The figure lingered by the window for a short while. Sarah looked on in terror, not saying a word, scared of who this shadow was and what it wanted. Her pulse was racing, and the sweat that she had gained from her passionate encounter with Jareth had turned into sweat of fear. Jareth didn't speak either but just stared at the shadow with curiosity and silent anger. They both seemed like they were waiting for the figure to emerge. They still were lying on Sarah's bed, but their grasp on each other had loosened up as they obviously felt uncomfortable knowing that they had just been watched by an unidentified man, woman or thing.

Sarah knew what it was - it was a threat! The creatures of the Underground had clearly found out that Jareth was with her. The power of the Goblin King and the new abilities of the mortal girl were plainly a huge threat to their civilization. But the major question that lurked in Sarah and Jareth's minds was the identity of this mystery threat. After all, Lysander told Sarah that the threats could look just like humans.

"Who are you?" asked Jareth finally in his stern demanding voice.

The figure laughed quietly but evilly, making Sarah's heart jump with fright. From its wicked cackle they could now tell that it was definitely male.

"I demand you to give me an answer you vile being!" ordered Jareth who sat up on Sarah's bed and straightened himself up.

The man walked forward slowly with heavy footsteps so that his identity could just be distinguished in the slight glimmer of the moonlight.

"Now now Jareth. There's no need for name-calling. You know better than that" said the man.

Sarah gazed in surprise at the man she once thought was a gentleman.

"Quince?!" she said.

"That's right, me!" said the tall dark noble-looking man who had treated Sarah so gallantly at the ball.

"What the hell do you think you are playing at Quince?!" shouted Jareth whose face now looked infuriated.

"I should be asking you the same question" said Quince looking inquisitively at Jareth and Sarah sitting on the same bed.

"I don't understand Quince" said Sarah modestly.

"Poor little Sarah. So naïve and innocent. Do you really think I'd actually dream of being your date at that ball. Remember this - 'I never believed in angels before I saw you'" he said in the charming voice he spoke with at the ball. "Ha! I can't believe you fell for that." Quince said as he started to move closer. His voice changed from its fake friendliness and changed to a scary, threatening tone. "Try and understand this Sarah. A careless mortal like you should not be exploiting the Underground just because you feel lonely and worthless in your own world!"

Sarah felt offended by this, but she knew that there was no time for her temper tantrums in this dangerous game.

"Look I'm sorry Quince okay, I would never have wished to go to your world if I knew the chaos that it was cause, but I would never try to take over your world. Never!" she cried.

"You don't need to apologise Sarah" snapped Jareth. "You've done nothing wrong." He looked at Quince with disgust. "I should have known that you were behind all this you wretched fool!"

"Oh come on Jareth. You can drop the act now. We've got her. There's nowhere for her to run" said Quince.

"What's he talking about?" asked Sarah.

"Nothing! Can't you see he's trying to wind you up" said Jareth.

"Come come Jareth. Don't lose sight of the game. Just because you've fallen for the girl, doesn't mean we should abandon our plan" said Quince.

"SHUT UP QUINCE!" shouted Jareth.

"What plan?" asked Sarah who felt totally naïve to the whole situation.

"Surely you don't think Jareth really liked you." said Quince who then let out a evil cackle. "It was our plan all along. The ball was supposed to be the perfect setting. We couldn't decide which one of us would get the pleasure in killing you. Then when you ran off into the bathroom I thought perfect! This is my chance. Then Jareth interrupted so I assumed that he would do the honours…". Quince then turned to look at the now furious Goblin King and smirked at him. "If I'd have known you were going to end up kissing her then I would have done it all on my own!"

"You filthy, repellent LIAR!" shouted Jareth as he stood up off the bed and quickly pulled out a crystal from beneath his cloak.

Sarah looked on in shock as Jareth was about to hurl the crystal at Quince. But Quince was too quick for Jareth and thrust his hand forward so that Jareth went flying across the room, hitting the back wall with a loud bang.

"Jareth!" Sarah screamed as she saw that the Goblin King had been almost knocked unconscious.

"Sarah" Jareth uttered in a hoarse and quiet voice, clearly in pain from the power that came from Quince's hand. "Don't…believe what he…said. I…would…never…"

"Its alright I know! I believe you!" cried Sarah who jumped off her bed and ran over to the wounded king.

"Where do you think you're going" said Quince as he grabbed Sarah's hand and pinned her against the wall beside her bed.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed noticing that Quince's eyes had turned from brown to a bright emerald green just like Wanda the Witch's had.

Quince held her wrists tightly making her scream in pain. His eyes pierced into hers. She tried to resist but they were just too hypnotising. Everything in the room seemed like it was twirling around her. Jareth was trying to shout for Quince to stop it but his voice was getting fainter, being overtaken by the ghostly screams of unidentified people in Sarah's head. All she could see was Quince's intense green eyes which were slowly putting her into a deep trance. The screams were getting louder and louder. She herself wanted to shout out but she couldn't speak or move. His eyes had her trapped. Her head was swimming with dizziness. Her brain could not take the noise anymore and her eyes couldn't take the intensity.

Eventually she fell to the floor with a loud thud. Her cold, petrified eyes were still wide open, but she was not moving. She was lifeless!…Quince had hypnotised her into unconsciousness so he could prepare for what he had planned all along - getting rid of Sarah once and for all!

Oooooooooh!

Hey all - it's RebelKat here. On Wednesday I will be away in Spain for a week so if I cannot get the next chapter up by then, you'll have to wait until I get back. Aghhh! Don't get mad at me! It all adds to the suspense. See you soon!