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Chapter 9: A young girl!

Sarah laid down her pencil and gazed out the window longingly. The half foot of snow on the ground looked ominous, but no more than the precal homework sitting in front of her. Considering that Karen was on a cleaning kick guaranteed to last the entire weekend and conscript any free hands, the snowy wonderland outside her window was beginning to look more inviting by the moment.

Making her decision quickly, before someone could stop her, she flipped her textbook closed on her homework, grabbed her jacket, and made her escape.

Out in the snow, it was easier to forget her humdrum worries of school and family and enjoy herself, watching the thick, fluffy puffs of snow float gently downward, twirled carelessly by a stray breeze. The sight brought back memories of her friends' stories about the goblins' snowball fights, and her amusement at their reactions-Ludo, ponderous and slow, not understanding their game; Sir Didymus, sensitive about his dignity and the tiniest bit high-strung; Hoggle, stumping along with his grumpy shell among the mischievous, playful goblins-carried her to the edge of her favorite park.

She meandered along the snow-covered paths for a while, her thoughts turning slowly to their king. He was such an enigma-cold and distant in the beginning of her adventure, but then so...broken, so fragile at the end. Two years' silence, and then his spontaneous reappearance, as arrogant as ever.

And yet...at the bookstore...

She blinked in the snow and tugged the edges of her jacket more firmly around herself.

He was...strangely human, she thought. Like I could actually talk to him. Not scary, just...absent-minded. Easily distracted.

She smiled at the thought, thinking of her baby brother. He, too, was easily distracted by anything shiny and new.

Unbeknownst to her, the subject of her mental ruminations was leaning against the railing of the very bridge to which her (equally absent-minded) feet were carrying her.

Jareth smirked, watching her draw closer. She was so fragile, like all of her kind. Show her too much too soon, move too quickly, and she darted away, scared out of her comfort zone-though she would vehemently deny that she lived in one. But continue tossing her harmless little tidbits, intriguing little puzzles to whet her curiosity, and she would creep closer and closer...

He just hoped he'd found the right breadcrumbs for his little bird.

Sarah didn't even notice the dark-clothed figure on the bridge. Many people wandered through the park-usually not in winter, but it wasn't inconceivable.

After all, she'd chosen to brave the weather. Perhaps others had too.

...but he simply didn't register. She leaned against the railing at the other end of the bridge, distracted with her thoughts, and gazed out over the frozen pond.

When, a few minutes later, she began shivering without seeming to notice, Jareth sauntered closer and draped his long, thick leather jacket over her shoulders, startling her.

"I-" She straightened automatically, one hand rising to brush the thick fur trim around the neck. She jumped when she recognized Jareth, dressed in brown leather pants and an ice blue dress shirt that matched one of his eyes.

He smiled disarmingly and leaned sideways against the railing, propping an elbow on the weathered and splintering wood. "You looked cold," he explained generously, then shrugged. "I don't feel the temperature myself-or rather, not as acutely-so that" he nodded to the thick coat now snugged around her shoulders "is merely a prop. How are you?"

"Fine-how are you?" she responded on autopilot before her brain clicked in. "I mean...why are you here?"

Jareth smiled again, modulating his expression to make it a little more trustworthy, safe. "I came to see the snow. It...soothes me." He waved a hand lazily, indicating the smooth, unblemished fields around them. "It is so...quiet, and clean. It has a graceful serenity completely unlike the usual chaos I am forced to deal with."

His jaw tightened briefly, causing Sarah to blink. For just a moment, his cool, confident, man-about-town façade had slipped, allowing her a glimpse back into the demanding, impetuous Goblin King of before.

"And, of course, I promised to loan you some of my history books." Just as quickly, the glimpse was gone, and she was left off-balance in its wake, too unnerved to do anything but blink and smile stupidly as he pulled an aged messenger bag, fat with book-shaped rectangles, seemingly from nowhere.

Sarah took the bag unquestioningly, but quickly set it at her feet. It was much heavier than she'd expected. "You couldn't have just...poofed them into my room, or something?" she managed at last, tossing her head back to swing her hair out of her face.

Jareth smiled, now looking amused. "You mean you wouldn't have minded when I came to drop them off?" he teased gently.

He smiled wider at her resulting expression. "What-surely you didn't think I'd give up a perfect excuse to see you again, did you? I'm not that indulgent, Sarah."

She set her chin stubbornly. "No-you're just spoiled, aren't you?"

His royal highness, the Goblin King Jareth shrugged and spread his arms, as though asking how he should deny that statement. "I am a king," he reminded her. "With great responsibility comes great reimbursement."

"That's not the right saying!" she denied hotly.

He shrugged noncommittally. "That doesn't mean it isn't true, although I will admit that responsibility for the goblins does tend to overshadow even the greatest of reimbursements."

"Like the chance to harass innocent young women?" she challenged cattily.

"Beautiful young women," he stressed. "But yes. Which is part of why I escape to your world so often. It makes a nice contrast to my usual setting."

Sarah rolled her eyes, and Jareth rolled his in response. Still suspicious and disbelieving...

"I should let you get back to your homework, though," he replied magnanimously. "I've heard that it is important-" mostly from short-sighted idiots with no real intellect or creativity, he added mentally, "-and you might prefer to look at those books rather than heckle with me."

He flashed her one last devilish smile before leaving her alone on the bridge.

* * *

Sarah spent the rest of the weekend trying to ignore the books-and all thoughts of the person who'd loaned them to her-long enough to do her homework. By Monday, though-the end of the three-day weekend-she was ready to snap. After butting heads with her stepdaughter over her unfinished chores, Karen was also ready to snap, and finally did.

"If you can't be any help to me, just get out! Go play in your little park for a few hours while I stay here and slave away to make our house presentable again!"

Almost pushed out of her own home, Sarah stood on the front porch, blinking in astonishment. While she had her keys and wallet, she did not have her coat, so she decided in favor of a bookstore over the park.

And if that old hag tries to find me at the park, she won't be able to! she thought victoriously, sauntering over to her car. A ten minute drive found her at the small bookstore where she'd found the ad for the S/F convention, and she darted inside happily. Sarah didn't notice when the little bell over the door dinged! at her arrival, but the red-haired shop boy looked up.

It's her! he realized with surprise. The pretty girl that took the flyer! "Hello," he said cheerfully, watching as she rubbed her arms briskly. "Can I help you find anything?"

Sarah looked up in surprise. She hadn't noticed the guy behind the counter-just trying to work some feeling back in her arms after that cold-but she thought it might be the same guy who'd worked here last time. "No, I'm just looking," she replied, edging closer to the shelves packed tightly into the tiny space.

He shrugged, trying to conceal his interest. Probably wouldn't like me anyway, he thought to himself. "We got a shipment in yesterday," he tossed out. "It's over there, under 'New Arrivals,' if you want to look."

"Oh. Thanks," Sarah replied and made her way over to the indicated section. It was marked by a hand-scribbled sign, black Sharpie on white posterboard. She ducked down behind the low shelves, feeling vaguely guilty for hiding from the shop boy-she knew he was only trying to help, but she simply didn't like strangers.

Several minutes later, her shyness forgotten in the wonder of books, she stood back up with a thick volume in her hand. "Um...hey," she called. "Have you read this? Do you know if it's good?" She waved the book with its brightly-decorated cover at the teen behind the counter.

Frederick looked up from his magazine, mentally shifting from the editors' game speculations to his pretty customer's question. "Let me see," he said, ducking around the counter and coming closer. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and immediately recognized what she held. "Crossroads of Twilight? Yeah, I liked it. The whole series is pretty good, actually. Have you read any?"

Sarah gave him a blank look. "It's...part of a series?" she asked.

He pointed to the little blurb on the cover that said "Book Ten: Wheel of Time."

Sarah blushed. "I didn't see that," she explained.

"We have the rest of the series, if you'd like to start at the beginning," he said helpfully, generously overlooking her mistake.

Sarah smiled at the small mercy and followed him into the thicket of shelves.

"Are you going to that convention?" he asked suddenly, trying to remember where the J's were.

"What convention?" she demanded.

"Didn't you pick up a flyer for a convention a while back? Or maybe that was someone else." He thought it was her, but it had been almost two months. Was he mistaken?

"Oh. No, that was me." She was surprised that he'd remembered her from that long ago. "I can't go, though. My stepmother insists that I go to prom." Her voice was bitter at Karen's interference.

"That sucks," he sympathized. "Where do you go to school? Lincoln?" he guessed, naming the closest high school to the store.

"No, Briar Ridge," she corrected, glancing at the shelves around them. So many books...

"Really? That's where I go-I'm a senior." He sounded inordinately excited about the coincidence, even though it was the largest school in the area.

"...junior..." Sarah responded distantly, turning over a new book in her hands. "I didn't know Phantom was a book!"

He looked over his shoulder, seeing the girl standing at the other end of the aisle and thoroughly distracted by another book. "Yeah-Gaston Leroux, right? French guy. That's what Lloyd Webber based the musical off of, and the movie he has coming out." He found the first book and walked back to her. "I heard the musical's not like the book, though."

"Really? But the movie comes out Friday, doesn't it?" she asked, proud that she knew that much. "Besides, the movie's never like its book."

"True. Here's the first of the Wheel of Time series, by the way."

"Thanks." Sarah took the offered book, tucking it in her elbow with the tenth of its series. She was still reading the back cover of Phantom of the Opera.

"My name's Fred, by the way," he offered quietly, wanting to get her attention again, but knowing how annoying it was to be interrupted while reading.

"Sarah," she said absently, then looked up. "How are they different?"

"Well..." he began, gently turning the book over in her hands to look at the front cover. "The phantom-his name is Erik, by the way-is a lot darker and creepier than he is here." He pointed at the cover, where a handsome man in a white mask steered a gondola with a beautiful brunette sitting in it.

"That can't be the only difference," Sarah insisted, inviting him to go on.

"It probably isn't, but I haven't seen the play or the movie, and I'd be giving too much of the plot away if I told you more." Fred smiled at her. He hadn't expected to be able to talk to her like this-and she liked the same books he did? He couldn't believe his luck! "We could go see the movie Friday, if you want."

He held his breath as Sarah considered the invitation. He was nice-seemed friendly-liked books-and it might get Karen to leave her alone?

"Sure," she agreed.

Fred beamed.

* * *

"You WHAT?!?"

Sarah winced at the noise, her nose buried in The Eye of the World. "I'm going on a date, Jareth," she said calmly. "And keep your voice down-Toby's asleep."

Jareth glared down at her, standing over her bed. "And why are you doing that, pray tell?" he asked, his voice dangerously quiet.

"You know that Karen's been nagging me about finding a boyfriend," Sarah hedged.

"I am perfectly willing to be your boyfriend," Jareth reminded her. "You didn't have to go out and find some...some incompetent mortal brat!"

"May I remind you that I am mortal-and that you once thought I was a brat?" Sarah turned a page, engrossed in the book Frank-Fred-had recommended. "Besides, you're hardly the type of guy she'd approve of anyway."

"And this...boy...is?" Jareth asked distastefully.

"At least he's human, and I have more in common with him than I do with you."

"YOU RAN MY LABYRINTH!" Jareth shouted. "How can he have more in common with you than that? You've been to an entire world that he has no idea exists!"

Sarah ignored him. "You're blocking the light."

"You will not go out with that feeble excuse for a male," Jareth threatened. "I won't permit it."

Sarah finally snapped her book shut and turned to glare back at him. "This is my life, Goblin King!" she snapped. "Whether you like it or not, you only have as much place in it as I allow you to have! You will not do anything to stop Fred and I seeing Phantom this Friday, or else I will never speak to you again! And if you don't stop acting like a jealous boyfriend right now, I will do everything in my power to make your life a living hell!"

Jareth snorted. "And how, exactly, do you plan to do that?" he asked. "You'd have to see me in order to torture me, and I rather doubt that anything you did would overcome the pleasure of seeing you," he finished, purring.

He reached out a hand to stroke her cheek, but Sarah slapped it away before rising to face him. "You don't like that I'm dating," she pointed out. "You don't like that I think of anything but you. You don't like that I have a life, and I don't care. You are nothing to me right now but a pain in the ass, and if you want to change that, you'd better get over your prejudice and let me have my own life!"

Jareth stood frozen for a long moment, staring at her silently. "You truly prefer this...mortal...to me?" he asked finally, quietly.

Sarah gave him no mercy in her answer. "I do," she declared proudly, tossing her head defiantly.

Jareth searched her eyes for a long moment before disappearing without a word.