CHAPTER 1

It had been thirteen years and Jareth had finally had enough. He had been watching Sarah from time to time but she never made wishes to use the magic he gave her, nor made the mistake of wishing for him to use it as a loophole to bring her back. He desired her very much through the years watching her bathe and undress before his eyes. It had him lusting after her to touch her beautiful woman's fully developed body.

It was thirteen years and her protection time expired. He wasn't able to access her until he got a wish away after the thirteenth anniversary date in her world. A wish away had finally come. He was going to the Aboveground to make her come back. He was going to confront her and forcefully persuade her to return with him willingly or by force to the Underground. He was tired of waiting on her stubbornness. It was time to claim what he had desired for so long. He would have his chancellor deal with the run after he sent the wisher to the Labyrinth, if they choose to run.

He knew her life was lonely and she was by herself now that her stepmother had got Toby and her father to move away to California severing ties to her. They left her behind at Yale University to finish her education. She moved to Cambridge, England afterwards to work at the Research Department on Celtic Anglo Saxon History for the University of Cambridge……….

—--

Sarah walked in the door from work and went to her room changing out of her pants, blouse and heels, into a tshirt and jeans with tennis shoes. She was a twenty eight year old single woman, who was academically driven and happy in her job. After a string of many socially lame dates in her life, so far, she would just stop dating altogether after a while from time to time. She was in one of those 'hiatus'.

Sarah was brushing out her hair in the middle of her living room and put it into a ponytail on top of her head. It had gotten quite long. When she flipped her head back up. There was the Goblin King standing in front of her bigger than life. She startled and stumbled backwards barely catching her balance. He hadn't changed a bit from the last time she saw him. Her mouth was open in shock and surprise.

He smirked and said smoothly, "Hello, Sarah."

She moved away from him across the room and said, "What are you doing here, Goblin King?"

He sauntered forward towards her as she moved away. He said, "Oh surely you have more to say than that, Sarah? It's been so long. Didn't you miss me? I had to wait thirteen years for a wish-way to come see and talk to you."

She kept moving away from him as he advanced. She was beyond tense and wound up like a live wire. She said, "Actually, I have nothing to say. The portal was shut down after the first time I used it, so I couldn't talk to anyone this whole time. It's not my fault we never talked. I did not wish for you or want you here. Why are you here in my living room?" She moved around her bookcase.

He stalked her like prey and said, "Sarah, you know why I'm here. I have been watching you all these years. You haven't made a mistake and made a wish in all these years to come get you. I don't know why I gave you that gift when you never used it anyway. I've waited long enough and your time is up. You had thirteen years to get your affairs in order. I've come to take what's mine and you back where you belong."

She said, "I have not had a time limit. You have no power over me and can't force me anywhere. I won fair and square. My life is my own. You don't own or control me. I'm not going anywhere with you ever."

He tsk tsked her. He said, "That may have been true for thirteen years, but I have carte blanche now. You are mine to claim." He lunged at her and she dodged him.

He growled and said, "I can be incredibly cruel and the harder you make this, the harder I'll be on you once you return. You haven't seen that side of me yet. So being the generous person I am, I'll give you one more chance to come with me willingly." She watches his face reflect his amusement at her silence. Sarah knew, at that very moment, if he pinned her, he would use his magic to transport immediately. She wondered if wishes could be used in reverse.

She dodged him again and said, "I 'wish' the Goblin King was back in the Underground where he belongs." His eyes turned dark and angry. He growled out a scream of anger and rage before he vanished.

She sat on her couch catching her breath and said quickly, "I 'wish' for no fae or the Goblin King to be able to see or locate me in their crystals or magic and no goblins can come into my home, vicinity or follow me."

Sarah sat there and thought, 'He is going to return when he gets another wish away and everytime after. I have to get out of here and my time is up. But, where do you go when he returns next time and catches you unaware again? If I quit my job, leave my stuff and hit the road, he could find me through even conventional tracking here. Think Sarah….. I have nothing against the Underground, I just don't want to be forced back under his control and as a captive. What if I used the wish magic on myself?'

She said, "I 'wish' for complete knowledge and physical abilities on how to do complete survival training, competitive archery and self defense training." She felt a huge blur in front of her eyes and a sharp pain in her head Sarah fell backwards on the couch and blacked out.

—--

Jareth was raging when he appeared in his throne room. He was yelling, shouting, screaming, pacing and smashing crystals against the walls. There was no way for him to return until he got another wish away. All the goblins coward and snuck out of the castle away from him. They had never seen their king this mad before.

Jareth screamed, "Damn you, Sarah! You'll rue the day you ever wished me away! You stupid little fool! Wait until I get my hands on you, Sarah! I'll tie you to my bed and spank you arse black and blue! You'll never leave me again!" He roared out a frustrated growl. He smashed more crystals.

—--

Sarah woke up groggy and looked at the clock. It had been about a couple hours. She had a headache and was dizzy. She realized why and knew how to do everything she wished for. She knew she wouldn't be doing that again. Her head hurt badly. She grabbed her purse and keys and put her sunglasses on and went to the camping store and grocery store. She was going to start right away and get everything she needed. She had over £50,000 in her bank account and two credit cards with combined £35,000 on them. She was ok either way.

After a week had gone by she was getting nervous and had quit her job last week. They were not happy about no notice. She had everything in black she had in a large waterproof duffle bag, backpack, her long rain poncho, woolen hooded cloak, boots and clothes. She had on her hunting knives and bow and arrow set all tipped in iron and steel. She had her hair braided down her back. It was October 23rd the middle of fall and she hoped it was the same there. She was ready.

Sarah had on all her gear standing in her living room and said out loud, "I 'wish' for a safe portal for me to travel to the Underground, but not in the Goblin Kingdom." A round swirling pool of watery looking silvery mirror stood before her. She sighed and said, "Ok, let's go feet." She stepped through the portal.

Start of Week 1

Sarah was dizzy from the spinning when she stepped out of the portal. She was inside of a cave, a very small cave at that. She saw a bit of light ahead. She clicked on her flashlight and found an exit that was overgrown but waist high. She hacked away at the overgrowth and made it big enough to fit herself and her bags through. She took off her cloak and pushed it past with her bags. Sarah crawled in the hole into a lush green forest of moss, mist, decaying old trees and ferns. It was lovely and fertile.

Sarah put on her gear and walked for a while in the forest and sat on an old stump. She thought, 'Once I get where I'm going I'm going to need currency here. I assume gold would be used.'

She said out loud, "I 'wish' for a large bag of gold currency used here in the Underground." The stump she was sitting on crumbled and collapsed under her weight. When she got up a big leather bag about 12"x16" tied closed was inside. Sarah got on her knees and got out a black nylon drawstring bag from out of her duffle bag and put the bag of gold coins inside it. She thought, 'This is so bizarre.'

She said, "I 'wish' my baggage was light." It became so much easier for her to walk now. She came out of a forest and into a meadow that led her to the back of a town. She watched the comings and goings for a while and saw a few humans but mostly elven people. They were tall, lithe, slanted eyes, angled brows, sharper noses, various hair colors, handsome and beautiful faces. The fae looked more human, fair haired, smaller pointed ears, angled brows, lithe and beautiful.

Sarah put about six gold coins in her leather gloved hand and spotted the inn or tavern. She pulled her hood forward and kept her head down walking into the inn. She walked up to the thirty looking elven man behind the counter with dark hair in a ponytail.

He looked up and she asked him, "May I have a room for a week, please?" He was taken aback by her politeness.

He said, "Six silver a night, meals are five coppers, drinks are two." Sarah laid down five gold. He gave her eight silver back.

He gave her a key and said, "Room two." She took her bags up to the room and locked the door. She filled the pockets of her black jeans with twenty five gold in each pocket. She counted out the gold in the bag and came out with 745 in gold coins. She tied closed the bag.

It took Sarah all week to get herself outfitted and ready to travel in this new world she found herself in. She was in the town of Loch Féir (Grass Lake). She got a two year old gray dapple gelding with a black mane, tail and hooves. He came with tack and saddlebags. He was named "Aisling" (Dream). She bought leather boots, men's and women's clothing to blend in.

The one investment was for a twenty six hour pocket watch with a chime alarm and a magical three oval locket bracelet in silver with a small key lock on each. It stored her money in three places. The clerk that sold it to her dumped a handful of copper coins into the one open oval on the locket and the coins disappeared. He turned it upside down and they all emptied out onto the counter. She could store her gold in it and get it out of her bags. She put the tiny silver key on a long chain she had around her neck. It hung the key over her breast bone.

Start of Week 2

Sarah was ready when her week was up and packed up her horse and left with a map of directions from the local blacksmith on all the towns in the Elven Kingdom. She headed to the town of Caladh (Haven), it was a sea port on the Fairsinge Sea (Expanse).

She was told it was a two day ride and she had to camp for the night. It was beginning to drizzle and Sarah found a group of trees and a couple big boulders next to a brook. She put up her dark green pop up tent that was 6'x8' and staked it to the ground. She unloaded the horse and stowed everything inside. Her horse was staked on some grass next to the brook. She foraged for wood and stones to bank her fire.

She took out her fishing line and hook and put dough balls from her bread in her backpack. Eventually, she caught a small brook trout. She skinned, gutted and filleted it on a flat stone surface. She cooked it in her small frying pan with a small pot of rice and dried vegetables. She had another small pot for tea. Sarah had her front flap of her tent open and pole staked, so as to have a dry surface in front of the tent, but not close enough to the fire. She finished cooking and ate her food. She dumped the scraps into the woods far enough away when she went to the bathroom in her rain poncho. It was miserable to camp in the rain. She moved the wood under the tented flap to keep it dry for the morning.

It started to mildly rain throughout the night. Sarah didn't sleep heavily because of the different sounds in the woods than in her world. It kept her alert even in her sleep because of the strange animal sounds. She swore an animal of some kind on four legs the size of a fox came into her camp at some point and looked into her tent through the zippered screen. Its eyes glowed green and had pointed ears on the top of its head. She was alert after that and didn't sleep the rest of the night.

—--

When morning came, she was exhausted but ate her leftovers and some bread with tea and brushed the horse down, saddled and packed up. Her compass worked the same in this world as her own so she was lucky in that regard. She headed to Caladh.

The town was different with homes with round doors and windows formed from trees that had all grown together in twisted arches and doorways along with conventional buildings in between. She observed everything as she passed through the busy cobblestone streets. There were wharfs built of wood for the loading and unloading of goods and pulleys roped from tall sailing ships. It was busy like out of an old Dickens novel.

There was an inn next to a stable not further than a couple blocks from the wharf. Sarah went to the stable and unloaded her horse. She paid for the night to board him and went into the busy inn. The innkeeper looked like a fifty year old human. Sarah asked in a low voice, "Can I have a room for the night, please?"

The man looked her over head to toe and said, "Seven silver a night, meals be five and drinks be two coppers. Room four." Sarah gave him the silver.

Unknown to Sarah he nodded to three men at a table nearby. Sarah went up to her room. She felt uncomfortable there for some reason. She said out loud, "I 'wish' that nobody can enter my room overnight while I'm here." She even put a chair under the doorknob. She wondered what was making her so leary of this place? The room had a privy, pump and tub and was relatively clean. She decided to stay in her room locked in. Sarah made a fire, heated water and took a hot bath. She washed her hair and her clothes dirty from the last couple days. She dried her hair in front of the fire and cooked up some soup with rice, dried vegetables and dried beef with tea. She cleaned up and put everything away, lit the candle by the bed and read one of her books. She blew out the candle and went to sleep.

She woke up to men pounding on the door yelling, "Let us in. Ye signed up fer swabbing the deck and ye damn sure are gonna sail with us!" She knew then that they wanted to gang press or shanghai her. She knew she had a bad feeling about this place. She got up and got dressed and packed up, as they pounded on the door shouting at her. It was three in the morning. Her clothes were dry at least. She sat on the bed and just thought about what to do. She stood up with her gear on and bags on her.

Sarah said, "I 'wish' that Aisling had his full tack on, outside the stable and I and my gear were next to him." Sarah closed her eyes and opened them to her horse in front of the stables. She packed up the horse off to the side of the stable out of the light. She rode Aisling out of town headed to a city called Álainn (Beautiful). It was a day and a half so she decided to find a place to camp and get some sleep.

She found a heavily wooded area by a lake and set up her tent, unpacked Aisling, unsaddled him and stowed their gear in the tent. She staked him by the grass and water. It was six in the morning and still dark outside. She was exhausted and planned on sleeping late.

—--

About three kingdoms away, Jareth finally got another wish away. He went up and sent a young woman to the Labyrinth and had his chancellor deal with her being the baby was in the castle. Jareth went after Sarah. He looked in his crystal and it was black. He tried again. Black.

When he got to her apartment it was all packed up in boxes and a set of keys were on the kitchen table with a note. It said:

To Whom It May Concern,

If you are reading this. I can no longer stay here safely and I had to leave. Don't try to find me because I'm gone forever. I'm sorry for leaving everything behind, but I did pack it up for you to donate, keep or discard.

Sorry for everything,

Sarah Williams

Jareth hit his fist on the table hard. He said, "Where the hell are you, Sarah?" He tried a location spell on her and came up with nothing at all. He thought, 'She wouldn't kill herself would she? No. I didn't push her that far, did I? She's gone though and my crystals are black from either death or magically blocked.' He used his crystal to look into her family. They seemed oblivious. He couldn't think of where she could be. He went back to the Underground empty handed and he was angry.