"You!" Sarah snarled, racing down the steps and backhanding Jareth across the face before he could react, "I should have known this was your doing!"

"It wasn't actually," the brown-haired woman insisted.

Jareth fixed his gaze on her and suddenly Sarah saw rage come into his mismatched eyes.

"Terra!" he hissed, stepping around Sarah and mounting the stone steps, "Why would you do this?"

"Well," Terra drawled, not at all intimidated by him, "We couldn't have the Goblin King sitting around sulking for the rest of his days now, could we?"

Jareth clenched his jaw, a dangerous light in his eyes.

"I would hit you if you weren't a woman," he said softly, but with malice.

Terra grinned infuriatingly back at him, "How gentlemanly of you." Jareth turned and retreated back down the steps but Terra continued, "You know, you can feel free to hate me but I did it for you."

"Terra?" Sarah echoed, "That sounds a lot like my name!"

"So?" Terra queried, "I can assure you we're nothing alike."

"Sarah, this is such a pity but I can't send you back through the mirror, although I know you'd love to get back to little Toby," Jareth explained but Sarah simply shot him an incredulous look.

"Why should I trust you?" she said hotly, "In the past we were enemies!"

"I was never your enemy, Sarah," Jareth whispered pleadingly but the girl merely scoffed at him.

Terra stepped in, "The reason you should trust him is because he's the only one here who wants to get you home."

"Why do I need either of your help?" Sarah said, climbing the stone pedestal again, "I have my way home right here!"

She tried to walk into the mirror but the glass surface remained solid and would not give way. She looked to Terra in confusion.

"I don't understand. If it's a portal—"

Terra cocked a single eyebrow at her, that smug grin still on her face, "One-way ticket, sweetie."

Sarah felt Terra's words sink in and panic suddenly gripped her.

"That can't be!"

Terra rolled her eyes, "Wow. We got ourselves a real genius here. Don't you listen? I explained it nice and clearly. Deal with it."

"No!" Sarah wailed, pounding a fist against the looking glass, "I have to see Toby! I have to see my family!" A thought struck her suddenly and she rounded on Jareth. "You! You can take me back with your magic! Please, I'll do anything in return."

"Anything?" Jareth repeated slowly.

Sarah shook herself, "No, I mean, anything within reason, which wouldn't include me trading up anyone in my place."

A mischievous glint came into Jareth's eyes but vanished suddenly, replaced by sadness.

"I don't need anything from you, Sarah," he said softly, turning away, "I'll take you home."

"Now?" Sarah asked, hope rising in her chest.

"Sorry, darling," Terra said, "But we have a ways to travel before that can happen. Fae can't use their magic so far from home."

"You keep saying that word. But what does 'Fae' mean?"

"It's what we are, stupid."

Sarah looked at Jareth in confusion, "But I thought you were..."

"What? A goblin?" Jareth said with a cocky grin, "I thought you were smarter than that, Sarah. How could you have possibly confused me with the unintelligent creatures I rule?"

"But...what is a Fae?"

"I suppose you'd call them fairies from where you came," Terra responded.

"But why can't you use your magic here?"

Terra answered, "Well, I suppose to say we can't use any magic here is inaccurate. We can use magic, just not the more complicated or particularly taxing spells such as teleportation."

"As to why, I do believe there's a saying in your world, Sarah: home is where the heart is. Magic is so much a part of us that it could be seen as the same," Jareth elaborated.

"Well, that rule applies beyond the boundaries of Fae-governed lands," Terra interjected.

Jareth shot her a mildly irritated look, "Yes, I was getting to that. That specific rule applies beyond the boundaries of Fae-governed lands." Sarah couldn't help but hear Terra muttering in the background about repetition. Jareth ignored it and continued, "We're only just beyond the border of the Fae kingdom right now. But even when we do correct that problem, there is one pesky law set in place by the Fae King that still prevents us from using magic to our full extent."

"See, long ago the King decided that it would be a good idea to prevent vast amounts of magic being used in the wild lands of his kingdom," Terra cut in again, earning another glare from Jareth as she finally descended the steps of the stone pedestal, "However, don't ask me about the politics of that law. I never even understood it myself."

Sarah asked dismally, "So you're saying the only way for me to get home again is if we—"

"Travel all the way back to the labyrinth," Terra finished, sounding pleased with herself, "I'm sure that'll bring back some lovely memories for you two. But we can't exactly leave yet since it's dark. Hadn't we better set up camp for the night?"

Sarah groaned loudly, "How could I possibly think about rest at a time like this? I have to get home!"

"And you will," Jareth assured her, "I have a carriage waiting not far from here. The journey will be short enough. But for now—"

"For now, what we say goes, missy," Terra said harshly to Sarah, "So you're going to wait there patiently until we've set up the tents and then you're going to curl up and dream all night long about how much fun we're going to have together on this trip."

"And how long exactly is this trip going to be?" Sarah demanded sharply, too angry at that moment to feel the least bit intimidated.

"About two days," Jareth replied.

Sarah's eyes went wide as saucers, "Two days? Two days with you two?"

She let out a frustrated scream.

"Don't worry," Terra said, laughter in her voice, "On foot, it would be much longer!"

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Sarah shouted.

"Sarah, you need to calm down," Jareth said firmly, taking a step closer to her.

Sarah opened her mouth to make an angry retort but stopped herself. There was no sense in getting angry at the situation. As her gaze shifted between Terra and Jareth, she felt certain in her belief that something was afoot. She didn't buy Jareth's innocent act. The two of them—friends by the look of it—had probably devised some sort of plan. The obvious guess was to separate her from her family and make her miserable by forcing her to abide their company for two straight days. But what if there was something more to their game plan? She didn't believe either that their invitation to take her home was going to be free of charge. What did they intend to take from her this time? She sighed aloud. The best course of action was to make them think she was going along with their plans, but keep her eyes open for trouble all the while.

"Fine," she said, gritting her teeth, "I'm calm, alright? Now where are these tents?"

Terra looked to Jareth expectantly and he responded by giving a quick wave of his arm. In an instant, three tents appeared in the center of the glade. Sarah instinctively gasped.

"What...that's—" She stopped when she caught sight of Jareth smiling at her. She fixed him with a cold look before asking, "Which one's mine?"