Jareth was sitting in his office on campus with his legs propped up on his desk. As David, he was wearing a pair of blue jeans, black boots and a black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up above his elbows and the top two buttons undone. Even as his alter ego, he was still wearing his trademark pendant under his shirt. His short, blond hair was in its usual disarray and the familiar tortoiseshell glasses rested on the bridge of his nose.

He was frowning because he had been watching Sarah that morning through a crystal ball. At first, he was elated because she looked so happy as she left her apartment and walked to The Daily Grind; however, as soon as she entered the coffee shop, the crystal clouded over like a television that lost its signal and remained that way for almost a half-hour. Then, just a couple of minutes ago, the clouds disappeared as she left the little shop, but now she looked pensive.

What took place in that coffee shop? Jareth pondered, although he had his suspicions.

His concerns were confirmed when he heard a pop and Korg appeared in the shadows of his office. With a flick of his wrist, the crystal disappeared and Jareth turned his attention to the little goblin.

"It's OK to come out of the shadows, Korg. There's no one here," Jareth stated and Korg moved forward to stand before his King.

"Do you have something to report?" Jareth asked with a tone of authority.

"Yes, Your Majesty. The girl just met with man who made her sad," Korg replied, his eyes barely meeting Jareth's.

Jareth dropped his feet off of the desk and leaned forward to look closer at the small goblin.

"What do you mean he made her sad?" he asked, his brow furrowing and his frown deepening.

"He say bad things 'bout Your Majesty. He make her sad," reported Korg, still barely looking at Jareth. Even though Jareth wasn't getting the whole story, it only mattered that Sarah was upset because of what this man had said to her.

"Korg, tell me, what did this man look like?" he pressed further, knowing the answer deep in his heart.

"He have dark hair, dark eyes. He talk like you," the small goblin replied, confirming Jareth's suspicions.

"Thank you, Korg, you did an excellent job," he said and Korg smiled widely, showing his crooked yellow teeth. "You can go ahead and rejoin Grog and Flurk."

With a small bow, Korg disappeared with a pop.

Jareth leaned back in his chair once more and placed his feet back on the desk.

So, Talbot has come out of the woodwork like the cockroach he is. It must have been a cloaking spell that interfered with my crystal, Jareth thought.
He was glad his first class of the day wasn't until 9 o'clock. He needed the time to think of what to do next because he had no doubt that, sooner or later, Sarah would confront him about Talbot's accusations.

Sarah, sitting in her algebra class, was having a hard time concentrating on the professor's lecture as Aaron's words that morning kept running through her head. Deep down, she had a feeling that Aaron was playing her for a fool although she wasn't sure what his purpose would be; she just got an odd vibe from him that morning.

The more she fretted over it, the more Sarah felt sick to her stomach at the thought of confronting David with Aaron's accusations; she just knew she had to do it today. She worried about what repercussions could arise and would she find out things she didn't want to know? Her brow furrowed as she frowned.

Sarah kept thinking about how happy she had been when she first left her apartment that morning, especially after the special time she had shared with David the day before. But now, it had quickly turned into a nightmare and – Sarah's eyes glanced at the clock on the wall – it wasn't even 8:30 yet.

She sighed as she tried to focus on what Professor McDermott was saying. Instead of taking notes, she nervously twiddled her pen between her fingers.

How am I going to approach him with this? she asked herself for the millionth time.

"Are you doing alright, Miss Williams?" asked Professor McDermott, bringing Sarah out of her thoughts and drawing the entire classroom's attention to her.

I really need to start paying attention in class. I'm starting to see a pattern here, she admonished herself before realizing she was physically shaking; she felt like she was going to get sick.

"You don't look so well. Maybe you should go ahead and go home," the professor offered.

Sarah thought that sounded like a good idea and nodded her head, grabbing her stuff off of her desk and reaching over to put everything in her backpack.

"Just make sure to read Chapter 3 and do the questions before the next class and you'll be fine," Professor McDermott advised as Sarah stood up and swung her bag over her shoulder.

"Thank you," she replied as she headed for the classroom door. Once she was out in the hallway, she could hear Professor McDermott's muffled voice continue with her lecture.

Sarah hurriedly walked to the nearest bathroom and vaulted into a stall. She managed to lean over the toilet just in time as she threw up the coffee she had drank that morning. After she was sure nothing more was going to come up, she wiped her mouth with some toilet paper, flushed the toilet and exited, walking over to the sinks. She looked at her reflection and was surprised to see that she was as white as a sheet; however, her stomach felt much better. She leaned over the sink and splashed some cold water onto her face and rinsed her mouth out. When she felt better, she wiped her face off with a paper towel and left the bathroom.

Although she knew she shouldn't, Sarah decided to skip the rest of her classes that day to give herself time to do some research. Despite her trepidation, the sunshine made her feel slightly better as she walked toward the campus library. She wanted to get as much information as she could before she faced David.

Because it was still early in the day, the library was devoid of students; the only sound came from the librarian working behind the front desk. Sarah felt like the silence was crushing in on her as she entered the library, letting the door swing quietly shut behind her. Sarah made her way to the front desk as the librarian stopped what she was doing and studied her over the top of her glasses.

"Excuse me, I'm needing to use the microfilm reader. Could you please help me?" Sarah asked quietly, afraid she would get reprimanded by the stern-looking librarian if she spoke too loudly.

With a nod, the librarian directed Sarah to the area she needed. To Sarah's surprise, the librarian was much more helpful than she appeared to be and awhile later, Sarah was set up on a microfilm reader.

With a heavy sigh, she grabbed the first of several films available to her and began her research.

While Sarah sat in the quiet campus library, carrying out her private investigation, Jareth stood in the shadow of the entryway to the art building. Leaning casually against one of the pillars, he indulged in one of his occasional cigarettes. Like Sarah, he was deep in thought; he was torn between continuing his charade as David or revealing his true identity. He was afraid that, either way, he would lose Sarah and Talbot would win.

As he finally made his decision, he glanced at his watch and saw it was already close to 9 o'clock. He stubbed out his cigarette against the pillar and discarded it in the nearby receptacle before heading inside to prepare for his first class of the day.

In this chapter, I didn't want Sarah to be one of those characters who just takes everyone at their word. I want her to be smarter than that. Also, this story takes place in the 90s so the use of the internet was still in its infancy if you're wondering about the whole microfilm thing. - Angel