“It’s working, Cora!” she squealed, looking at her best friend, whose long light blue hair was now pale yellow. Cora’s skin had also become smooth and dull.
“Wow—you look different,” Cora said to Stella as their star touched down at the edge of a huge field with rows upon rows of green plants that were almost as tall as the girls.
“So do you!” Stella couldn’t stop staring at Cora. “You look just like a Wishling.”
“Thanks. I think?” Cora smiled as she took off her safety glasses, revealing pale blue eyes that were almost like her real ones, only far less shiny.
Stella took off her glasses, too, and both girls watched as their shooting star sputtered out and became still on the ground. Cora bent down to pick it up, then carefully folded it and put it in a little white purse that hung from a strap on her shoulder.
“You’d better not lose that,” Stella said as a pang of fear made her stomach drop. “We wouldn’t want to be stuck here.”
“Don’t worry, it’s safe,” Cora insisted with a confident smile. “Come on—let’s check this place out and see if we can find a Wisher!”
Stella nodded, reassured, and glanced around at the spot where they had landed. Her eyes widened as she and Cora began to walk along a dirt trail past the outer row of plants, which seemed to go on as far as the eye could see. She flinched a bit as she touched the long slightly rough and prickly leaves that shot out from each thick stalk.
“I can’t believe these are real Wishworld plants and not practice ones!” Stella marveled.
“And look how many there are,” Cora said, looking all around as she continued to lead the way along the path.
“Where should we go?” Stella asked.
“I’m not sure,” Cora replied. “But that building over there looks interesting. Maybe it’s a Wishworld house.”
She pointed to a bright red structure with a white roof that curved over the top of it, almost like a bonnet. Beneath the roof were two square white windows and a wide opening at the bottom where it seemed like a door should be. Running alongside the building was a stretch of black pavement leading out to a road—and beyond that was a small white path winding up to a gray house with a black roof. The house and the red structure seemed to be the only two buildings around. Beyond that was nothing but rolling hills covered in soft-looking green and yellow grass. As she continued to follow Cora, Stella looked up at the sky, which was almost the same blue as her best friend’s eyes and full of fluffy white clouds. She couldn’t believe she and Cora had been flying above those very clouds moments earlier.
“Ew, what is that smell?” Cora asked in a loud whisper when they finally arrived at the opening to the red building. She pinched her nose with her fingers and grimaced as she turned to look at Stella.
“Ugh—stinkberries?” Stella whispered back, also pinching her nose. “I think it’s coming from inside this building.”
“Well, then I hope this isn’t a Wishling house,” Cora said. “Because I would hate to discover that real Wishlings smell like stinkberries.”
Stella giggled. She was certain it couldn’t be a Wishling smell. Surely Starland scientists would have made the ones in the practice Wish Orbs smell the same way if that was the case…wouldn’t they?
“It must be something else,” Stella said, creeping ahead of Cora and taking a few tentative steps inside. As she did, thick pieces of yellow grass crunched loudly under her sneakers—loudly enough that they apparently disturbed whatever was living inside.
“Oh, my stars—what was that?” Cora gasped at the strange sound, leaping up right behind Stella and grabbing her hand.
“I don’t know,” Stella whispered, her stomach in knots. “It sounded kind of like a galliope!”
As nervous as she was, and as disgusting as it smelled in there, Stella couldn’t resist the urge to keep exploring. She clutched Cora’s hand like a security blanket and dragged her along until, yes, sure enough, they were standing outside a wooden fence with what appeared to be a galliope inside! It was large, with a long tail and a mane. The only difference was that this creature was dark brown instead of the more colorful and shimmering hues that galliopes on Starland were—and instead of being shy and standoffish, it seemed happy to see them.
“Whoa,” Stella and Cora both sighed as they looked into its big dark eyes and watched it try to poke its nose through the slats of wood in the gate.
Stella reached out to pat its head. “Look, Cora,” she said, noticing the white star-shaped marking between its ears.
“A star,” Cora said, her voice full of awe. “I wonder if that’s some sort of sign.”
“I don’t know, but I just remembered something from back in our Wishers 101 class,” Stella said.
“What?”
“This isn’t a galliope—on Wishworld, it’s called a horse!”
“Ah!” Cora nodded. “You’re right. I can’t believe you remembered that.”
“You know what else?” Stella grinned and pointed at the horse as it backed off into a corner and began releasing a horrible pile of big round pellets onto the ground. “Apparently they make giant stinkberries!”
At that, the girls both burst into fits of laughter.
“Oh, Cora, this was such a good idea—coming to Wishworld,” Stella said between giggles. “Even if we don’t meet a single Wishling, being down here with you is more than enough for me.”
“Me too,” Cora said, her eyes becoming shiny with happy tears. “But I do want to see if we can find a few Wishlings—and I also really want to get away from the smell of stinkberries. Sorry, galliope—er, I mean horse!”
Stella giggled and agreed. “But,” she said as they walked back to the big open doorway, “it seems like this place is really isolated, like not many Wishlings live around here.”
“Do you think we should knock on the door to the house?” Cora asked when they got outside.
“Sure, let’s give it a try,” Stella replied. But before they even had a chance to head toward it, she saw the door to the house open—and a girl about the same age as them slammed it, then ran down the front steps and raced in their direction.
“Quick! Get back inside!” Stella whispered to Cora, pulling her back into the red building while scanning the place for a good spot to hide. She did want to meet the Wishling girl—maybe—but first they needed to come up with a way to introduce themselves.
As she looked around, she noticed that the yellow grass scattered all over the ground had also been gathered into what looked like giant cubes—and a whole bunch of them were stacked on top of each other in a far corner. “Come on, let’s go over there!” Stella said. Once they were safely behind the yellow cubes, she widened her eyes at Cora and whispered, “What do you think we should do? What sort of explanation can we give her about why we’re here?”
Cora frowned and shook her head, deep in thought. “Oh!” she finally whispered back. “Maybe we can tell her we’re visiting from out of town and we went on a walk and got lost?”
“Yes—that could work.” Stella breathed a little sigh of relief. It sounded like a perfectly logical explanation, and if anyone could make it convincing, it was Cora. Her acting skills would be a seriously useful asset on Wishworld.
But just as she and Cora were about to step out and introduce themselves, they heard not only footsteps crunching quickly on the ground inside, but the sound of the girl crying so hard that her sobs sounded like cry-gasp-hiccup, cry-gasp-hiccup. Stella pulled Cora back to their hiding spot and grabbed her hand urgently. “Should we really go out there? She sounds so upset.”
“Yes,” Cora whispered back. “That’s exactly why we should go out there—maybe we can help her.”
So they crept out from their hiding place and tiptoed toward the horse’s stall, where the girl was now standing.
“Oh, Chestnut, what are we going to do?” the girl sobbed—to the horse, apparently—not noticing that Stella and Cora were just a few steps away.
; Her thick black hair was braided and tied up neatly in the back, and even though her face had become red and blotchy from crying, she was still lovely, with dark eyes and thick lashes. She wore a pair of light brown pants tucked into black boots, which came up to her knees, and a crisp white button-down shirt. She opened the gate to get inside the stall with the horse and threw her arms around its neck as she continued to cry. “We’re never going to stop them from letting Jimmy ride you in that race! What will I do?”
Stella shot a questioning glance over her shoulder at Cora. Should they interrupt the girl’s moment with her horse? Stella felt bad for listening in on something that seemed so private and sad. Before Stella could decide what to do, Cora cleared her throat loudly—and that got the girl’s attention.
“Who’s there?” the girl asked, panic in her voice.
Cora stepped to the stall gate, taking Stella by the hand and pulling her along. “Hi—sorry to creep up on you,” Cora replied gently. “I’m Cora, and this is my friend Stella.”
“Oh!” The girl quickly used the back of her hand to wipe away her tears. “Where did you come from? I mean—why are you here?”
“We’re visiting some friends from up the road and got a bit lost when we decided to go for a walk,” Stella said, sticking to the story Cora had proposed.
“What friends?” the girl asked, narrowing her eyes as if she didn’t believe them.
“It’s…um…the Brown family,” Stella quickly replied, inspired by the color of the horse.
The girl nodded as she considered that. “Are they the family that just moved into the Millers’ old place—up on Williams Road?”
“Yes!” Stella and Cora both said at once.
“Well, that was a long walk, then. You’re really lost!” The girl seemed more impressed than suspicious.
“It was,” Cora agreed with a smile.
“Can you give us directions back there?” Stella asked.
“Sure,” the girl agreed, patting the horse’s long neck before coming out of the stall and closing the latch behind her.
“Oh—but wait,” Cora said, discreetly tapping Stella’s hand. “We don’t have to go just yet. We love horses. Did you say his name is Chestnut?”
“Yeah.” The girl looked back into the stall and tears began to well in her eyes again. “That’s Chestnut—and I’m Amy.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Amy.” Stella smiled.
“Yes, nice to meet you,” Cora added. “Um…I know we just met, but can I ask why you were crying? I heard you say something about someone named Jimmy.”
“Cora!” Stella gave her friend a stern look. She knew exactly what Cora was doing: trying to figure out if there might be a way for them to test out their Wishworld Relations theory and somehow encourage Amy to make a good wish. But they had just met her, and Stella wasn’t sure they should pry about something that was clearly upsetting her.
“Oh—it’s okay.” Amy smiled weakly at Stella and blinked back her tears. “I don’t mind talking about it, especially if you love horses….”
“We do! Love them!” Cora insisted.
“Have you ever competed in a race?” Amy asked.
“No.” Cora shook her head and gave Stella’s hand another secret pat. “Where we come from, girls aren’t allowed to race competitively.”
Of course Cora wasn’t telling the truth; girls on Starland were considered to be some of the best galliope racers around. In fact, Stella’s friend Celeste had a wall covered in ribbons from all of her races. Plus, a lot of young Starling girls were obsessed with galliopes and some kept them as pets.
“That’s exactly why I’m so sad,” Amy revealed. “I’ve been working so hard to get Chestnut ready for the summer meet next month, and now my parents have hired a cruel, horrible jockey named Jimmy to ride him instead of me.”
“Oh, no.” Stella frowned. She knew that Celeste would never want someone else to compete on one of her galliopes—especially someone cruel and horrible.
“There must be some way you can change their minds,” Cora said. “Do they know how terrible this Jimmy person is—or that you’re the one who’s been getting Chestnut ready, that you want to ride him?”
“They know all about Jimmy and they know I want to ride Chestnut, but they won’t let me,” Amy replied with a sigh. “I don’t know how to convince them. I don’t think I can.”
“There must be a way,” Stella said.
“There isn’t,” Amy said softly, staring at the ground. “They’ve always said that female jockeys aren’t strong enough competitors.”
Stella grabbed Cora’s hand and squeezed it. As sad as she was for Amy, she was also incredibly excited about how her situation perfectly mirrored everything they’d discussed in Wishworld Relations about girls being told they’re not as capable as boys. Just like the star ball player in Stella’s example, Amy had given up hope. This was Stella’s opportunity to prove her theory—if she could just help Amy believe in herself enough for her to make a good wish!
“But you know you’re a strong enough competitor…right?” Stella asked.
“I’m honestly not even sure anymore,” Amy replied. “If my own parents don’t have faith in me, why should I?”
“Because this is your heart’s desire,” Stella said. “And maybe you’re an even better rider than Jimmy.”
“Exactly!” Cora added. “You’re probably a lot better than Jimmy. You just need to be given a chance.”
“Yes,” Amy sighed, tears flowing from her dark eyes again. “You’re right. He’s not as good as I am, and truly, Chestnut can’t stand him. I can’t stand him.”
“Why not?” Cora asked, giving Stella’s hand yet another enthusiastic tap.
“Oh, you might not even believe me if I told you,” Amy said, the small amount of color in her face draining away.
“Of course we’ll believe you,” Cora insisted.
Amy shook her head and sighed again, but then she slowly began to list all the terrible things Jimmy had done to poor Chestnut and some of the other horses he had ridden in the past—forcing them to sleep in dirty stalls and depriving them of food after losing races. It was all so awful it made Stella feel even queasier than the smell of stinkberries did.
“He was even banned from racing for a while because he used his whip so much that his horse needed to be given oxygen after one of his meets!” Amy revealed.
“Oh, my goodness,” Cora gasped. “That’s awful. You have to do something to stop him from riding Chestnut!”
“You’re right.” Amy nodded. “I know you’re right.”
“So let’s think of a way,” Cora said. “How can you stop him?”
“I’m not sure.” Amy scowled and shook her head. “I feel like something really bad would have to happen.”
“Or something good,” Stella replied, suddenly realizing that the conversation had taken a far different turn than she had anticipated.
“Well, yes, but for something good to happen—like me riding Chestnut—something bad would have to happen to Jimmy,” Amy insisted.
“Like what?” Cora asked eagerly.
“Honestly, sometimes I wish Chestnut would just trample him!” Amy blurted out.
No!
The moment Amy said that, Stella felt like she’d been punched in the stomach—like all the air had been sucked out of the room and the ground had fallen from beneath her feet. But then it got even worse: a dark gray cloud of negative wish energy—visible only to Stella and Cora—swirled all around Amy, circling her several times before turning into a horrible, toxic ball. Stella was certain she heard it scream as it made its final transformation into a Bad Wish Orb and shot out of the building.
Stella grabbed Cora’s hand and they looked at each other, wide-eyed, in terror, both trembling uncontrollably. Stella felt like she might actually faint. After all, she knew that the Bad Wish Orb was on its way to Starland and it was all because of the secret journey she had taken with Cora. Of course, Wishlings made
bad wishes every once and a while, but that she was responsible for one was unthinkable for Stella. Plus, if anyone found out, it could ruin her chances of joining the prestigious Wish-Tank.
Once they made their way onto Starland, Bad Wish Orbs were contained in the Negative Energy Facility, or NEF for short, in hopes they would never come true. But Stella knew that if this one did somehow come true on its own, it would be at least partly her fault.
If they hadn’t gone down to Wishworld, perhaps Amy never would have made that bad wish. But now she had and there was no turning back. Stella knew that she and Cora needed to get out of there—to return to Starland—as soon as possible and find a way to undo the damage. But how?
Cora couldn’t bear to look at Stella once they had landed safely back on the rooftop of the Big Dipper Dormitory. She wasn’t sure if it was some sort of residual effect of having transformed into a Wishling or the extreme speed at which they had traveled through the atmosphere, but she felt like all the sparkle had been drained from her system. Deep down, as much as she was afraid to even think it, she also wondered if she had been stripped of her glow because of what had happened with Amy—because of the bad wish the girl had made. The bad wish that Cora couldn’t help feeling was almost entirely her fault.
The terrifying images were still fresh in Cora’s mind: as she and Stella had stood there with Amy, and Cora had encouraged her to come up with a way to stop the jockey from riding her horse, Amy suddenly uttered those fateful words—“I wish Chestnut would just trample him!”—and the negative energy almost immediately consumed her. Cora and Stella had been determined to inspire Amy to make a good wish, but the moment the Bad Wish Orb had formed, they both knew it was too late.
Cora had done all she could—told Amy to take back the wish, tried to explain to her that if any harm ever did come to the jockey, it couldn’t possibly make her feel better and might even make her feel worse. Stella had also tried to steer Amy back to making a good wish. But there was an intense fire burning in Amy’s dark eyes at that point. There was no way she would shift her focus back to believing in herself, wishing for something positive to happen. She was too intent on seeing the jockey fail, not to mention punishing her parents for not believing in her. “I’ll make them see that they picked the wrong person to ride Chestnut!” Amy had sworn. “I’ll make them regret this!”
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