A/N: Dear Readers, (03-03-12)

Thank you for reading this fic. I started it years ago with every intention to finish it, but due to technical errors, I lost access to my third chapter and became disheartened with the story. Thanks to a generous SATA cable contribution from a friend, I managed to salvage today what I had intended to publish well over a year ago. Now I'm back at it. I went back over my original postings and tried to correct a few grammatical errors that bugged me. Hopefully it will improve the first chapter some.

I have a few bad habits in my writing I'm looking to correct, chief among them is my dialogue. I use too many dialogue tags and I'm looking for a way to cut down on them. If anyone can help me by either playing the part of beta reader or referring me to a good dialogue lesson, I'd be very appreciative.

If you find anything in my writing style that bothers you, please PLEASE inform me in a review. I'm looking to improve my writing and appreciate constructive criticism as much a compliments. If you know a way I can improve on a fault, I want to know how.

At any rate, please enjoy.

Jareth's Heir

'The rain was pouring down hard outside, but Sarah thought nothing of it. She had just put her little brother off to bed. His birthday was tomorrow - not that he needed the extra energy. She wanted to make sure the house was covered in birthday decorations before he got up. Her parents wouldn't be around until later the next afternoon, since they were supposed to be on a business trip.

She was balancing carefully on a dining room chair while trying to pin up a "Happy Birthday" banner, when the doorbell rang. Surprised, she accidently dropped both the banner and the tack she was using. She swore loudly and carefully looked around trying to find the tack. The doorbell rang again and she growled in frustration. She hopped off the chair and headed to the front door.

'Who the hell goes ringing door bells at 11 at night?' she wondered angrily.

She peeked into the peephole and felt her blood instantly run cold. Outside stood two wet
policemen. She slowly opened the door and regarded the men.

"Hello - can I help you?" she asked.

" Yes ma'am - are you Miss Sarah Williams?" one of them asked.

"Yes, I am. Is something wrong?" she asked, fearing the worst.

"Well, we regret to inform you ma'am, that Irene and Robert Williams were in an accident on the border of town. They were on the interstate just outside of town, and collided with a druck driver turned against the flow of traffic. We think the were both coming up over a hill when it happened - none of them saw it coming. I'm sorry ma'am, but your parents didn't make it,"

A loud crash and ear piercing scream could be heard throughout the house. Alarmed, the dark haired woman who had been day dreaming while hunched over an open card board box immediately stood upright and rushed to the source of the noise. She followed the screaming voice up a stairwell and down the hall to an extended ladder which led up into a dimly lit attic. She climbed frantically, slipping once and busting her lower lip against a rung of the ladder, before she made it into the musty and humid room.

Directly in front of her stood a young boy of 8 with a look of terror on his face. The crashing sound had been made by a mirror, which the boy evidently knocked over to get away from whatever it was that frightened him. She ran to the boy, leaping over small piles of
boxes and old toys to do so.

"Toby, Toby - what's wrong?" she asked when she reached him. He pointed silently to a spot in front of him. Her gaze followed the direction he indicated, and her face wrinkled in disgust when she saw what the fuss was about. A few feet away in a small open box, there lay a half decomposed ferret wearing a blue harness. It's carcass was covered in what was unmistakably, even in the dim light of the room, maggots.

"Oh God, Toby, don't look at that!" she exclaimed, covering his eyes with one hand and using her other to steer him away from the sight and towards the attic opening. She helped him down the ladder and took him into the living room, where she sat him down on the sofa next to her. He buried his face in her plain white t-shirt and sobbed. She made soothing sounds while rubbing her hand gently in circles over his back to calm him down. When his crying finally ceased, he stood up and walked across the room to a large metal cage. He opened the door, reached in, and pulled out a sleepy looking ferret with a red harness. He cradled the animal silently for a moment, before finally speaking.

" We gotta bury him, Sarah. Frack wouldn't be happy if we didn't," he said, never taking his gaze off the animal.

"You're right. Frick deserves a good burial. Stay here with Frack while I go take care of his brother," she said, standing up and heading to the attic. Along the way she grabbed an empty shoebox and plastic bag from a hallway closet. She entered the attic slowly and approached the animal's dead body with much reservation. Trying not to look directly at it, she placed the bag over the animal. Through the bag she picked the animal up, and turned the bag inside out so that she neither had to see it nor touch it. She tied the bag off and placed it in the shoebox before heading to the backyard, where she dug a hole two feet wide and one foot deep. As she set the shoebox inside the hole, she heard footsteps behind her.

"You buried him next to Merlin", Toby stated.

"I know - this is a good spot for pets. There's a big tree to keep it shaded, and it's peaceful," she replied, covering the shoebox with dirt and placing a small granite stone at the top of it.

She looked at her little brother. In his arms he held the other ferret, Frack. She remembered when they had first gotten the two ferret brothers. It was a year ago, and her brother hadn't spoken a word since the accident. He had been to three different therapists, but none of them had made any head way. She was desperate for something to bring him out of his depression. He wasn't making friends, nor spending time with the ones he already had. He wouldn't speak to anyone, would hardly touch any food, and cried himself to sleep every other night. The only time he ever seemed to perk up is when they drove past the pet store.

So in a last ditch attempt to help him, she brought him to the pet store and told him to pick out whatever he wanted. Even if it were a huge bird eating tarantula, she'd let him have it, as long as it made him feel better. She had expected he would pick out a puppy, since they had lost Merlin a few years ago. However, she was surprised after he stopped in front of a large cage with two sleeping ferrets and picked one up. For the first time since their parents death, he actually smiled. Without hesitation she shelled out $500 dollars for both of the ferrets and the best ferret stuff she could find. Shortly thereafter, Toby began to make some progress. He started talking again within a matter of weeks - though mostly only to Sarah, and he began to slowly warm up to his old friends. The ferrets had brought some amount of happiness to her brother in the darkness of his depression, so she was not surprised at his reaction to the loss of one of them.

"Did you want to say a prayer?" she asked her brother. He shook his head.

"You do it - you say them better. But don't forget to mention what he likes, that way he won't get bored," he replied.

Sarah bowed her head and clasped her hands together. She wasn't an overly religious person, but she believed in a higher power, and in an afterlife. Occasionally prayers made her feel protected, like someone was watching over her and listening to her. She wondered if Toby ever felt the same way before she began her prayer.

"Dear Lord in Heaven,

As we commend our friend Frick to the earth, we ask that you please watch over him and give him safe passage into your Kingdom. His life was short, but in that short period of time the good things he did for us, and the happiness he gave to those around him will always be remembered. We also ask that you reward him for all his eartly deeds with plenty of rubber balls and lots of bananas – since he likes those. Please take care of our good friend, so that we may rest assured that he is receiving a hero's treatment in your care. In Jesus name we pray - Amen"

Sarah stood and looked at her brother. Toby had not yet raised his head, so she walked over to him and placed a kiss on the top of golden curls.

"Go inside and play with Frack, Toby," she told him. He silently obeyed.

When the door closed behind her brother, she sat down and sighed. The day had been a hard one. She'd recently found a new house in another part of the state, and had been packing all day in preparation for the move. It wasn't easy explaining to her brother that they were moving. This was their home, they had grown up here. Toby begged and pleaded to stay, and while Sarah wished she could just call it all off, things weren't that easy.

A few months after her parents death, she stumbled upon a hidden box of paperwork that belonged to her father. She figured it was from his job. He had been a very successful businessman with a lot of clients, so paperwork related to his job wasn't hard to find. She was surprised, however, to find that instead of job-related papers, this box was full of files, receipts, and IOU's signed by her father. All of them were made out to casinos and illegal gambling institutions in her state.

Not long after the discovery, she began receiving the calls. At first they were very businesslike. Men from "collection agencies" were calling for her father. Each would explain that her father owed substantial amounts of money. When she told them her parents were dead, they apologized and explained that, as the beneficiary of her parents money, it was now her job to pay the money back.

She didn't know better, so at first Sarah was understanding, and even willing to pay up. As time passed, however, the money began to run out, but the calls never stopped. Soon there was hardly a cent left, and the calls began taking a scary turn. They would call in the dead of night and threaten to hurt her or Toby. They would become obscene and give detailed examples of what they would do to her. Afraid for Toby's life and her own, she called the police, who did little more than tap her phones and tell her to wait it out. So she did the only thing she could think of - she planned to get them out of there.

A clap of thunder exploded above her, and rain began to fall. She stood up and brushed the grass off of her backside before jogging into the safety of the warm, dry house. As she entered the living room, she saw the curly blond head of her little brother peaking up over the back of the couch. She walked over to the couch and peered over her brother's head to see what he was up to. In his lap lay a sleeping Frack, occasionally twisting and turning to get into a more comfortable position on the 8 year olds legs. In his hands he held a frayed and somewhat burned red book with stained pages.

"What are you reading, Toby?" Sarah inquired.

"A book I found," he said. "It's called the Labeerinth," he said, slowly pronouncing the word. At Sarah's quizzical look, he showed her the cover and repeated himself, "See, it says 'The Labeerinth."

Sarah's eyes widened in surprise. Where had he gotten that book? She'd hidden it away years ago, and even she hadn't remembered where she put it.

"Toby, where did you get that book?" she asked.

" I found it in my toy box a while back. I don't know how it got there - I thought maybe you gave it to me as a present. It's really good. This is my gazillionth time reading it," he said animatedly. "It always makes me feel sort of happy when I read it, you know. I used to read it to Frick and Frack before we went to bed. I figured it would cheer Frack and me up to read it for old time's sake," he added.

"Toby, do you mind if I took a look at that for a while?" she asked, holding her hand out to accept the book.

"But I haven't finished it," he protested.

"Please Toby, I'll only keep it for a little while," she said, her hand still held out expectantly.

Toby rolled his eyes and earmarked the page he was on. "Alright, but don't lose my spot. I'm at the part where the princess gets to the Goblin King," he told her. She took the book from him, thanked him, and turned to head up to her room. Before she reached the stairs, he stopped her.

"Hey Sarah, what's for dinner? I'm hungry," he whined.

"Whatever you want to eat, Toby. There's plenty of milk and cereal."

Toby cheered and ran into the kitchen as Sarah made her way up the stairs. She lied down on her bed, opened the book, and began to read. She read the book from cover to cover, stopping only once to tuck Toby into bed. By the time she had finished the book, it was already 12 A.M.

'You have no power over me,' she recited internally as she set the book on her bedside table and walked over to her vanity. She sat down and stared quietly into the mirror. After a moment she raised her hand and gently placed her fingertips against the glass.

"Hoggle," she whispered. She knew he wouldn't come. They had stopped coming at her call years ago. For over two years after her adventures in the Labyrinth, she would often call to them in times of emotional need, and they never wasted a second in appearing. It had all ended just before Toby's third birthday. She had come home depressed and angry after the captain of the cheerleading squad at her high school had set her book bag on fire and called her a 'freak' for reading so many fairy tales. Sarah had just barely managed to rescue the only book she really cared about - 'The Labyrinth' - before the entire bag was consumed in flames. She called for Hoggle, and when she wasn't answered, she called for the rest of her friends. Her attempts were in vain, however, because none of friends ever answered her call. Feeling abandoned by what she believed had been her truest friends, she tucked away 'The Labyrinth' in a place where no one could find it, and then forgot about it.

'But Toby said he found it in his toybox. I know I didn't put it there. He's the last person I'd ever want to find it,' she wondered. 'Toby doesn't lie, so how did the book get there? Maybe Irene or Dad found it and put it there?' Her thoughts were interrupted by the faint sound of glass breaking downstairs. Frightened, she quickly shut off the dim lamp that lit her room and quietly opened her door. The entire house was dark, both upstairs and downstairs, but the moon was bright enough to give her some guiding light. As she crept closer to the stairs, she could see the moonlit silhouettes of two people - one of which had their hand through the window and was feeling around on the back of the door. 'Oh my God, someone's breaking into the house!' she thought frantically. She quickly returned to her room and ran to the phone.

She picked up the reciever and reached out to dial 9-1-1, but her hand didn't make it to the buttons before she had realized there was no dial tone. She got down on her hands and knees and felt around along the wall. 'It's plugged in,' she confirmed as she felt where the phone jack met with the plug. 'That could only mean one thing,' she added, a feeling of dread creeping up on her.

They had cut the phone line. You're average robber doesn't cut the phone line when they rob your house. No, something much worse was going on, Sarah feared. She'd bet every cent she had that it was one of those people who had been threatening to hurt them if she didn't pay her father's debts.

She berated herself for never getting a cell phone before throwing the phone on to the bed and creeping into her brother's room. As she slipped inside, she caught a glimpse of the intruders. They had just opened the front door and were stepping inside.

She closed the door and locked it behind her. She approached Toby's bed as quietly as possible, and gently shook her brother awake.

"Sarah...wha," he began groggily before she covered his mouth to quiet him.

"Toby," she whispered, "I need you to stay quiet, and stay calm. There are robbers in the house," she lied. She didn't feel like telling him now that the intruders might be people that have been threatening their lives for a while, coming to make good on their threat. She picked him up and took him to his bedroom closet it. After opening it up she set him down inside.

"I want you to stay quiet and hide in here," she instructed.

"Sarah, what about you?" he asked while reaching down and picking up Frack, who had been sleeping when Sarah came in, but followed them over to the closet to see what all the fuss was about.

"I'm going to go call the police. I'm going to leave you in here with the door shut. If you hear someone coming, I want you to cover yourself with clothes and toys so they can't see you if they open the door. Whatever you do - don't let anyone see or hear you, understand," she instructed.

He nodded and grabbed a t-ball bat from the back of his closet. "Just in case..." he said as he handed it to her.

"Good idea. I'm shutting the door now. Remember - cover yourself if you hear someone coming, and no matter what you do, don't come out of this closet. Not even if it sounds like I might be in trouble. Promise me, Toby," she all but pleaded.

Toby nodded. "I promise."

Sarah shut the closet door without a word and silently slipped out of the room - relocking the door behind her so no one could just walk in there. She hated to lie to her brother. She knew she couldn't call for help, but she wasn't just going to hide and risk letting them find her and Toby. They were already in the house, so escape for both of them wasn't much of an option, either. If they both got caught, well that was the end of it. No, she would sneak over to her neighbors and use their phone. They always kept a key under their mat, so she wouldn't have to bother waking them up and waiting for them to come to the door.

She tip toed down the stairs, keeping her eyes open for any sign of movement. The sound of a door closing in the far left side of the downstairs area indicated to her that they were in the master bedroom. 'The tv and all the really valuable stuff is still in here,' she thought as she quietly made her way through the dark living room towards the front door. 'That means they definitely aren't robbers. No robber passes up a $2,000 t.v.'

Halfway to her destination, she stopped dead in her tracks. Footsteps were coming up the hall from the master bedroom. They were walking right towards her. There was no way she could open up the front door and sneak out without them hearing. Thinking quickly, she ducked behind a large rubber plant close to the front door and hid among the shadows - bat held at the ready if they came too close.

"God Damn, Lou, I told you we shoulda' checked upstairs first," one of them said as they entered the living room.

"Sshh, you dumb ass, you'll wake 'em up. We got lucky that stupid trick you pulled breaking through the glass didn't wake at least one of them up," the other replied.

"Hey, you were supposed to be the lock picker. I can't help it if you forgot to bring your tools," the first one shot back. Sarah pressed herself up tightly against the wall as they got closer, hoping against all hope as she did so that they wouldn't notice her. She moved her foot away from a beam of moonlight that fell uncomfortably close to her. Unfortunately as she did so, the floor creaked loudly.

"Hey, what was that?" one of the men inquired, turning his flashlight in her direction. The light fell on the plant for a split second before moving on to a spot a little more towards the left - close to the stairs. The man with the light slowly approached the stairs, carefully looking around to make sure he wasn't missing anything. The other man followed him, but stopped before he got as far as his friend and turned his attention towards the rubber plant Sarah was hiding behind. She saw him reach into his jacket, and while she couldn't see clearly what he was pulling out, she could tell automatically by the mechanical clicking sound that came from it, just what it was.

'Great, he has a gun, I have a bat. I'm not going to survive this,' she thought, clenching her teeth together in both fear and frustration. The man slowly approached the plant, and his free hand moved out to check for anything that might be hiding behind the plant. Sarah, figuring she was damned if she did do something, and damned if she didn't, reacted with the first action that came to mind. She jumped up and started swinging away.

The first swing landed hard against the forearm the man was using to hold the gun. The unmistakable 'crack' of a shattering bone could be heard, and the man screamed and pain - dropping the gun and grabbing his broken arm with his free hand. The second swing caught the man in the thigh, close to the back of his knee. His leg collapsed, and he fell to his knees. The next swing caught the man on his shoulder, which knocked him over onto his side. Her final swing would've landed on his head, had it not been for the click of a gun hammer and an authoritative shout from the other man.

"Drop the damn bat, bitch, or I'll put a hole in your head here and now," he threatened. Sarah froze, the bat still hanging in mid-air above the groaning man. A bat was no match for a bullet, no matter how good of a batter you are. If she dropped the bat, he'd probably shoot her, but if she didn't, he'd definitely shoot her. He was too far away to hit. She lowered the bat a little, her logical side telling her to put it down, while the rest of her screamed to fight. The rest of her won out. As the man stepped closer, fully expecting her to set the bat down, she flung the bat at him. The man ducked to avoid it, but Sarah heard more than saw it hit him. Where it hit him, she wasn't sure, because the moment she let go of the bat, she opened the front door and dashed outside.

She ran for the closest house to her, but slipped on the wet grass and fell to the ground. She scrambled up, and made another break for it. In the corner of her eye she could see the man running after her already. "Help, somebody HELP!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, as he neared her. If help ever came, Sarah would never know. As she neared the edge of the lawn, she felt something hard hit her in the back of the head. He had pistol whipped her. The world exploded into a vast expanse of white nothingness for a moment, before finally fading into darkness. She fell to the ground unconscious. She did not feel him drag her across the yard by the feet, nor did it register when he dropped her carelessly on the ground next to his partner, and began to walk up the stairs.

Toby heard the footsteps, though. Toby had heard everything. Crouching quietly in the closet, he heard the men tell Sarah to drop the bat. He heard the sound of metal making contact against flesh, and he heard the man scream in pain. He had heard Sarah screaming for help, and even rose up and tried to come to her aid. When reached the door and tried to open it, he noticed it was locked. There was no way out. He couldn't help his tears streaming down his face he ran to his bedroom window and peered outside. In the light of the moon, he could see the figure of a man dragging his sister across the yard. 'I've got to go get help,' he thought, crossing the room to get Frack. He picked up his furry little friend and placed him in an empty book bag that was laying on top of the pile of junk in his closet. After slinging the backpack over his shoulder, he went over to the window and opened it up. He only had one leg out of the window when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Knowing he didn't have enough time to get down without being seen, he panicked and shot into the closet. He closed the door behind him as quietly as possible, before sitting down and covering himself with a pile of dirty clothes, books, and toys.

The footsteps stopped in front of his bedroom door. He heard the doorknob turn, then he heard it rattle. The door lock was an old fashioned key lock. When the door was locked, you couldn't get in or out without the key. The man grumbled something on the other side of the door. For a moment thought he would actually be safe, until he heard the man throwing himself against the door. He was trying to break in.

Toby took Frack out of the bag, hugged him against his chest, and closed his eyes. He wished this wasn't happening. He would have given anything to be someplace else right now, where he and Sarah could be safe. How great would life be if everything was just like a fairy tale. No bad guys that would hurt you and your family, no pets that would die, no tragic accidents that would kill your parents and leave you and your sister orpahns. No, he would have prefered a world with happy endings among fairies, princesses, goblins, and goblin kings.

He sobbed and gently squeezed Frack. "Oh Frack...I really wish the goblins would come and take me and Sarah away right now."

The door crashed open, and the man walked inside. The bed was empty, but the sheets were in disarray and half pulled off the bed, as if someone had gotten out of the bed in a rush. He bent down and checked under the bed. Nothing. When he stood up, he noticed the closet across the room. Smiling to himself, the man walked over and opened the closet. It looked empty, save for a pile of clothes and toys on the floor.

"You can't hide from me, kid," he growled as he began to pull apart the pile. A minute later, he stood up and cursed. He had found absolutely nothing.

Author Note: Please review. Constructive criticism is welcome.