A barn owl landed on a tree branch outside of Sarah's window, ruffling his feathers. The young woman was sitting at her childhood vanity, staring into the mirror. She still had expressive brown eyes and silky brown hair falling to her chest. Just as Jareth had stayed the same, Sarah Williams had grown into a mature beauty. She even wore clothes similar to the ones she had on that fateful night; an open-necked white shirt from her RennFest days, a vest, and jeans.
Sarah had become an actress. At the moment, she was the main lead in 'Meander's Queen'. Her hometown had been the last stop before a brief career rest period. The play's run, however, was over and she had come home for a visit. Jareth wondered if she had found the crystal he had left next to her book. Sarah had hidden almost everything connected with him away in a drawer. He had tried to do the same, only within his mind.
There was a knock on her door. Sarah turned to fact it, "Come in."
The door opened and Toby entered the room. He was fifteen, now in those gawky teenage years. His blonde hair was a little long, but his usually confused eyes begged almost like a dog. "Sarah! I've missed you!" he cried, hugging her.
Sarah laughed. "I've missed you too. I bet you only missed my stories though." She told him.
His sheepish expression admitted this. Sarah opened a drawer in her vanity. She pulled out two books: The Labyrinth and a small diary. Jareth recognized the red one as the book that gave her those words. How he hated those words. Sarah handed them both to Toby.
"These should help," she said. "The red is a book I loved. The second is the story I used to tell you when you were little."
Toby's face broke into a grin. "You mean the one with Jareth and the goblins?"
Jareth almost fell off his perch. She had told Toby about him? It had been a long time since he had looked in on the Williamses.
Sarah shushed him. "Yes, Toby. But remember what I said."
"I remember. Don't say his name or make wishes. I thought it was just a good story, Sarah. It's not like Jareth is gonna randomly show up and whisk us away somewhere." Toby sighed.
Sarah noticed her stepbrother's listlessness. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"I feel as though I don't belong here," he said. "I'm ahead in all my classes and nothing's a challenge. I don't even have any friends."
"I was like that. Then I gained enough confidence to join drama," she smiled. "Just look at me now. You need a push, that's all."
Toby shrugged. "I might graduate early and I've been taking online college course. That should be enough, but it's not."
"Well, haven't we turned out to be quite the genius? I wonder how that happened."
Jareth knew what she was thinking. Not me, Sarah. All I've done is watch over him. And you. No matter what she though, his power was limited; not very limited, but limited nevertheless. Thinking of limits, he would have to return soon. He looked back into Sarah's room. Toby had gone and Sarah had turned back to her mirror.
She happened to glance down while shutting her drawer. She gasped, pulling the crystal out. When only her shocked eyes stared back at her from her mirror, Sarah turned in her chair. Her gaze fell to her window. As if in a trance, she went over to the window and flung it open. She stared at him with disbelief.
"Jareth?" Sarah's mouth moved, but no sound came from her throat. She held the crystal out to him. He raised his right wing in a silent greeting. They stood like this for a few moments before a tear slid down Sarah's cheek. This unnerved Jareth. He launched himself from the tree, a feather drifting down to the ground. He flew up to the moon, not looking back.
Sarah ran downstairs and out the door. She picked up the feather, watching him fly away. Twirling it in her hand, she returned to her room. She placed the feather and the crystal into her drawer. Why now after all this time? Was he here for Toby? She threw herself onto her bed. Sometimes she could believe it was all a dream she had had, then she would remember. All her friends, what were they doing now? She had lost touch while on tour, but this worried her. Not to mention, brought up suppressed emotion.