A/N: Thanks so much for your continued support of this story. I know it's a little different than my usual tale, but, I promise there will be Sarah/Jareth interaction before the end. Special thanks goes to Wynni for her review of the last chapter.

Disclaimer: Nope, I only own my original characters and nothing that you recognize (and even things you don't).


The Blog of HisPreciousThing

November 17, 2011 – 11:41pm

So, it's been a few days and a lot of things have happened since I last blogged. After I sent the email to LabyrinthBoi21 a.k.a. Greg McDonnell, Jareth left to do whatever Goblin Kings do when they're not pestering unsuspecting mortal girls. Becks and I got to hang out and finally talk about everything that's happened this week. I even let her talk about Scott's "adorable smile" and how he said hi to her at school. Blech!

Anyhoo, it didn't take too long for Greg to get back to me. He either has no life or I've piqued his curiosity.


"So, do you think I've got a shot?" asked Becky, grinning.

"I guess, but the question is why you're selling yourself short. Why would you want to lower your standards so far that you'd go out with Scott?"

Samantha blocked the inevitable pillow coming her way. A second pillow sailed towards her head, but she was distracted by the ping from her computer and it hit her square in the head. She was knocked onto the floor and dissolved into a fit of giggles. Becky rolled her eyes and gave her a hand to help her back up. Samantha brushed off the back of her pants and went to check her email.

"Well?" Becky said, her patience growing thin at Sam's silence.

"I got a reply. He says that his name is Greg and he's a student at CMU. He thinks this is a prank being pulled off by someone named Pete."

"I can't imagine why he's not taking you serious, Sam," Becky said, sarcastically. "I mean you sound perfectly sane and rational over email."

"You're a genius!" Sam shouted. "We need to meet up so that I can convince him that I'm not a complete nutjob."

Becky gave her a dubious look. "No, not a complete nutjob. Only a partial one."

Sam grabbed up one of the pillows and hit her friend across the side of the head. Becky's indignant cry sent her into another fit of giggles. Without warning, her head made contact with one of the deceptively hard pillows from her bed. Oh, it was on! Picking up the other pillow, she and Becky got down to a good old-fashioned pillow fight. The only thing missing were the flying feathers, as these were stuffed with synthetic fibers.

"What is going on in here?" yelled a third voice.

"Sorry mom," Sam said, breathing hard.

"I thought the ceiling was going to collapse. Next time you guys decide to have a pillow fight, do me a favor and just don't."

"Yes, Mrs. Taylor," Becky said, contritely. Sam noticed that her friend's face was red, and she was equally out of breath. Still, she looked as exhilarated as Sam felt.

Samantha's mom rolled her eyes and walked back out of the room. Before she could close the door, Sam saw her brother rolling his eyes as he walked to the bathroom. Jerk! She couldn't stop herself from opening her door and popping her head out into the hall to stick her tongue out at him. His answering finger was the last thing she saw of him as he shut the bathroom door.

After closing her own door, she sat back down in her desk chair and re-read her email. "What should I say?"

"I think I must be going as cray as you are," Becky said, resuming her perch on the bed. "You're not going to be able to explain all this to him in an email. We're going to have to set up a meeting."

Samantha began tapping out her response. "Like I said, genius."

To: LabyrinthBoi21

From: HisPreciousThing

Subject: re: labyrinth question

"I don't know any Pete, so I can assure you I wasn't sent by him. I really do need information about Sarah Williams. Meet me and tell me everything you know. I may have something interesting to tell you in return about a certain Goblin King.

Samantha"

"Oh, nice one, Sam," cheered Becky after Samantha ran it past her.

"Right?" Sam replied, preening slightly under the praise.

"Dangling bait always works better than a dry hook. At least, that's what my grandpa always said when we went fishing."

"Works for me. Now, what should we do until he replies?"

Becky opened her mouth to suggest that they talk some more about Scott when Sam's computer pinged. "Wow, that was fast!"

"We don't know that it's him. I could just be some spam." Sam took a look at her new email. "You're right. It was him. My bait must have worked."

To: HisPreciousThing

From: LabyrinthBoi21

Subject: re: labyrinth question

"Meet me at Stan's in Mt. Pleasant on Saturday at 11. The address is 220 E Broadway St. I may have some answers for you.

Greg"

"Shit," Sam muttered after reading it.

Becky stood from the bed and came to stand behind Sam, trying to read the screen. "What?"

"He wants to meet in Mt. Pleasant," Sam explained, frowning and pointing at the email she'd received. "That's like an hour and a half away."

"Well, I guess it can't hurt to ask," Becky said with a shrug. "Let him know we'll have to see if we can make it work. Then, we'll have to figure out something."

"I guess you're right."

Sam began to type out her reply, hitting send when she was done.

To: LabyrinthBoi21

From: HisPreciousThing

Subject: re: labyrinth question

"Let me make sure I can make it up there this weekend. I'll let you know before Friday.

Samantha"


So, now I have another conundrum. I can't just drive up to Mt. Pleasant without my parent's permission. At least I have Becky with me and she's a lot smarter than I am. We talked for the next day or two trying to come up with a plausible plan. Unfortunately, my parents won't let me use either of their vehicles and mine probably won't make a trip that far. Becky's parents are even more strict than mine so borrowing one of their cars is out. Finally, though, Becky suggested we call in reinforcements.


Samantha and Becky were sitting up in Sam's room eating chips and watching television. They were supposed to be studying but they needed a break. Of course, their "break" had started over an hour ago. Now, they were watching trashy reality shows and trying to come up with a plan for this weekend. Someone on the current program was trying to talk another guy into being his wingman when Becky suddenly sat up and slapped a palm to her forehead.

"Are you ok?" Sam asked, concerned by her friend's sudden facepalm.

"Why didn't I think of this earlier?" Becky asked, mostly to herself.

"Think of what?"

"Why don't we ask Jareth for help? He's got a big stake in us finding Sarah, so he'd probably want to help."

Sam thought about it and smiled. "Well, he did tell me to call if I needed anything."

"What's the worst that can happen?"

Sam raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Don't ask."

"Right," Becky said, color coming into her cheeks at the thought of the repercussions of angering a fae.

"Ok, let's do this," Sam said. "I wish the Goblin King would come to me, right now."

A moment later, Jareth appeared before the two girls with a look of annoyance. "Oh, it's you again."

"Yes, it's me again. We need your help."

"Reeaallly," he said, his mouth turned up into a feral grin.

"Yeah, reeaallly," Sam replied in a quite passible facsimile of his tone.

Jareth threw back his head and laughed. "You amuse me, Lady Samantha."

Sam rolled her eyes at him. "I'm so glad I can amuse you so. Now, will you help us?"

"That depends."

"On what?" Becky asked, warily.

"On what this favor entails," Jareth shot back, a look upon his face letting her know that he found her question – and company – droll.

"Fine," Sam groaned. "The guy I've been talking to may have some information for me, but he lives pretty far away from me. We're going to need some help in convincing our parents to let us go and meet him."

Jareth thought for a moment before asking, "and this man will help you find Sarah?"

"I don't know," she replied, honestly. "But he's the best lead we've gotten since I started looking for her."

"Very well," he said, flicking his wrist and summoning a crystal. He whispered some words that were indiscernible to the girls before nodding, satisfied with what he had done. Without a word, he hurled it at the mortal girl.

Samantha had no time to duck when she found herself straight in the path of the orb. Fortunately, it burst just as it hit her chest. There was no pain, just an odd feeling of weight around her neck. She looked down to see a crystal pendant hanging from a gold chain. Picking it up by the chain, she inspected it carefully. It seemed to be a regular pendant, but she knew that nothing was as it seemed when Jareth was involved.

"Sheesh, a little warning next time."

Jareth grinned and shrugged. "You asked for my help and I granted your request. You never specified how I should help you. I simply chose the best method I had at my disposal. If it gave you a fright, well, let's just call that a pleasant side-effect.

"What's it do?" Sam asked, rolling her eyes.

"It will grant you three wishes. However, I must warn you. Think carefully before you make your wish. Words have power. One misspoken word and I shall not be held responsible for what may happen to you. Before you ask, no it will not locate Sarah. It was made up of my magic and, because of the right words, will not work on her."

"Got it," Sam replied, already thinking about what wish to make.

"Now, if there is nothing else, I must get back to court. You took me away from my monthly hearing of grievances. If I don't get back soon, well, it won't be a pleasant experience I can assure you."

"Thanks, Your Majesty."

With a nod to her, he disappeared in a glittery haze. Sam waved the glitter from her face and frowned. She'd just vacuumed in here and glitter was the absolute worst. Her mom said it was like the herpes of the craft world and she found herself agreeing with that sentiment. Once it got into the carpet, there really was no hope of getting it completely out.

"So, what should we do?"

The girls spent the next hour or so coming up with a plausible story to tell their parents. They decided to keep the crystal for backup, if needed. Sam could tell that Jareth's words had scared her friend. She wasn't sure they should use the power of wishes. Still, it was nice to have a plan B, just in case. When they were finally sure they had come up with the perfect plan, Sam typed out a final email to Greg.

To: LabyrinthBoi21

From: HisPreciousThing

Subject: re: labyrinth question

"My friend Becky and I are in. We'll see you at Stan's at 11."


I can't believe it took us that long to ask for help from Jareth. I'll bet he knew we were having a hard time and was laughing at us until we finally called on him. I wouldn't put it past him, anyway.

It took some convincing on my part, but we told my parents that we were going on a college visit to Central Michigan. It's actually not a complete lie. I am interested in going to CMU and wanted to check it out. There's just not an official college visit scheduled. They've been on me since the beginning of the year to start thinking about colleges. Next year, I'll be a senior and I shouldn't wait until the last minute to make some decisions about my future. Blah, Blah, Blah.

Once my parents were on board, it was time to get to work on Becky's. We both knew it would be harder to convince her folks as they wanted her to go to a more elite university than Central. We had the added security of the crystal necklace to help persuade them. There was no way that this plan would fail. We just didn't count on someone else finding out.


"I don't know about this." Becky hedged.

"You know your parents will never go for it, so this is the only way."

"What if something goes wrong?"

Sam sighed deeply and said, "Nothing is going to go wrong. Trust me. I know more about fairytales than anyone we know. We'll keep it simple and specific."

"Alright," Becky said, reluctantly.

Sam thought hard for a moment before saying, "I wish Rebecca Gordon's parents, Rich and Sandra Gordon, would agree to let us go to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan on Saturday, November 19 and won't ask any questions."

The crystal darkened until it was almost black before the contents cleared in a burst of glitter. Sam and Becky looked at each other for a moment, both trying to figure out what to do next.

Finally, it was Becky who asked, "did it work?"

"There's only one way to find out," Sam replied with a shrug.

Becky nodded and the two girls walked out of the bedroom in search of Becky's parents. The two adults weren't hard to find, as they were together watching television in the family room. With tentative steps, the girls approached the parents. Becky cleared her throat, feeling her mouth suddenly turn desert dry. The noise caught the attention of her mother and she looked up at the two teens.

"Hi, sweetie," she said, noticing the look on her daughter's face. "What's up?"

"Uh, mom, Sam and I wanted to talk to you about something."

Sandra Gordon hit the button on the remote to mute the sound. "Sure, Becky. What do you need?"

"Uh, Sam and I, uh, found out that there's this college visit at CMU on Saturday and, uh, we really want to go. I know it's last minute, but I'm really interested in checking it out."

Sam mentally crossed her fingers and wished her best friend didn't sound so nervous. They'll never buy it. Hoping against hope that the wish worked, she waited for their reaction.

"That sounds nice, Becky. I don't see any problem with it. Rich, what do you think?"

Richard Gordon looked at the girls and back to his wife before saying, "I think it's a fine idea."

"I guess that settles it," Sandra said. "Yes, you can go. Was there anything else?"

"N-no, mom. T-that's it," Becky stammered. "Uh, we're going to go back to my room. T-thanks."

Her parents turned back to the television as her mother returned it back to the previous volume. The girls took that as their cue to leave and they hurried back to the relative safety of Becky's room. Once the door was closed, they began to giggle as the nerves that had built up were finally released. Collapsing onto her bed, Becky sighed in relief.

"I can't believe that worked!"

Sam pretended to shine her fingernails on her shirt. "I told you to trust me."

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation and Sam walked over to open it. Her eyebrows disappeared into her bangs when she saw who it was.

"Hey, Andy."

"Uh, hi, Sam. Can I come in?"

Sam stepped aside and motioned him inside. "What's up?"

Andy motioned for her to close the door and she quickly complied. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation downstairs. What's going on? There's no CMU college visit on Saturday. And why were mom and dad acting so weird? They never even asked any questions about how long you'd be gone or anything."

"I think we need to tell him," Sam suggested, looking to Becky.

"Tell me what?"

Becky stared back at Sam, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know. He probably won't believe us."

"Believe what?"

"Well, there's one way to convince him," Sam replied, ignoring Andy's confusion. "We could call you know who."

"Who?"

"It's your call," Becky said, tossing it back to her best friend.

Sam turned back to Andy and said, "Um, you should probably sit down for this." She led him to Becky's beanbag chair, and he allowed her to push him into it. "So, you know that movie Becks and I are always watching."

"Yeah. Labyrinth. You guys watch it all the time."

"It's real."

Andy laughed, thinking it was a joke. When he looked at the girls and their sober faces, he stopped. "You can't be serious."

"I told you he wouldn't believe us," Becky sighed.

"Alright, then," Sam said, echoing Becky's sigh with one of her own. "I wish the Goblin King would come to me, right now."

"What the hell, Sam?" Andy said. He was beginning to get angry at what he saw was a prank at his expense.

"What now?" came the irritated voice of the Goblin King. "I do have a kingdom to run."

Andy just about fell out of the beanbag when he whipped around to see who had joined them. "Who are you?"

"Another mortal," Jareth sneered.

"This is the Goblin King," Becky said. "Your Majesty, this is my older brother, Andy."

Andy looked to Sam. "Is this for real?"

"Yep, I'm afraid it is. Do you believe us now?"

"Uh."

Jareth looked to Becky and then back to Andy. "I see the resemblance."

Sam couldn't help the giggle that choked through her. "We won't keep you, Jareth. We just needed to prove that we're not crazy."

"Oh, I believe you all are utterly barmy."

"On that note, you can go back to whatever it is you do all day."

With a quick nod, he disappeared from the room. Andy's eyes bulged as he tried to wrap his head around what he'd just seen and heard. It had to be some kind of trick. Stuff like this just didn't happen to regular guys like him. He opened his mouth to tell the girls that when he noticed their faces. They were completely serious and looking at him with a bit of concern.

"What the hell just happened?" he asked.

"You just met Jareth, the Goblin King," Sam explained. "Are you ok?"

"I really don't know. Can someone explain, in small, concise sentences, what is going on?"

And so they did. Becky and Sam took turns telling him everything that had happened over the past few weeks. Andy sat there, absorbing their story as they unloaded it on him. The circuits in his brain, which previously felt like they had misfired, were slowly coming back online. When the girls were finished with their confession, they looked at him, awaiting his response.

"If what you're saying is true, I can't let you go meet some strange guy by yourselves."

Sam hedged at his implied suggestion. "Uh, I don't know. We can't ask you to come with us."

"I'm coming with you."

"I don'tâ€Ĥ"

Becky stepped in, knowing that her brother wouldn't drop this. "Fine. You can come."

"Great! Now that it's settled, I'll see you Saturday. Uh, Sam. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Sam could see Becky's smirk out of the corner of her eye before she grabbed Andy's arm and practically dragged him out of the room and down the stairs to the foyer. When they were alone, she looked up at him expectantly.

"So, uh, I just wanted to say I was sorry about sending you that note if it, uh, made you uncomfortable."

Sam's cheeks grew red and she fought the urge to look away. "It didn't make me uncomfortable. I'm sorry that I didn't give you an answer. To be honest, I've had all of this Goblin King stuff on my mind and I forgot about your note."

"Just forget it, ok," he said, turning to leave.

"Don't you want to hear my answer?"

Her tone caused him to stop, but he didn't turn back around. "I think it's clear that we're not on the same page."

"I'd love to hang out with you. Name the time and place and I'll be there."

"W-what?" he asked, turning to see her smiling face.

"You heard me," Sam said, coyly. "Call me when you figure out the deets."

Samantha gave him a quick peck on his cheek before leaving out the front door. Andy stood frozen, staring at the closed door with a bewildered grin on his face. After a moment, he left to go find his sister. She was lounging on the couch watching television with their parents and he sat down next to her. The grin still hadn't left his face.

Becky shook her head at him and said, "I told you she'd say yes."


I guess I really suck at keeping secrets. Still, I would trust Andy and Becky with my life if it came to that. It feels good to have someone else to talk to about everything. For the first time since the Goblin King appeared in my life, I finally feel that this is really happening. Now, it's time to get some answers and maybe find the Champion along the way.

TTFN


A/N2: Drop me a line and let me know what you think.