Wish

by Janet MacLeod

  I stared at the door and glanced longingly at the box my mom held in her hands. Magic curled around my legs, purring softly. His warm body pressed up against my legs, as if trying to give me courage.

  “Sydney?” Keith yelled from the hallway. “Come on. Let me in.”

  “If you let him in, he will harm your mother to get your powers,” Nana said. “He is not her Sentry and he owes her no protection. The SHEILDERS don’t need her anymore because they found you, her purpose is done. They will use her, even me to get what they want. You can’t let him in here.”

  “She sacrificed a lot trying to shield you,” Nana said in mom’s defense. “She thought she was doing the right thing. She didn’t know it would come to this.”

  I glanced at the door and back at Nana, scowling at her. “I’m not about to let him get Mom, Nana. Chill. I have to go out there.”

  Nana and mom were silent for a moment. Nana nodded. “If you are to keep your powers, you’ll have to face him. You have to reach inside Keith and fight off the SHEILDERS power over him. He’s dangerous as he is now. I can come with you.”

  I shook my head, glad she’d offered, but I couldn’t risk her safety.

  “What happens if I can’t get through to him? To Keith?”

  “Then he’ll take your powers.”

  “And?”

  “And we’ll be stuck in the Institute. There will be no one to get us out.”

  I nodded. I thought about Cody, lying out in the clearing, no idea I was responsible for keeping him from living the rest of his life with no adult supervision. Well. He’d have Stevie. I smiled, thinking of them. And then I thought of Keith. My friend.

  I knew Keith better than they did.

  “I’m going out.”

  “Be careful,” said Nana.

  My mom shushed her. “Keith can’t force you to give him the necklace, remember that. You have to give it to him on your own free will.”

  I shook my head. “He won’t even try.”

  Mom smiled and nodded her head to the door. “Go now. Be brave. Magic will go with you.”

  I stared down at the cat and then bent to pick him up, and looked back at my beautiful mom in her old fashioned rocker.

  She trusted me to do the right thing, I knew it. And I was barely sixteen years old. Ha!

  I slid past Nana and she touched my shoulder lightly on the way out. Under her fingers, my tattoo kicked with life. “There’s a lot at stake, Sydney. Please be careful.”

  I didn’t look at her. “Yeah. I kind of got that.”

  I opened the door.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  I slipped into the hallway. Keith lunged for my arm and the door to my mom’s room closed behind me. Magic hissed and jumped from my arms. I glanced behind me. The stone door disappeared. The wall looked bleak, ominous. The two of us stood alone in the empty hallway.

  Keith’s fingers pressed into my flesh and I pulled back from him.

  “Woah. Ouch, that hurts,” I said in my grouchiest voice.

  He didn’t answer or let go of my arm. His fingers pressed in deeper.

  “Keith, you’re hurting me.”

  He said nothing, but started to travel, dragging me behind him still clutching my arm tight. I tried to resist, but since he was almost twice the size of me it was an exercise in futility.

  “Keith? What’s going on? Where’re we going?”

  His head snapped back and he looked down on me with the blackest, meanest eyes I’d ever seen. “I’m taking you out of here.” Then he sneered and an image of my father’s face transposed over his. I yelped as his face grotesquely morphed into a grin and I tried to get away, but I might as well have been handcuffed to him. I couldn’t get free.

  I yelped in fear and blinked and then Keith’s face was smiling at me again, the face I’d known most of my life, but his smile was different. Sinister. For a moment, an image of another man, and then another passed across his features. I watched in horror as his face contorted and changed and then went back to normal.

  He dragged me through the narrow stone hallways and I felt the sorrow singing from the stones, as if they were watching, convinced of my doom. God. I almost wished I were in the forest again. I’d take trees over this.

  “Don’t be afraid, Sydney. I’m taking you from the Institute. You won’t be stuck inside here, don’t worry. This is for the best. We’re going to get rid of your curse.”

  He leered at my necklace as he pulled me along, down the hallway. “You’re too weak to handle your powers anyhow. Even your mother didn’t think you could handle them. You’re better off without them. Everything will go back to normal once you give them to me. You’ll be happier.”

  My fingers automatically went up to protect the jewels around my neck and he stopped pulling me but didn’t let me go.

  “You’re not Keith,” I spit out. “And you have no idea what is best for me.”

  His face softened and then I saw the boy I’d known since I was a kid smiling reassuringly at me.

  “It’s okay, Sydney. It’s me.”

  I wanted to tackle him with a hug.

  “Just me.” His familiar soft mouth grinned at me, the same half grin I knew and loved. He brushed a stray bang from his eyes. ”It’s me. Me. I’m the one who has always understood you. I dreamed of you. I dream of you still. I’m sick of pretending, Sydney. I want you to know I’ve always been there for you. I’m your Sentry. I was born to protect you. I’ve lied for you. I’d do anything for you. Anything.”

  He pulled me a little closer and I let him. My Keith.

  “We belong together. We’re destined to be more than friends. You know that as well as I do. But. We can’t. Not if you hold onto to the necklace. I want you to get rid of it. I need you to. So I can be with you. Forget your powers, they’ll keep us apart. You don’t need powers. You need me. Choose me. As more than a friend.”

  I frowned and stiffened as he tugged me even closer. Keith didn’t talk like that.

  “You’ve never, ever said we were anything but friends.”

  I remembered my promise to Stevie that we would never try to date him. I ignored the tiny part of me that wanted to believe, forget we’d ever said that. Crushing on Keith was not in the books.

  He looked hurt. “Come on Sydney. I assumed you knew how I really felt.”

  He took my hand. “How I really feel.” His fingers were warm, as they caressed mine and he leaned in right against me. My stomach tickled and for a moment, I held my breath as he leaned in closer. I was about to be kissed. For real. By my best friend Keith. And the thing was, in the middle of all the craziness, I wanted him to do it. I really wanted to kiss him. His face came nearer to mine and I inhaled his familiar scent and closed my eyes. I stopped breathing. Keith was about to kiss me. I waited and then his lips finally pressed against mine.

  I jerked. They were cold. Cold and uninviting. Evil. I wanted to spit, wipe the feeling away. I pulled from him, frantically rubbing my mouth with the back of my hand.

  He laughed. “Come on Sydney. It’s me. Your best friend. You know you wanted that. Now give us, give me the necklace. I’ll pass it along to the ones who understand powers. I don’t want them for me. I just want you and me to be two normal teenagers with all this hocus pocus stuff behind us. No witch stuff.”

  I looked around the hallway for assistance. Empty walls grieved with me but did nothing to help. I wondered what was I was supposed to do. I wanted someone to rescue me, to tell me what to do, tell me who to trust. No one appeared.

  “I wish someone would help me,” I whispered.

  “Come on, let’s go, we’re almost outside,” Keith said pulled me behind him. He took a step and held out his other hand. “Come on Sydney. It’s me. I’ll help you. You wished for me, didn’t you?”

  My heart skipped a beat. I’d wished for help. Keith was back. He held me and beamed his normal smile. “Your Mom was wrong. Give me the necklace and it will make everything better. Hand it over and I’ll make
all of this go away. Your mom can go home anytime she wants to. Everything will go back to normal. She can leave, but only if you give me the necklace.”

  I thought of all the times I’d relied on Keith. My other rock. He never lied to me. I’d only heard him lie once, my whole life, and that was to protect me. He’d never do anything to hurt me. I frowned. Well, except maybe-dating skanky Jenny Truman without telling me.

  I wanted to trust him. I’d even wanted him to kiss me. It was cold because of the castle, the walls. They were cold. It was ambiance. Not him. Not Keith.

  “Mom can leave if I give you the necklace?” I asked.

  “I promise. And you know me. I don’t lie.” He smiled, not looking concerned. A few steps from us loomed the heavy doors where I’d entered the Institute. Magic sat at the door, staring at me, his blueish cat eyes yellowed in the dim light and glowing, forcing me to focus, think.

  “Keith?” I said. “Remember what you gave me at my birthday party? “

  “Of course I do. The necklace,” he answered smoothly. He gave my hands a gentle squeeze and glanced at the door with a chipper smile on his normally solemn face. “You can give it back. I’ll get you something else to replace it.”

  “No,” I reminded him. “The other thing you gave me.”

  He turned back to me. Confused.

  “The shirt,” I said softly. “It said “Road kill,” on it.”

  “Oh yeah. Ha. Ha.” He chuckled. “How could I forget the Road kill shirt?” He chuckled again. Too merry for my Keith.

  I broke away from him and clasped my hands behind my back so he couldn’t grab them. “Easy. You never gave me the shirt. You gave it to Stevie.” I took a step away from him. “You’re not Keith. My Mom won’t be able to get out if I give you my powers. She’ll be stuck here and so will Nana.”

  “My Keith would never agree to help the SHIELDERS and do this to my family.”

  A flash of rage rippled across the boyish features. I knew for sure then. It wasn’t Keith who’d kissed me. Keith wasn’t capable of being so dark. Or cold.

  He grabbed for me again. He or whatever he was. I scrambled away from him, running for the door.

  “You’re not Keith.”

  He grabbed me roughly and I struggled to free myself. “All right. Let’s cut the games. That necklace doesn’t belong to you. Give it to me. Now.” He growled a menacing snarl. “If you don’t, I’ll hurt everyone you care about. Your powers are nothing compared to ours.” He let out a roar of anger.

  I kicked him in the shins and he roared again and then I heard a cat’s hiss and squeal. I twisted around.

  Keith held Magic above his head. A surge of anger sparked in my stomach. “If you don’t give me your powers right now, I will kill this cat.”

  I whimpered out loud and closed my eyes. Keith, I thought as hard as I could. I tried to reach inside his mind, inside of him. Keith. Be strong. Chase them out. Come back to me. Keith. I concentrated with everything I had and then I opened my eyes.

  Keith staggered. He lowered Magic down from the air and calmly stroked Magic’s fur.

  “Keith?” I asked with relief. “Is that you? Are you okay?”

  He grinned grotesquely and then he winked.

  “I warned you. You had your chance,” he growled. His eyes flashed with a glassy and unfamiliar glare. He lifted Magic higher and shouted in a language I didn’t understand. Magic squawked and then was a crack, and an explosion of blue light. Magic went limp in his arms.

  Lifeless.

  Magic wasn’t moving.

  “Magic,” I yelled.

  Furious, I lifted my hand to Keith, channeling my negative energy to the end of my bitten down nails. A surge of anger so dark I’d never known it existed. A crackle of light flashed from my hand.

  Keith’s eyes opened wide as the energy hit him. I watched my friend crumple to the ground.

  He his mouth opened. His eyes returned to their normal color. And then they closed.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Oh my God.” I rushed forward, kneeling down, reaching for Keith’s hand. It hung limply in mine. Beside him Magic lay, still and lifeless.

  “Keith? Open your eyes.”

  I gazed around the hallway, avoiding Magic’s still body, searching for help. Around me it stayed eerily silent. Then there was a whoosh of air and behind me the front door of the castle opened. A figure in a hooded cloak stepped toward me. Thank God.

  I was about to rush forward to Nana, but then I gasped. The figure was not Nana. Under the hood was my father. In his real form.

  He looked older than the photo’s I’d seen of him, but without a doubt, the man in front of me was my mom’s power sucking husband. In the flesh. Or whatever he was.

  I wanted to leap up and punch him in the stomach but I didn’t dare move from Keith’s side.

  “You have to give the necklace to Keith.” My dad narrowed his eyes at me and lifted one brow, just like older version of Cody. “Or I’m afraid, he’ll die.”

  From the ground, Keith groaned and rolled to his side. “Sydney,” he gasped. “No. Don’t listen to him. Don’t give me the necklace. I won’t be able to keep them out of my head if you hand it over. I’ll give it to them.”

  I closed my eyes in relief and fear. Keith wasn’t dead. Or possessed by SHEILDERS any more. Right now he was okay and they still needed him alive.

  They didn’t have him right then. And I needed him more.

  I concentrated on an image of my mom’s face. Please Mom, I thought. I can’t do this alone. I need you. Help me. I wish you’d give me help.

  I opened my eyes. But I was still alone. Terrified.

  “Your mother can’t help you,” my Dad said with a laugh. He glanced down at Keith. “We’ll finish him if you don’t hand over the necklace.”

  Keith struggled to sit up.

  “Hand the necklace to him, or he has no purpose, no use to us. He’ll be a failure. Just like your mother. We’ll destroy him.”

  And then as if he couldn’t resist it, he added more.

  “You can’t handle the responsibility of powers. You’re weak and afraid. Also just like your mother.”

  It was a pretty stupid mistake. I mean. Come on. It’s one thing when I’m the one who’s pissed off at my mom, or thinks she’s a screw up. But he had no right. Not any more.

  “Screw it. If I’m going to be a witch, I’m going to be a kick ass witch.”

  This was so not how I imagined sixteen.

  “You can do it.” Keith groaned as he sat up. I looked down at Keith and giggled in shock, gripping sanity by my fingernails. And they were chewed off.

  “I’ll go after your mother.” My father told me sounding desperate and yes, worried. That stoked my confidence a little bit more.

  “He’s lying Sydney,” Keith said. “He’s still her Sentry. He can’t harm his witch. Even though he took her powers, he’s still bound to protect her.” Keith groaned then. His face contorted and his features blurred. His hands went to his head, as if he were fighting an internal battle.

  “No,” Keith shouted. “I won’t betray her.” He looked right at me then, his eyes pained, but clear. He groaned and shook his head, his eyes pleading with me not to give up.

  “You don’t know who you’re dealing with,” I said to my father. I got to my feet.

  “Nor do you little girl.”

  “Not your little girl, that’s for sure.” I raised my hand towards my father creating a bigger surge than ever. “You will never get the necklace or my powers. I won’t let you hurt us anymore.” My powers budded and then, I let him have it.

  My father fell to the ground growling in anger, like a grizzly bear in a bear trap. His face blurred as images of other men distorted his features.

  I concentrated hard, reaching inside of him, searching inside his mind. Ignoring the blackness and rage of the SHEILDERS pulling at me, trying to get me out.

  “Dad. Don’t do this to us.” I spoke right to him. Inside of his h
ead. To him.

  I sensed confusion, but I dug deep inside murky shadows and collective voices inside his head. The raging emotions of SHIELDERS fought me but I searched for my father pushed onward, reaching deeper.

  “You loved her once. And she loved you. Be strong, Dad. Think of Cody. He loves you. He remembers you and he loves you. He keeps a picture of you in his room. Make him proud. Be strong for him.”

  I tested out my newly forming powers and imagined Cody, projected images of Cody into his mind. “Cody believes you’re a good man. Prove him right. Fight them. Fight the SHEILDERS.”

  I touched on my father’s sadness as he remembered his son.

  I heard a faint, lost voice speak to my mine. “I can’t resist the SHIELDERS, Sydney. I can’t do it. Forgive me.”

  The voice grew weaker, slipping from my grasp, yet my own body throbbed and I tried to hold on. I reached further inside to find the man my mom had loved.

  I felt his pain and tried to hold on but I felt him slipping from my mind hold. I wanted to tell him I forgave him for what he’d done, but for many reasons, I couldn’t do that. “I wish I’d been stronger, Sydney,” my father said. I panted and it took me a moment to realize the sound was coming from his lips. He’d spoken out loud in his own voice.

  Inside him I felt the anger, so pure I saw pure blackness. Loud male voices chanted inside my head, turning on me, coming at my innards.

  And then, my father howled in a horrible voice. A bolt of heat seared my brain. I fell to the ground, clutching my head. The soreness increased. Voices tore at my mind, pulling at me, demanding I give up and hand over the powers. I weakened. Pain overwhelmed me.

  I wasn’t strong enough to fight the SHIELDERS off. They were inside me now, ripping at me, pulling me apart, making me crave surrender. Give him your powers, they demanded. Or we’ll kill you.

  In the distance I heard Keith call my name. I heard Nana join him, calling for me and then in my mind, I saw an image of my mom, watching me struggle.

  I gasped, realizing with a startled certainty that if I gave in she would die in there. There was only one choice. I had to be the one to die. It was the only way. If they destroyed me, they wouldn’t get my powers. They would flee. No one would hurt my mom. Or Keith.