It was night. Stars were smattered across the sky, barely visible as heavy snowflakes had begun to fall. Sarah relished the crunch of her boots in the fresh snow, breathing in the cold air. She was on her way to her father's house; Christmas dinner was probably already laid on the table. Her mind told her that she should hurry if she wanted to avoid the wrath of Karen, but being late had always been a habit of hers. Christmas didn't seem a grand enough tradition to break it.
The town was quiet, it seemed that she was the only one in the streets that night. Houses lined either side of her, the orange glow from the windows spilling onto her path. If she listened carefully she could hear the quiet hum of carols and laughter.
A smile graced her face as she thought back to her Christmas Eve.
Four glasses of champagne sparkled in the neon lights as they were raised in a toast.
"To Sarah and her Labyrinth!" A girl with a long blonde ponytail grinned, dimples adorning each cheek as she smiled. Sarah bowed her head in modesty as the group nudged and jostled her.
"You're embarrassing me, Kate." She said in a stage whisper as she felt the bubbles rush to her head. Kate shrugged, taking a long draught of champagne.
"Who knew so many years of being a weirdo and living in your own head would pay off."
Another girl seated beside Sarah with long curly hair and sparkling blue eyes reached over the table and nudged her.
"You're so mean." Mary protested, and Sarah reveled in the playful argument her friends had taken to. She thought, for the first time in a long time, that she was finally content. People loved her book, they loved her words. It wasn't a bestseller yet by any means, but it had just been announced that it was going to a second printing. The thought that she had sold the first lot of books and there was demand for more…well, that was more than enough for her. And it wasn't just her words, it was also her friends. They had fallen in love with Hoggle and his tale of redemption; they had loved the gentle soul of Ludo and the brave heart of Sir Didymus. And finally she could talk about them without sounding crazy.
"Sarah, any plans for the sequel?" Kate called over, and Sarah spluttered with a mouthful of her drink.
"Sequel? I haven't even begun to think…anyway, where could the story even go?" She asked, both shocked and yet genuinely intrigued. She had thought the tale was done and dusted. What more could there possibly be?
A redhead with a smattering of freckles rolled her eyes.
"Your protagonist obviously has the hots for this Goblin King. Get them together, give people what they want for God's sake." The group of girls laughed, all except Sarah. She shook her head smile, slowly fading.
"Jess, but that's the point of the book. She was too young to understand and he was…well, he was a predator."
"Really? Sounded pretty in love with her to me." Jess smirked as picked up the heavy bottle, clumsily refilling her glass. Sarah flushed under the harsh lights, the outlandish pink glow masking her blush.
"He tricked her! He took her brother-"
"Didn't she ask him to though?" Mary raised an eyebrow, curls bouncing as she laughed. Sarah bit the inside of her lip. That was one thing she had always struggled with even as she read the book back. The words that Jareth had spoken floated back to her.
I'm tired of living up to your expectations of me
In the book she thought she had glossed over that tricky point. Obviously not well enough. She drained her glass.
"Enough. Please. And get me another drink!" The girls whooped as they handed the bottle to her, allowing the neon lights and thumping music to carry them towards the rest of their celebration.
In the dark of her small town the memory warmed her. As she continued on, she came to a small footpath where she knew she could follow the woodlands and get to her old home in no time at all. Remembering Karen's almost permanent scowl she sighed, changing her direction to follow the wide path. The trees were bare, coated in snow. It was beautiful. Sarah remembered spending so many days and nights in these forests, rehearsing plays and playing princesses. She should have been scared, traversing through empty woodland in the middle of the night. But she felt at home here, more so than anywhere else she thought. Street lamps lined either side of the footpath, casting a fiery orange glow against the ice.
As she cast an eye around, she stilled. Listening.
The wind had stopped howling, the breeze had stopped kissing her cheeks. The hum of carols and laughter had quieted, leaving nothing but the sound of her breathing. In all her life, she thought, she had never heard anything so quiet. It was unsettling.
She clutched at her jumper, folding her arms over her chest at the cold. She was halfway down the path, if she strained she could almost see the pinpricks of light where her father and Toby were waiting. There was no point in turning back. The only way to go was forwards.
Sometimes the way forwards is the way back…
"Shut up." She whispered to herself.
She pressed on, slower than before, eyes searching each shadow and branch for something. She did not quite know what though.
A quiet rustle in front of her made her still.
She swallowed, a harsh and unforgiving sound in the quiet night. When she looked back on the memory, she supposed that she had known who it was all along. She had known who had made the birds stop singing and the wind stop howling. She just couldn't admit it to herself.
She raised her eyes to the street light ahead of her, heart thudding dangerously at the shadow that lurked just outside of the light.
"Who's there?" She tried to call out, her voice becoming no more than a strangled whimper. A low laugh answered her.
"Sarah Williams." That voice. That voice that had haunted every dream and thought of hers for years hit her with a delicate hiss. Sarah closed her eyes, squeezing them shut and willing the world around her to just melt away.
"Go away." She whispered, pleading. A quiet tut answered her.
"I'm afraid that is not an option tonight, precious." She opened her eyes once more, a gasp escaping her mouth. Silently, the man had shifted so he stood directly beneath the glow of the streetlight. Standing without fear or apprehension, gazing at her. The Goblin King.
He was swathed in black, from his boots to his cape; the material was darker than the night around him, his skin paler than the snow. Sarah dared to raise her eyes, looking into the face she once knew. He was just as she remembered, the sharp planes of his face both delicate and dangerous with thin lips and piercing eyes, that were at that moment fixed solely on her own.
There was silence as they observed each other. If she had been looking closely she would have seen the Goblin King shiver.
As he gazed upon her he could not but help admire the woman she had become. As the fat of her youth had melted away it gave the illusion that her eyes were larger, vivacious in their emerald glow. The cold had kissed her cheeks and left a rosy blush against pale skin. And as the wind had picked up again it left the ends of her black hair fluttering in the wind, whispering against her face. Oh yes, he thought. She was ready.
Sarah exhaled, her breath misting in front of her face as she gave in to the silence.
"What do you want?" She closed her eyes as she asked, unwilling to see the smirk she was sure would twitch about his lips.
"Little Sarah Williams." He breathed, relishing the way her name tasted against his tongue. He took a step towards her, eyes dragging over her body.
"My my, how you've grown." Sarah stepped back, brow furrowing as she took in his predatory gaze.
"Stay back." She warned, her voice still no more than a low whisper.
"Come now, precious. That is hardly the polite way to greet an old friend."
"Friend?" She spluttered in her shock.
"You were never my friend." There was a shift in the air as she felt his anger bristle. His eyes almost darkened in the light, a scowl appearing on his lips.
"Would you prefer us to be enemies?" He asked, the words a threat more than a question. She turned her face away, trying to control her breathing.
"I'll say it again. What do you want?" Jareth cast her a withering look, almost as if bored by her fear. He slipped a hand beneath his cloak, and Sarah felt her blood turn to ice as it emerged with an all too familiar book. He raised an eyebrow at the surprise on her face, amused almost.
"I must commend you. You write very well." Sarah fought hard not to meet his gaze. He had her book. And if he had her book then that meant he had read it. She cursed herself and the words she had wrote, humiliated by them.
'You claim this as your own?" He asked.
"I wrote it." She admitted. How could she deny it when her name was brazenly scrawled across the cover?
"But it's not your story. It's ours." Her eyes met his as anger flared through her. How dare he claim dominion over her tales, her life? She denied him the privilege once and she would do it again.
"It's mine, make no mistake Goblin King. Now leave me be." She hissed.
The book disappeared once more under his cloak.
"You know I can't do that." She laughed in disbelief at his torment.
"Why? Because you're obsessed with me?"
A small chuckle escaped his lips.
"I'm the obsessive? You, my precious thing, are the one that never left the Labyrinth behind. You wrote, what was it now? 684 words describing everything you could remember about it. And if I'm remembering correctly, you spent half of it trying to delve into my own character. That is what I would call obsessive."
She had no answer, for a moment there was only the sound of heavy breathing as she fought to control her raging emotions.
"Yet you still have no idea of the damage you've done do you? How very predictable." His voice was laden with disappointment.
"What are you talking about?" Sarah cried out her frustration overtaking her. Jareth advanced towards her, the crunch of his boots in snow ominous, the very sound terrified her.
"The words your…protagonist uses. They are the wrong words." At Sarah's confused gaze he continued.
"These words, these lies you've spilled out into your world. They've overtaken the truth. No one knows their right words anymore because of you. You will rectify what you've done." He said darkly. At that moment everything became clear to Sarah. Of course. She had told everyone the words to summon the Goblin King but she had lied. She had saved everyone she thought with a smile.
"And have hundreds of children turned into goblins? No thanks." She smirked as she said it, relishing the notion that she had once again bested the Goblin King. This time without even trying.
He growled, closing the distance between them. In one moment she found herself pinned against the bark of a tree, one of his hands clasping her wrists above her head, the other splayed across her chest.
The leather of his gloves was rough against her exposed skin above her jumper, the pressure of the hand suffocating.
"You feel this here? Sarah? That heartbeat of yours pounding away in your chest?" His eyes flickered to hers, and she fought to maintain his gaze.
"All that energy, all that life. So very much alive." He murmured.
Grasping one of her hands he pulled it to his own chest. He nearly hissed at the feel of her soft palm against him, only the supple leather separating them. But he ignored it, pushing the spark away. That was not his goal. Not tonight.
"Feel my own. What does it feel like to you?"
Sarah tried to ignore the warmth of flesh beneath her fingertips. Beneath the pale skin she could feel a rapid heartbeat, although as she pressed her hand closer she realised just how faint it was.
"What's wrong with you?"
He let her go, and she gasped as her boots once more touched the ground
"The heart of me is wasting away. The heart of the labyrinth is dying. We are fading away into the darkness. All because of you and those torrid little lies of yours."
Sarah gazed at him, for the first time truly seeing. His skin was always pale, like alabaster and marble, but it was different than before. Before it held life, the voracious appetite of a man never sated. Now it was almost dull. It was only his eyes that held their glow now. But still, a secret part of her observed that he was still just as beautiful. Despite the cacophony of feeling she had towards him, she never truly wished him any harm.
"I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt." She whispered, allowing one small moment of weakness. He shook his head almost in pity.
"You never do, Sarah."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Toby, Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, me? You hurt us all. You hurt your parents, you hurt yourself, all because of that stubbornness and arrogance you seem so fond of." He finished with a glowering look to her. Sarah bristled.
"How dare you-"
"How dare you! How dare you. How dare you go through life destroying everything you touch. You'll destroy a world older than this Earth because you dare." His voice echoed through the trees, his rage and disgust hitting her like a dagger through the heart.
Sara bit her lip, closing her eyes as a tear fell.
'What about them? Hoggle?" Jareth waved a hand dismissively.
"He'll fade too. Just like the rest of them."
"I don't want anyone to die." Not her friends, not Hoggle. Jareth met her gaze once more.
"Oh no Sarah. We won't die. Something much worse will happen to us. We'll cease to exist. We'll never be and never will have been. My world will crumble away to nothing. All because of you." Sarah ran a hand over her face, the cold of her tears bitter and sharp against her cheeks.
"What can I do?" She lamented.
Jareth waved her away, averting her gaze with a scowl.
"Tell me what I can do and I'll fix it."
"You can start by correcting yourself. Write another book, send a letter, I don't care. Just fix this. And tell people their right words." Sarah shook her head in despair.
"I can't let those children be wished away."
Jareth skulked towards her, lips merely inches from hers
"Then you condemn us all to hell."
"Anything else. Anything but that, please. Just tell me." As Jareth gazed down at the crying girl he stilled. Did he dare? The darkness in his mind whispered to him and the delicious thought made him shiver. Oh yes. He would dare. He stepped away from her, trying to hide the victorious grin on his lips.
"I'm afraid you won't be so open to this option either precious." Sarah wiped her eyes, gazing imploringly at him.
"Anything. Just…I can't let those kids be taken. If people know the words…then I won't let it be because of me."
Jareth placed a hand under her chin, tilting her head this way and that. Gazing at her almost like a dog on auction. The cold indifference in his eyes burned her.
"Our worlds have been lost to the other for centuries. We used to live alongside each other you know. My kind and yours, working together for a brighter future. But your race, you seem to think you know it all and you forsake us, choosing your science over the magic and wonder our world has to offer. So we fractured, you went your way and we went ours." Sarah swallowed, all too aware of the painful pressure of his hand against her chin.
"If you, my sweet Sarah, chose to return to the Underground with me and set about rebuilding those ties…well, I think that will do nicely. There would be much more power in that than a silly book." He let her chin go and her hand immediately reached up to rub the sore flesh.
"I don't understand." She said, her body shaking at the prospect of what he was asking. He couldn't, he wouldn't dare. She couldn't.
"I want this world and my world to be one again. My land will strengthen and prosper and I'm sure yours will find some advantage. You humans always do. And you can help."
"But how can I help?" Jareth raised an eyebrow at her as if he were surprised that she didn't fully understand yet.
"You and I will build this world together, a world all of our own. Side by side. Forever." Sarah's had clasped over her mouth, her eyes widening at the smile that had reached the Goblin Kings lips.
"I can't."
"It's one or the other Sarah. Be grateful that you have a choice." She shook her head.
"And what if I don't?"
"Then my people will die. You will be the cause of genocide. Do you want that?" Her stubborn silence told him that she knew he was right. Gazing at her she did look rather pitiable. Her eyes were scorched red with the mark of her tears, her lower lip almost ruined by the constant bite of her teeth. He supposed he would grant her one small mercy.
"Before you decide you may spend the Yule Tide with your family. But I expect you here tomorrow with your choice." He sighed, readjusting his gloves as if none of it really mattered to him. Before she could reply he spoke once more.
"And if you don't turn up…well, I'll have to take you by force. And I will find you, Sarah. Wherever you'll hide…I'll find you." He finished; his voice was so low that it rumbled through Sarah's body like thunder.
He stepped out of the streetlight, vanishing into the shadows once more. But just before the sight of him was lost Sarah heard one more thing.
"You have 13 hours."