Chapter 2

I Wish

At ten in the morning Sarah shooed the sleepy stranger out of her room. Knowing full well that she and Toby were going to be watched by a certain owl, she put on a pair of extremely low-cut shorts and a blue tank top that complimented the swell of her breasts, over which she wore a black leather jacket. She found Walter talking on his phone in her dressing room.

"Clear my schedule for the day, Walter," Sarah instructed as she swept through the drawers. "Do you know where I can find a wig?"

"In the closet," said Walter, hanging up on whomever he'd been speaking with and watching her curiously. "Why though?"

"Got to take care of the kid," Sarah replied. As Sarah dug further into the closet, she came across a little red book. Laughing, she pulled it out and flipped through the pages.

"Hey, here's the damn thing," she said under her breath, before slipping it into her purse. "I'll read it to Toby or something." She finally found a wig with short black hair, and pulled it on over her own chocolate locks. "I'll probably take him to Central Park or something, let him play on the jungle gym."

"Then take some sunglasses," Walter said, shoving a pair of designer shades into her hands firmly. Sarah gradually put them on along with her Christian Louboutin boots and flipped open her cell phone as she tried to walk out of the building unnoticed.

"I'm on my way, okay?" she said, when Irene picked up the phone. "I'm wearing a disguise though; short black wig, okay? In case you think I'm trying to kidnap Toby."

"Okay, dear," said Irene.

"Bye."

After ten minutes of walking in her black leather, stiletto-heeled CLs Sarah was about ready to kill herself for not getting a ride. Thankfully when she turned the block, the Holiday Inn appeared. Irene was standing at the entrance with her thin white hands clasped over the stroller handle, and inside the stroller baby Toby was fussing with his seatbelt.

"HI, SAWAH!" he screeched, when Sarah approached him. Sarah raised her eyebrows, wondering how he'd seen through her disguise.

"Hi kiddo," she said, accepting the stroller from Irene. "How long do you need me to keep him for?" Sarah added to Irene. "Because every second I'm out in public is a higher risk of us getting mobbed by paps or idiots who want an autograph."

"Could you handle until lunch?" Irene asked tentatively. "Your father and I are going to see a movie, maybe grab something to eat."

"That's fine," Sarah sighed, glancing down at the blond-headed toddler, who was grinning up at her with a smile that took up almost half of his face. "Come on Toby."

"Where we goin'?" Toby asked innocently.

"The park," Sarah replied, cringing as Toby let out a high-pitched, ear-piercing squeal and pushing her sunglasses further onto her face when a passer-by took a good long look at her.

The park was only two blocks away, and when they got there Sarah already felt like shooting herself. Sarah stationed the stroller next to her, slumped down onto a park bench and pulled out her copy of the Labyrinth.

"Wassat?" Toby asked curiously, peering over the stroller.

"It's a book," Sarah replied, frowning as she skimmed through the pages.

"Read it to me, Sawah?" Toby insisted enquiringly, trying and failing to undo his seatbelt. Sarah opened her mouth to decline, but she noticed the barn owl perched atop the gate. Sarah smirked and said loudly enough for the owl to hear, "Okay, kiddo," picked her brother up from his stroller and sat him down next to her. Except instead of picking up the book and reading from it, Sarah settled down next to him and started the story from memory.

"Once upon a time," said Sarah, smirking as she noticed the owl — already paying close attention —straighten up even more and cock its head to the side. "There was the most adorable little baby named Toby."

Toby giggled at her words.

"One night, his big sister was left to baby-sit him, but she didn't really want to do it because her stepmother was mean." Sarah's face started to fall. "So she accidentally wished baby Toby away to a castle, beyond the Goblin City. And then the evil king appeared in front of her. He told her that she only had thirteen hours to complete a giant maze to get to the castle and rescue her brother."

"Did she get to the castle?" Toby asked curiously. "Did Sarah rescue baby Toby?"

Sarah's brows furrowed; she hadn't told Toby that she was the protagonist of the story.

"Sarah rescued baby Toby," she replied, smiling again. "And do you know what she did to the evil king?"

"What?"

Sarah leaned back and said with a smile, "She kicked the evil king's butt!"

The owl ruffled its feathers angrily and swooped down on the two of them. Sarah shielded Toby with her arms, but nevertheless her brother started to wail loudly and Sarah had to pick him up. She glanced back at the owl, which had indignantly perched itself at the gate again.

"That wasn't very nice, Evil King, now was it?" she smirked, before turning back to her brother and shushing him with light whispers.

To calm Toby down she bought him an ice cream, which he lapped at happily for ten minutes while Sarah curled up on the bench and enjoyed the view. She hadn't been able to get outside for almost two years now, and not having hundreds of fans mobbing her was cheering her up considerably.

Sarah.

His voice echoed through the park. Sarah's head snapped up at the sound and whirled around, searching for a certain towering man with flyaway blond hair. Nobody was there except for a couple kissing so ferociously Sarah could see their tongues. Cringing, she turned away and glanced at Toby, whose face from nose to chin was coated in vanilla ice cream.

"Silly," Sarah laughed, pulling out a tissue from her purse and wiping his face clean. She gave up with a sigh when Toby tried to eat the tissue as well, plopped the toddler into his stroller and said, "Lunchtime, kiddo. Time to go."

"I wanna hear more about the evil king," Toby said earnestly, after proudly showing Sarah that he could do up his seatbelt all by himself. Sarah pushed the stroller out of the park and said irritably, "What's left to say? I told you I kicked his butt already."

Sarah dropped Toby off at the apartment, where Robert and Irene had returned just in time. Sarah willingly handed over her baby brother, who during the whole walk home had continued to ask her if the evil king ate children and then used their bones to make bread, because that's what Mommy said evil people do.

Sarah never noticed that when the barn owl had swooped down on her and Toby, it had snatched the little red book from her purse.

It was quite late, almost three in the morning. Instead of doing her routine of picking up a guy for the usual one-night stand, Sarah had decided to occupy her bed alone… and Sarah was certainly in a deep sleep.

But dreaming of a Goblin King.

In her dream he was the beige owl, watching her with black, almond-shaped eyes from a pillar. Sarah was dressed in her old handmade gown— the one she'd use to wear when playing out scenes from her Labyrinth novel, and she was back in the park sitting on a bench as if it were her throne.

With a flap of its wings the owl fluttered off the pillar and burst, in a dramatic shower of sparkles, into the Goblin King. Jareth.

He hadn't changed at all despite two years passing since she'd seen him. His hair was still dispersed, still straw coloured. His face was set into the same expression: a mix between a scowl and an egotistical smirk. His chin was sharp, making him look as dignified as he was. And his lips…

Sarah ached to kiss them.

As if hearing her sensual desire, Jareth parted those perfect lips and called her name in that ethereal voice of his.

"Sarah."

Sarah found herself rising at the sound of his voice.

"Sarah." He said her name again. "Please."

Now his tone was pleading. Sarah blinked, wondering what he wanted from her. Did he want Toby back? Or perhaps he wanted… her?

"Wish for me Sarah," Jareth murmured, approaching her with his elegant, loping grace. "Now."

Sarah opened her mouth but found that she had no voice.

"Wish for me Sarah," Jareth pleaded, taking her pale, thin hands into his own gloved ones. "Please."

"I wish…" Sarah began, but she wasn't quite sure how to finish.

"Sarah!" Jareth shouted.

"I WISH THE GOBLIN KING WOULD TAKE ME AWAY!" Sarah screeched in her sleep. "RIGHT NOW!"