“A wish?”
“A wish,” the woman said firmly, speaking quickly and with purpose. “I’m a busy woman, so I’ll sum it up for you: the Universe screwed up. It owes you something. Don’t ask why—it doesn’t like to admit it—just accept it and make a wish.”
At first, the outlandish words of the woman made Ennette’s head spin, but as the gears in her head clicked together, she snapped her fingers.
“Oh, I get it! This is a dream,” she said with a laugh. “You’re the Starlight Secretary from the The Lady of the Golden Star! I knew I shouldn’t have been reading so late.”
The woman raised a perfectly shaped brow. “Sure. If you want.”
“I mean, what else could it be?” Ennette said, looking around. “This place is awesome.”
Satisfied that she understood her situation better, Ennette started walking around the room, poking at the gizmos and gadgets that lay haphazardly between strewn piles of books and large pieces of furniture that seemed to match the desk. Everything in the room looked antique but well cared for; there wasn’t a single speck of dust to be seen.
With a frown, she picked up one of the books and ran her hand over the cover. It had a beautiful, embossed leather cover with a golden gem set in its center, gleaming with what almost seemed like a light from the inside. When she opened it, it was written in a language she didn’t know, accompanied by symbols she wasn’t familiar with, but they resembled the magic circles illustrated in The Lady of the Golden Star.
Chuckling, Ennette put that one down and picked up another—this time, one with silver filigree. It was similar, though the language looked different, and instead of magic circles, it displayed an array of odd creatures.
“Your wish, Miss Williams, if you please.”
Ennette jumped as the secretary’s voice reminded her that she wasn’t alone. Startled, she dropped yet another book with strange writing she’d been flipping through, and it fell to the tiled floor with a thump!
She turned back to the woman and paused. Of all the characters that could appear in her dreams, wasn’t it strange that it was the Starlight Secretary? As far as the original book was concerned, she was a minor character who only appeared once in Laria’s story—to bestow the favor of the Universe so that she could complete her destiny. So what could she want with Ennette?
Grinning, Ennette crossed her arms. She could see a dream plot boiling beneath the surface of the illusion created by her imagination.
“Do I only get one wish?” Ennette asked, arrogant now that she was confident that this was a world created by her imagination. “Can I wish for more wishes and stuff like that?”
“No,” said the woman, shaking her head with pursed lips. “You get one wish. One wish in exchange for one correction—no ifs, ands, or buts.”
“Correction?”
“The Universe needs to correct the mistake it made so that it doesn't break timelines and end up destroying itself for a pointless existence,” she said. “Meaning you, if I wasn’t clear.”
“What does the Universe’s mistake have to do with me?” Ennette asked. “Or are we talking about Laria? I fell asleep while I was still upset about the ending. Is that what started this?”
“I have no idea who Laria is. I’m merely a liaison sent with the power to grant your wish so that the rest of the paperwork can be settled.”
“Ah,” Ennette said to herself, twitching. “This must be the part where school comes in. I know I need to deal with the mock exams, okay? I’m working on it, brain.”
“Excuse me?” The secretary seemed impatient, and Ennette decided to play along with the fantasy side of the dream.
“But wait, how can you not know Laria?”
“Am I supposed to remember every puny creature that comes before me, let alone that the Universe is in charge of?”
“I guess not,” Ennette said, disappointed that her favorite character was described as a ‘puny creature.’ “So I can wish for anything, just once?”
“As long as it’s in accordance with the correction,” she said.
“Any suggestions?”
The woman sighed. “Traditionally, wealth, power, and true love are popular ones. Others include beauty, living an easy life, freedom, or owning small countries. Some wish for the dead to come back to life or wish entire worlds into existence—but keep in mind that you only get one wish. Wishing a world into existence does not mean you get to live in that world. Wishing the dead back to life doesn’t mean you ever get to see them again.”
“Well, that’s complicated,” Enette said, then asked, “Wait, how many mistakes does the Universe make?”
“It is of little importance in the current situation,” said the secretary, miffed. “So what do you want?”
“One wish, huh,” Ennette mumbled, rubbing her chin. She started picking through the pages of random books again.
She had to think about this. She had to think it through. Even if it was just a dream, it was an interesting question and a fun puzzle for her to try to solve. If Laria had been able to make her own choices in the book, maybe she would have wished for true love—after all, she was the main character of a romance novel.
But what about Ennette? Did she want to be in a romance novel? It could be fun, she thought, but she also wasn’t sure she liked the idea of the Universe picking her mate.
Or… did the Universe pick everyone’s mates anyway? She paused her page rifling, then put a pin in that thought before moving on.
Wealth and power…She could ask to be the daughter of a CEO or something. A princess even, if she wanted the extra responsibility. Did she, though? Probably not. If she could choose a lifestyle, it would be a lifestyle where she didn’t have to do anything except what she wanted to do.
What if she asked for a pet dragon or something that would attract wealth and power? But what if the dragon died? After all, according to what this woman said, just because she could have something didn’t mean she would get to keep it. It could fly off or not even be able to survive on Earth.
That limited things. It meant that whatever she asked for needed to be tied to herself.
“What’s the scope of the wish?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean…if people are asking for these big things like creating worlds and stuff, what happens if I wish for something small? Does the universe balance it out with something?”
Narrowing her eyes at Ennette, the Starlight Secretary clicked her long red fingernails against the desk.
Then, she grinned. “Clever girl. The easy answer is yes. But it depends on the wish itself. Small things are not always small, and big things are not always big.”
Ennette frowned as she thought about that. The Universe was issuing a correction, which meant that correction was far more vital than anything that wishes like this could change or hurt.
“So, is there a difference between material things and immaterial things?”
The woman didn’t answer, but an amused smile spread across her ruby-red lips.
So then, wishing for love has the same value in wealth or power because material things are easier for the universe to intervene in, but if I asked for a toy, what would the value of that toy be? Moreover, it would be safe to assume that the wish has a value in correlation with the size of the ‘correction’...
Ennette’s thoughts were running as fast as they could, like little cogs who thought they knew what they were doing but were entirely unaware of the bigger picture.
No, she finally decided. It was better to ask for something small but could be bigger. Something with a tangible reward, yet wouldn’t really change her or anyone else’s fates. Something that would have unlimited potential.
Now, a smart person would have stopped long before this and pointed out that Ennette had so many things she could have wished for that would have done her just as well. Becoming a genius, for example, or ensuring her success in whatever career she dreamed of. She could have wished to be an actress, a K-Pop Idol, the CEO of a major company—or even the President of the United States, where she could have received a sizable pension after serving only four years.
But Ennette, far too smart for her own good, was too focused on gaming the dream system.
And so our dear Ennette made poor choice number three:
“Then, I want to go on a grand adventure!” she said, happy as an idiot.
“An adventure?”
“Right!” Ennette confirmed. “I want to have my own story and experiences, like Laria in The Lady of the Golden Star, where I’d get to do all sorts of neat things, meet amazing people, and accomplish great things!”
“Your wish of the Universe is to go on an adventure?”
“Who wouldn’t want to? I could escape homework and tests and chores!”
She thought for a moment, then scrawled something across the paper in front of her before stamping it official. “Then let it be done.”
“Oh, but I don’t want to have to save the world or anything; I just want the adventure part…” Paying only half attention, she was still rambling about the specifications of the adventure she’d wished for, full well knowing that she had already been told she wouldn’t have control over any of it.
“You don’t get to choose your own adventure,” the Starlight Secretary said, and the minute she said that Ennette knew she’d made a terrible mistake. Before she could respond, the secretary said. “The wish is heard. The deed is done. When you next wake, your wish be yours.”
“Um… wait, I—”
“Good luck, Miss Ennette.”
A swirl of colorful light appeared at Ennette’s feet, and a blast of wind swallowed the air around her and sent her flying. She put her arms in front of her face as it took her up through the glass roof of the room and sent her into the sky. Light became darkness as it sent her right into space, and the stars enveloped her.
The next time Ennette opened her eyes, she was sitting in the middle of a magic circle, face to face with a stunned-looking young man who took one glance at her before bursting into a laugh.
What else could she do but exclaim: “What the f—!”
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