Eden's Escape

by M. Tara Crowl

  “But she was so involved the whole time,” Eden said. “You’d think she’d want to stay and see what happened.”

  “Maybe she got scared when things started going wrong for them,” said Pepper. “It’s tough to find friends who stay by your side when things get hard. You know?”

  The flight attendant came by and gave Eden a Coke on ice and two bags of peanuts. Pepper returned to her magazine, but Eden couldn’t shake her uneasy feeling.

  There was another part of the night that she couldn’t make sense of: Where was Heloise? Athena had spoken to her in the hotel room, and supposedly she was the one who unlocked all the doors so they (and later Tyler) could enter Brightly Tech. But when they got to the lab, no one had seen her—not even Sylvana.

  At the Grand Hotel Paris, Violet had said that Heloise left the auction early too—but not with Sylvana and Brightly. Violet also said that Heloise had only been Electric for a year. She’d been absent for a hundred years, after a disagreement with Sylvana.

  Eden turned to Pepper again, but her guardian was fast asleep. Eden climbed over her and the man in the aisle seat, then stood on her tiptoes to remove her leather backpack from the overhead compartment. She followed the narrow aisle back to the airplane bathroom.

  Inside the tiny room, she closed the door and turned the dial to lock it, making sure the OCCUPIED light was on. She put the lid down on the toilet and sat on it, then pulled her parchment paper from the backpack and unrolled it. She spoke to the paper to record the message.

  “Hi, Goldie. Hi, Xavier. Hey, I have a question. I know you don’t like talking about this, but I think it might be important this time. Could you tell me what Heloise’s thousandth wish was?” She bit her lip. “I know you’ll probably say no, but I figured I’d ask.”

  Someone knocked urgently on the door.

  “Just a second!” she said. Then, to her masters: “Gotta go. Bye.”

  She rolled up the parchment paper and squeezed it, sending it on its magical journey to the lamp.

  They got back to Pepper’s apartment late that night, so Eden didn’t discover the answer to her message until the next day when she unpacked her backpack. Pepper had gone out to buy groceries, so she was in the apartment alone. She sat on the bed and unrolled the parchment paper.

  “Hello, Eden,” Xavier said as his image came to life. “I didn’t think I’d hear from you again so soon.” Eden rolled her eyes.

  “You’re correct that we don’t make it a practice to share genies’ thousandth wishes. But you said it’s important, and I’m inclined to believe you. So just this once, I’ll tell you. Heloise wished for two powers: teleportation and transfiguration.”

  Teleportation meant Heloise could vanish from one location and instantly appear at another.

  Transfiguration meant she could completely change her form, or the way she looked.

  “I hope that helps,” Xavier said. “Oh, and welcome home.”

  Eden’s thoughts zoomed around in her head, crashing into each other like bumper cars. She closed her eyes to concentrate on fitting the pieces together correctly.

  A few minutes later, Pepper burst through the door carrying a plastic bag in each hand. “Eden!” she exclaimed. “You’ll never guess what I just saw!”

  “I think Heloise and Jane Johnston are the same person,” Eden blurted.

  Pepper’s eyes grew huge. She set the bags on the floor and took a step closer. “Why do you say that?”

  “Xavier just told me that Heloise’s thousandth wish was for the powers of teleportation and transfiguration. So she could have been switching bodies the whole time, going back and forth between being Heloise and being Jane—and also, between Electra and Brightly Tech. Plus, Heloise spoke to Athena on the phone and told us how to get into the lab, but she was actually never there. But Jane was.” Eden took a breath. “Think about it. No one ever saw them both in the same place at the same time.”

  Pepper stared at her wordlessly.

  “I know it sounds crazy,” Eden said. “But maybe the whole time Jane was getting close to Brightly, she was planning to use him and his technology to track down the lamp. Over the years, she learned how to manipulate him. Maybe she wanted to use him to get back at Sylvana for whatever happened between them a hundred years ago!”

  Still, Pepper didn’t say a word.

  “Pepper? Are you okay?”

  Pepper blinked.

  “What is it?”

  Pepper held up her phone. “I just saw this on the news tickers in Times Square.”

  The headline read: BRIGHTLY NAILED FOR TAX EVASION.

  Below it was a photo of Brightly being handcuffed by officers in FBI jackets.

  The article began:

  On the heels of the announcement that the alleged kidnapping of his adopted daughter was a hoax, David Brightly has made headlines again. This time, the tech mogul has been busted for tax evasion. He was arrested late last night when he landed at New York’s JFK Airport. Early reports indicate that one of his employees tipped off the FBI. Brightly was returning from Paris, where he’s been working on a top secret project. Reportedly, he was on the way to his home in Silicon Valley.

  While Brightly awaits trial, control of Brightly Tech and all its entities will be in the hands of the company’s vice president, Jane Johnston.

  “Tax evasion!” Eden lifted her eyes to meet Pepper’s. “The FBI!”

  “Can you believe it?” Pepper asked.

  “No need to worry about him for a while,” Eden said.

  “But Jane’s taking over Brightly Tech,” Pepper said soberly.

  “And one of his employees tipped off the authorities.” Eden’s heart was beating fast. “Pepper, do you think it was her? Maybe she was planning to get him in trouble all along so she could take over the company. Do you think it’s possible?”

  Pepper said nothing. But from the look on her face, Eden could tell that she thought it was very possible indeed.

  “Should we be worried?” Eden asked. “Do you think Jane—I mean, Heloise—could cause more trouble for us, or for the lamp?”

  Pepper didn’t answer. Instead, she went to the window that faced 44th Street and looked outside.

  “You know what?” She tossed her phone on the bed. “I need a break from that thing. It’s a beautiful day, and we’re in New York City. Let’s go for a walk. What do you say, kid?”

  As they walked down the stairs, Pepper hummed a familiar tune. After a few bars, Eden joined in.

  The past few weeks had been the hardest and most exciting of her life. The only thing she could be sure of was that there was more to come.

  More to learn. More wishes to grant. Most likely, more problems to solve.

  Hopefully, more moments like the goodbye at the airport.

  Those things would come, and she’d face them as they did.

  But for now, it was enough to know that she was home in New York City with Pepper—here, on the street where they lived.

  Thank you to my brilliant editor, Laura Schreiber, who believed in Eden and in me from the start. And to the rest of the team at Disney Hyperion, whose talents and attention have made these books come together in such a special way.

  Thank you to Kevan Lyon, my wise and tenacious agent.

  Thank you to Nicholas Cuccia for educating me about physics labs and plasma shields.

  To Abena Boafo, my reliable source on the French language and life in Paris.

  To the lady at the Sorbonne Library who kindly agreed to show me around when her shift was over.

  To Laura Michelle Kelly: You inspire me greatly. I think anyone who knows you will see your sparkling presence in these pages.

  Thank you to my wonderful friends. I’m endlessly grateful for your love, support, and encouragement.

  Thank you to my family, which expanded in such a beautiful way this year. Mom and Dad, I can’t thank you enough for giving me the freedom and the blessing to chase my dreams.

  Thank you to my husband, He
nry. You make me happier than I ever imagined I could be.

  A massive thank-you to all the readers of Eden’s Wish. Meeting you at schools, in bookstores, in libraries, and online has made this journey unbelievably special.

  Finally, this novel is deeply indebted to the splendor of the cities where it’s set. New York, I love you. Paris, je t’aime! Thank you for bringing so much magic to the world.

  M. TARA CROWL grew up in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She studied Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, then received an MA in Creative Writing at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She lives in New York City.