I watched the special 30th anniversary screening of Labyrinth today! (Watched it last year too. Or was that two years ago?)

You NEED to read this article. Squee!

Thank you SO MUCH for your love and encouragement. The support is overwhelming, thank you. Xo

Sarah's Sunday passed uneventfully after her talk with Didymus. Homework. Script-study for her role in the local community theater's play. Exercise. Chores.

A pit in her stomach had formed that morning and stayed with her all day, causing the day to drag.

At sunset, Sarah thought to call her friends again, but she knew the time difference of the assumed thirteen Underground hours to three or four of their own would make things difficult. She would sleep on it.

Her mouth went dry at the thought.

She gulped and prepared for bed. She was exhausted from the last sleepless night. She wished she knew a way to guard herself from Jareth. He had obviously found a loophole in his ability to get to her. Sarah realized she should've spent the day at the library reading about...

Sarah gave a sarcastic laugh. Reading about what? Did she actually have to do research on fairytales and fantasy? She supposed she would. She would do anything to protect herself and her family.

Sarah was turning in early tonight. As she laid her head on her pillow, she felt antsy. Alert. She didn't think she could fall asleep knowing Jareth might visit her.

"Think happy thoughts," she told herself.

Sleep took her sooner than she anticipated.

Sarah was in a dark room. She couldn't quite make out where she was. There seemed to be furniture, but the lights were so dim, she could only make out shapes.

"Where am I?" she thought.

"Where do you want to be? Think happy thoughts," came a suggestion.

Things began to grow lighter. She wasn't in a room so much as a cavern. Multiple passageways leading to long, rocky corridors served as the entrances and exits to the room. There were chairs and tables all around. A little garden. A fountain carved into the wall out of which mountain water flowed. Sarah noticed the moss had eyes.

I must be under the Labyrinth," Sarah thought. It was still dimly lit, and it probably would've appeared eerie to most, but Sarah's nerves calmed.

"Interesting..." said a voice Sarah didn't hear.

Then, she noticed Ludo, Hoggle, and Sir Didymus playing fetch with Ambrosias in a far corner. They were smiling—even Hoggle.

Sarah walked toward them.

"Guys!" she called.

They didn't respond.

She called louder. "It's so good to see you guys! I've missed you!" Still no response.

She began to run.

In the blink of an eye, they were gone.

Sarah gasped and stopped short. Her heart began to race.

She looked around for an exit, but it seemed the passageways from before were no longer there.

The room was silent. Even the fountain had stopped. She heard a rustling from behind and turned; no one was there. Again she heard it; she found the same absence of source. She began to walk around.

"I know you're here, Jareth," she said strongly, though her heart was racing and her knees shook. "Show yourself, I don't want to play your game."

A low chuckle echoed around the room. Sarah turned around to see the source of the rustling. Jareth was there in his gray tights and long black boots. He wore a long black cape around a leather vest. Sarah noticed he was bare chested under the vest. She tried not to notice anymore.

He had kept his distance, appearing no closer than 15 feet. He took a toward her

"That's close enough!" Sarah said with a little yelp, letting her fear show through her guard.

He smiled slyly.

"As you wish," he said.

Sarah waited for him to say something. She hated the way he stared at her. As if he knew something she didn't. As if she were a coveted thing.

The silence was killing her. She took a step backward. He followed.

"Is this my life now?" she asked. "Will you be in my head every night? Trying to capture me? Trying to take me, Goblin King?"

"Perhaps not every night," Jareth quipped. "Hopefully during the day, too, eventually."

Sarah stumbled back a step at the thought. She was near the wall. Jareth took two steps closer.

"I have a name, you know," he said. "You may use it."

"And, you have a title," she replied sardonically.

"One you will share," he said, taking two more steps.

"Never," she spat.

"Never isn't as long for me as it is for you, precious. I can wait for never. I can wait forever."

Angry tears stung Sarah's eyes. She turned her head from him. When she looked back up, he was a mere foot from her. She gasped, and he leaned against the wall, leaning in over her.

"How are you enjoying my Labyrinth?" she remembered him asking. Right arm supporting himself. Swagger in his pose. Confident.

Sarah was terrified, but he didn't seem on the prowl tonight. The aggression he had at so many of their past encounters wasn't electrifying the air. She breathed deep.

"Then I will fight you forever," she said.

"Oh, I should hope so. I wouldn't like you very much if you didn't, my warrior queen. I wouldn't want you."

With that, he placed his hand flat on her chest and pressed her to the wall.

"Your pulse has quickened, precious," he said in a low whisper. His eyes seemed softer somehow.

Sarah gasped at his touch and placed her hands against the wall for support. Somehow, she felt a little stronger when connected to Labyrinth, as if a warmth made its way into her palms.

Jareth was looking into her eyes intently now, but he wasn't looking at her, he seemed to be looking at something...else.

"Hmm," he mused intently. He didn't elaborate.

"Jareth, please..." Sarah pleaded.

"You may have tonight, precious." He was stroking her cheek now. "But, I will be hunting you. There is more to the Labyrinth than you think. More to our world."

"Didymus was telling me," Sarah said conversationally through shaky breath.

"Good. You should know what you're getting into."

"I'm not getting into anything. I don't care that there's more to the Labyrinth."

"There's more to me."

Sarah had no reply to this. This stopped her racing mind, and she couldn't help but look—really look—into his eyes. There was something attractive about the two different colors. He looked at her now with an earnestness she had never seen before.

"Give us a chance, Sarah." He spoke slowly and softly. "I will be back for you. When I return, I won't stop. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I will also fight my way to the castle beyond the Goblin City...with you by my side. Whether you are walking or being dragged is up to you." His voice took on a menacing edge. His hand found its way to her throat. "There is nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide where I will not find you. You will learn to love us. Generosity and cruelty, fair and unfair. Terrifying. I am many things and more." Sarah began to struggle. He hand tightened on her throat and he pinned her with the other hand.

"You belong to the Underground."

Sarah woke with a start. She choked out tearless sobs, gasping for breath. She tried to calm her breath, she was hyperventilating. She squeezed her eyes shut until she saw stars.

This was no time to cry.

She looked up at her mirror, her reflection staring back. She would fight. She willed it.

She looked down at her hands; they were covered in the finest film of glitter.