The Wish Box

by Nate Van Dyke

  Her voice was reassuring. I knew without a doubt that what she said was true. I collapsed on the ground, trying to keep from passing out. “Who—?”

  She cut me off gently, “Who I am does not matter. Right now, you need to rest.” She waved her hand in my direction. My eyes closed and I fell into one of the most relaxing naps ever. No dreams, no nightmares, just sleep.

  It seemed to end almost as soon as it started. My eyes snapped open and I sat up. My headache was gone, but I was still sore. I felt like I had been stepped on by an elephant. Kam groaned next to me and sat up, looking around.

  He looked at me and asked, “Did that just happen? You saw the ghosts and… and the…”

  “The girl?” I nodded. “Yeah, that definitely happened. Where…?”

  Hector suddenly spoke up right behind us, making both of us jump. “What happened to you guys?” We must have looked pretty beat up because he had a look of complete shock on his face.

  I put on the brightest smile I could muster, “Good news: We found something in the buildings! Bad news: this town is quite literally a ghost town.”

  We dusted ourselves off and explained what had happened. Hector looked pretty stunned. “Banshees? Here? I find that hard to believe. You’re sure they were green, semi-translucent men? Like the ones out of Lord of the Rings?”

  “Well, actually yeah. They looked just like that. I didn’t really think about that till you mentioned it.” From what I remembered of them from the movie (sorry, I didn’t read the books), they were green men with serious rage. The description seemed to match. “Wait, you mean Lord of the Rings was actually based on reality?”

  Hector laughed, “Well, they didn’t get everything right. Still, you would be surprised how many of the monsters in those books are actually real. You have already met some of them personally.”

  The wolves! Now that I think about it, they are pretty similar to Wargs. A lot nastier in real life though. I found it interesting that normal people could get a glimpse into the Argonaut life and not make some sort of connection. Then I realized, Duh, up until a week ago, I was a clueless normal person too. You even went and watched the movie and you didn’t realize it!

  “There are more things from those movies, errr… I mean books, that are real? Like elves and dwarves and stuff?” Kam asked, looking hopeful. Mythical creatures and people always really interested him.

  Hector cocked his head from side to side, “Well, not the way that you’re thinking. All of the authors who have written about these creatures have only gotten the briefest of glimpses of them, so the descriptions are usually far from accurate. Elves, for example, are not magical humanoids. In fact, they are master warriors with elite senses and stealth. That’s the part that they usually get right. They are the closest things to ninjas that exist. That’s probably where the legend of ninjas comes from, now that I think about it. You will probably meet quite a few of the different species during your time as an Argonaut, but you probably won’t be meeting any elves or dwarves anytime soon. Just remember, whatever it is, it is neutral at best. Almost everything not human is not an ally.”

  He trailed off and thought for a few moments, before resuming. “Anyway, we should probably get going. I don’t want to be anywhere near here if there are Banshees around. I found the direction that the tracks lead in and, well, something else.” He saw the confused looks on our faces, and added, “It would be easier to just show you. Do you guys feel up to walking?”

  20

  Nyka and Donovan Have a Friend

  KAMARON

  You would think after a big fight like that we might rest, but noooo. We followed Hector through town, keeping our weapons on hand just in case. I consciously avoided looking in any dark doorways. Seriously, I was going to have nightmares about that for years.

  We followed the trail until Hector came to an abrupt stop in front of us. He turned around and pointed at the ground. “Here is the weird part. You see those footprints right there, leading from the town? There are two sets: Nyka’s and Donovan’s. Now, over here, suddenly there is another set. They don’t come from anywhere; they just appear. It’s almost like this third person teleported here.”

  Garrett and I shared a glance. We were both thinking the same thing: Or they flew. That girl we had both seen had wings, which might explain where the footprints came from. The thing that didn’t make sense was, if she was helping Nyka, why did she help us?

  I don’t suppose you have any helpful insight here? Phelix remained silent, but I felt like there was confusion in the silence. It seemed like he was holding something back, and that something was bothering him. Or maybe I was just reading way too far into his silence.

  Hector kept looking back and forth at the footprints, as if hoping there was an answer hidden in the dirt. I felt bad keeping it from him, but I felt like I needed more information before I declared this flying person (angel?) an enemy.

  Garrett gave an unspoken agreement, changing the subject, “Do we know where they are headed?”

  Hector looked up from the prints, “Well, this was as far as I tracked them. The prints keep going in that direction towards the mountains in the distance, beyond the city. So far my theory about them heading for the mountains is correct.”

  I looked at the city and saw the mountains on the horizon for the first time. I had missed them before because the city nearly blocked the view. They seemed to be a long way off, but it’s always hard for me to tell distance. “Soooo, are we just going to keep walking in that direction? I don’t suppose we can hitch a ride.”

  Hector smiled, “Sadly, no such luck. We aren’t in any hurry though. Donovan appears to be a lot more injured than we originally realized. Some of his tracks have dragging marks, like he is limping. If that’s the case, we should catch up to them in no time.”

  Hector stared at the prints again, like he was trying to get more information from them. “I am guessing that if we travel at the same pace as we have been without any more interruptions, we will be on them within a few days and long before we reach the mountains. The best place to overtake them would be the city, where they can’t fight us without risking exposure. Normal people are pretty accepting of stuff, but a full-scale battle will definitely draw their attention. Even Nyka isn’t crazy enough to expose the Argonaut world to normal humans.”

  A few more days of walking did not sound too appealing to me, but it was a whole lot better than chasing them all the way to the mountains in the distance. “Sounds good to me. Too bad we didn’t pack any tiny square bikes or cars or something.”

  Hector didn’t seem to catch my comment, staring at the horizon to the west. To my surprise, I realized that he was looking at the setting sun. Had it really been that long? It felt like we had woken up a few hours ago, but the sun clearly said otherwise.

  Time flies when you’re having fun. Or fighting maniacal green ghosts. That was something my dad used to always say. Well, the “time flies” part anyway. I am not sure how he would have felt about the green ghosts.

  Hector looked from the horizon to the town and back again. “I estimate that we have less than an hour of sunlight left. I want to get as far away from that town as possible before we set up camp. Are you guys up for it?”

  I certainly didn’t feel like it, but I definitely didn’t want another run-in with the Banshees or whatever other nasties were hanging around. I nodded my agreement and we started off in the direction of the city.

  Hector set an easy pace, but I still had difficulty keeping up. My fight with the Banshee had left me pretty drained of energy, not to mention scraped and bruised. Garrett seemed to be doing a little bit better. From how he had described his fight, he faired a little bit better than I did. I am sure his heavier armor offered a little bit more protection too.

  My thoughts drifted to my guardian angel. I decided that must be what it was because I couldn’t really think of another explanation. Typically, flying women don’t come out of nowhere to help me out. For that
matter, women don’t typically fly! She had somehow helped mend my wounds; otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have been able to walk. I found myself checking the sky periodically, hoping to catch a glimpse of my flying warden.

  Now that I think about it, I don’t even really know what she looks like. I got just enough of a glance to know that she was a she and that she had wings, but I blacked out before I could see any details.

  Wait a second, I have a helpful guy in my head that is just bursting with information. Phelix, do you know anything about the angel? Hmmm… Yes. Unfortunately, there isn’t much I can share. She is very touchy about how she is introduced. I will tell you that she means no harm, but other than that, I can’t figure out her intentions. She is most assuredly our ally; I don’t understand why she would aid our enemies.

  He let the question hang, making it clear that he had no answer. Phelix got stumped by something? Yes, surprising as it may be, my egotistical brain professor apparently didn’t have all of the answers.

  We walked in silence for what felt like ages. After all of the excitement of the last few hours, it was hard to get used to the silence. Garrett always joked that I had to be ADHD because I absolutely despised boredom. It was all I could do to keep my myself busy so I didn’t lose my mind in the silence. Talking to Phelix wasn’t really all that fun (he was just like my 8th grade algebra teacher) and none of my companions seemed particularly talkative, so I spent most of my time just thinking about stuff. I know, super dangerous, but what else was I supposed to do?

  Phelix had said that the girl with wings was our ally, and yet she appeared to also be helping out Nyka and Donovan. Something about that was off, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Hector seemed confident that what we were doing was right, but I still felt like there was something that we were missing. There was one piece of the puzzle that someone had put in their pocket to keep us from seeing the full picture. Once we had that one piece, the picture would make sense, but until then, there would be no interpreting it.

  There seemed to be someone behind the scenes who was moving stuff around but remaining in the shadows. I found it more and more difficult to believe that Nyka and Donovan had acted alone, which meant there was another person in play. It might be the new leader of the Dark Legion that we had heard about. Another possibility was that there were more traitors among the Argonauts. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how smart it was of Vienna and Hector to play their cards close.

  Hector interrupted my thoughts, “We will stop here. Let’s build a fire and make up some food. I am starving!” I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until he said that. My stomach grumbled in response.

  I had been so lost in thought that I didn’t notice the change in scenery. We had moved through the wheat fields and were now walking in between two huge grape vineyards. Our little road cut right through the middle of them. I looked both ways down the road and said, “I don’t suppose we have to worry about any cars coming this way?”

  Hector started setting up camp and replied, “Probably not. There are newer roads that run parallel to this one, so more than likely, anybody coming this way would just take one of those roads. The only thing this road would be used for is picking grapes, but it’s too early in the season for that.”

  With that, we all helped to set up the sleeping bags and the fire. It turns out that Hector’s fire wasn’t a miraculous device like the sleeping bags; instead, he just had a really good flint and striker. I guess he is just really confident when it comes to building fires. We collected some dead branches from under the grapevines and before long had a nice warm fire. The night wasn’t particularly cold, but the fire still felt really good. There is nothing like a warm fire to cheer you up.

  “Isn’t it still too dangerous for a fire?” I asked. I wasn’t complaining, but I definitely didn’t want to be ambushed by Acephali. Or worse, draw some more of those Banshees into our campsite.

  “Well, yeah,” Hector replied. “But I am more worried about the Banshees than I am the Dark Legion. Fire helps to keep them at bay, at least temporarily. It takes time for them to become corporeal enough to survive in the light.” With that, he started to dig through his backpack.

  “You guys ready to eat?” Hector asked. He pulled out three small bags from his backpack and tossed one to each of us. They were different from the brown bags at Argos though. We each gave him a confused look, to which he replied, “You guys have heard of MREs, right?” We both shook our heads. “They are used in the military. It stands for Meal Ready to Eat. They use them in combat zones where there aren’t a lot of other options for food. These are like that, but way better than the ones used in the military.”

  He pulled his bag open and steam came out of it. “Mmmmm… Rice, beans, and grilled chicken. Everything an Argonaut needs to feel at home. They aren’t intuitive like the food bags at Argos, but they still taste good!” He reached into his backpack again and pulled out three forks, passing them to us.

  Garrett and I opened our bags and soon we were all eating away. The food wasn’t as good as it was in Argos, but I wasn’t complaining. There seemed to be more food in the bag than I thought could fit, but I chalked it up to bending physics. There are advantages to being an Argonaut, even if you have to deal with the really annoying voice in your head. Hey!

  We all finished our meals, and Hector volunteered for guard duty. I laid down on my sleeping bag and, after getting comfortable, fell asleep almost instantly.

  21

  Never a Dull Moment. EVER

  GARRETT

  For the first time since becoming an Argonaut, I slept great! No dreams, no scary omens, no supernatural meetings with my brain roommate. Just sleeping like a normal human being. Ahhhh, it was bliss.

  When Hector woke me up for watch, I felt like I had gotten a full night’s sleep. I was so invigorated in fact that I forgot to wake up Kam for his turn at watch. When the sun started to peak up over the horizon, I realized my mistake but decided I would just let him sleep. Nothing interesting was happening anyway.

  I picked a few bunches of grapes from the nearby vines while I waited for the others to wake up. They weren’t fully ripe, but they were still delicious. They reminded me of the times when we had visited our aunt and uncle. They lived next to a giant vineyard that Kam and I would go and play in. Sometimes the grapes were ripe enough to eat off of the vine. They were so big and juicy that we didn’t even bother washing them before we ate them.

  We visited my aunt and uncle up until a few years ago when their house burned down. They moved to another state and could never afford to come back and visit. We had always wanted to go and see them, but it just never worked out and we finally just lost contact with them.

  The thought suddenly struck me that (duh!) the Dark Legion was hunting down my family. Bione, would they go so far as to hunt down my aunt and uncle? I doubt it. The Dark Legion usually just goes for the family that is nearby. They are far too lazy to hunt down distant family. As long as you don’t contact them, they should be safe.

  Don’t contact them? Are my movements being monitored? Not specifically, but they will notice if you go out of your way to meet someone. Friends, family, close acquaintances. They only care about them if you do; otherwise, they will leave them alone. Speaking of which, while you are out of Argos, don’t go making any friends. They will be a liability.

  I didn’t argue, but I didn’t like it. That made me feel like an outcast from society, like I had a crazy infectious disease or something. After that wise (*cough* annoying *cough, cough*) advice, I decided that I didn’t really want to talk to Bione anymore.

  By the time the others woke, I had eaten all of my grapes and picked a few bunches for the road. Hector and Kam both gave me a look of confusion, probably wondering why I was on watch, but didn’t say anything. We packed our supplies, made sure the fire was out, and got back on the road. At my suggestion, the others grabbed some grapes for breakfast.

  We hit the road early,
with the sun just beginning to separate from the horizon. We had a little bit of overcast and a gentle breeze that felt fantastic. It was looking to be a very nice day, a great day to go for a long journey. Even the normal potholes in the road, which were the perfect size to roll your ankle in, were unusually absent.

  We walked in silence for most of the morning. After nearly an hour of complete silence, Kam tried to whistle a tune, but he gave up pretty quickly when neither of us joined in. I couldn’t figure out what song he was whistling because he has always been pretty awful at whistling. Hector just didn’t seem like the whistling type to me.

  In fact, Hector didn’t even acknowledge him. He seemed preoccupied with something, like something else was on his mind. He trudged on just a little bit ahead of us, and he seemed to be in a pretty bad mood. Maybe he was mad that I pulled double guard duty or something.

  With Hector in a bad mood, Kam and I got the strong feeling that now was not a good time for conversation. We walked for the rest of the morning without anything very exciting happening. I was almost beginning to wish for a monster to show up before I died of boredom.

  With the sun high above our heads, something exciting finally happened. Hector called for a stop, looking at the ground. I hadn’t noticed the doused campfire at my feet. “This is excellent!” Hector exclaimed. “This is from last night! We are a lot closer than I had imagined. If we keep up this pace, we should be able to catch up to them really soon. That is if we don’t have any—”

  Suddenly, from both sides of the road, bandits jumped out of the vines. Yes, I said bandits. “—setbacks,” Hector finished. Imagine any cheesy wild west movie with bandits in it; these guys were dressed exactly like them, right down to the cowboy hats and bandanas covering their faces. It was comical, except for the revolvers that were aimed in our direction.