Chapter 6

He woke up gasping in a girl's purple bedroom. He pulled the line from his wrist, checked his totem and the glass ball, and then he grabbed his jacket and... he hesitated. Part of him wanted to run, as fast as he could. But it wasn't fair. The others didn't know. He leaned against the wall and waited for them to surface.

Eames was the first.

"What the actual fuck, Arthur?" he asked as he ripped out the line.

Arthur didn't answer.

The rest waited for the time to run out.

They told the parents they'd be in touch and got out of there.

No one spoke until they got back to the warehouse. Dom radiated cold fury and Eames and Ariadne were obviously worried. Yusuf just looked mildly annoyed.

"What the hell was that, Arthur?"

"Get off your high horse, Cobb! You've done worse!" Eames defended.

"It's fine. He has a right to be angry. I should explain."

They all looked at Arthur who had his arms wrapped across his chest in a gesture so un-Arthur that it deflated Cobb's anger in an instant.

"Let's go and sit down. I get the feeling that this is going to be a long story."Ariadne provided the voice of reason as she so often did.

When they were all settled, Arthur took a deep breath.

"She made a wish, she said. I don't know if she added to that after I... well. If she did I bet she said that the Goblin King came and took the baby away." Ariadne, Yusuf and Cobb all gasped. Arthur smiled coldly. Eames just looked confused.

"How could you know that?" Ari asked.

"Because when I was fourteen, I wished that the goblins would come and take my little sister away. And they did."

There was a tense silence that seemed to last for hours.

"Arthur, when you say goblins...?" Cobb asked.

"I mean goblins. Yes."

Again, silence followed.

"You have a sister?" Eames asked.

"Yeah. She's 12 years younger than me, youngest of four. Well, the four of us that are left." He smiled, and it faded slowly. "I didn't have the greatest childhood. My Mom was a drunk. Dad was dead, and we had a revolving door of temporary replacements. My older brothers got out of there as fast as they could, and I don't blame them. The only reason I stuck it out as long as I did was to make sure the baby was okay. But... there was a lot of resentment. I didn't want to be stuck taking care of a baby on a Friday night. Especially when she wouldn't stop crying no matter what I did. Mom was passed out in a pool of her own vomit, so she was no help. And... I got angry."

"What happened?"

"I made a wish. A stupid, stupid wish. I was a big geek back then. I read tonnes of fantasy and sci-fi. It was an escape for me. And I'd read this story about how the goblins came and took bad children. Or maybe it was a poem. I can't really remember. And I was angry and I didn't know how to make the baby stop crying. I was a fourteen year old kid."

"What was the wish?" Ariadne asked.

"I wished the goblins would come and take her away. Right now. And they did."

"Arthur, that's impossible," Cobb said it gently and Arthur wanted to laugh. He remembered using that tone on Cobb not so very long ago.

"I know. But it happened. I realised I'd made a mistake. The Goblin King offered me a chance. If I made it to the castle, beyond the Goblin City, I could take back the child he had stolen. I had thirteen hours. If not, he'd keep the child for himself."

"Did you make it?" Yusuf asked, his voice low.

"Yes," Arthur smiled again. "I made it just in time. I got her back. And he gave me this as well." Arthur pulled the glass ball from his pocket. In reality, Arthur had stolen the ball, but he always thought of it as a gift. He knew that was strange and probably unhealthy, but he couldn't stop himself.

"He gave you a glass ball." Eames' voice was flat.

"Yes. And if you turn it like this," he twisted his hand so it danced on the back of his fingers, "it can show you your dreams."

They were all staring at him, but Arthur didn't notice. He was gazing into the ball.

"Arthur..."

"I think I can get the child back." His voice was distant. "But I have to get his attention. Yusuf, if I wished that the goblins came and took you away, would you mind?"

Yusuf looked nonplussed, but after a minute he shrugged.

"I can't see what harm it would do."

"Say your right words, the goblins said," Arthur muttered, sounding less like himself every second. "I can bear it no longer. Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be..." he shook his head like someone emerging from dark, deep water. He met Yusuf's eyes and his gaze was hard and cold. "I wish the goblins would come and take you away. Right now."