Selfish Elf Wish

by Heather Swain

  “We have to find out.” I leave the office and jog down the hall to the other door. At first the door sticks and I’m afraid it’s locked, but when I push, it pops open to reveal the empty stairwell that was on the screens. Timber and I run down the stairs, trying to stay quiet, but the sounds of our footsteps bounce around the blank walls as we descend into a basement hallway. Timber opens the first door and we find a storage room full of boxes marked CUPS, STRAWS, and ID BANDS. He’s about to close the door again, but I step around him and look for that kennel.

  “She’s not in here,” he whispers to me. “And we shouldn’t be in here either.”

  I tiptoe around the boxes and come face-to-face with two shining eyes. I jump back and gasp.

  “What is it?” Timber’s at my side.

  I take a closer look at the cage and see a small, reddish-brown animal curled into a ball. “It’s the fox,” I say.

  “What fox?” he asks.

  “Grove and Briar saw it before,” I explain. The fox looks at me, panting with pleading eyes, and I feel terrible for it. No animal, least of all a wild animal like a fox, should be in a cage in a storage room. Now I know Clay and Dawn are weird and that Dawn was lying when she said they had a cat. As much as I’d like to take that fox home to Bramble so he could care for it then release it in the woods, I know we have to leave it for now so we can find Briar. “Sorry,” I tell the fox.

  We back out of the storage room and tiptoe down the hall. We can hear the muffled music from above and the ceiling shakes where people jump on the dance floor. No wonder that fox is uneasy with all the noise and shaking. We find another door. Timber steps in front of me. He grabs the handle and turns it slowly. My heart beats quickly, half afraid of what we might find. He pushes the door open and we both peer in to see the room with the couch and two chairs. There, asleep on the couch, covered with a blanket, is Briar.

  “Oh, thank the stars!” I say, and rush toward my snoozing cousin. “Bri!” I shake her. “Bri, wake up! You okay?”

  Slowly she opens her eyes. “Hey, Zeph,” she says, but her words come out thick and slurred, and her eyes immediately close again.

  “Briar, wake up,” I insist, shaking her arm. “What’s wrong with you?” I look to Timber.

  “She seems stoned,” he says.

  “What do you mean, like drugs?”

  “Or booze. Maybe she was drinking and she passed out.”

  “No way,” I say, still trying to rouse her.

  “It’s possible,” Timber says. “Maybe Clay and Dawn put her down here to let her sleep it off so she wouldn’t get in trouble going home.”

  “But why wouldn’t Kenji be with her?” I ask.

  Timber shrugs. “Maybe she needed a break from him.”

  “None of this makes sense,” I say. “We need to get her home. This is creeping me out.”

  That’s when the door opens behind us. We all jump. Timber and I, and Dawn, who stands in the doorway. “What the hell?” she yells. “How’d you get down here?” I see anger flash across her face, and her eyes seem to darken.

  “Hey, Dawn,” Timber says. “Kenji got upset because he couldn’t find Briar so we came looking for her.”

  Dawn pulls in a breath as if to calm down, but I see fury behind her eyes and in her fists balled at her sides.

  “What happened?” I ask, pointing to my cousin.

  Dawn licks her lips and looks over her shoulder into the hallway. I wonder if Clay is coming. I don’t want to find out. I want to get out of here as fast as I can. “She had too much to drink,” she says.

  Timber laughs. “That’s what I said happened.”

  “She doesn’t drink,” I say.

  Timber goes on. “I said you probably let her crash down here to cool out so she didn’t go home messed up.”

  “That’s right,” Dawn says, but I think she’s lying. Something about the way she holds her body, as if she’s on the defense of an attack, and how she licks her lips. I don’t trust her.

  “We need to get her home,” I say.

  Dawn’s face brightens. “Clay can take you. He’s getting his car right now. He was going to drive her home.”

  “No thanks.” I pat Briar’s hand, trying to rouse her. “We have a car outside.”

  Dawn blocks the door. “You can’t take her through the club like this. I could lose my license. She was drinking illegally. I don’t know where she got the stuff. Maybe her boyfriend. We were trying to do her a favor.”

  I look at Timber. “Kenji didn’t give her anything,” I say. “He’s been looking for her.”

  “Whatever, but you can’t take her up through the club like this,” Dawn says again.

  “We’ll go out the back. Through that parking lot,” I say.

  She narrows her eyes at me. “What parking lot?”

  “Where a bunch of people are smoking,” I say, and level my gaze at her. “Where’s the door?”

  Dawn shifts uncomfortably. “Look, Clay will be here in a minute. Just wait for him and he’ll help you get her out without a problem.”

  There’s no way I’m waiting on creepy Clay. I turn back to my cousin. “Briar!” I bark and shake her. “Wake up. What’s going on? You have to get up now.”

  She rolls her head back and forth. “Do you know the U.P.?” she asks, and holds up two limp hands to look like Michigan. “Here by the knuckle.” She points to her pinky knuckle of her left hand as if she’s showing us where Alverland is, then she slumps back down and closes her eyes.

  I whip my head back toward Dawn. “What has she been telling you? I demand, remembering all the strange things Dawn knows about my dad and all the questions she asks me every time I see her. I don’t know who she is, but this doesn’t feel right to me. That’s when I see Dawn’s left hand rise up. I notice the way she’s turning her wrist, inward, and I see her lips begin to move.

  Before I can think, I zap her. “Limp fish!” I call out, and point. Her arm falls to her side. “Mute newt,” I call, and zap her throat. Timber looks at me, bewildered, but I don’t have time to explain my reaction or why Dawn’s mouth is moving but no sound comes out or why her arm hangs useless by her side. It comes from years of my brothers and sisters and cousins and me casting spells against one another. I know that flick of the wrist. I know the way we move our lips as we conjure. I don’t know if that’s what Dawn was doing. It makes no sense, but her movements were too familiar for me to wait and see.

  “Grab Briar’s other arm,” I command Timber. He does what I say. We hoist Briar up and sling her arms across our shoulders. She moans. “Stand up,” I tell her. “Now!”

  Briar comes to a bit. “Zephy,” she coos at me.

  “You’re in big trouble,” I grumble at her. “Let’s go,” I tell Timber.

  He helps me almost drag Zephyr toward the door, past Dawn, who’s still trying to find her voice and the use of her arm. In the hallway, I see one more doorway. It’s silver with a panic bar in the center. “That’s got to be an exit,” I say. “Maybe it goes to the parking lot.”

  We head that way, Briar heavy between us. We turn backward to push against the door just as Dawn comes into the hall. Her voice is hoarse and her arm isn’t moving correctly yet, but it looks to me like she’s trying to cast another spell.

  “Go! Go! Go!” I yell as I bang against the door. An alarm shrieks as we push through. There’s a steep, dark staircase behind us, but it’s freezing, so I guess that we’re heading outside. Above us are trapdoors. We lift them over our heads and crawl up into the cold air of the parking lot. The smokers congregated by a staircase behind the club watch us with their mouths hanging open while the alarm continues to shriek. The door at the top of the steps flies open and people spill out into the night.

  “Pick her up!” I shout at Timber. He scoops Briar into his arms and we run through the parking lot. I look over my shoulder to see Dawn emerging from the trapdoors. I yank Timber into the crowd and we disappear from Dawn’s sight.

  We
round the side of the building and cut through an alley to the front of the club. People pour out the front door, too, and now I hear sirens. The car service guy still waits by the curb, which is lucky because very soon my spell will wear off him and he’ll wonder why in the world he’s sitting here. As I run for the car with Timber carrying Briar behind me, someone grabs my arm. I turn, ready to zap Clay or Dawn or whoever it is, but my brother Grove catches my wrist. “What’s going on?”

  “Grove!” I throw my arms around his neck. “Thank thunder. We’ve got to get Briar out of here.”

  Kenji steps around from behind Grove and throws himself at Briar, who’s still limp in Timber’s arms. “Is she okay?” he wails.

  “Did you drive?” I ask Grove. “Where’s the car?”

  “This way,” he says, and we head for the van that’s across the street.

  chapter 17

  WE SCRAMBLE INTO the van, pushing Briar’s half-limp body into the back and looking over our shoulders as fire trucks and police cars converge at the club. I buckle into the front seat and Timber slams the side door closed just as Clay and Dawn pop out from the alley way beside the building. Luckily the chaos of all the kids on the sidewalks and firemen yelling into bullhorns stops them in their tracks, but I see the way Clay points at us with vengeance flashing in his green eyes.

  “Get out of here,” I hiss at Grove.

  He shoves the van in gear and takes a sharp right around a corner, away from all the flashing sirens. “What the hell happened?” he yells.

  In the back I hear Briar half moaning, half singing and Kenji nearly keening, “I couldn’t find you! Where did you go?” Glancing over my shoulder, I see that Briar is sprawled over the backseat with Kenji draped over her body.

  “Did you give her alcohol?” I yell at Kenji.

  He whips his head toward me. “No! Where would I get it? I don’t even drink. She disappeared with that goon who runs the club.”

  I look at Grove negotiating the bumps and potholes of the old, half-paved streets. We pass by empty docks and parking lots full of weeds. I can tell Grove is furious by the way his hands are tight around the wheel and his jaw is clenched. “You guys better be able to explain this,” he barks at me.

  “Grove,” I whisper harshly. “Something’s not right back there.”

  “No kidding, Zephyr,” he says. “Kenji wakes me up and drags me out of the house at midnight. There are cops, firefighters, Briar half in the bag. What the hell?”

  I lean over close to him and squeeze his forearm. “No, listen,” I say as quietly as I can. “Clay and Dawn. Something’s weird.”

  Grove looks at me with his eyebrows flexed and his mouth tense. “What?”

  I glance over my shoulder. Kenji is absorbed in stroking Briar’s hair and babbling to her, but Timber leans forward, trying to hear my conversation with Grove. I sigh, frustrated, but I know what I have to do. “Sorry, Timb,” I mutter. “Waterfall!” I flick my fingers toward him and instantly he shakes his head and pokes a finger into each of his ears, which are temporarily blocked by the sound of a roaring waterfall inside his head. I turn back to Grove and start talking fast.

  “I think Dawn was trying to cast a spell on us. I zapped her, but Timber saw me. It was the only way we could get Briar out of there.”

  Grove frowns at me. “You have an overactive imagination.”

  “No, listen. I saw the fox in a cage in a storage room.”

  His face clouds over but then he shakes his head. “So what? Erdlers are weird. There could be a logical explanation for why they have a fox ...”

  I sneak a peek at Timber, who bangs his hand against the side of his head and opens and closes his jaw, trying to get back his hearing, which will return in about five seconds.

  “I think they’re dark elves,” I say quickly.

  Grove’s eyes flash at me and the van swerves. A truck blares its horn at us and Grove careens the van the other way. I grab the door handle and we all sway left to right and left again. “Whoa! Whoopee!” Briar yells from the backseat, then she laughs.

  Grove gets the car in the right lane again, and we stop at a red light.

  “Jeez,” Timber says, working his jaw side to side. “What the hell is going on? My head is all plugged up.”

  Grove jams the gearshift into neutral and turns to look at me. “What are you talking about?”

  I look from him to Timber and back to Kenji and Briar. “I think they drugged her or something.”

  “Who?” Timber asks.

  “Briar,” I call to the back.

  “Thass me!” she says, giggling.

  I roll my eyes because drugged or not, she’s annoying. “Why were you down in the basement with Clay and Dawn?”

  “Who?” she asks, then hiccups.

  I shake my head. “We have to get her home and let Fawna take a look at her,” I tell Grove.

  “Dude, don’t tell your parents!” Timber says. “They’ll never let you out of the house again. So Briar got a little tipsy. Obviously Dawn had a few too many herself. Did you see her stumbling around down there in the basement? She couldn’t even talk. Briar will feel like hell tomorrow and she won’t do it again. At least not for a while. It’s just normal teenage crap.” Then he laughs. “I can’t believe you set off the fire alarm, Zeph!”

  “Oh crikey,” Grove says, then he puts the car in gear and peals out on the green light.

  First we drop Timber at home. He still thinks the whole thing is a big joke, but at least he didn’t see me zap Dawn and he thinks she was tipsy and not under the influence of my magic. In fact, I can’t get him to leave. He hangs by my open window. “I’ll call you first thing in the morning,” he says, all moony-eyed.

  “Great,” I tell him. “Good night.”

  He leans in. “Just one more kiss, please?”

  I lean forward and peck him on the lips.

  “No, a real one.” He reaches in and pulls the back of my head forward, then plants a long, luscious kiss on my lips. Not that I don’t like kissing Timber, but I’ve had enough for tonight.

  I pull back. “Okay, thanks. Good night. Talk to you in the morning,” I say, but he won’t leave. He grabs my hand and presses it to his cheek.

  “I’ll miss you,” he says, and kisses my palm.

  I wriggle my hand free. “Yeah, um, miss you, too. Gotta go.”

  “You’re so pretty.” He strokes my face.

  “Good granite,” Grove mumbles. “Can we get out of here already?”

  I look over my shoulder at him. “I’m trying!”

  “What time will you get up?” Timber asks.

  “I don’t know. I’ll call you, okay?” I push the button to roll up the window, but Timber keeps his hands on top of the glass.

  “But what time? I’ll set my alarm,” he calls through the shrinking space between me and him.

  “Good night!” I pry his fingers one by one away off the window.

  He presses his palms flat against the glass. “Don’t go!”

  “What’s wrong with him?” Grove asks.

  I ignore his question because I’m not sure I want to know the answer. I wave and smile at Timber, who stands on the curb with his hand pressed against his chest until we turn the corner.

  We drop Kenji off next and it’s nearly the same scene prying him off Briar, only Briar’s snoring happily now, so at least she can’t prolong it. I manage to get Kenji out of the van by promising him that Briar will call him first thing in the morning, too.

  Once we’re driving back to our neighborhood, I open my mouth to explain things to Grove, but he holds up his hand. “Save it for Mom and Dad.”

  “But ...” I say.

  “Nope,” he tells me. “I don’t want to hear it. You guys got yourselves into a big mess and you have to clean it up.”

  “But ...” I try again.

  He raises his hand and flicks his wrist. “Mute!” he says, but I’m quick enough to deflect him. “Backfire,” I say. He shakes his head with d
isbelief. “When did you get so fast?” he asks.

  I shrug. “Don’t know, but it saved my tail tonight. Truce?”

  “Truce,” he says. “As long as you shut up.”

  “Deal,” I say, and lay my head back against the seat. My body feels as heavy as a dead tree, but my mind races, trying to fit all the pieces together. I know I need to talk to Grandma Fawna before any of this will make sense.

  “It can all wait until morning,” Grove says as we carry Briar into the house.

  “No,” I whisper back to him. “I’m waking Fawna. She’ll be able to tell if Briar is just drunk or if Clay and Dawn did something to her.”

  Grove shakes his head. “I’ll help you up the stairs, but then I’m done.”

  “You’re such a jerk. Just put her on the couch and I’ll take care of it myself.”

  “Fine,” he says.

  We sling Briar to the couch, where she curls into a little ball and murmurs. “Near Ironweed.”

  “See!” I whisper.

  “What?” Grove asks.

  “She’s been muttering about Alverland on and off.”

  “So what?”

  “So that’s weird.”

  “No, it’s not,” he says. “She’s loopy right now. Of course she’d talk about something she knows really well.”

  He might have a point, but I’m still creeped out by how Dawn was acting. “Just go to bed then.”

  “I’d love to.” He turns to go but then he stops at the bottom of the steps. “Oh, and you’re welcome, by the way, for getting up in the middle of the night to save your butt.”

  I soften. He’s right. I walk toward him. “I’m sorry,” I say. “Thanks for helping us. You didn’t have to do that but you did.”

  “Of course I did,” he says, then slowly climbs the stairs.

  I tiptoe to Fawna’s room, which is in the back of the house on the first floor. I tap on her door then open it slowly. She sleeps peacefully on her back with her long, white hair spread out on the pillow like a butterfly in flight. I see that she holds an amulet shaped like a six-point buck while she sleeps, and I wonder if that’s how she keeps Grandpa close to her heart.