Free The WishKeeper (The Paragonia Chronicles) by Maximilian Timm Page A

finally assigned Keepers?” Thane wondered out loud.
    “Just - would you listen? My parents met when Miranda and Grayson were kids. Because they spent every wishing moment together, so did my parents! My parents eventually married and had me!“ she flipped to the next page. It was a huge family tree with notes of which WishMaker belonged to which WishKeeper within the family history of Shea’s parents. A note next to Elanor Willowind read, First WishMaker Assignment: Grayson Brady, Maker year 1991 . The same type of note was next to Beren’s name noting Miranda as Beren’s first assignment. Only four years prior had Erebus been crowned WishingKing.
    “My parents were assigned their first WishMakers in the Maker year of 1991. They were fresh out of training when they were assigned Miranda and Grayson,” explained Shea, still just as excited, but her enthusiasm slowed as she considered how eager her parents must have been. They were no younger than Shea at the time, full of hope and enthusiasm to take on their first assignment. They were fresh and optimistic with a bright, unknown future stretching out in front of them. Their daughter wasn’t even a flutter in their hearts.
    “Huh. Neat. I wonder if my gram’s family is in here,” said Thane, leaning toward the book.
    “Can we stay on point please?” Shea said as she stopped Thane from turning the page.
    “Well then, what is the point?”
    “Just read that,” Shea impatiently pointed to a note at the very bottom of the page.
    Thane sighed, annoyed, and read the text, “By fulfillment law, at parental death, the family WishMakers are passed to final heir - Shea Evenstar. And…that’s all it says.”
    “What do you mean that’s all it says?” Shea pointed at herself, “Final heir!”
    “It’s an old book in an old library that we’re not supposed to be in,” Thane said trying to close the book and obviously not understanding what Shea was not-so-cleverly trying to explain. Shea grabbed the page from him.
    “Grayson and Miranda made another True Love Wish tonight.”
    “The deep end, and you just jumped off it,” said Thane, confirming she was officially nuts.
    “I’m serious!”
    Thane was barely listening at this point. “If every day of my Keeping you is like this, I’m gonna be dead before I even become a Keeper.”
    “I heard my dad talking with the F.I.A. just an hour ago!”
    “Look, I think it’s great you’re looking up your family history and I know how hard it is to lose a parent, but WishMakers don’t make two True Love Wishes. It’s impossible. And it would mean that -,” Shea cut him off again.
    “That it’s my wish! By wishing right, I’m the one who has to grant it.”
    Thane stared at her, thinking but not believing, even though she was right if what they were reading was correct, anyway. With a quick rip, Shea tore the page out of the lineage book.
    “Shea!” scolded Thane.
    “Fate. Remember?”
    The eager, broken-winged fairy rushed out with the book page flapping at her side.
     
    Shea walked with a purpose across the grassy glade. Behind her was the dilapidated stone castle and Thane trying to keep up. In front of them was the headquarters to the Fairy Intelligence Agency. A thatched roof structure huddled within the branches of a massive oak tree. With four tiers above the base and turrets towering over five corners, it was quite huge, even by fairy standards.
    As Thane caught up to the purposeful Shea, he tried to slow her down. “Even though the rules are clearly stated and you are evidently the rightful heir to the wish, General Beren is too, so let’s just think about this for a second.”
    Still marching, Shea interrupted, “Two WishMakers, two WishKeepers. My mom is…my dad needs me, OK? And I can’t think anymore! It’s all I’ve been doing my whole life.”
    “Yes, but sometimes stopping to think helps you make the best decision because you can’t just walk into the F.I.A. and tell the General