O.k. Hi guys. I've just got back from my holiday to Gabriel's kingdom; the Black Marble Mountains (Gabriel, as you all must have realised, is Jareth's brother of whom he speaks so little and I discovered him whilst researching another one of my stories). It's really pretty up there. Lots of ice.

Anyway, about Gabriel. Well, he's a super hot bo-hunk and is like Jareth's exact opposite in almost every way (except for the hotness, they are both hot): Gabriel has shoulder length, perfectly cut, black hair, a very strange combination of green/red eyes (they are very disturbing to look at if you aren't, like me, used to them) and NORMAL eyebrows (not that Jareth's eyebrows aren't totally cool, or anything).

And you can kind of tell that there isn't any love lost between the two of them…

Anyway, Gabriel took us (that is to say, the dog, the manuscripts and me) to his beautiful kingdom (being the brother of the Goblin King does have some perks- a lovely kingdom and stuff…If only they wouldn't try and tear each other apart whenever they see each other… I remember at their grandmother's funeral…) and we had fun (no, not that kind of fun; he took me dragon riding). And I wrote some more story.

And don't worry about Jareth: he's perfectly fine. Gabriel worked everything out with him, and he apologised to me and said that if I wanted to castrate him, then that was my decision. Jareth gets so understanding when Gabriel is holding a knife to his back.

Now, before I begin, this is what I have to say:

To the mob- Don't chase me again! It is not cool to have to run from reviewers.

To Jareth- HA! You got your just deserts with the mob! He he and you still don't know if I'll use Sarah against you- well, better yet, I might castrate you myself…

JOKING!

And- special- Treasures-of-Tuatha-de-Dannan- (long name). Well, you kind of have a few type-o's on you own review: I think you meant that the Goblin King wouldn't let Hoggle speak to HIM in that way (it took me ages to work out what you meant) and which words did I spell incorrectly (just so I know what to work on)? Don't say 'colour', whatever you do. Well, I guess Jareth is feeling hopeless (wouldn't we all, in that situation? Not the Sarah part of the situation, but the 'unrequited love' bit) and he really wants to keep Hogle on his side, so Jareth would have to put up with it. But at least Hoggle knows when to stop. Angel of Space didn't tell you who I was, did she? And which one of you hid her shoes so she had to go to school in her boots last Wednesday?

Mord-Sith Rahl- Yes, you did say that out loud, dear.

atsuibelulah- It's not over yet- not nearly.

Eleanora Rose- Well, you do have a sissy Jareth. Thanks for the compliment.

lilpyro900- Hi Bob. Nice to meet you.

Solea- Um, I know this review wasn't for my story (the small link) but you are SOOO not alone in thinking about lemonade…mmm- 'lemonade' And I'm very sorry you feel that way- (about the thing at the end of last chapter). I have changed it for you so I don't hurt anybody's feelings- that's the last thing I want to do… I suck- don't I?

Chapter Nine

Sarah's Chambers

LLLLLLLLLLL

Sarah looked around the room again. She sat down on the huge bed, put her crystal on her pillow and looked sadly at her bandaged wrist.

She tried not of what Angus had done to her, but the thoughts forced themselves up the front to her attention.

Sarah shook her head violently to dispel the images and stood up, walking over to a gilded door near the bed.

Upon opening it, Sarah's face broke into a huge smile.

It was a massive walk-in wardrobe. So Sarah walked in.

Inside, an entire wall was devoted to shoes- each pair in their own little box (there were shoes of every type, colour and style), another wall made up of bags (handbags, knapsacks, clutches ect.), then the rest of the space was home to an enormous variety of clothes. Dresses of every kind, hats, hairpieces, shirts, skirts, pants and every other type of clothing imaginable, including underwear.

Sarah ran her hands over the silken fabric of a beautiful blue gown. A single silver tear fell gracefully down onto the exquisite dress.

Sarah hadn't realised that she was crying. She touched her wet cheek and realised that they were tears of happiness. She was happier than she had been in a long, long time; ever since Karen thew her out after a stupid misunderstanding ('You were supposed to be home three hours ago!' – 'But you said I didn't have to be home till six!'). Sarah didn't know why she was so happy; she guessed it was because she was in the Underground, away from the people who didn't believe in magic. And maybe she was happy because if, hopefully, Jareth let her, she might be able to see her friends again- Hoggle and Ludo and Sir Didymus…

She fished a nightgown and clean undergarments out from the wardrobe and went to investigate the bathroom.

Sarah opened the gilded door and her jaw dropped.

Everything was white and silver: the enormous bathtub, the generous shower block, the cupboards, the sinks, the vanity mirrors, the toilet- everything was white with silver details.

There were elaborate carvings set throughout the massive room; mermaids and seahorses (ones that actually resembled horses, having forelegs and manes) dances and swam around the edges of the bathtub looking as though they would pop out of the stone and start to move while wood nymphs, fairies (nice, Aboveground looking ones wearing gorgeous gowns) and unicorns graced the many vanities and sinks. A lovely dryad sculpture watched over all, a beautiful thing of marble in pride of place to the side of the gilded door. She looked serene and faultless as though someone had encased a real dryad in solid white marble.

Sarah lightly put her nightgown and underclothes on the nearest vanity. She fought the urge to look in the mirror, not trusting herself not to burst into tears at the sight of her injuries.

She went over to one of the cupboards, finding a stack of fluffy white towels. Taking one, Sarah started to investigate the other cupboards- or, at least a few of them as there looked to be over twenty and she wanted to go to sleep sometime tonight.

Well, something to explore tomorrow, thought Sarah with a shadow of a smile.

One cupboard held a variety of soaps, cleansers, shampoos, conditioners and lots more, so Sarah picked a few out and put them and her towel near the bath.

Another cupboards contained sanitary products- toothpaste, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, hairspray, hair gel and a few other things. Sarah took a hairbrush and a toothbrush and toothpaste and set them near the sink.

Sarah grinned. Thought of everything, hasn't he?' she thought appreciatively.

She stepped over to the bath and looked at each of the four taps. One of the silver faucets had a light blue topaz stone, the next had a rose quartz stone set in, the third had a sapphire and the last a ruby.

Sarah went over to the ruby tap and turned it on. Hot water gushed out. She tried the sapphire tap. Cold water joined the hot in the tub. Next, Sarah turned on the rose quartz tap. Sweet smelling bath oil mixed with warm water came out.

She stuck her hand under the flow and smelt it. 'Mmmm. Strawberry-rose oil. How did he know it's my favourite?' murmured Sarah to herself.

She tried the last tap- the topaz one. Out of the faucet burst a flow of bright blue bubble bath and warm water.

'Oooh!' giggled Sarah.

She waited for the bath to fill and then turned off all for taps. She took off her ripped and dirty clothes and put them in a silver hamper that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Sarah stopped halfway before getting in the bath. She, instead of sinking into its exquisitely warm depths, turned and looked herself straight in the eye in one of the vanity mirrors.

Sarah gasped in horror at the state of her face and walked closer to the mirror. She touched her black eye gingerly and ran her tongue over her split lip. They were many more cuts on her face where she had scraped it on her way to the ground and when the skin had become so swollen from its constant battering it had actually torn of its own accord.

Her right arm, the one Jareth had bandaged, sported several large bruises from the elbow up in the imprint of Angus's fingers, as did her left arm.

Sarah still had difficulty breathing, possibly because of several large bruises on her chest.

Her legs hadn't sustained much damage from Angus, but she had landed heavily on her calves when he had thrown her across the room. There were several nasty looking, almost black bruises from her knees down.

Sarah tried to run her fingers through a bit of particularly knotted hair, but as soon as she touched her scalp she jerked her hand back with a sharp inhale of pain.

She gently separated her hair and discovered a long gash at the side of her head that was still bleeding a little. The blood was matting all her hair together.

Sarah turned away from the mirror and stepped purposefully into the bathtub, sitting on a raised platform in the centre of the bath so that the water only reached her neck.

She played with the bubbles and laughed softly, feeling them pop gently under her fingers. She slid off the platform and treaded water for a bit as the bath was long and deep enough to swim in.

Sarah washed the blood off her face and out of her hair and then got out of the cooling water. She tugged at the plug chain and watched as the water drained noisily out of the tub.

She towelled off and put on her nightgown and went to the nearest vanity to clean her teeth. Amazingly, the toothpaste made her teeth almost three shades whiter after just that one brushing.

'Wow,' said Sarah softly, 'now I know how Jareth keeps his teeth so white. It's easy!'

Sarah went into the bedroom after hanging her towel on the towel rack.

She looked around at the hundreds of candles that lighted the room. It would take her an hour to blow the all out.

Hmmm, she thought, it would be so much easier to blow them all out at once…

Sarah sat down on the bed, placing her crystal on her bedside table. She considered the candles again.

What if I… she thought. 'When I clap my hands, all of the candles go out,' she instructed. The candles flickered slightly.

Sarah clapped her hands twice, and all of the candles went out- snuffed out as surely as if she had gone around and poured water on each and every one.

'Wow. Interactive lights,' Sarah mused as she got into the bed, snuggling deep within the covers. She closed her eyes and let the cool darkness embrace her, the sweet-smelling oils from her bath gently lulling her to sleep.

LLL

Sorry about the lateness- I was disconnected from my internet (yes, I meant what said.). Bloody Mum