They were close enough just to see the edges of it, the people at the very end who were quiet enough to sit behind their tables and play with things that looked like cards but dripped paint that vanished before it touched the ground.

Some people looked like her and Davis. Some had tails or horns or glowing tattoos on their arms and bodies. There was a horse arguing with a crocodile-faced man over the price of a bridle loudly. Around the 'town' boarders was a thin wire fence.

The people and their odd stuff were amazing but were nothing to the lights. Some were jewellery like the earring that Davis had, but there were too many different kinds to see them all.

There was at least one for each person, Miriam realised. A girl dressed in a white dress held a balloon that glowed. A man had a snake curling around his arm, both of them with glowing diamond scales. A dog with one shining eye. An orb of light followed a small woman and a streetlight walked after her companion. A chandelier that wouldn't look out of place in an opera house floated gently along and near it, a paper lantern bobbed in the night, careful to avoid a gas light that was perched on top of a young man's head.

Her mother would love this, she realised and wished that she could show it to her some day. She remembered the disturbing dream she had a little while ago and had to bite the inside of her bottom lip to preemptively stop the tears forming.

I'll tell her all about it when I get home, she vowed in silence and tried to remember everything she saw.

She stood still, staring at it so long that Davis had to give her a tiny push to get her moving again. He was wearing a disguise, covering his face with a cloth.

"Listen, we have to be careful here," he whispered to her. "They might not be able to see you but it doesn't make you any less solid. They can bump into you and knock you over or even crush you under a wheel. Stay behind me and try not to touch anyone."

Annoying as it was, she could see the sense in this. Caleb nodded at her and bumped his head against her, pushing her slightly behind Davis. Echo was too absorbed with looking around to notice anything they were saying.

Miriam stayed behind Davis, occasionally peaking over his shoulder or around his back to get a look at something. He noticed every time she did and cleared his throat loudly. She didn't care. She had never seen anything as beautiful as the glittering crystal ball that had a small, glowing emerald in the centre of it nor had she ever seen anything as confusing as the game two women were playing involving four different coloured dice and a glass of water.

The market was just along one ruined street, long and thin and full of people. Miriam kept bumping into Davis's back when he was stopped by a vendor or had to slow down because of a group of people blocking the way.

"Will you pay attention?" he hissed back over his shoulder. She barely heard him, though, because she had spotted the fireworks.

The man selling them to the gathering crowd explained that they were scaled-down versions of the items on sale, which would light up the night and mimic the former stars.

Children were impressed by this, begging their parents to get them the stars. The vendor was little more than a boy, his light an everlasting, ever-changing firework silently exploding shapes and coloured sparks. He looked at them smiling, a smile that slipped slightly as he noticed Caleb, who had kept walking.

No one but Miriam noticed the look the boy gave the cat. He shook his head and went back to selling his wares. Davis hadn't slowed as Miriam did and she had to rush to catch up with him, almost knocking over a little girl in the process.

Then she heard a bird singing. After not having heard birdsong for days now, she didn't recognise it right away. She looked around widely and spotted it, on a table not too far behind them, she grabbed Davis's hips and propelled him towards it.

"Wait. What are you dong?" he asked.

Echo giggled, scooped Caleb up and went after them. Caleb took a moment to regain his composure after being plopped over her shoulder and informed them that they were going the wrong way. Echo made noises at him.

The bird was the most beautiful creature Miriam had ever seen. It was as long as her arm, bright blue, with long wings, a tail that was even longer and small white feathers giving it a crown. It glowed as well, and sadly sang into the night for a dawn that wasn't coming. It was in a cage that was slightly too small for it. Miriam pointed at it to Davis.

"You want the bird?"

She nodded. Davis asked the old man behind the shop how much the bird was. The man shook his head and said something that Miriam didn't understand. He said something else to Davis, looking sadly at the bird and giving it a piece of fruit and stroking its neck affectionately through the bars.

Davis nodded and said something back to the man in the same, strange language. Davis caught Miriam's hand and dragged her away from the stall, not letting her shake him off.

"It's not for sale," he whispered. "I'll explain it to you later."

Echo was still at the stall, ignoring Caleb's demands to be let down. The bird sang for her and she whistled a perfect recreation back to it. It perked up in the cage and sang more joyously, which Echo joined in. Soon people were stopping to listen to her and the bird and the old man was crying, but smiling at the same time.

When she was done, he gave her a piece of sweet fruit and she walked towards where Miriam and Davis were waiting for her. The bird cried after her and, when she did not answer, slumped in its cage. The man petted it gently but it did not respond to him. Echo didn't notice the bird was upset and was swinging an increasingly irritated Caleb back and forth.

It was only after he bit her hand that she dropped him, and ran, crying, to Miriam. Davis yelled at them all for causing trouble and getting attention but he took Echo from Miriam and let her hug him and cry as they walked. It was a good thing to do, for when she was done crying, she tried to kick and hit at Caleb. Davis had to hold the hug to keep her away.

"Well, it wouldn't have happened if you let him go when he asked," he told the girl.

Miriam looked back at the sad bird, almost completely out of sight. It had such lovely wings.

They walked to the end of the market and then past it, turning off the street into ghostly buildings too close together to have any of the lovely tents propped up between them. They left the light, music and people behind. The only light now came from the earring Miriam wore, so she was put to the front of the line, with Caleb besides her leading the way.

Something fell ahead of them.

"Don't worry," said Caleb. "Just a piece of roof that lasted longer than most."

This reassured Miriam but as she walked she became more and more aware of the sounds around her.

Was that Echo who knocked something? Did she hear a scratching behind that wall? Where was that dripping sound coming from?

Her breath was loud and harsh and she remembered that she wasn't to let anyone hear her. Would that be speaking, or would the sounds of her footsteps and working lungs be enough? Would the echoing of the alley-way, a ghost of a place where people once lived and were, give her away? What would she do if that was the case?

She had talked to Aaron so many times about what was wrong with the world and how they should try to change it. It started, they had decided, with the decision to be brave. Still, she could not stop listening for every sound.

Caleb stopped.

"In here," he said, before crawling over what was left of a rotting door and entered one of the buildings. It looked sturdy enough, except for the fact that they were walking on the collapsed roof.

"Why are we stopping?" asked Davis.

"Because if we don't, we'll lead you into the army. They left here yesterday. Did you not see the signs of it?"

Davis shook his head and sat down. Miriam wasn't surprised by what Caleb had said, the stalls that looked like they were selling weapons were mostly empty.

She wanted to ask what army and why they were avoiding them but again was left with the questions swirling around her, unable to be asked. Echo whistled the bird-song again, playing with a piece of wood.

"That bird wasn't for sale," Davis explained to Miriam. She raised an eyebrow and indicated for him to continue, to explain.

"That bird is like my earring, a light. Living lights are very rare. That bird is only the fourth or fifth one I've ever seen. Living lights are a little different to the others. They can travel and be apart from their person. They can die, and if they do their person dies as well. Still, before it was considered a horrible thing to cage one up like that."

He shook his head. Miriam wondered if he realised that he just told her his life was hanging from her ear.

"It's not the old man's fault. He loves that thing. Kain's decided that he doesn't trust living lights. It's too easy for them to be hidden or to spy. So now everyone has to cage theirs. If he lets it out, they'll arrest him."

Miriam shook her head. That was so wrong. That bird should be flying. The old man couldn't let the bird go.

She pretended to sleep and listened to the breathing of the others. When they were all breathing deep and heavily, she chanced a glance around.

Outside, stone fragments rolled loudly every time she touched them with her shoes. Miriam crept back to the street with the market. She didn't have Davis to hide behind this time, so she kept to the sides, creeping behind each of the stalls and walking carefully around each of the vendors.