The Price Of Wishing

The Agency

"Let me tell you about my night," said Miriam. "You see, I came home. No one else was there so I went straight up to my room and put on some music. Then the lights go and Echo there pulls me through a god-damned mirror. Then I get stuck in a desert and chased by a giant worm thing with no eyes but lots of teeth."

Miriam held up the tooth from her pocket so they could see it.

"Got away from that with a little help from Echo," she continued, making Echo smile and make a satisfied noise. Miriam smiled at her. "Then I ran into you, Davis. And first you act like I wasn't there and then you try to attack me. I take it this earring is fairly important to you."

He didn't respond. He just glared at her from behind the bars, his new hair flickering down over his eyes. The old man was staring at her, his eyes widening with every word.

"Then we're here. So I guess I'll start with that. How the hell did we get here?"

"You wanted it," said Davis, but he was looking at the old man, trying to catch his eye. "You wished it."

The old man began to rock on his toes. The ginger cat was lying with his back to all of them but his ears flicked forward.

"And? We just flew here because I wanted to be here?"

"Not exactly, " said Davis.

"Well, I want you to try and be exact then. Where are we and how did we get here?"

"We're at the travel agency."

Miriam felt a rush of excitement she couldn't hide.

"So I can get home?" she asked, betraying herself with the amount of emotion she allowed to seep into her voice. Davis smirked at her reaction, causing her grin to turn to a grimace.

"You get it now, don't you?" Davis asked the man. "You see what she is, right?"

Miriam bristled.

"What she is...happy ever after..." whispered the man, more to himself than anyone else.

"You," said Miriam, "What is your name?"

"Jacob," said the man.

"Don't you understand, you old fool?" Davis hissed. "She'll do a lot more damage than just to your little plant if you let her go."

"Well, Jacob. Is it true you can get me home? He," she said indicating Davis with disdain, "told me that you could."

"Home..." repeated the man, obviously more frightened than when they entered the room.

"Let me out," whispered Davis, "Take my earring off her and let me out and I'll help you out, old man. I give you my word, I'll do anything you ask of me. I'll have to if you have my earring. But you and I know you can't hold it for long. Let me out."

"Ignore him, Jacob," said Miriam calmly, raising the captive plant, "You do as I say and no one gets hurt, remember?"

"Do you have your passport?" he asked and the image of the blue stone flashed into Miriam's mind.

"Ah," said Miriam. She didn't have it. She hadn't seen it since she had escaped from the copy of her room.

"Ah?" repeated Davis, "Listen, old man. Jacob. You can't listen to her. She's dangerous. Just by being here she's putting us all in danger. You know it. I know it. Just help me. Let me out."

"Shut up, Davis," said Miriam. Amazingly, he did.

"Blue go bye," said Echo, who was petting the black cat.

"Then I can't help you," said Jacob a little too quickly, "Please take your accomplishes and leave me and my children alone."

The black cat shot out of Echo's arms and ran in front of Miriam to hiss at the old man, hackles raised. He whimpered and edged away from her.

"What can I do if they have no passport?" he asked the cat.

The ginger cat yawned loudly and got up. He sauntered off the pillow and out of the cage, ignoring Davis who tried to grab at him. He sat in front of the old man.

"You both think her a visitor?" it asked in a surprisingly deep voice. "If that's the case, the boy is right. It would be a lot easier and safer just to kill her."

The black cat turned and swiped, leaving a gash across the ginger cat's face.

"Ebb, my love," said the ginger, "Be reasonable."

She hissed some more. Miriam noticed the bit of silver swinging from the collar of the black cat's neck.

"Shadow," she said, remembering, "You're Shadow. You are the cat from earlier. You led me to Echo after I got lost."

The cat stopped hissing at looked at her, a glint in its eye.

"Her name is not Shadow," said the other cat with a slight snarl. "It is Ebb and she is not only the loveliest creature to have ever been viewed by any eyes. She is also an omen. What she wears around her neck refers to the worst and best day of mine and everyone else's live; Shadow day."

Miriam looked at Jacob and gave the plant a dramatic shake.

"Explain."

"A-ah. Don't hurt him. Shadow day is when we were separated from the rest of the world. It's also the day Ebb found her way to the agency and the day we went into hiding."

"Hiding?"

"Because people thought we could get them to the rest of the world."

"Like getting me home? Well you can, can't you?"

"Only if there's a passport. No passport and you'll need royal permission," said the ginger cat, before turning to the black cat "We know you don't like it, my love, but it really would be easier to just get rid of her and be done with it."

"Talk like that about me again, cat," said Miriam, "And I'll make sure to kick you in the head. Now, royal permission. Davis said something about that as well. I just have to get to the queen, right? And you can take me there."

"No," said Jacob instantly.

"You can't?"

"I can but I won't. Not even if you got your hands on all of my children. Not for anything. No."

"But I need to get home!"

"Can't we just kill her?" asked the ginger, before being chased out of the room by the black cat. Echo ran after them playfully.

"Ebb likes you and I'm supposed to help foreigners so you're welcome to stay," said Jacob, his shoulders sinking, "But I can't help you any more than that."

He looked longingly at his plant. Something about the look, and how hopeless and sad as he looked made Miriam trust him. She silently handed him his plant.

"I hope I didn't mess it up too much."

"Oh no," he said, looking at her gratefully and giving her a sad little smile, "He's a tough little one."

He was walking out when he stopped in the doorway.

"One thing I will tell. Don't trust him or any of his kind. It's in a Star's nature to kill you."

He was pointing at the cage where Davis watched them all, throwing hate with his eyes.