At last, I was standing on the ground again. It had been an awkward transition, passing through the doorway from the ceiling. It took Ridge, Tina, and Vale working together to put me right again, and they all stumbled down the trailer steps with me on their shoulders.
The muumuu neighbor had gone back inside her mobile home, so the four of us stood in the Anderthons’ spotty yard, arguing.
“Just tell us what you learned about the missing page,” Vale said.
“I’m not so sure I want to,” I replied. I was feeling much more confident with my feet on the ground. “It’s our quest to stop Thackary, but you two are trying to save his life.”
“Well, you’re not planning on killing him, are you?” Tina asked.
“Of course not!” I cried. Though that would surely stop him from opening the Undiscovered Genie jar.
“Then what does it hurt to let us come with you?” Tina pressed. “It’s the best lead we have for our quest. And it’s probably safer to go together.”
Tina had a point. It might be useful to see how another Wishmaker navigated her wishes. “We’ve got a long ways to go,” I said. “Let’s get started.”
“A long ways?” Tina repeated.
“Yeah,” I replied. “We won’t be back for a couple days. Maybe longer.”
Tina shifted uncomfortably. “Okay, but there’s something I have to do before we leave.”
“What?” I asked. Was there something more important than her quest?
Tina fidgeted under my stare. “Don’t worry about it. Just something personal. I can meet you at the southeast edge of town in three hours. How about Dilly’s Diner on Twelfth Street?”
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at her. “Fine. Don’t be late.”
Without another word, Tina and Vale moved down the gravel road of the trailer park, leaving Ridge and me standing side by side. The girls were a mysterious team, and I felt lucky that wolf Vale hadn’t eaten me when they first surprised us.
“Can you turn into a wolf?” I asked Ridge.
“I can do anything you wish for,” he said.
I thought back to our encounter inside the trailer. “I never heard Tina wish it,” I said. “She just said some funny word and Vale turned from a wolf into a girl.”
“I don’t know,” Ridge said. “I’ve never encountered anything like that.”
I took a deep breath. “Do you trust them?”
“No reason not to, so far,” Ridge said.
“But they’re being all secretive,” I said.
“They’re girls.”
“Where do you think they’re going?” Tina and Vale had moved out of sight now, and the most brilliant plan came to me. “Let’s follow them.” I bent my knees and leaped forward, sprawling clumsily on the patchy dry grass.
“Are you okay?” Ridge shouted, rushing to help me up.
“What happened to flying?” I dusted myself off.
“You didn’t wish for it.”
“Oh, yes I did! I wished that I could to fly to Thackary Anderthon’s house.”
Ridge pointed back at the Anderthons’ trailer, and I realized my mistake. The way I worded my wish meant that I could no longer fly now that I had reached Thackary’s house.
“Hmm,” I said. “Can I wish to fly again?” I hadn’t really thought about asking for the same thing more than once. But it seemed a shame, since I had just cleaned myself of the bird droppings.
“You can,” Ridge explained. “But the consequence will be different every time you ask.”
“So I could just keep asking until I get a consequence that I like?”
“I don’t think you’ll like any of them,” answered Ridge. “The Universe knows you. Even though the consequences will be different, they’ll be equal disadvantages.”
“So if I wish to fly again, it won’t result in bird poop, but it’ll be something that I hate just as much?”
“Probably,” answered Ridge. “Though, between you and me, I’m hoping you wish for a mode of transportation that doesn’t require me to travel in the jar.”
Yeah, flying wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It was tiring, messy, and punished Ridge. I was sure I could think of something else. But in the meantime, we set out on foot, sneaking up to Tina and Vale and then keeping our distance as we tracked them along.
I thought back to the trailer, when my quick wish had landed me on the ceiling. I needed to be prepared to make better wishes.
“Is there any wish you can’t fulfill?” I asked Ridge as we walked.
“Well, you already know that I can’t let you unwish a wish,” he said. “And I can’t let you wish to remove a consequence. Other than that, I think you’re free to ask for anything.”
“What about knowledge?” I asked. “If I wish for it, the Universe can tell me anything I want to know, right?”
“As long as you accept the consequence,” Ridge said. “What do you need to know?”
The moment didn’t seem right, walking down an unknown street at the edge of town. But I knew I had to ask him sooner or later. Wasn’t that the reason I had accepted the Universe’s quest? I mean, sure, I wanted to prevent the zombie pet apocalypse, but that wasn’t what had spurred me to follow Ridge out the door of the Lindons’ home.
Ridge was a genie. He could give me unlimited wishes. He could answer a question that had burned in my mind for as long as I could remember.
So why was it so hard to make the wish? Why couldn’t I ask him where I came from? Who my parents were, and why I had ended up so alone?
We’d been following Tina and Vale for nearly an hour, when they arrived at their destination.
St. Mercy’s Hospital.
I froze. My hand strayed into my pocket and I flicked my thumbnail across the edge of the tattered card I always carried.
“You all right?” Ridge asked me.
I looked at him. The Universe would be able to tell me. All I had to do was ask Ridge. But part of me was too afraid. Afraid to find out my past. I pulled my hand out of my pocket. “I’m fine,” I said. Taking a deep breath, I followed Tina and Vale through the front doors.
I hadn’t been to this hospital before, but they all seemed so alike. Same colors, same smells, same clothing. I thought back to when I had first awakened in that hospital bed. It had been over three years ago. And I was just as confused as I was back then.
Tina paused at the stairs, conversing with a uniformed security guard. We hung back until the guard stepped aside and let the girls go up the stairs.
“Why would they come here?” Ridge asked.
“Let’s find out,” I said, moving across the lobby.
The same security guard stopped us at the bottom of the stairs. But he didn’t seem so friendly now.
“Visiting hours are over, boys,” he said.
“What about those girls?” I pressed.
“She has special arrangements with the patient in room 214,” answered the guard. “You two can come back in the morning.”
“Special arrangements,” I muttered as Ridge and I walked back outside. A moment later, we stood awkwardly on the sidewalk in front of the hospital.
“You could always wish to get in,” Ridge suggested.
“Yeah,” I said. “And accept another dumb consequence?” I looked at the hospital, trying to decide how badly I wanted to spy on Tina. I had the perfect wish. Might as well see what it would cost me. “I wish to be invisible.”
“Forever?” Ridge asked.
“What? No!” I answered. “Just for the next ten minutes or so. Enough to get past that security guard.”
Ridge nodded in understanding as my watch clicked open. “If you want to become invisible,” said Ridge, “then all your clothes will remain invisible for a day.”
“Ahh!” I cried, stepping behind a shrub in case my clothes suddenly vanished. “That’s terrible! What if I put on new clothes?”
Ridge shrugged. “They will also disappear.”
There was no way I could accept. We were supposed to team up with Tina and Vale soon. Face it, you wouldn’t accept that crazy deal, either.
“No way,” I said, feeling my hourglass watch close. I stepped out from behind the shrub. “These consequences are impossible!”
“Remember what I said about making direct wishes?” Ridge said. “You always wish big, so the consequence usually seems too steep. If you walk into that hospital and turn invisible, then the wish did all the work for you. I guess what I’m saying is . . . think smaller.”
“Think smaller. . . .” I repeated, a grin spreading across my face. “I wish I could be three inches tall until I get to room 214.”
My hourglass popped up again, and Ridge was nodding his approval at my wish. “If you want to shrink down,” he explained, “then every time you exit a bathroom, you’ll have toilet paper stuck to your shoe for an hour.”
Well, that would be embarrassing. “Just my shoe?” I asked. “What if I’m barefoot?”
“Bare feet count, too,” said Ridge.
“How much toilet paper?” I asked. If it was just half a square, nobody might notice. Then again, if it was an entire roll dragging around, then it could be a major tripping hazard.
“About fourteen inches,” Ridge answered, holding up his hands to show me the length.
“That’s manageable,” I said. “How long will this go on?”
“The rest of the week,” Ridge said. “Once the quest ends, your shoes will be toilet paper free.”
I could handle that. It would be worth a bit of embarrassment for the week so I could snoop on Tina’s secret.
“Bazang.” I said the magic word. And just like that, I was three inches tall.