I have identified an inconsistency in my plot between this chapter and the last. I have fixed this by changing a scene from chapter 4, which would be the part where she's walking to the park before it rains, reading her book. If you read that chapter and she was reciting lines from the book she held, then I recommend you read the new version of that scene. If she was reciting from memory, then ignore all this.

Kind of a shorter chapter, but it's a rather important one. It moves rather quickly, but that kind of matches the tone of the chapter. I thought about adding some stuff, to make it longer, but I already made the decision to avoid editing the story as I transfer it from my computer to FF. Maybe I'll put up a revised version or something, later on... but then... probably not.

I don't own Labyrinth in any way, shape, or form. I don't pretend to either.

Hope you like it!

For five days, I went easy; hanging back while the rest of the club would do field work, play small games with Toby when he begged me to play with him, and I stuck with cereal in the mornings and microwaveable dinners for lunch. Dinner, however, Irene always makes. She enjoys cooking for the family... just not me alone. She'll make pancakes for Toby and Dad, but we have a mutual understanding that I was to cook myself breakfast. Same with lunch.

Luckily, when we started swimming in my club, Jareth declared my arm fully healed. Not one person except for us knew about my injury, and he said we should keep that way. For I wasn't only healed, I was literally as good as new. No trace of the injury would be left, not even a scar.

I love swimming. It reminded me of that feeling I got when I was in the top of that tree. It's almost like flying.

After swimming, we started hiking through local trails. I was always most interested in returning to the park, however. On the weekends, when we didn't meet up, I went to that same tree and bench. Only now, I just read.

The first time I returned, I took one look at the bench and freaked out; the red book! I told Jareth about it, and he only chuckled and took it out. Good as new, and he still trusted me with it after everything that had happened. But I swear to take much better care of it now.

I was reading a new book now. It was about twelve sisters who went to a magical land across the lake every full moon, while their cousin was taking over both their home and his own. Dancing and magic, magical creatures, I loved it.

Toby's birthday was coming up, and Irene wouldn't let us forget it. There were presents stuffed in the closet, the one he still couldn't open, and she'd had a cake specially designed with knights and dragons on it. His birthday was four days before fourth of July, and we had fireworks stuffed in the cabinets for him. Everyone uses fireworks a tad bit early, so it didn't matter either way.

But Toby loved it. He thought he was in heaven, turning five. Fireworks, cake, dozens of presence, showered with love, he deserves it. When I went to bed, Jareth didn't bother me with questions or offer comfort. He just took his post and let me sleep. He always knew exactly what I needed.

Fourth of July, I could see the creatures pooling under bushes and whatnot, even with my family so close. I loved this holiday, its so beautiful. The fountains, the flares, the smoke bombs, it's something you don't need conversation to enjoy. After the park's grand finale, three dozen classic fireworks exploding in the sky for two minutes straight, we got to do our own.

It's been a tradition in our family since Dad was little; we'd each take a Roman candle from Uncle Clide's place, he makes fireworks, and make a wish for every shot we received. Uncle Clide intentionally mixes good flares with duds, so you never know how many times it will go off. He learned how do to it from grandpa, and now Clide was teaching his son, six years older than me, how to do it.

We all stuck our sticks into the ground, Dad fixing Toby's up. Then, together, we set them off. Toby even stuck his punk to the wick and ran back farther than strictly necessary.

One, two, three, Dad's stopped going off. Four, five, Irene's ceased. Six, seven, eight, nine, Toby's finally came to a whizzing halt. But mine hadn't gone off once.

"Did you see how many I got!?" Toby squeed excitedly.

"Better luck next year." Irene nodded to me, before egging her son's excitement on. Dad started to collect all of the trash, leading the others back over to the blanket area. We'd walked a significant distance away in case they fell over or went off wrong. We weren't the only ones in the park tonight.

I sighed, looking at my dud of a Roman Candle. Not a single one.

All of the sudden, it sizzled and exploded, a single golden shot flying high into the air, unlike the greenish color of everyone else's.

I laughed and looked around. I little ways away, I saw Jareth standing there, winking at me with a grin on his face.

"I wish there were more." I made my wish immediately. Then, I wondered if I wasn't specific enough, but, that was foolish. Because a moment later, it came true. More fireworks started to go off in the sky. Dad, Irene, and Toby stopped to watch, and I grinned at it all excitedly before sneaking a bit farther away to thank my friend.

"I think that's cheating." I crossed my arms. He mirrored me.

"I wasn't aware this game had rules."

"It doesn't, but that was still cheating."

He chuckled and handed me another fountain. "Then here. If I'll cheat, I'll at least see my own fireworks shot off."

"What is it?" I looked it over curiously. There was a picture of a strange castle on it, and it was only about seven inches tall. Just a small cylinder.

"You'll see." He nodded towards the others. I waved and ran off.

"Look what I found!" I showed them. I did find it... in Jareth's hand.

Dad shot it off, and I sat back with wide eyes. Orange and gold, with blue sparks. Then, the whizzing was in a familiar tune. I grinned and hummed with it.

"Hhhmmm, mmh, hm. Hmmm, hmmm, hhmmh. Hmmm, hmmm, hhmmh."

"What are you doing?" Dad asked curiously.

"Nothing." I smiled, and skipped over to start picking up trash from the grass.

"Hhhmmm, mmh, hm." A voice hummed as I fell asleep that night. I smiled and joined.

"Hmmm, hmmm, hhmmh."

I used to hum that tune when I was scared, but now, it seemed like something we shared. Life couldn't be better than it was this summer.

A month later, and my own birthday was coming back again. It was hard to believe, I'd known Jareth for a year already! I can't believe it.

And yet, as my birthday drew nearer and nearer, something was bothering him more and more.

Finally, the last night I would be nine years old, he answered my questions.

"Sarah, come here." He waved me closer as I climbed into the bed. I sat beside him and yawned. But he didn't say anything for a moment.

"What's wrong?" I asked, his own nervousness leaking off onto me. I was anxious enough to fidget, so I couldn't imagine what he was feeling.

"Do you remember a conversation we had a while back? After you'd broken your arm?"

"What? I haven't done anything reckless since!" I defended myself. He put his hands up in defense.

"I meant, when I said I wouldn't be here forever."

My heart plummeted, and I shrank back. No, he couldn't mean...

"Tomorrow, you turn ten. At that age... you lose none of your magic. Absolutely none, so long as you refuse to stop believing as strongly as you do." He insisted.

"But..."

"But you are no longer such an integrated part of magic. These creatures, they create no magic of their own, but feed of from others'. They prey on the weakest of magic, held in children around your age who truly believe. If I was not here, they would kill you, I have no doubt. They would kill you for your strong bond with magic. That is why they are here."

I looked back down at the creatures again, vicious and snarling, hissing at Jareth angrily.

"So what happens when I turn ten?" I asked, looking back to him patiently.

"You are stronger. You are no longer a weak target for them to pray on. Even if they do kill you, they cannot feed on magic through you. They will leave."

"So you won't have to be here anymore." I was holding the emotion back. He won't have to be here, but he could still come and visit-

"I won't be able to be here." He corrected. "My duty is to my own home, and it was your wish that I could not ignore. It is the reason I keep coming back, it's the reason I can. But if they are no longer here to bother you, the wish is void."

"You, you can't leave." My eyes started to wet.

"I'm sorry, Sarah. But also at ten, you are too old for me to answer your wishes on a whim. I cannot come back on my own."

"I'll never see you again?"

"I don't know." He shook his head. "You have to promise me you'll still be very careful, alright?"

"I don't want you to leave forever." My tears overflowed.

"I don't either. But my magic doesn't allow me to appear before older children or adults in such a way. At ten, you are no longer a child. You're a teenager."

A teenager? I hadn't ever even thought of myself being one. That's completely new to me. But... his magic?

I lunged over and grabbed the crystal I've carried this whole time out of the night stand. The creatures lunged, but I trusted Jareth. He growled at the ones that dared jump forward. By now, that doesn't even freak me out. Because, he was only threatening to them. Never me. Never, ever me.

"Your birthday wish." He realized. "What did you ever wish for?"

"It did come true." I nodded to him. "I'd wished that you would be a good friend, not like the others."

He gave a sad smile to me. But I still had this one wish.

"I wish we will meet again." I clutched it close, looking up again. His eyes widened, and he shook his head. But it was too late, the crystal was gone and the magic was set.

"Sarah..." He looked horrified.

"What?" I shifted. "What's wrong with my wish?"

"We will meet again... you should know better. To be more specific. We may not meet for several decades, or in an unsavory situation. Were you any more specific?"

"I wished that we'd meet again, and that we wouldn't have to part again then." I hesitated. "Was that wrong too?"

He stared at me, before chuckling sadly and taking me up into his arms again for a hug.

"Never wrong. I do like your wish. Goodnight, Precious."

"Goodnight Jareth."

Told you it was a rather short chapter. But it's about as long as the first one. Oh, well. On my computer, I don't write in chapters. I just write continuously. So I've got to find good places to end the chapter that's about as far in as a normal chapter would be. Sometimes, like with this one, there isn't a good stopping point for several hundred words in either direction. So I chose to cut it short, rather than adding a whole other arch to the chapter. I'll save it for a new chapter, so I could just end this one on a low note.

R&R, I love to read reviews. They improve my writing just as well!