*This is only my fanfiction and I take no credit. All credit goes to Jim Henson, because he and David Bowie were such awesome people.*

CHAPTER 1

After returning from the Labyrinth, she contacted her friends from the Labyrinth one time, but the portal must have got shut off and never worked again through her mirror. She thought maybe Jareth did it, maybe he was angry with her refusing him.

Home life was miserable at best and her friends didn't understand her anymore and kinda drifted away. She was sick of her father constantly introducing her to his partners in the firm's sons. They were either grabby touchy perverts or arrogant morons with entitlement problems. She had nothing in common with any of them.

She became socially isolated and just excelled academically, like she never did before. She sank herself in books and historical information after her return from the Labyrinth. She had an itch to learn as much about the fae as she could find in her world. She buckled down in her studies and graduated valedictorian of her highschool at seventeen years old. She qualified for two scholarships. She realized she had an eidetic memory that she never had before and absorbed and remembered things quite easily. Her dad congratulated her and that was all. Karen made plans for him and Toby on the day of her graduation and nobody came.

Karen made her feel like an outsider more and more. She would make ridiculing and cruel comments all the time about her appearance or 'social ineptitude'. She told her father but he just blew her off like always. Karen was driving a wedge to make her uncomfortable all the time. Sarah eventually stopped worrying about Toby because he was growing up to be a spoiled brat. His mother manipulated him and turned him against her. Driving her away, she was able to make him believe she didn't care at all about him.

She found many things of interest but her favorite ones were Celtic Historical Studies and Ancient Britannic Languages, ancient and modern dialect forms of the Gaelic language, like Irish, Breton, Scottish and Welsh.

Her Irish cousins from her mother's side of the family, invited her to stay with them in Dublin, while she studied Celtic Historical Studies and Ancient Britannic Languages at Trinity College in Dublin to get a double master's degree. Her father wanted her to be a lawyer and said he was disappointed in her not doing that, but he paid to send her to Ireland and paid for her studies.

While there she applied for Ireland citizenship, being her mother was born here. A year later she was given full citizenship because she was the only first generation born in the United States and she got her birth registered in Ireland, along with her mother's birth certificate on record. This made her education free now that she was a citizen. Her father didn't have to pay for her schooling now. Upon completion of her double master's thesis in three years record time. She graduated with a double master's degree with both a 4.0 GPA and summa cum laude by the age of twenty. Her father still said nothing of her achievements.

She transferred to the University of Aberdeen in Scotland to get two masters in the study of Anthropology, specializing in Anthropology of the North. She at the same time started to get another master's in Archeology specialized in the British Isles. Her father started paying for her education again.

At age twenty two, she was halfway through her third and fourth masters degrees, she had got a small inheritance of $300,000 from her grandmother on her mother's side, who came from Ireland. Her grandmother came to America with her mother, who was born in Ireland, at age two.

She would have paid for her education now because it was the right thing to do. When she told her father over the phone she was told harshly to pay for her own tuition immediately that very day she got the inheritance. Her stepmother made her father cut her off financially, because she heard her voice in the background spitting vile things about her being a burden and an ingrate. Her father repeated everything she said she told him to say over the phone. It made her super angry.

She used the money frugally to graduate, at age twenty four, with a 4.0 and 4.2 GPA summa cum laude from school and cut off all communication with her father. He was all she thought she had and now she knew she was all alone in the world, since she hadn't heard from her mother since she was fourteen and got a birthday card with five bucks in it. Her father called and called until it stopped. Sarah was done with them all. Her step mother, Karen, made sure of it.

She had a total of four masters degrees and went on a few archeological digs in the UK from time to time. She even got a job doing research for Cambridge University in England. Her field of research focused on the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon people, relics and new discoveries. She loved her job.

After college she started taking courses that interested her. She took a self defense course. The trainer took a liking to her and took her further than his classes. He said he wanted her to know everything he knew to help her if she is ever in a bad situation. He taught her to shoot and learn archery. She was very thankful and kept up on her skills that he taught her. She loved it and picked it up quickly from him and he made her feel good about herself again.

Sarah began specialized survival training with Bushcraft Wilderness Training, taught by a professional Survivalist. She started collecting items for camping and surviving outdoors. She learned camping, trapping, finding wild food, recognizing plants, foraging for supplies, looking for safe places to set up camp, fire starting, preparation of animals for food, valuable items and how to use them, ect.

While doing her job, she had been doing personal research on the Tuatha De Danann, fae folk of legend by visiting historical sights and viewing them from every angle to see if she detected magic. It had a certain smell or feeling or both to her. She remembers that smell and feeling from her Labyrinth run back ten to eleven years ago, at fifteen years old. Now, at twenty six years old, she looked and read everything in the libraries in the used bookstores.

One day she stumbled on a very very old book in an obscure old bookstore. There wasn't even an author's name in it. It was written about the Tuatha dé Danann and it explained about how they came to be, where they went and how to get there, which shocked the hell out of her. The book said:

—--

"The Tuatha dé Danann, the people of the Goddess Danu, were one of the great ancient tribes of Ireland and they ruled Ireland from 1897 B.C. to 1700 B.C. The arrival of the tribe in Ireland is the stuff of legends. It was originally Dagda's home, but there is a belief that Newgrange was built as a way for the gods to travel between the heavens and this world. The Tuatha Dé Danann brought with them the 'Four Treasures' with them from four magical "cities" of Findias, Gorias, Murias, and Falias. The treasures are the Sword of Nuada, the Spear of Lugh, the Cauldron of the Dagda, and the Lia Fáil (Stone of Destiny). They taught their skills in the sciences, including architecture, the arts, and magic, including necromancy."

"It was said that the Tuatha Dé or Tuatha de Danann had their homes in the Underground, a Celtic realm seemingly unseen by humans. They are generally described as tall with red or blonde hair, blue or green eyes, and translucent pale skin with pointed ears."

"At their defeat, the Tuatha de Danann chose to "go underground" to live. This new habitat led to another name for the Tuatha de Danann when they became known as the Sidhe. Sidhe means a fairy in Gaelic folklore."

"Newgrange was built about 3,200 BC (about 5,200 years ago) during the Neolithic period, which makes it older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids by 500 years. Newgrange is a large circular mound with a stone passageway and chambers inside. The mound is ringed by large stones known as kerbstones some of which are engraved with artwork."

"It was said that Newgrange is the passage to the abode of the Tuatha de Danann (a supernaturally gifted group of people thought to be the gods and goddesses of Ireland before Christianity) and the burial place of the kings of Tara since then."

"You must be in the right antechamber. You must place a smear of your blood on the wall with your right hand on the wall. You must say the incantation spell and it will open the entry to the 'Underground'. The spell is as follows:

"'Gabh troimhe chun rìoghachd eile. Fosgail an doras gu Tuatha dé Danann taobh a-staigh ballachan dachaigh an dagda. Bheir mi m' fhuil mar thabhartas don bhan-dia Danu.' (Pass me through to the other realm. Open the doorway to the Tuatha dé Danann within the walls of the home of The Dagda. I give my blood as an offering to the goddess Danu.)"

—--

She knew immediately that she had struck gold and believed every word in the book. It was too obscure and rare to find a withering old book like that. She also knew it was the way in but how? She needed to explore the Mound without anyone there wondering what she was doing. She was going to get ready and prepare for a new adventure.

On the day before Samhain or Halloween, it was raining outside and the lightning was flashing across the room. It was one of those October days when you just want to snuggle in bed keeping warm and dry. Sarah was staring at the ceiling going through an inventory check.

Sarah had packed up all she would need to survive outdoors. She hoped it wasn't too heavy to bear. She had her large waterproof duffle bag of clothes, a small tent with a couple blankets rolled up to strap to the outside top and back of the of the backpack. The waterproof backpack was full of nonperishable food and spices, a waterproof zip closed large shoulder bag, a survivalist/first aid kit, a hunting knife, and archery bow and arrows, a 9mm Kel-Tec P-11 handgun with a ten round clip and thousand rounds of iron bullets (which both were not obtained legally), a rope and compact climbing gear, a few books, a winter coat, raincoat and umbrella. She wasn't sure what the Underground's weather would be like or what season to expect.

Everything was all in black, her pop-up tent disk was in dark green and she had to wear her coats, her knife and gun on her belt. She would wear a waterproof backpack, a large zip up waterproof shoulder bag, and carry the large waterproof duffle bag. She packed up all her jewelry and had bought more gold and silver with her savings so she had something to barter with.

The only impediment was to get access alone in the Newgrange mound at night. She figured she would leave her car far enough away that she could walk there and hop the shrubbery fencing around it. She just didn't want to wake up any caretakers by the property in the houses and good thing the mound entrance was on an angle away from the buildings.

When the night came, it was Halloween or as the Celts knew, Samhain, when the walls are thinned between worlds. Sarah took a shower, got dressed in her black outfit with boots. She braided her very long dark hair tightly from a ponytail on the top of her head. She put it down the back of her shirt. She filled her bottles in her backpack with water. She put on her coats and grabbed her three bags and headed to the car.

She drove north to where Newgrange was located and was driving with the lights off to the bend in the road nearest to the mound and pulled off the road there. She parked the car and got all her gear on with her hoodie up to obscure her face and started walking stealthily to the closest hedge to the entrance of the mound and moved along the hedge fencing and hopped two fences. She quickly darted across the lawn, so she was on the opposite side of the mound that blocked the houses. She walked up the steps and into the entrance. She felt the walls and used a small flashlight to find her way. It said the right passageway. She turned right and saw a stone wall in the dead end. She used her knife to cut her finger tip, put a smear on the wall, put her right hand on the wall and said the right words:

"Gabh troimhe chun rìoghachd eile. Fosgail an doras gu Tuatha dé Danann taobh a-staigh ballachan dachaigh an dagda. Bheir mi m' fhuil mar thabhartas don bhan-dia Danu."

—--

The wall disappeared and she cried out and fell through on her hands and knees. Sarah stood up and was dusting herself off. It was a creepy dark dank musty cave with cobwebs. She crept through with her small flashlight. It was humid on this side of the wall where you could hear drips of water only. She looked back where she came from and there was just a wall of stone now. She placed her hand upon it and felt that it was real and solid stone. She slowly went forward through the cave tunnel.

She couldn't believe she was really in the Underground. What she realized is that the information she had discovered had led her to this place and it was odd. She wasn't sure if there was a portal that would really work or not. Seems it did, because she believed. It was still so unreal. She was amazed, a bit excited and scared.

Suddenly she tripped and fell when her foot kicked something hard, heavy and solid. It jingled. She got up and was looking down at a pot of gold coins covered in an inch or so in layers of dirt and dust. She thought, 'This is just too crazy lucky.' She pulled a few large gallon size plastic zip bags she carried with her from her backpack and stuffed them with as many coins as she could fit into each one, minus the dirt, if possible. She put them in her shoulder bag which made it much much heavier, like fifty pounds or so. She filled up a pocket of her cargo pants with coins too. Perhaps, maybe the leprechaun died. After all, the portal from Newgrange, Dagda's Mound home in Ireland, was over 5,200 years old. It was from the time that the Tuatha De Danann were in Ireland.

She had used her savings to convert what she had left into silver and gold chain jewelry which she had a lot of in her duffle bag with the pot of gold in her shoulder tote now. She was financially ok but not secure. If she got attacked by multiple people at once it could be bad.

She found an opening that was overgrown a lot and she had to cut through it to get outside. She hacked and cut until she stood in a wooded forest and the trees nestled up to the cave front. 'No wonder,' she thought, there was no light because of the trees blocking it.' She walked around looking for a water source. She came up on a stream and followed it out of the woods into a vast meadow. It was fall on the verge of winter just like in her world. It was midday it seemed.

Once she crossed the meadow, she found a dirt road leading to who knows where, so she followed it. If she came up on anyone she would hide and watch them pass. One group were four elves riding horses going the opposite direction she was going in. They looked bored. They passed by.

She was traveling as light as possible, but with gold made it heavy and tiring. She needed a horse badly because she was getting weary fast. She dodged a human caravan, and a group of three fae soldiers. The humans traveling was a relief to find out.

After they passed she got much further down the road, when she saw another group coming up but coming from behind, so she hid. There were two of them and they looked like goblin army types, but these goblins were different. They were bigger,stronger, better equipped and looked more intelligent than the ones she met years ago. They passed not noticing her behind the large rock on the side of the road obscured with brush and scrub.