Free Wish by Janet MacLeod Page A

in the air to stop him.
          “What happened?” he asked.
          “I don’t know,” I said as honest as I could be for the
moment. I’d sensed something dark inside him, something I didn’t think Keith
knew was there.
    It scared me.
          I wrapped my arms around myself and shuddered.
          “I think it might be easier to go crazy,” I mumbled.
          “What?”
          I motioned for him to stand. “Nothing. Hey. Will you to
wait for me downstairs? I think I’ll get ready. We can go to school. ”
          Keith got up. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want
to. I can skip.”
          “I don’t need corrupting you on my conscience.”
          “I don’t mind. This is pretty huge. We can go to the
mall. Hang out. Think things through.”
    “You’re sure. You hate the mall.”  
          He nodded. 
          “Okay,” I finally said. “Um. I have to get ready?”
          His cheeks turned red and he looked around as if he’d
just remembered we weren’t kids anymore. He smiled the Keith smile I knew and
loved. “Sorry. No problem.”
          He walked past me, out my door.
          “I’ll be down in a minute, don’t leave,” I shouted
after him.
          I waited until his feet clomped on the stairs, and then
hurried back to my mom’s room. I rushed to her bed, brushed Magic and off the
book and picked it up and opened to the Sentry Page. My eye caught something I
hadn’t noticed before. At the bottom of the page there was an etching.
    “Beware of the SHIELDERS.”
          Magic screeched.
          I barely muffled a scream and grabbed at my heart and
shot my cat a dirty look. Shaking my head I closed the book and hurried to the
walk in closet. Glancing over my shoulder, I placed the book inside the
cubbyhole, closed the trap door and slid the rug back in place.
          I darted out of my mom’s room down the hallway to the
bathroom. I winced at a new achy cramp in my stomach. An idea crept into my
head. I was a witch who could wish for things. Hmm. This called for another
experiment.
          “I wish this Period was done. Gone. No more,” I said to
my reflection.
    My cramps lessened. Yes. They were going. Going, going, gone.
My mood got a little less crappy. I stood up straighter. Hey, maybe I needed to
rethink this witch business. The money I could save on Midol alone. I grinned.
Oh yeah baby. No more Aunt Flo. Just to be safe though, I stuck a fresh paddy
thing in my panties.
          I glanced at myself in the mirror. Gah. Well this was
still a mess. I needed time to look normal but I didn’t have time. I smiled.
But I did have magic.
    “I wish I’d had a shower and shaved and put on fresh make-up.
And that my hair was blown dry and flat ironed like they do it at the hair
salon.” I glanced in the mirror. Presto. I grinned. Yup. Some parts of this
witch biz I could get used to.
    I hurried back to my room to pull on some clothes.
    “You look nice,” Keith, said as I descended the stairs.
          I’d looked down at my yoga pants and t-shirt. Not
exactly a grand fashion moment but I’d figured this was a day that called for
comfort. I frowned, wondering if he was mocking me.
          “No, really.” Keith paused and then I swear his cheeks
got kind of blotchy. Like they do when he’s embarrassed.
          “You look uh, good. I don’t know. You always look good,
but you look really good.”  I reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped,
holding the rail.
          “I always look good?” I demanded.
    “Yeah
you always do. I don’t need to point it out to you.” He turned away from me.
    I
scrunched up my nose. “Uh. No I don’t and yeah, you do. Whatever. What class
are you going to miss?”
          “Art.”
He lifted his shoulder and looked back at me. “You?”
    I
was glad for the change in subject matter. “Science. Mr. James won’t even notice
I wasn’t