by KD Blakely
“Oh no,” said Faith in dismay. “Mom’s going to kill me! These are…were, brand new.”
I said, “We’ll think of something to tell your mom.”
Doug whispered urgently, “Shut up! Faith, you must’ve torn your pants when you slipped climbing the rope. They must have seen the missing piece and know we’re up here. We need to move.”
Brady glanced at the map, then whispered urgently, “Go. Now.”
We took the same way out as last time, using only one candle. It gave just enough light to move quickly. I sighed in relief as we exited the cave. According to the map, the Rejects were still near the entrance to the upstairs cave.
“Let’s put some distance between us,” Doug said. We hurried down the path toward the lake, then Doug came to a halt so sudden it caused me to plow right into his back. I bounced off, nearly falling over, and accidently bit my tongue.
“Why the heck did you stop like that?” I asked. We were nearly to the main road, where we’d be safe from howling beasts and large hairy monsters. I did not want to stop here.
Doug pointed at the lake, which could barely be seen through the trees. A strange red mist was rising over the lake. It swirled in intricate dizzying patterns. I looked at the others, dismayed. “What do you think that is?”
Doug shrugged. “We don’t have time to worry about it now. We’ll have to check it out in January. Come on, let’s go!”
Brady looked at the map. “Stop. We can’t go now. The Rejects are just leaving the main cave. They must have given up climbing after us. They’ll see if we get on the road now.” Brady pointed to the map where the red dots were starting down the mountain.
Olivia glanced at the map and made a face. “So what do you suggest we do?”
“Wait here on the path until they go by,” Brady told her.
Faith reared back, her voice high and shrill. “Stay here? That’s crazy. You want to stay here…off the road? Don’t you remember last time?”
“Of course I remember. My arm hurt for a week. If you have a better suggestion, I’d like to hear it.”
“I want to hide on the road,” Faith told him. Olivia nodded in agreement.
He stuck the map out in front of them. “Where? There is no place around here.”
“We’d better decide soon,” I said, watching the map nervously. “They’re getting close.”
Doug spoke up. “We don’t have time now. Just stay in the middle. Don’t go near the edge of the path.”
Reluctantly we moved close together at the center of the path. We’d be able to see them pass on the map, and were close enough to the road that we might be able to hear them. But we were far enough away that the Rejects shouldn’t be able to see us.
We didn’t have to wait long before we heard them, arguing as usual.
“Why are you so sure they climbed up the side of the cave? It doesn’t make sense.” Carly said.
Polly sounded whiney. “Shut up, Carly. Where do you think that white denim came from?”
“Both of you shut up,” Ray said impatiently. “They’re not there now.”
I held my breath, worried that something, anything, would happen to make them turn around and notice us there. I let my breath out in a quiet whoosh once they’d gone far enough down the road that I couldn’t hear them any longer.
I said, “We should be safe now,” and relaxed in relief.
Chapter 39
Be Careful What You Wish For!
“Ray’s always ragging on somebody. I hate it.” Doug sounded disgusted.
The corners of Faith’s mouth turned down. “I wish Carly would stop hanging out with the Rejects. I know she doesn’t like them. She never does anything mean to other people. And everyone knows Carly’s parents make her hang out with Ray ‘cause he’s her cousin.
Olivia chimed in, “I wish Polly would change. Her whining get’s so annoying.”
“I wish I was bigger or stronger. I’d make Ray and Andrew act different.” Brady looked gleeful at the thought of getting bigger and stronger.
I growled loudly, totally frustrated, forgetting for a moment to keep my voice down. “I wish you guys would just shut up about change!” I didn’t actually stamp my foot, but I wanted to.
“Geez, Kat, chill.” Doug frowned at me like I was a bug that was annoying him. Good thing I wasn’t a bug — he’d probably squash me. “What’s up with you?”
“I’m so sick of everything changing all the time. Everybody keeps talking about what we’re going to do when we’re sixteen and eighteen and twenty-one. What’s wrong with how things are now?”
“Wow. Don’t have a spaz.” Doug sounded so arrogant I wanted to smack his face.
“I just wish everything would stay the same!”
I’d forgotten for a moment where we were.
I’d told myself I wouldn’t make any more wishes in here. Most of us forgot occasionally, and wished for things. Most of the time, nothing happened. Except for familiars. And getting dots and treasure marks on the map. Those were okay.
So sometimes wishes did work. But how could I have guessed this could happen?
There was no thunderclap. No dramatic flash of light. But there was no denying what my words had done. I wanted to call them back, but could only choke out, “Oh no…no, no. NO!”
My friends were all standing still. Completely still. None of them had moved — not so much as a twitch – not even a blink — since I’d made that incredibly stupid wish. In a single instant, they froze in place.
Doug was staring straight through me, that disgusted look still on his face. Brady and Olivia had frozen half turned toward Doug. Faith had also been looking at me, her hands dug into her pockets, her shoulders up around her ears, her teeth tight against her bottom lip.
For some reason, seeing Faith like that made it worse.
At first, I kept it together. Pretty much. I paused a moment every time I said anything — certain it would all go back to normal.
“I take it back.”
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“Hello. I wish things would go back they way they were.”
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“I wish my friends would start moving.”
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I wasn’t waiting quite as long between tries now. And I was starting to get loud. I tried not to — I really didn’t want the Rejects to come back and find us like this.
“I wish my friends would wake up.”
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“I wish I never made that stupid wish!”
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“I really wish this had never happened!”
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“I wish I knew what to wish for!”
I’d been right. Mostly bad wishes seemed to work in here, and I didn’t know how to fix this. I was gasping for breath, making strangled moans as I looked at my friends.
What now!
I ran to Olivia and tried to shake her arm, but it was unmoving. Like stone. My friends might as well be living statues.
Were they still alive?
I tried again, “Olivia, wake up!”
Nothing changed.
I tried shaking each of them, making every wish I could think of, begging them to be okay.
Nothing made a difference!
I’d gotten my wish. They were always going to stay the same. I was like the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz, but I’d poisoned them with a wish rather than poppies. And there was no good witch to help them.
I looked around anxiously, hoping to see Shadow or any of our familiars. Maybe they could help. It felt like someone kicked me in the gut when I realized none of our animals were anywhere in sight.
There was no one — nothing — to help me. I’d never felt so alone.
I threw my head back and screamed, “Make it stop!”
T
his time, I didn’t bother to wait between wishes. I barely bothered to take a breath. Instead, my words came out in a continuous stream.
“I wish I could take it back!”
“I wish my friends would talk to me!”
“I wish everything would be okay.”
“I wish I knew what to do! I wish it would just go back the way it was! I’ll do anything, just make it be okay!”
“Please!”
Nothing made a difference.
I lost track of the times I begged, pleaded, cried. I tried everything I could think of, but my friends didn’t move.
I’d gotten my wish, all right. I wouldn’t have to listen to talk about when we all got older anymore. None of them would be getting any older. I was the only one who would not stay the same.
I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving them frozen here like this. How could I? It was all my fault. And how could I ever tell anyone what had happened to them? It would serve me right to stay with them until I died of hunger or thirst. I wondered what our parents would think when none of us came home and no one ever found us.
I folded over with a moan and spent a long time losing my lunch. Once that passed, there was no other sound except my panicked breathing. I hated how quiet it was in here, without the voices of my friends.
I’d forgotten we weren’t on the road.
I heard a howl from the woods to the left. Now I wished the silence would come back. How ironic.
When I heard the sounds of branches cracking and heavy footfalls, I ducked behind a pile of rocks to the right of the path. I felt my heart stop altogether, then stutter back to life as a monster moved out of the trees.
It was twice as tall as any of my friends — shaggy and rough-haired, with a long bulbous nose and short thick legs. Its skin reminded me of an elephant, saggy and pale grey, sprinkled with short bristling hairs and large purple warts. It had three stubby fingers and a gnarled warty thumb wrapped around a small tree branch.
It was a troll. A huge, hairy troll. Ronny had said it was probably a troll, and now I was sure of it. I’d read about trolls in The Hobbit and Harry Potter. But I never believed I’d see one — I hadn’t believed they really existed. They were also supposed to smell bad. Good thing I was too far away to tell.
It was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen. I just hoped the books were right about trolls being slow and dim-witted. Then it moved, much faster than I would have expected. It lumbered onto the path, then twisted around and struck Doug with the tree branch.
I desperately stifled a scream of horror. What had I done? My friends couldn’t even defend themselves. I dropped my head in my hands, wondering why I was trying to keep quiet. Wouldn’t it be better to let it get me too? I heard several more thumps as it struck at my friends. When it was silent for a moment, I looked up slowly.
My mouth dropped open in amazement. Good thing there were no flies in Chimera.
My friends were still standing, still all perfect statues. That huge troll hadn’t broken any pieces off, or been able to knock them over, or even given them a scratch. I just hoped they weren’t able to see or feel anything.
I did not want to stand there watching that ugly thing use my friends for batting practice with a tree branch. But I was no threat — what could I do? I quietly shrugged out of my backpack, trying to remember what was in there. It had grown heavier each time we came to Chimera.
Olivia had me carrying some of her stuff so she wouldn’t risk losing another backpack in here. I reached in and pulled out her hairbrush, then her wallet. What else was in there?
I touched something that felt like a smooth cylinder. When I pulled it out, it was a small can of hairspray. I looked at it in disbelief. Hairspray? In Chimera?
Too bad I didn’t have Brady’s lighter. I could try using the hairspray as a flamethrower, like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Of course, I’d probably set myself on fire rather than hurting the troll. Maybe it was a good thing I didn’t have a lighter…
Next, I pulled out Doug’s slingshot.
The slingshot. I remembered the story of David and Goliath, and wondered how well that would work in real life. If you could call this real life. I looked around and found several small rocks on the path where I was hidden. I carefully put one in the little pouch on the slingshot and pulled it back as far as I could.
My arms were shaking. I wasn’t sure if it was the strain I was putting on them, or if it was fear. Would it ruin my ability to shoot? I took a deep breath then opened my fingers. The pouch jerked forward and made a loud splintering crack as the rock hit a tree to the left of the troll.
It shuffled around, looking into the trees where the rock hit. Well, if nothing else, I knew how to distract it.
I grabbed another rock and tried again. This time I hit its huge warty right shoulder. It shambled around to face the right side of the road. At least it wasn’t bashing my friends.
I grabbed a slightly larger rock, and aimed at its back, hauling back on the sling shot with every bit of strength I had. This time I hit its left side. The rock hit with a resounding thunk, and the troll let out a bellowing scream, hunching over with pain. As if that were a signal, several howls sounded from the woods to the left.
The troll straightened with a grunt and began a quick shambling run, quickly disappearing into the woods on the right. I could follow its path by the crashing, splintering sounds of breaking trees.
I stood there for a moment, feeling relief flood through me. I’d done it. I’d chased away a troll — all by myself! Okay, the howls helped, but I was the one that made the troll scream to begin with. I twirled around in a celebratory dance until I ran out of breath.
As I stood there, gasping, I heard my mom’s voice in my head. I didn’t remember when we’d had this conversation, but I could still hear her saying, “Kat, things change all the time. Be glad. You wouldn’t want to still be in diapers, would you?
I remembered how she’d shaken her head and smiled. “If everything stayed exactly the same, the world would stop revolving around the sun. If we were on the dark side, we’d freeze. If we were on the sunny side, we’d burn up. Everything would die. Change is good!”
I looked at my friends — they were exactly the same. Yeah, I’d gotten rid of the troll, but my friends were still frozen and unmoving. Staying the same was horrible. I dropped to the ground and let the tears come. I put my head on my knees and choked out, “I was wrong. I don’t want this. I wish things would stop being the same. I wish everything would start changing again.”
“What’re you doing on the ground, Kat?”
Again, there was no warning. No flash of light, or swelling music, like in the movies. One moment everything was horrible, the next Doug was giving me a hard time. It sounded wonderful!
“You’re not crying are you?” He sounded horrified.
For a moment, I couldn’t catch my breath. “No,” I choked out, rubbing my eyes against my knees without looking up. I wanted to jump up and wrap my arms around all of them. I heaved a sigh of relief as Shadow ran up and rubbed her head against my legs, purring.
I took two deep breaths, feeling happiness bubble up inside me. We’d found treasure, and avoided the Rejects, then I’d scared off a troll, and undid a stupid-idiotic-no-good-very-bad wish, all on the same day. Really, could it get any better?
I stood up and grinned. “We’d better get back.” My voice was embarrassingly cheery. It almost sounded like I was singing. And I couldn’t get the dopey grin off my face. It lasted the entire time we made our way back to the tree.
“Why are you so happy all the sudden?” Olivia asked me suspiciously.
I considered telling her what had happened. I’d probably tell her at some point, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell them about my wish right now. I was still feeling too good to go into that.
“I’m just glad we were able to find the clues, get away from the Rejects, and get off that path safely.” That last made my grin even bigge
r.
Olivia shook her head and muttered something under her breath, but I didn’t care. I felt like I could fly. I almost wished I could try it, but decided I was done with wishes. At least for now.
When we got to the tree, we took our time saying goodbye to our familiars. I told them, “We’ll miss you. We can’t come back next month, but I promise we’ll be back the month after that.” Shadow gave a plaintive meow and sat on the path, blinking her bright blue eyes at me.
I kept waving goodbye as I stepped back through the tree.
The End…
Of The Beginning
Waiting until after school on Monday seemed like the longest wait yet. There was so much I wanted to tell Ronny.
Doug went first. “Do you know anything about that strange red mist over the lake? It made me feel dizzy to watch it.”
Ronny said, “I translated more of the pages you found. One described a discussion Ghalynn had with Mother. She thought someone was creating strange magickal currents filled with wild energies. Perhaps that is what you saw at the lake.”
She sat back, looking at Doug. “Mother was concerned these energies would be used for some dark purpose. Maybe that is still happening. I am worried what they could do.”
She opened her mouth to keep discussing that, but I wanted to make sure she heard everything first. “Wait, there’s more.” I nodded at Brady. He spread his notes on the table, told Ronny about the gnome and described his cryptic riddle.
Ronny sat perfectly still. She didn’t move. She didn’t blink. I don’t think she even breathed for a full minute. Then she seemed to melt, sagging back against her chair. “A gnome still exists in Chimera, but he told you the other inhabitants are gone? Gone where?”
“He wouldn’t tell us anything else. He just quoted at us and disappeared,” I said.
“And he said Ghalynn left that strange poem? About things that must be found? And spells that must be broken?”
“Yes,” Brady agreed, watching Ronny warily. I felt a bit nervous too. She was clenching and unclenching her hands into fists, her jaw so tight you could see the cords of muscle running down her neck.