A/U: wow this is sorta a long one…anyway I hope you all like it and thank you all for the kind reviews so far they mean a lot Well this is the last chapter that I have finished so the rest is not going to come quite so fast but I will try to make at least one update a week depending how busy school gets. Anyway on with the chapter!
Disclaimer: I aint Jim so I don't own it….sigh that really sucks…--
The next day Sarah slept in and for good reason. After her 'visitor' had left she had been too scared and angry to even consider sleep. Several minutes after his departure she had gained back the mobility he had taken control of and had gone to her vanity to inspect the damage he had done. The left side of her face was red and swollen, by morning she would have a black eye for sure and yet….it had seemed that he had aimed in such a way as to avoid hitting her eye or her nose directly, just right in the center of her cheek, where the least amount of damage could be done. "No…He'd never do that…the bastard just has bad aim that's all…" she took an aspirin and then spent a good hour rummaging around in her storage shed, one of which every apartment had, for her old baseball bat. For once she was glad that Toby hadn't gone into the little league. Finally after nearly getting herself killed in several junk avalanches, she found the memento of her days on an all girls softball team.
"Ha! Just try and sneak into my house again Jareth and we'll see what happens," she said to herself, tapping the bat in her left hand and swinging it once for good measure. Only after she had found the bat, placed it under her pillow and crawled back into bed, did she begin to digest his final words.
"There are things that inhabit and travel between our worlds you could never even begin to imagine. If you are frightened by me, if you are hurt by my actions, then pray you never see the creatures I'm speaking of."
When he had said that he had almost seemed desperate as if he were afraid she would not believe him. She sighed. "What did he mean by that?" she whispered to herself, only silence was willing to answer. Sarah lay awake for several hours contemplating what he could have meant by that, if he was telling the truth or if he had just wanted to scare her…and why he had given her the warning in the first place. Why should he show up now of all times? Two years after they had last spoken to one and other and nearly four years after her Labyrinth challenge…it just didn't make any seince. Slowly darkness began to take her sight and sleep her mind, within five minutes she had escaped the turmoil of her mind and fled to the welcoming arms of slumber.
The next morning was a nightmare, she awoke to find that she had slept through her alarm and was late for work.
"Gah! Figures the only day he told me to get to work on my own and I sleep in." She grumbled as she hurriedly got out of bed and dressed. "Oh this just isn't fare!" she yelled to herself. Just as she was about to sprint out the door the phone rang, cursing, she stepped back into the apartment and answered it.
"Hello?" she said a combination of desperation and exasperation in her voice.
"Sarah where are you? You're an hour late!" the voice was understanding but at the same time annoyed.
"Sorry Mr. Weatherbee I didn't hear my alarm…last night was…um…strange and I couldn't sleep…I slept in this morning but I'll be there in a few minutes I promise." She sounded desperate. There was a deep, partly understanding sigh.
"…Fine but from now on please save your 'strange nights' for the weekend – 'click'"
"Mr. Weatherbee!" Sarah was speaking to a dead line; he had hung up. Sarah blushed bright red at the implication his words had held; she was going have to try and find a suitable explanation that allowed for at least some of her pride to remain intact. Just as she was leaving she swore she heard velvet laughter following her out the door. "Great it just figures he had to hear that… bastard"
Sarah arrived at work several moments later, thanks to her old Subaru outback and her way of 'forgetting' the speed limit. No sooner had she stepped through the door her boss was right in her face.
"Sarah I– Oh God what happened to you?!" He said, seeing her bruised and swollen face.
"Oh this…" She trailed off not knowing how to explain it "Crap son of a – I forgot to cover it!" her plan had been to cover it with makeup and avoid letting anyone get a good look at her, apparently that wasn't going to happen now.
"Sarah, sweetheart, who did this to you?" Mr. Weatherbee asked gently, escorting her to a chair and sitting her down. Ever since she had gotten the job he had begun treating her like his own daughter, seeing as he had never had children and she was still so young, as time passed Sarah had found herself treating him more and more like a father in return.
"…Well…no it's nothing" she turned away, thinking desperately for an excuse. Refusing to look him in the eye, she instead looked out the window and wished she hadn't. There, perched in the tree by the store, sat an owl and that's all he did, just sit there and stare at her with bright yellow/green eyes, that's how she knew for sure it was Jareth. Sarah shot up and backed away from the window, her face blanched.
"Sarah? Sarah what's wrong with you?" Jeff Weatherbee asked with mounting concern for the young woman, he went to her side and held her still, careful not to touch her face. Sarah remained transfixed by the owl in the tree, did he just glair at the man now holding her as a father would hold a frightened child? Did he just ruffle his feathers in annoyance? Jealously?
"Hmmmm? Oh! Oh yes I'm fine just…I just hadn't expected to see an owl that's all… I didn't know they lived out here." She laughed lightly.
"Sarah you're changing the subject! Something's going on and I want to know what it is right now." He gave her a look that said she had better not argue. Sarah thought fast. Sighing dramatically and calling up all her acting skills she began to weave a tail that would satisfy his need to know if she were all right, she felt horrible for lying to him but it had to be done.
"Ok well…last night an old friend showed up…Oh this is so embarrassing I can't believe I'm saying this…" she faked an embarrassed laugh " Well my friend…" she thought for a moment passing it off as a hesitant pause, " Janna and I were just messing around and we started fighting over a soda, and she backhanded me you know just for fun…but she hit me harder than she meant to…please don't be mad at her or anything…she didn't mean to." She looked at him imploringly and mentally sighed as his eyes softened and he nodded understandingly.
"Fine but only if you promise me that your Ok….I mean really Ok?" he looked pointedly into her eyes, she nodded earnestly and he seemed to accept her explanation and reassuring.
The day just wouldn't end soon enough for Sarah but when it did she was out the door in a flash and headed home. Although Mr. Weatherbee had insisted she take a ride form him to get home she refused…what Jareth had said was still bothering her and until she could figure it out it would keep doing so. She figured the fastest way to find the answers she sought was to find and ask Jareth directly, the only way to do that was to provoke him into showing up. She walked tall and proud through the forest, humming an old and hunting tune that had refused to leave her memory, she decided to finally put it to use.
She went on like that for the whole of her walk home and not once did she spot Jareth, she never even heard the agitated cry of an owl. Sighing and shrugging she decided that he knew she wanted him to show up and purposely denied her even a sighting just to spite her. "Bastard!"
As Sarah was walking past the rows of apartments before hers she noticed a man posting signs up on all the supporting beams making up the roof of the parking area. Curious she decided to investigate.
"Hay excuse me sir, what are those?" she said, jogging up to him. He smiled kindly as she approached but soon gained a grave look.
"Oh hay miss you had better take a look at this so's you don't end up on it… it was just updated today. These are all the young women that have gone missen this past month…alls of 'em was walking round at night like you do'in now and I don't recommend you do'in it anymore." He said chidingly, giving her a parental look. She slowed down a bit " Is it just a coincidence that Jareth said the same thing…or is this another of his tricks…dose this man work for him or something?" She remembered her encounter with him in the catacombs of the labyrinth; he had been perfectly disguised as a harmless goblin, who's to say he couldn't be perfectly disguised as an innocent old man? She hesitated for only a moment before deciding that there was little threat even if he were Jareth or connected to him in some way and anyway she was pretty sure she had seen him around before.
Now very curious to see what was on the small posters she stepped closer and accepted one that he handed her. Looking at the poster there had to be at least twenty pictures on it all of young women around her age. As she scanned the nameless faces one immediately stood out to her. She recognized the young teen as a girl named Sam, the seventeen year old red head had been Sarah's favorite customer at the store, coming in almost every day and staying to talk on regular occasions, she had even taken Sarah some lunch one day when she had forgotten her own. Even though the two were not truly friends they were close to becoming such and had been very close acquaintances. A sharp intake of breath alerted the old man to Sarah's discovery, he gave her a sorrowful look that seemed to be all too familiar to him now before walking away to continue his job, feeling that he could not offer the young woman the support she needed. Sarah instantly felt a lump form in her throat as she looked on the smiling face of the closest thing she had to a friend in this new town and ever for that matter; she had a sinking feeling that she would never again see it in person.
"Sammy? No it couldn't be Sam sure she hadn't been around for a while but that doesn't mean anything…dose it. She's smart. There isn't any report of this on TV. This is a small crime free town. That date…that date under Sam's name…that's the last day I saw her…I remember…I remember because it was it was the day Jeff wasn't able to come in…I was cleaning shop…she was scared, said something had been following her, that something was going to happen…those eyes, she wasn't paranoid or stupid but I thought she was being that, she was being irrational… I told her to stop worrying that nothing was going to happen…she listened to me…trusted me…now she's gone…gone? She's really gone. We were going out to lunch today…that was today I forgot…I didn't mean to forget, she never forgets she's never late…she's gone…" Tears were burning in her eyes now, she could find no reason for why her friend had not shown up for lunch or called to reschedule or anything, she felt guilty for not listening to her more carefully, for just blowing off her fear as irrational…was it her fault that her friend was missing? "She had wanted to come over and watch a movie that night…her parents weren't going to be home, she didn't want to be alone…but I did, I said some other time, I let her down and now she's gone…really gone. Feeing sad and helpless and like she was somehow the cause of all this, Sarah escaped the harsh reality of the world and fled to her apartment where she began to cry. She lay face down on her bed for what seemed like hours crying and expressing every emotion form sorrow to anger to confusion.
Her violent sobbing and explosion of emotion had left her feeling exhausted and wanting nothing more than to just ebb away into a dark sleep or at the very least call someone to talk to but sleep refused to come and there was no one for her to talk to…not any more. She had never felt more lost or helpless and at this point she wanted nothing more, wished for nothing more, than to just not be alone.
Quite suddenly she felt a presents almost a warmth very near to her, she pushed herself up and looked over, her eyes swollen and red and tears blurred her vision. No sooner had she done this than she was engulfed by a comforting softness that seemed to wrap around her like a light, warm blanket. Very suddenly she was too tired to even keep her eyes open, she strained against her fatigue trying to see who was standing next to her but it was no use, she fell back to the bed, lost in a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
Jareth stood there watching her for some time after he tucked her in and cast a dream spell to ward off any and all nightmares that tried to infiltrate her mind. Gently moving a lock of ebony hare from her face, he allowed himself to revel in her beauty for a moment but that was all he did, though his heart yearned for her, now was absolutely not the time to try anything not even one of his famous mind tricks. Gently stroking her cheek in a comforting gesture, he looked back at the past couple of hours, so much had happened in so little time it was hard to grasp. He had been quietly perched on a tree branch that was close to her room window, sleeping lightly, when he had heard her inquiry of the missing person's posters. He had settled back down quickly, falling back to sleep, thinking that hearing his warning from someone else would finally change her mind set and she would start making smarter decisions, but when he had heard her sobbing several minutes later he knew that something had gone wrong, quickly piecing together the events he realized that one of the faces had been more than an unknown stranger. Quietly he had entered her room and waited for her to get most of her feelings out, knowing that keeping them in would be unhealthy for her, and realize his presents, feeling that would be less likely to frighten her …that was what he tried to convince himself anyway, but in truth it was a simple as he didn't want her to know that he was doing her a favor. Once she had started moving as if she were going to look up he had moved to her and wrapped her in magical energy, the very same that allowed him to grow wings as an owl, the softness of feathers and the calming tendencies of magic allowed her to become calm and him to cast a sleeping spell, sending her into a rejuvenating slumber.
Sighing wearily, he dragged himself away from the resting girl moving to the window and opened it quietly; he had a long night ahead of him if he were to achieve his goal. He had searched through Sarah's thoughts discreetly just before she had turned to him, until he found the face that had caused her to feel so much pain. Shifting into an owl he was well aware that finding the girl alive was a one in a million chance and attempting to search for her could very well cost him his own life or at the very least make him a target...nevertheless he had plenty of incentive to do everything within his power to help the child…she was Sarah's friend and he would kill or be killed to see her happy again. Quietly leaping out the window and using magic to close it after him, he flew off into the darkness, heading for the darkest shadows of the night.