Author note: This was the first chapter I had to re-write, but I think it's a lot better now. Thus the delay.

Brax fretted and wrung his hands. "Brax never gonna see labyrinth again!" he fell to his knees and sobbed. The older girl stifled a giggle. The little girl, seeing her new friend Brax crying, decided she should be crying too. Sarah put her hands on her head. "How are we supposed to get back?" she shouted. Brax quit crying, but instead shifted to a series of small shrieks one after the other. The girl took a step backwards. "You guys have to leave! My parents are going to be back soon!"

"Brax! I need you to focus for a minute! How did Jareth get back to the Underground when he took children?" Sarah asked. "We need to know - what did he do?"

"Brax not know!" he wailed. "Brax just steal kids!"

Sarah could see form the look of terror on his face he really didn't know. She took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind. You can do this, she told herself. You're the queen of the labyrinth, you'll know what to do. She nodded her head. There had to be a logical way this worked. If a wish had brought them here, maybe… Maybe a wish could take them back?

She grabbed Brax and the little girl's hands.

"I wish we were in the Underground!" she yelled. Everything was quiet and sparkly for a second, and when Sarah opened her eyes, she was standing in the middle of the throne room. Maybe she had needed to be a little more specific with her wish - she wanted to be right where she had left. At least they were back now. Back home… With a kidnapped child.

"What a disaster!" she moaned as she sunk to the ground.

The old lady was sweeping when she saw Sarah. "Oh! Did someone wish away a child?"

"Yeah." she sighed. "But I feel like I messed it up. Is there someone I can talk to about all this magic stuff? Can you tell me how I'm supposed to do these things?"

The old lady stopped sweeping. "I'm not exactly versed in royal magic, you see, or I would help you." she thought for a moment. "Have you spoken to the Wiseman? He normally helps the rulers with magical issues."

"I guess I'll have to talk to him, then."

She realized that without the carriage, it was too late to return to the Firey's forest. Sarah was more than a little disappointed. The rest of the day dragged by. The old lady promised her she would tell the Wiseman that Sarah needed to talk to him. "Expect him to be here tomorrow!" she had said as she left for the night. The old lady had also taken the wished-away child with her. At least the little girl had seemed happy. Sarah felt terrible for her, but she had to admit, the little girl loved the goblins. Maybe she wouldn't mind too much that her sister had wished her away. It made her think of Toby, and she only felt worse.

Sarah was anxious to speak to the Wiseman. Before she went to bed she looked at the photograph again. There was so much she didn't know about Jareth. Maybe he had his reasons for disappearing. Maybe he didn't want to be found. She sighed. It had been another day of no clues. It was as though he had left without a trace.

The next morning, sure enough, the Wiseman was there to talk with her. Luckily, he had left his talkative hat at home. He didn't seem to remember Sarah from all those years ago, but he told her that he didn't remember a lot of runners, either. "So many of them come through all the time." he shrugged. "But anyway, come, let's walk for a bit!" he led her out to the labyrinth. They walked along and she asked him her questions about how to use her powers.

"Don't worry about it too much, dear. You'll be able to use them when you need them. Some may take more time than others to show up. But yes, you should be able to conjure crystals at a whim, 'teleport', as you call it, with control, and even transform to an animal. Although, that one may take the longest to acquire."

He showed her several tricks she could practice on her own, and she was quite pleased her new power of making a flower bloom. The Wiseman brushed it off as the least of her powers, but the first she could master. "As little things like this become easier, the more impressive things will become easier for you accomplish as well." he told her.

He promised her that he would be back every day so she could learn more things, and true to his word he was there every afternoon for the next week. Sarah kept a close eye on the search for Jareth, although she herself didn't go out as much. Word had gotten around to Sir Didymus and Ludo that she was back, and they came to visit her. They too had heard that the king was missing, but had no idea where he could be. Sarah, for the most part, was immensely enjoying herself. LIfe certainly wasn't like this Aboveground. She had feasts every night for her friends, and her days were filled with studying magic and consulting with her goblin army.

Her fairness and concern for her subjects made her very popular among the goblins. The ideas she had for the running of Goblin City vastly improved their quality of life. Though the City still had it's rustic charm, and chickens were still everywhere, they were able to grow more food and not have to work as hard for it. Every goblin did their fair share, and the number of boggings went down by 80%.

It had been one week since she first began learning form the Wiseman. She was able to conjure crystals now - they didn't last for very long, and half the time nothing could be seen in them, but it was a good start. She was beginning to grow used tot the strange appearance of her new eye. There was still one thing that itched in the back of her mind, though.

"Wiseman, how long have you lived around the castle?"

"Quite a long time, my dear." he paused to think about it. "I remember she Jareth first had the labyrinth built." he smiled fondly. "Yes, he and Cassandra were so happy back then."

Sarah's breath stuck in her throat. "Who?"

"Who what?"

"Who's Cassandra?"

"What's a Cassandra?"

"You just sai-" The Wiseman had a bad habit of forgetting things he had just said. Sarah had gotten used to this over the course of their magic lessons, but it was still frustrating at times.

"Never mind." she rubbed her forehead. It felt like a headache was coming on.

"I'm not feeling too well, today. Maybe we can cut the lesson short?"

The Wiseman looked at her sympathetically. "Of course, dear. I'll see you tomorrow."

They parted ways and Sarah went back to the castle.

She didn't feel like eating anything so she let the kitchen goblins go home early. Hoggle was out still, looking for Jareth. With a sigh she walked past the library. She didn't feel like reading, either. She sat on the edge of the bed. There on the nightstand was the photograph. She turned it over so she didn't have to look at it. Cassandra. She scoffed. Well, it was a pretty name, she had to admit. It wasn't a plain, ordinary name. No, she could think of plenty of names names that were plain and ordinary… And there was on that stood out at the top of the list… And it was an ordinary name for an ordinary girl. She puled the blankets over her shoulders and blinked back the tears. For all she knew, Jareth had grown tired of the goblin kingdom and run off with Cassandra. Although she couldn't say why, she missed her old life. She missed her family that hardly spoke to each other, she missed her coworkers and boss who probably hadn't even noticed she was missed… The days before the labyrinth. Before Jareth. Before she knew that you could love someone you didn't even know anything about.

There was a soft knock on the door. Sarah was silent. They knocked again. "Who is it?" she called as she wiped away the tears. A tiny little goblin voice replied.

"It - it's Fluff, your majesty! Um, Fluff is scared to walk home alone, can Fluff stay here tonight?" she asked timidly. Sarah got up and opened the door. Fluff was very small goblin, only a foot tall, and she loved wearing little dresses with ruffles. She normally worked in the castle gardens, tending to the smaller plants and flowers. The goblins she normally left with for the day had left her behind. She looked so sad standing there that Sarah just had to smile. "Would you like to sleep in here by the fire, Fluff?"

"Are you sure, your majesty? If it it's too much trouble, I can sleep in the kitchen if you want." Fluff looked surprised at Sarah's offer.

"It's ok, I don't mind." Sarah took one of the blankets off her bed and and rolled it into a pillow / blanket for Fluff.

"Oh! Thank you your majesty!" Fluff looked so happy.

Sarah smiled again. Maybe she wasn't so plain after all. Maybe, to the goblins like Fluff, she was pretty darn important. Maybe Jareth didn't need her, but these goblins did.

And that was good enough for Sarah.

When she awoke in the morning Fluff thanked her again and again. Sarah wasn't feeling as bad about everything as she had the last night. Even if she never found Jareth, she could be happy here because her subjects loved her. Even if that meant being alone.

She lingered in her room a little while before going downstairs. She noticed the little wooden box on the dresser once again. Knowing full well that last she tried to open it it had been locked, she picked it up and tried to open it. To her surprise, this time it did open. Inside was a necklace of sorts. It was an angular crescent shape, made of gold an silver. She put it around her neck and looked in the mirror. She liked how it looked. Wondering if it had any kind of magic to it, she resolved to ask the Wiseman today. When she got downstairs, however, she found that the Wiseman had cancelled today's lesson and would not be there. She was a little disappointed, but decided to stay in the library and read until the goblin army came back with their reports.

Sarah didn't notice it at first, but something seemed different as she was reading. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something seemed strange. It was almost as if something about the books had changed since she last read them. Then it dawned on her. She could read the other language. Her magic must have let her mind understand it somehow. She was overwhelmed with joy. Her very first thought was of how much she could now learn with this power. Her second thought, however, was that now she could read Jareth's personal papers. She giggled to herself.

The only question was, where to start first?

Author note: Thank you to everyone who has left a review and to everyone who has been following!