The WishKeeper (The Paragonia Chronicles) (17 page)

Surprised, Shea grabbed it from him. “Where did you get this?”

“Kinda stole it from your Dad.”

“Kinda?”

Thane shrugged his shoulders. They smiled at each other and for the first time, neither of them looked away. There was something a little more to this smile and they knew it. Eventually Thane coughed through the moment and took the WishRadar back. He pointed at the screen.

“So it doesn’t say which dot is which WishMaker, but at least we can find one of them. This looks to be the closest.”

Not listening, Shea quickly wrapped her arms around Thane. A hug that was unexpected but Thane happily welcomed. It was the only piece of familiarity Shea had left and it had never felt better. She held it for a few moments and finally released, placing the goggles over her eyes.

“We haven’t lost yet, right?” she said, with a slight return of hope.

“Right,” Thane said, triumphant.

24

True Love’s Home

A hazy sun set over a snow-covered backyard. A wooden play-set, complete with a turret and a yellow slide was doused with icy white snow behind a quaint ranch style home. Two chain-linked swings were motionless as the cold grey blue of another winter night settled in.

The True Love Wish floated to one of the swings, pausing to catch its strained breath. Shivering, it surveyed its surroundings, hopeful that this was its Makers’ house and it had returned home. Huddling, freezing, along the rusty chain, the brisk wind slightly swayed the swing for a moment. A reminder that this wasn’t its Makers’ home and it was still lost.

The wind turned dark, swirling around the True Love Wish with an unnatural fog. The panicked little wish hopped along the rubber edge of the swing’s seat attempting an escape, but the darkness circled, cutting it off.

“Well, well, well, it looks like I have to do everything around here.” Erebus’ deep voice laughed through the muffling snow and ice. “You’re not far from home, little one. May I show you the way?”

The True Love Wish bounced away from the swing, and launched itself into the foggy wind. Pushing through and fighting the whirling, thick wall of Erebus’ blackness, desperation cried from the wish’s eyes. Pushing as hard as it could through the fog, it was no use as Erebus engulfed the retreating wish in complete shadow. For a moment, the True Love Wish vanished, overtaken by the malicious darkness, but just as quickly as it disappeared, a bright white light beamed from the center of the stillness.

A high-pitched squeal emanated from the fog and the light pushed back Erebus and his darkness. Squinting its eyes, pushing and pushing, the True Love Wish was reacting as though an automatic self-defense mechanism had been activated. Erebus was trying to wrangle the wish on his own terms, but as much as his black, foggy fingers swiped and tried to grab it, he knew he was unable hold a wish prior to a Keepers’ intervention. His frustration boiled.

“Don’t waste your precious energy, little wish. If you’re so desperate to find your loving Makers, then let me give you a little boost!”

Wind suddenly screamed through the neighborhood - a howling blast of cold whipped the True Love Wish up and into the sky like a lazy autumn leaf. Though Erebus couldn’t physically capture the wish himself, he could still manipulate its flight pattern. His plan wasn’t to keep it away from the Keepers, however. He had a better idea.

The wind swirled the somersaulting True Love Wish through the air, over frozen chimneys and icicle-ridden gutters until finally nose diving into a snow bank along the edge of a quiet cul-du-sac. It popped its head out of the snow, shaking off the dizzy.

Taking shape from within the shadows of a large oak, Erebus and his darkness crawled across the yard. His black face appeared inches from the dimly lit True Love Wish.

“Welcome home. But don’t get too comfortable.”

At the sound of “home”, the Wish looked up, past the staring red eyes of Erebus, and saw a quaint front porch with a snow-covered sidewalk. The steps to Grayson and Miranda’s front door were a few feet away and through the window the True Love Wish spotted one of its WishMakers - Grayson standing in his kitchen pouring some coffee. The red glow of the wish beamed a little brighter at the sight of him and it gasped with a happy smile.

The wish was smiling, and so was Erebus, but for a different reason. The shadow king swirled back into formless fog and like billowing smoke, slowly surrounded the base of the house.

25

A World In Need

Within a scrawny elm tree, Shea and Thane ducked and crawled along a frozen branch. Thane hadn’t moved his eyes away from the WishRadar since they left the park, following the movement of the closest red dot like a hawk. Shea’s cheeks were wind-burned and matched the color of her wind-whirled hair, but her eyes were as alive and awake as ever. They were close and though they knew Shea’s parents would be just behind, excitement brewed as they spotted the rear entrance to Grayson and Miranda’s house.

“This has to be the place. Here’s us and here’s the red dot. Now what?”

“What do you mean, now what? We go inside,” said Shea.

“Inside? We’re not supposed to enter a WishMaker’s -,”

“Has anything we’ve done lately been by the rules? Enough with the not-supposed-to’s. Come on.”

Thane was fresh off his Keeper training and he was still hopeful that maybe if they followed the proper rules of WishKeeping he could at least cite that protocol was followed in the wish’s wrangling. At least, this is what he told himself. In actuality, he was scared senseless.

Eager to get to the house, Shea readied herself for a grapple, but paused suddenly. From their vantage point within the tree, they could see all of the surrounding neighborhood and the winding street that lead to the small Abdera downtown.

It was their first clear view of The Other Side - something Shea had always wished to see. She stared out over the houses and through the peaceful haze of the winter evening. It was beautiful, she thought. A world she had only ever dreamed about and secretly caught glimpses of while spying on her dad at the F.I.A. A world she always believed she would one day know by heart, where little pockets of it would be like a second home. As she stared into the distance, Thane looked up from the WishRadar and noticed Shea’s longing gaze. He joined her in the moment and waited for her to comment on what she was inevitably about to see next.

The sun wasn’t completely set and its red orange glow softly exploded along the horizon. A dizzying display of color. It was too early for the stars to come out, and it didn’t quite register with Shea as to what she was seeing.

Small, twinkling lights hovered above all of the homes - thousands of lights. The sky was filled, but it wasn’t just the sky. The entire town was alight with bouncing, flashing wishes awaiting their WishKeepers. WishKeepers that weren’t coming. It dawned on Shea, and a heaviness pressed against her chest. A rock-like lump formed in her throat as it settled in. A realization that all of these wishes were going to waste. Fallow, as she so painfully heard the Lost Fairy say earlier. WishMakers’ hopefulness was alive, but there was nothing for it.

Thane stole a glance and though he knew what Shea was thinking - he’d had the same depressing reaction as well - he didn’t expect to see how moved she was by it all.

Tears poured down her expressionless face as she stared at a world that needed help. A world that needed to be saved. A world that needed her.

A resolve within Shea that at one time was just a fleeting thought grew into a determination of purpose. Her eyes blinked the tears away and once again focused intently on Grayson’s house. Without warning, Shea whipped a grappling spell to the back door. Swinging to a wrought iron railing, she pulled herself up. The door handle, and the next stage of her journey, was right in front of her.

Thane floated to the railing and joined her. He pushed his back against the plastic siding of the house, desperate to stay out of sight while Shea studied the door. Though Thane understood where Shea’s mindset currently was, he also understood where they were physically and the reality of the situation quickly rushed in.

“Is it OK if I admit that I’m terrified?” Thane said catching his breath and holding the WishRadar close to his chest.

“You don’t have to admit it. I can tell. And you have more experience in wrangling Wishes than I do!”

“Lost Fairies are one thing, but WishMakers? Do we have a plan if we actually do get inside? Aren’t we kind of going in blind? Maybe we should map it out. You take the left…”

CRASH! A spell smashed a hole in the door’s window and glass splashed to the cement steps below. Shea’s hand was outstretched and a wisp of smoke billowed from the end of her wand.

“Oops,” she said.

“Oops? What did you think would happen if you fired a spell at glass?”

“I was aiming at the door handle. At least we can get in.”

Footsteps suddenly bounded toward the back door from inside the house. As Grayson flung the door open, Thane tackled Shea off the railing, diving into the snow.

“Nice.” Grayson spouted with frustration. He looked around his yard for any snowball-throwing kids, but of course didn’t find anyone.

Pulling herself out of the snow, Shea tugged on Thane’s arm and rushed for the open door. She dragged her snow-covered friend inside. “Go! Go!”

Just as they snuck in around Grayson’s feet, he slammed the door shut. Icicles fell from the gutters and smashed into pieces along the steps as a smoky fog billowed along the base of the back door.

*       *       *       *

Beren looked up at the sky. Darkness was slowly descending over the park and he knew it was more than just nature’s way of ending a day. He barked orders at a handheld hologram rising up out of his WishRadar. His WishSentinel stared at him from the screen of the hologram, listening intently.

“The rest of the Keepers. Those who were so eager to volunteer. Call them all to The Other Side.”

“Yes, sir. Right away, sir,” the Sentinel replied.

Beren’s Keeper troops were lined up behind him, listening. Avery was holding her broken arm, still in obvious pain.

“Avery, I think you should -“

“No,” she quickly said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Beren nodded. He wasn’t going to argue. He needed all the help he could get. “It will be dark soon. We need light, and lots of it,” he looked at the Sentinel’s hologram again. “Rendezvous at the cul-du-sac. I’ll meet them there.”

The Sentinel saluted and the hologram disappeared. Beren looked at his WishKeepers knowing his plan would only buy them time - a mere step within a battle of an ongoing war. He nodded at them and at once they scattered into the night, following orders.

Avery stayed behind and stepped toward her General. “I’m coming with you. I left Elanor once, but there’s no way I’m leaving Shea.”

Standing at the base of the teeter-totter where Shea and Thane had recently been, he softly touched Avery’s broken arm and smiled. He was happy to have her by his side. They looked down, followed Shea’s tracks and flew off toward the cul-du-sac.

Deep within the forest, WishKeepers filed out of open Gates - hundreds poured into the thick wood and zoomed off in different directions. Flying through the small town and over the brick road main street, Keepers swept over holiday shoppers. As painful as it was to ignore the thousands of happy and excited wishes that bounced around the Makers’ heads, they had their orders.

Sleepy chimneys billowed smoke from modest homes that rimmed along the edges of a neighborhood. From house-to-house, Keepers flew in formation. A few Purity Wishes beamed and smiled brightly, following the Keepers. The soldiers looked at each other, cringing at their orders, but not a word was said and not one wish was wrangled. They sped off over the quiet town. Red and green Christmas lights twinkled within snow-covered bushes and the thousands of unclaimed wishes dimmed.

*       *       *       *

Sighing through his frustration, Grayson rummaged through a junk drawer within the small mudroom at the back of the house. Pulling out drawers and searching through cupboards above a washer and dryer, he hissed and guffawed, as he couldn’t find what he was looking for.

Like dancing through an obstacle course and trying to stay out of Grayson’s eye-line, Thane and Shea stepped around muddy boots, salty gloves and various winter shovels and attire.

“We made it. We’re in!” Shea said, as she tripped through the bristles of a broom.

“Would you be quiet? If he notices us -“

“What does happen if he notices us?” Shea was curious, but more intent on meandering the maze of utility supplies.

“The connection of transport between the Other Side and fairydom will cease to exist!” Shea stopped and stared at him, not understanding and her quizzical look begged for an explanation in plain English.

“The gates will close. Forever,” he said, flatly.

“Oh.”

“Oh? And you want to be trapped here with Erebus for the rest of your life?”

Scooping a roll of black duct tape out of a drawer, Grayson finally found what he was looking for and hurried to the back door. Stretching a few pieces from the roll, he taped over the hole in the broken glass.

Thane tugged Shea close, keeping her out of Grayson’s sight. “Can we find the TLW and get out of here, please?”

“Well I don’t see it anywhere, do you? He’s leaving. Let’s go.”

Grayson shrugged off the tape-job and made his way into the kitchen. Following as quietly as they could, Shea stopped at the base of the doorframe and pointed to a counter-top above them. Thane nodded and floated up, landing safely behind a greasy microwave. Grayson rounded the corner of the small kitchen and was just out of sight as Thane waved Shea on.