Free Whatever After #4: Dream On by Sarah Mlynowski Page B

out.
    All the fairies gather around.
    Jonah’s pout turns into a smile. “I hope I get the things I asked for, really, I hope I do.”
    “I hope you do, too.” I say. “Especially the ones we need .”
    The blue-haired fairy steps up. “Today, in honor of Jonah’s tenth birthday —”
    I roll my eyes.
    “I bestow on him —”
    Wake up Robin, wake up Robin!
    “The power to fly!”
    Seriously?
    Jonah cheers. “I wanted that! I really did. Here comes SuperJonah!” My brother stretches his arms in the air. “Should I try right now?”
    “No, Jonah. We’re kind of busy.”
    “But I really want to try.”
    “Focus, Jonah!”
    Another fairy steps up. “Today, in honor of Jonah’s tenth birthday —”
    Do they need to say that every time? It’s enough already.
    “—I bestow on him the ability to play the trumpet!”
    Huh?
    “That wasn’t on my wigistry ,” Jonah whispers.
    “They don’t have to choose things from your wigistry ,” Bri reminds him. “A wigistry is just your suggested list. They can give you whatever they want.”
    “But we need them to choose the important stuff,” I say, growing worried. “And he doesn’t even have a trumpet.”
    “I can get one,” Jonah muses. “I’ll add it to the list.”
    I whack his shoulder. “Just stop.”
    Lottie leaves Felix to play Karate Crocs by himself and steps up next. My mouth goes dry. What’s she going to do?
    “On the occasion of Jonah’s tenth birthday —”
    I swallow. Hard.
    “—I grant him a new pair of socks. His have holes in them.”
    Socks? Hurray! He can totally use new socks.
    Jonah wiggles his toes. “I don’t want new socks. Can wifticals be exchanged?”
    “No. Just be glad it’s not a curse,” I hiss.
    The teeny, tiny fairy steps up. “On the occasion of Jonah’s tenth birthday —”
    Blah, blah, blah.
    “— I grant his request to allow Princess Brianna to sleep for a hundred years and to be woken up by a prince.”
    I perk up. One of our real requests! Bri is going to go to sleep! Hurray!
    Everyone smiles. Even Bri.
    Everyone except Tom.
    His face tightens and he looks like he’s blinking back tears. He looks like his heart is breaking in two.
    Oh.
    Oh!
    His heart is breaking in two.
    Tom loves Bri! He’s not just her best friend. He LOVES her. It’s so obvious now. And it’s such a shame—he’s such a sweet and funny guy. And he’s going to lose her any minute.
    “Should I lie down?” Bri asks, oblivious to Tom’s feelings. “Is it going to happen right now?”
    “Not this very second,” the teeny, tiny fairy says. “All the wifticals go into effect as soon as Jonah blows out the candles on his cake.”
    We have the cake, but I don’t think we took out birthday candles. “Bri, where are the birthday candles?” I ask.
    She bites her lower lip. “We don’t have any!”
    I motion around me. “There must be some somewhere. Your parents have at least seven of everything.”
    She shakes her head. “They don’t have any birthday candles. Trust me. We don’t celebrate birthdays in our family, just in case. Birthdays remind my parents of wifticals . We have no birthday candles. They’re terrified of them.” She buries her head in Tom’s arm. “What are we going to do? We don’t have time to go buy them. We’re doomed!”
    Think fast , I tell myself. Think fast! “We’ll just … make them.” Yeah! We’ll make them! How hard can that be?
    Bri blinks. “We can’t make birthday candles. At least, I can’t make birthday candles.”
    “Of course you can,” Tom says, turning toward her. “You can make anything you want. You’re really creative. I remember the amazing towers you used to make with twigs and glue! You once built the entire royal court. It was really good,” he says to me. “She made mini-roses and everything.”
    “I was six,” Bri says. “I was just playing around.”
    I rub my hands together. “We can do this. All we need is wax and string.” I grab my brother by