Seven mortal years later.

"Hello."

Ginny turned to see a boy standing in the archway, leaning against the ivy-covered wall. He had eyes that shone like emeralds, peeping out from beneath locks of midnight black hair. His tunic was a darker shade of green than his eyes, his black pants long enough to conceal he was barefoot until he stepped forward. He looked about 13

"Um, hello." She looked down, feeling a bit embarrassed to ask him her questions, especially since she had no idea how she had ended up in a hedge maze in the first place.

"You're in the Labyrinth." He said, taking a step forward and revealing that he had living vines interwoven in his hair like Ginny's mother would weave ribbons into hers.

"The Labyrinth?"

"A land that exists in the realm of dreams and wishes."

"Am I dreaming?" Ginny asked incredulous. "But it feels so real."

The boy nodded, smiling gently. "And you are not the only one. Would you like me to lead you to the others or would you like to explore? I can show you the rose gardens. Or perhaps the fountains?"

"You're not lost?" That was even a crazier idea then the dreamrealm one.

The boy shook his head and grinned. "Nope. It's actually my job to help dreamers find their way. And I've been at it a long time."

"Oh, mum would be mad if she was here. Even if it is a dream. I'm Ginny." She held out her hand to shake.

"You may call me Prince." The boy said, shaking her hand.

"Is that really your name?"

"One of them. Now, what would you like to see? The gardens or the glades where the other dreamers are playing?"

"Oh, the glade, please."

Prince gestured to the door that had most definitely not been there a moment ago. "After you."

"Was that there before?"

"Does it matter if it is there now?" Prince asked a crystal ball has appeared in his hands, moving hypnotically over his fingers.

"Is that magic?" Ginny asked, entranced as they moved through the Labyrinth.

Prince stopped and held the crystal up to the light. "Tis but an ordinary crystal until you turn it just the right way. Then it shows your dreams."

"Can it show you anyone's dream?" Ginny said, looking closer and seeing a flash of a Quidditch player.

"If you know what to look for." He answered cryptically, resuming the hypnotic swirls as the crystal danced across his hands.

Before Ginny could protest they emerged into a glade that had several goblins, pixies, and dreamers playing tag.

"Go and have fun." Prince encouraged, pushing her forward slightly. "Remember, dreams are but fleeting realities and here, nothing is as it seems."

Before she could turn around he was gone.

When Ginny woke up she remembered the older boy most of all.

It was a few months later after several trips into the Labyrinth before she felt sure enough to broach the subject.

She was playing with a fox knight named Sir Didymus, who was much more eager to play with her than her big brothers.

"Is Prince here?" She asked between rounds. It was quite difficult to win when the fox knight rode his noble steed, a sheepdog named Ambrosius.

"No, Lady Ginny. He is off helping a child who needs him most dearly."

"Does he do that often?"

"The Noble Prince helps many children, good lady." Sir Didymus said. "But he can't help them all, no matter how hard he tries to."
----------------------------

"I wish the Goblin King would take me away." A child cried in despair and desperation.

Now, where his father would have invaded the child's room with Goblins, before summoning a storm and busting through the window or door before transforming into his true form in a shower of glitter, Prince was not nearly as dramatic.

"I'm a wide-eyed owl with a beak for a nose. I've got riffs on my ears and talons for toes. I sit in a tree when you call for me, and when you do, twi two, twi, too. Dee Dee." He called, his voice echoing through the room, soft and joyful.

He wasn't nearly that dramatic.

The Prince leaned forward and tapped on the window with his beak, stepping back and settling himself down to wait.

The child looked at him and her eyes widened.

She didn't hesitate. Never a good sign. Letting in an owl that knocked after calling on the goblin king and hearing a voice in an empty room reciting a poem about owls means whatever she went through was bad enough anything was better.

She opened the window, black hair blown back by the beating of his wings.

She stared as Prince transformed from a black barn owl to a boy and took a seat, bare feet enjoying the thick carpet.

"Hello." He said. "You called."

"You're the Goblin King." She said.

"No. But I do know him. He deals with wishers and wished away, I deal with those who are one and the same. I am the Goblin Prince."

"Someone would wish someone else away?" The child asked, looking horrified.

"A sad truth of the world but a truth nonetheless. So tell me, " Prince said, leaning back in the chair. "Why did you wish for the King to take you away? But before that, may I have your name and age."

If she gave him her name after the request was worded that way, it would give him the power over her that he would need to spirit her away.

"Jessie. I'm Six."

Jessie was small, far too small for a six-year-old.

Unfortunately neglected and deprived children were nothing new to the Prince or King.

"And why did you wish yourself away?"

A male scream of rage and a crying girl, sounding older than Jessie answered that question.

"Jackie lets Daddy hurt her so he doesn't hurt me," Jessie admitted, hands curled around her knees.

"Where is your mother?"

"Daddy said she left."

Prince flicked his wrist and summoned a crystal, eliciting a gasp of surprise from Jessie.

"What is that?"

"A crystal, nothing more, but when you turn it just this way, it can show you dreams and secrets." He summoned a second crystal, enchanted to show the fairy gardens, and let Jessie play within as he gazed into his own.

A bloody sheet, a frying pan, a cracked skull, a shallow grave.

"How old is Jackie?" Prince asked looking up from the crystal.

"Ten."

"Would you be upset if Jackie came with us?" Prince asked.

Jessie shook her head, a long-dead hope in her eyes rekindled.

"All you have to do is make a wish." Prince said, swirling the crystal between his fingers.

"I wish the Goblin Prince would take Jackie and I away! Right now!"

And just like that, they were gone.
-------------------

"Bye, Prince!" Jessie waved, holding hands with her big sister. "Thank you so much!"

Jackie smiled. It had been a bit more of a surprise for her when one moment she had been inches away from her mother's fate, and the next being carried in the arms of a preteen boy through a Labyrinth, her sister happily chatting with the unearthly boy.

They had been adopted by a couple from the Selkie kingdom after spending a day in the Goblin King's Castle. Most self-wish-aways did. Fae birth rates were low, and as long as a human was not yet 13, magick would see them as a child and they could join a faerie family, and, eventually, be the same race as their adoptive family.

"Mr. Ythan." Jessie asked, getting a raised eyebrow from her new father. "Can the Prince come to visit us someday?"

Ythan and his wife, Moira, looked at the Prince who nodded.
"Someday. Perhaps we will invite his highness over for tea when you and Jaquiline learn to become seals."

"It's a promise," Prince said.

As they faded into fairy dust, the Prince felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Both children?" Jareth asked. "I sent you because it was a self-wish-way."

"The case changed."

"How so?"

"The mother was murdered and the eldest was following in her footsteps. I could hear her being beaten from the younger's room."

"I see, so you changed the wish."

"I added a clause."

"And the Father?"

"Will be an insomniac for the rest of his days."

Jareth laughed. "Well done, my son."

"Thank you, father."

"I think you should go have some fun with our current wished away," Jareth said conjuring a crystal to watch.

There was a runner every fae month or so, sometimes more, sometimes less. It was both good, that people were willing to fight for their children and sad, that there was a wishaway nearly weekly.

"What's their story?"

"An abusive boyfriend, " he said the word as if unfamiliar, "regrets his decision to give me his girlfriend's five-year-old daughter."

"Doesn't every runner regret their decision?" Prince asked, summoning his own crystal to watch the runner punch the Labyrinth walls in frustration. "He seems rather violent. Should we lock down the Labyrinth until he's done? Or simply watch and hope he cools down?"

Jareth studied the man for a moment. "Let's play this safe. Track down the dreamers in the path and send them home or to a glade. After that, start securing the village. I'll get the more vulnerable citizens in the Labyrinth safe."

"Starting with Hoggle," Prince said, gazing into his crystal.

Jareth cursed and vanished, stopping the man from beating Hoggle with his own fairy sprayer as he appeared on the outer wall.

Prince set to work, taking dreamers either to the protected glades or sending them into awareness with a push of magic.

"Hello, Prince." One dreamer said.

"Hello, Ginny. I see you're back."

"I love it here, even if I can't remember much when I wake up." The red-haired eight-year-old said.

"Dreams are but fleeting realities." The Prince reminded her. "Here, nothing-"

"Is what it seems." Ginny finished. She paused. "I've been dreaming of you for a while now but you still look the same."

"I am but a dream. It's not my fault you can't visualize accurate aging." Prince accused, guiding her towards a glade.

"Hey!" Ginny protested, smacking his arm.

"I could have you kicked out for that."

"If you were going to kick me out it would have been when the Pixies and I dunked you in Glitter."

Prince groaned. "My father was unbearable for months afterward. He was convinced I was following in his footsteps. He got my 30 barrels of green glitter for my birthday."

Ginny laughed at his pain. "That's a lot of glitter. Must have taken forever to get out of the carpet."

"The last time there wasn't any glitter in the castle, there wasn't a castle. Glitter was literally mixed in the mortar." He didn't tell Ginny that the glitter was actually faerie dust and a natural byproduct of fae using their more flashy abilities.

The entered the glade, looking around at the dozen dreamers who were playing games with each other and various citizens.

"Will you play with us again?" Ginny asked.

Prince shook his head, getting groans of disappointment from veteran dreamers and citizens alike. "Sorry everyone, but Father asked me to check on the Goblin's while he's busy. Maybe later. Layla."

"Yes, my prince?" The fairy asked, tiny wings fluttering as she landed in Prince's outstretched hand.

"Keep the dreamers here. Put up a barrier and call for Father should anything attack it."

"Yes, my prince."

Prince turned, and left to perform some more of his duties. Hopefully he wouldn't have to perform some of his more...unsavory ones.