Argh I know guys I am soooo sorry! a thousand pardons! a new chapter WILL be up by saturday so please read and review!! much love to all those who don't hate me for the unforgivable delay.... needless to say work and otehr things caught up to me and I was forced to take a break from lack of a muse. XX

ENJOY!

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Sarah felt a dizzying nausea come and pass as she was dragged through the mirror. Jareth's arms were wrapped around her waist, holding her steady as they flew through a haze of colour, Once her feet hit the floor however he promptly released her and allowed her to slide to the cold stone floor of the Castle. She knew without a doubt where she was; the thought chilled here to her core. She had been brought back to the labyrinth.

All rational thought had left her head, she had no energy left. Opening her eyes she was met with a view of the dark stone floor, dotted with flecks of glitter. Her eyes focused on one speck which began to move in a lazy manner flowing across the stone floor like a dust mote. Eventually however it came in contact with her outstretched hand and with a jolt of static electricity and a bright flash of light flowed into her skin. Puzzled she moved her eyes and saw the other flecks in the ground begin to move in the same way. These delivered the same jolt and flash as they connected with her skin and she felt rather than heard herself begin to scream as the pain began to overwhelm her senses; until her eyes fell shut and she passed out.

Opening her eyes she went from pitch black to stark white. Looking around she saw that she was in some sort of void, if she concentrated too hard on a single spot she found it hurt her eyes. Her gaze shifted again down to her hands, the whiteness around them seemed to tug at the fleshy colour of her skin the sides seeming blurry. Cautiously she put a foot out, with no discernable marker between floor and anything else she had no idea how she was standing, but when her foot seemed to connect with something solid she let out an unconscious breath and looked around again. This had to be some form of trick on the part of that stupid arrogant Goblin King! What was this place? Some form of oubliette?

"Jareth" she called, the sound being sucked away strangely like in a vacuum.

"Jareth" she repeated, slightly louder looking around her in disgust, he could at least show his face and explain!

"Behind you precious"

She spun around only to see the same white space; a hollow laugh emanated from somewhere above her and she looked up into the piercing gaze of the Goblin King. He laughed again at her confusion; "something troubling you pet?" without appearing to move Sarah now realised that she was no longer looking up at him but directly at him. Focusing not on how she could be here, she instead chose to focus on the Goblin King.

"Where am I" She began feeling the rage well up inside her, he had trapped her somewhere!

"That, I think you will find is the wrong question" Stated the King dryly lounging backwards in thin air, looking like he was lying on a throne.

Sarah looked puzzled, "well then why am I here, wherever here is!" Jareth looked impressed for a moment, "Not quite precious but one warranting an answer, you used up all of your magical reserves fighting those ridiculous centaurs, honestly I remember them when they were purebreds, and formidable force, now they are a joke!"

"You wished for me to come to your aid, since you were too weak and would undoubtedly have died without my help I was forced to bring you here, so that you could, in layman's terms, recharge. I did warn you about extensive magical use of one sort without adequate time for your body to heal yes?"

Sarah shook her head, "no, you probably forgot, most of my training came from me figuring it out as I went and that stupid spirit guide... you just flounced in and shipped me off to Wizarding School!"

Jareth for a single amazing moment looked too stunned to speak; "surely I must have mentioned it" he finally managed in a weak voice. But he quickly righted himself crossing one leg over the other on his 'invisible' chair. "No matter what type of magic you have fae, wizard, goblin you have to respect it. It not only comes from your own body but from your surroundings. Normally this isn't a problem for creatures that remain where their magic stems. Wizards hardly ever notice that there are some parts of the world where very little magic has permeated; of course this is often the site of a very large dual that has not had time to replenish. Magic does not move at the speed of light, though you cannot see it... it needs time to flow back when it has been drained.

"Now at a place like Hogwarts this isn't a problem. There is so much magic in the youth, and of course the castle has its own reserves, it would take a very large battle to drain even a tenth of its power"

"Hang on" blurted Sarah, "if the castle has so much magic how did I run out?"

Jareth fixed her with a cold stare, "If I had not been so rudely interrupted I was coming round to explain. Your magic or at least the fae part has no grounding in this world. It is possible to deplete your reserves, and when those reserves are gone you begin to feed of f of your own life force. Take too much and there is not enough left to sustain the spell and your own life; in short you can die."

Sarah couldn't speak for a few minutes, she assumed minutes had passed but in this strange place she had no idea how to tell if time was passing or not. "How do I avoid this? Is that why I am here?"

Jareth sighed, "You avoid it by paying close attention to your limits and knowing how much you can handle. I can only appear when wished, and even then my power can be limited. Iron affects all forms of magic, most creatures don't notice; but next transfiguration lesson ask one of your professors to transfigure Iron. They can't, it is impossible to magic iron in any way. To very powerful beings it can act as a drain and suck the magic out of them. In my case Iron can be deadly; for you as well."

"So that brings us back to this place, I presume I am still in the Labyrinth"

Jareth inclined his head, "Indeed, in fact precious you have not moved from where I left you. This place is not a physical place; it is the heart of the magic of the Labyrinth, and therefore all fae magic."

Sarah stretched her arms out briefly and closed her eyes trying to sense what was around her. Touching the edge of her consciousness she felt a strange presence, almost sentient and very very large. She gasped and looked to Jareth for confirmation.

"Well done" he acknowledged, "You are a sharp learner, yes that is the Labyrinth, quite a unique mind, it responds only to those whose power it recognizes. As its ruler none can overrule my authority over it. AS the Champion you have a claim to that right as well. But you are still too weak in your gifts to be able to see it as I do; or manipulate it."

Sarah gingerly sat back and felt herself sitting on something not quite solid, but still substantial enough to support her weight, "I get it, you can shape the world around you because this is like a kind of psychic plane" She laughed sitting back properly in the chair.

"Almost, almost, but close enough at this moment in time. Now this place can be very dangerous, when I am here you are in no danger, but if you ever feel the need to come here without my assistance; you need to remember that I am not the most dangerous thing that stalks the underground; nor its mind. As I have warned, you are still young in your abilities, a stronger mind than yours can overrule the world around you and turn it against you..."

He paused a for the first time Sarah saw him close his eyes and concentrate, a second later she found herself unable to move; the whiteness around her became tinted with different colours and a second later strange images began to play out around her. She quickly realised that these images were from her own memory; they were what she had seen that first divination lesson. Since then she had been dreaming of them nightly.

"What is this Sarah?" Jareth suddenly demanded looking angry and fearful?

She gulped slowly realising that he was still holding her immobile, his face fixed on the images that repeated themselves around her again and again. "I saw them in my first divination lesson... No-one else seemed to see anything in the crystal." She let out a dry sob, "I cannot get them out of my mind. I see them every night"

"And you didn't think to tell me? Sarah that was foolish"

She hung her head in shame "I was scared and afraid that if I spoke of them aloud that would make them happen."

He sighed, "And not mentioning them could cause them to happen anyway, few of our kind are blessed with soothsaying, or divination. I myself am without that gift; though I have heard that some humans demonstrate an uncanny knack. True soothsayers can see the truth in anything remotely reflective, though crystal balls are best. Water, even a slightly reflective piece of stone can work. If you have this gift it would be unwise to ignore it, or the penalty could be worse than you could even imagine."

"So how do I stop these things from happening?"

"Simple, by using the talent. Look for the truth in whatever you see, the future is ever changing, and subject to more influences than we can imagine. But in order to be truly ready for them you should prepare now." He said it so ominously that she was forced to ask

"Is this about the person you are protecting me from?"

"There will be time for an explanation later, for now all you need to know is that your gifts are very young, in order to face what the future brings you must develop them as quickly as possible"

Sarah nodded and looked around her once more. "Not that I don't mind you helping me..."

"I believe I am yet to hear a thank you" He interrupted curtly

"Thank you Jareth" she mumbled "there now that is over, when can I actually return to Hogwarts?"

"Right now" He said and with a grin pushed her backwards.

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R+R+R+R+R+R+R+R PLEASE!

XXX