Sarah's eyes fluttered open as the bitter, choking scent of smoke filled her airways.

"Huh?" she mumbled, half-asleep. As she sat up in bed, her eyes stung. She rubbed the involuntary tears and sleep from her eyes milliseconds before her heart jumped into her throat; her room was full of heavy, languorous smoke.

She leapt out of bed and threw her door open to be met by a wall of flames. The flames lunged at her, tall and blazing, and she threw her arms in front her face as she screamed.

The scream caught in her throat as a gust of wind blew from behind. She felt a strange tugging in her stomach followed by the feeling of weightlessness. The sensation shocked her; in the blink of an eye her bare feel hit cold, damp pavement and she was standing outside on the street, facing her home that was no longer a house, but a ball of orange flame.

To her left was the Goblin King himself, his eyes wide and chest heaving.

"Jareth!" screamed Sarah, "What did you do?!"

"Nothing!" he shouted back over the roar of the flames. "I saved you!"

"Jareth! Oh Jareth, did you do this?!"

"No!"

"Make it stop! How could you? Make it stop!" She began to beat her fists against his chest. Behind her terror, she knew he wasn't responsible; she had never seen him so afraid. She needed someone to blame. Tragedy seemed like something that only ever happened to other people, like something you only read in the news. Fires and floods and death didn't strike you yourself...until it did, and then your story was one of the headlines.

"I DIDN'T DO THIS!" he cried. He easily caught her wrists in his hands and held them fast. "Your Family..." he said, closing his eyes, "...is still alive. I can sense them. I can see them. They're still there."

"Save them! Please, Jareth, save them! Oh, Toby..." cried Sarah as tears of anguish forced themselves from her eyes.

"I..." began Jareth. And then, the fear left his eyes. The tension in his body dissipated. He stood upright and his face returned to its cool pallor. "Magic comes with a price, sometimes."

"You wouldn't. You wouldn't! Oh Jareth, save them! What do you want from me?!"

"The same thing I've always wanted."

Sarah looked from him to the blaze. This couldn't be happened. She had no time. They were trapped, they could be dying as she spoke, they could be burning... She couldn't handle the terrible thoughts.

"Jareth, please..." she begged in a small voice.

The Goblin King didn't move. His face remained still as a stone and he said nothing. Sarah didn't notice, but her entire block was filled with the neighbors who had awoken. She didn't hear the distant sirens on their way. As blood drained from her face, she didn't hear the burning building roar as wood splintered and electricity crackled. The deafening silence of what she must do rent her from all bodily sensations.

"I wish you would take me away to the Labyrinth. Right now. In exchange for my family's lives and safety."

A slow and cruel smile crept its way across the king's face.

"As you wish," he agreed, whisking them away in a rush of glitter and leaving not a single trace behind.