**Not a Genie**

A warm, summer breeze blew across Sarah's face and she mentally cursed herself for leaving the window open. She grabbed for her blanket…and kept reaching. Her covers were gone. "Damn! Where'd they go?" Realizing she must have kicked them off sometime during the night, she rolled over on her stomach and began reaching blindly through the dark, feeling for the missing comforter. She needed to get back to sleep to somehow get over whatever was causing this temporary insanity—although for the first time all day she actually felt rested. She glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand. 12:01. Great. She probably wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep now!

She began muttering under her breath as she searched. "Stupid blankets! Sleep all day and then can't sleep when I want to sleep. I bet I have Mono. I bet that's it. That explains it. But it's the kissing disease, isn't it? Then I can't have Mono. Did I even share a drink with anyone lately? Jonathon coughed on me the other day, maybe he gave it to me. Can you die from Mono?"

"Come, come, Sarah. Why the concern?"

Sarah shot out of bed quicker than if it were made of hot coals. Fumbling with the lamp, she almost knocked it off the nightstand twice before she finally found the switch and twisted. A man was leaning against the foot of her bed. But not just any man. It was him, the Goblin King, in all his Kingly glory. For once, Sarah was glad she hadn't had the energy to do more than take off her shoes before falling asleep. She grabbed her pillow and held it across her chest for some protection from his gaze anyway.

"What are you doing here?" she stammered. A part of her wondered if she should be trembling in fear at the sight of her old nemesis standing in her bedroom, but she just couldn't summon the emotion; and for once it had nothing to do with a lack of passion. She had plenty of emotions surging through her body—most of which were inappropriate for multiple reasons—causing her face to become quite flushed.

"What? No hello for an old friend?" He cocked his head to one side as he spoke, reminiscent of the bird of prey he'd turned into the last time he'd been in her presence.

He shouldn't be allowed to be here. She'd defeated him! Wasn't there a rule or something? "What are you doing here?" she asked again, more forcefully.

He folded his arms over his chest and smirked, steamrolling over her question as if she hadn't spoken. "I hope you will forgive the rude awakening, however I hate being made to wait once I've been called upon. I will admit that I had hoped to find you a little more appropriately dressed in evening attire, but you look lovely as always." At his appraisal of her, Sarah's blush increased, but she merely raised an eyebrow in a silent repeat of her question.

The Lord of the Goblins allowed his smirk to vanish as he explained. "You made a wish, Sarah. Though I am not a genie, I am bound by the rules of the Labyrinth to respond to wishes when they regard me and my subjects."

Sara stared at him in utter confusion. "I didn't wish for the goblins to take anyone away…or at least, if I did, I wasn't in my right mind at the time. Who did I wish away?"

He frowned. "Sarah, you're dying."

"What? Why would you say that?" She fought to keep her voice under control; scared that Julie would hear and come in to investigate, especially given her recent semi-conscious state. It was difficult. The man jumped from one conversation to the next without connecting the dots. Very frustrating.

The Goblin King repeated himself. "You are dying. You wished that you would be able to know what was happening to you. Well that is it. Don't worry though. All mortals go through it at one time or another."

Oh. That was a comforting thought. "Well, if that's what is happening to me, thanks for stopping by. You can leave now." Surprisingly she wasn't concerned by his diagnosis. He wasn't a doctor after all. What bothered her the most was that he came to her room—at midnight—to say it.

The right side of his mouth quirked up in a semi-smile; a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "No, I'm afraid I cannot. Aren't you even the least bit curious how your death has anything to do with my Labyrinth?"

She looked him straight in the eyes, "It doesn't."

"Oh yes it does, my dear girl," he practically snarled back at her. Sarah instinctively leaned away from the venom in his tone as if physically struck. The king took a deep breath and when he spoke again, his voice had returned to its normal bewitching timbre. "Sarah. How are you feeling? Right now?"

Again with the random questions. "I'm feeling fine."

Straightening away from the bed, he allowed his eyes to trace the outline of her body in the harsh lighting of her lamp as he took a step toward her. "And what exactly are you feeling?" Her pillow might as well have been invisible for the way he seemed to see right through it.

Sarah had long ago stopped trying to figure out what she felt toward the infamous Goblin King. He was an enigma. He had taken her brother, but she had asked him to do it. He had played many evil tricks on her, but he had never actually hurt her. He'd danced with her and sung words of love, yet told her to fear him. She knew she didn't love the guy—she wasn't even sure she liked him—but when he looked at her with those predatory eyes, her internal temperature spiked, melting her muscles so that it took all her effort to remain upright.

Lust was such a powerful emotion.

And there he was, standing in her bedroom, commanding the very air to bow down to him just by his overwhelming presence. He wore the same dark-as-midnight attire he'd dressed in the first time she'd met him and even when he was stationary, the fabric billowed out behind him as if a wind followed him wherever he stood. She took in his hair, wild as always, and fought the urge to smooth away the stray strands that flowed over the high pointed collar on his cape. Her eyes followed his angled jaw line to his muscular neck till it dipped into a slight V under the strange pendant he wore. Her gaze drifted lower down his silk shirt to where it hung haphazardly over his...she stopped herself. Not the pants! That little (large) detail would be her undoing. She forced her eyes back up to his face and his knowing smile returned. Sarah raised her chin and glared at him. "I'm feeling like slapping you if you don't stop leering at me," she finally answered.

The Goblin King laughed outright at that. After a moment, he continued. "But you are feeling something, aren't you?" he practically cooed.

"Yes…" she hesitated. "I haven't been myself all day, but I'm feeling great now. Better than I've felt in years. The flu bug must have washed out of my system."

"It was no flu bug, Sarah. You've tasted magic. The withdrawal will only get worse from here on out."

She hated that nothing he said ever made sense. "Withdrawal? What are you talking about? It's been 15 years since I was in the Labyrinth. Surely I'm over its effects by now." She'd worked through all those emotions from her time in his kingdom. She was back to normal…mostly. It couldn't be the same thing. "Besides, I've been around magic since I was there last and nothing happened." David Copperfield was no Goblin King, but he performed one amazing show—and one that was generally safe for his audience, which is not something that could be said for another magical being she knew.

"Sarah." The way he said her name, half chastisement, half caress, sent shivers down her spine. She'd forgotten how seductive his voice was—or perhaps she'd never truly understood. She most definitely understood now. "Those fools you mortals call magicians know nothing of magic. Their illusions are mere child's play. No. Until recently you hadn't been near magic since you banished my subjects from your presence. But you've had it out of your system too long. Your body can't handle a concentrated dose. You would have been better off allowing my minions to visit you. Now you have no choice."

Sarah stared at the Goblin King as if he'd suddenly started speaking Cantonese. "Speak plainly, Goblin King. It's after midnight. I've been asleep all day and you make absolutely no sense! What do you mean I have no choice? No choice in what? If it was so hazardous to my health, why did you show up here? In case you've forgotten, I was completely out of it all day—before your little magical being visit. So you still haven't explained why my world has been shrouded for the last 24 hours."

A sly smile crept on to the Goblin King's lips. "Really? There have been no other magical beings in your vicinity in the last two days? Come, come, Sarah. Have you allowed yourself to become so blinded to your past that you refuse to see what's right in front of you? I am not the only one of my kind that visits your world. Think, Sarah. Is there anyone who has struck you as familiar lately?" Crystals appeared in his hand and he began twirling them as if her answer meant little to him.

Sarah thought back through the fog of the day. There had been no unusual people in her life since the previous night. At the concert. Where Toby sang his song. "What have you done to Toby?" The question came out more as a demand for an answer as she glared up at him with the remembrance of her anger. "Those friends of his are yours somehow, aren't they? If they are messing with him the way you messed with me, I'll…"

The king held up his finger. "Sarah, don't make empty threats. We both know there is nothing you can do to me unless I allow it. As for young Tobias, he is perfectly safe I assure you. He didn't eat any enchanted fruit while in my kingdom. He has grown into a lovely young chap. I'd like to think his singing ability was due to my influence." He smiled fondly at some memory, before returning his mismatched eyes to Sarah. His hand movements with the crystals became more pronounced, juggling the balls over the back of his hands, rolling them down his forearms only to have them fly to the tips of his fingers and ghost across them as if made of light. "As for those musicians that accompany him; yes, they are my subjects. It was your ride home with them that triggered your relapse into the magic realm. A ride which you practically demanded. And so now all that is left for you is to return to my kingdom. You cannot survive here without magic. It is hopeless for you to fight it. I may not have power over you, but my kingdom does."

Her eyes darting around the room, Sarah attempted to make sense of what she'd heard. She had long ago determined that the Goblin King was many things, but he was not a liar. A manipulator, yes, but never an outright liar. He freely admitted to infiltrating Toby's life, but for what end. What was the game he was playing at this time? "Why do you care? I'm just one more insignificant mortal. What does it matter to you if I return to the Labyrinth or die a magic-less death here?"

In a flash, the crystals were gone, replaced with a tension that was almost tangible. Crossing the room in two strides, the Goblin King loomed over her, causing her to retreat further back against her bedroom wall. Her adversary shadowed her steps until there was only her pillow between them. Placing his hands on either side of Sarah's face, the Goblin King further confined her, trapping her as effectively as a bird in a cage. His gaze drifted to her lips momentarily before returning to stare into the depths of her soul, measuring what he found there and determining her worth. "You are not insignificant," he challenged almost tenderly. In a voice barely above a whisper, he added, "I move the stars for no one...but you, Sarah."

His face was mere inches from her own and her mouth moistened instinctively, her body no longer opposed to his nearness. The world faded away and all Sarah could see, all she could feel, was the Goblin King's fire and ice gaze locked in her own. All rational thought melted from her mind, erased by his pure magnetism. He held her there in that trance-like state for an eternity, unable to move, unable to breathe. When at last she felt she might explode from the intense flame that burned between them, he abruptly pulled himself away and paced to the opposite wall. "I have my reasons, but rest assured, one way or another, the magic will claim you. No one can blame you for walking away, but you've been gone long enough. It's time to return, Sarah.

"It's time to return to the Underground."

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A/N: Hmmm…death after a semi-conscious state here or forever with Mr. Tight Pants? Tough choice. But Sarah doesn't usually think like me, surprisingly enough. And I'm not sure GK gave Sarah enough of an explanation about Toby and his friends. We'll see what she has to say later. Also, I might put in there that Mr. GK is not quite as random as you all might think. There are reasons for his mercurial behavior...and I will say it has very little to do with a desire to have her as a queen.

In the meantime…did you notice that I used some prompts in this chapter? Specifically "Not the pants!" and "I move the stars for no one…but you, Sarah." Quite fun startraveller776 and Lady Cavalier! (Did any fangirls squeeeee at that?) Thank you for participating in my game! Feel free to shout out any more challenges!

Thank you so much everyone for all the reviews and encouragement you all are sending my way! Just hearing that you are reading this makes my day :-D.

And, hey…if you're really liking this story, you should head over to startraveller776's stories to thank her. She's fantastic and reading her stuff inspired me to write my 2nd official Laby fic. Seriously. Good stuff over there! (She's in my favorites for your easy linking pleasure…). Enjoy! (Oh...but just in case you aren't liking this **why are you reading till chapter 4 if you hate it so much?**, don't blame startraveller776...her stuff is still really good! :-D)