Sarah closed her eyes the moment he touched her. It brought back memories she thought she had finally lost. Of course, he would return now when her life was just coming together. A strong wind ripped through her thoughts, scattering them. She didn't open her eyes until she knew solid ground was beneath her feet again. She found herself staring into Jareth's face. He smiled slowly.
"I told you, you are no match for me, Sarah," he said softly.
"And I said you have no power over me." She pushed away from him. If she hoped those words would banish him again, it was in vain.
Toby wasn't paying much attention to the exchange between his sister and the Goblin King. He was staring down at the Labyrinth and the Goblin City. "Fantastic!" he cried in complete awe.
Jareth turned away from Sarah to smile at her brother. "Isn't it? One day, it, and its power, will belong to you," he told the boy.
"Oh, no! We are not," Sarah interjected. "Going through this again. Still we obviously cannot go home until we help you with whatever it is, so can't you just tell me what's going on already?" And maybe I can find a cute, mortal boy to fall in love with when we get home. She thought bitterly.
Toby looked vastly confused, but Jareth only shrugged. Sarah glanced down at her dress. "I hope," she continued with venom. "You don't mean for me to travel Labyrinth in this thing."
Toby shook himself out of his confusion. "Sorry, Sarah," he said, unzipping a pocket of the backpack he had slung over his shoulder. "Here, I brought these for you. I don't know if your dress will fit in the backpack though."
Sarah blessed the fact that she had forgone style for the comfort of her black flats and that she had a smart brother. After accepting the clothes, she simply stared at Jareth. He pouted, a surprisingly attractive pout.
"You're not going to ---"
"No!"
"Fine," he sighed. Taking off his cloak, he threw it at her.
Instead of hitting her, like she thought it would, the cloak hung in the air, forming a circular screen. Sarah breathed a sigh of relief before pulling on the jeans. She pulled off the dress and pulled on the grey tank top as quickly as possible. She had a hunch which proved to be spot on. Just as she pulled her black leather jacket on, the cloak curtain returned to Jareth. He seemed disappointed. She made a face at the ground, pretending it was him as she slipped her
folded dress into Toby's backpack. It surprised her to find it would fold that small, but she had a feeling Jareth's magic had helped.
She faced away from the two, addressing Toby," Will you help me with my hair?" There was no reply, but she felt deft hands begin to remove the multitude of bobby pins.
Jareth knew she would be furious if she knew it was him, not Toby, but he didn't care. He ran his fingers through her hair, smoothing it out. He removed the silvery headband and stored it away in Toby's backpack. "I could straighten this out for you if you want," he said, running his fingers through a lock.
Sarah jumped, "No, thank you. It'll flatten out eventually. Anyway, shouldn't you be saving your magic or something?" She dug in her jean pocket for the hairthing she remembered leaving in there. Finding it, she used it to pull her hair away from her face in a half-ponytail. "Don't start explaining everything at one. Just save it. Obviously we can't home until we help with whatever it is," she repeated. "However, I have been on my feet since early this morning, so I'm not helping with anything until I get a chance to rest. Besides, it's late even in the Underground."
Jareth sighed inwardly. This was not going as he planned, but he supposed it could be worse. He thought for a moment before replying, "There's the Gatehouse. Higgle,"
"Hogwart,"
"Hoggle!" Toby corrected both of them.
"Right, him," Jareth continued, not caring one way or the other. "He usually makes his abode there, but he's still guarding my Labyrinth for me, so it's empty. You two could stay there."
"Where will you be?" Sarah asked in an accusatory tone.
"I will be trying to find Sir Didymus."
Sarah nodded. "Alright then. Where is this Gatehouse?"
"Follow me." The two Williamses followed him down a dirt path toward the Labyrinth. He turned and a once-hidden, small two-story house came into view.
"Thanks," Toby said, polite as always. "See you in the morning." He went inside.
"Wait," Jareth stopped Sarah in the doorway. She turned to face him, her left hand resting on the doorframe. She raised an eyebrow, not saying anything. "You said you needed all of us once," he said. "Is that still true?"
She heaved a sigh. "Perhaps it was once," Sarah said softly. "But it still holds true for certain friends. You are not one of them." She turned away from him and firmly shut the door in his face. Sarah leaned with her back against the door, hands still on the knob. She closed her eyes for a moment before she went upstairs.
There she found Toby staring out the window. He turned to face her when she entered. "Sarah," he said. "Do you hate Jareth?"
Sarah didn't really want to answer this question, but he would pester her until she did. "No," she replied. "But I don't want to talk about him. The Goblin King's probably vain enough to hang around on the off-chance that we do talk about him."
She knows me well. Jareth thought. He had been outside the window in owl form. Hearing as she was going to be selfish and not talk about him, he might as well make his words true. He launched himself from the branch to go winging into the night.
Sarah threw her jacket over a chair before curling up on the bed. Toby lay beside her, his arms behind his head. "Toby, go to sleep. I'll figure out a way to get us out of this in the morning." Once he was sure she was asleep, he slipped off the bed. It was just an odd situation all around. Toby stood before the window again. Even the stars here were different. The light
they gave off had a greenish tint instead of the soft, white he was used to seeing. The shapes they formed were hard to decipher. He didn't want the adventure to end with the morning.