Chapter One:

Sarah sat with her legs tucked up beneath her, leaning slightly against Toby's toddler bed. Her younger brother lay sprawled across his mattress, staring up at the stars that covered his ceiling. Two years had passed since Sarah had run the Labyrinth to rescue him and still the small boy could remember nothing. His sense of adventure, however, was insatiable.

"Goblins! Goblins! Goblins!" Toby giggled, rolling over onto his stomach.

"Again? I know lots of stories, you know." She teased.

"Goblins!" He insisted.

"Okay, okay," she grinned, pulling herself up onto the edge of the bed beside him. "Not so long ago in a place not unlike this, lived a terribly self-entitled girl. Her name was Sarah."

"You!" Toby grinned, crawling up onto her lap as he interrupted her story.

"Yes, me." She smiled patiently before continuing. "Sarah hated her parents for forcing her day in and day out to care for her baby brother Toby."

"Me!" He interrupted again.

"Yes, you. Now shush so I can tell the story."

Toby clasped a pudgy had over his mouth and laughed.

"Toby wasn't terrible," she explained. "He was a sweet little boy, but Sarah was angry. One day, when her parents had been particularly cruel and uncaring and Toby wailed and screamed too loudly, Sarah made a wish."

Toby's eyes were wide and transfixed upon her as he listened to her story. From the look on his features it was hard to believe he had ever heard the story before.

"Sarah believed in magic and goblins, but she never really believed they were listening."

"Not that story again."

Both Sarah and Toby jumped, lifting their gaze to the irritated look of Toby's mother.

"It's his favorite." Sarah stated indignantly.

"It gives him nightmares." Her stepmother snapped back.

"It does not. It's a happy story, not a scary one." She stated, surprising even herself. Though she had been terrified of losing her brother to the Goblin King, she had never once feared for her life or his. The Labyrinth, while terrifying for the runner, was a safe place for the wished away children.

Not that she would ever willingly go back.

"Sarah, please." Her stepmother groaned.

Ignoring her, Sarah continued with her story. "So Sarah wished the Goblins would take her little brother away and she sealed the magic by wishing him away right now." She was very careful every time she told the story to make sure she never used the right words. She would never give the Goblin King a reason to take Toby from her again.

"I wish the Goblins would come and take you away." Her stepmother sighed in agitation. "Right now."

A crack of lightening followed by a roar of thunder shook their home and the lights in Toby's bedroom popped off as the power went out.

"No…" Sarah breathed, her heart pounding in her chest.

She could hear the giggling of the Goblins as they scurried around the outermost corners of Toby's room.

"Stop playing games, Sarah, and find a flashlight." Her stepmother sighed in exasperation.

"I'm not a child!" Sarah cried, desperately trying to rationalize with the small creatures that scurried around the room.

"Then stop acting like one!" Her stepmother groaned, tapping the light switch repeatedly as if it would turn the power back on.

"You can't take me." She whispered, nervously clutching a wiggling Toby to her chest. "I'm too old to be a wished away."

"Stop being dramatic," her stepmother sighed, growing agitated again as the goblins giggled their way around the room. "And stop making those noises!"

She felt his hand upon her shoulder, a shiver running up her spine. "Hello, Sarah."

"It's you…" she breathed, her gaze turning as she lifted her eyes to the familiar features of the Goblin King. He had not aged a day, his haunting beauty still everything she remembered. "I'm not a child…" She whispered, anxiety rushing through her.

"You let boys into your brother's room?" Her stepmother practically snarled, dropping the laundry basket she had been holding onto. "Get out now."

Jareth crossed his arms over his chest. "I am no boy." He huffed, a smirk over his lips.

"He's the Goblin King." Sarah breathed.

"Oh please," Her stepmother groaned. "Stop playing such childish games."

"Games?" Jareth smirked, disappearing from his spot behind Sarah and reappearing behind her stepmother, a show of his power. "I love games."

Her stepmother screamed, recoiling from the sound of Jareth's voice. "How did you…?"

"I'm the Goblin King." He stated smugly.

"What do you… what do you want?" The fear was evident in her stepmother's voice now.

"I'm here to grant your wish." Jareth shrugged as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You wished I would come and take Sarah away… and here I am."

"But I'm not a child!" Sarah cried out, pushing Toby behind her as the small boy wiggled desperately, trying to catch one of the little goblins running around his room.

"By human laws you are," Jareth stared her down, daring her to object. "You didn't really believe that wished aways were only babies did you?"

"Wished aways?" Her stepmother interrupted again. "What does that mean?"

Jareth stood tall and proud, a smirk plastered across his thin lips. "I will be taking Sarah to my castle in the heart of the Labyrinth and you have thirteen hours in which to solve said labyrinth before your darling Sarah becomes one of us forever."

"Solve the Labyrinth?" Her stepmother asked, concern flooding her features.

"You have to run the Labyrinth. You have to get to the castle at the center to bring me back. Find Hoggle!" Sarah was growing desperate now. "Find Lu-"

But before she could finish, Jareth had waved his hand in her direction… and Sarah disappeared.

Author's Note:

So I don't know if this idea is any good… but I'm putting it out there any way. There will be fourteen chapters, including this one. One for each hour that Sarah's stepmother is "running" the Labyrinth. We're not going to see her stepmother much, though. This story is about Sarah's time in the castle. I hope you enjoy!