Author's Note: Nay, I have not abandoned thee!~~

I didn't really proofread this one as much as the others, so if there's a mistake, let me know :)

It had been a full week since Sarah had heard Jareth's story from the Wiseman. Things had been busy. She had finished reading the book of poetry. She had also found, hidden somewhere in his room, a book that seemed to be his diary. She had read the whole thing, even though at first she wasn't sure if it was right thing to do. Some parts, she read twice. When she had finished it, she decided that it was the best decision she could have ever made. She smiled as she thought of it, even now. She had renewed her search for him with a fresh vigor, almost desperate now to find him. She had also employed the help of quite a few goblins to spruce up the castle - when she did find Jareth (and she was determined she would) she wanted the castle to look wonderful for him.

The noise of the renovations rang out though the castle. Sarah wandered from here to there, overseeing the work and helping were she could. The sun was shining brightly today, and the weather was warm. The Wiseman had told that the weather was, to a degree, a refection of the ruler. When the labyrinth had someone who looked out for it, the weather was fair and sunny. But when it would fall into neglect, like it was when Sarah first arrived, frost and snow would cover the ground. As she walked past the window she glanced outside. It was a beautiful day. "Who wants to eat lunch outside today?" she called to the goblins. Cheers went up from the workers. She ushered them outside and went to the kitchen to help take the food outside. The Wiseman came by early that day, and Sarah asked him to stay for lunch. As she sat in the sunshine surrounded by several dozen goblins, she couldn't help but smile. It brought her such joy to be here with them. It was in the middle of this happy scene that she heard it.

"I wish-!"

Sarah looked up. She noticed the Wiseman was looking over at her.

"I wish the goblins would take you away, right now!"

Sarah stood up. That was her cue, right?

"Will you be needing some help?" he asked.

Sarah nodded. After what happened last time, she would be grateful for a little help.

She closed her eyes and focused. When she opened them she was in a small dark room. She looked to her side and saw the Wiseman was already holding the hand the small child who had been wished away. A teenager stood in front of Sarah and scowled. Sarah tilted her head. "If you don't want this child, I'll take it with me and turn it into a goblin!"

"I didn't mean it!" the teen said through gritted teeth.

Had it been up to Sarah, she would have given the child back to girl right then and there. But she glanced at the Wiseman, who had mouthed a silent word to Sarah. Labyrinth.

Sarah cleared her throat, "If you want the child back, you'll have to run the labyrinth. If you reach my castle within 13 hours, you may have the child back. If not…" she let her sentence trail off. Deep down, Sarah thought she would still probably give the child back if even if the runner didn't reach the castle in time. She would have to talk the Wiseman about it.

The teen nodded.

The Wiseman snapped his fingers and the trio was suddenly on the little hill overlooking the labyrinth. Sarah pointed across to the castle. "Thirteen hours." she reminded the girl. The girl didn't say anything but glared at Sarah instead. Sarah remembered how she had felt when it was her standing there, and felt a little bad. She reached out her arm and patted the girl on the shoulder. "You can do it." she told her, trying to be encouraging. The look on the teen's face, though, told Sarah she had failed. The Wise man snapped his fingers again, and now he Sarah were back in the castle with the child.

Sarah felt a mixture of nerves and excitement. This was her first runner, and while she didn't want to mess it up, she couldn't wait to see what it would be like from the other side. Curious goblins ran up to Sarah to see the child. She handed thc hold to them and turned to the Wiseman.

"Why don't you conjure a crystal to watch her?" he told her.

Sarah nodded as she sat back in the throne. She held her hand palm up in front of her and twisted her wrist. A crystal appeared and floated just above her hand. Inside of the crystal was the image of the girl at the door to the labyrinth. Sarah and the Wiseman peered closer at it. A few goblins came over to look as well.

The girl looked behind her a few times as she approached the gates. She paused for a moment then entered with a scowl on her face. Once she was inside the gates slammed shut. She stared walking to the right for a few minutes, at a steady, determined pace. Then suddenly she stopped. She put her hand out and touched the side wall. She took a few more paces forward with her hand still on the wall. In this way she found the hidden opening and went through it. Sarah felt a hot blush creep up her cheeks. This girl had figured it out so fast - and Sarah had to have to worm tell her… Was it that obvious? She shook her head and focused once again on the crystal. The girl was now in the garden type area of the labyrinth. The crystal gave a view from slightly overhead, so everyone in the throne room could see that the girl was now walking in circles. On the fifth time in a loop, the girl paused, looked at her hands, and pointed in certain directions. She turned herself around, now confident that she was going the right way, and proceeded to walk in yet another loop. The goblins burst out laughing, and Sarah had to bite her lip to keep from smirking.

"I think she's too turned around." Wiseman chuckled. "Do you want to let her keep going like this, or send her a little help?"

Sarah looked up form the crystal. "Who wants to go?" she asked.

Several goblins raised their hands, and Sarah nodded to the smallest of them. "Let her catch a glimpse of you, and then lead her out for a while." She pointed to the goblin who then disappeared and reappeared inside the crystal. He looked up for second and waved. All the goblins in the throne room waved right back, even though he couldn't see them. He ran around the corner and he girl gasped as she caught sight of him. As he ran off the girl began to chase him. He led her out of the loop and through some more of the garden. After about ten minutes the goblin left the girl on her own. Sarah summoned the goblin back back with a motion of her hand. The girl was making great progress through the labyrinth. She had now gotten half way through in several hours. The goblins in the throne room were now wandering around, slightly less interested because Sarah wasn't playing any tricks on her. They milled about, each one thinking how close it was to lunch time, but no one daring to bring it up.

Sarah glanced up from the crystal and looked around at the sad goblin faces. "Are you guys hungry?" she asked. The goblins lit up and nodded.

She smiled. "I'll go get you something." She dropped her hand and the crystal faded into nothing.

The goblins all looked at each other, none of them believing how lucky there were to be getting food instead of getting bogged.

Sarah went to the kitchen and pulled out some things for sandwiches. Her magic helped her put them together quickly. After taking a quick glance around and making sure no one was watching, she lifted her hand conjured another crystal. She closed her eyes and focus on a thought. When she opened her eyes, the inside of the crystal juts looked fuzzy, like static. She sighed and let the crystal drop. She should be able to see anything in this dimension - and the fact that she couldn't get even the tiniest glimpse of Jareth in the crystal was very disheartening. It meant he wasn't even in the Underground anymore. How many other dimensions were there? How would she find which one he was in, and how could as he get there when she did?

She levitated the tray now filled with sandwiches and walked back to the throne room with it. She placed it in the middle of the room and went back to her throne. Ham sandwich in one hand and crystal in the other, she looked to where the girl was now. She had made a fair amount of progress. Sarah almost choked on her sandwich, though, when she saw what the girl was doing. The tricky walls of the labyrinth had angered the girl - she was sick of getting lost and turned around. So she had begun to climb them. Wall after wall, the girl was climbing up, then climbing or jumping down, only to scale the next. All in a straight line - skipping over the maze and aging ground quickly.

The goblins gasped when they saw this. "That's cheating!" some of the squealed.

Sarah looked in wonder at the girl who was quickly defeating the labyrinth. In the back of her mind she was comparing the time it her took herself to finish the labyrinth to this girl. A devious plot popped into her head and she smirked.

"What do you say, guys? This shouldn't be allowed, should it?" she asked the goblins.

They all shook their heads no and shouted various things.

Sarah looked back at the crystal and squinted her eyes. The girl was half way up another wall when suddenly the ragged pieces of rock she had been using as footholds disappeared. She fell back to the ground with a yelp and a thud that could be heard even through the crystal. The goblins laughed uproariously and Sarah couldn't contain a small chuckle. The girl got to her feet, uninjured, and began to shout something at the walls. Sarah bit her lip and willed the crystal to not transmit the sounds of what she was saying. Kids these days. She certainly didn't want the goblins to pick up that kind of language. After a little while the goblins calmed down and went back to eating their food. Sarah felt the smallest tinge of regret for playing a trick on the girl, and decided to go make her an offer.

The girl stared down the path she had just come from. Why did it have to look just like the path she headed towards? She sighed and turned. Upon turing she found herself face to face with Sarah. She stifled a small gasp of surprise.

"You've certainly made short work of my labyrinth." Sarah tried a friendly smile.

The girl just narrowed her eyes at her.

"I want to make you an offer." Sarah looked off at the horizon. "My thoughts are elsewhere at the moment, and it's quite clear you'll finish the , this is my offer - I'll give you your sister back, but - you have to be a good sister from now on." Sarah looked back at the girl.

She scoffed. "How are you going to know what I do?"

Sarah shrugged. "Maybe I'll send goblins to watch you. But this is your only sister - that's a gift, and you shouldn't treat her so badly. Wishing her away was a terrible thing to do - what if you hadn't been able to get her back? You would have gone your whole life with the guilt of what you did to her." her mind wandered back to Toby and for a brief moment she was almost overcome with homesickness. Shaking her head slightly, she looked back at the girl. "So if you're not a good sister to her - you'll end up here - " Sarah reached and grabbed the girl's hand before she could say anything. Within an instant they were teleported to Bog of Eternal Stench. It was just as terrible as Sarah remembered it - she had to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, the girl was leaning over trying not to gag. Sarah smiled again. "Not so fun now, is it?"

She mercifully teleported them back to the throne room. The girl saw her sister sitting the corner with a few goblins. She ran over to her and picked her up. She marched up to Sarah with a determined look on her face. "I promise to be good - now take us back."

Sarah wasn't sure if she really wanted to be good for the sake of begin good to her little sister, or just to avoid the Bog, but she waved a hand over both of them and sent them back to their home. The goblins waved to them as they disappeared.

Sarah sunk back into the throne. She had brought up memories of Toby and her life Abovoeground, things she hadn't thought of in a long time. Was Toby missing her, searching for her? Did her father and step-mother contact the police about a missing person? Was her boss furious with her? She rubbed her forehead. She felt a headache coming on.

After a while she and sent the goblins home. Now she was waling throughout the labyrinth, trying to sort out her thoughts. She absentmindedly conjured a crystal thinking of Jareth. Static, just like every other time before this. Knowing that he was no longer in the Underground, she had sent out several dozen fairly intelligent goblins to neighboring kingdoms to see if anyone knew anything about where he could have gone. They hadn't come back yet, and they wouldn't be back for a few more days. Her days now were mostly filled with work - there was lot to do in the kingdom. She knew in the back of her mind that she could go Aboveground anytime she wanted, but with so much to do be done around here, she found she just didn't have the time. By the time she was done with her obligations for the day, she was too exhausted to do anything except fall into bed. Besides, if she left for too long, the labyrinth would literally fall apart. She pushed these thoughts away and looked up at the wall next to her. She grinned as thought back to the events of the day. Why had she never thought of climbing the walls? She paused now and went up to it. Running her hand across it she found a foothold and decided to try it. She hadn't done anything like this since she was a child. It would be fun, and a way to distract herself from other matters.

Going up the wall was a little harder than she would have thought. When she reached the top she took moment to catch her breath. Looking over the other side of the wall she was surprised to see it was more than twice the hight of the first side. Almost two stories high, it went into a little valley of sorts. With a deep breath she swung her legs over and started the descent to the other side. But the rock she had put her food on suddenly crumbled under her weight. It was unexpected, and it made her lose her grip.

The next she she knew she was falling.

She felt terror rise up inside and an overwhelming urge to escape what had just happened. Time seemed to freeze for the briefest of moments, and she felt a cold chill all over her body followed by a tingling sensation. She closed her eyes as she fell to what she was sure was her death.

She landed on the ground. Something felt… Different. She opened her eyes. She twitched her nose and looked down at her - paws? Surely this was… New? She flicked her tail in annoyance. Eyes glancing behind, she could she that her thoughts had been confirmed.

Sarah Williams was currently in the form of a cat.

After the first wave of confusion left, she realized with excitement that she had accidentally learned how to shape shift. She felt so proud as she sat on her hind legs and stretched her front paws out in front of her, admiring her soft black fur. She ran back to the castle on four legs with a look of glee on her face. She reached the doorway and willed herself to transform back. Now a human again, she looked in the mirror of her room. It's lucky I had my pendant with me, she thought to herself. Wiseman had told her some people couldn't transform without it. She shuddered to think what would have happened if she hadn't changed, and to a cat of all things… She changed into her pajamas and let her thoughts wander as she lay down in bed.

Her dreams were muddled that night. She was a cat again, walking along the very thin edges of walls. Then she was Sarah, back at her old job. She was scrubbing dishes in the sink, and when she looked in the water, her reflection was a black cat. Scenes melted into one another. Then it was blank for a while. Now she was back climbing the wall again. The foothold crumbled, just as it had in waking life, and she plummeted down. She told herself to transform, to change, but nothing happened. With each second she could feel herself getting closer and closer to the ground, bracing herself for the "splat". Why wasn't she changing?! Ina panic, her hands went to her neck to feel for the pendant. It was gone. She couldn't change because her pendant was gone. She was trapped.

Just before she hit the ground she jerked awake. Her hand went to her neck again. Her pendant was there. She was safe. She calm herself down and tried to go back to sleep.

The next morning she lay in bed for a little after waking, thinking over the events of the previous day. She couldn't wait to tell everyone her new skill. She closed her eyes and drifted in-between sleep and awake. Her mind recalled her dream last night. How scary it was, to be trapped like that. No way of transforming to save herself… Her mind moved to other things, to Jareth's diary, to words from the Wiseman, to that delicious ham sandwich she had made the other day...

Sarah suddenly sat upright in bed. Something had clicked. She threw off the sheets and ran to get dressed.

She knew where Jareth was.