Wish - Chapter 6

VI

The next day, Sarita held hands with Talya as they walked to class. If Talya couldn't take pictures of Sarita, then she usually wanted to hold hands and Sarita didn't mind. Talya leaned over to whisper a question in Sarita's ear, but was interrupted by Mary.

“Hey, uh... Can I talk to you?” Mary asked.

“Sure,” Sarita replied with a soft smile, and then slipped her hand free from Talya's. “If I'm late to class, tell the teacher than I needed to do something and will be there as soon as I can.”

Talya nodded and kissed her on the cheek. This was not so unusual either since Talya had been doing so randomly from almost the first moment they met. “Will do!”

Sarita followed Mary to the first spot that seemed to be mostly empty that they could find, which was in the maze of lockers. Mary stopped and looked to the floor as she gathered her thoughts. Then she heaved a big sigh.

“I'm not sure how to feel today,” Mary admitted solemnly. “My parents were super wonderful last night. They both came to my recital. They cheered me on and then took me out to dinner afterwards. They seemed to be so happy – almost like they were friends again! – and then they told me...”

“What?” Sarita prompted curiously.

“That they're getting divorced,” Mary whispered. She cleared her throat and continued. “My dad is going to pack up his stuff and look for a new place to live. I want to feel hurt and betrayed by this, but... Well... They're finally getting along. It seems like the moment they finally made the decision, they stopped fighting.”

“Well that part is good at least, right?” Sarita asked, putting a hand on Mary's shoulder.

“Yeah,” Mary agreed softly. “It actually is. Like I said, I feel like they're friends again. I just don't want to lose my dad!”

Sarita pulled Mary into a hug so that she could cry on her shoulder. The one that Indigo wasn't invisibly sitting on. After a few moments, Mary calmed down.

“If they're friends again, I'm sure that they'll work together so you don't lose either of them,” Sarita murmured, not using her power, simply hoping that she was right.

“Yeah... They probably will. I just wish I could do something so I didn't feel so powerless,” Mary said sadly.

Sarita felt a mild tingle and knew that this wasn't a true wish so much as a impulse wish. Smiling, she brushed her magic aside and rubbed Mary's back. “So... Do something. Help your father look for a place nearby so that you can visit him whenever you want.”

“That's a great idea!” Mary exclaimed, hugging Sarita. “You're brilliant! I'm going to go to the computer lab now; I'll let you know how it turns out!”

Sarita smiled at her. “Good luck!”

***

Liam noticed Sarita waiting for Talya after school and lurked indecisively a few meters behind her. Sarita sensed him and nervously turned to look at him. He was tempted to sneak away, but he forced himself to walk over to her.

“I meant to ask this the other day, but what spell did you cast?” Liam wondered.

“I told you, I don't cast spells,” Sarita murmured softly, unconsciously stroking Indigo sitting on her shoulder. Her voice got even softer. “I grant wishes.”

“What do you mean?” Liam asked in confusion.

Sarita sighed softly, not sure how to explain it since it wasn't like she could make things appear out of thin air to convince him. “Um...” She hummed in thought. “I have have an idea. Wish for your favorite candy bar.”

“That's not a true wish,” Indigo reminded her with a tone of disapproval.

“I know, but it's something small and harmless,” Sarita stated confidently.

Liam frowned for a moment, and then shrugged. “Okay... I wish for a twix...”

Sarita closed her eyes and gathered her power. It was fairly intuitive and usually knew the difference between a true wish and an impulse wish, so she half expected it to refuse her. Even so, her magic was warm and ready to serve her.

“I hope you find a twix soon,” she murmured with a soft smile.

Just then, a boy that Sarita didn't know ran out the entrance of the school. “I'm going to be late for practice!” He spotted the two of them standing off to the side of the door and chuckled. “Hey there Liam. Remember how I brought a bunch of candy to share today because it's my birthday? Well, I have a ton left; you want some?”

“Uh... sure...” Liam replied hesitantly.

The boy dug in his bag and pulled out a large package of twix. He tossed it at Liam with a grin. “Here you go. Hey what about you?” He asked Sarita.

“No thanks,” Sarita declined with a shake of her head. “But Happy Birthday!”

“Thanks! Now I really gotta run! Later Liam!” He called out and rushed off.

“That... That had to be a coincidence...” Liam murmured, staring at the twix in his hand. “But I saw you use your power...”

“It's real all right,” Sarita assured him.

“But that's so...” Liam looked around as he tried to find the right word. He gave up with a shrug. “Not magical...”

“That's why I'm not worried about using my power in public. My power looks ordinary. It looks like mere coincidence,” Sarita shrugged.

“I wish my power worked like that,” Liam grumbled, and then gasped in alarm. “I didn't –!”

“I understand,” Sarita responded soothingly. “I don't have to grant every wish I hear.”

“Oh,” Liam mumbled.

“So... how does your power work?” Sarita wondered curiously.

Liam shrugged. “It's plant based mostly. I can use herbs to cast spells when I really need to, but other than that, I just make ointments and tinctures and stuff.”

“That sounds fun,” Sarita said with a smile. “And useful.”

Liam shrugged. “I used to make a pretty good pain reliever for my grandpa.”

“Hey Sarita,” Ianto called out as he walked over to them. Thomas followed behind him, half glaring at Liam. Ianto smiled at Sarita before giving her a tiny kiss on the lips. “Are you waiting for Talya?”

“Yep,” Sarita confirmed, her smile dreamy from being kissed. “She's practicing her song for an upcoming competition.”

Ianto turned his attention to Liam. “And who's this?”

“This is Liam; a new student from Ireland,” Sarita introduced. “I'm helping him find his way around school and stuff like that.”

“That's nice of you,” Ianto complimented. “Hi Liam. I'm Ianto; nice to meet you.”

Liam made a bunch of strange noises until his face flushed as red as possible. Realizing that he was unable to stop embarrassing himself, he decided to just make a hasty exit. He turned and ran as if demons were chasing him.

Sarita chuckled. “He's really shy,” she explained.

Ianto shrugged it off. “Do you want me to wait for you?”

Sarita shook her head. “No, that's okay. I know you guys need to study for a test.” Which she knew because Ianto had texted her about it earlier.

“Dad's gone on his trip,” Thomas reminded her. “So do you want me to make dinner tonight, or do you just want Pizza tonight?”

“I can make dinner,” Sarita murmured with a shrug. “I'm thinking about a chicken and shrimp alfredo.”

“That sounds good,” Thomas murmured. He was tempted to smack his lips. “Okay, you can make dinner tonight! And if you plan to bake a cake, can you make something light? Those brownies were really heavy...”

“I can try,” Sarita promised.

***

“Hey Indigo,” Sarita murmured softly when she was all alone in her room that evening – after dinner. “I was thinking... I know you always tell me to only grant true wishes, but... What would happen if I granted little wishes too?”

Indigo sighed. “If it were anybody but you asking me that, I would warn you about dire consequences, but... I actually think you know how to choose the right wish... and your power doesn't seem to fight you.”

“Fight me?” Sarita questioned with a tiny frown.

“Yeah,” Indigo murmured, thinking about how to explain it. “You know how in the stories, some genies who grant wishes either purposely or accidentally make it go wrong? Your power could be like that, but it's not. I think it's because you yourself intend only good things.”

Sarita giggled. “For example, I probably wouldn't grant a wish for someone to go jump in a lake.”

“Exactly!” Indigo agreed with a soft laugh. “Anyway, why do you ask?”

Sarita sighed happily. “I realized today that granting a wish for something tiny – like a candy bar – felt as good as granting a big wish. There wasn't any bad consequences, and even my magic seemed to want to do it. It just made me wonder why I couldn't; like maybe there's a rule against it.”

Indigo got very quiet for a moment, and then sighed heavily. “No... it's your power to use however you want to. It's just that as your familiar, I hope and pray that you won't use it for bad wishes – such as winning the lottery. Don't get me wrong, that could be a good wish to grant under the right circumstances, but if you granted it for everyone, that would bring a lot of trouble!”

“Like how?” Sarita wondered. It didn't sound like a truly bad thing.

“Well, lottery wins are tracked,” Indigo explained. “If suddenly everyone in this small city started winning the lottery – in big or little amounts – surely someone would be sent to investigate why. Your friend Liam is right in that if the wrong people found out about what you can do, they could bring you great harm.”

“I see,” Sarita murmured with a tone that suggested that she didn't fully believe him.

“And besides, each wish you grant has consequences. Not for you, but for the person you grant the wish. Let's say you did grant a true wish to win the lottery. It might solve that person's biggest problems at first, but in the process, they might lose all the people they hold dear,” Indigo explained.

“They what?!” Sarita blurted out in astonishment.

Indigo nodded solemnly. “It's not the same for everyone. Take Mary – for example – she wished that her parents would get along, and now they do, but at the price of getting divorced. I think that it will turn out for the best in the long run – true wishes usually do – but it could be seen as a pretty harsh consequence.”

Sarita thought this over in silence for a long time. Long enough to change into her pajamas and get ready for bed. Finally, she felt like talking again.

“So... What you're saying is that I don't have to worry too much about my power because I myself genuinely want the best for everyone... Right?”

Indigo took a deep breath and held it for a moment. “Right...” He finally answered, letting his breath out again. “I naturally worry, and if it was anyone but you I'd forbid it... but since it's you, I think you would be just fine.”

“Awesome! I think I'm going to start granting all the wishes I can!” Sarita announced. She grabbed her laptop and crawled into bed with it.

“Online?” Indigo asked in confusion.

“Nope!” Sarita stated with a smirk. “Not really. I just have a friend who posted on her facebook that she wished she could go to the amusement park this weekend. I'm going to ask her if she still wants to go, and if she does, I'll grant her wish and see what happens.”

Indigo nodded in acceptance. “Well, if you're going to grant frivolous wishes now, I wish you'd start making cakes just for me!”

“Indigo!” Sarita squealed incredulously – it's not like she didn't share her cakes with him! – tossing a large pillow at him. The weight of the pillow unbalanced her, making her fall off her bed. She landed with a loud thud. “Ow...”

“Buwahahahaha!” Indigo laughed at her from the edge of the bed. “You missed me!”

“I'm totally going to get you, you little rat!” Sarita shouted at the top of her lungs, grabbing her pillow once more. Before she could land more than two hits, there was a knock on her door.

“Are you okay?” Thomas asked, clearly worried.

“None of your business!” Sarita roared, thinking that he was just trying to tease her again. Then she noticed Ianto standing behind him. “Oh! Um... Yes... I'm fine...” She blushed and looked away. “I just fell out of bed...”

“And you're trying to kill your cat why?” Thomas wondered with an amused smirk.

“Is someone else in here with you?” Ianto asked, looking around suspiciously. “I thought I heard another voice...”

“Oh! Ah, um... I sometimes pretend that I'm Indigo and talk for him,” she lied, looking away to hide a telltale blush.

Thomas stood up a bit straighter when he realized that this meant that she was lying to Ianto about her familiar. When he thought about it, he had figured that she must have told her boyfriend the truth. However, a glance at Ianto's confused expression proved that he honestly didn't know – and also suspected that she was lying to him.

“Will you tell me the truth if I promise not to laugh?” Ianto asked softly, walking into her room fully so that he could look her in the eye.

Sarita looked beyond him at her brother for a moment before looking down. “I, um...” She hesitated as she tried to think of a more believable excuse.

“Ah whatever!” Thomas muttered. “I'm going to go get something to drink. You want anything, Ianto?”

“Nope, I'm good,” Ianto replied, tossing a grateful smile at him.

As Thomas left, Sarita sat on the edge of her bed closest to her boyfriend. He could see that she felt guilty, which pretty much confirmed that she had lied to him about the voice he'd heard. He sat on the bed next to her.

“So... Do you really pretend to talk for your cat?” He asked, trying to get her to tell him whatever she was hiding.

“No...” Sarita admitted softly, not looking at him.

“Then who was that I heard? There's clearly no one here, were you on Skype with someone?” He asked, pointing to her laptop.

Sarita mentally kicked herself as she wondered why she hadn't just thought to use that as an excuse in the first place! As it was, if she used it now, he would know she was lying to him. In an effort to avoid the conversation, she threw her arms around him and kissed him.

Ianto returned her kiss for a moment before trying to push her away. It concerned him that she was trying to distract him from the truth. “Hey...” he murmured, turning his head away from her.

“What?” Sarita asked with a mischievous smirk. “Do you want to hear me say that my cat can talk?”

Ianto chuckled. “No! I suppose that I won't make you tell me the truth if you don't want to, but I'm just worried that you're talking to another boy...”

“Aww Ianto!” Sarita purred. “It's not like that at all. I promise!”

He gave her a wry smile. “Okay, I believe you.” To prove that he meant what he said, he kissed her. Sarita still had her arms around his neck, and now shifted so that she faced him better as they kissed. She really wanted to learn to be a great kisser, and figured that there was no better way to learn than to practice.

Ianto made a soft noise when she timidly licked his lips. His arms went around her, holding her close. In actuality, he wasn't entirely sure if he was ready to try kissing with his tongue, but he opened his mouth anyway.

In the hallway outside the open door, Thomas wasn't sure whether to interrupt them or give them a few more minutes of privacy. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall so that he wasn't watching them and they couldn't see him. Mentally, he was in agony at this turn of events. It took him several deep breaths before he could stop the urge to start shouting like a jealous lover.

“I think that's enough for tonight,” Ianto mumbled with a blush. “I feel like my heart might explode if I keep kissing you,” he added in a voice just barely louder than a whisper.

“Me too,” Sarita confessed softly. “I guess I should say goodnight.”

“Goodnight...” Ianto returned the phrase, giving her one last tiny smooch before pulling free of her arms. “Sweet dreams.”

Deeply relieved, Thomas slunk down the hall so that he could pretend that he was just now returning from getting a drink. He hid around a corner until Ianto came out of Sarita's room and shut the door. Then he walked back toward his room, yawning because he really was tired.

“I should probably go home,” Ianto suggested.

“Already?” Thomas asked in dismay.

Ianto looked at Sarita's closed door, and then beckoned for Thomas to follow him into Thomas' room. When they were alone with the door firmly shut, Ianto leaned over to whisper in Thomas' ear.

“I think I need to take some of my medication. I already took a dose today, so I don't have any with me.” He tapped on his chest over his heart lightly. “But I'm having pains...”

Thomas nodded in understanding. “Okay. Do you want me to drive you home?”

“Yeah... I probably shouldn't be biking right now,” Ianto accepted.

“Okay, just give me a minute,” Thomas bade with a worried frown. He quickly opened his door and crossed the hallway again. He tapped on the door twice before he opened it. “I'm going to drive Ianto home, I should be back in 20 minutes.”

“Okay,” Sarita murmured, biting her lip as she concentrated on her laptop. “Yes! She does!”

Thomas was confused by her excitement, but shrugged it off. He shut her door before beckoning to Ianto. “Come on.”

When they got in the car, Thomas decided to ask a couple of questions while he could pretend to be so focused on driving that he didn't seem too interested in the answers. “So... Do you, like, love my sister now?”

Ianto shrugged. “I'm not entirely sure. I do like being with her and she's adorable and makes me feel happy when she looks at me.”

“Well, if she makes you happy, then it must be love...” Thomas stated as if solving a puzzle. This made him feel both happy and sad. He resigned himself to focusing on being happy for his friend with a long and nearly silent sigh.

“Maybe,” Ianto murmured. “I just feel so lucky that I have a girlfriend. For years, the doctors have all told me that I don't have long to live. It seems like no matter what they try, I just never get better. I really thought that I wouldn't be around long enough to go on dates and kiss...”

“And this new treatment?” Thomas wondered hopefully.

Ianto sighed and looked to his hands in his lap. “I'm not getting better, but I'm not getting worse either, so that's something, I guess.”

“Isn't there a surgery they can do?” Thomas asked in frustration.

“I've already had a heart transplant, but I was born with a weak heart, and even this new one can only do so much. My body can't handle it and starts to reject it if I am too active.” Ianto chuckle wryly. “You have no idea how badly I wish I could play basketball or soccer!”

“I've seen you shoot hoops, so I think I can imagine how badly you want to play it for real,” Thomas replied sympathetically. As he did so, he also pulled into Ianto's driveway. Ironically, a freestanding basketball hoop waited by the side of the driveway as if it knew that they were going to be talking about it.

“My parents are torn. They know that I probably won't live to be 18 no matter how careful I am, so they want to encourage me to follow my dreams and live life to the fullest, but they also know that a simple game with my friends could kill me.” Ianto scoffed derisively. “Sometimes I wish it just would and get it over with!”

“Don't say that!” Thomas burst out emotionally. “I would hate it if you died!”

Ianto sighed morosely. “I warned you when we first became friends that it was going to happen sooner or later.”

“I know...” Thomas muttered unhappily.

Ianto clutched his chest. “I'd better get inside and take my medication.”

“Does it hurt a lot?” Thomas wondered morbidly.

“Yes and no,” Ianto replied with a shrug. “It probably would feel a lot worse if I weren't so used to it.”

“See you tomorrow,” Thomas stated.

“See ya!” Ianto called out as he opened the door and got out of the car.

Thomas watched Ianto go into his house, and then drove home. After he parked and turned off the car, he rested his head on his arms on the steering wheel. “Why him?!” He demanded of no one in particular.

He spent a long time thinking, tempted to cry. He may well have fallen asleep and spent the night in the car, but a text came from his sister. I swear I heard you come home a while ago, but you're not in the house. Where are you?

He sighed and pushed his sadness aside. One thing he had promised Ianto when they first became friends was that he would never tell anyone Ianto's secret. It was important to him that people not treat him like a someone who was dying and Thomas could understand that.

He texted his sister: Still in the car. I guess I'm a lot more tired than I thought because I almost fell asleep after I got home. I'll be in in a minute.

When he walked in the house, he saw his sister watching him from around the corner. “Hey! Don't push yourself too hard! If you really need to study that much, then maybe you should just give up and accept bad grades!”

“I do not get bad grades!” Thomas shouted as he shook a fist at her.

Seeing that he wasn't as exhausted as he had implied, she mentally sighed in relief and smiled at him. “Well, I suppose that means that your studying pays off.”

Unwilling to tell her that he really didn't need to study so much, he just shook his head and grumbled. “Yeah yeah, go to bed already!”

“You go to bed! I personally don't really care if I fall asleep during class!” Sarita stated with a smirk, and then walked back to her room.

Thomas followed her with a huge yawn. The only reason that he didn't bicker with or tease her was that he really was too tired. He noticed her watching him from her bedroom door.

“Hey... Do you love Ianto?” He asked.

“Yep!” Sarita replied without any hesitation. She grinned and sighed dreamily. “Ianto...” Without warning, Liam popped into her mind. She pushed him away with a confused frown. “Uh... why do you ask?”

“No reason,” he lied, and then shook his head. “I just need to know how serious you two are about each other. It's weird sometimes, you know?”

“I guess,” Sarita responded.

“But if you love him, then I suppose I can try to keep my mouth shut and look the other way...” Thomas grumbled.

With a smile, Sarita walked over and kissed him on the cheek. Suddenly, she tilted her head and looked like she had just discovered a puzzle. “Wait... Is it me that you don't want kissing him, or him that you don't want kissing me?”

“What do you mean?!” Thomas demanded with a blush. He tried to hide this by looking away.

“Ah... it's him that you don't want kissing me, and I know it's true because you're not teasing me about it,” she informed him. With a smile, she gave her brother a hug.

“Oh go to bed already!” Thomas roared, trying to push her away.

“Okay,” Sarita acquiesced. “Goodnight.”

“Night,” Thomas grudgingly bade before slamming his door shut. How does she understand what I'm feeling so easily? With a sigh, he flopped on his bed.

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