Eden's Wish

by M. Tara Crowl

“That’s not going to happen.” Eden wished she knew exactly where Tyler and Sasha were. She looked up toward the ocean and saw, between waves, flashes of a strange figure emerging. It was larger than a normal person, with extra limbs sticking this way and that. Seeing it, she was struck with a funny feeling.

  Only when Tyler tossed his hair was she sure that it was them. He was crossing the remaining stretch of ocean on foot, and instead of his surfboard he was carrying Sasha. Eden ran to meet them.

  Reaching dry land, Tyler set his sister down. Sasha’s face was contorted in pain, and tears were leaking from the corners of her eyes. Eden’s gaze traveled from her distraught expression down her torso, to the end of her leg. There, at the bottom, was the problem: her ankle was swollen like a water balloon filled to bursting.

  Eden’s stomach curled. What was wrong with that foot?

  Sasha let out a cry that seemed to rise from deep inside her chest. Eden couldn’t stop staring. She’d never seen someone cry before, except when overexcited wishers shed tears of joy. She’d cried herself, of course, when Xavier was being particularly unfair or on long, lonely nights in the prison of her bedroom. But the echo of her wails through the lamp’s empty caverns was different from these sobs.

  She turned to Tyler. “What happened?”

  “Bad sprain, I think.” He cupped the bloated ankle in his hand delicately, like he was holding a baby chick. Cautiously he lifted it, prompting Sasha to release another miserable moan. He examined the elevated ankle, speaking to Eden without looking her way. “Hey, run and get a lifeguard. I can’t believe how useless they are.”

  Lifeguard. The same word Sasha had mentioned after Tyler had saved her from the sea. For a horrible instant she recalled how she’d felt when the wave had held her under. Was that how Sasha felt now?

  If Sasha needed someone to guard her life, her injury must be serious. Eden couldn’t die, but Sasha certainly could.

  “Eden,” Tyler said. “Go get the lifeguard!”

  “There’s no way I can play volleyball now!” Sasha wailed.

  Eden shuddered. She’d learned about mortals’ injuries in Xavier’s anatomy lessons, and now she wished she’d paid more attention. Was it possible to die from an ankle sprain? Panic had made a sticky mess of her mind.

  “What’s wrong with you?” The impatience in Tyler’s voice rang out. “Get the lifeguard!”

  Eden took a deep breath. She couldn’t believe what she was about to do, but she also couldn’t watch Sasha suffer for one more moment. “Tyler,” she said firmly, “wish for Sasha’s injury to go away.”

  Tyler twisted toward her, his face crinkling in confusion. “What?”

  Glancing to the right, Eden saw a middle-aged woman approaching a guy in red board shorts standing about fifty yards away at the foot of a tall white stand. She tapped him on the shoulder and pointed toward Eden, Tyler, and Sasha. He yelled something to the red-suited girl sitting high in the seat above him and started jogging in their direction.

  Eden took in the rest of the area. Other mortals had noticed too. One was V, the dark-haired woman. She stood a short distance away, watching intently.

  “Wish it,” she urged. “Out loud.” After the incident with Romeo and his daughter, it seemed crazy to offer a wish. She’d been petrified that she’d find herself locked into one granting, yet now here she was volunteering for another.

  “What are you talking about?” Tyler yelled. “We need help.”

  Sasha let out a fresh sob. In her peripheral vision, Eden saw the mortal in red shorts approaching.

  “Listen to me,” she said, her voice rising. She spoke with more conviction than she felt, ignoring the doubts in the corner of her mind. All she could see was the agony on Sasha’s face, and all she wanted was to erase it. “Repeat these words: I wish for Sasha’s ankle to be healed.”

  Tyler gritted his teeth. “If I say it, will you help me?”

  “Yes!” Eden said desperately.

  “Fine!” he yelled. “I wish for Sasha’s ankle to be healed!”

  Without a word, Eden held out her hand and snapped.

  It took a few moments for Sasha to realize she no longer felt any pain. She fell silent mid-sob. A dazed sense of quiet settled over them like soft snow falling from the sky.

  “Sash?” Tyler began. “Did you…” He looked down at the foot he was holding. The swelling had vanished; its size and shape were perfectly normal. He dropped it in the sand like it had gone scalding hot. Both of them stared in wonder while Sasha pointed and flexed it.

  The relief that washed over Eden was so powerful it made her dizzy. And there was something else too: satisfaction. For the first time, she was proud of a wish she’d granted.

  “I’m here!” the lifeguard announced importantly as he arrived.

  “We don’t need you,” Eden said.

  Confusion crossed the lifeguard’s face. “That lady over there said a girl was hurt.”

  Eden saw Tyler and Sasha lock eyes and come to a wordless agreement. “She was wrong,” Sasha sniffed. “Nothing happened.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “She’s fine,” said Tyler. “She thought she’d cut her foot, but she imagined it.”

  The lifeguard stared at him uncertainly, then turned to Eden again. He blinked and shrugged. “All right,” he said. “If you’re sure.”

  “We’re sure.”

  The lifeguard jogged back to the stand. Eden was relieved to be rid of him. But as his figure faded, reality set in: she’d just granted a wish. There would be consequences.

  Frantically, Violet typed an update for her boss.

  First, she reported that Eden now had the lamp—but refused to part with it, or even discuss it. She was a stubborn little thing.

  If Violet had reached the beach before Eden, she might have been able to snag the lamp herself. But if the genie was still wearing the bracelet, it wouldn’t do any good anyway. The lamp would always return to the genie unless the bracelet was removed.

  Secondly, she reported that she’d seen the female mortal’s foot instantaneously healed. So that was one wish. Violet’s boss wouldn’t be happy about that. Eden hadn’t vanished, so it wasn’t the third wish. However, time was ticking.

  Violet’s hands shook as she pressed the button to send the message. Within a minute, she had a reply:

  Looks like I’ll have to handle this myself when I arrive.

  Don’t lose the girl.

  Sylvana

  “How’d you do that?” Tyler asked.

  Eden couldn’t believe how foolish she’d been. Five minutes ago she’d been free, with the whole world in front of her; now, she was bound to a wisher. Her time on Earth would end as soon as his third wish had been granted.

  But just as she was about to launch into the rules, something stopped her. Tyler and Sasha had no idea that Eden had come from the lamp. They hadn’t even seen it yet.

  A thought occurred to her. What would happen if she didn’t tell them at all?

  “What’s this?” Sasha swiped the lamp from Eden’s lap, where she’d dropped it when she’d sat down.

  “That’s weird,” Tyler said, taking it. He examined it closely. “You know what it looks like? A genie lamp. Like from those old stories.”

  Sasha took it back from him. She raised her eyebrows at Tyler. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Tyler laughed. “No way!”

  “Hear me out!” Sasha’s eyes were wide. “You wished that my ankle would be healed, and then it happened. Like magic.”

  “Like a genie granted the wish?” Tyler shook his head. “That’s completely nuts.”

  “But you saw!” Sasha insisted. “It was like I’d never hurt my ankle.” Absently she squeezed the ankle, as if to ensure it was still unhurt. Her eyes lit on Eden. “You!”

  Eden gritted her teeth.

  “You’re the one who told him to wish I was healed. Is that your lamp?”

  Eden tried to think fast. “I…found it.”r />
  “Where? On the beach?”

  “Yeah, just over there.” She pointed toward the sand castles. “While you guys were surfing.”

  Tyler’s eyes searched hers, and she tried her best not to look guilty. “How were you so sure that making a wish would work?”

  Eden shrugged. “I wasn’t. It was just a hunch.”

  Tyler was thinking hard, like he was replaying the scene in his mind.

  Sasha looked perplexed too. “If you thought there was any chance this lamp could grant wishes, why would you want to give one up?” she asked. “You only just met us.”

  “It was important,” Eden said. “I wasn’t going to let you die.”

  The way they looked at her, you’d have thought she’d said she was going to fish her wet nightgown out of the trash and put it back on. They burst out laughing.

  “Let me die?” Sasha said. “Let’s not get overly dramatic. Don’t get me wrong, sprained ankles hurt like hell. But it’s not like it was going to kill me.”

  Eden felt like she’d missed an easy question on a test. Sasha hadn’t been in mortal danger after all. What a waste.

  “But you wanted a lifeguard…”

  “Because I needed ice! Trust me, I’ve survived a few sprained ankles in my time. Haven’t you?”

  Eden tried to think of how to answer.

  “Wait a second,” Tyler said. “If this is a real genie lamp—and I’m still not convinced that it is—wouldn’t that mean there’s a genie who granted that wish?”

  “Oh yeah,” Sasha said. “Eden, did you see a genie?”

  Eden paused. “No…” Technically, it was true.

  “Okay. Let’s say this is a genie lamp,” Sasha said. “You’re supposed to get three wishes, right? Do you think since we used one wish, now we get two more?”

  Eden’s skin prickled with fear. If Tyler were to make a wish, she’d have no choice but to grant it. Though she was sort of able to decide how to grant a wish, she couldn’t refuse to grant it unless the rules were violated. There was a delicate balance between the wisher’s words, the genie’s mind, and the will of the lamp. Eden wasn’t even sure exactly how it worked. She could imagine the way a wish would be granted, but the lamp itself produced the results. In Granting for Genies, Goldie had described it this way: for a genie, granting was kind of like breathing. You can breathe through your mouth or your nose, take a deep or shallow breath, but you can’t decide you’re not going to breathe.

  “Two more wishes,” Tyler said thoughtfully. “If we’re going to give this a shot, then we’d better make them good.”

  “We’ll come up with the best wishes ever,” Sasha said. “Like a mansion. With…a garage full of Range Rovers?”

  Tyler rolled his eyes. “Lame.”

  “Well, I don’t know! What do you want, Ty?”

  “Be careful!” Eden interrupted. The longer she could delay their wishes, the better. “Since Tyler made the first wish, I bet that if he says he wishes for something, he won’t be able to take it back.”

  She watched the logic sink in. “You’re right,” Tyler said. “We’ve got to be careful. We don’t want to waste them.”

  “That’s right! You should think about it for a while. Strategize.” This was good. This could buy her more time—a few hours, at least.

  “Sash, our boards have probably washed up onshore,” Tyler said. “Want to go see?”

  “Yeah. No way we can afford new ones.”

  “Well, at least not yet,” Tyler said with a smile. “You’ll wait here with the lamp?” he asked Eden.

  “No problem.”

  As they went back toward the ocean, Eden let out a slow breath. What a close call! But she was still on Earth. Nothing else mattered.

  With a start, she remembered something unsettling. No doubt Xavier and Goldie were watching through the telescope. They could probably see and hear everything that was happening.

  She looked down at the lamp again. This time, a rolled-up piece of parchment squeezed through the spout and landed in her hands.

  Across it, in tight neat script, were four words: Eden of the Lamp.

  She glanced up to see Tyler and Sasha at the shoreline. They’d retrieved one board, but were still searching for the other. Eden took a deep breath and unrolled the parchment.

  Xavier and Goldie’s faces appeared, half-lit and wan in the dim study. Behind them were the familiar shelves of ancient books. The lamp’s shadowy interior was a stark and unappealing contrast to the sun-brightened beach.

  “Eden!” Xavier said urgently. “Listen to us! This is very important.” Dark circles underlined his panicked eyes.

  Goldie was no less disheveled. Wisps of hair had escaped her bun, and with a twinge of remorse, Eden realized her puffy face meant she’d been crying.

  “We know you’re angry. But you must listen. You’re in serious danger out there—much more serious than you can imagine.”

  “We saw you recover the lamp from that tattooed mortal and his daughter.” Goldie shuddered. “And we saw you grant a wish for that boy.”

  “But if you make a request for reentry, you won’t have to grant his other two wishes! Please, come home,” Xavier pleaded.

  It was strange to see him like this. Nothing rattled him. But now he was helpless for the first time, and obviously he had no idea how to handle it.

  Goldie turned and whispered something in his ear. Xavier tugged on his mustache. “There’s something you need to know,” he said. “Listen very carefully, Eden. There are people on Earth who are desperate to seize the lamp’s power for their own evil purposes. And their only chance of doing that is through you.”

  “What are you doing?” Sasha was standing over Eden. In a rush, Eden crushed the parchment paper into a ball in her fist.

  “Nothing,” she said. “Just looking at this weird drawing I found.”

  “You sure do find a lot of things.” Sasha adjusted the surfboard under her arm.

  Eden stood up. “You got the boards?”

  “Only Sasha’s,” said Tyler as he walked up. Sasha’s beach bag was on his shoulder. “Someone must have taken mine.” He shrugged. “I don’t blame them—it was a good board.”

  “So, look. Are you going to tell us what you’re doing here?” Sasha asked. “Because we really don’t know anything about you, except that you just got here from Sweden.”

  Eden bit her lip.

  “Did anyone come with you?” Tyler pressed. “Your parents?”

  “My mom,” Eden lied.

  “Okay…where is she?”

  “Well, she was supposed to come. But…” At that moment, an airplane flew across the sky, providing a fresh burst of inspiration. “Her flight was canceled.”

  “Why was she on a different flight than you?” Sasha seemed doubtful.

  “She was coming from…Japan.”

  “Wow. International family. Okay.”

  “Yeah. So she should be here…tomorrow. I think.”

  “Right. So what are you doing until then?”

  Eden looked between the two of them uneasily. “I’m not sure.”

  “And you don’t have money, a cell phone, or a place to stay?”

  She shook her head slowly. It wasn’t a very plausible story.

  Tyler seemed concerned. “That doesn’t sound like a good situation. What does she expect you to do?”

  “Where’s your dad?” Sasha asked dubiously.

  “Somewhere in Sweden. We haven’t heard from him in years.”

  Tyler and Sasha exchanged a sympathetic look.

  “And you don’t know anyone in San Diego?” Sasha asked.

  Eden shook her head again.

  “Well, you know us now,” Tyler said. “At this point, we’re all in this together anyway. We’ve got to figure out what to do with this lamp.” He shrugged at Sasha. “Why doesn’t she stay with us tonight?”

  Eden had to press her lips closed so she wouldn’t let out a scream of excitement.

  “
I don’t know, Ty,” Sasha said uncertainly. “School starts tomorrow, remember?”

  “I’m supposed to go to school too,” Eden said, simply because, as a mortal, it seemed like the most natural thing.

  “Really? Are you moving to San Diego?”

  “Yes.” She was speaking faster than she could think things through. It felt sort of like tumbling down a hill.

  “Well why didn’t you say so before?” Tyler said. “You can stay the night and come to school with us, and then your mom will be here tomorrow and help you figure everything out. Right?”

  “Right.” At least it would give her time to come up with a new solution.

  “Then that’s settled. Why don’t we keep the lamp in here?” Tyler held the bag open so Eden could drop it in, and together, the three of them started across the beach.

  “Why are you still carrying that drawing?” Sasha asked. “Here’s a trash can.”

  “Oh, great,” Eden said. “I was just looking for one.”

  With a flash of remorse, she tossed the parchment paper still balled up in her hand into the trash. She’d been hoping they wouldn’t notice it.

  She supposed she’d never know what Xavier was going to say next. She could only hope it wasn’t important.

  In Eden’s experience, mortals were pretty darn predictable. She liked to play a little game within the first minute of being summoned where she guessed what a wisher would wish for. Usually she wasn’t too far off.

  Naturally, money was a big one. This took a variety of forms. Often mortals wished for the largest lump sum they could think of—a million dollars, a billion pounds, a trillion yen, etc. Several times she’d had to inform a wisher that a zillion or a bajillion was not a real or finite number, so she was unable to grant a wish for that amount. Some people (like Darryl Dolan of Wagga Wagga, Australia) wished to win the lottery. The truth was, most lottery jackpot winners on Earth only won because of a granted wish. But if the wisher didn’t provide details regarding the win, the genie had the flexibility to have a bit of fun. And always, if possible, Eden liked to have fun.

  Of course, mortals wished for other things too. Women wished for beauty, forgetting that beauty always fades. Men wished for beautiful wives, ignorant to the fact that those wives could leave them. Children wished for superpowers, only to find that society is not kind to those who are different. Most of them would spend the rest of their lives wishing they could be normal, but without a genie in sight to help them.