Page 20 of Wishing for a Werewolf
Skye lets out a dreamy little sigh, and I bite at my lips to keep from grinning at her. I’m not sure who my bestie has more of a crush on, the dragon or his library.
“I’ll visit him in the morning.” Rune tips his head in agreement.
“That’s great and all, but we’re on a really tight timeline here.” I stop Babybelle from nibbling on the corner of my phone case and check the pics again. “It says here that we have to give Mrs. Greely our answers about the hay maze and pumpkin carving contest by Friday. That only gives us three days. We might not get things untangled in time.”
“What do you want to do?” Rune strokes Babybelle’s head. “Should we both say no?”
“The opposite,” I say. “If we have to, we both say yes. That’ll buy us more time to get things sorted.”
“And if we don’t get it ‘sorted’? If we’re still entangled?” His golden eyes meet mine. “I don’t know how to build a hay maze, nor do I have room for one. I purposefully bought heavily forested land.”
“Then we work together,” I say. “You hold the hay maze at my farm, and I’ll run the pumpkin carving contest, with you as my helper.”
“Agreed. This will give me many opportunities to become part of the community.”
“Okay, sounds like we’ve got a plan. Does everyone know what they’re doing?” I look around the room as everybody nods. “Operation Wish Swap is a go.”
“Are we living out yourMission Impossibledreams?” Hannah teases, knowing how much I like the movies.
“What isMission Impossible?” Rune asks.
“Oh, boy.” I rub my hands together. “AMission Impossiblevirgin. We need to park your butt in front of a TV pronto.”
“They’re Autumn’s favorite movies,” Skye says. “She likes to binge watch them.”
Instead of answering her directly, I stand and start scatting the theme song. “Doodle-ooo, doodle-ooo, doodle-ooo. Dun dun.”
Babybelle starts singing along, her little baas hitting the beats perfectly, and I’m laughing with my besties as we exit onto the sidewalk, while Severin and Rune watch us with bemused expressions.
Diamond, the gnome who runs Bling It On, tumbles out the front door of the jewelry store and does a series of front flips toward us. She comes to a halt directly in front of Rune, her arms thrown wide like a gymnast sticking the landing. Only two-feet tall, she has light green skin and white hair topped with a clump of green moss she wears like a cap. “Wolf! I would like to purchase some of your spicy soap forthe fall season.”
“Ha!” I jab a finger at him. “Told you!”
“Let me confer with my associate.” His lips twitch as he looks at me. “Do we have any spicy soap in stock?”
“We do!” I say. The pumpkin spice latte soap I just finished won’t have cured yet, but I made another batch a few weeks ago that’s ready. “I can bring some by your shop tomorrow, if that’s okay.”
Her eyes dart back and forth between me and Rune for a few moments before she nods. “If the werewolf will be there, too.”
“I will,” he says.
As Diamond cartwheels back down the sidewalk, our group splits up. Severin’s shadow wings emerge from his back, and he scoops Hannah into his arms and launches them up into the sky. Rune gives me a nod goodbye, then takes off running toward the forest behind Town Hall, Finn racing after him.
Soon, it’s just me and Babybelle and Skye. My friend walks us to Tank and gives me a hug goodbye. When we pull apart, her pretty face scrunches in thought. “The Wishing Well… it’s been a while, but doesn’t it grant three wishes instead of two?”
“Yep.” I climb into Tank and close the creaky door, using the seat belt to secure Babybelle on my lap.
When I go to turn the key, the meaning of her words hits me. I freeze, my eyes going so wide they feel as if they’ll pop out of my head like a cartoon character.
Oh, god. My third wish, the one of my heart eternal—it was for true love! What the hell will it mean if Rune gets thatwish?
And what heart wish did he give me?
As soon as I finish making a large batch of lavender soap the next morning, I set up a hidden page on our store’s website for my pumpkin spice latte soap. It’ll also allow me to make in-person sales using an app on my phone.
Then I get back into my bright aqua dress, put on all my prettiest red coral and turquoise jewelry, and set up my outside filming location. If I have to cut the soap loaf that’s ready, I might as well use it to finish off that video for my YouTube channel.
Grinning into the camera, I click the remote to start filming. “Welcome back to the Ferndale Falls Goat Farm, where the happy free-roaming animals produce the amazing milk that makes our soaps so luxurious. The pumpkin spice latte soap we made has finally set. For cold-processed soap softened with a rich emollient like goat’s milk, you want to allow a good week to make sure you can cleanly remove it from the mold.” I tilt the pan so the top becomes visible.
