Wish by Moonstone

by Vanessa Haberkorn

  "I don't get why you're so mad..."

  Was he playing innocent, or was she wrong? She wasn't so sure anymore. But she did know she was starting to feel bad for snapping at him, while he at least seemed genuinely confused by it.

  She decided to let it go for now.

  "Fine, you can come, if you want."

  "If I find it before you, then you're gonna have to tell me what I did wrong before I let you have it." At her look, he added, "Just kidding. But really. Chillax, buddy!" He ruffled her hair. "You're always worked up over something!"

  "I think I need a vacation from this vacation." She took a step, paused. "Um, maybe I was jumping to conclusions... If I did, I'm sorry."

  "It's okay." He frowned. "Still not sure what you're talking about... Maybe ya need a break from people? A bunch 'a people around always seems to make ya act different. You know, a little grouchy?"

  "You might be right... Well, I think I saw it go this way."

  Samantha and Joby spent the next half an hour wandering around through the woods, trying to spot anything unusual. But at 11:30 at night, everything begins to look this way, and they soon found themselves wasting time with every little nook and cranny, including fallen logs, hollow trees, and even a fleeing fox they'd somehow stumbled upon. Just as Samantha was beginning to consider throwing in the towel, they finally had a change in luck.

  In a patch of overgrown grass just to the side of the forest they found a skid mark, cutting through the vegetation and dirt. The scent of something burnt still lingered in the cool night air.

  "I don't see anything." Joby leaned over the diminished grass. "Ya sure there's anything left?"

  "Well, something smashed into the ground here..." She sighed. "I guess it could've disintegrated itself in the process. That sucks."

  Joby started feeling around, checking the ground. "I don't feel any little pieces either. It's like it poofed into dust or something!"

  They both silenced as they heard a distant rumbling. The sound seemed to be approaching them.

  A vehicle.

  "What's a car doing out ―"

  "Shh!" Samantha yanked him into a bush. She was sure this was no coincidence. First a shooting star, and now a vehicle of some kind.

  But she wasn't sure what this meant. Her gut feeling said to hide and spy, so that's what she would do. Maybe their uninvited guest would unknowingly provide them with a clue as to what happened to the shooting star.

  After awhile, they could make out headlights slipping through the thick shrubbery of the forest. The vibratory rumble died, taking the lights along with it.

  Silence, and darkness.

  Minutes passed.

  Samantha heard footsteps rustling through the forest growth. As they drew near, she felt her heart pound faster and faster, knocking the breath from her lungs.

  Suddenly, the walking ceased.

  Another pause.

  Joby leaned over to her ear. "Think he knows we're here?"

  "Nh-nh." She shook her head at him, nudging him back into silence.

  A minute passed, and then another.

  Samantha felt faint from the mounting tension. Did he know they were here, whoever "he" was? And what type of person sneaked around so late at night ― outside of her and Joby, of course.

  Just as she felt she could bear it no longer, the silence ended.

  A single, low hiss filled the air.

  Then crunching sticks, rustled leaves.

  Scurrying.

  And then, there was nothing.

  Chapter 4

  With the sun already oozing through the tent, Evan knew it was going to be a hot day. The air was thick with moisture, and somehow a mob of gnats had managed to get inside, already searching out eyes and sweaty brows.

  As he typically did early in the mornings, Evan took the chance to daydream a bit and plan the stories he wrote. However, this time, ideas just weren't coming to him.

  Only the gnats did.

  Finally giving up on Peter Redwood, his fictional pulmonologist character, Evan glanced at his tent mates. It was getting late, yet both Samantha and Joby were still hard asleep. While he knew his sister had stayed up late, he wasn't sure what Joby's excuse was. Evan remembered Joby going to bed soon after he did. Was a bug going around ― of the virus type? He half-wondered if the gnats had pried their way under the other two's eyelids and had killed them in their sleep somehow.

  When Evan heard Oliver and Beatrice outside, he crawled out from the tent, trying not to disturb the others. Oliver's brows were low as he swiped at the air. Hugging herself, Beatrice's face was disgruntled. Mosquitoes were out and about apparently.

  "Hey, man," Evan said to Oliver.

  Oliver nodded. "Hey. Where's Sam and Joby?"

  "Still sleeping."

  "Well, they're holding us up."

  A sharp slap made them both jump. They looked up in time to see Beatrice remove her hand from her face, cringing. "A bug was on my cheek...! Ah!" Jumping to her feet, she slapped at the air, backing up and saying, "Get away! Yick, yick! Ahhh!" She suddenly tripped, her feet doing a comical swing into the air as she went.

  "Ohhh! Bee-Bee!" Oliver rushed to her side. "Are you okay?"

  "No! I am not okay!" Getting up, she wrung her hands. "I'm sick of all these stupid bugs! And I'm tired of sleeping in the dirt and smelling!"

  "I'm sorry... I guess camping isn't for you. C'mon, don't be mad..." Oliver flinched as she pounded a foot to the ground.

  "You know what? I couldn't even sleep last night!" Her voice quivered briefly. "And you know why?"

  Oliver shook his head as Evan shrugged.

  "Because a palmetto bug kept crawling in my shirt. A stupid roach."

  "Uh, wow." Evan scratched at his head, glancing to the side. "That must've been annoying."

  "It was very annoying!" She took a few breaths to steady herself. "I knew we should've went to the beach instead, Ollie."

  "Is something wrong, Bee-Bee?" Samantha's face was poking out from the tent, although her eyes were more closed than open. Joby also surfaced, fighting back a yawn.

  "Bee-Bee...?" Beatrice shot Oliver a look. If she only knew how all the roommates used Oliver's pet name for her. "No, everything's just fine, Sammy-cakes. I love the smell of the dirt and everyone's sweat. Why, I might even have malaria by now!"

  "Sammy-cakes?" Blinking, Samantha made a half-hearted attempt at shaking herself awake. "What?"

  Joby let out a loud yawn. "What time is it?"

  "It's time to hit the beach," Beatrice said.

  Joby suddenly jumped to his feet. "Boo-yeah! I love the beach!"

  "We can't leave just now!" Samantha argued.

  Sighing, Beatrice put her hands to her hips. "And why not?"

  Joby caught Evan's eyes and mouthed Cat fight with an excited grin on his face. Evan shook his head at him.

  "There's something strange going on here," Samantha said.

  And she went on to tell Evan, Beatrice, and Oliver about the previous night. Once she finished, Evan wasn't sure what to think. The series of events was weird for sure, but he wasn't positive that they were even related.

  "It was very late, you said?" Beatrice asked. At least her tone was less hostile now.

  "Yeah. I forgot to check the exact time." Samantha glanced at Joby who shrugged.

  "I think you were sleepy and imagined it. The chances of a shooting star landing here and then all that happening..."

  "But what about the skid mark?"

  "You heard a car," Oliver said. "Maybe someone just did a burnout?"

  "You guys don't believe me?"

  "We're not saying that, exactly," Oliver said.

  Samantha looked at Evan.

  "It's just weird." Evan shrugged. "So you think whatever was driving that car was looking for the shooting star...and it hisses?"

  Joby chortled at this.

  "Joby! You were there! Say something!"

  "Okay, okay! Oho ho ho! But yeah. That skid didn't look like
a tire mark. I don't remember seeing a second one either. But that thing with the car and that noise was kinda creepy."

  The five of them sat in silence for a minute.

  Evan was torn on whether he believed all this or not. Both Samantha and Joby seemed convinced, but they were also imaginative. He could see them, out of boredom, interpreting things wrongly.

  Finally Beatrice broke the silence. "Well, if something weird is going on here, then more of a reason to leave." She brightened up. "I'm sure the beach doesn't have strange hissing people!"

  "Heh heh, yeah." Oliver cracked a smile. "This is getting a bit too weird for me. How about just finding a portal to the beach instead?"

  "Eh." Joby glanced at Samantha.

  "But we may never know what's going on if we leave now." Samantha crossed her arms. "I'm going to watch for more shooting stars tonight. If any more land around here, I'll try to find it before...whatever that was...does first."

  Oliver sighed. "Hardheaded." He turned to Beatrice. "I guess we can try to find a portal, but let's give her one more night, okay? After that, everyone can do whatever they want, whether it's stay here or go to the beach."

  Beatrice nodded. "Okay then. Just one more day to avoid malaria." She headed back inside her tent.

  Samantha fiddled sheepishly with her hair. "Uh, thanks, Oliver."

  He sighed. "Try balancing high school friends with a love interest. Heck..." Glancing at the tent, he lowered his voice. "If you guys value your freedom, for the love of Aquiana, stay single."

  From the tent came Beatrice's voice. "Ollie! What's all that whispering about?"

  He grimaced. "Nothing, my little cocoa bean!"

  That night, a storm blew through the woods. The two tents were shaken and pounded on like an abused wife. Evan lied awake inside a tent, alone. He couldn't believe Samantha and Joby would go out in a storm like this, but they did.

  And for what?

  Outside the wind picked up again, howling and moaning like a crazed monster. The sides of the tent flapped and shuddered.

  The roar of thunder.

  Evan couldn't push aside his growing sense of unease. Didn't his sister and friend have the common sense to return by now? Finding a rock wasn't worth the risk of being struck by lightning.

  But he also knew how they were. Samantha had been getting steadily more and more bold ever since two years ago, when they had confronted the Tranludes and became town heroes.

  And Joby was anything but a good role model. Instead of holding down a job, the guy was out spray painting at night and trying to get adrenaline rushes during the day. Joby was probably spurring Samantha on. Evan often wondered what they did on the weekends they spent out and about together.

  If it was anything as dangerous as this, then he didn't want to know.

  It frustrated him, in a way. Sometimes he felt like Joby was changing her. The twins had always been close, but sometimes Evan felt like Samantha could drift apart from him.

  Like Oliver.

  Ever since Beatrice entered the picture, Oliver didn't seem to think of much besides her. It was like the group's friendship was being pushed further and further back as new things in life happened. He missed the days from high school, when it was just him, Samantha, and Oliver hanging out.

  But now, he wondered if things would ever be the same.

  Finally Evan could bear the wait no longer. He left the tent in search of Samantha and Joby. But he hadn't gone far when he spotted the faint glow of Joby's orange shirt. With him was Samantha.

  "About time you gave up," Evan called to them.

  Samantha shook her head and held something up. "No, we found it this time."

  They met halfway, where the howling wind couldn't intervene as much. Only then could Evan make out the large rock in his sister's hands. It had a shiny, almost translucent look to it, but hardly seemed worth the trouble.

  "How'd you find it?"

  "I saw a shooting star before the storms rolled in. Joby was actually the one who spotted it."

  "I made her a necklace from a piece too." Joby pointed at the small chip dangling from a string around her neck. A nearby flash of lightning showed it was even more transparent than Evan had first thought.

  "And it was worth all this for a necklace?"

  "I didn't do it for a necklace! Even though it is pretty..." She glanced appreciatively at Joby. "But this rock is unlike anything I've ever seen. It must be from space. Don't you think that's neat?"

  A splitting crackle filled the air. All three flinched.

  "Can we just go inside, people! This isn't worth dying over!"

  The wind and rain spurred them on, pounding against their backs. A final jolt of lightning pierced the air.

  The night was full of tension.

  Chapter 5

  Early the next day, at Beatrice's urging, the five took a portal first to a main town, then to an island. In their world of Areth, portals were becoming commonplace. These floating doors would teleport a person to another specific door. Each door only lead to its counterpart, although clusters of doors were common in larger cities, each marked to its destination. Portals were invented by the Tranludes as part of a peace offering to humans long ago.

  Traveling through portal could be best compared to take a twirl in a washing machine. It often left the traveler nauseated and dizzy. However, it was much cheaper and quicker than any other means of transportation, so people made do with the unpleasant side effects.

  Two portals later, the friends could barely stand, but at least they'd arrived in under ten minutes. Blossom Breeze Island was a tourist trap, but for good reason. The island was known for its mild weather, calming cherry blossom trees, and beautiful sunsets.

  Growing up, Samantha hadn't seen much of the ocean, as there weren't any near Fayville. To see an actual ocean filled her with a sense of awe.

  Maybe Beatrice's idea wasn't so bad after all.

  After tossing their luggage into the nearest hotel, everyone split up. Oliver and Beatrice went straight to the beach itself. Samantha and Joby wanted to look around some, while Evan glued himself to the hotel room to relax.

  Samantha and Joby were out on the busy sidewalks before they knew it. The air was balmy, the sky blue, and life was full of color and energy. April was the prime of the year, and it was a lot more enjoyable without mosquitoes and gnats around.

  "Where should we go first? To the beach?" Joby twisted his head around, watching a pretty woman in a bikini stroll past.

  Samantha whacked him on the shoulder. "Quit that... I was thinking maybe the aquarium first. I'm not sure what time they close. But the beach will be open all night."

  "Alllll night long..." Joby eyed another woman, laughing to himself.

  Samantha sighed.

  "What? I'm listening to ya, babe! The aquarium, yep! Let's go." Snapping out of it, he grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her off, only to pause. "What way is it again?"

  "It's the other way. You know, the building we just walked past?" She wasn't sure why she even put up with him.

  Deep Sea Discovery was full of water, glass, and fish. As Samantha and Joby walked down the halls, fish of all sizes, colors, and shapes surrounded them, staring through the glass, some moving their mouths. Samantha was amazed by how different each fish could look. And Joby was frantic for a piece of paper.

  "Why?" she asked him.

  "I wanna sketch 'em! Then I can do a painting of them later!" He looked around. "Think anyone has a receipt?"

  "A receipt? Oh, for crying out..." Digging through her messy purse, Samantha yanked out a receipt and a pen, then thrust them at her friend.

  "Ooh, thanks, Samanyers!" Joby started attacking the paper, periodically glancing up at the fish as he worked. "They're super colorful. It's gonna be fun doing a picture later."

  "Look at that one." Samantha pointed out a bright pink fish. "He's following us. Heh heh, so cute."

  "What type of fish is he? He's pretty!"

  "Eh,
I'm not sure... Oh! Look at that one! With the long dorsal fin!"

  "Dorsal fin?"

  "The one on the back." She watched the blue and white striped fish float by. "That is so neat!" She took a peak at Joby's sketches. They were rough, but she could still recognize certain fish.

  "It'll look better on paper," he explained. "Just getting their shapes down, and where all the colors'll go."

  "I wish I could draw like you."

  He laughed. "Well, ya just need to practice! I never saw ya draw before."

  "I'm not too good at it." She glanced back up, at the shimmering silver streaks full of the dotted rainbow of fish. Mother nature would forever be the best artist. Evolution had resulted in such a diverse and beautiful spectrum of living creatures. Life amazed her more every day.

  "Ooh, now comes the sharks!" Joby said.

  As a small, almost cute one swooshed by right over their heads, they both started laughing. Maybe scientists and artists weren't so different after all. Both appreciated the wonder of life.

  After their fishy tour, Samantha and Joby stopped by the beach. By now, the sun was just beginning its afternoon descent, leaving the sky open for the two moons to dance upon. The beach was mostly empty at this time, with the exception of a few couples scattered around.

  Standing back, watching a pair cuddle on the pier in the midst of the red sunset, Samantha was aware of an empty feeling in her chest. She made good grades and was on her way to a college degree...but was she still missing something in life? Her occasional flickers of loneliness made no sense to her, as she had friends.

  Joby broke her thoughts. "Think we'd bother them if we went swimming?"

  "Who? Oh... I think it's too late for that. We'd need to change first. Maybe tomorrow morning."

  Suddenly a scream shattered the peace.

  More screams joined in.

  "Wh-what's going on?" she asked.

  "It's the town!" Joby took off, Samantha struggling to keep up with him.