“Do you want to take a look?” asked her mom.
Holding her bowl up to her mouth, Griffin slurped her soup to consume the final golden droplets. “Sure.”
They climbed the stairs. On the roof, adjusting the telescope, her mom said, “There he is! The dragon. Ancient Greeks believed dragons were the guardians of temples and treasures.”
Griffin looked through the telescope, scanning the five stars that composed the constellation. The flickering stars hurt her eyes, so she turned the telescope away from her.
“What? What is it, Griff?”
“Nothing. My eyes hurt from squinting.”
“Did you see something?” asked her mom, and she took another look. “It’s just Draco waiting.” Reaching out her palm, Dr. Penshine felt Griffin’s head again. “You know, you are warm. Why don’t you go to sleep.”
“Good night, Mom,” said Griffin, and she walked down the stairs to her bedroom. Diving into bed with her clothes on, she sunk into a deep sleep—dreaming of dragons with the faces of the kids at school.
Dragons guard the temples
of transformation.
Chapter
29
For the first time in her life Griffin dreaded going to school. Dreaded what horrible thing might happen next. She had hoped for a high fever, hoped she’d wake up hacking. But when she woke up, her mom was already by her bed feeling her fore-head. “Your temperature is just fine. Are you feeling better?”
Griffin took a deep breath. She did feel fine, just not in her heart. It was stuck in a sunk position. “Yeah, I’ll be okay,” she said, sighing as she got up to prepare for school. Clutching her books to her chest like armor, Griffin slogged through the school. All over the hallways posters hung that read:
HELP RAISE PENNIES FOR THE PLANET!
Bring your donations to Science Night
Starring the band:
The Alchemists
We rock!
See Garrett Forester, Jason Scott, or Griffin Penshine for early donations.
“WHAT!” Griffin couldn’t believe it. Dashing down the hallway, she looked for Garrett.
Garrett turned around just as he was finished hanging another poster.
“Hey, Garrett,” she said.
Garrett shrugged. “Hey.”
“I’m really sorry,” said Griffin.
“Apology accepted, because my band is gonna rock. I practiced all day yesterday. We’re gonna be great. You’ll see. I’m auditioning this Friday at the music center too. My mom called for me.”
“Cool,” said Griffin.
“I’m gonna be like U2 and Bono. They rock out and help the planet.”
Griffin stared at him. “The posters are really nice.”
“We need to make, like, twenty more. If kids come up to you, take their donations and save them in an envelope, okay? We’ll add it all together later. Some of the guys from my band came over last night to help make posters. We should put a penny donation jug, like a Sparkletts container or something, in the front lobby to start collecting.”
“Yeah, okay,” said Griffin.
“Hi, Griff. Hi, Garrett,” said Libby, waving as she came up to them in the hall. “Your posters are so cool! I can donate a ton of pennies for Pennies for the Planet. Griff, why didn’t you call me back yesterday? My mom said I could have a sleepover on Saturday night for our friends. I would never, ever go to Samantha’s party. Yuck! Mine will be a blast! We so won’t look at skin products!” Libby giggled.
Garrett smiled.
Relief flooded through Griffin. Libby wasn’t going to Samantha’s party.
“I’m sorry, Libby. I wasn’t feeling great last night.”
“No worries. Text you later,” she said, hurrying off to class.
“Griffin, I have an idea to make our booth totally awesome,” said Garrett. “If we win, it’s a five-hundred-dollar prize, you know. Can you meet Friday afternoon at the library?”
“Sure.”
“Cool,” he said.
“I’ll see you there tomorrow, then,” she said.
He turned the corner to put up some more posters.
Griffin’s heart climbed up a notch. Pennies for the Planet was a great idea. If Garrett’s band did practice, they had a shot at raising some money after all. Just then, Samantha, Martha, and Sasha slithered up to Griffin in the hallway.
“Hey, Griffin, are you meeting Garrett on Friday night? Is this a date? Is he your boyfriend or something?” taunted Samantha.
“No. He’s not my boyfriend, Samantha,” said Griffin. “We’re doing our project together.”
“Are you in the band? We saw your name on some of the posters,” said Sasha.
“I’m collecting money,” said Griffin.
“What? Pennies? That’s not going to work!” The girls giggled. “Plus, we hear Garrett’s band stinks!”
“Garrett’s band doesn’t stink, Samantha. They’re amazing!” said Griffin, just as Garrett came up from behind them.
“It’s all your fault we have to do this stupid project,” said Samantha.
“It’s not her fault,” said Garrett. “All you have to do is find a cool topic.”
“Puh-leez!” said Martha.
“Why are you guys so nasty?” asked Garrett.
Griffin had an urge to wish something nasty right back at the three girls with their spiteful, pinched faces. It took every ounce of her willpower not to.
“I’m not nasty, Garrett! I’m a model in my dad’s commercials!” called Samantha, and the three girls huffed off.
True beauty is a light from within.
Chapter
30
It seemed impossible that the town library could be so busy on a Friday afternoon. But with science night around the corner, most of Mr. Luckner’s students were there working on their projects. Griffin, busy reading about alchemists at the study tables, was waiting for Garrett. After his music center audition he was supposed to meet her, and then her mom would drive them home. But it was hard for her to concentrate. Were the kids in the library mad at her? Did they think having to participate in science night was all her fault? Maggie, Madison, and Libby all had Mrs. Wilkens for science and didn’t have to participate in science night.
Keeping her eyes and hands steady, Griffin continued to take notes about the alchemist Basil Valentine and his laboratory equipment: silver eggs, ancient shells, peacocks’ tails, chunks of gold, and dragons’ scales.
Eden Snyder, a classmate, came up to her table. “Hey, Griffin. Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah,” she said.
“Do you know how to use the library’s science database on this computer to find an old magazine article?”
Griffin knew this from her mom, who accessed the science database at home all the time.
“See, Eden, first you enter in …” Now three more kids gathered around her as she showed Eden.
“Hey, Griffin, did your mom ever say anything about black holes?” asked Robert Winbell.
“Yeah, they’re collapsed stars. She says they’re like a giant vacuum pit in space where everything gets sucked in. Even light can’t escape. It gets suctioned down into the blackness.”
“Cool. My partner and I gotta change topics.”
“Would Griffin Penshine please come to the front desk? Would Griffin Penshine please come to the front library desk?” boomed the loudspeaker.
“Wait, Griffin!” called Caden Nosam, tapping on Griffin’s backpack. “Do you have any project ideas? My partner and I are switching topics too.”
“You could research how to survive a bear attack. Some hikers who survived a bear attack said their backpacks saved them.”
“Wow!” Caden said.
“I better go,” said Griffin.
Eden, Robert, and Caden all thanked her. Griffin walked to the front desk toward the librarian. “Griffin, your mom is waiting outside,” said the woman.
Griffin looked at her watch: five fifteen. Garrett hadn’t shown
up, and her mom had been waiting fifteen minutes for her. Walking to the car, she looked around for Stanley, the sad violinist.
“Stanley?” she called out. The sidewalk was desolate, filled with wet newspapers floating in puddles.
“Who’s Stanley? Your other boyfriend?” Samantha snickered, heading into the library with Sasha.
“No one,” said Griffin.
“You’re friends with imaginary people?” Samantha said.
“You wouldn’t understand,” said Griffin.
“We don’t want to!” they said, breaking into laughter.
Griffin gritted her teeth. I wish … I wish … She bit down hard on her lower lip. Desperately she wanted to wish something wicked on them. … I wish …
Don’t stoop to their level, she heard her grandma’s voice say in her head. You are better than that. Griffin took a deep breath. She hoped Stanley was okay.
Kristina carried a stack of books up the sidewalk toward the library. “Hey, Griffin!” said Kristina, stopping in front of her.
“Hi, Kristina,” said Griffin.
“I’m really sorry I said that you and that penny were unlucky. I was really upset and didn’t mean it. I finally convinced my mom to let me take ballet lessons, and my teacher thinks I have a lot of talent. I know it won’t happen overnight, but who knows, maybe I can be an incredible dancer!”
“That’s great,” said Griffin. “I’m sorry I said what I did too. I didn’t mean it either. I was really having a bad day.”
They smiled at each other.
“Good luck on your project,” called Kristina.
“You too,” called Griffin, smiling. Has the “most beautiful” wish been returned? Did something work after all? she wondered.
Her mom honked.
Griffin got into the front car seat.
“Hi, Griff. Garrett’s mom called and said she was sorry that Garrett’s drum audition ran over so he couldn’t get to the library. She asked if she could bring Garrett over to our house tonight so you two could work for a few hours instead. I invited her and Garrett over to dinner with us to celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?” she asked. That another wish just maybe was returned! she thought.
“Garrett passed the drum audition! The drum teacher, Mr. Sanchez, was really impressed. He said Garrett has gobs of natural talent that needs to be tapped. He’s going to take him on for free.”
“That’s awesome! What are we having for dinner?”
“A turkey.”
“A turkey?”
“You’ve been talking an awful lot about wishes lately, so I decided to surprise you with a special dinner. I thought maybe you’d like a wishbone from a turkey.”
Griffin stared at her mom. “A wishbone?” she said.
“Your very own. Well, to share with Garrett, too.”
Griffin couldn’t stop smiling.
Follow your bliss.
—Joseph Campbell
Chapter
31
Okay, are we ready?” asked Griffin’s dad. Griffin’s face glowed as she looked around the messy dinner table. Dinner had been delicious. Everyone had gobbled up the turkey, stuffing, and sweet potatoes. Griffin’s mom presented the turkey’s cleaned wishbone on a plate and brought it to the table.
“Here we are. The famous wishbone!” said her dad.
Garrett’s mom laughed. “I used to do this as a kid. Haven’t seen a wishbone in years!”
“Griffin, you grab one side of the wishbone,” said her dad. “Garrett, you get the other one, and on the count of three, pull as hard as you can. One … two … three!”
Garrett stepped back, holding the larger piece of the wishbone over his head.
“Got it!” he shouted.
“Double congratulations today, Garrett! Since you pulled the larger piece of the wishbone, you get to make a wish,” said Dr. Penshine.
“But it already came true,” said Garrett, beating imaginary drumsticks in the air.
Everyone smiled.
“Well,” said Griffin’s dad, “if your first wish already came true, then you must be on a roll for a second one.”
Griffin smiled. If my own wishes can’t come true, at least Garrett’s can, she thought.
Garrett made his second wish, but he wouldn’t tell anyone what he had wished for.
“Hey, before you kids get to work, does anyone want a tour of my observatory? The sky is perfect for stargazing tonight,” said Dr. Penshine.
Garrett, Griffin, Mrs. Forester, and Griffin’s dad ventured up to the rooftop, with Griffin’s mom leading the way. The night was cool and clear. “Let’s see what’s bright in the sky tonight. Well, we can all see the Little Dipper, or Ursa Minor, and look, there’s the Pleiades rising in the East. Over there is one of my favorites: Cassiopeia.”
“Cassio what?” asked Garrett.
“Here, Garrett, look through my telescope. Do you see those five stars?”
“Five stars in that giant zigzag in the sky?” he said.
“Yes, that’s Cassiopeia. She was a beautiful yet wicked Greek queen. She claimed to be more beautiful than Poseidon’s daughters. Poseidon, the king of the sea, was so offended that he sent a sea monster to destroy the city where she ruled. The only way to stop the monster was to sacrifice Cassiopeia’s own daughter, Andromeda.”
“What happened?” asked Garrett.
“Well, the brave hero, Perseus, discovered an ingenious way to kill the gigantic monster and rescue Andromeda. They lived happily ever after, and when they died, Andromeda and Perseus ended up as beautiful constellations.”
“Cool,” said Garrett.
Griffin smiled at her mom.
Until nine thirty that night Garrett and Griffin worked at the kitchen table, making clay models of the alchemists’ tools and more posters for Garrett’s band. With science night less than two weeks away, they were completely prepared. “I don’t think I’ve ever finished a project early in my entire life!” said Garrett.
“Takes the pressure off,” said Griffin.
“Yeah. Now I can jam with my band to get ready for the concert. Hey, could you give Kurt bass lessons? He really needs help. Come to our next rehearsal. I’ll e-mail you the music.”
“Sure,” said Griffin. For a moment she longed to be in the band too, but she didn’t dare wish that.
The doorbell rang. Mrs. Forester was back to pick up Garrett.
“Thanks for dinner. Bye, Griffin,” said Garrett, smiling at her.
Griffin was glad it was dark, because for some reason she couldn’t stop blushing. “Bye,” she said.
“See you all soon at science night!” said Mrs. Forester.
“We look forward to it,” said Griffin’s mom.
Griffin ran to look at Andromeda and Perseus one more time.
Shoot for the moon.
Even if you miss,
you’ll land among the stars.
—Les Brown
Chapter
32
Saturday morning a gray sky domed over Dadesville. Griffin and Libby poured bright-colored paint into ice cube trays in Grandma Penshine’s kitchen for their art lesson. Suddenly a cackling sound came from Grandma Penshine’s living room. The noise did not sound like rain, or lightning, or anything natural. In fact, it sounded hideously unnatural.
“Did you hear that?” asked Libby.
“Yeah,” whispered Griffin.
“Sounds exactly like —,” said Libby.
“DON’T SAY IT!” said Griffin, jostling the tray of colors. They slopped all over her grandma’s kitchen counter.
“Grandma? Is everything okay?” called Griffin. Her grandma was searching for some art books in the living room.
“Girls, you have to come see this,” she answered.
Griffin and Libby ran to the living room. In front of the large bay window Grandma Penshine stood watching as three witches hobbled toward her front door carrying a sign that read, SHAKESPEARE IS NOT DEAD! COME SEE US AT THE TRAVELING GLOBE T
HEATRE CO. FESTIVAL.
“Freaky! It’s like adult Halloween,” said Libby.
“If that isn’t impressive. Actors going door to door to promote their play. I really admire dedicated artists,” said Grandma.
The doorbell rang.
“Grandma!” said Griffin. “Libby and I saw those actors in class already. Can we just not answer the door and do our lesson?”
“We can’t dishearten other artists, even if they are in the dramatic arts,” she said.
“Please, Grandma!” said Griffin.
“One minute only. I promise,” said Grandma Penshine.
“Grandma, we really want to learn about … Who did you say we’re learning about today … George?”
“Giorgione, the great Venetian painter from fifteenth-century Italy who changed the world with how he painted light and color—changed art forever, really. A true master.”
The doorbell rang again.
“Let’s just wish them well with their play,” said Grandma. She opened the front door of her home, still in her art smock covered in shocks of color.
Griffin’s head spun. The scent of spices, mandarin orange, dried lavender, cloves, and incense pounded in her head. She knew she had smelled that odor somewhere before.
“Hello,” said Grandma Penshine. “What an inspiring sign you are all carrying.”
“Thank you, my lady,” cackled one of the witches.
“This is for you, my dame,” said another. With her bony hand the hag passed her a brochure about the traveling festival.
“Shakespeare lives!” cackled the third witch.
“I couldn’t agree more! The importance of keeping Shakespeare’s great works alive is a responsibility of all artists,” said Grandma Penshine. “Do you three know that my favorite line from Shakespeare is from Hamlet, act 1, scene 4: ‘Angels and ministers of grace defend us!’”
Just then the sun burst through clouds, and glorious light beamed down. The three witches shielded their eyes, snatched back the brochure, and whirled their black shawls over their heads. Without a word they retreated down the walkway out into the street.
The Wish Stealers Page 10