The Wish Stealers (8 page)

No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars
or sailed an uncharted land,
or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.

—Helen Keller

J
amming on her bass guitar in her bedroom after school, with her headphones on, Griffin slashed at the strings and pounded her head to the raging music. She hated Samantha’s clique.
Did it really look like I was paying kids to be friends with me, bringing presents for people I’d just met?
thought Griffin. Griffin’s back hurt. Her head hurt. Everything hurt.

“GRIFF! GRIFF!” yelled her mother outside her room. “GRIFFIN!” Her mom knocked on her door.

Griffin jumped down from her bed and opened her door.

Her mother put her hand on her hip and stared. “What’s going on? Didn’t you hear me?”

“Sorry, Mom. My music was too loud.”

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Griffin said with a shrug, avoiding her mom’s eyes.

“I’ve been calling you. The phone has been ringing off the hook,” said her mom, holding the phone in her hand. “Libby called and said call her right back. She has to tell you something really important. Also the dentist called and said she made a mistake. She said she was looking at the wrong X-rays. She doesn’t have to pull your back molars after all, and a Garrett Forester called.”

Did Griffin just hear her mother right? The dentist didn’t have to pull her molars? Her wish had come true! Maybe giving the “no homework” penny to Mr. Luckner had done something good! Maybe she could do it. Maybe there was a way to stop the curse. Griffin jumped up and down, ran up to her bed, and cartwheeled off. “NO WAY!” she shouted. “I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! I AM SOOOO HAPPY!”

Griffin’s mother stared. “Is this because that Garrett boy called?”

“WHAT?” said Griffin, stopping mid-cartwheel. “No! Oh, my gosh, Mom, no! I just can’t believe that the dentist said she doesn’t have to pull my molars. You don’t understand!” Griffin twirled around the room again.

“I guess not,” said her mom, staring at Griffin oddly. “Who is this boy?”

“Mom, please! Garrett is my science partner for science night. We got assigned to work together.”

“Okay,” said her mom, still staring.

“I better call Libby back! Thanks, Mom!” said Griffin, now dancing around her room.
It worked!
She didn’t have to have her back molars pulled! Maybe giving Mr. Luckner the penny counted! Her intention had been sincere to help Kristina, too. Maybe Kristina could be the “most beautiful” dancer and another of Griffin’s own wishes would come true! She couldn’t believe how Kristina’s mom had talked to her about dancing—just like a Wish Stealer. She could never imagine her parents talking to her like that, stomping on her dreams.

I’m on a roll!
she thought. Griffin cartwheeled off her bed again.
I refuse to be a Wish Stealer! Take that, Mariah!
Another cartwheel made her dizzy.
Then again,
Griffin thought,
if it’s working, that means I need to return more wishes so the opposite of my other wishes won’t come true!
Griffin remembered her wish for her grandma to get well. She thought of the new baby on the way. She had to work even faster to return the wishes.

“You’re growing up, Griff,” said her mom, all teary-eyed, watching her from the doorway.

“Mom, please!”

Just then the telephone rang.

“Forester Garrett,” read Griffin’s mom off the caller ID. “He’s calling again?”

“Mom, it’s a science project! I gotta take this.” Griffin took the phone from her mom’s hand, waved good-bye, closed the door, and flopped onto her bed.

“Hello?”

“Griffin, hi, it’s Garrett. Sorry, I was going to leave a message ’cause my mom and I are going out for pizza.”

“Yeah, thanks for calling. We need to pick a science project idea. I have a couple ideas.”

“Maybe we could blow something up, show how explosions work, or grow something really gnarly,” said Garrett.

“Huh,” said Griffin, thinking.
Maybe we could make a force field against Samantha?
she thought. But instead she said, “Can you meet me at the town library after school tomorrow? We can look at some books and decide on a topic. I can talk more with my parents tonight about it, okay?”

“Okay,” he said, “but I gotta be quick. Band practice.”

“Cool,” said Griffin, feeling her face getting warm.

“Griffin, are you coming? Dinner’s ready,” called her mom.

“Garrett, I gotta go eat dinner,” she said.

“All right,” he said. “Bye.”

“Bye,” she said, surprised her heart was beating so fast.

Quickly Griffin dialed Libby. “Hey, Libbs, what’s up?”

“I have the most unbelievable news ever! But first, I think Garrett Forester totally likes you. Audree agrees with me. She said he totally flirted with you in science class.”

“What?” said Griffin, blushing again alone in her room.

“He smiled at you twice by your locker! I know he thought the picture of you playing bass was supercool,” said Libby.

“Libby, I was standing in a puddle of toilet paper! Who wouldn’t be smiling?” said Griffin.

“Trust me,” said Libby.

Griffin shook her head. Just as she was about to tell Libby that Garrett had called, Libby said, “Anyway, I just heard that Samantha did
not
win the Fresh Face contest because she broke out in an unexplained rash on her face right before the finals! She has bumps all over her face that look like lizard skin!”

Griffin’s heart plunged. Suddenly she remembered the horrible wish that had popped into her head at the bakery when Samantha had called her mom’s cake a “nerd cake.”
I wish Samantha looked like a queen lizard with warts all over her face!

Oh, no!
thought Griffin, sinking into her bed. Samantha
was cruel, but Griffin hadn’t really meant for her to break out in warts. Had she? Griffin ran to the mirror and looked at herself. Her eyes had an odd yellow tint … like Mariah’s.

“Griffin, are you there?” said Libby.

“Yeah. Sorry, Libbs, my mom’s calling me for dinner.”

“Okay. But isn’t this just like in English class?
Something wicked this way comes!
”

“Yeah. Something wicked. See you tomorrow.”

Griffin clutched herself. Had one of her hurtful wishes come true? She thought back to Mariah’s letter.
If you are a Wish Stealer, only your evil wishes will come true.

Griffin lurched under her bed, scooped up the amethyst stone for protection, put it into her pocket, and went downstairs for dinner.

“Is everything all right, Griff?” asked her mom when she sat at the table.

“Yeah,” she said.

“Who is this Garrett?” asked her dad.

“Mr. Luckner made Garrett and me partners for our science night project. The only problem is that I get the feeling that Garrett doesn’t do any homework. Is it okay if I walk next door to the town library after school tomorrow to meet him? Then can you pick me up when I’m done?”

“Okay. Just call when you want me to get you. Do you have any science project ideas? I used to love science fairs when I was in school,” said her mom, smiling.

“That’s because you won them all,” her dad said with a laugh.

“I really want to do something about the environment,” said Griffin. “Garrett wants to grow something weird or blow something up.”

Across the table Griffin’s parents raised their eyebrows at each other.

Make a wish together
and change the world.

A
t school the next day Samantha came in with a thick coat of makeup on her face, looking deeply tan or orange, depending on the light.

Griffin gulped.

Samantha, Martha, and Sasha passed out reminders for her birthday party, sticking chocolate chip cookie magnets on the invited kids’ lockers.

Walking by Kristina, Griffin heard her mumble under her breath, “I’m never invited to cool things.”

Another girl cried when every locker surrounding hers had a chocolate chip cookie magnet on it except hers. “Whoa,”
said Robert Winbell, passing by Samantha, “you wear more makeup than my grandma.”

“It’s called a tanning bed,” said Samantha. “You are so not invited to my party.”

Griffin narrowed her eyes. She started to wish the party was ruined or no one showed up—
NO, NO, NO, I DO NOT WISH THAT! Do I?
thought Griffin.

How easy it was to wish awful things when she was upset.

Griffin tried to focus on making it through the school day and meeting Garrett at the town library instead.

Griffin spread five books across the library table. Garrett was nowhere in sight. She checked her watch. For fifteen minutes she had been waiting, and she wondered if he’d remember, even though she’d reminded him in science class. Walking toward the library computers, Griffin spotted Garrett sitting on the floor between two bookshelves, reading a guitar magazine.

“Garrett,” she said. “I thought you forgot.”

“Hey, Griffin,” he said. “No, I got here twenty minutes ago. Just getting some ideas. Never been here before. It’s pretty neat. I mean, man, I found some wild stuff.”

“
Band Magazine
?” she read aloud, standing over him. “What’s that?”

“Just reading about this band called the Austin Alchemists—got their name from wizards or something,” he said.

“Can I see?” Griffin asked. Garrett stood up and gave her the magazine.

She read aloud from the article interviewing the lead singer. “‘We got our band’s name after the ancient alchemists who were, like, radical wizard scientists, man. They tried to find a secret formula to turn lead into gold. Just like we’re gonna get a gold record when our CD sells a million copies!’”

“Cool,” said Garrett. “If I could make gold, I’d buy my mom all the stuff she ever wanted.”

Griffin continued reading the interview, “‘Alchemy was like the bridge, this awesomely long bridge between superstitions and modern science. Our band is, like, modern, man.’ I never heard of their band. But maybe Mr. Luckner would let us do our project about turning ordinary metals into gold.”

“This could be so cool!” said Garrett. “Maybe we could do an experiment at the science fair. Blow all the kids away! Like take a penny and turn it into gold!”

Like turning a penny into a wish,
thought Griffin, but she didn’t say that aloud.

“Let’s ask a librarian for help, okay?” she said, leading Garrett to the information desk.

Mrs. Eve, the nicest librarian in the library, happened to be at the help desk. With her huge smile, sparkling eyes, and framed photo of her new baby on the counter, kids felt like they could ask her anything.

“Hi, Mrs. Eve,” Griffin said.

“Hi, Griff. Great to see you. Looks like you brought a friend,” she said smiling.

“This is my science partner, Garrett.”

“Hi, Garrett. Nice to meet you,” said Mrs. Eve.

“Hi,” said Garrett.

“We’re looking for info about the ancient alchemists,” said Griffin. “It might be a totally weird topic …”

Mrs. Eve said, “Weird? Not at all! Ancient alchemy is one of the most fascinating topics you could research. Turning lead into gold, the transmutation of ugly things into beauty—the study of alchemy is a great choice! Let’s go to the ancient books section. All of our oldest and most valuable books are locked up down there.”