Chapter 3: Jareth's Return
"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered. I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City, for my will is as strong as yours."
"Stop! Just wait! Look, Sarah. Look at what I'm offering you."
Sarah stopped and thought for a moment to think about his words. She could accept the fact that he had play a great game and just take the crystal and her dreams. It was a tempting offer and it would mean that she wouldn't have to take care of Toby anymore, but what would she tell her parents? 'Oh yeah, by the way, the goblin king who lives in the underground has Toby and won't give him back...' It just wouldn't workout well. Sarah took a step, slowly advancing towards Jareth.
"And my kingdom is great."
"I ask for so little. Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want."
"My kingdom is great. Damn! I can never remember that line." or perhaps she didn't want to.
"Just fear me, love me, so as I say, and I will be your slave"
Sarah looked deep into Jareth's mismatched eyes. She could clearly see that she had brought pain towards a man that truly did love her. He had been so generous to her and did do what she asked of him, she was the cruel one. This was what she wanted for all of these years. She wanted to stay, she wanted to accept his offer, but she couldn't pull herself to do it.
"You have no power over me" She regretted those words as soon as she said them, but she knew that it was too late and there was no way to turn back on them. She reached out towards Jareth, but he disappeared before she could get to him. Her eyes flew open as she sat up in her bed. The nightmares were coming back.
Sarah squinted her eyes to the sun that was beaming into her window. She groggily got out of bed and walked over to her makeup stand. She sat down on the stool in front of it and looked at herself in the mirror. Sadness filled her eyes. She opened her jewelry box to see the crystal ball that Jareth had given her a couple weeks ago. She gently picked it up and cradled it in her two hands. Raising it up to the light, she looked deep inside of it to see into it better. It never glowed or showed her images of anything. The only thing that she could get a glimpse at was her own reflection. What he said about being able to see your dreams and desire in it was deceiving. She put it back into her jewelry box and shut the lid tightly.
Sarah reached down beside her desk, where her backpack for school was, and took out her binder and a pencil. She had decided that studying for her final exams was more important than worrying about the crystal ball. It was the very last exams she would ever get in high school. She was off to University next years and had to get good grades for hopes of her future. She wasn't entirely sure to as where she should start studying so she tapped her pencil on the paper in front of her. She didn't really do much studying before so it was unclear what she should do first. Maybe she could practice the writing techniques that she needed to know for her English class. She could try and challenge herself and force herself to write only on a specific topic. Perhaps write about her encounter with Jareth.
That would be quite the fun. What would she write about? Sarah closed her eyes and tried to imagine Jareth standing in front of her. She stared at his facial features trying to gather in what she could from the image of him. His sad, but loving eyes looking at her. One light blue, the other black. The look of his pale and tender lips. Blonde Locks, perfectly spiked and styled. She absent mindedly stood there and looked back at him. She took a small step forward. Jareth faded and he was now a ghostly figure, but still in his same glorious form. She stood there curiously wondering what had just happened. He continued to fade until he was gone and there was nothing left but her eyes staring back at her in the mirror. She should her head slightly to get herself out of the daydream.
Sarah's stomach began to growl. She chuckled at herself for daydreaming so long before getting up to go to the kitchen. She opened the cupboard and grabbed a loaf of bread out. A sandwich would do the trick and it was something quick and easy to make. She continued to make the sandwich until it was finished. Taking the sandwich and a glass of milk, she started to walk back to her room.
"Sarah honey."
"What now?"
"Me and your mother will be leaving soon. We have an appointment with the bank. Will you be okay with watching Toby for a little bit?" Sarah looked over to see that he was only watching tv.
"It's shouldn't be too bad, as long as he stays there."
"Oh, I'm sure he will."
"Okay. We'll be fine her for a while."
"Then we will be going. Thanks Sarah" "No problem" She gave a sigh and walked over to the sofa, where Toby was sitting. She stood behind him looking to see what show he was watching. It was some action cartoon that she hadn't seen of before, but it looked fine to her. That's the kind of thing that eight year olds watched now-a-days. She took a bite of her sandwich and continued to watch from behind. She could see her parents car pulling out of the driveway from the window next to the tv. She stood there eating the last pieces of the sandwich before returning the plate to the kitchen. She brought the rest of her milk with her to her bedroom. Toby would be fine in the living room by himself. She really should go back to studying. Closing the door behind her, Sarah took a sigh of relief. A soft yellow light caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. It was her jewelry box. She walked over to it and placed her glass of milk down. She took the crystal and peered deeply into it, only to see Jareth's face peering back at her. She gave a playful smile, despite know that he must have planted that image there. The glowing slowly faded away until it was back to its normal state. She placed it back into the jewelry box. Sarah moaned slightly. She didn't realize how sore she was. She figured that maybe if she lay down for a bit, it would help the aching to go away. She went over to her bed and lay face first into her pillow. She lay there thinking about nothing in particular. Her mind starting to wander, Sarah felt the light touch of a pair of hand begin to message her shoulder blades. They slowly and methodically worked there way into her sore muscles. It was a relief and she began to moan softly and it soreness slowly began to melt away. "Toby, go back to watching tv." The hands quickly pulled away from her. "Toby? I beg to differ." Sarah quickly turned to view the origin of the familiar voice. "Jareth?" "Yes?" "What are you doing here?" "Can't I come to see you and how you are doing?" "Yes, but what I meant was why now?" "I don't know. I guess it was because I didn't want to keep you waiting. I knew you wanted to see me again so I thought what better time then now. Your parents are gone afterall" "Toby is still here though" "Don't worry. He won't be bother us. He's too busy watching his television show." Sarah sat all the way up so that they were now sitting side by side. She looked down at her knees, not saying a word. She wasn't sure what to do now that he was here and probably wasn't going to leave either. Jareth leaned over towards her and Sarah looked up at him in reaction. They're eyes meet and he held her gaze. Jareth smiled playfully at her and Sarah blush slightly even though she trying to hold it back. He leaned in even closer and gave her a kiss on her forehead. Sarah blushed even harder now. There was no holding it back any longer. "Oh how much you turn my world, you precious thing." Jareth continued to stare at her. Sarah turned her head away from him to attempt to hide her blushing face. You starve and near exhaust me trying to figure you out. Everything that I'm doing, I'm doing for you. I move the stars for no one. I look into your eyes searching for any answer at all. They can be so cruel and taunting because I feel that that answer is just on the edge of coming out. Jareth took his hand placed it just under her chin. He gently brought her gaze back towards his. He guided her face towards his and he gave her a light peck on her tender lips. He then pulled back to see what expression that she held on her face. It was of shock, but she was still had the gleam of excitement in her eyes. He went back in to kiss her again, but this time he moved his tongue into her mouth for a full on kiss. She did not try to pull away so he took it a step further and pulled his other hand around her waist and pulled her closer to his body. With his other hand, he pushed it through her hair and began to message the back of her scalp. Jareth leaned forward letting Sarah fall back onto the bed so that he was now leaning over her. They continued to passionately explore each others mouth as the heat in the room seemed to rise. Sarah rose her hands up to start playing with his hair. "Ahhhh. I'm telling mom and dad when they get home." Sarah pulled away from the kiss and looked over Jareth's shoulder to see Toby wide eyed in her bedroom doorway. She was so busy kissing Jareth that she didn't even hear the door open. He ran off in the direction of his bedroom. She pushed Jareth off of her and looked seriously at him. "Thanks." "No problem" He smiled slyly knowing what she meant, but still wanted to tease her. "That's not what I meant. I thought that you said that Toby wouldn't bother us." "Well I can't predict everything precious while I'm busy with you." Sarah sighed in annoyance. "Well before I get caught doing anything else to you, I had best better be leaving you now." "Jareth." "I will see you soon enough." Before Sarah had time to say anything else, he disappeared into a rain of golden glitter that quickly fell to her floor once he was gone. She leaned back against her bedpost. She wasn't sure what she would do now or even what she would tell her parents when Toby would tell on her. She could here footsteps running down the hall and down the stairs. It was Toby and that only meant that their parents were home and he was going to meet them at the door so he could tell them the story before I could. She stood up and began to make her way to the front door. She had to eventually greet her parents and explain something. She also wanted to hear exactly what Toby was going to say. It might make explaining it a bit easier and wouldn't have to worry about explaining something that Toby didn't say, only leading to more questions. She got to the bottom of the stairs when the door opened. She started to get a bit nervous because she was still unsure of what explanation she would give them. Toby jumping up and down, ready to burst out at any moment didn't help the matter at hand any. The door swung open and both mom and dad walked in. Here goes nothing. "Toby. What has gotten into you?" "Sarah was kissing a strange man." "Toby please, he's not strange" "Oh. So you're not denying anything Sarah?" "Why would I lie. It's true. My boyfriend came over to give me his study notes for English so I could study them for our exam." Yeah, sure. My boyfriend. That will have to do for now. "Of course he would have gave me a quick kiss goodbye." "You didn't tell us you had a boyfriend." "It's probably because I've been too busy. I should bring him over some time so you can meet him" Just stop talking Sarah. You're just getting yourself in deeper now. I'm going to have to explain this to Jareth now too. How he's now my boyfriend and that he need to come over for dinner sometime. "That would be nice, but there's no hurry." "Okay. Thanks." "Now Toby. You should go back to watching tv and leave your sister alone." Sarah smiled and started going back to her room. That was easier then she thought it was going to be, but she still needed to explain this to Jareth. Boy was he going to be surprised and happy at this turnout. He must of had it planned out like that. He certainly was a sly man for doing so. She plopped back down at her desk and stared at her reflection for a moment before actually getting back to studying once again. Maybe now there wouldn't be any more distractions until dinner time. At least that was what she hoped. She had enough of them for one day...OoOoOoO
This certainly was a long chapter for me to write compared to the first one that I had written. They just seem to be getting longer and more interesting as I write more and more of it. You can easily see the plot starting to stir and get more fun as it goes along! I still have many plans and ideas as to what to write in the future for this. I'm thinking that I might do some lemon or at least lemony situations within the next few chapters. :)
I am going to warn everyone now so my head doesn't get complete chewed off later, but I am not sure when the next chapter is going to be up because my final exams for this semester are coming fast (in about a week and a half) and I really should start to study for them a bit more. I am also working on my own original novel and ironing out the kinks for that at the moment because I am hoping to get that actually publish by a real live publisher! That's my goal for this year. Cross my fingers. But I will try my best and work on The Labyrinthian Charm a bit more and get another steamy chapter posted not too long from now. Well before I get caught rambling on to yous anymore, I too had best better be leaving you now. Until next time, Bye!