hated to admit it, but she had looked forward to Jareth's visits some years. Not because she wanted to trade barbs with an adversary worthy of the task, but because it meant something in her life was still fantastic. Magic. And that same anticipatory flutter was coursing through her now, at the thought of all the places Jareth's aisling might take them, and she found herself looking forward to it. Looking forward to those days with him, specifically.
She turned on her heel before any of these thoughts could make themselves known on her face, even as Jareth called out after her, his voice soft and suspiciously knowing.
Sarah closed the door to her bedroom and leaned against the sun-warmed wood for a moment before springing into action.
It probably wasn't the best idea to be around the Goblin King in a bikini, so Sarah dug to the bottom of her dresser and found a vintage style two-piece, black with low hips and a sweetheart neckline like something a golden age Hollywood star would have worn. She had bought it for a friend's weekend wedding event. She slipped on a pair of black sandals, wrapped a daisy-patterned sarong around her waist, and grabbed a pair of tinted sunglasses to protect her light eyes.
Jareth was not in sight when she stepped from the hallway and on the spongy, crunchy soil of the jungle. She wandered toward the beach and found him at the edge of the trees, his hands on his hips, staring out at the crashing waves.
"Hey," Sarah greeted, and something in the set of his body made her want to reach out. To reassure him. Something had shifted, and she was not sure what it was. Or if she should be alarmed.
He looked at her, hands still on his hips, and one side of his lips twitched upward. "Straight to the water? Or sunbathing? Or could I tempt you with a tropical breakfast?" He gestured, and a spread of rare fruits and sweet juices and little pastries appeared atop a table nestled into the sand.
"Swim first, breakfast second, and then sunbathing," Sarah said. "Priorities."
They did exactly that. Sarah put the dream kiss out of her mind, and as the day wore on and their agreement became a playful sort of game between them, she forgot her anger from the morning. Under a blazing summer sun, she raced the Goblin King out to the breakwater and back, giving up halfway to shore and treading water, watching him cut through the waves as though he were born to it. There was something strangely feral about him in this environment. The veneer of civilization peeling away in the saltwater and sea air.
After a breakfast that had Sarah longing for a nap, they lay side by side on large towels spread over the fine sand. She closed her eyes, arms behind her head and legs crossed at the ankle. She was drifting on a warm cloud of aching muscles from her swim coupled with the warm sun and a full stomach when she felt fingers touch her belly. Bare fingers. Free of the gloves worn even as he swam today.
Sarah's eyes snapped open and Jareth hushed her. "Shh," he said, cooing the words. "Relax."
God help me. She did, eyes fluttering closed once more As his fingers splayed open across her abdomen and his palm pressed down.
From that pressure sprung a sensation she struggled to identify. It zinged through her as quick as an electric shock, and then the pressure of his hand was gone, and when she blinked open her eyes she saw him tugging a glove on once again.
"What was that?" She asked.
"How do you feel?" He asked in return.
Sarah did a quick internal assessment and blinked in surprise. "I feel—great. Like I just woke up. Only not hungry. Refreshed."
Jareth sat with one arm slung over a folded knee, his gaze forward on the eternally crashing waves. She drank in the sight of him. He had changed his clothes, the magic tinging the air with ozone as he worked, changing the loose linen garments for a tight pair of swim trunks and nothing else. The trunks were pure black, to match Sarah's outfit, and the whiteness of his skin shone like alabaster compared to its inky darkness. She was pale, too, but not like him. His was the brightest moonlight, while she was flat and disinteresting as paper.
"May I see it now?" Jareth asked.
Caught off guard, Sarah stared for a moment. "See what?"
"Your tattoo."
She rolled to her stomach in answer, pulling her hair away from her right shoulder. "You may have to move the strap to see it all."
Sarah kept her head turned away as she felt his touch on her shoulder blade, and the tug as he moved the thick shoulder strap down her arm. Then his fingertips were tracing the design. "Peach blossoms," he breathed.
She shuddered at the sound of his voice, and parts deep within her began to warm. Had been warmed already, but now surged with a sudden heat like opening the door to a furnace. She swallowed on a suddenly dry throat. "It seemed fitting."
"Indeed, precious." His voice, closer now, did make her shiver this time. She could feel his breath along the top half of her spine. Gooseflesh rose in its wake, and she heard the smile in his voice when he next spoke. "Tell me true, do you want to kiss me now?"
She swallowed again. "Yes."
"Expand upon that, if you would be so kind."
Her skin twitched and jumped when a gloved fingertip ran down her spine, starting at the nape of her neck and moving down, until her hips begin to swell, when it stopped. She wanted him to keep going. To reach down and cup her. She ached.
"I'm afraid of you," she said, her voice a near whisper. She felt Jareth lean even closer, his breath on her ear. She wanted to turn into that breath, to capture the lips that held it, and suck all that heat and vitality into herself. "At the same time, I want you every time I look at you. As soon as we kiss, or touch, the world is obliterated. I'm afraid of wanting you too much. Wanting you enough that I would follow you back to the—I don't want to live in the Underground, Jareth. I don't want to leave everything I know behind."
Warm, dry lips pressed against the tattoo, and she felt the movement as he spoke against her skin. "You need leave nothing behind. I would give you everything, Sarah. Tell me your dreams, and I will answer."
She propped herself up on her arms and Jareth pulled away from her, his expression darkening. "How can you ask me that?" She narrowed her eyes and pushed herself to a seated position, resting back on her own feet. They faced each other now, still close enough that he could grab her, that she could grab him, that they could tumble to the ground, devouring. "I'm good at my job. I enjoy my job, and my coworkers, and life here in this city." She gestured around her, then paused. "You know what I mean. New York."
His nostrils flared, and he reached out, grasping her wrist. "You think you were meant for that? For mortal banality? You were meant to rule, Sarah. Rule by my side. There is much more to the Labyrinth, much more to me, if you would only look. I think you would see that you would be happier there. Happiest there."
She tugged at her wrist, but he held fast. "Let go of me."
"Sarah, please—"
"I said let go of me!" She yanked again, but he had loosened his grip. She fell backward before managing to right herself. Standing, Sarah grabbed for the sarong and tied it around her waist, not looking at him. "You think I belong to you, don't you?"
"Sarah—"
"Answer the question," she snarled.
His mouth closed with a click. He said nothing.
Sarah waited for a moment. "You won't answer?"
He shook his head.
"Fine. I need you to stay away from me. Your task is to find something, anything to do that will keep you away from me for the rest of the day. I don't care what it is, but find it and do it."
She turned and made for the jungle, trying to discern the hazy ripple in the air that meant she was close to the doorway back to her hallway. Back to sanity.
He's trying to seduce me with his magic, she thought. But I won't let him. I won't.
Author Note: Hello lovelies.
My apologies for not updating last Friday. It was my last day in Kansas City, Missouri, before I got in my car Saturday morning and made the two-day trek to Northern California with my dog and my cat. I was a little busy with the packing and the moving to get much writing and uploading done.
We're all settled in here in Tracy. It's a lot warmer and a lot drier than what I'm used to, but it's so good to be settled and to be writing again like I've done today and yesterday. It was hard going at first, but I got back into it and finished the chapter before you today.
I hope you all are well. Thank you, once again, for all the well wishes. You guys rock. xoxo