Disclaimer: I don't own it. Never have, never will(sigh), I make no profit from it.
A/N: Thank you everyone for your reviews and follows! I'm so excited to be finally getting this out. Don't hesitate to ask questions, if something isn't clear I can either address it in the reviews or in the story. I hope the update frequency continues at a good pace, however, the characters sometimes have their own idea about where they want to go and we have t have a brainstorming session on how to make that happen.
"And you, Sarah? How are you enjoying my little Labyrinth?"
"Really? And how about upping the stakes?"
"You say that so often. I wonder what your basis for comparison is?"
"Miss. Miss Sarah" Siobhan said anxiously in her ear. "Are you all right?"
Sarah opened her eyes and looked at the girl. Here hazel eyes were wide with concern as they met Sarah's. As she looked closer, she noticed that the girls left pupil was larger than the other. Making one eye seem darker. She looked at Liam and noticed he appeared to have the same affliction. I've seen that peculiar eye development before, she thought to herself.
"Liam, what did you say your uncle's name was?" Sarah stared intently at the boy. He shuffled slightly and looked away. Sarah had taken enough psychology classes and worked with enough children to know that he was about to lie to her.
"Jeremy, Miss. Jeremy O'Donnell. He doesn't have a telephone; his farm is in a rural part of County Mayo. I'm afraid there is no way to contact him." Liam said quickly, looking down and becoming increasingly fascinated by the linoleum pattern.
"Really, Liam? I could have sworn you said something different just a moment ago." Sarah chided gently. She looked back and forth between the two, hiding a grin as they tried to look impossibly innocent while looking anywhere but at her.
"Siobhan?" She questioned, giving the girl a glittering green eyed stare.
"No, Miss. Liam said Jeremy. Jeremy O'Donnell is his name sure enough." The girl replied nervously.
"Well, perhaps I should speak to your parents. There must be some way to contact Uncle Jeremy."
The two looked at each other and seemed to come to an unspoken agreement between them. Taking a deep breath, they turned to Sarah and seemed to give a small sigh.
"Yes, Miss, you should speak to our parents. They'll clear everything up." Liam said. "Perhaps you should wait until Miss Susan is back though. We feel so very much safer when there is a mor..uhm, adult about."
Sarah stood looking at the pair, trying not to gape openly at them. Oh, they're good! She thought to herself. Something is going on around here and it has The Goblin Kings glitter infested fingerprints all over it.
Clearing her throat, she addressed them as casually as possible. "Well then, that settles it. When Susan returns, we'll coordinate a trip to the hospital for a checkup and a bath and I'll speak to your parents about any family members that could care for you.
Her reward was two beaming smiles and the children sitting at the table to quietly color while they waited for Susan to return.
Sarah began pacing around the room, watching the two from the corner of her eye. When they had been discussing their Uncle, the gentle colors that swirled around them had dimmed and become cloudy, after settling on speaking with their parents, the had again shimmered brightly.
Something is going on here, she thought to herself. I only hope I can keep it together long enough to contact Hoggle.
Several times over the last almost ten years, Sarah had noticed that strange things seemed to happen. Nothing overt, or particularly concerning, just odd. Little things, like losing her car keys, wishing to find them and then finding them almost immediately. Wishing to not get caught in the hellish mid-town traffic and mercifully having an almost traffic jam free ride. Occasionally, she would notice a sparkle to the outside of her vision, when she would turn to look, nothing would be there. Nothing on the scale of these kids, nothing like the strange clouds that she was seeing hovering around people today. Nothing like the increased thoughts and flashbacks to the Labyrinth and its enigmatic king.
Sarah continued her pacing and found herself in front of the two-way mirror. An uneasy feeling prickled along her spine. It didn't surprise her that they were being watched, no, that was to be expected. What surprised her was the absolute certainty that it was Detective Cooper and the malevolence that she felt coming from that glass. Shrugging her shoulders and trying to appear nonchalant, Sarah deliberately placed herself in a position that made seeing the children difficult from the angle that she felt the presence. After a moment the feeling shifted more to her right, so she casually shifted her stance, doing a seemingly bored shuffle while effectively blocking the children from view.
What is up with this place and these kids? She had been in the 54th precinct several times over the last year and never had she encountered the strangeness of this day. Or Detective Cooper for that matter. She frowned slightly as she realized she had never even heard of the man before this morning, although he seemed to be a well-known veteran of the drug enforcement squad.
Susan entered the room with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand and Sarah almost wept at the smell coming from the cup. She held out her hand and flashed the woman a grateful smile.
"Sorry I took so long, Sarah." She said, smiling warmly. "There wasn't a decent cup of coffee to be had anywhere, so I went around the corner to the bodega and grabbed us coffee and bagels." She held out a bag to her.
"Thank you Susan." Sarah took the bag and sniffed appreciatively. "Are you ok with these two for a while? I'm going to go talk to their parents, see if we can pin down the location of this uncle. Liam says his name is Jeremy O'Donnell, from County Mayo."
"Oh, of course. I spoke with Detective McKinney on the way back and he said there are locker rooms with showers in the basement. My assistant is going to bring by some clean clothes and bathing supplies. I'm sure they'll feel better clean." Susan said, turning to look at Liam and Siobhan.
Sarah again got an uncomfortable prickly feeling at the base of her skull. The thought of Susan and the children running into Detective Cooper without her there did not sit well with Sarah in the least little bit.
I don't know what I would do about him. She thought to herself.
"Um, yes, well. Perhaps you should wait to get them cleaned up at the hospital." Sarah began, nervously chewing her lip, trying to come up with a good reason to wait. Then, inspiration struck. She wasn't a lawyer for nothing, after all. "They might have evidence on them that the nurses and the doctors at the hospital would be able to collect. If we wash them before hand, it could be lost forever." Sarah held her breath, hoping Susan would see the logic. Her reward was a bright smile.
"Well of course! I'm sorry I didn't think of that myself! Well, it's a good thing I told you of my plans. Who knows what could have happened." Susan beamed at Sarah like she was a prize student. Sarah looked carefully at the older woman. That same golden haze was there, shining brightly and laced with varying hues of lavender, pink and orange.
I have really got to get a grip! She thought to herself. Of The Goblin Kings throat and squeeze, hard, because I just know that he has something to do with this.
"Well, I'll be off then. I shouldn't be very long. Hopefully mom and dad will be able to shed some light on the situation." Sarah put her hand on the door but paused when Siobhan spoke up.
"Miss Sarah, don't be too hard on Mum and Da, they're out of their depth. They don't understand what's happening, not really." The little girl looked very serious, seeming to have a wisdom beyond her years.
Sarah knelt down in front of the little girl, looking into her otherworldly eyes and something clicked. Taking a deep breath, she decided to take a chance and plunge down the rabbit hole again. Not something she did lightly, while she didn't regret or want to forget her time in the Labyrinth, it wasn't somewhere that she thought she ever wanted to go again. She just couldn't shake the feeling that these two were in danger and everything in her screamed to protect them at all costs.
"Say your right words, Siobhan." Sarah whispered, watching the girl's eyes widen.
"I can't Miss," she whispered. "I have to wait for the right moment."
"Don't worry about it, I can." Sarah felt no relief at being right. If anything she felt worse. A sinking sensation that her life was about to take a sharp and dangerous turn, one that would forever change her and everyone around her.
Bolting out the door, Sarah immediately went to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. It wouldn't do to be interrupted. Thankful to see a clear and clean mirror above the sink, she took a deep breath.
"Hoggle I need you." She said into the mirror, watching as it rippled and glowed. Instead of the aged and wrinkled face of Hoggle, the beautiful visage of The Goblin King himself appeared.
"Hello Sarah." He said, raising a brow and giving her a self-satisfied smirk.
"Jareth!" Sarah hissed at him.
"Miss me, precious?" His smile held a predatory quality, although, not as malicious as Sarah remembered it being at 15.
"You have some explaining to do Jareth. Where is Hoggle? I assume when I say Hoggle I need you, that's who I'll get." Sarah ground out between clenched teeth. "I'm not in the mood for your games."
"Hoggle is on a mission for me. He is searching for something of utmost importance that I have lost. I've decided to answer your call myself. I can be most generous, when the mood strikes me" He replied, his voice smooth and warm.
"You really should be more careful with your baubles, Jareth. You once told me they were no ordinary crystals." She said sarcastically. Watching him carefully, with Jareth involved, things were bound to get tricky. "If I ask you a question, would I get a straight answer?"
"You may ask anything you like my dear. If it is within my power to answer, then I will do so. I do, however, wonder why you've never called upon me before? We had such a pleasant time together before." He tipped his head to the side and gave her an impossibly innocent look, his wild blond locks whispering around his face.
"Are you deliberately screwing with my dreams to get back at me for beating you at your own sick game?" She asked, watching him intently.
Several emotions crossed his face at once, shock, possibly at her being so blunt and, if she wasn't mistaken, regret and sorrow. That she couldn't figure out. Before she had a chance to try to analyze it, he let out a low chuckle.
"What makes you think you defeated me, my dear?" His eyes gleamed with amusement.
His eyes! She thought. Looking closer, she noticed what she had always taken for granted as mismatched, one blue, one brown, was in fact two blue. The pupil of the left eye was very large, making it appear darker. Upon closer inspection, she could see the rim of blue around the overly large pupil.
"What's wrong with your eye, Jareth?" She asked slowly. Realization dawning on her that at least one mystery was about to be solved.
"What a thing to ask of me Sarah. There is nothing wrong with my eyes. They are as perfect as the day I was born. I can see, for instance, that the promise of your youthful beauty has been fulfilled beyond my wildest dreams in the woman I see before me now." He purred.
Sarah looked at her fingernails, adopting a bored expression. Shifting her stance to one of careless nonchalance, she looked at him from beneath her dark sweep of lashes. Green eyes sparking and said, "What would you say if I told you, believe I have met your children."
The look of pure shock on his face would have made her laugh out loud f she hadn't thought the situation was far more serious than what she understood. While he sputtered and floundered for a response, Sarah glared at him, waiting for him to find his words.
"I have no children, that I am aware of." He said, the look in his eyes sharpening.
"Liam and Siobhan." She stated deliberately.
"You have seen the twins? Where are they? Are their parents with them?" The game of cat and mouse forgotten, Jareth was all concern and worry, he looked to be straining to be bound in the mirror.
"Twins? There is no way those two are twins." Sarah stated. "We can't even determine an age on them. At first thought I was coming for two toddlers, I get her and I have two older children but still not the same age. Now you say they're twins? What gives Jareth? What in the name of hell is going on?" She demanded.
"Sarah, there are games afoot here that you have no idea of and no way of knowing how to play. There is powerful magic involved. I put a glamour on those two myself, they should appear to be but babes, if they are starting to age and that rapidly, then something is draining my magic from them. They have enough to keep it up themselves for short periods of time but their magic isn't strong enough yet aboveground, they need the boost of their parents." Jareth's worried frown deepened, his stance becoming rigid.
"Well, that's going to be a problem. Their parents have been arrested on drug charges." She said bluntly.
Jareth's frown continued to deepen, he took a breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. "That's impossible. Fae don't use mortal drugs. They will have no effect on us and will make us quite ill. Where have you gotten your information from?" He demanded, sounding more angry now, than worried.
"It's my job Jareth." She said simply. "I'm an attorney for children. I step in and speak for abandoned, neglected and abused children."
Jareth's eyes lit up and he gave her a rare, full smile. The effect was staggering. He was a beautiful man ordinarily, but when he smiled, he was radiant. He seemed to glow from the inside out.
"Why Sarah, saving all of the children of the world from my evil clutches?" He chuckled gently.
A sudden knock on the door startled her, she turned to Jareth and saw him start to fade.
"Jareth! Wait! What do I do with the children?" She called softly.
"Protect them, precious. Do what you do best, face the challenge, the danger. Be my champion yet again. I will be in touch."
His image and voice faded. The knocking was getting more impatient, accompanied by the handle being rattled. Sarah opened the door and smiled at the woman trying to get in.
"Sorry," she said, raising a shoulder. "I just needed a minute to gather my thoughts alone."
The other woman smiled at her and gave a small nod of understanding.
"We all have those days, honey" With that, the woman entered the bathroom and Sarah continued down the hall to where Liam and Siobhan's parents were being held.
A/N: You will notice that the little girl's name is spelled differently in this chapter, I have only caught my mistake and corrected it. If any of you are curious, or were unsue Siobhan is pronounced Sha-von. Thanks for reading!