-1Author's note: Thank you a million times over to Oh You Pretty Things for stepping up and beta-ing my massive mess of typos and grammatical errors. She has been working to catch up and now we are all revised and set to produce some error-free chapters. So, sorry for the delay, but I think we will all appreciate Pretty Things' work. As I would say to my girls, "Say thank you to Oh You Pretty Things!" Thank you. Back to the story.

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Sarah awoke with a jolt. She still sat in the window, though it was now the dead of night and quite cold. She stiffly stretched her legs and cracked her back. Her body could no longer take this. She slipped off the wide sill and landed on the stone floor with dead weight.

The crystal was clear now. She balanced it on her fingers again, feeling it resting there and trying to envision how it should roll. No, something was wrong. She lifted the crystal and place it on the back of her hand, nestling it in her fingers. Slowly, she rolled it along the back of her arm, catching it as it tried to jump off her elbow. It was now dark green and black, like the forest.

Again, she placed the crystal on her fingers and rolled it along, this time rolling it back up her arm and catching it on her tripod of fingers. It wobbled and she had to steady it, but this time the picture was even clearer. She tried again and again, managing to speed up the twisting, braiding motion into a choppy imitation of Jareth's fluid movements. It all became much simpler as she understood it, allowing the crystal to balance. Oddly enough, the more the felt she was wrong, the easier it became. Eventually, she settled into a sort of doubt that managed to reverse and produce a dexterous likeness to Jareth's movements.

As it turned, the picture became clearer. Finally, she balanced it upon her fingers and stared into its depths.

Jareth sat against a tree, eyes closed, body relaxed. Sarah nearly dropped the crystal in fear, but recognized the rapid eye movement of deep sleep. The orange glow of embers lit his features. He frowned slightly, a leg twitching. She watched him like this for a long while, taking passive comfort in the knowledge of his safety. She wondered why he was still in the forest though, and not moving to the castle. It had been nearly a whole day and he still seemed to be in the same forest. "Jareth," she murmured softly.

All at once he jerked awake, staring straight ahead. Sarah cupped the crystal closer to her face. "Jareth?" she said a little louder. He blinked a few times, eyes darting back and forth in the manner of one listening to something far away. "Jareth," she said as loud as she dared. But he blinked it out as though disbelieving. Slowly, he rose to his feet and moved over to a small, dying fire. He looked about himself pensively. Sarah noticed many other odd lumps about the forest floor and was startled when one stretched. At least half a dozen Fieries were curled up asleep on the ground.

Jareth looked out over the massive junkyard under the bright light of the three moons. He folded his arms and stared off at the castle in the distance. Sarah looked out the window and wondered. Something struck her: where was the junkyard? She had walked all the way around the massive castle and yet she couldn't see the expanse of waste anywhere.

She gazed out toward the forest again and then up to the stars, hope burning in her eyes.

…..oOo…..

The next morning, Sarah awoke in a pile of pillows, the crystal-necklace lay in her hand just as the crystal had when she had fallen asleep. She bathed and dressed quickly then pushed through the doors and to the dining hall. She wouldn't wait to be escorted like the prisoner that she was. She moved swiftly down the halls in her billowy cotton skirt, all the while glancing out the windows to catch sight of the forest and to look for the massive junk heap.

"The princess stirs" a voice came from the shadows of an alcove. Sarah jumped back, then stiffened as Etan swaggered out and blocked her path. "Was your sleep restful?"

"Quite," she said bitterly.

"Now, now, my tempestuous friend, I would watch my tongue if I were you," he was staring at her mouth, "or I might have to take care of it for you."

He roughly grabbed her by the elbow and steered her to the dining hall, allowing his hands to linger on her waist as he moved her through the hallways and seated her in her chair.

They ate once more in silence, Sarah avoiding his eyes while Etan eyed her menacingly. Sarah finally broke the silence. "Etan, do tell me, why is Jareth's power greater than your own?"

He slammed his fork back onto the table, bringing her attention to him. "Don't you dare mention him ever again. Do you understand?"

"But Etan, really, I was only wondering how it was possible when you are so-"

"Do not play coy games with me. I warn you, I already grow tired of your expedient ways." He stood abruptly and stormed to the door of the room. "I will expect you in formal wear in thirteen hours for dinner." He raised his hand and a clock appeared. "Do not be late. And, do not toy with me any longer. I will not have such insolence." With that, he left.

"Damn," Sarah muttered. His patience was not lasting as long as she'd hoped. Not by a long shot.

…..oOo…..

When darkness fell, Sarah was in her room. She pulled the chain from her neck and watched as the tiny bauble morphed into a large sphere. She began to turn it, only dropping it a few times now, and watched Jareth. He was once more standing at the heath, this time with the sunset fading away on his face. He turned and walked back into the forest, where the fieries were crawling about like possessed monkeys. He said something, but Sarah could not hear very well. The fieries appeared to respond.

Something flashed in the corner of her eye and Sarah whirled around, hiding the crystal behind her back. A clock appeared in her room, showing her that she had an hour before she was to meet for dinner. Grudgingly, she stashed the crystal away and went to dress.

In the clothes cavern, she searched about for what would be considered formal. This was difficult, as there were ball gowns mixed in with Aboveground style formalwear and even some odd sheer bundles that Sarah guessed must be Underground lingerie. She shoved these to the back of the closet and looked over her selection.

What was too formal? What was too casual? She supposed that the ball gowns were considered formal for the Underground, but then why include the Armani and Versace styles too? She thought it best to look stunning to distract him from her earlier behavior, but not so sexy that he would give up on their agreement altogether.

She finally decided on a black and red confection consisting of a flowing black skirt and sheer red silk chiffon empire bodice that flowed out over the black creating rippling sheer wave of color.

She almost literally floated down the halls to the dinning room, swirling in a few minutes past the designated time. Etan was already sitting at the table, a goblet of wine in hand.

"You're late." She turned to face him, then glided over and bent to kiss his cheek. His scowl turned to approval as she sauntered around and sank into the chair across from his. She smiled seductively, then assumed a nonchalant expression that made him laugh with unabashed pleasure. Inside, she was writing in disgust.

"I am prepared to forgive you."

Their food appeared and Sarah noted, not for the first time, that she had not seen any other living thing besides Etan for the past two days.

"Where were you all day?" she began, attempting to redirect his attention off her reconciliatory acts.

"Doing all the things a king must do."

"Such as?"

"Establishing land contracts with the neighboring kingdoms, doing business with the locals, processing traitors," he swirled his goblet. "I daresay there is one prisoner who I'd like to process thoroughly and savagely.

Sarah looked away, uncomfortably feeling her situation. "What else do you do?" she said quickly.

"I make arrangements, settle disputes, whatever my land calls me to do. I am a good king to my followers." Sarah swallowed hard. "Though, to cross me would be unwise."

…..oOo…..

Sarah did not eat much at dinner. Back in her room, she found herself once again seated in the window, staring out over the labyrinth. She leaned back and began to think of Jareth, her mind wandering out to distant places. She pictured the ballroom where she had first doubted Jareth's imposing exterior. How quickly she had dismissed it. She closed her eyes as she fell deeper into the memory.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw the shimmering light of a crystal. She reached out slowly and touched it. The light compressed into a crystal, settling lightly in her hand, and then another formed, and another. Three crystals in her palm. She wasn't sure what to do with them. These were different from the crystal Jareth had given her; they had little weight and rolled about easily in her palm. She wiggled her fingers, watching as they spun around slowly. Inside each one was a vision of the ballroom. She remembered how the three crystals had come floating to find her.

She picked one out of her palm, feeling its soap bubble smoothness and, then she released it into the air. It hovered there expectantly, as though waiting for an order. "Find Jareth for me," she whispered, she blew it out into the night sky. She sent the others off as well and watched them float away gently.

In her other crystal, she spotted Jareth pacing about anxiously. Now and again, he glanced out at the star strewn sky as though wishing for some divine intervention. By now the crystals were out of sight, floating out over the maze like feathers on a breeze. Sarah watched him for a long time, wondering if her crystals would ever reach him.

She had almost given up hope when he broke from his pacing and stared at the sky. His eyes were following something, dancing after a bobbing object in the distance. She smiled as his brow furrowed, then lifted in surprise. He stretched out a gloved hand and one of the crystals broke lightly over his hand.

At once, Sarah felt a tugging sensation in her stomach and her vision melted away into a dream.