A/N: And as promised, it's time for chapter two! Thank you to all who read and enjoyed the first chapter of my tale. I hope that many of you continue to enjoy it. A huge thank you to those of you who reviewed or decided to follow this story, your interest helps me with my inspiration with the future chapters I am posting. The next chapter will probably be up in a few weeks. As I said, I have much to add and fix in each chapter. Many have undergone multiple revisions to add plot here, foreshadowing there, better characterization in another spot... etc.

This next chapter is a bit not fun. I do try to add humor to my stories (As anyone who has read my Sarah/Jareth story can probably see), but this chapter is important for very non-funny reasons. To tide you all over, I ask you to imagine Jareth bald.

Reviews are always appreciated. I hope you enjoy!

She wiped her forehead with the cloth, sagging against a wall out of complete exhaustion. Cara nestled her head into Evelyn's hand, meowing sympathetically.

"Did I not warn you that this would happen?" A voice spoke from beside her. Evelyn barely acknowledged him, looking instead down at the small kitten who was also paying Kallaster no heed. She rubbed behind Cara's ears affectionately and sighed wearily, shaking her head.

"Goblin King, I have already told you many times, I have no intention of wishing my stepbrother to you. Despite how my stepmother has chosen to treat me, I mean to raise Farris to be a good king. I will not let his mother corrupt him as she has my father." She looked at him, her pale green eyes showing the experience and maturity that the frock she was wearing hid from view to the rest of the world.

"He would not be corrupted, were he to live with me in my castle." Kallaster said with a teasing grin. He knelt down next to her and reached a hand out to draw some of the hair from the princess' face.

Evelyn frowned and hit his hand away. "He would be turned into a goblin, Your Majesty. That may be considered a minor setback where you come from but in my kingdom he would be considered an exile."

Nightingale, Thomas, Labyrinth. 35. Print

Chapter Two: Don't Blink

Some time before Sarah would be waking up and trying to make sense of things, her thirteen year old brother, Toby, would be experiencing a similar dilemma. One second, his older sister had been standing in his bedroom, sternly ordering him to put the stupid suitcase which he had stolen from her back, the next she was gone. He hadn't even blinked... that couldn't be right.

"Sarah?" he asked uncertainly, dropping the suitcase into the centre of the floor. Toby looked around pensively, unable to understand what had just happened. He frowned. There was no way he could possibly believe that he had literally just seen his sister dematerialize in front of him. His eyes must have been playing tricks on him.

"Ha ha, very funny." The boy stated as he rolled his eyes. "You can come out now..."

There was the sound of a loud crash coming from his closet. He jumped into action and pushed his clothes out of the way, only to find that there was nobody there. Now the sound of scuffling feet was behind him, but when he whirled around, again, there was nothing.

"Sarah!" Toby was getting impatient. "Quit hiding. You're being mean and this doesn't solve anything!"

She isn't here.

A voice, almost a whisper, masculine and strong seemed to echo through the room, or at least Toby's head. He dismissed it at his own thoughts and continued to look for his sister.

He thought he saw movement in the corner of his eye, but again there was nothing there when he turned and looked.

He was becoming less convinced that whatever was going on was his sister's doing.

"Wh-what's going on..? Sarah? Sarah, where are you!?"

I said she's not here.

Now he was becoming frantic, glancing everywhere. He swore he saw eyes peering at him from under the bed, through the crack in the dresser, under the pile of laundry he had stuffed into a corner, and amongst the shadows of many other locations. No. That was his rampant imagination again. It had to be... right?

He thought of going to get his mom, asking her for help. No, he had heard Sarah and his mom fighting. That usually led to the same thing. His mom would have gone off driving to let off some steam, leaving him alone to deal with his sister and her to look out for him. They were so used to this routine that she didn't even ask anymore.,. Then again, he didn't remember a time that she had.

A loud cough that came from under the bed pulled him from his thoughts, but when he bent down and looked underneath all he found was that Lancelot had fallen off of his bed again. He picked the stuffed teddy bear up and dusted him off before placing it next to his pillow, grimacing.

"Sarah, this isn't a game anymore! Come out now!" Toby shouted.

"You really aren't very good at listening, are you? I am not going to repeat myself a third time." The same voice that he had heard in his mind was now behind him. Toby whirled around in surprise, almost tripping over his sister's suitcase in the process.

Suddenly he was surrounded.

Small... creatures, for that's all he could call them at the moment, were everywhere. A small greenish... thing was on his bed. Another, much larger one that was somewhat orange and fat was sitting on top of her dresser. There were at least ten of them, all different shapes, sizes, and colours, but none of them drew Toby's attention as much as he did.

In front of Toby stood a man. Or at least he looked like a man, but there was something... off... about him.

He was tall, with long dark brown hair which though it was supposed to be pulled back into a ponytail, had several unkempt strands that stuck out from it and lay flat against his face. His eyes, which he swore had a different sized pupil than normal, were a deep green hue. The amused smile he was giving Toby didn't seem to fit with the rest of his features.

It was his choice in clothing that really stuck out in Toby's mind. He was wearing a long cloak that had a multitude of iridescent dark blue and silver hues glimmering through it. This was overtop of a deep brown leather jacket and silvery tunic. The jacket matched the long boots that he was wearing. The tunic was a lighter shade of the dark gray fabric he was wearing as some kind of tights.

To be honest, the man looked like like he had been pulled out of one of Sarah's stupid fantasy stories she was always writing. Toby could almost imagine the kind of gucky language she would have used to describe him. A cunning grin. A foreboding aura. Richly sewn fabrics of the kind only a King would-

In that instance, Toby remembered a book. One he had found while Sarah was away, hidden in her room. A book of a princess, a baby, goblins, wishes, and the king that granted them.

He looked up at him, quivering slightly as he suddenly felt tired and overwhelmed. "Give her back." he asked, feeling small compared to the tall male.

The Goblin King, for that was who he was, grinned wider. The surrounding goblins laughed.

"Ah, so you have decided to listen after all, have you? Aren't you going to be polite and ask my name and give me yours, little Toby?" His final question was posed with an incredibly condescending tone.

"I don't care what your name is, Goblin King. I only care about where you've taken my sister."

The king laughed. The other goblins joined him as if on cue.

"Well, in that case, your 'Sarah' has been taken to my kingdom in the Underground." he stated, speaking to Toby as though Toby were much younger than he actually was. While he spoke, he wandered around the room, plucking Lancelot off of his bed and examining it with amusement, paying no heed to Toby. "You've no need to thank me. It was, after all, you who wished me to take her."

He had, hadn't he? Oh, no. That hadn't been what he wanted. Toby looked up at the Goblin King fearfully.

"What... What are you planning on doing with her?" he asked with concern.

"Well turn her into another goblin, of course! You did read that book, didn't you? It's not very often these days that little boys and girls find the right words without it... and to think, it had been written in an attempt to prevent these things!" The Goblin King laughed again, this time harder. "The irony is quite enjoyable, don't you agree?" The question did not appear to be asked to Toby, but to the smaller goblins, who instantly broke out into hysterics.

"No!" Toby fumed. "It's not funny! Nothing about this is funny!" His voice turned desperate. "I want my sister back, please! You know I didn't mean what I said."

The Goblin King wagged his finger and tsked, not taking his attention away from the teddy.

"Words have meaning, Toby. Whether you meant it or not bears no relevance. It was you, not I, who wished your poor defenseless sister to me."

One of the goblins booed at Toby, others mockingly gasping or imitated their king by wagging their short stubby fingers at him with feigned disappointment.

"I told you I didn't mean it!" Toby whined, looking from goblin to goblin with regret over his face as he tried to ignore the wave of guilt that was passing through him. "Please give her back, I want Sarah back!"

The Goblin King's grin dropped suddenly and he glared at Toby venomously.

"Then you shouldn't have said it!"

Toby retreated back a step. This time he did trip over Sarah's suitcase, landing on the floor with a soft thump. The king loomed over him, glowering.

"You humans are all alike." He sneered, "Throwing words around as though they were useless! Meaningless! Powerless! You would do well to remember that this has never been the case!"

"Well even if I did mean it, I've changed my mind! Give her back!" Toby shouted.

"You think it's that easy?" The Goblin King laughed wickedly. "You can't just tell me to give her back and think that I will!?"

"Well apparently it was that easy to tell you to take her away in the first place!" Toby snapped back. He pulled himself back onto his feet and returned the Goblin King's glares with one of his own.

"No, it was that easy for you to give her to me." he responded coolly. Whatever else Toby was about to say in retaliation got stuck in his throat as the guilt hit him again. The Goblin King seemed to take notice of this, for he grinned again, his words dripping with an accusing tone. "I would have had no power to take your sister without the permission that you gave to me."

Toby was getting desperate. "Well there must be some way for me to get her back!"

"There is! There is!" Shouted several of the small goblins, some sounding gleeful and excited, others with a hint of warning. "There is a way!"

The Goblin King seemed to pause, looking at Toby as though he were sizing him up. His attention drifted back to the bear which he was still holding, staring at it thoughtfully.

"My subjects are right, of course. There is always a way. You can enter my kingdom, find your way to the centre of my Labyrinth, to my castle, and there you must defeat it. But I do not think that you would find the reward of saving your sister worth the challenge or the risk of rescuing her... Even if it was you who put her there in the first place."

Toby paused.

"...What sort of risks?"

"It's quite simple, really. You may have as long as you need to get to the centre. I am, after all, a very generous king... However, should you give up or be defeated, unless of course you die..." He paused, allowing the word to sink in. Toby shuddered. "Yes, if you survive but are unable to rescue your dearest sister, you too will be turned into a goblin, forgotten about by those you love. Even Sarah, though she will remember that she was wished away and was unwanted by you, won't ever remember who you are, even if you try your very hardest to remind her... so don't even think for a second that losing means that you still get to be together." The Goblin Kings final words were like ice. But something about the his offer seemed off. It took Toby a few moments to figure out what it was.

"I don't remember that rule being in the book." he stated, confusion obvious in his voice.

"The book," the Goblin King paused, his face grimacing with distaste, "also stated you would only have thirteen hours in which to solve The Labyrinth... Would you prefer that instead?"

Toby didn't respond. In his mind, neither was a preferable option.

"Of course..." The Goblin King's voice went soft again, turning the bear upside down, "...you could always chose to forget yourself. Should you choose to give up now, I can make it so that you never even remember what you did... Your sister would still remember, would probably hate you for it for the rest of her life, but you wouldn't even remember that you still had a sister... Perhaps..." he looked at Toby for the first time since he spoke of his offer, grinning. "Yes, perhaps we could alter everyone's memories so that she died when your father did."

Toby, though he would never admit it to anyone, had started to feel tempted to take the Goblin King's offer up. It would be easier, he had told himself, and if he failed then Sarah and he both would have had to live on as goblins... That was before the Goblin King's last words. Those words slammed into him like a brick wall and left him breathless.

"What did you just say..?" he asked, his voice near a whisper.

The Goblin King chuckled. "I said, perhaps we could change you, your mother, everyone's memories so that your dear Sarah was with daddy in that car last summer."

"How... How did you know that that's what happened?"

"I may have looked into your dreams once or twice..." The Goblin King admitted with a smugly innocent tone, circling Toby thoughtfully. "What did you think I was doing when I picked up your little toy? Finding myself a new plaything..?" He wagged Lancelot into Toby's face and grinned impishly. "I prefer to get to know my solicitants before I give them the opportunity to forget their guilt, their pain... Would it not be easier to believe your sister dead than to know yourself as the reason she is no longer with you? With her family? Her friends?"

"NO!" Toby pulled himself away from the Goblin King, anger swelling up. "I'm not going to lose her too! You can't make me! I accept the challenge!"

The Goblin King stopped circling and grinned widely at Toby.

"Excellent. Well, then, shall we begin?"

Toby glared up at him.

"No. If I have all the time that I want, then I have time to grab a few things from here first. You can just wait here and be patient."

The Goblin King's smile faded slightly while the goblins failed to hide several giggles into their hands...

"You can't be serious." He said, with a falsely jovial tone.

"I'm perfectly serious." Toby retaliated. "You can stand there and wait while I get ready."

"I really have no time for such nonsense." he remarked coldly. "If you must get ready, then by all means... get ready." His face turned into a sneer again. "But I am a king. I have no time to wait for children to get into their 'adventure clothes'." The Goblin King sighed and appeared to pull out a small shard of glass out of nowhere with his free hand. Before Toby could remark on the trick, the shard of glass had weaved itself into a small, elaborate hand mirror and passed to him. "Once you are ready to enter, simply state, 'I wish I were at the Goblin King's entrance to the Labyrinth', and the mirror shall take you there. Don't take too long though, or your poor sister may start to think that you have already given up on her."

There was a flash of light and smoke before Toby could say anything in response. Once his eyes could see again and the smoke had settled, Toby not only realized that the Goblin King had stolen Lancelot but also that once again, he had found himself very much alone.

A/N: Who wants to guess what Toby is going to pack?