Sarah was rudely awakened by an imperious knocking on her door.

"Oh, not again," she moaned. "What time is it?"

Both hands on her bedside clock were pointing straight up. Sarah groaned. "This had better be important."

A flash of nearly-purple lightning lit up her room as Sarah reached out and flicked the light switch for her lamp. Nothing happened, and Sarah groaned again, this time with feeling. Her power seemed to go out every time it thundered up a bit. "Someday, I'm going to have this whole house rewired," Sarah vowed as she rolled out of bed, taking care not to run into her bedside table. In doing so, however, she tripped over the rug and hit the floor with a thump that went unheard beneath a roll of thunder.

Getting to her feet, Sarah wondered who could be at the door, and also if her knees were bruised. She herself had just got in from the play an hour ago, so it probably wasn't one of her family members. As she wove around the knick-knack holding tables and shelves that made her room a veritable obstacle course in the dark, occasionally bumping into one, Sarah mused that she had no idea who it could be. Jamie'd gone back to school, intent on becoming a dental hygienist, and since Sarah had broken up with Alex, there was no one in her neighbourhood – or even, for that matter, her city – who would think nothing of knocking on Sarah's door in the middle of the night.

I'll bet it's Alex, she finally surmised. Probably wants to 'talk' about 'us'. Well, I'm not going back to him, and especially not if this is his idea of how to win a girl over. Opening her bedroom door, she reminded herself to demand her key back the next time she saw him.

As Sarah stepped out into the hall, a flash of lightning lit up the house, and Sarah waited for the thunder. It didn't take long – the storm was just about directly overhead.

Walking down the stairs, Sarah rolled back the sleeve of her oversized pyjama shirt to get a grip on the railing. Dark or not, she had no intention of repeating the slide she'd taken down the stairs last time someone'd knocked at her door in the middle of the night. As she hurried down the stairs, the knocking became more impatient, and Sarah, in response, slowed down. She didn't feel like being accommodating, especially not at midnight after a long day.

By the time Sarah reached the door, the knocking had stopped, and a very put-upon, masculine sigh could be heard from outside, followed by words which Sarah didn't catch, thanks to another roll of thunder. Opening the door, she started in on whoever was out there. "Alex, if that's you coming to whine about getting dumped -"

And stopped dead.

Jareth was smiling back at her.