by Shel Delisle
We land amongst a farm of pumps and pipes. Huge things. Right now, they’re silent since the park is closed. Creeping through them is like a scene from some horror movie. I keep expecting someone to jump out from behind one. Or for one of the long, twisting pipes to turn into a python or something.
Wordlessly, we tiptoe, while it seems like the machinery behind this park stretches on forever. Finally we reach a short wooden fence. It’s bolted by an arm that makes it look like an old-school fort. We lift the bar and push open a creaky door.
CHAPTER 39
WE STEP INTO THE PARK AT THE EXIT FOR THE TSUNAMI.
Eugene shivers as we tiptoe by it. I take his hand. It’s like we’re on autopilot, as we take off toward the exit. There’s no hesitation, never a point when we want to take different paths. We run until I get a stitch in my side, and then slow to a fast walk.
“Do you want to stop?” Eugene asks.
I shake my head.
Finally we come to the beach chairs where we spent the Fourth. This was where he kissed me last night. Without letting go, Eugene stops. “Just for a minute.” I ease into the chair, leaning back against him and look up at his face.
“Do you think they’ll hold off Richard?” I whisper.
“He won’t give up. He’ll keep coming.”
While I know he’s right, there’s a part of me that refuses to accept this. Or I just can’t imagine what my life will be like if he’s not in it. I try to be like Em. Hopeful. “I don’t know about that. It seemed like Betsy was doing a pretty good job with the judo. If she got him good in the—”
“His hate is powerful.”
“Our emotion is strong too.” I kiss him on the chin. Silently, I wish for Richard to disappear. If I can’t have that, then I will wish for him to leave Eugene alone.
Eugene strokes my face. The moonlight reflects off his eyes, which look darker than normal and incredibly sad.
“He’ll keep aging. If we can just avoid him long enough, he’ll die.” As soon as those words are out of my mouth, I want to take them back. They’re wicked, and not in a good way.
“I can’t go back to him.”
“I know you can’t. I won’t let you.”
“I can’t let him hurt you either.”
Suddenly, there’s a noise in the distance. Yelling, thumps and bumps.
That’s not good. Not good at all.
Eugene gets up from the chair and jogs away. I follow him. We pass the concession stand as the noises grow louder.
I hear Em’s voice in the distance. “Lo, get out of here.”
I catch Eugene’s eyes with mine and hold his gaze. “Run away with me?”
Eugene shakes his head and calmly takes the path that runs along the Lazy River ride. Through planters with flowers, the water slowly burbles by us. Someone forgot to shut off this ride. We pass a stack of inner tubes and a rack of life jackets. Where is he going? If Richard is with them, and he won’t run away, then we need to turn and fight.
Eugene takes a red jacket and straps himself into it. The jacket is still damp and the skin of his chest steams in little puffs. What is he doing? “If I do this, it will end it.”
Do what? I don’t understand. He picks up the pace until we come to one of the ramps for entering the ride. The noises behind us are closer. Very close.
Everyone stumbles into the clearing. Monnique’s sequined gown is torn. Trudy gasps to catch her breath. Betsy’s lip is bleeding. Em’s eyes grow wide. There’s no sign of Richard. He’s disappeared. Finally a wish come true.
I’m so proud of them. They must have kicked his butt. We’ve won. I walk over and hug Em. “I’m so sorry we fought. So sorry I didn’t trust you.”
“We can talk about it later.”
It’s like Em slapped me in the face. Why later?
“We need to get Eugene out of here. Now.”
Oh God, It’s not over. Leave him alone!
“There’s enough time for one more wish,” Eugene says.
Huh? Two of the people I care most about in the world are speaking another language that they understand perfectly, but I have no idea what they’re talking about.
“Okay,” Em says. “Lo, I think we should wish for your mom to stop drinking. I know there are other problems, but I’ve been thinking if Eugene grants that, maybe everything else will fall into place.”
That’s pretty hard to swallow.
“Can I offer advice?” my genie asks.
I nod.
“Even if it fixes nothing for you, it fixes something for her. It is a worthy wish.”
And unselfish. And worlds better than what I did with Sasha. Even if I am still mad at my mom.
Em and I make the wish. Eugene’s magic leaves his hand and rockets into the sky like the Aurora Borealis arching west toward my home. Jinx.
Eugene smiles. Then his eyes open wide and he grips my forearm.
A shimmer descends on the area, and three figures appear in the clearing. Richard, the fortune-telling crone and an incredibly beautiful girl about our age.
What the eff?
“Hi, Vash.”
Vash?
“Nelie,” Eugene says. There’s no warmth in his voice.
Wait! Eugene’s name is Vash? And he knows this girl?
The beautiful girl, Nelie, points at the old crone. “She’s making me do her bidding. You know this isn’t what I want.”
Eugene nods.
“I miss you,” she says, and there is real sadness in her voice.
My throat clenches. Eugene, I mean Vash—that’s his real name that I never even knew—has some history with this girl. Why did I think I was the only one? It’s like everything my mother told me about men was true. My eyes sting. Maybe I’ll cry later but there’s no way I’ll do it in front of the magician and Nelie. And Vash.
“Assist him,” the crone commands.
Richard holds his arms in front of him, empty palms cupped, and a small flame appears, hovering above his hands. From the flame a knife appears—the knife—the one from the trick with Emily. The flame vanishes, and the knife drops solidly into his open hands.
“He’s ours,” Em said. “You abandoned him and turned him over and sold him. We paid you for him. There’s no room for misunderstanding.”
“You didn’t tell me that,” Nelie says to her master.
“It matters not. You’re mine and you’ll do as I wish.”
Nelie grits her teeth. “I hate you.”
The fortune teller laughs, and Richard joins her. “Ah, but you forgot about inheritance, and with the help of my friend’s genie, I’ll kill you and then he can be mine again.”
I look at Eugene. His jaw is set and he steps toward the river.
“You won’t do it.” Richard laughs and points at the life jacket. “You lack the will power. I command you to take off that jacket and get over here. Now”
Finally, it dawns on me why Eugene has put on the jacket. I’m such an idiot.
“No, you can’t do that. We’ll wish to save you.” It hurts so much to think that he could go back to Richard and end up with Nelie. I wish he was just a regular guy.
More wishful thinking.
A tear slips from my eye. Eugene reaches out and wipes it away. A puff of steam emanates from his finger tip. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
Eugene steps into the Lazy River and lays on his back to float on the current. Steam rises, and we’re enveloped in a cloud. Between the fog and the blur from my tears I can’t see him.
A huge wave begins to form, like all the water from the ride has been sucked into one huge wall. How is it rising like that? Is Eugene doing that? Or Nelie?
It hangs, suspended in the air, and then crashes onto Eugene, sloshing over the top of the ride and flooding the pavement at my feet. The current of the river returns to normal and Eugene’s limp body floats along, buoyed by the jacket. The fog has cleared and all the steam has gone. His body bumps the
wall at a bend and passes under the waterfall.
My tears are a waterfall. I can’t see an effing thing.
CHAPTER 40
THE SMELL OF HOMEMADE BANANA BREAD emanates from the oven. The timer shows three minutes remain until it can come out. When the buzzer goes off, I open the door of the oven, while Wishbone figure-eights around my ankle, purring.
I cut a slab for Em and one for my mom and sprinkle both pieces with powdered sugar. It used to be hard to believe that something so good could come from something totally rotten. Not anymore. I know there’s unexpected sweetness to life, even after dark moments. Especially then.
Mom smiles at me. Her eyes and skin are clear. The house is clean and sunny. The litter box is fresh. This might not seem like much and they certainly aren’t firsts, but it’s been a long time since I could be grateful for these small things.
There are some firsts today, though.
It’s the first time I’ve made banana bread on my own, using Aunt Marcia’s recipe.
It’s the morning after Em’s first sleepover. I’ve slept at her house more times than I can count.
It’s the first time a guy is coming to my house to pick me up and meet my mother.
“So, explain to me again: what are you doing today? Who is going and when will you be home?”
This is another first, my mom being involved enough, present enough to ask a thousand questions. It’s probably the only downside of my wish being granted. And actually, if I’m completely honest, it’s not really a downside. I mean, she cares, right?
“I told you, Mom. There’s a small group of us going to grab a bite to eat and then—I don’t know—somewhere else. We’ll decide where when they get here, okay?”
“I know I seem pesky, but you told me this boy is in college, and the other girls are older too. That makes me a bit nervous.”
“You’ll see when you meet them. There’s nothing to worry about.”
The doorbell rings, and Mom starts to walk toward it.
“I’ll get it.” I plant my hands on my hips in annoyance.
Mom laughs. “Okay, all right, okay.”
When I open the door, three tall, slender girls block the door.
“Mom, this is Betsy, Trudy and Monnique.”
They all wave a little robotic. I swallow a laugh. They’re not as stiff as they used to be. Em and I never had the chance to wish them back to their natural state. We’re helping them adjust as best we can. I’ve been hiding them out at Rags to Ritzy; it’s where they sleep at night and at least they’re comfortable there. Monnique got a job modeling the other day where they paid her under the table. It’s complicated but isn’t life always that way?
I try to peek past them and, finally, my girl Betsy steps aside.
Vash is wearing my favorite board shorts and he looks incredible. He smiles with a goofy grin that belongs on Eugene. I want to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. I can’t get over the fact that The Lazy River didn’t kill him, that he’s entirely human. Only his genie fire was extinguished, not his life.
Because I lost it when the wave hit him, Em had to fill in the details of what happened for me. Apparently Nelie tried to jump in the water, but the crone commanded her to stop. Em also said that the crone promised Richard she would have Nelie grant his wishes, and they left before Eugene regained consciousness.
I feel bad for the other genie, and Em thinks we need to find a way to rescue her.
Maybe so, but today we’ve got other plans.
I hand Vash a slice of banana bread, and give him a quick peck on the cheek. “Where do you want to go today?” It’s nice to be able to grant things for him even if it doesn’t involve any magic.
And truthfully, that’s more than I ever could have wished for.
Thank you for reading My Wishful Thinking I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. If so, I’d like to encourage you share it with a friend. This e-book is lending enabled to make it easy for you to do that.
Also, reviews are so important in helping others to choose which e-books to read. If you do write a review, please email me at [email protected] I’ll gift a copy of the next book in the series to you as a small token of thanks.
If you’d like to receive e-mails about future releases, please sign up here. I’m a little bit of a slacker—like Grace—so you’ll only hear from me a couple times a year, at most.
OTHER BOOKS BY SHEL DELISLE
Jane Wants The Life Of A Dolphin. Wild. Graceful. Free.
But these days her life is nothing like that. Between her mother’s strict rules and the cliques at school, she feels strapped in a child-sized life vest. It’s not until Jane gets a tattoo and befriends popular Sam Rojas, a star on the school’s swim team, that her life feels freer. She begins to wonder: Is there a way to be myself and not be alone?
While she navigates these murky waters, a wave of events crash down on her, separating her from her family, her best friend Lexie and Sam, who Jane's fallen fin over tail for. Now she must figure out how to surf through rough seas without having everything she cares about pulled under.
DOLPHIN GIRL, author Shel Delisle’s first novel, is a story of family, friendship, first loves and most importantly – freedom.
Available at Amazon US and Amazon UK
SHE JUST WANTS TO FLY.
Ever decided to do something that seemed like a good idea and in the second before there's no turning back think, I musta been totally mental when I came up with this? And, then, Oh, well, here goes.
That's how Angel-In-Training Grace Lightbourne felt right before she asked the Big Kahuna to go straight to Earth on a mission as a Guardian Angel. The problem? She never was a great student and now she won't even finish her last three years of school. To make matters worse, Archangel Michael isn't happy about her special assignment, but Grace is convinced she's on a fast track to her wings. How hard can it be? She's working with humans, after all.
Winging It!, the first book in the Angel-in-Training series, is an irreverent, light hearted take on Angels, Heaven and everything else that's divine.
Available at Amazon US and Amazon UK
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, there are people who have helped this book on its journey to publication. Thanks to my “pub team” of cover designer Matt Delisle, e-formatter Guido Henkel and, my editor Rhonda Stapleton. Rhonda made me work harder on this book than ever before and it is a better book because of her insightful feedback.
Thanks to my writing group: Kerry O’Malley Cerra, Kristina Miranda, Jill Mackenzie, Meredith McCardle and Nicole Cabrera. You all keep me mostly sane.
Thanks to my hubby and three sons for everything. I couldn’t do any of it without you guys.
Last, but not least, thanks to my readers. There wouldn’t be this book without you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shel Delisle is the bestselling author of the teen novels Dolphin Girl and Winging It! Most days she wishes she had a genie or someone to help with the housekeeping. She enjoys living in Florida with her hubby, three boys and a very hairy, very sweet dog and loves to hear from her readers.
You can visit her at:
Her Blog
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Table of Contents
DEDICATION
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23<
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CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
OTHER BOOKS BY SHEL DELISLE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR