Quietly making their way through the Sunnydale cemetery Sarah and Buffy walked silently side by side. Sarah shivered with the new experience of having to walk through a cemetery. With wooden stake in hand she watched cautiously, wary that at any moment a vampire or demon could jump out and attack.

            Looking over at Sarah, Buffy noticed her unease and thought that she would try to get her mind off of the cemetery, “So, how do you like Sunnydale? That is other than the hell mouth and all.”

            Sarah looked over at Buffy not really sure how to answer her question. Lately she had been so wrapped up in finding out that she was a Slayer and with Jareth’s visitations. Not to mention the fact that she was starting to realize her feelings for the arrogant Goblin King. “I really haven’t had the chance to see much. I’ve been swamped with school work and this I really haven’t had the time to enjoy my surroundings.”

            “I can relate. You would think that with college it would be a bit easier than high school.”

            Sarah laughed at that, “It’s been a while since high school for me.”

            Buffy was glad that they could start talking about something other than Slayer business, “So, you didn’t come to college right out of high school.”

            Sarah shrugged, “Well, I wanted to get away from my stepmother so I thought that if I got a job I could go and live on my own.”

            “So, your parents are divorced too.”

            Sarah looked around them as they walked, “Yeah, my mom and dad got divorced when I was fourteen and then he remarried. My real mom’s a stage actress, I guess that’s why I use to want to be an actress. Karen, my stepmother, is always on my case about something or another. No matter how much I’ve tried to get along with her she’s still hasn’t changed how she treats me.”

            Buffy frowned, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. So, why didn’t you move in with your mom?”

            Sarah mentally flinched at the memory that question brought up, “I tried but…she said she was too busy and moved around too much to have a stable environment for me to live in.”

            Now she felt completely awful, Buffy wanted to take back the question but it was too late, “Oh, I’m so sorry. Please wait while I place my foot firmly in my mouth.”

            Sarah smiled, “That’s Ok, I dealt with that a long time ago. Though it still hurts that my real mother didn’t really take the time out of her life to be with me.”

            “So, if not acting?” wanting to get away from the current subject.

            “I found out that I’m pretty good at writing stories so I thought that I would go with being an English major. I sent out an essay to a bunch of colleges hoping for a college grant or scholarship and here I am.”

            “I’m taking it that they liked your essay.”

            “They didn’t just like it they loved it. I got more scholarships than I knew what to do with.”

            Buffy stopped as she thought she heard something. Sarah looked around trying to see why she had stopped. Shrugging as if it was nothing Buffy continued with the chat, “Why Sunnydale then? I mean it’s a good school and all but lets just say that there’s not actually a lot going for this place.”

            Before Sarah could answer they both stopped in mid stride as they both heard a loud crash coming from somewhere off in the distance. Their eyes fell on one of the above ground tombs. Objects were being discarded from the tomb’s door. Buffy motioned for Sarah to approach from the right while she approached from the left.

            Sarah’s heart began to race as she slowly made her way towards the tomb. With every crash that the thrown objects made she had to make herself bravely move forward. Glancing back and forth between Buffy and the tomb Sarah had to keep reminding herself that she was the Slayer now and that she could handle things like this. She just wished that her heart would listen to her head as it kept sinking deeper and deeper within her stomach. If it were maybe daytime and not the middle of the night she might not be as nervous as she was now. ‘Ok, breath. It’s not like I haven’t dealt with stuff like this before. Besides Buffy’s here, its not like I’m alone,’ she thought to herself as she and Buffy closed in on the doorway.

            They both peeked around the corner. Buffy carefully looked over the small creatures that were gathered around within the tomb. They varied in size, though none higher than her waist and were the ugliest things that she had ever seen. Their skin was gray and their features were horrid. One of them had large oversized eyes with a large snout for a nose with a very bad case of drool. Another was the size of a cat and looked like a ball of fur with a tail and beady eyes. She watched as the one with the snout and drool problem smacked one of the creatures that looked like something between a very ugly kid and a pigmy.

            Sarah’s jaw almost dropped to the ground, ‘How did they get here? Why would Jareth send his goblins here? We can’t kill them. Oh, god what do I do?’ before Sarah could think any more on the matter she acted. Clearing her throat she let herself be known and stepped inside, “And what do you think you’re doing?” she asked in her most intimidating tone.

            The goblins stopped their heads jerking up to the sound of Sarah’s voice. Some snickered and started towards her while others stood with their mouths dropped open knowing that they’ve been caught.

            Buffy started to say something when the small goblin that looked like a fur ball jumped on top of her head and started to pull at her blond hair. Buffy batted the small creature from her head and started towards it ready to kill the annoying thing.

Sarah stopped her before she could reach him, “No, don’t kill them. Their only goblins, there not dangerous, just annoying.” Just as she said this she had to duck as a chunk of brick was thrown towards them, “Hey!”

The goblins snickered as they scurried away. Grabbing one of the goblins by its collar Sarah glared angrily at the struggling goblin, “How did you get here?”

Buffy watched not sure what was going on but having the feeling that Sarah knew more than she was admitting. The goblin shrugged as if to say ‘like I know’ and grinned snickering and drooling as he stared up at her.

            Buffy approached Sarah taking a closer look at their captive, “So you know what this is.”

            Sarah had almost forgotten about Buffy and wished that she were alone right now. She knew now that she would have to tell them everything and there was no dodging the issue either. “Yeah, unfortunately I do. I’ll explain at Giles place. Do you know if he has any cages handy?”

            “Knowing Giles, he probably has one somewhere.”

            Giles leaned back in his chair looking away from the large volume of demons and sorcery he was scanning through. He had searched more books than he cared to count and was getting rather irritated by the lack of progress. Willow sat at the table typing away at her small laptop trying to find what she could from the Internet while Xander sat hunched over a book looking at pictures. Thankfully Anya had tired with the research and decided to go home.

            When the door opened everyone’s attention came to the door where Buffy came in followed by Sarah holding a small creature that seemed to be rather unhappy about being carried by its shirt collar.

            “Ugly little critter,” Xander boasted as he sat up from his reading.

            The small gray goblin just grinned not realizing that he had been insulted. Giles stood from his chair, “What the bloody hell? Buffy, why did you bring that ‘thing’ here?”

            Buffy dropped on the couch, “Ask her, she insisted not to slay it. Personally, I think that would be doing it a favor.”

            Willow’s mouth dropped open, “Buffy!” Buffy shrugged as if to say, ‘what’, “He’s kind of funny looking.”

            Sarah getting irritated with the small struggling goblin stopped the chit chat, “Giles, do you have a cage or something we can keep this from running off?”

            Giles quickly got up and headed towards the kitchen. After a few minutes of hearing him clang and clatter in the kitchen he returned with a small metal cage. Throwing the goblin in Sarah bolted the cage and looked over at everyone in the room.

            Buffy eyed the cage and then looked to Sarah, “So how do you know what this thing is anyway?”

            Giles then cut in, “You know what this is?” he asked.

            “It’s a goblin,” Sarah stated mater of factly.

            Giles immediately went for the books dragging out one very old and dusty volume and flipped through the pages. Stopping at a page he started to read, “Very unintelligent creatures who main abilities include causing immense trouble where ever they go. They’re harmless if alone but are a complete menace when grouped together. The books very vague about what they are and where they come from.”

            Buffy cut in, “Let’s get back to my first question. How do you know what this is?”

            Sarah thought if she was to explain she had to start at the beginning, “I was fourteen when my mother gave me a small red book of a play called Labyrinth. I was obsessed with the story. When I was sixteen my stepmother kept making me stay home with my baby brother to watch while her and my dad would go out. One night I had an argument about having to stay home and watch Toby, that’s my half brother, all the time. When they left I was still angry and I started to react the play. I said the part where she wishes for her brother to be taken by the goblins but nothing happened. I didn’t think that anything would really. Then when I exited the room I said the right words, not really knowing that they were the right words. I didn’t think anything of it and started to leave when Toby just stopped crying.”

            Willow leaned in the edge of her chair soaking in the story. “I went back and tried to turn on the light but it wouldn’t work. When I approached his crib it looked empty. I got to his crib and pulled back his blanket and he was gone. Then I heard cabinet’s open and close, scratches at the window where a large white barn owl was trying to get in. I’ve never been so terrified as I was that moment. When the French windows to the bedroom flew open I threw up my arms to protect myself from the owls claws but I felt no ripping or tearing like expected and when I looked up the owl was gone but a man stood there instead. It was the Goblin King. To make the story short, I had thirteen hours to traverse his immense labyrinth to get to its center to the Castle. I barely made it and I defeated him. It’s been four years since that day.”

            “So lets get this straight. You wish your brother away and this Goblin King takes him away. Does it work on anyone?”

            Willow punched Xander on the shoulder, “Xander!”

            “Hey, it might come in handy.” Xander defended himself.

            Buffy ignored the two, “Giles, has there been any reports of missing kids?”

            “No, just the break ins and disturbances.” Giles leaned forward in his chair trying to think of what was going on but coming up with blanks, “I guess I can look for some reference on this Goblin King but I don’t remember ever running across such a being.”

            “I don’t think that he has anything to do with this. I mean…” Sarah quickly put in, “It doesn’t seem like his style. What would he have to gain by this?”

            Giles then asked, “Can you tell us anything about this Goblin King?”
            Sarah sighed, ‘if they only knew’, “He’s Fae, and very powerful.” ‘Not to mention gorgeous, seductive,’ she thought to herself.