Wish - Chapter 3

III

Sarita and Ianto were standing in a long line to ride the Ferris Wheel when she heard a woman vent her frustration.

“The ride's broken down again!” The poor woman sounded ready to cry. “I can't afford to keep fixing it! I just wish it would stay running until I can save up enough to replace it!”

Sarita felt a sudden tingling in her body. It was so intense that she shook, trembling from something akin to fear. What's wrong with me?

She turned to bury her face in Ianto's shirt.

“What's wrong?” He asked in concern.

“I feel weird all of a sudden,” she mumbled, clinging to his shirt. Wait... this isn't wishing someone would jump in a lake... This is a true wish. Something that would actually help her if I granted it...

The problem is that she really didn't know how to grant it. Indigo had told her that it was her power, he never told her how to use it. The scary tingling inside her continued to grow stronger until she felt she just had to do something. Anything!

Turning to face the woman who was grumbling at her assistant – who was trying to fix the ride – Sarita called out: “Hey lady! The tilt-a-whirl was always my favorite ride! I hope you get it fixed soon!”

This was so uncharacteristic for Sarita that Ianto was open mouthed with shock. He had never heard her shout before, and even just talking to strangers was unusual. Closing his mouth with a soft chuckle, her stroked her hair.

“You have such a kind heart,” he murmured. “Wishing her luck even though talking to her scared you so much.”

Strangely, Sarita felt much better. She still clung to Ianto, but her trembling had stopped completely. She rested her head against Ianto as she watched the woman pace and fret.

Less than a minute later, the assistant exclaimed in triumph as the ride started up. He slammed the access panel back into place. “I have no idea what I did to fix it so quickly, but that should do it!”

The woman jumped up in glee, pumping her fists as she cried out: “Yes!” She spotted Sarita and Ianto watching her, and smiled at them. “Hey there little girl, you said this ride was your favorite; you want to be the one to help me test it out?”

Sarita gasped happily. “You mean it?!”

“Yeah, come on over here,” the woman invited. A couple moments later, they were seated in the tilt-a-whirl.

Sarita had actually lied when she said that the ride had always been her favorite, but at this moment, it felt like the best ride in the whole world. “I did it!” She cried out softly under her breath.

Ianto simply smiled at her, glad that she was having fun. After the ride was over, they walked around playing games and riding more rides. At one point, she grabbed his hand and lightly bounced as she pointed to a large stuffed cat.

“I wish you could win that for me!” She cried out, and then slapped her hand over her mouth with a gasp of dismay.

“What's wrong?” Ianto wondered. “If you're afraid that I'll feel pressured to win it, don't worry. I'm actually really good at these shooting games.”

He proved his point by playing the game extremely well. It took him a couple of tries, but eventually he did win the stuffed cat for her. He handed it to her proudly, confused by the somber look on her face.

“You only won it because I wished you would...” she muttered very quietly.

He managed to hear her anyway. “So? What does that matter? The result is the same. Or don't you want it any more?”

“I do!” She replied a bit defensively, nearly snatching it from him. “I just thought you'd feel bad about winning something only because I wished it.”

“I wouldn't have wanted to win it if you hadn't wished for it, so I see no problem with that,” Ianto stated with a shrug, still confused about why she was upset that she had wished for it. “It can be your birthday present from me.”

This banished all other feelings from her heart. “You mean that?!”

“Of course! Happy birthday!” Ianto said, kissing her on the cheek.

Sarita was so happy that she almost fainted. Her entire face turned red and she swayed slightly side to side. A dreamy expression announced that she was firmly in La La Land at the moment.

Ianto laughed. “You're so adorable!”

Sarita blushed and buried her face in her new toy cat. In a very tiny whisper, she admitted: “This has been the best birthday ever!”

Guessing what she had said since he couldn't hear her, Ianto smiled. “You hungry?”

“Mini donuts,” Sarita suggested hopefully.

“I love those!” Ianto agreed, looking around to find the nearest vendor selling them.

***

“I had fun,” Ianto informed her as they stood outside the door to her house.

“Me too,” Sarita mumbled with a blush, which she attempted to hide by looking down.

“Thomas texted me that he's still out on his date, so I'm going to go home now. Will you be alright here alone until he gets back?” Ianto asked. On the one hand, he didn't want his best friend to think he did anything to Sarita, but on the other hand, he wasn't sure that she wanted to be alone.

“I'll be fine,” Sarita promised him with a genuine smile.

“Okay,” Ianto stated, noticing that he was still holding her hand. He'd need to let it go if he wanted to leave, but he didn't really want to. She had this soothing energy that made him happy. “I'll, uh... I'll probably see you tomorrow. I'm coming over to do my homework with Thomas.”

“See you then,” Sarita murmured.

Thomas kissed her on the cheek, and then rushed to his car because he was suddenly nervous. What if she had wanted an actual kiss? Like on the lips? I've never done that before and I'm not sure I'd be any good at it!

Sarita went inside her house and leaned on the door for several long minutes. She was purring happily, holding her hands to her heart. He kissed me! Not just once, but twice! She was happy with kisses on the cheek because an actual kiss on the lips might have made her so happy that she'd die on the spot!

“I have to call Talya and tell her everything!” Sarita announced abruptly.

Just then, the doorbell rang. “Sarita!” Talya called out.

Sarita opened the door. “How did you get here so fast?! I didn't even text you to say that I was home yet!”

“I was following you all day,” Talya stated as if this was the only logical action for her to have taken.

“What?” Sarita asked in confusion.

“Yep, I got to the fair before you and waited so that I could capture your every moment. You looked so beautiful wearing the dress I made you! I just wanted to cry from happiness!” Talya burst out emotionally, looking as if she had just been taken by the rapture.

“Uh...” Sarita droned for a moment. She wasn't sure how to feel about being stalked by her best friend during her first date.

Talya smirked at her. “Just look what I have!” She held up her camera and showed Sarita a picture of Ianto kissing her cheek after giving her the stuffed cat he'd won.

Sarita grabbed the camera and twirled around in a delirious circle as she squealed. “Can you believe that he kissed me?!”

“The expression on your face is so adorable!” Talya exclaimed. “I about died of happiness that I managed to capture the picture!”

Sarita looked through some of the other pictures on the camera. “Ianto looks so cute in this one!”

“Yes, he is rather good at making you look your best,” Talya agreed with a tone that implied that she didn't care about his looks in the slightest.

“He asked me to go see a movie with him next weekend,” Sarita murmured shyly.

Talya squealed happily, more than willing to spin in circles with her best friend. “He did?! That's wonderful! I'll have to make a cute dress for you to wear!”

“Uh...” For a tiny moment, Sarita was upset that her best friend was taking over, but then she remembered that Talya would make her look as good as possible, so she shrugged it off. “I'd like that!”

Talya stroked Sarita's shoulder length brown hair. “Well try new hair styles too, if you want.”

“I do!” Sarita squealed, bouncing in excitement.

“Let's check out some YouTube tutorials!” Talya suggested, and then opened the door and gestured to someone. “I'm having my stuff brought in now.”

Sarita squeaked in dismay. “I wish I'd known that! I'd have tea ready for them!”

Talya shook her head. “Don't worry about it. My people have been well fed today.”

A minute later, three women carried in a large trunk and immediately brought it to Sarita's room. A fourth woman carried a much smaller case, which she handed to Talya. Lastly, she held out a closed rectangular picnic basket to Sarita.

“Enjoy yourselves tonight girls, and Happy Birthday Sarita,” she said.

Sarita took the basket and looked inside it. It was take out boxes from her favorite restaurant. She smiled at the woman, knowing that the food was actually from Talya, but thanking her anyway.

“Thanks Deborah!”

Deborah nodded and returned the smile. “As always, we will be patrolling the neighborhood.” She turned to Talya. “And don't hesitate to call me if anything seems out of the ordinary.”

“I will,” Talya promised, knowing that her bodyguard took the job much more seriously than she did. The other three bodyguards – who doubled as assistants to Talya – returned from Sarita's room and quietly followed Deborah out.

“My mom is so paranoid,” Talya lamented with a sigh. “Just because she is out of the country on business, she thinks that people want to kidnap me. At least Deborah doesn't insist on sleeping in the room with us, although I wouldn't be at all surprised if she bugged my trunk when I wasn't looking.”

Sarita led the way to her room, figuring that they could eat in there. Talya followed her morosely for a moment. Just after they set their stuff down, she burst out in frustration.

“I just wish my mom didn't worry about me quite so much! It's annoying to have bodyguards clinging to me all the time!”

Sarita felt that strange tingling again. Her body trembled, only this time, she didn't have Ianto to cling to. She clenched her fists as she sat in a chair.

“I hope that your mom finds peace of mind so that her paranoia calms down,” Sarita murmured, sighing softly when her strange feeling immediately lessened.

Indigo leapt up onto her lap, jumped onto the table in front of her, and then glared at her. He very softly growled in displeasure.

“Oh how cute!” Talya exclaimed. She grabbed Indigo and cradled him in her arms. “You are the most adorably precious thing I've ever seen!”

Indigo really wanted to continue growling, but her compliment softened him up. He purred and rubbed his head against her hand. Talya noticed how Sarita was watching them intently, and smirked.

“About time you got a familiar!”

“What?!” Sarita squealed in surprise. Indigo nearly fainted from the shock.

Talya laughed. “Remember, we always used to talk about how we each wanted to be witches with cats!”

“Uh...” Sarita droned uncertainly.

“I was going to name mine Salem, and you were going to name yours..... I forget. Tiny or something. What did you name him anyway?”

“Indigo,” Sarita murmured.

Talya laughed, pressing kisses to his head. “That name doesn't suit you at all, but it's probably better than Blue, right?”

“How did you –?!” Sarita blurted out incredulously.

“He's got bluish fur, and I am almost certain that you couldn't think of anything else while trying to name him,” Talya stated with a shrug. “I wish I had one just like him!”

Sarita felt mildly tingly again. This was soft enough that she could ignore it if she wanted to, but it didn't go away. She got a pensive look on her face.

So far, all I've had to do to grant a wish is say “I hope,” and it has worked. I wonder if that's how my power is supposed to work?

Indigo growled and pointedly glared at Sarita.

“I am not so sure that he likes you...” Talya murmured. “Perhaps I should keep him.”

“I uh, I hope – ” Sarita was cut short when Indigo yowled and leapt at her.

“You promised that you wouldn't grant any wishes today!” He roared angrily.

“It's not like you told me how to do it!” Sarita protested in self-defense. She caught him and held him at arm's length.

“And yet you figured it out just fine!” Indigo rebutted.

“I couldn't help it!” Sarita cried out. “When a lady made a true wish, I felt like I couldn't do anything at all until I granted it!”

“So wait! That means you granted another one?!” Indigo growled menacingly.

“Well... I think I did...” Sarita replied with a nervous tilt of her head. “I can't be sure, but I said that I hope her wish came true, and then it seemed to.”

Indigo gave a long suffering sigh of aggravation. “This is why I wanted you to stay with me today!”

Talya finally closed her gaping mouth. “I was right!” She exclaimed. “You do have a familiar!”

Indigo and Sarita looked at her apprehensively. Indigo recovered first. “You are sure taking this well.”

Talya giggled and shrugged. “Why not? I always thought that Sarita was so very good that she just had to be magical somehow.”

“Talya...” Sarita murmured in surprise.

“So you grant wishes huh?” Talya summed up what she'd heard. “Got it! I'll make it a point to never carelessly wish for something again.

“Wait!” Indigo blurted out in surprise. “Do you mean that?”

“Of course!” Talya stated, sounding just a bit offended. “Sarita is my best friend. It would be terrible if I treated her as my own personal Genie or something!”

Indigo squirmed so that Sarita would put him down. He landed on the table and walked over to Talya. He scrutinized her carefully a moment, before sitting down and grooming his paw.

“You might just be the first person I've met who can say something like that and mean it,” he remarked.

“You can't have met many decent people then,” Talya murmured dryly. She smiled at Sarita impishly for a second before pulling her into a hug. “You are the best person I know, and if anyone deserves to have magical powers, it's you!”

“Oh! Well now that we have your approval...” Indigo muttered sarcastically. “Oh never mind. We still have to come up with a plan for helping people.”

Sarita shrugged. “What's there to plan? People wish for things, and I grant the things I feel are true wishes.”

“What's there to plan?!” Indigo burst out incredulously. “You almost granted her wish for a cat!”

Sarita laughed. “Well yeah, but that was only because I was trying to figure out how my power works.”

“And earlier, when you granted that wish about her mom... Do you realize how badly that could have went?!” Indigo demanded fiercely. “She asked for her mom to not care about her so much! If you hadn't specified finding emotional peace, you could have been responsible for her mother abandoning her!”

Sarita wasn't concerned in the slightest, smiling at her familiar instead. “So you mean that my power works by doing what I say?”

Indigo calmed down, chose a place to get comfortable, and then lay down. “Well... that and your intention. I mean even if you said: 'I hope your mother forgets about you,' if what you really meant was: 'for an hour or so while you plan out her surprise party,' your power wouldn't actually make her mom forget about her.”

“That's good!” Sarita sighed in relief. “I'd hate for something like that to happen!”

Talya held up a finger. “But it sounds like if worse came to worst, all that would need to be done is something like saying: 'I wish my mom remembered me again,' and the damage could be fixed.”

Indigo nodded reluctantly. “That's true... assuming that the person knew to come make another wish. If Sarita had simply granted a passing stranger's wish, then she wouldn't know to fix it if it was disastrous.”

“That's true,” Talya murmured as she busied herself pulling food from the picnic basket.”

Sarita looked at the variety of seafood and grinned. “This calls for tea!”

Talya laughed. “I just knew you'd say that!” After Sarita ran off to the kitchen, she smiled at Indigo. “What about you, little kitty? Do you like seafood?”

“If you had asked me that in my past life, I would have shouted an emphatic no, but smelling this now...” Indigo was on his feet again, slowly following his nose towards the food. “I don't technically need to eat...” His nose was literally a centimeter from a jumbo shrimp.

Talya laughed and set a napkin aside for him so she could pile some goodies on it. Sarita returned to find Indigo merrily munching on a small feast. Talya grinned at her.

“Good thing I brought extras!”

“I'm so stupid!” Sarita blurted out. “I should have bought cat food or something!”

“Oh please no!” Indigo begged. “I don't actually need to eat, so please don't feed me that. If I get hungry, I'll eat whatever you're eating.”

“Okay,” Sarita agreed. “I won't make you eat anything you don't want to.”

Just then, the door to the house shut with just enough force that Sarita could hear it. She turned to look out her open bedroom door.

“I'm home!” Thomas called out.

“In here!” Sarita yelled even though she knew he'd find her.

“You want to have dinner with us?” Talya shouted the question.

Thomas poked his head in her door. “Hi Talya. That smells delicious, and look at you, you spoiled little cutie!” He pointed at Indigo. “Sitting on the table like a tiny Emperor!”

Sarita laughed. “Why didn't I think of that?! Emperor might have suited him better than Indigo.”

“Indigo huh?” Thomas asked, deciding to join them after all. “That actually suits him just fine in my opinion.” He stroked Indigo's fur, muttering to himself. “So soft...”

Sarita smiled at them as she fiddled with one of the flowers her father had sent this morning for her birthday. Thomas noticed this and smiled at her.

“That reminds me! Dad called me a few minutes ago. He's hoping you'll go online and Skype with him tonight before you go to bed,” Thomas informed her.

“I can do that!” Sarita agreed with a smile. She tilted her head to look at her brother a bit slyly. “How was your date?”

Thomas shrugged. “The same as usual, I guess. We hung out at her place for a while and watched a movie.”

Sarita surreptitiously pulled her phone into her lap and texted Talya: That means they had sex and then snuggled while watching a movie.

Talya checked her text curiously and responded with: Yeah, I figured. Then she set her phone aside and gave Thomas a look like she hadn't just gossiped about him behind his back. He rolled his eyes at her and poked his sister in the side.

“You don't need to be so smart, baby sister!” He chided her. He then sniffed himself. “What? Can you smell it on me or something?”

“Maybe,” Sarita murmured with a shrug. “I've just always thought you had this – I don't know – invisible glow or something for a couple of hours after you've done it.”

“Yeah, well just keep that in mind when you get older,” Thomas warned her. “I've always been able to see ghosts and auras and stuff, so I'll probably see an actual glow around you when it happens.”

Sarita blushed so hard that she decided to just bury her face in her arms.

Talya laughed. “I'm now rather glad that I don't have a big brother around! It's bad enough wondering how I'm going to sneak around with four bodyguards following me everywhere!”

“You're only 13,” Thomas pointed out. “Why are you even thinking about this?”

Talya laughed again. “I'm not. Not really. All I truly want is the person I like to give me kisses and cuddle with me, but sadly...” She purposely didn't finish her sentence.

“Speaking of kisses...” Thomas murmured, staring pointedly at his sister. She blushed guiltily, wondering if she could grant her own wish to hide in a hole.

Talya decided that it would be far less embarrassing for everyone if she just showed him the picture. “Not to worry, big brother, Ianto was very much a gentleman.”

Thomas looked at the picture with a slight nod. “Good...” Deep inside, he felt weirdly surreal about his best friend kissing his sister – even if just on the cheek. Some part of him longed to turn into a dragon and go on a rampage, but he kept that urge in check. Instead, he kissed his sister on the cheek, ruffled her hair, and then stood so he could leave the room.

“I'm going to go take a shower and then go to bed, so goodnight!” He bade them.

“Night!” They both called after him.

Talya sighed a bit morosely. “Why couldn't I have been interested in him...?”

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