I know it's late coming but life intervened... so I truly apologize and I will try to resume my chapter a day that I had going before.

So I'm Loving the reviews, please GIVE ME MORE!I will be taking the names of those who review and putting them in a big top hat where I will draw one out and use them (with their permission of course) in the final chapter of my story! It's my way of saying thanks for your help, encouragement, and of course your support! If you happen to not be chosen…. Don't sue me!

As usual I do not own the Labyrinth Characters, even the evil Djinn is not mine… he just popped into my head one day, I can't really take credit for him since it's obviously a Djinn mind trick to make me believe he is mine. So I wont give in to him! BACK OFF YOU EVIL GENIE! YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME… (tee hee I always wanted to say that). There I gave my disclaimer so don't sue me please!

If you are stuck in the summer heat (or maybe it's winter where you are so change that to the freezing cold)…. I'm not Mother Nature, so don't sue me it's not my fault.

-5-

Rourick had been watching Sarah in her room. So far she had used the mirror to see her family which seemed better off without her, she had also conjured up Jareth who had appeared to be searching in vain and cursing Sarah's name vehemently. After just a few seconds of hearing his hurtful words she had put the mirror away and had lain down to cry herself to sleep. Rourick then watched with his magick to see what Jareth was up to.

Jareth wandered into a murky swamp. The Swamp surrounded a large lake. Jareth had never seen either of these in the Labyrinth before and the thought that new areas were being made just for him made his heart sink into his stomach. He was as helpless as any other runner before him. Well maybe for the exception of Sarah. Even when times had been rough for her, she set her chin in that determined angle and persevered on.

This swamp seemed easier than it appeared he thought. But that also reminded him of Sarah saying the same thing about the Labyrinth and she beat it. That gave him the hope he needed. There had to be a trick somewhere. He thought to himself. He had tested the waters with a stick. They seemed to be normal, not acid, eternally smelly or deadly in any way. He could even see normal looking fish swimming in it. He did notice that there was no boat or other way to get across the lake so it appeared that he was going to have to go around it through the swamp or swim. The lake spanned as far as he could see into the horizon on both sides. It would take him forever to go around it. Maybe he could just go across it. Jareth began to immerse himself into the water. The glowing red orb was still in front of him began to lead him on through the water where it stopped halfway through the lake. Jareth had realized earlier that it seemed to lead him in the direction AFTER he made up his mind on where he needed to go. In the distance He heard the deadly roar of the Minotaur. The Bull like beast was the original keeper of the Labyrinth and it scared Jareth out of his mind. Jareth had only been there as the keeper of the goblins and the children after they had been lost to the runners. The Minotaur was a merciless creature. Most times the runners didn't survive to get their children back. Jareth wanted to avoid him at all costs. But he needed the orb to help him get back to Sarah faster so the risk of using the orb and luring the beast to him was worth it.

Time in the Labyrinth was not the same in the other realms. Here an hour could be the actual hour; or it could be a day, week or even year in the underground. For the human runners time in the above ground slowed almost to a stand still till they won or lost. But it wasn't the same for the residents of the underground; the underground time went on as usual. It wasn't often that someone from the underground wished away a child. The false sense of lost time in the labyrinth was another subtle trick to keep the runner's senses out of whack making them lose. Jareth had been so lost in his thoughts about how much time he had used and how Sarah had been faring with Rourick that he didn't notice the fish swimming around him were getting bigger. He had swam a good distance into the lake and was almost to the orb that was still hovering in the middle.

Jareth could see the beautiful sandy beach on the other side of the lake. "It would be someplace nice to have a picnic with Sarah" he thought. Suddenly something pulled on his foot. Stopping in the water he floated on the surface to look for the fish that had been big enough to pull him that hard. Even though the water was a crystal clear blue he couldn't see anything aside from the regular fish that were too small to pull him that hard. Again something pulled his foot, this time pulling him completely under the water. He sputtered as he fought to get back to the surface. A bluish green mermaid came to his side pulling him to the precious air. Her coloring had blended her perfectly with the surrounding water making her virtually invisible in the depths. "Thank you for rescuing me" he told her. "Don't thank me yet" she said with a knowing smirk "I'm the one who pulled you under in the first place." With those words she lunged at Jareth again pulling him back under the water and continued into its black murky depths. Panic raced through his mind. He was Fae but their immortality only pertained to old age. He could still be killed. Since he couldn't use his magic, he couldn't form an air bubble. Jareth felt himself growing woozy as he fought to save what precious air he had left in his lungs.

Back in the Castle Rourick watched as Jareth had been pulled under the water to never come back up. For some reason his magic prevented him from seeing into the water so he could only assume that the Goblin King was dead. Too much time had passed for him to have survived without the use of his magick. Rourick puffed into Sarah's room to see her red rimmed eyes. She held the mirror in her hands. The look on her face said it all. She had also seen Jareth go under the water and never surface. Rourick put his arms around the girl and held her while she sobbed her grief into his shoulder. To him and Sarah three weeks had passed to Jareth's three hours, in that amount of time they had begun to form a friendship. Now he was certain he could form more out of it and use that to destroy her.

For some reason he still felt he had a grudge against the goblin King that needed carried out. And Sarah was the relief that he was going to seek it through. He wouldn't be satisfied till her entire world was built up and crushed from beneath her. The Death of the Goblin King was not enough torture for her. She needed to suffer as his precious had suffered. Sarah cried but inside she didn't feel as if Jareth was completely gone from her. At least not yet.

Back in the real world Karen was a pale jittery mess. She had barely slept since Sarah left almost a month ago. The nightmares were getting worse. She was even seeing things while she was awake. Off in a shadowy corner she would swear she seen something move, or she thought that she was being watched when she was all alone. Sometimes she could swear she heard something that no one else seemed to hear. It didn't help that the police had taken up permanent residence at their house to look for Sarah. The Detective in charge of Sarah's case had turned it over to the FBI for further investigation since it appeared she just vanished into thin air. Usually that meant that the person was dead and buried. The FBI had missing posters, and alerts on all the TV stations for her whereabouts. Her face was plastered on all the social networks asking "Have you seen me"? A large reward had been posted for any information that would lead to her whereabouts. Karen's mouth had watered when she heard about the 50 grand reward. She is the sole person who knew what truly happened to Sarah but she couldn't tell anyone to get the reward. Who would believe her when she told them that Sarah really was living happily ever after with the hunky Goblin King in a magic kingdom with fairytale creatures?

All this attention that Sarah was STILL getting was driving Karen even more crazy. A local church (that the family wasn't even associated with) had held a candlelight vigil in Sarah's name in hopes that their prayers would be answered and Sarah would be found soon. Search parties of hundreds of volunteers were combing every inch of the state looking for Sarah's remains. People had been leaving flowers, stuffed animals and cards on the William's front lawn and picket fence. It seemed that the girl who had never had a friend in her life suddenly had made friends with every person in their state!

If one more person stopped Karen to ask for news about Sarah, give their regrets for the suffering of the family or to offer suggestions on where to find her, she was going to flip out! Usually flipping out meant that she would just yell at them, but since all this anger and pain was building up inside her with no outlet she knew that flipping out would mean serious bodily harm to someone. Which wouldn't help her claim that she didn't do anything to Sarah. So when someone approached her she usually just claimed she was tired and hurried away before she would have to listen to pregnancy advice.

This pregnancy was not how she expected it to be. With Toby she was given so much attention by everyone, and of course she hadn't been so sick then. It had been a happy dream feeling him grow inside her with no complications and all the attention she had been showered with. These pregnancy pains she felt didn't bring her down completely. Only because she knew that Sarah was in the same amount of pain AND she had to feel it all knowing that she was going to lose the baby she had created. Whenever Karen thought of all the agony and depression Sarah must be experiencing she felt a little happier.

Of course Sarah was truly enjoying the pregnancy as she should. The good sized bump that had formed was comforting to her. She happily wore the glow of pregnancy. Rourick was even spoiling her like a devoted husband. He was always bringing her favorite foods "which is probably why I am so large" she thought looking at her tummy. She was beginning to not be able to see her feet. He even supplied her with all the pregnancy essentials; prenatal vitamins, cocoa butter for the stretch marks, a soft foam wedge pillow to support the baby bump while she slept and maternity clothes. But Jareth had been her true future up until the moment he went under the water and didn't come back up. Now that it appeared that Jareth was truly gone Sarah worried about her future. What would happen to her now?

Jareth floated in the darkest part of the water. His lungs no longer burned for air. As he opened his eyes he realized that he was on the sandy lake bottom but he was breathing somewhat normally. "I must be dead" he thought sadly. "I will never get to see Sarah or even my child ever again. Jareth tried to move but he was frozen in place. "You are not allowed to move just yet" a familiar voice said. Jareth looked for the person who had spoke but he only seen dark water. Then he was pulled backwards by strong arms towards a large cave. As they entered the cave Jareth was surrounded by hundreds of merpeople. A very beautiful mermaid approached him. Jareth had heard of merpeople but he thought they had been extinct for hundreds of years. The mermaid who had pulled him under was at the side of the beautiful one. "He is the Fae I told you about" she said. "Thank you" the beautiful one said dismissing the girl. "It appears Goblin King you are now a guest of the merpeople" she said. "So I am not dead" he thought. The beautiful one laughed "No you are not dead yet" she began "And yes I can read your thoughts. I had to place you in a state of immobility to preserve your oxygen. We can only produce enough air to sustain you but not keep you indefinitely. So the less your body uses the longer we can keep you." Jareth relaxed.

He had heard the stories of why the mermaids had been hunted to extinction. They were the worst threat to the underground and above world. They were the only changelings with magic in both forms. Since they were so powerful they were never granted immortality. That didn't stop them from stealing it. In order for the merpeople to become immortal they needed to kill an immortal and a human mortal while absorbing their living essence. That essence combined with the mer magick was a proverbial fountain of youth for their species. The realms of the underground were dwindling from the merpeople murders so they gathered together to form a giant army to massacare all the merpeople. The beautiful one grimaced at the thoughts going through Jareth's head. "Yes at one time we did kill all those we encountered to become immortal, which has led us into hiding. You somehow found our cloaked lake so we had no choice but to take you." She said. "No one can see us while we are in the lake even if we are on the surface." She began again "But you have the Minotaur after you and he is entering the waters as we speak in pursuit. We fear the Minotaur more than being found as used to eat our people as a delicacy. So we don't have much time. We will spare your life and lead you out of the waters if you grant us amnesty in your realm once more."

Jareth's eyes opened in fright. Letting mermaids back into the underground would only resume the killings and he would never put Sarah in that harms way willingly. "No Goblin King, you misunderstand." She said with a shake of her head. "We have been forced to control our population to keep from being detected. We have a new view of how precious life truly is, and even though we will grow old and die we promise not to steal the living essence of any living being in the underground or the above ground. We want to truly live life again." Jareth thought about this. "If it helps:" she continued "If a merperson would ever take the living essence of a living being then you can use your magick to transported us all back to this lake to be forever imprisoned." Jareth knew that this was a great bargain. The merqueen could easily suck out his life essence and become an immortal leading her people back into the underground to resume their killings. But with this agreement in place they were showing the that they truly wanted to live a real life in peace.

Jareth nodded his head which was barely noticeable but the Queen's smile showed she had seen it and she kissed Jareth to seal the agreement. Even though he couldn't use his magick it was still there and the agreement was settled. We will take you to the other side of the lake" she said "But know this the merpeople have a special sight that allows them to see things no other can. We see the djinn you are battling is out for revenge and he is currently taking it out on your own love. Rourick is stealing away your Sarah as his own" Jareth was shocked and upset by this news. Sarah would never betray their love….. Would she?

Rourick was furious. Jareth was dead so why was the infernal clock still ticking. The rules said that if the runner died in the Labyrinth that the clock would stop and the child that was wished away would be turned into a goblin instantly. He conjured his mist which soon formed the image of the High King. "Yes" The high King demanded. He was obviously not happy to be disturbed. "The clock still ticks but Jareth is dead" said Rourick. The high king frowned. Nothing like this had ever happened before. He looked somewhere to his left and then looked back into the mist. "I have consulted my oracle which can not see the Goblin King so it is unsure if he is truly dead. For some reason we don't know about, he is hidden from all forms of magick. The only way to prove his death is for his body to be retrieved and since you are the Labyrinth Master you are the only one who can enter the Labyrinth while there is a runner in it." Rourick was turning a shade of purple from the anger welling up inside him. If he went into the Labyrinth he would be stuck there until he finished it. But if Jareth was truly dead then he would be able to magick them both out. He would win either way so there was no question of not going in. "Yes High King I will go in the Labyrinth".

Now he only had to make arrangements for Sarah…..