I Must Be Crazy

The fight was short and unpleasant, and Tiar proved to be a reasonably challenging opponent. But it ended, and the demon girl burst into an almost angelic shower of light. Argent sheathed her swords and let out a sigh of relief.
“Finally. We’re done here.”
“Well done, everyone, you all did so well I didn’t even need to help you!” crowed Myles Granger. Seeing their expressions, he simply turned and ran. Hadrian grabbed Zariya’s collar to stop her chasing after him.
“That guy!” she said angrily. “I can’t believe we wasted the time to get a jewel for him! It was a complete waste!”
“Oh well,” said Darcie with a shrug. “It was an experience.” She glanced at Tracy and Markus. “Mark, you okay?”
The blonde boy was staring down at the ground. At her words, he jumped, and quickly wiped his eyes.
“Oh, yes… I just… it’s over, you know.”
She smiled. “I know.” She pulled him into her arms and hugged him tightly. “It’s okay now.”
“It’s not over, I’m sure,” Marn said gloomily, tapping one of his daggers against his mask. “There’ll be all sorts of things still to go… excuses for what happened… cleaning up… more explanations and excuses…”
“Don’t be so grumpy, Marn!” Lissy threw her arms around his waist, laughing. “For now, we’ll be alright!”
Tracy smiled. Her little sister was probably right.

A few days later, and much of the cleaning up, at least, had been dealt with. Goodbyes had been said to the three warriors, and they had returned to their own worlds; Myles Granger had slunk off somewhere by himself. Everyone had gone back to their normal routines as much as they could, although the high school was still closed.
It was a Thursday, and Tracy and Markus had managed to shake off Darcie. They’d gone to pick up Lissy from school on their own, and now they were going on their own, private quest.
The Agency doors swung upon, and Mr Pith looked up and sighed. “Not you three again. Why don’t you just set up camp beds and never leave? What’s the problem this time?”
“There’s no problem, Mr Pith,” said Tracy. “We just wanted to ask a question.”
He sighed. “Go ahead.”
Markus leaned on the desk. “How can we hire someone out forever?”
The small man said nothing for a while, then smiled. “Who do you have in mind?”
Tracy hesitated, and glanced at Lissy. “Well, everyone. Darcie, Hadrian, Crispin and Zariya. I’d miss any of them, if they were to leave.”
“Well… it depends.” Mr Pith folded his arms.
“On what?”
“Whether or not they want to stay, of course. If they don’t want to stay, well, you can’t force them, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“And if they do want to stay?”
“Hmm… let me think.”
Tracy crossed her fingers as he peered at his computer screen. After a few moments, he looked up and nodded at the collection tin which still sat on the desk. “Pass that here, will you?”
Tracy frowned, but pushed it across the desk to him. Mr Pith unscrewed the top and tipped out the contents. A few pound coins rolled across the desk, and a few miscellaneous other bits of change. Mr Pith smiled. “All from you people. No-one else has entered this Agency in months.” Tracy said nothing, not quite sure where this was going. The small man counted out the little pile, then recounted, and recounted again. At last, he looked up at them. “Yes… it’s enough.”
The three siblings blinked at him. “Are you joking?” Markus said flatly. “There’s, what, five pounds there? When every other time we’ve had to bring you jewels worth insane amounts of money?”
“Ah, but this is different.”
“How is it different? And anyway, I thought that was for - for Jimbawhistle!”
The little man roared with laughter. “Doesn’t exist.”
“What?”
“There’s no such person as Jimbawhistle. I suppose it’s a test. It sounds like you’re giving money to something pretty pointless, right? So what kind of person would put money in?”
“Um…”
He leaned forward. “Kind people. People worth knowing. People worth being around.” He shrugged. “And people who like to flash the cash, but I don’t think that applies to you.” He sat down again. “In any case, it’s enough. Aren’t you going to tell them? I’m sure they’ll be happy to know they’re staying.”
The Vauns exchanged glances, hardly believing their luck. Lissy burst out laughing, and ran towards the door. “Mr Hadrian can stay!” she called out happily.
Markus grinned. Perhaps things would be okay after all.