The novel mentioned in this chapter is something that I created. Any similarities to any other work of fiction is pure coincidence.
Thank you all so much for your wonderful reviews– they all make me smile and make my day a little bit brighter. I hope that everybody will enjoy this next chapter.
As before, this has not been proof read, so if you spot any glaring errors, please let me know.
Jareth was a little disappointed that Sarah had worn shorts to sleep in; he had so enjoyed the view that she'd provided the morning before. Jareth leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "Good morning, precious." She jerked awake, clearly startled.
"Jesus…" She muttered as Jareth straightened up to his full height. Sarah looked up at him. "Oh. It's only you." Jareth's cocky smile faded.
"Yes," he said. "I require your presence in the breakfast room in half an hour." And much like he had the morning before, he then proceeded to simply vanish. Sarah sat up in bed, and looked over to the vase of flowers on her nightstand. They had transformed from the long-stemmed purple flowers to a rainbow of carnations. Sarah quickly threw on some of her own clothes before she grabbed the "Language of Flowers" book off from where she'd left it on the writing desk— next to the vase that was also filled with carnations.
She flipped through the book until she found the carnation entry. Although there were separate meanings for the specific colors, there was also a meaning for just the flower in general. "Fascination," Sarah read out loud. She scowled at the next two words. "Divine love." She snapped the book closed and tossed it back onto the table. "You're out of your freaking mind, Jareth," she muttered under her breath as she strode across the room and entered the hall.
The scene was almost exactly the same as it had been the morning before. Jareth was calmly spreading jam on a slice of toast when Sarah came into the breakfast room and sat down. "I wanted to apologize for what I said last night— it was completely uncalled for. That being said, however, I do believe that you left before I could finish what I was going to say." Sarah gave him a chilly look as she helped herself to some eggs, but didn't say anything. "Not all of the children who are wished away were done so by their spoiled older siblings. A lot of the children that I receive have been hurt in ways that are completely unsuitable for discussion at the breakfast table." Sarah looked down at her plate. "These are children who would not have survived to their next birthday, let alone to adulthood, if they continued to remain in such deplorable situations."
"I'm sorry," Sarah said after a moment. "I didn't think about something like that."
"Then perhaps I might implore you to think about something before you go and start accusing people," Jareth said in an even tone that sent shivers down Sarah's spine. "That being said, I believe I owe you another apology— it is not polite at all to toy with people. Not even bratty little girls who are angry at their little brothers." Sarah looked up at that, and glared at the Goblin King, but she didn't put her usual venom into the look.
The room was filled with an awkward silence. Sarah only looked up from her plate in order to help herself to more food. Jareth spent the entire time contemplating the young woman across the table from where he sat.
"Miss Williams," Jareth finally said. Sarah jumped at the soft tenor of his voice, and looked shyly up at him. "I do believe that I have a lighter work-load than I did yesterday. Would you be so kind as to accompany me for a walk in the gardens after lunch?"
"I… Um…" Sarah's eyes darted all over the room, and looked at everything but the Goblin King. "I… I guess?" Jareth smiled when he saw how flustered that his simple request made the woman.
"Then I shall take my leave of your company until lunch, Miss Williams," Jareth said before he vanished. Sarah grabbed one last slice of bacon before she stood and slowly made her way upstairs.
The Labyrinth history book was where Sarah had left it, but she didn't really feel like picking it back up again. Instead, she walked over to a random shelf that was different from the history one, and grabbed the first book that caught her eye.
Jareth pressed his stamp into the hot wax to make the seal, and after a moment, he picked the envelope up and handed it to a goblin to deliver it. With a sigh, he spun around in his chair and conjured up a crystal to check up on Sarah. He had asked his goblins to keep him updated about what she was doing, but so far, nobody had come in to make a report.
Sarah was in the same chair that she had been in yesterday, her feet curled up under her legs, but she was reading a much smaller book. As he watched her, she absently started to twine a lock of her hair around her finger, and then she bit her lip and her face flushed from whatever she was reading.
Exceptionally curious as to what might cause such a reaction in the young woman, Jareth looked closer at the golden lettering down the spine of the novel in Sarah's hands. When he saw it, he burst out laughing. A Fae bodice ripper. Jareth didn't exactly go out of his way to read the trashy novels, but he prided himself on keeping a wide array of books in his library; and that included the likes of the R-rated novels Sarah was currently reading.
A playful smirk appeared on Jareth's face as he looked away from the crystal for a moment to check the time. It was a little early for lunch, but he wanted to see how Sarah would react if he interrupted her while she was reading that particular novel.
"Is there anything that can't wait?" Jareth asked the two goblins in the room with him.
"No, sir," one goblin answered.
"Good. Then I'm going to take my lunch early," Jareth said, and then transported himself in to the library, in front of where Sarah was. "Good afternoon, precious," Jareth whispered when it was obvious that she was too enchanted with her novel to notice him just appearing right in front of her.
Sarah let out a quiet eep of surprise, and jumped to her feet. "J-jareth," she stammered. Her face was bright red.
"So sorry to have startled you, my dear," Jareth whispered. He reached up and ran his gloved hand through the strand of hair that Sarah had been curling around her finger only a few minutes ago.
"N-no, not at all. I'm just not used to you just appearing," Sarah said. She only stammered a little bit. She pulled away from his touch, but nearly tripped over the chair she'd been sitting in. "Is it lunch time already?"
"It is a little early, but I finished attending to anything urgent, and even wrote some letters that I've been putting off," Jareth said.
"Oh, well. I was just… um… just… reading…" Sarah was holding the book in front of her, but then hid it behind her back. "Just something that I found on the shelves."
"Get bored of the Labyrinth history already, precious?" Jareth asked with a teasing smirk.
"It's honestly a lot to take in all at once," Sarah said in a much calmer voice. Jareth conjured up a light purply-pink rose and presented it to Sarah. She raised an eyebrow as she accepted the blossom.
"For your book," Jareth explained. "Since you used the flower I gave you yesterday as a bookmark."
"Oh, r-right." Sarah opened the book up and thumbed through the pages before she carefully placed the rose into the book, and then set it down on top of the "Origins of the Labyrinth" book on the table next to the chair. Jareth gestured for Sarah to lead the way from the library, and they walked in silence from the room.
They walked side-by side down the hall. Jareth didn't seem to be in any great hurry to go anywhere in particular, so they walked at a slow pace. Sarah looked at him form the side of her eye, and then when he didn't seem to notice her gaze, she turned her head a little bit to look at him better. Jareth turned his head towards Sarah, and offered her a sly smile; she quickly turned her head forward and scowled. Jareth chuckled a little under his breath.
They continued on down the endless hallway for several minutes in silence. "Where are we going?"
"In case you hadn't noticed yet, my castle is an exceptionally magical place. It responds to the desires and wishes of those in it, and then responds accordingly."
"I had noticed, but sometimes, I don't always ends up where I want to be."
"Well, don't think of the castle as simply like your house, that just has a spell cast over it. Think of it more like a sentient being. It knows what's going on around it, and if you want something that directly conflicts with what somebody else wants, then…" Jareth offered an absent shrug.
That explains my midnight walk, Sarah thought to herself. I wanted to leave, but Jareth wanted me to stay. So, the castle didn't provide me an opening until I decided to try and find the kitchen instead.
Jareth watched as Sarah licked her lips absently; she seemed to be lost in thought. He wondered what she was thinking about; what had his home provided or done for her that was that fascinating? "Sarah?" Jareth quietly asked. She blinked slowly and then looked up at him.
"Sorry; lost in my thoughts," she said with an absent smile. "Shall we go to lunch now?" The hallway in front of them morphed into a massive archway that lead into the breakfast room. The breakfast spread had been replaced with cold-cuts and rolls. Sarah sat down and started to make herself a sandwich.
"Some watermelon, my dear?" Jareth asked, and offered her a bowl filled with squares of the red fruit. Sarah speared several pieces with a fork and dropped them onto her plate. Jareth put the bowl back down, lifted a piece of the fruit that was on his plate to his lips, and bit down on it, all without breaking eye contact with Sarah. She seemed rather oblivious to his actions as she'd just finished putting her sandwich together, and took a bite out of it.
After a moment of being ignored by Sarah, Jareth offered her first some grapes, then some kiwi. She accepted both of them, but then returned her attention back to her plate. Finally, she'd finished everything that she'd put onto her plate, and Jareth gave her an expectant look. She looked up at him nervously. "Honestly, Sarah. You're acting like you're about to walk to your death." Jareth stood and walked around the table to her. He offered her his hand, but she stood up on her own.
Since it was clear that she was not going to accept his arm, Jareth gestured towards the wall of windows, where a door had appeared that lead outside. Sarah started towards it, and Jareth followed her.
For a while, Jareth followed Sarah where ever she wanted to go. She would occasionally stop to ask about a plant or a flower, but their walk was otherwise silent. Finally, she turned to him and said, "Those flower that you keep giving me… They've got a meaning, don't they?"
"Of course they've got a meaning, precious. Everything has meaning."
"No, I mean… I was wondering out loud last night about why my room was filled with hyacinths, and this book appeared in my room. 'The Language of Flowers'."
"People seem to enjoy applying almost abstract meanings to things, so it was only a matter of time until somebody wrote a book about it," Jareth said.
"But you know about the book, too, right? Well, not the book, but the meaning of the flowers that you've been giving me."
"Yes, of course." Jareth's smile grew wider. "Why? Are you thinking about making me a bouquet of flowers, my dear?"
"I don't have the book with me," Sarah said. The book appeared in Jareth's hand, and he presented it to her. She paused to read through it for a few minutes. "Hm, how about some orange lilies to start out with?"
"Sarah! You wound me."
"Maybe with a couple of bluebells and geraniums in for good measure. Ooh! And some marigolds!"
"Well, I think that that's enough of that, my dear," Jareth said. The book transformed itself into a daffodil.
"Honestly," Sarah said with a roll of her eyes. "You don't like what I'm saying, so you just transform the book into a flower?"
"Yes, of course," Jareth said with a giant grin on his face. "Perhaps something else to read, instead?" He presented her with the novel that she'd been reading earlier.
"N-no," Sarah stammered, and Jareth smirked when her face became bright red.
"You don't like it?" Jareth asked with hint of mock sorrow in his voice.
"The writing is fine, but I'm not overly keen on that type of novel. That's all," Sarah whispered as she half-turned away from the Goblin King.
Jareth thought for a moment before he replaced the trashy novel in his hands with another book. This one was filled with adventure and heroes and wicked villains; it was more the kind of book that Sarah would probably enjoy. "How about this, then?" he asked as he presented it to her.
"'The Cave Behind the Waterfall'," Sarah read out loud. She looked up at Jareth. "What's it about?"
"If I recall correctly, it's about a young woman who goes in search of treasure," Jareth said. Sarah hesitantly took the book from Jareth, and briefly ran her fingers over the front cover, before she opened the book up and flipped to the first page.
The garden shifted around them, and where they had previously stood in the middle of a paved walkway, surrounded by many different types of flowers, they now stood on a grassy bank, near a large shade tree. Sarah looked up at the Goblin King, startled, but Jareth simply gestured that Sarah should take a seat under the tree. Sarah walked up to the tree and sat down so that her back was against the rough bark.
"Do read out loud, my dear," Jareth said as he sat down next to her.
"A-alright," Sarah stammered before she turned her attention to the book. "'Chapter One: A Funeral. The stairs down into the basement had always scared me. Not only was the basement dark, but the stairs were old and likely to collapse. So, it was little wonder that the stairs that had frightened me so much as a child ended up being the thing that I despised, as they ended up taking away the only person who ever seemed to care about me: my mother…'"
"'…"I don't know who you think that you are, but you've got no right to boss me around like this!" I screamed at the man in front of me. He didn't even flinch, and I wasn't even sure if he'd heard me, despite the fact that he was only a few feet in front of me. So, I marched up the steps, and slapped his face with my open palm as hard as I could. That seemed to-'" Sarah broke off when Jareth burst out laughing. "I'm sorry; is this funny to you?"
"Yes," Jareth agreed. It was the following afternoon, and the two of them were again sitting under the lone shade tree on a small hill. The castle was directly in front of them, but further off in the distance, the Labyrinth could be seen. Sarah scowled at the Goblin King. "What? You don't see it?"
"See what?"
"You and Astrid have a lot in common."
"I've never smacked you."
"No, but you've certainly lost your temper with me often enough," Jareth said with a laugh.
"Look, you're the one who insisted that we come out here to continue the book. If you're just going to make fun of me, then I'm going to go inside."
"I am sorry; please continue."
Sarah rolled her eyes and turned back to the book.
"'But even though the water continued to crash down over me, and the guard's fingers dug roughly into my arms as he held me tight, the only thing that I was aware of was Samuel's still, bloody body in front of me. "No," I whispered, and roughly struggled against my captor. "No," I said again, louder this time. My cry caught the attention of Peony, and she looked to me with her overly cruel eyes. "But yes," she said. "I had to k-kill…"'" Sarah sniffled loudly. "'"To kill him. After all, he is but a m-monster…"'"
"My dear, are you crying?" Jareth whispered. He was lying flat on his back in the grass next to Sarah, but he propped himself up on his elbow to look at the young woman in front of him. Sarah hid her face behind the book, but then lifted the arm that wasn't holding the book to her face.
"N-no," she protested weakly. Jareth crawled over to her and plucked the book from her hands. "Hey!" Her eyes were wet and her nose was dripping, so Jareth presented her with a handkerchief.
"Do you want to stop for the day and finish this when you're not overly emotional?" Jareth asked her gently.
"I'm emotional because of the stupid book!" Sarah said before she blew her nose. "And we're almost finished. I want to find out how it ends!"
"Alright, but I won't have an overly emotional narrator reading," Jareth said as he settled against the tree next to Sarah. He scanned the page before he started to read.
"'"I can't even promise you the gold anymore, because Peony took it all," Samuel whispered. I brushed his damp and still slightly bloody hair away from his face. "Don't be silly; I don't want the gold anymore," I insisted. "Was it ever really about the gold?" he asked. I didn't even have to pause to consider his question. "No." Samuel smiled up at me, and, for the first time since Peony had stabbed him, it didn't look like it pained him at all. "Astrid, the only thing that I've got left to offer you is myself." "That's the only thing that I want." "Good. Because I think that you're stuck with me forever." "Forever is all that I ask for."'"
Sarah's eyes opened at the sound of Jareth closing the book with a slight smack. She looked out over Jareth's kingdom, which was awash in tones of pink and orange with the onset of night.
"Well?" Jareth asked, his voice a gentle whisper.
"This is all wet and snotty," Sarah said as she held up the handkerchief Jareth had given her earlier. In an instant, it was clean and dry, and Sarah then blew her nose. "That was good," she said after a moment. "I liked that."
"So, my dear, what shall we read next?"
"What? No!" Sarah exclaimed. "You can't just finish one book and then immediately start in on an unrelated one!"
"Then how, pray-tell, should it be done?"
"After you finish a really great book, you've got to wallow in the misery of the book's ending, and question what you're even going to do with your life now that it's done."
"That sounds overly time consuming," Jareth said with all seriousness. "How long does this book mourning process take?"
"I think that we should have throughly mourned 'The Cave Behind the Waterfall' after lunch tomorrow."
"Oh good. I was starting to worry that this was a week-long process," Jareth said with a smirk.
"Don't be silly, Jareth; it's a book, not your pet," Sarah said with a roll of her eyes.
"Ah, well, it's getting late, and we should probably head back for dinner now," Jareth said. He stood, and then offered Sarah his hand. She accepted it, and once she was standing, Jareth transported the both of them into the formal dining room. Sarah didn't even bat an eyelash at the pink gown that Jareth had dressed her in for the evening meal.
"You know, I knew that Peony was evil, but I never imagined that she would be evil enough to stab Samuel," Sarah said as she helped herself to some food.
Jareth opened his mouth to reply, but a small, green-skinned goblin appeared at his elbow. "An urgent message, Your Majesty," the goblin said. He held a silver platter with an envelope upon it; Jareth picked up the envelope, broke the wax seal, and started to read the message. Then, he dismissed the goblin with an absent wave of his hand without looking up from the letter.
"What is it?" Sarah asked softly.
"It's my mother," Jareth said.
"Your mother?" Sarah asked, a little surprised.
"Yes. Contrary to what you might believe about me, but I did not spring forth as a fully-grown man," Jareth told Sarah with a smirk.
"I never believed that. I'm just a little surprised, that's all. Is she okay?"
"Yes, yes, she's perfectly fine. She's just throwing a ball, and she's invited me, of course," he said. Sarah scowled at him. "What is it, precious?"
"You are not taking me to a ball, Jareth," Sarah protested loudly.
"I see," Jareth said. "You are perfectly welcome to stay here while I go out. However, I do believe that I will have to ask your father to accompany me."
"What?" Sarah gasped. "What is wrong with you? Our agreement was that I had to stay with you! You never said anything about going to some party!"
"I do believe that part of the agreement that we had was that you would do as you were told. It's just one ball, Sarah. A few hours, at most."
"Well, screw you!" Sarah said. She stood abruptly, threw her napkin down onto the table, and stormed from the room.
Jareth sighed deeply and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Maybe it had been a mistake to push her like that, but he wanted to take her to his mother's ball; not only to thwart his mother's overly-obvious attempts at match-making, but also to show Sarah off to the court.
He thought that they'd been making excellent process the past week, as she read to him. He had been right to ask her to read to him, as she'd been so madly in love with the novel. But, whenever he seemed to be making any sort of progress with Sarah, it was the proverbial "one step forward, two steps back".
Gregory Cameron scowled as he paced around his tiny living room. He paused after a moment and stared out the front window; it looked out onto the street, but, most importantly to Greg, the Williams's house.
It had been a week since he'd last seen Sarah. And no matter what he asked Irene or Robert (and on a desperate attempt, he'd asked Toby! TOBY! The boy was five years old, for crying out loud!), they refused to tell him where Sarah had gone other than "she moved".
A week ago, Greg had watched out the same window as Sarah had put a single suitcase into the back seat of Robert's car, and they had driven off. About half an hour later, Robert had returned, sans his daughter. Would Sarah have really moved away from home with only a single suitcase? And where had Robert taken her that was so distant, but yet, only took him half an hour to return?
After Greg's first conversation with Irene after Sarah's disappearance, he'd started to ask the neighbors. Most hadn't even realized that the girl wasn't around anymore until Greg pointed it out. After a while, the other neighbors came back to Greg and reported that the three remaining Williams's had all told them the same thing that they'd told Greg: She'd moved.
When Greg had pressed some of the older neighbors harder, they eventually told him that Irene had promised to give them Sarah's address when she'd settled into her new place. Which only frustrated the young man further; Irene had not said anything about a mailing address or even a phone number to him. Why were the two elderly couples who lived further down the block special enough to get even promises, why wasn't he?
"Look, dude, I'm really worried about you," said Greg's roommate, Dustin. "You've been acting completely crazy since that chick across the street moved away."
"Honestly, do you really believe for two seconds that she would just up and leave like that?"
"Um… yeah. People our age do it all of the time. I mean, this is like… what? The third place we've lived in in three years now?"
"Well, I don't think that Sarah is the type of person who would just move away without telling everybody goodbye. I think that something happened to her. Don't you think that her family is acting rather suspicious?" Greg asked. Dustin came to stand in front of the window, and they watched as Robert and Toby walked out the front door; Robert was carrying a baseball bat and a mitt and Toby was tossing a baseball between his hands as the two of them started down towards the park.
"Yes. A father taking his son to go play some ball in the park. How suspicious," Dustin said dryly.
"I'm serious!" Greg insisted. "Every time I ask about Sarah, Irene cuts me off and makes some excuse to leave!"
"And I'm serious that you're insane! Sarah's a grown woman; she can take care of herself," Dustin said. Greg just scowled at his roommate. "Look, dude, if you're really certain that something horrible happened to Sarah, you should file a missing person's report."
"Hm, yes. Alright. I think I will. If Irene won't tell us where Sarah is, then maybe the police showing up at her door and asking about her step-daughter's disappearance will scare the information out of her."
Sarah sat up and rubbed at her damp, red eyes as somebody knocked gently but persistently at her bedroom door. "Come in," she called after a moment. She sat up and put her feet on the floor as Jareth came into the room. "Sarah, I wanted to come an apologize for my words earlier. They were completely uncalled for. I never said anything about attending social events during your stay here, and it was rude of me to mention your father." Sarah just stared blankly at the Goblin King. "That being said, I would appreciate it if you were to accompany me to my mother's ball."
"Why?" Sarah said after a beat. Jareth heaved a sigh, and Sarah wondered if he was going to actually answer.
"My mother…" Jareth started, but then closed his mouth and shook his head. "I'm over 1,500 years old, Sarah." She blinked slowly, but remained silent. "My mother believes that I should have a queen; if not somebody to rule by my side, then somebody to provide me with an heir to my throne. She's always trying to push women onto me."
"What? So now I'm your excuse?" Sarah hissed as she stood up. Jareth simply presented her with a bouquet of purple hyacinths, pink camellias, gloxinias, and primroses. She didn't accept the flowers, but only raised an eyebrow at Jareth. An instant later, they replaced the vase full of purple hyacinths on Sarah's night stand. Before Sarah could say anything about that, Jareth was gone. She let out a soft cry of frustration, picked up the "Language of Flowers" book and looked through it.
Sarah already knew too well at this point what the purple hyacinths meant, so she instead skipped to the pink camellias: longing for you. Sarah felt her face heat up as she read the words, and quickly turned the page. She then located the gloxinias: love at first sight. What? With slightly shaking hands, Sarah flipped through the pages until she found the primroses: I can't live without you.
If Sarah hadn't already been sitting down, she would have fallen down. She closed the book and looked over to the bouquet of flowers. What did that even mean?
She stood up and walked into the sitting room portion of her quarters, so that she couldn't see the flowers anymore. She absently walked back and forth across the tiny space, but every time she caught a glimpse of the flowers, she'd turn around and face the other way.
Finally, she turned around but instead of turning around once she got to the door, she opened it. Where there once was hallway was now the castle's gardens. Sarah doubled back into her room for a second to grab the "Language of Flowers" book before she set out.
"I can't believe that somebody filed a missing persons report for Sarah!" Irene hissed to her husband in the living room. Two uniformed officers sat at their tiny kitchen table, and spoke with Toby.
"Well, you do have to admit that it is rather suspicious," Robert said in a hushed voice. "She just vanishes one day and we refuse to give anybody her address, phone number, or a specific place where she is."
"Yes, but we can't exactly say that she volunteered herself as collateral for some… psychotic fairy! They'll think that we're crazy, on top of having killed her! What are we going to do?"
"First off, we're going to get rid of the police officers," Robert whispered, his voice calm. "Then, I'm going to go and see if I can find the place where Sarah went. If she comes back, even for a little bit, then the police won't have any reason to question us."
"That's a lot of 'ifs', Robert," Irene said.
"But it's the only thing that's standing between us and a possible homicide case."
Five minutes later, Irene and Robert watched the police cruiser pull away from in front of their house. "I wonder who filed the missing persons report on Sarah," Robert said as Irene twitched the curtain back into place.
"I'll bet everything that we've got left that it was Greg," Irene said with a scowl.
"Greg? Why him?" Robert asked with a look of surprise.
"He's been constantly asking where Sarah is, if he could have her address or her phone number, ever since she left. Some of the other neighbors have said that he's been asking them if they have any information of where Sarah is. The Jones, you know, at the end of the block, they told me that they eventually told Greg that I told them that I would give them Sarah's address just so that they could get Greg to stop asking. But, they said that it only just seemed to make him mad."
"Well, do you think that I should go and try to find Sarah now?" Robert asked.
"No," Irene said slowly. "If I'm correct about Greg, he'll be watching the house right now."
"Well, if I'm only going to go get Sarah, then what's the problem?" Robert asked.
"Really, dear? You really want to lead Greg into where ever it is that Sarah is now?"
"If this guy could just make some portal into his world to let me in and out at his own will, then I think that he's perfectly capable to keeping Greg out."
"Well, I'd still feel better if you waited until later to go out. It won't seem as suspicious. Pretend like you're going to the store for some milk."
"Alright," Robert reluctantly agreed.
Jareth heaved a deep sigh as he looked at the bouquet of flowers that one of his goblins had just delivered. Directly from Sarah. The goblins had told him when she'd left her room and gone into the gardens, but he had only just watched as she moved around and carefully picked some flowers.
Aside from the purple hyacinths, there were also bittersweets, striped and yellow chrysanthemums, and geraniums. He didn't need a book to tell him that Sarah had rejected him. Well, at least there weren't any orange lilies, but this wasn't much better.
Maybe he shouldn't have been so blunt with the flowers earlier. But he wanted for her to know that she wasn't just some excuse that he would give to his mother. He generally wanted to be with Sarah.
But he couldn't quite figure out how to tell her. He contemplated if there was something else he could do to show her how he really felt about her, when he felt a quasi-summons from the Aboveworld.
And it wasn't just some human wishing that they could meet a Fae; no, this person was specifically wishing to find Jareth.
Exceptionally curious, as most humans he came into contact with eventually forgot about him and moved on with their lives, Jareth transformed into an owl and flew out the window to meet the human.
He found Robert Williams. Yes, of course it would be Sarah's father.
Jareth turned the car off with a wave of his hand, and then knocked on the window.
"Oh, thank goodness that I found you," Robert said as he opened the car door and got out. "It's really urgent that Sarah return home. At least, for a little while."
"Oh? Why's that?" Jareth asked with a raised eyebrow. Robert told the Goblin King about how the police came looking for Sarah after somebody filed a missing persons report on her. Jareth mentally cursed— if Sarah found out about this, she'd want to go back. And probably no amount of threatening to imprison her father could keep her with him. But, he couldn't say that to her father, so he said, "This is a bit of a problem, yes. I will take care of the matter."
"Sarah will come home?" Robert asked hopefully.
"I never said that. I'll simply just let the issue of Sarah fall to the back of the minds of the lawmen, as well as this… Greg character. They won't completely forget that she existed, but it will be like the issue happened a long time ago, and they had more important things to think about."
"I suppose that this is probably the best that I'm going to get for now." Robert moved to get back into his car. "But, please, before I go, tell me that Sarah is alright?"
"She is perfectly fine," Jareth told him in an even tone. "I would never hurt her." With a slight nod of his head, Robert got back into his car. Jareth transformed into an owl and flew further into the Aboveworld— he had work to do.