Page 52 of Wishing for a Werewolf
“Since we’re starting our meeting late tonight, why don’t we get right to it?” Hannah says. “Anybody find anything to help Autumn?”
No one’s texted any discoveries, so it’s not that surprising when everybody says no.
“I’ve read more of the books that have come in. Everything’s about getting wishes or granting wishes, usually with some kind of lesson about ‘be careful what you wish for.’” Skye grimaces and flaps her hand. “I’m sorryI’m not finding anything on wish swaps.”
“Hey, this issonot on you.” I set my cupcake on my lap and wrap an arm around her. “This is all on me and my messed-up magic.”
“I don’t know that I’d say messed-up.” Kayla points at me. “Your magic worked pretty well at Slice of Life the other day.”
“I’m not sure making us eat lunch a second time qualifies as ‘well.’”
“Gonna disagree.” She shrugs and tosses a lock a purple hair back over her shoulder. “The wish did exactly what Skye asked for, so it worked well.”
Violeta and several of the others demand the story, and I sit back and finish my cupcake while Skye and Kayla tell everyone about how my magic wouldn’t let us leave the restaurant the other day.
“I’ve been thinking about our lunch a lot, and sure my wish was an oopsie, but we did learn something important.” Skye looks at me hopefully. “My wish ended as soon as we finished the second round of lunch.”
Light bulb moment! I snap my fingers. “So my wishes stop once the wish is satisfied instead of going on forever.”
“Which means even if we can’t break the wish swap spell, all you and Rune need to do is finish your fall festival activities, and the spell will dissipate on its own!” Hannah makes jazz hands.
“Not quite.” I wince. “He might have started his new business, but there’s still my… w-word to have a soap shop.”
“Don’t you mean Rune’s w-word for a soap shop?” Skye asks.
“Sure,” I lie, knowing there’s no point in trying to straighten it all out. Magic is so weird—when we talk about the situation in general, my friends can remember that there’s a wish swap happening between me and Rune. But as soon as anyone mentions anything that touches on the actual wishes, they all think I want to run a security business and he wants to make soap.
“There’s a lot of other stuff to figure out about your power.” Kayla tells everyone about the wish she made to hold her phone. “It worked perfectly. In fact…” She holds out her hand. “I wish my phone were in my hand.”
Magic pulses through me in a little electric thrill, and her phone appears on her palm.
Everyone gasps, then starts talking at once, all of them trying the phone wish.
My power hums along my nerves, lighting over and over.
They all keep asking for more things, different things: lost keys, peppermints you can only buy from this trendy place in New York City, a twenty dollar bill…
I’m just about to protest—because I can feel that my magic took the money from someone instead of creating it from thin air—when Babybelle leaps to her feet and yells, “I want a pumpkin spice cupcake!”
My magic arcs outward, and one of the spare cupcakes disappears from the sideboard to appear right in front of the mini-goat, who gives a happy bleat and faceplants into it before I can move.
“Okay, enough!” I yell, bending over to wrestle the treat away from my familiar. “No more wishes!”
The room falls silent, and I give up the cupcakebattle as lost, since she’s sunk her teeth into it and refuses to let go, her little legs braced for tug-of-war. Looks like I get a sugar-amped mini-goat after all.
Straightening up, I say, “Everybody check your wallets. I’m pretty sure that twenty Madison asked for came from one of us.”
“It was me.” Destiny waves her wallet. “I’m missing one.”
Madison hands over the money. “Sorry!”
“I’m going to call a moratorium on wishes for now, because it seems like they can have a cost.” I nod toward Destiny and Madison. “Ones we don’t expect.”
“You need to practice, though,” Hannah says. “For example, do you have any control over whether a wish is granted or not? Can you refuse to grant a wish?”
“Huh.” I stare into the distance. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I think that’s something you’ve got to figure out,” Skye says. “Because what if you’re walking down the street and a little kid says, ‘I w-word all trees were made out of cotton candy’?”
