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"This isn't making any sense!"
They'd made it to the castle, taking the most direct route Sarah knew how to. Toby had watched as the … beings they passed had swiftly moved on or deferred to his sister like she was important here. All around them were goblins, trolls, dwarves, and even a few sprites, all of whom looked hopeful at seeing him next to Sarah.
"That's because you think like your mother, grounded and hidden in human normality instead of embracing our mutual lineage of the fae blood," Sarah told him in a bored tone. "You're only half, but it's there, and I need you to let it take firmer sway on you, or we'll never find Jareth!"
"No, Dad's not…"
"He is, and that is the whole reason Jareth came for us when you were a baby." Sarah pinned him with a fierce stare. "Our father was of one court, and my mother was from another. They never should have met and fallen in love, but they did… and I was born. That made them flee to the mortal world, because fae children are few and far between, and at risk. Jareth had been from mother's court, and suspected…"
"Which is why he found you, and then discovered me, the half-blood," Toby said, repeating the last bit of her explanation to him on the way. "But that still doesn't explain anything about Jareth being missing, or me being needed to find him or anything, sis!"
Sarah reached out and took both his hands, holding them tight. "When I renounced Jareth's proposal, not knowing what it was, or how much power he had put into the magic that would have cemented our alliance, I caused a schism in his ability to hold this place, because it had been prepped to accept me as his lady. When he convinced me to return, I thought I could have both worlds still, and did not learn what I needed to know fast enough. I resisted just what Jareth wanted, and because of the way I broke his spell, he could not leverage me to see it properly." Her eyes grew very sad, and Toby felt his heart tug, because big sisters weren't supposed to be that unhappy. "They've hid him in the mortal world, Toby. Whomever it is trying to take our court from us! And I can't go search, because that leaves the power open here."
Toby drew in a deep breath, then shook his head. "You know I think this is all a crazy dream, and yet you still ask me to find the guy who kidnapped me and took you completely out of my life?"
"He's my husband, or would have been if I had been a little less foolish," Sarah said. "You do understand family, Toby."
Toby did, and he winced. If he accepted the whole thing as true, and he had to with the way his memories danced around the shiny spheres resting by one of the thrones, he owed this to Sarah for her saving him as a baby.
"Nutty damn thing," he muttered, before resolving that he would find Jareth, just to be clear of all the madness.