Once again, this has not been proof read, so I'd appreciate it if anybody could tell me about any massive errors.

Sarah awoke with a start and looked around her with confusion. As the events of the previous day came back to her, she threw back the blankets of the bed and once again stormed over to the door. It was still locked, but that didn't stop Sarah from banging on it for a few minutes and screaming semi-coherent threats at the Goblin King.

When that proved to not only be ineffective but also hurt her hands, which were quite bruised from beating on the door the night before, she took to storming around her quarters and muttering under her breath the things that she would do to the King.

After several minutes of this, Sarah plopped down on the fainting sofa with an annoyed huff. "Now that you've tired yourself out, would you be so kind as to join me for breakfast?" Jareth asked as he appeared before her in an instant.

Sarah crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at the Goblin King. "I'm not hungry," she hissed. Jareth simply shrugged before he vanished again. Sarah let out a scream of frustration and beat her heels into the floor.

Jareth had watched Sarah all day. It wasn't all that exciting, because she mostly just said a lot of very rude and vaguely threating things towards his person as she stormed around her quarters, but it also thrilled him, because he finally had Sarah trapped.

He hadn't bothered to even ask her to join him for lunch, because he felt as if going hungry might soften her up. Besides, around lunch time, she'd been muttering about doing unspeakable horrors with a knife to his most intimate bits, and he had no desire to even try to approach her while she was on that particular subject.

But when it started to grow dark, Sarah flopped face-down on the bed. Now, Jareth watched her from a crystal as he walked down the hall that would take him to her rooms; she hadn't moved in nearly half an hour now. He knocked firmly on her door.

"Go away, Jareth." Her voice was muffled by a pillow.

"Would you be so kind as to join me for dinner?"

"I'm not hungry." Her voice lacked the venom that she'd had when he'd invited her to breakfast.

"I'll have you know that I will not tolerate you harassing my subjects for food in the middle of the night," Jareth told her coldly. "If you do not come to dinner with me, then you will not eat until morning." Silence. Jareth looked at the crystal in his hand— Sarah still had not moved. "Sarah? Did you hear me? I said-"

"Go away."

Jareth raised an eyebrow, but didn't offer anything else to the woman. Instead, he turned on his heel and vanished.

After Jareth had invited Sarah to dinner, she'd fallen into a fitful sleep. She awoke with a startled gasp as a clock somewhere chimed the midnight hour. Her quarters were dark, but as she sat up, a single candle sprung to life. She absently rubbed at the dried tears on her cheeks as she got out of bed. She went automatically to the door, and was more than a little surprised to find that it was unlocked.

"Huh, maybe the spell wears off at midnight," she whispered as she poked her head out the door. The hallway was beyond dark, and she could barely see the door of the room across the hall from hers. Sarah scuttled back into her room, grabbed the candle off from the night stand, and then left her room all together.

The hallway seemed to stretch on forever in either direction. "Let's see now… I think that I came from this way…" Sarah said, and turned to her right. The only sounds she heard were her own footsteps, the gentle swish of her pants as she walked, and her slightly uneven breathing. After walking for about ten minutes, Sarah still hadn't come to anything other than more door-lined hallway. "No, this isn't right," she whispered as she looked behind her. Nothing but a small glimpse of the doors that she'd already passed before everything was swallowed up by the nearly impenetrable darkness.

Annoyed and frustrated, Sarah remembered the very first test once she had actually gotten inside of the labyrinth. She walked over to the nearest door, twisted the handle, and was a little surprised when it opened. There wasn't a room beyond, but rather, only just stairs that lead down. She couldn't see how far down that they went, but it seemed better than just wandering the seemingly endless hallway, so Sarah started down.

Several minutes later, there was enough light that spilled into the stairwell from where ever it lead to that Sarah no longer needed the aid of the candle. She ran down the last several steps and came out into a large, clean, well-stocked, and well-lit kitchen.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up," said a gruff voice from around elbow-height. Sarah looked down and saw a stocky, blue-skinned goblin that wore a grubby and worn apron.

"I'm sorry; who are you?" Sarah asked him.

"Gorbal, His Majesty's personal chef," the goblin introduced himself with a sweeping bow. "He said that you'd be down here, lookin' for somethin' to eat."

"He told me that I shouldn't bother his staff, and that if I didn't eat dinner with him, then I wouldn't be able to eat until morning."

"Do you honestly believe that His Majesty would honestly just let you starve?" Gorbal asked with a scowl.

"Well… I don't know what to believe. After all, he locked me in my room all day," Sarah said with a matching scowl. Gorbal muttered something incoherent under his breath before he looked back up to Sarah.

"Well, milady, His Majesty specifically told me to wait in the kitchen until you showed up and asked for your dinner. And I'm glad that you did, because I'm about dead on my feet from exhaustion." Gorbal waved his hand towards one of the counters, and an entire roasted chicken appeared, as well as steamed carrots and baked apples.

Sarah's stomach let out a loud growl, and she sat down on the bar stool and dug into the meal with gusto. "This is completely delicious," she said after a few bites. "Did you make this?"

"Yes, of course. His Majesty will not let anybody else but me prepare his meals."

Sarah ate in silence for several minutes until she started to get full. Then, she cut open a baked apple, and speared it with her fork. "Are you quite certain that Jareth told you to do this?"

"Am I sure that His Majesty specifically told me to stay awake until you showed up, and then feed you? Why in the world would I stay up past midnight otherwise?" Gorbal muttered something else under his breath.

Sarah chewed thoughtfully for a few seconds before she put her fork down and looked around the kitchen. "Well?" Gorbal asked. "Are you finished?"

"Um, I suppose so, yes," Sarah said. With surprising strength for a creature half her size, Gorbal pushed the stool that Sarah sat upon until she was forced onto her feet.

"Along with my first instructions to wait up until you came in search of your supper, I was also instructed not to let you linger. I'm tired, so be gone with you, milady." Gorbal pushed Sarah until she was in the doorway of the stairs she'd taken to reach the kitchens.

"Alright, alright! I'm going!" Sarah said. She grabbed the candle that she'd left on one of the other counters, and then started up the stairs.

"Oh, and milady?" Gorbal called up after her.

"Yeah?"

"His Majesty was not happy with you declining his offers to join him for meals today. I don't think that you will find him as generous tomorrow as you did today."

"Alright. Noted," Sarah said before she turned back around and continued to climb up the stairs. Once she was back in the hallway, a door opened and light spilled out, much like it had the night before. Sarah walked towards the room and found that it was her room. "Okay, that's odd. I swear that it took at least ten minutes to go from my room until I just happened upon the door that lead down to the kitchens. But now, it took less than a minute to get back."

The first thing that Sarah noticed upon her return to her room was that the single photo of her family that she'd brought with her was propped up on the writing desk. She closed the door behind her and then walked over to the bedroom area, where she saw that her suitcase, which she'd pushed up against the foot of the bed, was gone. Sarah threw the doors to the wardrobe open, and saw that somebody had folded and put all of her clothes on the floor of the wardrobe. But the thing that most caught her attention were the beautiful dresses that hung above her regular clothes.

"I don't know if you're spying on me or not right now, Jareth, but there's no chance in hell that I'm going to put on one of those dresses," Sarah said just loud enough for any spying Goblin King to hear. Instead, she searched through her own clothes until she found her favorite over-sized sleeping shirt. She undressed, pulled the shirt on, and then climbed into bed.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, the lights in the room went out.

Jareth stood over Sarah's sleeping form. She hadn't put on pants to sleep in, and only just wore an over-sized t-shirt and a pair of panties. She'd kicked the blankets to the edge of the bed sometime during the night, and the sheet was tangled around her bare legs. Jareth allowed himself a moment to gaze at her legs— they were slightly tanned and looked strong. Unfortunately, the sheet covered her posterior, and her shirt covered everything that it was supposed to.

He leaned down closer to Sarah's ear and said, "My my, what a lovely sight you present so early in the morning." Sarah jerked awake, took one look at Jareth standing over her with a demented smirk on his face, and rolled up into the sheet.

"What the hell you creep?!" she exclaimed as she tried to untangle herself and cover herself up at the same time. "Don't just perv on women while they sleep!"

"Yes, but this is my kingdom, my castle, and my room. I can do whatever I want," Jareth said with a sly smile. "I request your presence down at breakfast in half an hour. Might I suggest that you make good use of the bath?" And then he was gone. Sarah let out a scream of frustration, but quickly got up and pulled on a clean t-shirt and jeans; she didn't want to tempt fate in case Jareth came back— with her luck, he'd come back again when she was in the bath.

Out in the hall, in the light of day, it didn't seem nearly quite as long as it had last night. But Sarah still swore that it took her ten minutes to get to the kitchen. However, what had been a closed door across the hall from her room the night before was now an open doorway with a set of stairs that lead down.

"Well, maybe it's not so much that it took me ten minutes to walk down the hall as it took me ten minutes to figure out that I was wasting my time in walking down the hall," Sarah muttered to herself as she started down the stairs. The stairs brought Sarah to a breakfast room, which was much like the formal dining room, but on a smaller and less grand scale. Large picture windows looked out over a beautiful garden, and let in a lot of sunlight.

"Good morning, Sarah. So kind of you to join me," Jareth said. He sat at one end of the table, and regarded Sarah over some toast. Sarah walked over and sat in the only other chair at the table, which was across from the Goblin King.

"Yeah, well, I got the feeling that your invitation wasn't optional," Sarah said.

"As I told you yesterday, I won't have you harassing my staff," Jareth said.

"Your chef told me that you'd instructed him to wait up for me," Sarah said as she helped herself to a slice of toast.

"Me giving my staff instructions and you harassing them are two completely different matters, precious."

Sarah stopped spreading jam over her toast and just glared at Jareth. He seemed completely oblivious to the dark glare that the woman sent his way, and simply dished himself up a generous portion of scrambled eggs. "Okay, what's your deal?"

"My deal? Sarah, dear, I have no idea what you're talking about," Jareth said with an absent air.

"You're joking, right? My father didn't just accidentally wander into your castle."

"If some foolish, lost human just wanders into my castle, it's not my problem," Jareth said. He gave Sarah an even look, which she matched with one of her own.

"So, let me see if I understand this correctly: You're perfectly alright with a complete stranger just wandering into your home, eating your food, sleeping under your roof… but so help them if they pick a flower!"

"I don't like people to touch my flowers. My gardeners work so hard to grow them, after all."

"Then if you'll excuse me, I'm just going to go and pick all of the flowers from your garden," Sarah said. She half-stood to leave the room and started to put her napkin on the table.

"Sit down," Jareth said, his voice dangerously low. Sarah's knees buckled against her will, and she was grateful that she hadn't moved from the chair, or else she would have found herself on the ground. Jareth vanished and reappeared at Sarah's side. He then presented her with a purple hyacinth. "If you want flowers, all you have to do is ask. Don't go around and destroy my gardens for the sake of petty vengeance, my dear." Sarah felt her face heat up, and she told herself that it was out of anger rather than embarrassment; that the reason why her heart was pounding was because she'd been afraid that the Goblin King was about to do something to her.

And just as quickly as Jareth had appeared at her side, he was sitting in his chair again. He grabbed another slice of toast and started to spread marmalade on it. Sarah reached for the eggs, and they ate in awkward silence for several more minutes.

"Well, my dearest Sarah, as stimulating as our conversation has been, I'm afraid that I have a kingdom to run," Jareth said after several minutes. He put his napkin next to his plate. "Do try to keep yourself out of trouble today." And with that, he was gone.

With an annoyed sigh, Sarah put her napkin down on her plate and picked up the flower. She twirled it between her thumb and index finger absently, before she stood and walked back upstairs. "I half expected him to tell me that some wing or tower or something is forbidden. But, everything in this place seems to magically appear and disappear, so I'm sure that if there's some place that he doesn't want me to go to, it just wouldn't appear."

She walked across the hall to the door there— when she'd gone down to breakfast, it had been her own room. But when Sarah opened the door, she was shocked that it wasn't her room, but rather, a room that was more like what her father had described the room that he'd stayed in.

Sarah closed the door, and then moved to the room next to it. The room was more of the same. Sarah looked into three more bedrooms before she said, "Okay, enough of that. Time to think of something better to do." There was a slight popping sound from behind Sarah, and she turned around and saw that what had once been at least two doors was now a wide archway that opened up into a massive library.

Slightly awe-struck by the massive amount of books, Sarah wandered into the room. Even though the area that Sarah stood in was at least 12 feet tall, there was a balcony that ran around two of the walls that housed even more books. There were tall windows spaced evenly between the shelves on the first floor that allowed bright sunlight to stream in, and plush chairs and sofas were scattered over the first floor by the windows.

"Wow," Sarah breathed as she looked around. There were way more books in the library than she could ever hope to read in her entire lifetime. She wandered over to the nearest shelf, and started to read the titles almost absently. These particular ones seemed to be historical novels, and she briefly wondered if there was some sort of written history about the Labyrinth, the goblins, or about Jareth's rule as king.

Much in the same way that the castle seemed to respond to where Sarah wanted to go, the books that Sarah had been looking at were abruptly replaced with a completely different array of novels. Sarah's eye first landed on "The Great Goblin Wars", before she spotted "The Origins of the Labyrinth". Sarah eased the massive tome out from its spot on the shelf, and then carried it over to a chair by the nearest window.

Before she sat down, she took a moment to stare out at the scenery outside. Much like the windows in the breakfast room, they overlooked the gardens, but thanks to the higher vantage point, Sarah could also see a little bit of the Labyrinth. It was funny, but it somehow seemed less sinister now than it had when she'd run it five years ago. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she didn't have to run it, or maybe it was just the time of day or the vantage point from the library.

With an absent shrug, Sarah sat down; she balanced the book on her legs and let it fall open naturally. Then, she flipped to the table of contents to see what she was in for.

Jareth stood from his desk and rolled his head back in order to remove some of the worst kinks. Being the king wasn't always easy or even remotely fun, and having to respond rather promptly to masses of reports was very high on his list of some of the worst things about running a kingdom.

Unlike the day before when he'd pretty much kept a close eye on what Sarah had been doing the entire day, he'd trusted his goblins to keep him up to speed on what she was up to. However, he hadn't heard from any of his subjects concerning Sarah since about an hour after he'd left her at breakfast, and now he was more than a little worried about what she was doing.

Jareth quickly conjured up a crystal, and used it to look upon Sarah. He found her curled up on a chair in the library, reading a very thick book. Judging by the page that she appeared to be on, it looked like she'd been in there since about breakfast. With a sly smile, Jareth transported himself to the library. "Good evening, Miss Williams," Jareth said. Sarah looked up from what she was reading, clearly a little startled by his appearance.

"Oh," she said. "It is getting late; I hadn't noticed." She picked up the hyacinth, which had been sitting on a side table all day, and used it to mark her place before she slammed the large book she'd been reading closed.

"'Origins of the Labyrinth'," Jareth read out loud. "Doing a bit of light reading, my dear?"

"Yep," Sarah said as she put the book aside and stood up. "Know thy enemy and all that."

"My dear, I am not your enemy."

"You're keeping me here against my will."

"I seem to recall that you came here of your own free will in order to take the place of your father," Jareth told her coolly. "If you're unhappy here, I'm more than willing to exchange you for your father." Sarah just stood and glared at the Goblin King. "You are free to leave whenever you wish, but keep in mind that if you leave, then your father will have to come in your place."

"I don't have to stand here and listen to you goad me," Sarah said as she stepped around Jareth to leave. Jareth grabbed Sarah's wrist and in an instant, the library melted away and was replaced by the formal dining room. Sarah looked down at herself and yelped in surprise. She had been wearing jeans and a t-shirt earlier, but now she was dressed in a green and cream long-sleeved dress that swept to the floor. "What the hell? What did you do with my clothes?" Sarah exclaimed as she jerked her arm out from Jareth's grasp.

"I assure you that they've been sent safely to the laundry," Jareth said. He had also undergone a wardrobe change, although it wasn't nearly as drastic as Sarah's was. He simply exchanged his jacket and boots for something a little more formal. "After all, we are now going to sit down to dinner, and it is most unbecoming for a guest of mine to come down wearing something so informal." He pulled out a chair and gestured for Sarah to sit. She sat, but not without a massive scowl on her face. Jareth sat across the table from her, and started to help himself to the food.

Sarah started to pile food onto her plate, and they ate in silence for a few minutes. "Is it true?"

"I'm sorry; is what true?"

"The stuff that they talked about in that book. Is it true?"

"While I will admit that sometimes Fae writers have a tendency to… over-elaborate on the most simple of things, it is completely true."

More silence. The room was filled with the soft sounds of cutlery on china plates.

"I can't believe that all of this came about because some kid went missing!" Sarah finally exclaimed.

"I generally love the companionship of humans, but I will admit that they can be a bit dense and close-minded at times," Jareth said evenly.

"Did you ever find out what really happened to the child? The book didn't say."

"As I'm sure you figured out for yourself, I did not take the child. And since the villagers had no desire to so much as listen to my side of the story, let alone give me the time I needed to try and figure out what happened to him, I have no clue."

"Oh, come on. You must have at least some theories as to what happened. Especially after all this time."

"It is… not something that I enjoy dwelling on," Jareth said carefully after considering what Sarah had said for a moment. "I moved my entire kingdom into another realm because of one lost child."

"I honestly don't think that the people would have snapped like that after one missing child," Sarah said after a beat. "You were probably starting to get on their nerves, and then the child went missing and they just snapped." Jareth regarded Sarah coolly from across the table. "If you don't want me to talk about it, then maybe you should have a long chat with your library about the books that it recommends."

"If I didn't want for my guests to read the book, I wouldn't have put it into my library in the first place," Jareth said after a moment. Silence filled the hall.

"Why exactly do you take the babies that have been wished away?" Sarah asked after a moment.

"Sport, mostly. I have my good reputation to uphold after all."

"It's just a game for you?" Sarah exclaimed, her voice about half an octave higher than it normally is.

"I can assure you that your brother was in no real danger," Jareth quickly told her. "Even if you hadn't completed my Labyrinth, I would have returned him, at any rate. What am I going to do with a human child, after all?"

"What is wrong with you?" Sarah hissed. "Do you just enjoy toying with people in order to maintain your reputation? Oh, here's a bratty fifteen year old girl who wished away her baby brother! Let's mess with her!"

"Sarah, please. It's-" Jareth started, but Sarah stood abruptly, threw her napkin down onto the table, and ran from the table. A doorway appeared, and Sarah vanished up the stairs. Jareth heaved a massive sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration.

Sarah had run up the stairs, and the door directly across the hall from the top of the stairs flew open to Sarah's quarters. She slammed the door shut in anger, a little pleased with how the slam seemed to echo in the empty hall.

That was when she noticed the vase of purple hyacinths that sat on the writing desk. "Yeah," she said with a snort as she walked into the bedroom area. "Fat chance buttering me up with flowers." There was another vase of purple hyacinths on the nightstand, and even the stained glass window had changed from a sunrise over rolling, green hills to the purple flowers. "What is with all of these flowers?" Sarah whispered to herself as she stepped closer to the window.

A small book appeared on the window sill, and Sarah stepped closer to look at it. "'The Secret Language of Flowers'," she read out loud. Sarah vaguely recalled her mother talking about this before— it was some Victorian thing that every plant had some hidden meaning. She thumbed through the book until she found hyacinths, and then looked down the list of different colors until she found purple.

"I am sorry; please forgive me," the entry read.

"Yeah, well, it's all very well and good to give me flowers that tell me that you're sorry, but that somehow doesn't excuse the fact that you toyed with me for your own amusement, and continue to do so!" Sarah yelled. Nothing happened. Frustrated, Sarah started to try and figure out how to undress herself. The dress itself was more than easy enough, but when Sarah tried to undo the strings on the corset— which wasn't even all that tight— she quickly found that she had trouble reaching the strings enough in order to loosen them further.

A knock sounded at the door, and Sarah gave a low growl of frustration as she went to answer it. "I swear to god, Jareth, if you…" Sarah trailed off when she realized that it was not the Goblin King, but rather, a young goblin girl who wore a simple dress.

"Sorry to disturb you, milady, but His Majesty sent me to help you undo your corset," the girl explained.

"I'm sorry; thank you," Sarah said. The girl walked into the room and Sarah shut the door behind her. "What's your name?"

"Muzga, milady. Please, turn around." Sarah did as she was asked, and the young goblin's nimble fingers made quick work of the restrains on the corset. Sarah held it up with her arms as she pulled the shirt that she'd slept in the night before over her head, before she pulled the corset off.

"Muzga, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, of course, milady."

"Why do you call me 'milady'?"

"His Majesty told all of his goblins to call you 'milady' or Miss Williams."

"Uh… why?" Sarah asked carefully.

"He says that you are an honored guest here," Muzga explained. "Like when His Majesty's mother comes to visit, or His Majesty hosts a ball. We must call everybody milady or milord."

"But I'm not a lady," Sarah protested as she pulled out a pair of shorts from the wardrobe and pulled them on. "I'm not even from this realm."

"I know that, and so does everybody else. But His Majesty asked for us to refer to you as such, and we can't disobey a direct order from His Majesty like that."

"Yes, but did he want for me to be called that because I'm his guest?"

"I don't know," Muzga said with an absent shrug. "His Majesty asks a lot of funny requests of us. Asking to call you by a title doesn't even begin to make my top 100 list of strange things that he's done."

Sarah let out a big sigh as she considered the goblin before her. "Alright, thank you for your help, Muzga," she finally said. The goblin gave a low bow before she turned and left the room.

Sarah walked around the folding screen and eyed the bath. As if sensing Sarah's desire for a hot bath, the tub started to fill with water. Sarah eyed the vase of flowers suspiciously before she eyed the window. But after the water shut off, she shrugged and pulled her clothes off before she sunk into the bath. The water was just the right temperature, and Sarah let out a content sigh.

A cloth and some soap appeared on the edge of the tub, and Sarah grabbed them and began to wash herself— the soap smelt of lavender. After she'd deemed herself clean, the water started to drain out of the tub in the same, mysterious way that it had arrived. A towel appeared, hung over the top of the folding screen. Sarah got out, dried herself, redressed, and then flopped down on the bed.

Irene was just finishing up washing the dishes from their dinner when somebody rang the doorbell. Robert had taken Toby out to the nearby park to toss a ball around before it got too dark. Ever since Robert had taken Sarah to whatever fate awaited her, the boy had been exceptionally depressed. He'd refused to get out of bed, and getting the boy to even get dressed, let alone to go to school was simply out of the question. Which meant that Irene had to go and answer the door herself.

She paused for a moment to dry her hands on the towel that hung over the bar on the oven, before she made her way through the cramped living room to the front door. "Greg, hi." Irene offered the young man who lived in the house across the street from them a strained if not cheerful smile.

"Hi, Mrs. Williams. Is Sarah here?" Greg asked. He flashed the older woman a charming smile. Irene liked the young man— when they'd first moved into their current house, she'd hoped that Sarah would start a relationship with Greg. But much like Sarah's dating through her high school years and into college, the girl seemed more interested in her fairy tales than dating and romance.

Irene's smile faltered slightly at his question. "No, I'm sorry." Irene's fingers dug into the wood of the door— she and Robert hadn't really discussed what they should say about Sarah's disappearance. The people in this neighborhood were friendly with the girl, and they were bound to start asking sooner or later why she wasn't around anymore.

"I see. Then do you know when she might be back?"

What was left of Irene's smile completely faded from her face. "No," she said as politely as she could. "I'm not her mother— Sarah's an adult and she can come and go as she pleases." She started to search for an excuse to ask Greg to (politely!) leave, but then she spotted the familiar figures of her husband and son at the end of the block. "Robert and Toby are back now. If you'll excuse me, Greg…" She turned around and shut the door in his face.

A few minutes later, Robert and Toby came inside. Irene was distracted for the next hour or so as she gave her son a bath, read him a bedtime story, and then tucked him into bed. "Okay, we need to talk," Irene said in a hushed voice as she approached her husband in the kitchen. "About Sarah."

"I told you everything about what happened last night-"

"No, not that," Irene said as she cut Robert off. "Before you came home from the park, Greg came over and asked for Sarah."

"What did you tell him?"

"That she wasn't here, that I wasn't her mother, and that she was an adult and thus, free to come and go as she pleases. But, we can't just keep saying stuff like that— people are bound to realize that she's not here anymore."

"Oh, right." Robert was silent for a moment, and stared blankly out the window. "I don't suppose that people will buy the fact that she turned herself over to a Fairy Prince in order to save me from some horrible fate?"

"Robert, be serious!" Irene hissed at him.

"I'm being about as serious as this ridiculous situation calls for!" he hissed in return. Both of them were silent for a long while. "We could tell people that she accepted a better job in the city and she moved into an apartment there to be closer to work. She is an adult, after all. Nobody would think twice about it."

"That does sound good," Irene said. Silence. "But, what if somebody asks for her address? Or her number?"

"We can say that she's still settling into her new place and the phones haven't been hooked up yet. And as for the number… I don't know. But hopefully, that'll buy us enough time to think of something."

"I hope that we don't need to think of a more elaborate lie," Irene said. "I just wish that Sarah would come home."