The Last Wish of Sasha Cade

by Cheyanne Young

  It was there, just outside the plastic foliage of the Black Bear gift shop, that Sasha saw a standing sign that was as tall as we were. Wizard’s Quest, a magical journey throughout the entire lodge. Set up in stairwells, hidden chambers accessible only through fairy doors, with evil witches disguised as waitresses in the lodge’s restaurant and the like, Wizard’s Quest had lights, sounds and flat-screen scoreboards all over the facility. All you needed were your wand (available for $14.99 in the gift shop), your wits and your imagination. On that particular vacation, we only spent one of our four days in the water park. The rest were dedicated to solving our quest.

  “Sasha was the greatest warlock of our time,” I tell Elijah as we head to the Bear Cub Clubhouse. It’s not really a clubhouse, but more of a long hallway filled with shops and kiosks with fun kiddie stuff to do. There’s a build-your-own-bear-cub booth, face painting, jewelry making, hair beads and wraps, an ice cream shop and, of course, the candy booth. At the far end of the hallway of childhood wonder, Sasha’s one true talent awaits.

  Wizard’s Quest.

  “It’s like we’ve walked right into a Tim Burton film,” Elijah says, eyes wide with awe as we step into the Wizard’s chambers. To adults, it’s just a highly decorated gift shop with overpriced trinkets and bored teenage employees wearing cheap wizard robes, but we feel like it’s real magic.

  “Y’all here to start a new quest?” the bored teenage employee says, looking up from her phone only because she wants to avoid being fired. Her Texas twang is as thick as the bouffant of blond hair she wears pinned back with a miniature-witch-hat headband.

  “Yes, please,” I say, glancing over at Elijah, who is too taken with our surroundings to pay much attention. He’s staring at a group of ancient runes carved into the fake cave wall beside us. I know from experience that if you point your wand at them, they’ll light up and add bonus points to your warlock’s overall score.

  “Wands are fifteen dollars,” the girl says, gesturing to a caldron of various battery-powered wands to choose from. “Unless you’re a Bear Cub member, and then it’s five dollars off.”

  “Actually, I have my own,” I say, taking the wand from Elijah’s hand and setting it on the counter. “We just need a new quest.”

  The girl eyes Sasha’s glittery wand, quirking an eyebrow. “Purple,” she says, leaning forward over the counter. “Nice. We don’t see many of those anymore.”

  A few years after we’d started Wizard’s Quest, the wands were upgraded to have green LED lights at the tips. Mrs. Cade bought me three new wands over the years, but Sasha insisted on keeping her original one. Said it brought her good luck.

  The girl takes the wand and drops it into a computer-port thingy that has a sticker wrapped around it, making it look like a magical object instead of a piece of modern-day technology.

  Behind her, a large flat-screen displays the scoreboard, showing all forty-three players currently logged in. They all have little green dots by their names, and a user named 1D4ever is currently winning with sixty-three thousand points.

  As we watch, a new name appears on the scoreboard: PrincessSasha.

  “Damn,” the girl says, her eyes widening like she’s truly impressed. “One of the top five. Never thought I’d meet one of y’all.”

  She hands me the wand, now that the fake-magic machine has loaded it with a new quest. She seems to regard me with a new respect now that she knows this wand’s history. “I know a kid who will totally want to meet you.”

  “Why’s that?” I ask, turning the wand over in my hand.

  She presses something on her computer screen and the scoreboard behind her switches to one with only five names.

  THE WIZARD’S QUEST HALL OF FAME

  1. MaxTheImpaler

  2. PrincessSasha

  3. JAXLUVSBAY

  4. TexasCheerSquad

  5. Bobby41

  “Whoa,” Elijah says. “She’s only forty thousand points away from getting first place.”

  “Yep,” the girl says. “You and MaxTheImpaler both stopped playing a few years ago, and those top two scores halted. People fight for the bottom three, but no one is even close to having your top score.”

  The way she gushes, it’s like she’s standing in front of two real-life celebrities. Her eyes sparkle as she switches the scoreboard back to display every player that’s currently logged in. There, in first place, with a purple dot by her name, is Sasha’s account. She has over two million total points.

  The girl’s rabbit’s foot necklace knocks against the counter and I find myself wondering if witches are known for wearing them. I’m also wondering if I should tell her I’m not Sasha, just a proxy.

  But she’s been transformed from a zombie staring at her phone to a witch who’s watching me with an admiration I’m not used to at all.

  She reaches for a new quest book and hands it to me, along with a pen that’s shaped like a crooked twig, thus adding more to the illusion that this isn’t a game, but a real quest. “If you hurry, you can probably get the points to be in first place.”

  “I wonder if she knew,” Elijah says as we venture across the hall to where the quest begins, in a small room with a projection screen that makes it look like you’re being taken by dragon to a magical land.

  “If she knew what?” I say, gripping tightly to the wand as we climb up the steps and enter the Quest Chamber. A few kids are in line ahead of us, so we have to wait to begin.

  “That she was so close to winning.”

  “She definitely knew.” We’re in a narrow hallway filled with fake foliage and runes. I point my wand at one and give it a little flick. The rune lights up and a tiny speaker beside it says, “You have found a secret rune. Two hundred points awarded!”

  The kid in front of me stares, doe-eyed. “How’d you know how to do that?”

  “My best friend taught me,” I say, winking at him.

  When it’s our turn to stand on the mighty rock and begin our quest from the dragon, there’s a moment where all of the lights go out, and all that’s left is the tinny sound of a waterfall and the soft melody of an ancient Celtic tune piping in through the speakers. Elijah is standing next to me, our arms and hips touching in the cramped space, our fingers electric with the spark between us.

  And even though we’re in a darkened room on the first floor of a multimillion-dollar resort in Dallas, Texas, right now all I can feel is the magic of this moment, the spirit of my best friend wrapped around my heart and the love Elijah and I both have for her linking us together forever.

  ***

  “Whoever … invented … stairs …” I suck in a deep breath and heave my legs up another step, finally landing on the fourteenth floor. I pitch forward, resting my hands on my knees. “Sucks.”

  Elijah laughs, but then it turns into an out-of-breath wheezing sound. “Come on, zap the rune so we can take a break.”

  On the bottom of the fourteenth-floor stairwell, hidden in the intricate tile flooring, is a small rune. I zap it with my wand and then slump to the floor near Elijah. I’m panting so hard that I don’t even hear what the rune tells me. It was something congratulatory, to be sure.

  It’s just after ten o’clock at night, and although Wizard’s Quest goes on all night long, most of the players are kids with parents who would rather head back to their rooms for a good night’s sleep. So it’s been just the two of us for the better part of an hour, roaming the hotel, zapping treasure chests and paintings and little fairies hidden in potted plants. My quest book is full of hastily scribbled answers to the riddles each obstacle gave us, and if we understood the tree fairy, Estelle, correctly, we have just one more task to complete until we’ve won our quest. The last task involved traipsing up the entire staircase, hitting runes in exactly the perfect order.

  We screwed up twice.

  So if I had to guess, I’d say w
e’ve been up and down two hundred flights of stairs today, and the burning in my thighs can confirm that this is more exercise than I’ve had all year.

  I flatten my back against the cool concrete wall and look up at the ceiling, which is painted black like the night sky. Little twinkles of stars are probably LED lights hidden in the ceiling tiles. This place spares no freaking expense when it comes to ambiance.

  “There’s only one more task left,” Elijah says, flipping through our quest book. “You want to go back to our room and finish this tomorrow?”

  Completing a whole quest in one day is a difficult challenge, one even Sasha didn’t much care for. She liked to spread it out over the whole vacation to enjoy it every day.

  I nod and push up from the wall, rising on weary legs. “I could use a hot shower.”

  It isn’t until we’re stepping into an elevator that the magic of this day begins to fade away and reality settles in. Amazing how easily I can become a kid again, fighting evil sorcerers and gremlins, pretending Sasha is by my side.

  But as soon as the elevator doors slide closed, wrapping Elijah and me in its mechanical embrace, I am once again hit with the reminder that she’s gone. This time, I look at Elijah, feeling a sense of gratitude to Sasha for bringing us together. Her last wish had been meant for Elijah, but I know it’s for me, too. She’s given me a mission, an adventure and a reason to move on.

  The way he stands with his hands in his pockets. That little dimple in his cheek when he’s thinking about something. How he rocks back on his heels when he’s in a good mood, and how that’s probably why the bottoms of his jeans are so frayed.

  The elevator descends. Elijah quirks an eyebrow, those blue eyes on me, a constant reminder that he’s always paying attention, always aware and living right here in the moment with me.

  “I don’t want to go back to real life after this,” I mutter.

  His eyes lock on to mine. I’m used to seeing reflections of Sasha when he looks at me, but this time, whatever is going on in his mind isn’t something she’s thought before. “I don’t want to lose you,” he says like it’s the truest thing he’s ever spoken. “It might not be easy being together, but I don’t want anything else.”

  My pulse quickens. I think of the MAYBE_DELETE video, of the warning Sasha gave us in the cemetery. I don’t know why she told us to keep Elijah a secret, but I do know she wanted the best for us. But what if what’s best is to slip off her path and find our own way?

  Overhead, the lights blink and a twinkling fairy sound surrounds us. The elevator lurches to a stop. The screen above the elevator buttons blinks on and an animated Queen Mab herself, the ruler of the fairy world, appears.

  “I am impressed with your magical skills, young warlock. Before you go, I would like to grant you the stone of serenity. It is worth ten thousand points and will only be available for thirty seconds after the doors open. Farewell, young warlock. May your magic be as strong as the mighty oak from which your wand was forged.”

  The screen goes dark and the music stops. The elevator doors slide open on the tenth floor, and Elijah and I share a quizzical look.

  Then we run.

  Sasha’s wand vibrates harder the closer we get to the glass pedestal at the end of the hallway. There’s a gemstone the size of a basketball perched on top, Queen Mab’s icicle symbol etched into it. I fling my wand at the stone and it lights up pink.

  The queen appears on the screen on the wall. With a flourish of her staff, ten thousand points are awarded to PrincessSasha’s account. When the animation is over, another one appears in its place. The scoreboard. PrincessSasha has risen to first place.

  Elijah lets out a whoop. Before I realize what I’m doing, I’m bouncing on my toes, flinging my arms around his neck in excitement. He lifts me into the air and spins me around, and in this moment, the whole damn world seems to stop. We are the only two people here, and nothing matters but this.

  How easy it is to kiss this boy. My eyes close, my hands tangle in his hair. He grips me so tight it’s hard to breathe.

  I don’t even care.

  It won’t be hard trying to forge my own path with Elijah. I think we’re already on it.

  ***

  Elijah really does plan on sleeping in the Wolf Den, which is funny and dorky and adorable. I sit on my bed, facing the window that overlooks the Dallas skyline, while he takes a shower. I stare at the iconic green ball of the Reunion Tower lit up in the sky, just below the crescent moon. Why didn’t you send us that video, Sasha?

  Sasha wasn’t into dating. She had crushes on the guys in the romance books she read, and she couldn’t resist Tom Hardy’s charming smile on the big screen. In all of her years on earth, though, she never had a boyfriend.

  I was the boy-crazy part of our duo, the one she always ragged on for dropping everything to spend time with some guy. She hated how I changed my personality to make Zack like me better, hated how I was one person with her and another person with him. She always told me to be true to myself.

  I can be myself with Elijah.

  On the table next to our ice bucket, that envelope from Sasha stares at me. The warning not to open till the end of the trip has mocked me from the second we got here.

  “Oh hell,” I say, throwing myself off the bed. I can still hear the water of the shower running, but I can’t wait for Elijah now. With a sliver of hesitation, I slip my finger under the seal and rip it open.

  It’s another one of her fat-cat greeting cards. This one is a tabby wearing black-frame glasses, a cup of coffee next to it.

  There’s only one sentence scribbled on the inside of the card.

  Please tell me you didn’t fall in love.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  We spend the better part of our second and last day on vacation at the water park. It’s too cold to enjoy the outdoor section, but inside, the water is heated. We float in the lazy river, sipping every nonalcoholic drink they offer, all paid for with Sasha’s mad money. With Sasha’s name at the top of the Wizard’s Quest scoreboard, we did all the other kiddie activities, too, including eating candy until our stomachs hurt, getting matching leather bracelets with our names stamped into them, even building our own stuffed animals (dragon for Elijah, four-foot-long pink snake for me).

  I keep my hands, my lips and the contents of Sasha’s letter to myself.

  Sunday morning comes too soon, and now we’re packing up our stuff, getting ready to check out of the lodge. The side of Elijah’s face still has a sprinkling of green glitter along the jawline from the glitter lizard “tattoos” we got last night. Holding up his bright red dragon, Elijah says, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with this thing.” It has plastic wings, a foam heart inside and eyes that light up when you press the foot. “Twenty years old, and this is my first stuffed animal.”

  “You take it home with you and sleep with it on your bed,” I say, grinning, as I shove my dirty clothes into my emoji suitcase.

  His eyes roll to the ceiling. “I’m a man, Raquel. I don’t sleep with stuffed animals.”

  He chucks it at me and I catch it, hugging it close to my chest and petting its fuzzy head like its feelings are hurt and I’m trying to console it. “It’s a dragon, Elijah. They’re the manliest animals around.”

  “I thought that was the lion,” he says, zipping his backpack closed. “King of the jungle.”

  I scoff. “Lions don’t have wings and they don’t breathe fire.”

  He shoulders the backpack. “But lions, you know, exist, so … I win.”

  I love that cocky look he gets when we’re messing with each other. So much that my stomach gets this floaty feeling and I turn around, pretending to care about packing my makeup. Really I just don’t want him to see this shit-eating grin on my face.

  “I have an idea,” I say, grabbing my perfume. Holding out the dragon, I spritz him all
over and then toss him back across the room into Elijah’s arms. “Now he’ll smell like me. Surely he deserves a place on your bed now, despite how his kind doesn’t actually exist?”

  The look Elijah makes awakens some kind of mutant butterfly in my stomach. If my life were a soap opera, I’d dive across the bed and pull him down on top of me. Instead, I swallow the lump in my throat and pray that he won’t reject the silly dragon this time.

  He tucks it under his arm. “Can’t argue with that.”

  After a final inspection of our room, I grab the fancy Black Bear Lodge pens and stationery as souvenirs and then we head out.

  I’m not sure if the Mount Everest–sized awkwardness in the elevator is real or just a figment of my imagination. I think we both want to make out, but we’re still honoring the kid rule. But that’s the thing. I don’t want to live in the past, pretending to be a kid. This is my life, my future, and it’s too damn exciting to pretend to be anything else.

  Elijah stands still, his gaze focused on the descending numbers at the top of the doors. It isn’t until we level out on the first floor that he looks over at me.

  The doors slide open and we’re thrown into the fake forest of the lobby. “There’s something you need to see.” Reaching into my purse, I take out Sasha’s fat-cat greeting card. “I read it early. You should read it, too, just … not in front of me.”

  He quirks an eyebrow and I press the card into his hand. “I’m not sure what it means. We can talk in the car.” He walks ahead of me.

  In the weeks following Sasha’s diagnosis, we wasted so much breath talking about what might happen, what could happen, what would happen. After a while, Sasha shook her head and held out her hands and said, “We can talk all day long. It is what it is, okay? Let’s just live in the moment and enjoy what we’ve got.”