Wish

by Janet MacLeod

  I stared down at her. “Nana?” I said softly. “Maybe you should like, see a doctor, or something?”

  Stevie lifted her finger to the side of her head and made a circular motion. Nana jumped up from her chair and it banged to the floor.

  “Stevie. You have to go home. Now.”

  I shook my head. “That’s rude.” I frowned at Nana and then turned to Stevie. “Stevie. You don’t have to go.”

  “Yes she does.” Nana pointed to the kitchen exit. “Stevie. I need to have some words with my Granddaughter. In private. Please go home. Now.”

  Stevie’s eyes widened. “Um. Okay.” Her face crumbled a little as she hurried out.

  “What’s wrong with you? That was mean.” I clung to Magic for support. I didn’t even like to think about my fate in the woo hoo area with Nana going there too.

  Nana grabbed my arm and pulled. I gasped, a little surprised by the strength in her grip. “Come with me, Sydney. No one is crazy.”

  She pulled me out of the kitchen and marched me up the stairs to the outside of Mom’s bedroom. When she boldly grabbed the doorknob and turned it, Magic stirred in my arms.

  Nana muttered and pushed me inside the bedroom. It smelled faintly like Mom’s favorite perfume but mustier. Magic jumped out of my arms and scurried to the floor and then ran to my mom’s bed and climbed on top of the black comforter.

  Nana closed the door behind her, locking it.

  “Sit.” She pointed to mom’s bed.

  I didn’t move. I hadn’t been inside since Mom left. Nana pointed again with an expression that told me there was no use arguing. I pressed my lips tight and stomped to the bed and plunked down on the satin black comforter.

  “I wanted to warn you what might happen on your sixteenth birthday, but your mom was so sure nothing would happen that she didn’t want me to say a thing to you. So I promised her I wouldn’t. Now. I’m afraid it’s too late. It’s already happened.”

  “What? Nana. You’re scaring me. What are you talking about?”

  I watched wide-eyed as she dug hurried to mom’s dresser and stared digging through the drawers. She ignored me, muttering to herself as she rifled through mom’s things. When she started sifting through mom’s jewelry box on top of the dresser, I sucked in a breath of air. In spite of how stupid I thought she was, I kind of admired her moxy. No one touched Mom’s jewelry box. Cody and I learned from a very young age, never, ever to touch it. Not her jewelry box.

  We’d spent a lot of time discussing what might be in it when we were kids. We’d imagined things until we just had to try to break in. She’d caught us the moment we’d laid a hand on it. We’d both been grounded for weeks. She told us she’d always know if we looked at her jewelry box. And to never, ever do it again. We believed her. At least I did. As many times as I wanted to, I was too scared to do it again. Cody and I stopped talking about it when we got older.

  Now, as Nana sifted through, I waited for something horrible to happen. Nana grunted and my breath caught in my throat but then he pulled her hand out of the box, waving a long silver key at me.

  “A false drawer? A secret hiding space? Ha! Your mother thinks she’s sneaky but I knew it would be in there.”

  She held the key up high and hurried across the room and went inside mom’s walk-in closet. Then she dropped to her knees, pulled aside a rug that covered the hardwood floor and giggled. She held up the key and then dug into the floor. Unable to resist, I got up from the bed and crept towards the closet. Nana fussed around with the key and then finally she pulled up a thin wooden door that had a lock built into it. My mom had a secret hiding spot in the floor of her bedroom closet?

  “Help me Sydney, I’m not a young woman, you know. I can’t lift this myself.

  I rushed closer and helped her push up the door. The wood was solid. Heavier than it looked.

  “You got it?” Nana asked. “Can you hold it up while I go inside?”

  I nodded and she leaned forward, reaching deep inside. Her hand didn’t go in very far before she grunted and then with her other hand, pulled out a big book.

  She put the book down on the floor, got up from her knees and brushed herself off and then picked up the book and held it to her chest. “Close the door behind me and come over to the bed.”

  I did as I was told and approached slowly; staring down at the book she’d placed on the bed. The cover had emblem etched into it. I frowned and looked down at my neck. It was a Celtic knot, exactly the same symbol as the one around my neck. My fingers crawled to it and held it.

  Nana opened the first page of the book. The page had an etching of a white cat with startling blue eyes on it.

  “That looks exactly like Magic,” I whispered, and held onto my necklace with one hand.

  Nana nodded. She pushed the book towards me. I took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed and turned a page over.

  The pages were thick leather and I squinted at an etching and my hand flew to my throat. “Oh, my God. That’s a picture of my necklace.”

  Nana nodded. I closed my eyes and tried not to scream out with fear.

  “What’s going on?” I asked in a whisper and opened my eyes.

  She picked up Magic and stroked his fur. “I’m afraid it’s destiny, Sydney.”

  I didn’t blink, waiting for her to go on.

  She pointed to my neck. “That necklace has been in our family for generations. Your mother pawned it, before she left to keep it from you. But it found you anyways.”

  My hand went to my throat. “Keith bought it for me.”

  Nana lifted her shoulder. “More likely, it chose Keith to bring it to you. Just as Magic chose Stevie.” She gestured to the book. “Magic is our family cat.”

  I shook my head. Nonsense. She was talking nonsense. None of this made any sense.

  “Your mom tried to stop it. She tried to stop any of this from finding you. She wanted to keep you out of danger. She got rid of everything and went to the Institute to keep you safe. But in the end, I guess there really was no way to stop destiny.”

  “To stop what destiny?” I whisper, watching her old dried hand as it stroked Magic’s fur.

  “To stop you from becoming exactly like her.”

  I stared at her, horrified. “You mean I’m going to end up in the Looney bin?”

  Nana’s fierce expression softened. “Oh, Sweetie. You’re not going to end up in the Looney bin. She’s at the Institute. And now we have to figure out what to do.”

  Nana called it the Institute. Cody and I knew it was the Looney Bin. The Insane Asylum. The land of woo hoo-itis.

  Nana grabbed my hand and squeezed it with more force than I would have guessed she could muster up.

  “You’re a witch now. A Grant Witch. The Hundredth. You’ll be the most powerful yet. I hope that’s going to be enough to help.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  “A Grant witch?” I repeated.

  “Once the wish takes effect.” Her lips tightened and she shook her head. “That poor boy.”

  Downstairs the doorbell rang.

  I jumped up and the book banged on the floor. I backed away. From it and her. Nana was losing her marbolee’ahs. “You’re scaring me.” I gestured to the book. “That’s just an old book. There’s a logical explanation for all this.”

  “Sydney,” Cody called up from the bottom of the stairs. I ignored him and tried to smile at Nana. Keep her calm.

  “Sydney,” he bellowed again.

  “Not now,” I shouted back.

  “Sydney. I think you’re going to want to come to the door.”

  “Cody. I’m busy with Nana.” I smiled again, to reassure her. Who would look after Cody and me when they took her away? The Institute. The Looney Bin. Hopefully we’d get a family rate.

  Footsteps clumped up the stairs and then there was pounding on my bedroom door down the hall.

  “We’re in here, Cody,” Nana called out. Her face was calm. Almost serene. She sat perched on the bed, petti
ng the cat.

  The footsteps moved to outside my mom’s room where I was trapped with the mad woman.

  Cody opened the door and peeked head inside. “What are you doing in here?”

  “Female stuff, Cody,” Nana said.

  “Great.” He frowned, shook his head, and then looked at me. “Sydney, Mike Cameron is here.”

  My heartbeat actually stopped. Okay, maybe it just felt like it did for the one second I imagined Mike Cameron at my door. For me. And then remembered. Oh yeah. I’m me. Cody was jerking me around. I crossed my arms and glared at him.

  “Seriously.” He lifted his thumb and index finger to his mouth and pretended to inhale. “I think he’s on something. He’s got flowers, and a whacked out look on his face.”

  “He’s on something all right. But it’s not what you think, Cody,” Nana said and glared at me. “I think the wish has taken affect now. Don’t you, Sydney?” She nonchalantly kicked the book under the bed with her foot and while her head was down I lifted my finger to the side of my head, making the same circular motion Stevie made earlier. Cody frowned. I understood. Nana was our rock; we didn’t need her cracking up, too.

  “Go and see Mike,” Nana told me. “He’s here and you have to talk to him. Convince him he’s not in love with you.”

  “I don’t want to talk to Mike. He’s not in love with me.”

  “Go.” Nana chased me down the stairs so fast I didn’t have time to worry what I wearing or what I could possibly say to Mike Cameron.

  Mike was practically floating in the doorway, with a big bouquet of flowers in his hands and a weird expression on his face. He was also staring at me with utter adoration. Me? I stopped on the last stair and Nana bumped right into me, Cody into her.

  “Sydney,” Mike ran forward shoving the flowers at me. Tulips.

  “Uh. Hi, Mike.” I reluctantly took the tulips and then glanced at Nana for help. Boys bearing flowers was not a normal occurrence in my world. Nana might be old, but she’d been hot in her time. She’d know what to do.

  She pushed me forward and came down the last step, grabbing the flowers from me. “Cody, go find a vase,” she barked without taking her eyes off of Mike.

  “I have no idea where we keep vases,” Cody said.

  “The kitchen. Go!” Nana said.

  “I can’t stop thinking about you,” Mike said and smiled at me.

  Cody coughed on his way towards the kitchen. I heard him cough, “Weirdo” under his breath. Magic slithered down the stairs then, and hissed at Mike when he passed him. I picked Magic up to quiet him, glad to have something to cling to.

  “Uh. Thanks?” I shifted from foot to foot thinking the fantasy of Mike being in love with me was so much better than reality. He looked like a big dope now. In my house. Bringing flowers. Ugh.

  “Mike,” Nana said. “I see you are quite taken with Sydney.”

  Mike nodded, not taking his eyes off of me. Magic hissed again.

  Okay. This was definitely high in the creep-zone. He didn’t even look like the boy I’d seen at school earlier that day. Then, he’d looked right through me as he always did. Now he stared at me as if I’d become the most beautiful girl in the whole world. I looked down for a clue. Nope. No sudden cleavage, nothing new. Still the same old me.

  “Uh. No offense, Mike I didn’t even know you knew my name.”

  “I’ve been on the Internet since I broke up with Jenny. I found out everything I could about you.”

  Great. I’d apparently put a stalking spell on him. Wait. He’d broken up with Jenny?

  “Can I take you to a movie?” he asked.

  “Uh,” I managed.

  “Absolutely not,” Nana cut in.

  She left no room for argument and frankly that suited me fine. I didn’t want to go out with this Mike. Boys did not look at me like that.

  “Well,” I said, hoping he’d take the hint and take a hike. “See you around?”

  “I need to take you out. You’re all I can think about. Tomorrow night? The next? How about the one after? What’s your cell number?”

  “I’m not allowed to give it out.” I glanced at Nana hoping she wouldn’t contradict me. “And I have an archaic phone? It’s a friggin flip phone. It doesn’t even have a camera. Have you ever met anyone without a decent smart phone?”

  I swear I was the only kid alive who wasn’t connected to the world by my cell phone. I tried and tried but she wouldn’t give in.

  “This world is so much more complicated than it used to be,” she said. “And more so now. The last thing you need is a phone that can do more things than a warlock.”

  I shot her a fierce look but she actually looked at me, and said, “No iPhone.”

  Cody walked back into the hallway then with a glass vase in his hand. “Dude,” he said to Mike. “What’s your problem?” He arched an eyebrow high and handed the vase to Nana. She thrust the flowers inside and rushed them to a coffee table in the hall.

  Mike didn’t take his eyes off me.

  “Have some self-respect, man,” Cody said.

  “But your sister is so beautiful.”

  “Dude, she’s not beautiful. She’s a runt. Get a grip.” Cody’s eyebrow rose again as if he were contemplating punching Mike out. I might be okay with that. As long as there was no blood.

  “Don’t you have something to say to Mike?” Nana said.

  “No. I don’t.”

  She opened her eyes wider.

  “Um. Don’t be in love with me. I’m bad. The worst. I chew up boys and spit them out. Grrrrrrr.” I put my hands up like I was going to claw at him.

  Cody laughed out loud. Nana smacked both our arms.

  “I’ll take my chances,” Mike said with a sigh and I held back a huge eye roll. His cool factor had slipped to zero. Negative.

  “Okay. Time for you to go,” Nana said clapping her hands. “Sydney has important business to take care of. No more crushes.” Nana pushed on the back of Mike’s white t-shirt, moving him towards the front door.

  Mike turned his head, watching me over longingly over his shoulder as Nana shoed him out the door. “I’ll call you,” he yelled as he went out the door.

  “I’ll call you too,” I mumbled. “Psycho,” I said under my breath. I bent down and picked up Magic and rubbed my cheek against his warm body. As much I wanted to believe this was a natural occurrence, something was going on. The only way Mike Cameron would act that way was if he was on something.

  “You got that right,” Cody agreed. “He is definitely on something.”

  I glared at Cody. “What?”

  “You just said he was on something.”

  I hadn’t spoken out loud.

  “I didn’t say anything,” I told him.

  Cody scrunched up his face as if a skunk had sprayed nearby. “Whatever. You are seriously freaking out more than usual today. What the heck is Mike thinking?”

  I stared at Cody and concentrated hard.

  He’s thinking that I’m the hottest girl in town. Way hotter than Jenny Truman.

  Cody snorted. “You wish. She’s annoying. But she’s hot.”

  I stared at him. I hadn’t opened my mouth.

  Nana bustled back to us after rushing Mike outside. Upstairs,” she instructed me. “Cody, give us some privacy. Go.”

  Cody stared at both of us; and then shook his head and muttered. “Why couldn’t I have been born into a normal family?”

  “Funny, Cody,” Nana said.

  “Why don’t you go round up some friends to shoot hoops?” Nana called as she hurried me along.

  “Stevie’s good at hoops,” I couldn’t resist yelling as Nana nudged me in the back with her long fingernails.

  “I’m so not asking your weird side-kick to play basketball,” he muttered and slammed the door behind him as he headed outside.

  “I think he’s got a crush on Stevie,” I said.

  “Of course he has a crush on her. He’s a Kindred. So is Stevie. They won’t realize
it for a few years. I hope. Maybe this will speed things up,” Nana said.

  “Of course they’re Kindreds,” I said, like I had any idea what she was talking about. Also Nana. I think Cody read my mind.”

  “Not really. He can’t read your mind, he can only pick up thoughts you send out on purpose. You control it, not him. Or you would if you’d been trained. You will.” She shakes her head and pushed me to move faster up the stairs. “Kindreds have no powers, though they’re kind of like receptors. He’s probably feeling a lot of this flux going on with you, even if he doesn’t know what it is.” Nana pushed me down the hall to Mom’s room.

  “Flux? Kindreds? ” I went inside Mom’s room and headed to her bed and flopped down on my back. Magic jumped away from me with a meow. I closed my eyes, not really wanting answers.

  “Kindred’s are friends of witches. They’re destined to be born around witches. They navigate to them before birth. Kindred are re-born again and again. They don’t have powers, but they help channel them. They understand and occupy both the human and the witch world.”

  “There’s a witch world?”

  “Well. Not a separate world. Not anymore. It’s too dangerous now. Witches have learned to exist among the humans. But we keep our identity secret from humans. It’s dangerous to let humans know of our powers. It frightens most but some try to manipulate us. Unless they’re Kindreds, we stay hidden within their world. It’s very complicated. There’s so much to teach you.”

  I opened my eyes to see that she was standing over me, staring down at me. “Are you just making up all this stuff so I won’t know I’m going crazy like all the other women in our family?” I ask her.

  “You’re not crazy.” Her expression softened. The crazy gene seems like a bad case of lice we can’t kill off in the Grant family. It’s happened to many generations of Grant women. Cody told me that. He’d done some family tree stuff for school. I’d thought about it when Mom left.

  Nan sat on the end of the bed and sighed. “I’d like to kill your mother.”

  “You too?” I asked.

  Nana made a face at me as she stood. “The Institute is not a psychiatric hospital,” she said softly. “I know you and Cody have wanted to believe that. I didn’t really give you any reason not to. It seemed almost easier. Mental health is not something to be ashamed of.”