Careful What You Wish For (9 page)

She gave me a half smile. “I just don't think that will happen.”

I didn't even know what to say.

“Sorry,” she said. “I can't help wanting what I secretly want. I'd give up the wishes if I could.”

She left me with no choice. It was time for a different approach. A powerful one.

“I hope you mean that,” I said, “because I think I know what will work.”

Gabi backed up a step. “I know you, Angel. Don't get any big ideas. I'm not your guinea pig.”

She really did know me well. She knew exactly what I was going to do. I would use my powers on her—the strongest stuff I could muster. “You didn't have a problem with me using ‘my gift' on you before. You even volunteered. It was your idea for me to grant you a wish in the first place.”

“That's different,” she said, moving back some more. “Giving something is a lot easier than taking it away. Besides, this wish stuff has you totally freaked out. And when that happens, your powers never work right.”

I took a step toward her. “I'm perfectly calm,” I said, although my heart was racing faster than usual.

“What do you want to do?”

“It's easy.” I smiled, showing off my dimples. I wanted to her to feel reassured, even though I was nervous. “I'm just going to take away the wishes.”

She shook her head. “You tried yesterday, and it didn't work.”

“Yesterday, I didn't know what I was up against. I only tried to undo part of the wish—Max being all evil. I didn't know I had to try to take away everything you wished for.”

“Didn't Lou say the only way this could be reversed was for the wish maker to want to give it all up? That was there was no other way?”

“Lou says a lot of things that aren't true. Of course there's another way. My powers gave you the wishes; they have to be able to take them away. Lou just doesn't want me trying anything advanced without his guidance. He's hoping I'll come beg him to start my lessons up again.” I put my hand on her arm. “Let's just give it a try. I can do it.”

She moved away. “You're making me nervous.”

“Don't be.”

“You have that look,” Gabi said. “The one Rori gets before she does something stupid. Like that time she skateboarded down the staircase and broke her leg.”

“Please, Gabi, what can it hurt to try?”

“I don't even want to think about that,” she answered.

“Come on. You said before that you were willing to give up the wishes. But something deep down wasn't letting you. Well, if we use my powers to get rid of them, it doesn't matter what you want deep down.”

She dropped down onto the grass and picked at a dandelion. “Fine. It's not like I have much choice. You're going to do it, anyway.”

That was true. I sat across from her. “Just relax,” I said. “And think about the wishes while I focus on taking them away.” I put my hands on her head. “Undo the wishes. I wish they'd disappear. Make them disappear. Make them disappear.”

I tried to send out energy from my fingertips to Gabi, zapping the original wish—that all of her wishes would come true—away. I visualized her thinking about it in her mind. I pictured it vanishing.
I want it gone. I want it gone. I want it gone.

I felt something like an energy bolt surge through me. It was the feeling of success.

“I think I did it,” I told Gabi, moving my hands from her head. “Wish for something.”

“I wish you weren't a nutcase.”

“Ha-ha.” I stood up. “Your wishes don't work on me. Wish for something real.”

“Fine. I wish the windows on the McBrin house weren't boarded up.”

I almost fell backward as I watched the wood paneling remove itself. How was it possible? “I was so sure I made it disappear.”

Gabi's phone rang, and she picked it up. Within seconds her whole face was drained of color. When she hung up she stared at me.

“That was my mom,” she said, her voice so low and hollow it gave me goose bumps. “I think you may have made something else disappear. My sister is gone.”

“It's impossible,” I said. “I didn't make your sister go anywhere.”

“Then where is she?” Gabi shrieked.

“She's probably just acting up to get some attention.” I chewed on three of my nails at once.
Please don't let me be the cause
.

“My mom said Rori disappeared right in front of her eyes. That one second she was there, the next she wasn't. That had to be your doing.”

She was right. “I know, just wish for her back!”

“I wish Rori was here, standing right in front of me,” Gabi said.

Nothing happened. It looked like Gabi couldn't undo my mistakes.

Gabi was clawing at her arms. She was panicked. “How did this happen?”

“I don't know. Were you thinking about her when I was trying to undo the wish?”

“No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know. My mind might have flashed to how happy she'd be now that my wishes were gone. But what does that matter?”

Because it meant I messed up royally. Instead of taking away Gabi's wishes, I took away something else she was thinking about.

I had never seen Gabi look like this. So . . . so . . . desperate. It was like I slapped all the joy out of her.

“Well,” I said. “It wasn't like you liked your sister that much, anyway.”

Gabi looked at me like I was crazy. “She can be a pain, but she's still my sister! I would never want her to disappear. Not for good!”

“She didn't,” I told her. “This is nothing. I'll get her back. I'll use my powers. I just need to think for a minute.” I paced back and forth and took a few deep breaths.
In and out. In and out
. I was going to bring Rori back. Bring Rori back. Bring Rori back. I was going to bring Rori back right now.

A giant roar, followed by a scream, brought me out of my relaxation trance.

Standing face-to-face with Gabi was a lion.

She took a step backward, and the lion followed suit. “Get rid of it,” she whisper-shouted through clenched teeth.

Get rid of it? I didn't even know how I got it there in the first place. The animal lunged right for my best friend. “No!” I screamed, and closed my eyes as hard as I could. I couldn't watch. My best friend was about to be lion food. It was official. I was definitely evil. Gabi's life was over because of me. How was I going to go on? When I opened my eyes, Gabi was gone. Had the lion pulverized her? Where was she?

“Gabi,” I yelled. “Gabi!” I squeezed my eyes shut again to keep the tears from streaming out. It didn't work. They came, anyway. But this time when I opened them up again, Gabi was back.

What was going on?

She raced to my side and clutched onto me, and I held her just as tight. “Where did you go?” I asked her.

“I don't know. One second I was there, then the next I just disappeared.”

It was me! My powers. They did something right! They took Gabi out of danger. But it wasn't exactly time for a celebration. I had a hungry lion standing right in front of me roaring its head off.

Roaring! That was it. Instead of bringing
Ror
i back, I brought back a
roar
ing lion. It was like for every one thing that went right with my powers another zillion went wrong.

“Do something,” Gabi said.

“Go back where you came from,” I said. “Send the roaring lion back.” I said it, I thought it, I breathed in and out, I tried to will it away. And finally in a poof, the lion was gone.

“You could have killed us!” Gabi said, stepping back from me.

That would definitely have sent my soul straight to the underworld. Intentionally or not, it was like I was destined to do horrible things.

“Angel, are you even listening to me?” Gabi screamed. “We need to get Rori back.”

“Sorry,” I said, snapping back from my thoughts.

“You're right. It will work this time. I'm sure of it. Bring back Gabi's sister, Rori. Bring back Gabi's sister. Bring back Gabi's sister.”

I shouted it out as loud as I could, closed my eyes, and even made a rhyme. “Powers don't fail me, it's Gabi's sister we want to see. It is her that we miss, please bring us Gabi's sis.”

Nothing.

I closed my eyes and pictured seeing Gabi hugging her sister. “Please bring back Gabi's sister,” I whispered into the air.

And then finally, from a twenty-foot distance, I saw the silhouette of a little girl materialize.

“Where am I?” she asked. Yes! I did it! I brought her back!

At least I thought I did.

But then I looked closer. It wasn't Rori. It was some other little girl. A little girl who looked terrified. “Where's my sister?” she asked.

“What?” I asked.

“Where's Gabi?” Panic rose in her voice. “She was just here.”

Just perfect. I brought Gabi's sister here all right. I just got the wrong Gabi.

“Don't worry,” I told her. “You're okay.”

She looked at me like I was a boogeyman who terrorized small defenseless children in their sleep and cut off their thumbs for souvenirs. She wasn't that far off. I
was
the spawn of the devil.

“We'll call your sister,” Gabi said. “What's the number?”

The girl looked hesitant, but gave us the info. “Wait,” I said to Gabi. “Block your number. The last thing we need is her sister tracking us down.”

Gabi gave me a look before she dialed. I knew what it meant. It meant I was way too good at this whole deception business. That maybe I did take after my dad.

I tried not to think about that. I couldn't. Not now. First I had to concentrate on sending the girl back to her sister. Then I could deal with my messed-up lineage.

“Hello,” Gabi said into the phone.

“Hello,” the other Gabi said so loud I could hear from where I was standing. “Susie, is that you?”

“She's okay,” my Gabi said.

“Who is this? Where's my sister? I'm calling the police.”

NO! She couldn't do that. I needed to get her sister back now.

“There you are. Thank God. Susie, where were—” the phone line went dead. Gabi—one of them—disconnected the call.

“You did it,” Gabi said. “You sent her back.”

My powers tended to be more active when I was panicked out of my mind. And the idea of getting charged with kidnapping certainly ranked up there in the crisis zone.

“And I'll get Rori back, too.”

“I knew I never should have let you try to undo my wish. I can't believe this is happening.”

“I'm so sorry. I want to put everything back to normal. I'm trying.” I coughed back a sniffle. My best friend was going to hate me forever if I didn't fix this.
Pleeeaaaasseeee!!!
I begged my powers.
Please work. Please bring back Gabi Gottlieb's sister, Rori. Right now!

“Rori!” Gabi cried out.

Finally! There was Rori standing right in front of us! I guess my panic and prayers paid off. Thank goodness.

“What? Where . . . How did I get here?” Rori was clearly confused.

Gabi did a one-eighty. She went from down in the dumps to all smiles. She was practically bouncing. “I wish Rori was back with my mother and that neither of them remember that she ever went missing.”

And just like that Rori was gone.

Gabi dialed her Mom. “Is Rori there? She wasn't missing at all? No reason. Okay. Bye.” She turned to me. “Everything's fine. They don't remember a thing about her disappearance. How about that? It looks like I've got this power thing down. Nothing to worry about.”

“It's harder than it looks,” I warned her. “Did you see the kind of bad that can happen? Disappearing sisters!”

“That was you. Not me.”

“This time.” I shook my head. “You're going to have to try harder to give back the wishes.”

I didn't want to think what would happen if she didn't.

“Well, if it isn't the loser brigade,” Courtney called out from the school steps as Gabi and I approached.

Her groupies, Jaydin and Lana, of course broke into a fit of laughter. “The only problem,” Jaydin said through her giggles, “is that I can't tell which one takes the prize. The freak show or the blabbermouth.”

“That's a tough one,” Lana chimed in. “You can't even go on looks. They're both pretty horrendous. Double-A's fire-red hair is practically blinding me. And Gabi's is so mousy that it gives me the shivers.”

“Yeah,” Courtney said. “Where do you cut your hair? The . . .”—The smirk on her face was replaced by a sweet smile. In fact, Courtney's whole stance changed. She dropped her hands from her hips and crossed them in front of her. Her voice even got softer—“. . . the beauty shop on Goode Street? They do the best blowouts. My mom always goes there.”

Okay? What was going on? Was this a trap? “No,” I said.

“Well,” Courtney said. “If you ever want to check it out, just let me know. We can make it a day of beauty!”

“And we can all give one another manicures after,” Jaydin chirped in. “It'll be so much fun, and I have the perfect color for you, Gabi. It will go amazing with your skin tone.”

Since when did they want me
or
Gabi around? This was weird. Then I had my duh moment. It wasn't weird. It was the “work” of my best friend.

I turned to Gabi. “What did you do?”