"Jack is the thief you read about with Axel in J.G.'s diary," Alice explained. "He is one of the Lost Seven. He likes you very much. You're like a little sister to him."
"Now you're confusing me again." Fable grunted. "I have never met Jack before. I'm not from this world."
"Like I said, there is no time to discuss that now," Alice insisted. "All you need to begin your adventure in the dream is to meet Jack and talk to him. He will take you from there to a series of events, ending with the moment Loki and Shew fell in love."
"Do I have to live all these events? What if I have a chance to get Loki's Fleece before that?"
"If you can, be my guest," Alice said. "If not, you have to wait until the story—or the memory—unfolds."
"I'm really confused." Fable sighed. "So what will Jack be doing when I see him?"
Before Alice replied, they could hear the sound of some boy laughing in the distance. Heavy thuds were following him, as if he were pursued by little monsters.
"That's him." Alice giggled. "He likes to steal from the goblins. They own a fruit market, the Goblin Market. They are vicious and ugly but they produce the best fruit in Sorrow. It tastes like nothing else. It's simply called the Goblin Fruit. Jack steals it just to mess with them."
Fable was trying to consume too much information at once, but seeing Jack approaching in the distance made her smile. The boy was nuts. He wore a green outfit, which was too expensive—it looked like he had stolen it. His boots were black and tall, and he wore a hat that seemed to mean the world to him. A green hat, which he had to pull over his head every now and then so it wouldn't fall as he ran. He also had a sack slung on his shoulder. It looked very much like a thief's sack.
"We will get you, Jack Madly!" the ugly goblin said behind him. He was short and stocky and his neck was the breadth of his head. He had a crumpled nose, one hole bigger than the other, and one eye bigger than the other. "Bring back our fruit!"
"It's time now," Alice said, pushing Fable into Jack's path.
"But—" Fable tried to ask for explanations, but she was too late. She was already in the middle of the road, and Jack saw her as he jumped off a hedge.
"Fable!" he said. "What are you doing here?"
26
Fable looked back to Alice for explanations. How did Jack know her name?
But Alice was gone.
Fable realized it was her responsibility to play along in this dream. Shew, Babushka, and probably Loki were counting on her.
"I—" was all she said before Jack grabbed her arm and ordered her to run along with him.
"Didn't I tell you not to come near the Goblin Market?" he panted as they ran. "Goblins will eat cute girls like you alive."
Eat me? Really? That's comforting. Fable decided she better not say anything for a while. They were running anyway.
Jack took her hand and they sped up, moving deeper into the trees. He knew the forest like he had designed it himself. Every curve. Every tree and every rabbit hole. The goblins didn't give up tailing them, though, spitting and cursing at Jack.
"Here." He handed her an orange fruit while they ran. "Take a bite."
Fable said nothing. She just took a bite, and couldn't believe herself. The Goblin Fruit was so tasty, like nothing she'd eaten at the Belly and the Beast. If only Axel knew about it.
"Nah, nah," Jack said. "You're not eating it the right way."
Still mute, Fable shook her head.
"You have to indulge in the fruit," he explained, and snatched it back and dug his teeth into it, allowing its juicy insides to stick to the sides of his mouth and then slide down as if he were a four-year-old. He closed his eyes briefly as he chewed and moaned loudly. So loudly, in fact, the goblins heard him and cursed him more. "That's the way you do it." He handed it back to Fable. "Now your turn."
"But we're running from the goblins," she said.
"We'll be running all of our lives, Fable," he said. "If we're going to give a damn about the goblins tailing us, we're never going to enjoy the moment."
Fable laughed at the logic and went ape on the fruit. It was a great release to do it that way. She didn't even think about the goblins anymore.
"Get the cat!" Jack screamed as they ran, pointing at a crippled cat by the side of a tree. "They will eat it alive if we leave it."
Fable did like he said, pulling the cat and patting it. She set her on a tree branch the goblins would be too short to reach, and then continued running.
Jack suddenly stopped at some point he seemed to recognize. He turned around and faced the goblins as he pulled Fable behind him. "Wrap your arms around me," he whispered. Fable complied.
The goblins stopped a few feet away from him, suspicious looks filling their deformed eyes.
"You want your fruit, little trashy and obnoxious goblins?"
"Don't talk to us like that, Jack Madly." The goblin leader waved a crumpled finger at him.