Jack laughed. "What is that you're waving at me?" He squinted. "I can't tell if it's your forefinger or toe."
The Goblin growled and took a step forward, about to eat Fable and Jack alive. Fable was really surprised that she was terrified by such short creatures, but they had pointed teeth, like vampires.
"Easy," Jack said, biting on a white feather between his teeth. "Let's just figure something out. I'm sure there is something in my Sack of Wonders that will make you happy."
"You always fool us with that sack," the goblin said. "Last time you sold me what you called the devil's last hair, told me it would help me grow hair myself." The Goblin was balder than the rest, who were mostly very hairy.
"Sorry about that," Jack said. "But hey"—he raised the Sack of Wonders—"I've just stolen the Queen's comb."
"Comb?" The Goblin was about to cry. "What use do I have with it?"
Jack pretended to sympathize, bowing his head. "How did I miss that?" He shook his head, and Fable tried not to laugh. "But it's a Mermaid's Comb." Jack wiggled his eyebrows. The goblins began panting and drooling.
"What use do we have with such a comb?" another Goblin protested.
"The mermaid needs it." Jack pointed at a swamp. Fable thought that only those ugly goblins would want to meet mermaids from that kind of filthy swamp. Suddenly she realized where she was. This was the Swamp of Sorrow, two hundred years ago. "Some mermaid must have lost it," Jack said. "You could simply seduce her out of the swamp."
Most Goblins giggled, nodding at each other. "And then eat her!" one said, chuckling.
"Well." Jack rolled his eyes. "If you insist. She's half fish, after all. Wouldn't you want to look at her breasts first? Just a suggestion."
"Breasts!" Another goblin chuckled. "I like to eat breasts."
"This is going nowhere." Jack shook his head.
"What are you saying?" a goblin growled.
"Nothing." Jack flashed a most generous fake smile at them. "Was just saying how beautiful you ugly goblins are." He tightened Fable's arms around his waist while the goblins rolled toward him.
"Jack!" Fable said, panicking. "What are we going to do?"
"Hold on." Jack knelt down and pulled a bean from his pocket. He planted it underneath the earth and chanted something. The bean grew into a tree.
The goblins had to stop, amazed and surprised by the tree coming out of the earth like a spiraling snake. Jack hung on to the tree as Fable hung on to him, all the way up to the highest sky.
"The comb, Jack!" the bald goblin leader growled.
"Next time," he yelled at them below. "When you grow a little hair!"
Jack laughed as he and Fable climbed up to the heavens. Fable felt like she was in an amusement park, riding the most incredible roller coaster of her life.
"Wow," she said, as the tree grew higher and closer to the moon. "That's amazing."
"What's with you today?" Jack said. "You act like you never climbed up my tree before."
Fable shrugged. "It's just I can't stop admiring it every time we climb it."
Jack looked unconvinced, but didn't comment. "After tonight's meeting, we should have a talk."
"A talk?" Fable cocked her head.
"A talk about what happened to you," Jack said in a brotherly way. Fable wished Axel cared for her this way. "You've been hiding for three months, and then you just show up. You will have to tell me where you have been, but later." He patted her on the cheek.
Fable didn't know where she had been those three months. She didn't even know why she was supposed to be here in the Dreamworld three months ago. She didn't even know how Jack knew her. She was caught in the magic of the moment.
"So what meeting are you talking about?" Fable asked as they almost came to a halt up in the sky.
"We have a plan to get Shew back from the Schloss," he said.
"We?" Fable grimaced, and as they stopped, a realization was about to hit her hard. So hard she thought she was going to faint and go back to the Waking World.
"Yes, we, Fable." Jack pulled a vine nearby and stopped the tree from climbing higher. They were in front of a vault made out of wood and crawling vines. Behind it, Fable could see a lot of large pumpkins used as chairs, and a whole magical place where Jack lived up in the sky. "Something is really wrong with you today." He ushered her inside. Her legs were numb. She prayed whatever she had just realized was a figment of her imagination.
Fable stepped into the place and saw silhouettes of other boys and girls behind the shimmering of candles and moonbeams pooling in from the sky. Something told her she shouldn't step in, that whatever revelation she was about to see would change her forever. She froze still, trying not to peek at the silhouettes to see who they were. Her poor eyesight was her greatest asset right now.