The next day Sarah signed into Labyrinth 101.  She regarded her new teacher with some reserve but figured she could learn a lot about staying out of trouble if she kept her eyes and ears open.

“Lesson One.  Do not just wander in any part of the Labyrinth – especially the castle, without a clear purpose in mind.  If you know where a place is you can go straight there.  If you don’t, shut your eyes and imagine where you want to be and you’ll find yourself there,” Jareth recited, prowling around the dining room.

Can’t he ever sit still, Sarah thought irritably?  “I take it just wandering around is dangerous because of what you might stumble over,” Sarah commented.  “How come things like the Princess’ hallucination are still here even though they happened a long time ago?”

“This place is like a sponge.  It soaks up dreams and makes them real,” he answered, still pacing.

“How do you know the difference between what’s real and what is someone’s dream?” she queried.

“Sometimes there’s no difference.  What someone dreamt becomes real.  Sometimes you have to make a wish to see what was there before someone dreamt or wished something,” he paused and stared thoughtfully over the ancient twisting walls spread out to the horizon that made up his kingdom.  Jareth continued his lecture while Sarah began to feel like a spectator at a tennis match, watching him stalk restlessly up and down the room.

At the end of the morning, Sarah knew how to find her way around the important rooms in the castle, how to defend herself against the Labyrinth’s wilder inhabitants, and what to do if she stumbled into another hallucination.  “Do you feel more comfortable now?” he asked at the end of his lectures and demonstrations.

“Yes, but you’re making me tired.  Don’t you ever sit still?” she asked wearily, rolling her eyes.  He glared at her impatiently.

“Do you want to find a room in the castle?” he asked, choosing to ignore her last remark.

“Okay,” she agreed and shut her eyes.  “I wish to go to the library,” she said with a clear picture in her mind of a cosy room with thousands of books and a fireplace.  She opened her eyes and found herself in a replica of her vision.  “Cool!” she nodded, looking around her.  It was exactly as she pictured it – books stacked on shelves against the round tower walls to a high ceiling, a huge fireplace and deep red plush velvet reading chairs.  Ladders and staircases wound up the walls to the higher shelves and odd ornaments were dotted around on small ornate tables with lamps to provide reading light.  Suddenly she heard a sigh of impatience behind her.  “Oh, caught up did you?” Sarah said casually over one shoulder.

“You might have given me some warning,” he complained sullenly.  “You were gone before I realized where you were headed.”

“Great library,” she said approvingly, trying to distract him from his sulks.

He looked around with a mildly surprised expression on his face.  “You’ve improved it actually,” he commented with a grudging admiration.

“How?” she asked surprised.

“It was rather cold and austere before,” he replied.  “No cosy fireplace, subdued lighting or red velvet.”   

“Figures,” she said with a shrug.  “I noticed you don’t decorate for comfort.”  Jareth looked put out at this slight on his decorating tastes.  They spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the new-look library.  Or rather, Sarah spent the afternoon swarming up and down the ladders and staircases checking out his collection and Jareth very unsociably stuck his nose in a book in front of the fireplace and read the afternoon away.

Sarah joined him eventually with some thick tomes of a non-fiction nature.  Jareth raised his eyebrow at her choices. “No fairytales?” he drawled.

“I’m living in one at the moment!  No need to read them.  Besides, I’m nosey by nature.  I want to know everything so I read a lot of non-fiction too,” she said, and taking his example stuck her nose in one of the books and began to read.