Sorry about the coding that somehow keeps trying to find a home in my chapters. I will try to figure out what is happening and fix it. Hope you enjoy the, now readable, chapter

Sarah hugged herself, fighting the tears. She thought about Toby, so small and helpless in the hospital bed. And the call that had brought her to his side. She bit back the guilt that threatened to overwhelm her and tried to stop the flow of tears that fell down her cheeks.

"Sarah?" Jareth's voice was a raspy whisper, barely penetrating her thoughts. He didn't prod but Sarah could hear the question in that single word.

Finally Sarah looked up. Her eyes were clouded with unshed tears. "I put Toby in the hospital." Sarah's voice was nearly inaudible as she whispered the words. Sarah had felt the guilt, nearly been consumed by it, since the moment she heard the news. But she had not been able to utter the words before. And though it did nothing to make her feel better Sarah was relieved to have finally said it aloud.

Jareth stared at Sarah, his face unreadable. He didn't seem surprised by her announcement. "People go to the hospital all the time. What exactly did you do that made this awful event so much more emotional?"

Sarah hiccuped on a sob and squeezed her eyes, trying to block out the memories that hovered at the edges of her consciousness. She remembered her rush that day. It had started as such a promising morning. Fighting the quiver in her voice she relived those moments. "They were coming back, Dad and Irene. It was supposed to be a 'long weekend away' for them. Another one of Irene's social things. They decided to leave early and have a couple of days away. Toby stayed with me. They should have been there Sunday afternoon. But they never showed. Finally that night I called them. I don't know why they didn't leave sooner. But I demanded that they pick Toby up on time for me to make my audition. They drove all night to be home on time."

Jareth could see Sarah fighting to remain calm. When she paused in her story her eyes were rimmed with red and her voice caught in her throat. Jareth remained silent. He thought back to his own loss and closed his eyes, wondering if the pain ever did leave. Or if there were some things that time just could not heal.

"My phone was on silent. Because of the audition. I never checked it until after I was done. By then I had several calls from the police. Dad-" Sarah took a deep breath, "Dad fell asleep at the wheel. They said Toby had been leaning forward, according to his injuries. Probably trying to wake Dad. But it was too late."

"I'm sorry." Jareth covered Sarah's hands with one of his own, feeling them tremble beneath his fingertips.

"I should have driven him home. I should have taken him with me. Anything. Coming to pick him up had added an extra two hours to their drive."

"You couldn't have known Sarah. There was nothing you could have done."

Sarah met his gaze. "No? If I had done something, anything, differently they would be here right now."

"You can't say that. No more than you can say that it all happened because of you."

Sarah bit her lip. She wanted to argue. To deny the reason that he presented. But she couldn't bring herself to do so. Somewhere in her grief she knew that he was right. At least partially. She couldn't have predicted what would happen that day. And try as she might she could never change it. But she could make it right. If she could save Toby. It would never alter what she had done. All Sarah could hope for was for Toby to understand.

"You will have to give up your guilt if you want your magic to shine through."

Sarah almost didn't register what Jareth had said. She looked at him blankly, her mind still on Toby. She saw his grim expression and shook her head, trying to focus. She had to concentrate on the present if Toby was going to have a future.

"Sarah?" Jareth could see that Sarah was lost in her grief. A grief that had nearly paralyzed her with shock not so long ago. A grief that would live for some time to come if she couldn't learn to let go. And for the sake of all of them he hoped she could.

"You have to tell me what I need to do to save Toby. If I have this magic that you insist I must have how do I use it? I can't just wiggle my nose or point my finger and make things happen."

Jareth grimaced. He knew well the idea of what most people called magic. And how it was performed. And he hated it. "It isn't like performing some simple trick. Or playing a slight of hand game."

"Then what is it?"

Jareth held up his hands, palms facing the sky. "It is this."

Sarah looked around. "This? This what?"

Jareth spread his arms wider, as if trying to take in the whole of the garden in his arms. "This. The Labyrinth. Me. It is the undeniable surety that we are here."

Sarah sniffled and stood, turning a slow circle to look around at the garden. "How is this magic?" The barren bushes and neglected garden looked anything but magical to Sarah. Though she couldn't bring herself to say so aloud she wondered if Jareth realized how depressing his garden was.

"Do you remember, Sarah, the orb inside that cabinet? Do you remember what you saw inside that crystal?"

Sarah folded her arms and frowned. "Of course I do. I just saw it. Why would I forget it so soon?"

"That was a memory, Sarah. One single memory." Jareth looked down, unwilling to meet her gaze. "One of my memories. Only one of many that has kept the Labyrinth alive for more years than I care to count. But they are weak. Each day they grow more fragile. Just as each day the Labyrinth dies."

"But why can't you keep the Labyrinth alive now if you did for so long already? What changed?" Sarah tried to take in everything that Jareth had told her. But the more she heard the more she felt as if she was in a story book.

"Think Sarah. Think of your own memories. How vivid and alive they feel when they are new. But then time takes hold. And as time passes, memories fade. And as those memories fade, so does the power they hold. Especially here." Jareth paused, looking to Sarah with an honesty in his eyes that she had never seen before. "That memory, the woman you saw, is older than it appears. Time is different here. I was a child, yes. But I was older than even you are now. And many years have passed since that memory was made. Many thousands of years."

Sarah sniffled quietly, her own sorrows almost forgotten in her surprise. "But why don't you just make more memories? Can't they power the Labyrinth?"

Jareth shook his head with a grim smile. "I am alone here. My mother died, not long after that day."

"Oh." Sarah shifted, suddenly uncomfortable. "I'm sorry."

"Nothing is forever. Not even immortality."

"But, how?"

Jareth shrugged. "In the Labyrinth once you are forgotten death is often near."

Sarah gasped. "But why, surely someone must remember you. A sibling, your father, anyone."

"My father left me here. Left me to rule. Not that it would make a difference. It doesn't work like that here. We have enough magic to sustain ourselves until we find a mortal with the magic to keep us alive. Once that mortal stops believing, we begin to die."